![[Clockwise from top left]: Paul Thomas Anderson, Chloe Zhao, Ryan Coogler, Park Chan-wook](https://d1nslcd7m2225b.cloudfront.net/Pictures/274x183/9/0/0/1467900_writerdirectors_192733.jpg)
All articles by Sandy George – Page 59
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Sex and religion prove winning formula in Melbourne
Writer/director Pan Malin's debut feature Samsara proved the most fashionable film of the 51st Melbourne International Film Festival when it won the Stella Artois Award for most popular feature. The India/Germany/Italy/France production is about the sexual awakening of a young Buddhist monk in the Himalayas. Another directorial debut, Paul Goldman's ...
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Roadshow triumphs at annual Australian box office awards
Australian distributor Roadshow trounced the opposition at the annual Australian box office awards taking the gold prize for Lord Of The Rings, which attracted A$47m in ticket sales, as well as the honours for the most number of films to gross over A$10m. Roadshow's seven films, out of a total ...
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The Deserted Valley takes Melbourne first
Vietnamese director Pham Nhue Giang's The Deserted Valley (Thung Lung Hoang Vang) from Vietnam has won the 51st Melbourne International Film Festival's first FIPRESCI (Federation Internationale de la Presse Cinematographique) and FCCA (Film Critics Circle of Australia) Prize. The film was included in the International Forum of this year's Berlin ...
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Seven titles selected for this year's Australian Movie Convention
Australian teen comedy Blurred, which is being released by Becker locally in October, and 8 Femmes, which Dendy is releasing during the peak December period, are among seven films to be screened to hundreds of exhibitors at the annual Australian International Movie Convention, to be held from August 13-17 on ...
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Rosenthal joins Australia's Beyond Films
Isabel Rosenthal has been appointed acquisitions and development manager for sales agent Beyond Films and will be based in the Sydney head office. She has previously worked in similar roles in the US for Visual Media, 20th Century Fox and New Line Cinemas. The appointment comes three months after London-based ...
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Seijun Suzuki's comeback film is honoured in Brisbane
Pistol Opera, (pictured) the first film in eight years directed by Japanese master Seijun Suzuki, has won the first FIPRESCI (Federation Internationale de la Presse Cinematographique) Award to be presented at the Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF), which ended yesterday. Chair of the FIPRESCI jury, Chicago Reader critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, ...
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Emmy winner from last year to direct first feature
As bets start being placed on which of the finalists will win Emmy Awards this year, one of last year's winners, the acclaimed theatre director Gale Edwards, has signed up to direct her first feature, The Dressmaker. Set in the in 1950s, The Dressmaker is about a woman who has ...
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Macquarie Film Corp. - from Dirty Deeds to Wannabes
At the same time as Australia's Macquarie Film Corp. was celebrating the successful weekend opening of its first backed film Dirty Deeds; it was also announcing the eighth and final film to be backed under its current scheme: The Wannabes.Dirty Deeds, the first film to benefit from Macquarie's interest in ...
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US productions running away to Australia, says new research
Australia is the first choice when shooting abroad for 60% of Los Angeles-based film and television producers that have worked there, according to a new survey released this week. "Australia is seen as more competitive than Canada because of the exchange rate and the climate," the survey states, "and more ...
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Two Australian production companies established
Two Australian companies, leading TV commercials producer Film Graphics and top visual effects outfit Animal Logic have simultaneously, but separately, launched into feature film and television programme production.And while each company's methods are different - Australian Rules producer Mark Lazarus has been appointed executive producer and head of development for ...
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Further claims emerge from collapse of Australia's HIH
The extent of the damage caused by its involvement in the film financing business is emerging as further evidence is given to the on-going Royal Commission into the 2001 collapse of Australia's HIH Insurance Group. This week documents were tendered that show outstanding claims could be as high as $225.5m, ...
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Box-office still going up Down Under
Australian cinemas have sold $240m (A$423m) worth of cinema tickets in the six months to June 30, a 6.7% rise on the same period last year and an indication that a growth pattern spanning more than a decade is not yet over.Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia chair Mike Selwyn ...
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The Next Big Thing to be April's first production
A production deal signed this week signals that The Next Big Thing, a feature written by and to star Magda Szubanski, is likely to be Australia's April Films' first production. The private owners of the Sydney-based company have put $1.7m (A$3m) of their own money into project development since establishing ...
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Australian film investment fund falls short of target
The ambitious joint bid by Australia's Macquarie Bank and the Nine Network to raise $35.1m (A$62.5m) from private investors has fallen considerably short of the target with the result that only two features will be produced rather than the hoped-for eight.But although only $13.3m (A$23.6m) was raised by the time ...
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Cockram gets top job at Australian Film Institute
Felicity Cockram is leaving her job as senior business manager with the Montecito Picture Company in Los Angeles and returning home to take up the role of general manager of the Australian Film Institute (AFI) from July 29. During the past six years Cockram has worked as executive liaison for ...
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Beckham scores in Sydney
Bend It Like Beckham won the Euros 15,000 Prix UIP for best European film on Friday 21 June at Sydney Film Festival closing night and was voted the most popular film by audiences at one of the event's two venues. Another UK film, Paul Greengrass's Bloody Sunday, was voted best ...
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Australia's Southern Star predicts debt eradication
Australia's Southern Star Group this week announced that it will be debt free with $12.5m (A$22m) in cash when net proceeds of $35.9m (A$63m) from last year's sale of duplication subsidiary Duplitek to Technicolor are received next month.The company also revealed that revenue for the 12 months to March was ...
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Chapman honoured for contribution to OZ film
Australian producer Jan Chapman will be awarded this year's prestigious Chauvel Award for her outstanding contribution to local filmmaking. The award will be presented as part of the Brisbane International Film Festival, which begins on July 9. "Her commitment to producing exceptional Australian drama has long been acknowledged in the ...
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Three Oz talent management companies merge
Three of Australia's talent management companies: Morrissey Management, WildCat Personal Management and the Artist & Entertainment Group, have merged to create new entity, Encompass Management..Morrissey has many actors and a limited number of writers and directors on its books, Wildcat is best known for its representation of cinematographers and other ...
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Sam Neill's next role is acting as investor
Actor Sam Neill will be putting more effort than usual into his next film role - as well as starring in Gaylene Preston's romantic thriller Perfect Strangers, Neill is also an investor through his Huntaway Productions Neill's partners in Huntaway - the New Zealand production company that he set ...