Three features in advanced development at new all female company.
Five Australian women, including actress Rose Byrne and The Last Impresario director Gracie Otto, have formed production company The Dollhouse Collective.
“The core aim is to develop theatre, film and television together and tell stories with a strong female presence,” Otto told ScreenDaily. “This formalizes what we are already doing. Sitting around the dinner table we have always been sounding boards for each other.”
Another partner is Shannon Murphy, best known in theatre and opera circles but who has directed short films and is developing feature When All The Water.
Also on board are publicist and emerging producer Jessica Carrera and actress Krew Boylan, who recently received development support from Screen Australia for the feature Seriously Red, produced by Matt Reeder and featuring a protagonist obsessed with Dolly Parton.
“It’s a mystery, a puzzle film, that unravels through time zones and hotels,” said Otto of...
Five Australian women, including actress Rose Byrne and The Last Impresario director Gracie Otto, have formed production company The Dollhouse Collective.
“The core aim is to develop theatre, film and television together and tell stories with a strong female presence,” Otto told ScreenDaily. “This formalizes what we are already doing. Sitting around the dinner table we have always been sounding boards for each other.”
Another partner is Shannon Murphy, best known in theatre and opera circles but who has directed short films and is developing feature When All The Water.
Also on board are publicist and emerging producer Jessica Carrera and actress Krew Boylan, who recently received development support from Screen Australia for the feature Seriously Red, produced by Matt Reeder and featuring a protagonist obsessed with Dolly Parton.
“It’s a mystery, a puzzle film, that unravels through time zones and hotels,” said Otto of...
- 4/21/2015
- by Sandy.George@me.com (Sandy George)
- ScreenDaily
Richard Moore has departed as Umbrella Entertainment.s theatrical distribution manager as the distributor reassess its approach to theatrical acquisitions.
Umbrella.s founder Jeff Harrison tells If, .We will still invest in theatrical films but are looking at things more carefully..
Like other independent distributors, Umbrella has grappled with a marked downturn in the market for indie films in the past two years as many Us, UK and foreign-language films have struggled to secure and to hold on to screens.
A former director of the Brisbane and Melbourne International Film Festivals, Moore spent the two past years at Umbrella working on titles including The Babadook, Backyard Ashes, When the Queen Came to Town, Words and Pictures, The Last Impresario and The Crossing.
Harrison frets that young people only go to cinemas now to see tentpoles and that quality films such as Nightcrawler,. Boyhood and Sony's Whiplash. are not resonating with mainstream audiences.
Umbrella.s founder Jeff Harrison tells If, .We will still invest in theatrical films but are looking at things more carefully..
Like other independent distributors, Umbrella has grappled with a marked downturn in the market for indie films in the past two years as many Us, UK and foreign-language films have struggled to secure and to hold on to screens.
A former director of the Brisbane and Melbourne International Film Festivals, Moore spent the two past years at Umbrella working on titles including The Babadook, Backyard Ashes, When the Queen Came to Town, Words and Pictures, The Last Impresario and The Crossing.
Harrison frets that young people only go to cinemas now to see tentpoles and that quality films such as Nightcrawler,. Boyhood and Sony's Whiplash. are not resonating with mainstream audiences.
- 1/4/2015
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Screen Australia invested more money in factual content than in TV drama and only slightly more in narrative features in the last financial year.
Yet the funding body recouped far less from documentaries than from drama and feature films.
That emerges from an analysis of Sa's annual report for 2013-2014 which was posted on its website in October but not widely disseminated.
In that period Screen Oz provided $74.5 million in direct funding in 196 projects with aggregate production budgets of $346 million.
Of that, $24 million was invested in 22 features with total budgets of $128.5 million. In TV, $11.8 million was invested in 11 dramas worth $92.6 million and $8.3 million in four children.s projects valued at $34 million. So the TV drama sector received $20.1 million.
Some $19.1 million was funnelled into 125 docs worth $57.8 million, including development and special initiatives such as Opening Shot and Think Big.
However of the money allocated to features, a total of $2.29 million went...
Yet the funding body recouped far less from documentaries than from drama and feature films.
That emerges from an analysis of Sa's annual report for 2013-2014 which was posted on its website in October but not widely disseminated.
In that period Screen Oz provided $74.5 million in direct funding in 196 projects with aggregate production budgets of $346 million.
Of that, $24 million was invested in 22 features with total budgets of $128.5 million. In TV, $11.8 million was invested in 11 dramas worth $92.6 million and $8.3 million in four children.s projects valued at $34 million. So the TV drama sector received $20.1 million.
Some $19.1 million was funnelled into 125 docs worth $57.8 million, including development and special initiatives such as Opening Shot and Think Big.
However of the money allocated to features, a total of $2.29 million went...
- 12/17/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Russell Crowe-Directed Movie Up for Australian Film Award; Crowe Shortlisted Only in Acting Category
Director Russell Crowe Movie up for Best Film: Australian Academy Awards 2015 nominations (photo: Actor-director Russell Crowe in 'The Water Diviner') Aacta Awards: Feature Film Categories Best Film The Babadook Kristina Ceyton and Kristian Moliere Charlie's Country Nils Erik Nielsen, Peter Djigirr and Rolf de Heer Predestination Paddy McDonald, Tim McGahan, Peter Spierig and Michael Spierig The Railway Man Chris Brown, Andy Paterson and Bill Curbishley Tracks Emile Sherman and Iain Canning The Water Diviner Andrew Mason, Keith Rodger and Troy Lum Best Director The Babadook Jennifer Kent Charlie's Country Rolf de Heer Predestination Peter Spierig and Michael Spierig The Rover David Michôd Best Actress Kate Box The Little Death Essie Davis The Babadook Sarah Snook Predestination Mia Wasikowska Tracks Best Actor Russell Crowe The Water Diviner David Gulpilil Charlie's Country Damon Herriman The Little Death Guy Pearce The Rover Best Supporting Actor Patrick Brammall The Little Death Yilmaz Erdogan...
- 12/3/2014
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
The Last Impresario director Gracie Otto with producer Michael White at the Hôtel du Cap during the Cannes Film Festival.
Jack Nicholson opens up off camera to Gracie and she thinks about Easy Rider, Kate Moss presents an Olivier Award, Greta Scacchi’s daughter Leila George abets in arranging a revealing meeting with Lou Adler, and Michael White's style shines through. The good advice Michael gave Gracie when meeting again Quentin Tarantino's producer Lawrence Bender rings true for anyone who finds themselves in her place.
Gracie Otto's The Last Impresario starts out by recounting how she met White at the opening night party of the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. He gave her his number to come to dinner and she decided to make a film about the man everybody famous was flocking to and most people had never heard of.
Gracie Otto in chilly New York: "Michael is an inspiring person.
Jack Nicholson opens up off camera to Gracie and she thinks about Easy Rider, Kate Moss presents an Olivier Award, Greta Scacchi’s daughter Leila George abets in arranging a revealing meeting with Lou Adler, and Michael White's style shines through. The good advice Michael gave Gracie when meeting again Quentin Tarantino's producer Lawrence Bender rings true for anyone who finds themselves in her place.
Gracie Otto's The Last Impresario starts out by recounting how she met White at the opening night party of the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. He gave her his number to come to dinner and she decided to make a film about the man everybody famous was flocking to and most people had never heard of.
Gracie Otto in chilly New York: "Michael is an inspiring person.
- 11/26/2014
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Glenn here with a bit of a photography break. I had anticipated catching far more films at Doc NYC, the documentary festival that is wrapping up its season here in New York. One film that I was able to catch, a nominee for Best Documentary at the "Australian Oscars", was Gracie Otto's The Last Impresario. It is a delightfully portrait of the life and career of the so-called most famous man you have never heard of, Michael White, and an entertaining trip down the film and theatre industry's memory lane. Otto discovered White when visiting the Cannes Film Festival and sought to document him, looking at the way he changed London's West End with original productions of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Oh! Calcutta! and many more, before getting into film production with the likes of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
One of the film's best moments is...
One of the film's best moments is...
- 11/22/2014
- by Glenn Dunks
- FilmExperience
The Last Impresario director Gracie Otto on Michael White: "And everyone loved him. It was amazing." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Gracie Otto, in town for her Doc NYC screening of The Last Impresario, spoke about connecting with Naomi Watts and Yoko Ono, Robert Fox's Anna Wintour persuader, searching for John Cleese, editing with Karen Johnson and Susan Hill's suggestion of Greta Scacchi (White Mischief). She went on to dialing Lorne Michaels in, meeting Kate Moss, talking to Jack Nicholson off camera, watching John Waters' Polyester on a bus, a Gillian Armstrong idea and starting with Mick Jagger, all for the one-of-a-kind London artistic power player Michael White.
In Otto's captivatingly energetic debut feature, we see Rachel Ward, Barry Humphries, Wallace Shawn, Julian Sands, André Gregory, Richard O'Brien, Bill Oddie, Meryl Tankard, Nell Campbell, Jim Sharman, Robert Shaye, Nigel Planer, Miranda Darling, Michael Billington, Joshua White, Michael Morris,...
Gracie Otto, in town for her Doc NYC screening of The Last Impresario, spoke about connecting with Naomi Watts and Yoko Ono, Robert Fox's Anna Wintour persuader, searching for John Cleese, editing with Karen Johnson and Susan Hill's suggestion of Greta Scacchi (White Mischief). She went on to dialing Lorne Michaels in, meeting Kate Moss, talking to Jack Nicholson off camera, watching John Waters' Polyester on a bus, a Gillian Armstrong idea and starting with Mick Jagger, all for the one-of-a-kind London artistic power player Michael White.
In Otto's captivatingly energetic debut feature, we see Rachel Ward, Barry Humphries, Wallace Shawn, Julian Sands, André Gregory, Richard O'Brien, Bill Oddie, Meryl Tankard, Nell Campbell, Jim Sharman, Robert Shaye, Nigel Planer, Miranda Darling, Michael Billington, Joshua White, Michael Morris,...
- 11/19/2014
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Amy Berg's An Open Secret
While the world premiere of Marjorie Sturm's The Cult Of Jt Leroy joins Doc NYC, Amy Berg's An Open Secret is still up in the air.
Gracie Otto's The Last Impresario on Michael White, Andrea B. Scott's Florence, Arizona, Keva Rosenfeld's All American High Revisited, Thomas Wirthensohn's Homme Less, Dave Jannetta's Love And Terror On The Howling Plains Of Nowhere, Norah Shapiro's Miss Tibet: Beauty In Exile, Rich Hill by Tracy Droz Tragos, Little White Lie by Lacey Schwartz and Dan Rybicky and Aaron Wickenden's Almost There, connect with Richard Gere's performance in Oren Moverman's Time Out Of Mind, Marion Cotillard in Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne's Two Days, One Night to Michael Keaton's Birdman in Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman Or The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance, turning questions of identity into passages of time.
While the world premiere of Marjorie Sturm's The Cult Of Jt Leroy joins Doc NYC, Amy Berg's An Open Secret is still up in the air.
Gracie Otto's The Last Impresario on Michael White, Andrea B. Scott's Florence, Arizona, Keva Rosenfeld's All American High Revisited, Thomas Wirthensohn's Homme Less, Dave Jannetta's Love And Terror On The Howling Plains Of Nowhere, Norah Shapiro's Miss Tibet: Beauty In Exile, Rich Hill by Tracy Droz Tragos, Little White Lie by Lacey Schwartz and Dan Rybicky and Aaron Wickenden's Almost There, connect with Richard Gere's performance in Oren Moverman's Time Out Of Mind, Marion Cotillard in Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne's Two Days, One Night to Michael Keaton's Birdman in Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman Or The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance, turning questions of identity into passages of time.
- 11/12/2014
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
★★★☆☆Last year, Mike Myers directed Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon. It was the sugary chronicling of the celebrity world's most treasured manager. Played out like a pseudo Carry On, the movie rascally skips from one puckish anecdote to the next. Gordon was a star overseer, happily living his lives through others; infectiously adored by others and impenetrably charismatic. It was a career worth fabling. One year later and director Gracie Otto explores similar grounds with her debut feature-length, The Last Impresario (2013). Akin to the theatrical pizzazz of stardom, Otto encountered her subject, Glaswegian stage and screen producer Michael White, at Cannes in 2010.
- 11/9/2014
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
The fifth annual Doc NYC, running from November 13-20, will showcase 153 films and events, including screenings of 91 feature-length films, 37 shorts, and 24 doc-related panel discussions and master classes. Chris Hegedus (Kings Of Pastry), D.A. Pennebaker (David) and Albert Maysles (Salesman) will receive Lifetime Achievement Awards.
Mami Sunada's The Kingdom Of Dreams And Madness on Studio Ghibli's Hayao Miyazaki (The Wind Rises - Kaze Tachinu) and Isao Takahata (Grave Of The Fireflies - Hotaru No Haka) - An Open Secret by Amy Berg (Every Secret Thing) - Gracie Otto's portrait of Michael White The Last Impresario - Citizenfour directed by Laura Poitras (The Oath) are four highlights of Doc NYC 2014.
The Last Impresario - Michael White with Kate Moss
The Last Impresario
Gracie Otto's captivatingly energetic The Last Impresario bursts at the seams with interviews from prominent friends and collaborators of one-of-a-kind London artistic power player Michael White,...
Mami Sunada's The Kingdom Of Dreams And Madness on Studio Ghibli's Hayao Miyazaki (The Wind Rises - Kaze Tachinu) and Isao Takahata (Grave Of The Fireflies - Hotaru No Haka) - An Open Secret by Amy Berg (Every Secret Thing) - Gracie Otto's portrait of Michael White The Last Impresario - Citizenfour directed by Laura Poitras (The Oath) are four highlights of Doc NYC 2014.
The Last Impresario - Michael White with Kate Moss
The Last Impresario
Gracie Otto's captivatingly energetic The Last Impresario bursts at the seams with interviews from prominent friends and collaborators of one-of-a-kind London artistic power player Michael White,...
- 11/4/2014
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
★★★★☆There's a certain suspicion about hieroglyphic documentary portraits of individuals of a generational span (the enjoyable Supermensch springs to mind), but The Last Impresario (2013) constantly surprises both by what it is and what it's not. Gracie Otto (sister of Miranda) helms this portrait of legendary theatre and film producer Michael White. In spite of herself, she stumbles upon a tale that combines Zelig, a minor character from Proust (Palamède de Guermantes, baron de Charlus perhaps) and either a warning or celebration of a life lived, parties attended and all the while contributing to the cultural well being of England. White is a producer we will not see the like of again; a dying realisation of honour and sensitivity.
- 9/25/2014
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
All This Mayhem, Deepsea Challenge 3D, The Last Impresario and Ukraine Is Not A Brothel will compete for the feature length documentary prize at the 4th Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta) awards.
In collaboration with the Australian Guild of Screen Composers (Agsc) , a new award for best original music score in a documentary will be presented in January. Previously composition was judged together with sound for best sound in a documentary.
All This Mayhem profiles former champion pro skaters, brothers Tas and Ben Pappas, whose lives spiralled into a world of drugs, jail, murder, depression and death.
Directed by Eddie Martin and produced by James Gay-Rees and George Pank, the doc had its world premiere at the 2013 Adelaide Film Festival and screened in competition at this year.s Sydney Film Festival and at the Sheffield Doc/Fest in June.
Deepsea Challenge 3D follows James Cameron.s record-setting...
In collaboration with the Australian Guild of Screen Composers (Agsc) , a new award for best original music score in a documentary will be presented in January. Previously composition was judged together with sound for best sound in a documentary.
All This Mayhem profiles former champion pro skaters, brothers Tas and Ben Pappas, whose lives spiralled into a world of drugs, jail, murder, depression and death.
Directed by Eddie Martin and produced by James Gay-Rees and George Pank, the doc had its world premiere at the 2013 Adelaide Film Festival and screened in competition at this year.s Sydney Film Festival and at the Sheffield Doc/Fest in June.
Deepsea Challenge 3D follows James Cameron.s record-setting...
- 9/9/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Crowd-funding platform Pozible and producer/financier Thomas Mai are teaming up to help producers of five film projects each raise a minimum of $100,000.
Dubbed Mission: Pozible, the program will run for three months and will tap into Pozible.s global audience of up to 300,000 individuals.
Issuing an open call to the industry, Mai said, .If you want to work with me to raise a minimum of $100,000 on your film, regardless of genre, I have teamed up with the great crowd-funding platform Pozible. We are looking for 5 amazing film projects..
Mai tells If the initiative is primarily targeted at established filmmakers, unless a first-timer comes up with an exceptional idea.
In his own right Mai has helped the producers of 11 documentaries, including The Last Impresario, The Ride, Chasing Butterflies, Big Steve and Deep Blue Sea, raise more than $400,000 online.
The five projects selected will be helped in numerous ways including a...
Dubbed Mission: Pozible, the program will run for three months and will tap into Pozible.s global audience of up to 300,000 individuals.
Issuing an open call to the industry, Mai said, .If you want to work with me to raise a minimum of $100,000 on your film, regardless of genre, I have teamed up with the great crowd-funding platform Pozible. We are looking for 5 amazing film projects..
Mai tells If the initiative is primarily targeted at established filmmakers, unless a first-timer comes up with an exceptional idea.
In his own right Mai has helped the producers of 11 documentaries, including The Last Impresario, The Ride, Chasing Butterflies, Big Steve and Deep Blue Sea, raise more than $400,000 online.
The five projects selected will be helped in numerous ways including a...
- 7/30/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Casting is underway for The Daughter, a movie which theatre director Simon Stone is adapting from his radical re-imagining of Henrik Ibsen.s The Wild Duck.
Producers Jan Chapman and Nicole O.Donohue are collaborating with Stone, who made his screen debut directing Robyn Nevin, Richard Roxburgh and Cate Blanchett in a segment of Tim Winton.s The Turning.
Shooting is due to start in September. Screen Nsw funded development of the project. Scripted by Stone and Chris Ryan "after Ibsen," the stage production of his 1884 play is set in contemporary rural Australia.
The Belvoir production had rave reviews, typified by Fairfax Media.s Cameron Woodhead who said, .Go see this production of The Wild Duck. Theatre of such delicacy and distillation is vanishingly rare. The ensemble performance is magnificent, the writing effortlessly overheard, the design possesses a chiselled power, and the direction confirms Simon Stone as one of our...
Producers Jan Chapman and Nicole O.Donohue are collaborating with Stone, who made his screen debut directing Robyn Nevin, Richard Roxburgh and Cate Blanchett in a segment of Tim Winton.s The Turning.
Shooting is due to start in September. Screen Nsw funded development of the project. Scripted by Stone and Chris Ryan "after Ibsen," the stage production of his 1884 play is set in contemporary rural Australia.
The Belvoir production had rave reviews, typified by Fairfax Media.s Cameron Woodhead who said, .Go see this production of The Wild Duck. Theatre of such delicacy and distillation is vanishingly rare. The ensemble performance is magnificent, the writing effortlessly overheard, the design possesses a chiselled power, and the direction confirms Simon Stone as one of our...
- 7/15/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Gracie Otto never dreamed that a chance encounter with an elderly man would eventuate into her making her first feature film documentary, The Last Impresario.
Otto was attending an after party at the Cannes Film Festival a few years back when she chanced upon Michael White, or, as she describes him, .the most famous man you.ve never heard of..
White, the producer behind theatre and film hits such as Oh! Calcutta!, The Rocky Horror Show and Monte Python.s The Holy Grail took up Otto.s offer of a drink and asked her to fetch him a Bloody Mary. The rest, as they say, is history.
.I think [the documentary] developed organically,. Otto tells If. .At first I just wanted to hang out with him because he was really cool and I would meet all these cool people, and then I was also fascinated by why I found him more interesting...
Otto was attending an after party at the Cannes Film Festival a few years back when she chanced upon Michael White, or, as she describes him, .the most famous man you.ve never heard of..
White, the producer behind theatre and film hits such as Oh! Calcutta!, The Rocky Horror Show and Monte Python.s The Holy Grail took up Otto.s offer of a drink and asked her to fetch him a Bloody Mary. The rest, as they say, is history.
.I think [the documentary] developed organically,. Otto tells If. .At first I just wanted to hang out with him because he was really cool and I would meet all these cool people, and then I was also fascinated by why I found him more interesting...
- 6/20/2014
- by Emily Blatchford
- IF.com.au
Gracie Otto never dreamed that a chance encounter with an elderly man would eventuate into her making her first feature film documentary, The Last Impresario.
Otto was attending an after party at the Cannes Film Festival a few years back when she chanced upon Michael White, or, as she describes him, .the most famous man you.ve never heard of..
White, the producer behind theatre and film hits such as Oh! Calcutta!, The Rocky Horror Show and Monte Python.s The Holy Grail took up Otto.s offer of a drink and asked her to fetch him a Bloody Mary. The rest, as they say, is history.
.I think [the documentary] developed organically,. Otto tells If. .At first I just wanted to hang out with him because he was really cool and I would meet all these cool people, and then I was also fascinated by why I found him more interesting...
Otto was attending an after party at the Cannes Film Festival a few years back when she chanced upon Michael White, or, as she describes him, .the most famous man you.ve never heard of..
White, the producer behind theatre and film hits such as Oh! Calcutta!, The Rocky Horror Show and Monte Python.s The Holy Grail took up Otto.s offer of a drink and asked her to fetch him a Bloody Mary. The rest, as they say, is history.
.I think [the documentary] developed organically,. Otto tells If. .At first I just wanted to hang out with him because he was really cool and I would meet all these cool people, and then I was also fascinated by why I found him more interesting...
- 6/20/2014
- by Emily Blatchford
- IF.com.au
Company also records deals on The Last Impresario.
Dogwoof has announced a string of deals on Advanced Style [pictured] and The Last Impresario.
Lina Plioplyte & Ari Seth Cohen’s Advanced Style inked all-rights deals in Scandinavia and the Baltics (Non Stop Entertainment) and in Japan (New Select Co.), while Gracie Otto’s The Last Impresario sold to Canada (KinoSmith) and Italy (I Wonder Pictures).
Ana Vincente of Dogwoof brokered the deals, with market screenings taking place over the weekend for additional territories.
Also on Dogwoof’s Cannes slate are Alex Gibney’s Sundance premiere Finding Fela and Jerry Rothwell’s Sour Grapes, currently in production.
Dogwoof has announced a string of deals on Advanced Style [pictured] and The Last Impresario.
Lina Plioplyte & Ari Seth Cohen’s Advanced Style inked all-rights deals in Scandinavia and the Baltics (Non Stop Entertainment) and in Japan (New Select Co.), while Gracie Otto’s The Last Impresario sold to Canada (KinoSmith) and Italy (I Wonder Pictures).
Ana Vincente of Dogwoof brokered the deals, with market screenings taking place over the weekend for additional territories.
Also on Dogwoof’s Cannes slate are Alex Gibney’s Sundance premiere Finding Fela and Jerry Rothwell’s Sour Grapes, currently in production.
- 5/16/2014
- by ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
- ScreenDaily
Nick Cave documentary 20,000 Days on Earth and titles set for Cannes among Sydney Film Festival competiton contenders.
In an unusual move the Sydney Film Festival has included among its official competition contenders, the June 4 opening night film 20,000 Days on Earth, which digs deep into the life of Australian-born musician and artist Nick Cave and won the top prize for documentary at the Sundance Film Festival.
This year will also see the biggest number of Australian films in the competition. David Michôd’s The Rover will come fresh from Cannes and the other two are Ruin, which writer/directors Amiel Courtin-Wilson and Michael Cody filmed in Cambodia, and Fell, a debut film from Kasimir Burge that will have its world premiere at the annual event. Burge won a Crystal Bear at Berlin for his short Lily.
See below for the full list of the finalists in the seventh year of the A$60,000 ($56,000) competition.
Finishing off the...
In an unusual move the Sydney Film Festival has included among its official competition contenders, the June 4 opening night film 20,000 Days on Earth, which digs deep into the life of Australian-born musician and artist Nick Cave and won the top prize for documentary at the Sundance Film Festival.
This year will also see the biggest number of Australian films in the competition. David Michôd’s The Rover will come fresh from Cannes and the other two are Ruin, which writer/directors Amiel Courtin-Wilson and Michael Cody filmed in Cambodia, and Fell, a debut film from Kasimir Burge that will have its world premiere at the annual event. Burge won a Crystal Bear at Berlin for his short Lily.
See below for the full list of the finalists in the seventh year of the A$60,000 ($56,000) competition.
Finishing off the...
- 5/10/2014
- by Sandy.George@me.com (Sandy George)
- ScreenDaily
Candy director Neil Armfield will adapt gay memoir Holding The Man, one of five projects backed in Screen Australia’s latest funding round.
Screen Australia will invest in Holding The Man, an adaptation of a popular gay memoir from director Neil Armfield (Candy), and A Long Way Home, from Garth Davis, Jane Campion’s co-director on the series Top Of The Lake.
The government agency also decided this week to put finishing funds into Infini, a follow-up to debut film Gabriel for writer/director/producer Shane Abbess, and into two feature-length documentaries.
“It is ultimately a love story about gay soulmates and we haven’t seen much of that in cinema,” Holding The Man producer Kylie du Fresne (The Sapphires) told ScreenDaily. “We think it’s good timing because of the worldwide debate on gay marriage. It’s not what the film is about but it is part of why Tim (Conigrave) wrote his memoir.”
That memoir...
Screen Australia will invest in Holding The Man, an adaptation of a popular gay memoir from director Neil Armfield (Candy), and A Long Way Home, from Garth Davis, Jane Campion’s co-director on the series Top Of The Lake.
The government agency also decided this week to put finishing funds into Infini, a follow-up to debut film Gabriel for writer/director/producer Shane Abbess, and into two feature-length documentaries.
“It is ultimately a love story about gay soulmates and we haven’t seen much of that in cinema,” Holding The Man producer Kylie du Fresne (The Sapphires) told ScreenDaily. “We think it’s good timing because of the worldwide debate on gay marriage. It’s not what the film is about but it is part of why Tim (Conigrave) wrote his memoir.”
That memoir...
- 3/28/2014
- by Sandy.George@me.com (Sandy George)
- ScreenDaily
Candy director Neil Armfield will adapt gay memoir Holding The Man, one of five projects backed in Screen Australia’s latest funding round.
Screen Australia will invest in Holding The Man, an adaptation of a popular gay memoir from director Neil Armfield (Candy), and A Long Way Home, from Garth Davis, Jane Campion’s co-director on the series Top Of The Lake.
The government agency also decided this week to put finishing funds into Infini, a follow-up to debut film Gabriel for writer/director/producer Shane Abbess, and into two feature-length documentaries.
“It is ultimately a love story about gay soulmates and we haven’t seen much of that in cinema,” Holding The Man producer Kylie du Fresne (The Sapphires) told ScreenDaily. “We think it’s good timing because of the worldwide debate on gay marriage. It’s not what the film is about but it is part of why Tim (Conigrave) wrote his memoir.”
That memoir...
Screen Australia will invest in Holding The Man, an adaptation of a popular gay memoir from director Neil Armfield (Candy), and A Long Way Home, from Garth Davis, Jane Campion’s co-director on the series Top Of The Lake.
The government agency also decided this week to put finishing funds into Infini, a follow-up to debut film Gabriel for writer/director/producer Shane Abbess, and into two feature-length documentaries.
“It is ultimately a love story about gay soulmates and we haven’t seen much of that in cinema,” Holding The Man producer Kylie du Fresne (The Sapphires) told ScreenDaily. “We think it’s good timing because of the worldwide debate on gay marriage. It’s not what the film is about but it is part of why Tim (Conigrave) wrote his memoir.”
That memoir...
- 3/28/2014
- by Sandy.George@me.com (Sandy George)
- ScreenDaily
See-Saw Films. A Long Way Home and Goalpost Pictures. Holding the Man were the only features that received production investment from Screen Australia at the March 26 board meeting.
The agency also committed post production funds to director/producer/writer Shane Abbess.s futuristic sci-fier Infini and two feature documentaries, Damon Gameau.s That Sugar Film and Gracie Otto.s The Last Impresario.
In this funding round, the second last of the current financial year, a total of $4.3 million was invested.
Top of the Lake co-director Garth Davis will direct A Long Way Home, based on the true story of Saroo Brierley, an Indian-born Australian who found his birth mother 25 years after they were separated.
It will be produced by See-Saw and Sunstar Entertainment, which optioned the rights to Brierley.s autobiography last year. He was five when he fell asleep on a train bound for Calcutta. Scared and alone, he...
The agency also committed post production funds to director/producer/writer Shane Abbess.s futuristic sci-fier Infini and two feature documentaries, Damon Gameau.s That Sugar Film and Gracie Otto.s The Last Impresario.
In this funding round, the second last of the current financial year, a total of $4.3 million was invested.
Top of the Lake co-director Garth Davis will direct A Long Way Home, based on the true story of Saroo Brierley, an Indian-born Australian who found his birth mother 25 years after they were separated.
It will be produced by See-Saw and Sunstar Entertainment, which optioned the rights to Brierley.s autobiography last year. He was five when he fell asleep on a train bound for Calcutta. Scared and alone, he...
- 3/28/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Fledgling filmmaker Fergus Grady is planning a movie based on Lonely Planet founders Tony and Maureen Wheeler.s adventures and he has shot the pilot for a half-hour TV comedy/drama.
Grady, whose day job is acquisitions coordinator at Umbrella Entertainment, has bought a 2-year option for the film rights to the Wheelers. story. He.s talking to prospective writers and directors and envisions a road movie set in the 1970s.
English-born Wheeler, a former automotive engineer, and his wife published their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap, after an overland trip from Europe to Asia and then to Australia in 1972.
Grady says the film will look at the Wheelers. experiences in countries such as Afghanistan, Nepal and Bali. Tony Wheeler has agreed to serve as a consultant. Grady will seek development funding from Film Victoria and/or Screen Australia to nurture the project over the next 12 months.
Grady, whose day job is acquisitions coordinator at Umbrella Entertainment, has bought a 2-year option for the film rights to the Wheelers. story. He.s talking to prospective writers and directors and envisions a road movie set in the 1970s.
English-born Wheeler, a former automotive engineer, and his wife published their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap, after an overland trip from Europe to Asia and then to Australia in 1972.
Grady says the film will look at the Wheelers. experiences in countries such as Afghanistan, Nepal and Bali. Tony Wheeler has agreed to serve as a consultant. Grady will seek development funding from Film Victoria and/or Screen Australia to nurture the project over the next 12 months.
- 3/17/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Gracie Otto’s debut feature [pictured] will make its market debut at Efm.
Dogwoof has acquired international sales rights to The Last Impresario.
Gracie Otto’s debut feature about legendary theatre producer Michael White will make its market debut at the upcoming Efm.
A UK theatrical release is planned for late 2014.
White was behind theatre hits such as A Chorus Line and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, while he also championed John Cleese and introduced UK audiences to Yoko Ono, Pina Bausch and Barry Humphries.
He moved onto cinema with films such as Monty Python and the Holy Grail and John Waters’ Polyester.
Vesna Cudic, head of TV sales and acquisitions at Dogwoof, commented: “We are always looking for inspirational stories about extraordinary individuals, films such as Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present or most recently Mike Myers’ Supermensch. The Last Impresario is a perfect addition to our slate.”
“I’m so pleased that Dogwoof shares our enthusiasm...
Dogwoof has acquired international sales rights to The Last Impresario.
Gracie Otto’s debut feature about legendary theatre producer Michael White will make its market debut at the upcoming Efm.
A UK theatrical release is planned for late 2014.
White was behind theatre hits such as A Chorus Line and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, while he also championed John Cleese and introduced UK audiences to Yoko Ono, Pina Bausch and Barry Humphries.
He moved onto cinema with films such as Monty Python and the Holy Grail and John Waters’ Polyester.
Vesna Cudic, head of TV sales and acquisitions at Dogwoof, commented: “We are always looking for inspirational stories about extraordinary individuals, films such as Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present or most recently Mike Myers’ Supermensch. The Last Impresario is a perfect addition to our slate.”
“I’m so pleased that Dogwoof shares our enthusiasm...
- 2/5/2014
- by ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
- ScreenDaily
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