Streaming
Amazon Freevee has released the first images of Mischa Barton in the revival of long-running Australian soap “Neighbours,” production on which started April 17 in Melbourne. The images also feature cast members Jackie Woodburne and Alan Fletcher.
Alan Fletcher, Mischa Barton, Jackie Woodburne
The new series will premiere exclusively for free on Amazon Freevee in the U.K. and U.S. this fall and will include streaming rights to thousands of episodes from the previous seasons, which will be available prior to the new series’ premiere. The series will also stream on SVOD counterpart Prime Video in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Australia’s Network 10, the home of “Neighbours” for 36 years, will retain first-run rights in the country.
The new season is a continuation of the long-running daily drama series about the lives, loves and challenges of the residents on Ramsay Street in Erinsborough, Australia, a fictional suburb of Melbourne.
Amazon Freevee has released the first images of Mischa Barton in the revival of long-running Australian soap “Neighbours,” production on which started April 17 in Melbourne. The images also feature cast members Jackie Woodburne and Alan Fletcher.
Alan Fletcher, Mischa Barton, Jackie Woodburne
The new series will premiere exclusively for free on Amazon Freevee in the U.K. and U.S. this fall and will include streaming rights to thousands of episodes from the previous seasons, which will be available prior to the new series’ premiere. The series will also stream on SVOD counterpart Prime Video in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Australia’s Network 10, the home of “Neighbours” for 36 years, will retain first-run rights in the country.
The new season is a continuation of the long-running daily drama series about the lives, loves and challenges of the residents on Ramsay Street in Erinsborough, Australia, a fictional suburb of Melbourne.
- 5/16/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
On the heels of crowning the class of 2023, Variety is marking 25 years of keeping a keen eye on the next generation of filmmakers with its annual 10 Directors to Watch franchise.
Over the past quarter-century, the editorial initiative has cast an important career spotlight on such future boldface-name directors as Alfonso Cuaron, Christopher Nolan, Ava DuVernay, Wes Anderson, Chloé Zhao, Barry Jenkins, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Steve McQueen, Taika Waititi, Kasi Lemmons, Michael Winterbottom, Sarah Polley, Catherine Hardwicke, Lulu Wang, Jay Chandrasekhar, David Gordon Green and Fernando Meirelles.
The scouting for 10 Directors to Watch goes on all year among Variety‘s editorial staff. The series was birthed in January 1997 by veteran Variety editor Steven Gaydos, executive VP of global content and leader of the Focus features department. The goal is to identify hot helmers before they pick up any significant hardware — aka major award wins, Gaydos said.
Variety‘s Steven Gaydos
“We look for a distinctive voice,...
Over the past quarter-century, the editorial initiative has cast an important career spotlight on such future boldface-name directors as Alfonso Cuaron, Christopher Nolan, Ava DuVernay, Wes Anderson, Chloé Zhao, Barry Jenkins, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Steve McQueen, Taika Waititi, Kasi Lemmons, Michael Winterbottom, Sarah Polley, Catherine Hardwicke, Lulu Wang, Jay Chandrasekhar, David Gordon Green and Fernando Meirelles.
The scouting for 10 Directors to Watch goes on all year among Variety‘s editorial staff. The series was birthed in January 1997 by veteran Variety editor Steven Gaydos, executive VP of global content and leader of the Focus features department. The goal is to identify hot helmers before they pick up any significant hardware — aka major award wins, Gaydos said.
Variety‘s Steven Gaydos
“We look for a distinctive voice,...
- 1/8/2023
- by William Earl
- Variety Film + TV
The second season of Hoodlum Entertainment’s Five Bedrooms will premiere on Paramount+ August 11 as the streaming service launches in Australia.
Kat Stewart, Stephen Peacocke, Doris Younane, Katie Robertson, Roy Joseph, Kate Jenkinson and Hugh Sheridan return, joined by new faces Daniel Lapaine and Josh McKenzie.
The second instalment sees a new home. A DIY renovation. A DIY renovation injury. Two pregnancies. An ex-husband. A workplace bullying complaint. An unexpected tragedy. Love found and love lost.
Five Bedrooms is created by Michael Lucas and Christine Bartlett. Andy Walker is the series producer and the scripts are by Lucas, Bartlett, Mithila Gupta and Xavier Coy.
Peter Templeman is the set-up director, working with Fadia Abboud and Shirley Barrett.
Five Bedrooms is supported by Screen Australia and Film Victoria.
The post ‘Five Bedrooms’ (Season 2 Trailer) appeared first on If Magazine.
Kat Stewart, Stephen Peacocke, Doris Younane, Katie Robertson, Roy Joseph, Kate Jenkinson and Hugh Sheridan return, joined by new faces Daniel Lapaine and Josh McKenzie.
The second instalment sees a new home. A DIY renovation. A DIY renovation injury. Two pregnancies. An ex-husband. A workplace bullying complaint. An unexpected tragedy. Love found and love lost.
Five Bedrooms is created by Michael Lucas and Christine Bartlett. Andy Walker is the series producer and the scripts are by Lucas, Bartlett, Mithila Gupta and Xavier Coy.
Peter Templeman is the set-up director, working with Fadia Abboud and Shirley Barrett.
Five Bedrooms is supported by Screen Australia and Film Victoria.
The post ‘Five Bedrooms’ (Season 2 Trailer) appeared first on If Magazine.
- 7/14/2021
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Jen Peedom’s River and Ben Lawrence’s Ithaka add to the already strong contingent of local films bound for August’s Melbourne International Film Festival, which unveiled its full program today.
Miff 2021 will include a hefty 283 titles, including 199 features, 84 shorts and 10 Xr experiences. Among them are 40 world premieres; the most in the festival’s 69 year history.
Some 62 of those films will be available nationally via Miff Play, the festival’s online screening platform, with the festival reimagined this year as a hybrid event.
“This year, Miff continues to evolve — to meet the moment, and to meet audiences where they are,” said artistic director Al Cossar.
“What will not change is the extraordinary lineup of cinematic adventures, from home and afar, waiting for them. These are anticipated festival blockbusters, experimentations, breakthrough discoveries, and a huge lineup of incredible Australian talent. We will again share a world of cinema, reignited, to...
Miff 2021 will include a hefty 283 titles, including 199 features, 84 shorts and 10 Xr experiences. Among them are 40 world premieres; the most in the festival’s 69 year history.
Some 62 of those films will be available nationally via Miff Play, the festival’s online screening platform, with the festival reimagined this year as a hybrid event.
“This year, Miff continues to evolve — to meet the moment, and to meet audiences where they are,” said artistic director Al Cossar.
“What will not change is the extraordinary lineup of cinematic adventures, from home and afar, waiting for them. These are anticipated festival blockbusters, experimentations, breakthrough discoveries, and a huge lineup of incredible Australian talent. We will again share a world of cinema, reignited, to...
- 7/12/2021
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
The second season of Hoodlum Entertainment’s Five Bedrooms will premiere exclusively on Paramount+ when it launches in Australia August 11, with the ViacomCBS streamer also announcing three new local productions today.
They include comedy Spreadsheet, drama Last King of the Cross and feature film 6 Festivals, each of which is expected to commence production soon.
Paramount+, a rebrand of 10 All Access, will have a have starting subscription price of $8.99 per month, cheaper than competitors Netflix, Stan, Disney+ and Binge.
The content line-up includes series and films such as The First Lady, Dexter, The Luminaries, The Harper House, The Man Who Fell To Earth, The Gilded Age, Yellow Jackets, Coyote, Mayor of Kingston, Everyone is Doing Great, Spy City, Anne Boleyn, Leonardo, The Godfather, Mission: Impossible and Paw Patrol.
Other exclusive titles include Lioness, Halo, The Offer, Y:1883, Flatbush Misdemeanors, Stephen, Crossing Swords, Help, No Return, Line In The Sand and Ripley and documentaries,...
They include comedy Spreadsheet, drama Last King of the Cross and feature film 6 Festivals, each of which is expected to commence production soon.
Paramount+, a rebrand of 10 All Access, will have a have starting subscription price of $8.99 per month, cheaper than competitors Netflix, Stan, Disney+ and Binge.
The content line-up includes series and films such as The First Lady, Dexter, The Luminaries, The Harper House, The Man Who Fell To Earth, The Gilded Age, Yellow Jackets, Coyote, Mayor of Kingston, Everyone is Doing Great, Spy City, Anne Boleyn, Leonardo, The Godfather, Mission: Impossible and Paw Patrol.
Other exclusive titles include Lioness, Halo, The Offer, Y:1883, Flatbush Misdemeanors, Stephen, Crossing Swords, Help, No Return, Line In The Sand and Ripley and documentaries,...
- 5/6/2021
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
(L-r) Katie Robertson, Doris Younane, Stephen Peacocke, Kat Stewart and Roy Joseph pre-pandemic.
Hoodlum Entertainment will resume filming the second season of Network 10’s Five Bedrooms in Melbourne on Friday, three months after production was forced to shut down.
The producers are adhering to the Covid-Safe Guidelines developed by the Australian Screen Sector Task Force, supplemented with individual safety plans for department heads.
“Scripts are tweaked, hand santizer is stocked and our amazing cast is ready to walk back into scenes they began three months ago,” Michael Lucas, who co-created the show with Christine Bartlett, Tweeted on Sunday. “Trust me it’ll be seamless…”
Filming of episodes 5 and 6 was more than half way through when production paused, with episodes 7 and 8 to follow.
Doris Younane, who plays the lusty Heather, and her husband Billy lived in the Five Bedrooms house during the hiatus.
Younane, who has since moved to an apartment with Billy,...
Hoodlum Entertainment will resume filming the second season of Network 10’s Five Bedrooms in Melbourne on Friday, three months after production was forced to shut down.
The producers are adhering to the Covid-Safe Guidelines developed by the Australian Screen Sector Task Force, supplemented with individual safety plans for department heads.
“Scripts are tweaked, hand santizer is stocked and our amazing cast is ready to walk back into scenes they began three months ago,” Michael Lucas, who co-created the show with Christine Bartlett, Tweeted on Sunday. “Trust me it’ll be seamless…”
Filming of episodes 5 and 6 was more than half way through when production paused, with episodes 7 and 8 to follow.
Doris Younane, who plays the lusty Heather, and her husband Billy lived in the Five Bedrooms house during the hiatus.
Younane, who has since moved to an apartment with Billy,...
- 6/16/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
‘Five Bedrooms.’
BBC One has acquired both series of Hoodlum Entertainment/Network 10’s Five Bedrooms from NBCUniversal Global Distribution.
It’s the second major deal for the Michael Lucas and Christine Bartlett-created relationships dramedy, which launches in the Us on NBCU’s streaming service Peacock in April.
The first series will premiere on BBC’s main channel in a daytime slot soon.
Now shooting, the second season again stars Kat Stewart, Stephen Peacocke, Doris Younane, Katie Robertson, Roy Joseph, Kate Jenkinson and Hugh Sheridan, with Andy Walker as series producer.
The new faces are Daniel Lapaine as Joseph, brother of Peacocke’s Ben, and Josh McKenzie as Xavier, a potential love interest for Joseph’s Harry. Screen Australia and Film Victoria are co-funding with 10.
Directors Fadia Abboud and Shirley Barrett joined set-up director Peter Templeman. Emerging writer Xavier Coy is the new addition to the writing team alongside Lucas,...
BBC One has acquired both series of Hoodlum Entertainment/Network 10’s Five Bedrooms from NBCUniversal Global Distribution.
It’s the second major deal for the Michael Lucas and Christine Bartlett-created relationships dramedy, which launches in the Us on NBCU’s streaming service Peacock in April.
The first series will premiere on BBC’s main channel in a daytime slot soon.
Now shooting, the second season again stars Kat Stewart, Stephen Peacocke, Doris Younane, Katie Robertson, Roy Joseph, Kate Jenkinson and Hugh Sheridan, with Andy Walker as series producer.
The new faces are Daniel Lapaine as Joseph, brother of Peacocke’s Ben, and Josh McKenzie as Xavier, a potential love interest for Joseph’s Harry. Screen Australia and Film Victoria are co-funding with 10.
Directors Fadia Abboud and Shirley Barrett joined set-up director Peter Templeman. Emerging writer Xavier Coy is the new addition to the writing team alongside Lucas,...
- 2/26/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Daniel Lapaine as Lord “Lofty” Lofthouse.
When UK-based actor Daniel Lapaine was asked by his mate Tim Minchin to play his aggrieved brother in Lingo Pictures/Foxtel’s Upright, he was both surprised and delighted.
Surprised because it was his first role in an Australian production since he moved to the UK 20 years ago.
While he was filming Upright, director Tony Tilse and producer Fiona Eagger offered him the part of Lord “Lofty” Lofthouse in Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears, which opens on Thursday.
This week he began filming the second season of Hoodlum Entertainment/Network 10’s Five Bedrooms, directed by Peter Templeman, Fadia Abboud and Shirley Barrett.
“It was the longest comeback in Australian screen history,” Lapaine tells If. “I had been working mostly in theatre in London but also had the chance to appear in series like Catastrophe with Sharon Horgan and The Durrells. It...
When UK-based actor Daniel Lapaine was asked by his mate Tim Minchin to play his aggrieved brother in Lingo Pictures/Foxtel’s Upright, he was both surprised and delighted.
Surprised because it was his first role in an Australian production since he moved to the UK 20 years ago.
While he was filming Upright, director Tony Tilse and producer Fiona Eagger offered him the part of Lord “Lofty” Lofthouse in Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears, which opens on Thursday.
This week he began filming the second season of Hoodlum Entertainment/Network 10’s Five Bedrooms, directed by Peter Templeman, Fadia Abboud and Shirley Barrett.
“It was the longest comeback in Australian screen history,” Lapaine tells If. “I had been working mostly in theatre in London but also had the chance to appear in series like Catastrophe with Sharon Horgan and The Durrells. It...
- 2/26/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
(L-r) Katie Robertson, Doris Younane, Stephen Peacocke, Kat Stewart and Roy Joseph.
Directors Fadia Abboud and Shirley Barrett are joining set-up director Peter Templeman on the second season of Network 10/Hoodlum Entertainment’s Five Bedrooms, which is now shooting in Melbourne.
Emerging writer Xavier Coy is the new addition to the writing team, alongside the creators Michael Lucas and Christine Bartlett, while Mithila Gupta also returns.
The housemates face multiple questions in the new season, not least: After auctioning their communal home in the last episode, how quickly will they find a new abode?
How will the dynamic change with the pregnancy of Ainsley (Katie Robertson) and how will that affect the child’s father Lachlan (Hugh Sheridan)?
Will Harry (Roy Joseph) find new love with Xavier (Bad Mothers’ Josh McKenzie) and how will the arrival of Ben’s (Stephen Peacocke) brother Joseph (Daniel Lapaine), a successful international businessman,...
Directors Fadia Abboud and Shirley Barrett are joining set-up director Peter Templeman on the second season of Network 10/Hoodlum Entertainment’s Five Bedrooms, which is now shooting in Melbourne.
Emerging writer Xavier Coy is the new addition to the writing team, alongside the creators Michael Lucas and Christine Bartlett, while Mithila Gupta also returns.
The housemates face multiple questions in the new season, not least: After auctioning their communal home in the last episode, how quickly will they find a new abode?
How will the dynamic change with the pregnancy of Ainsley (Katie Robertson) and how will that affect the child’s father Lachlan (Hugh Sheridan)?
Will Harry (Roy Joseph) find new love with Xavier (Bad Mothers’ Josh McKenzie) and how will the arrival of Ben’s (Stephen Peacocke) brother Joseph (Daniel Lapaine), a successful international businessman,...
- 2/6/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
‘The Cheaters’.
Critic David Stratton has curated a program of 10 “essential films” directed by Australian female filmmakers for the Sydney Film Festival and the National Film and Sound Archive (Nfsa).
Among them is 1930s silent melodrama The Cheaters, from Paulette McDonagh, digitally restored by the Nfsa, and which will screen with a score performed live by Jan Preston. There’s also Shirley Barrett’s Love Serenade, which won the Camera d’Or in 1996; Nadia Tass’ comedy Malcolm; Tracey Moffett’s Bedevil; Gillian Armstrong’s High Tide, Jackie McKimmie’s Waiting, and Jane Campion’s Sweetie.
Films from more recent years include Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook; Blessed from Ana Kokkinos, and Rachel Ward’s Beautiful Kate.
The films will screen as a retrospective program at the Art Gallery of New South Wales from June 5-10, as part of Sydney Film Festival which runs June 5-16. The retrospective will also screen...
Critic David Stratton has curated a program of 10 “essential films” directed by Australian female filmmakers for the Sydney Film Festival and the National Film and Sound Archive (Nfsa).
Among them is 1930s silent melodrama The Cheaters, from Paulette McDonagh, digitally restored by the Nfsa, and which will screen with a score performed live by Jan Preston. There’s also Shirley Barrett’s Love Serenade, which won the Camera d’Or in 1996; Nadia Tass’ comedy Malcolm; Tracey Moffett’s Bedevil; Gillian Armstrong’s High Tide, Jackie McKimmie’s Waiting, and Jane Campion’s Sweetie.
Films from more recent years include Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook; Blessed from Ana Kokkinos, and Rachel Ward’s Beautiful Kate.
The films will screen as a retrospective program at the Art Gallery of New South Wales from June 5-10, as part of Sydney Film Festival which runs June 5-16. The retrospective will also screen...
- 3/27/2019
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Shirley Barrett's Love Serenade (1996) is showing May 14 - June 13, 2018 in many countries around the world.Australian writer-director Shirley Barrett’s latest venture, a screenplay-turned-novel titled Rush Oh!, is about the fascinating and true story of an inter-species bond that grew in the early 1900s between a whaling community in the coastal town of Eden and a pod of killer whales. Every year, the whales returned to help the whalers trap their prey and share in the common loot. In an interview, Barrett describes how she came upon the story one particular rainy day during a beach trip to Eden. She had sought shelter at the local whale museum and had been struck by the sight of a very impressive killer whale skeleton on display just as she had walked in. The museum, she had realized, had been built to showcase what remained of this formidable creature, a killer whale named ‘Old Tom,...
- 6/11/2018
- MUBI
Kimble Rendall.s 3D action adventure The Nest, a sequel to A Few Best Men and a TV drama starring Rebecca Gibney are being co-funded by Screen Australia.
The agency is investing $3.19 million in the three projects, a remarkable economic multiplier as the combined budgets are $38.4 million.
An official Australian/Chinese co-production, The Nest tells of the discovery of a well-preserved mummified Emperor from 200 BC China, which unleashes a 2,000 year-old nightmare.
Arclight Films, which produced Rendall.s Chinese hit Bait 3D, is producing through Gary Hamilton, Ying Ye and Mark Lazarus with a Chinese partner yet to be identified.
Shooting in Australia and China is due to start in the fourth quarter with an international cast. Tait Brady.s Label is the Australian distributor.
Rendall has been developing the script since he finished Bait. "I was researching Chinese history," he tells If today on the line from Beijing.. "The Nest...
The agency is investing $3.19 million in the three projects, a remarkable economic multiplier as the combined budgets are $38.4 million.
An official Australian/Chinese co-production, The Nest tells of the discovery of a well-preserved mummified Emperor from 200 BC China, which unleashes a 2,000 year-old nightmare.
Arclight Films, which produced Rendall.s Chinese hit Bait 3D, is producing through Gary Hamilton, Ying Ye and Mark Lazarus with a Chinese partner yet to be identified.
Shooting in Australia and China is due to start in the fourth quarter with an international cast. Tait Brady.s Label is the Australian distributor.
Rendall has been developing the script since he finished Bait. "I was researching Chinese history," he tells If today on the line from Beijing.. "The Nest...
- 8/4/2015
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
The Nine Network has another hit Australian drama in Love Child, which drew 1.36 million viewers in the five capital cities last night.
Adding the regional audience of 566,280, the premiere of the 1960s-set series had a combined national average audience of 1.926 million.
It was the night's second highest rating show behind Seven's My Kitchen Rules,. easily beating Seven's Us drama Revenge which had 1.27 million viewers nationally, 862,000 in the capitals. .
Nine's gambit of previewing the. first four episodes on Jump-in before the premiere seems to have worked.
Created by writer/producer Sarah Lambert and produced by Playmaker Media, Love Child tells the stories of young women and men fighting an unjust system in a world on the brink of change.
Jessica Marais plays Joan Millar, a smart and sophisticated midwife who returns home from London to take a job at the Kings Cross Hospital. She finds a new life for herself when...
Adding the regional audience of 566,280, the premiere of the 1960s-set series had a combined national average audience of 1.926 million.
It was the night's second highest rating show behind Seven's My Kitchen Rules,. easily beating Seven's Us drama Revenge which had 1.27 million viewers nationally, 862,000 in the capitals. .
Nine's gambit of previewing the. first four episodes on Jump-in before the premiere seems to have worked.
Created by writer/producer Sarah Lambert and produced by Playmaker Media, Love Child tells the stories of young women and men fighting an unjust system in a world on the brink of change.
Jessica Marais plays Joan Millar, a smart and sophisticated midwife who returns home from London to take a job at the Kings Cross Hospital. She finds a new life for herself when...
- 2/18/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Jessica Marais in Love Child..
.
Sarah Lambert wasn.t around in the 1960s but Love Child, the drama series she created for the Nine Network, sets to capture that era of revolution, bohemia, youthful innocence and exuberance.
The eight-part series set in Kings Cross in 1969 evidently delivers on that promise, encouraging the network to commission a second season as announced by director of television Michael Healy at the launch of Nine's 2014 season this week..
As the writer-producer, Lambert was inspired to make the show when she learned that a close family friend of her mother was one of thousands of women who had been forced to live in an unwed mothers' home and give up her baby daughter for adoption 20 years earlier.
Produced by Playmaker Media, the series follows characters who live and work in a maternity hospital and home for unwed mothers, contrasted with those who inhabit the streets...
.
Sarah Lambert wasn.t around in the 1960s but Love Child, the drama series she created for the Nine Network, sets to capture that era of revolution, bohemia, youthful innocence and exuberance.
The eight-part series set in Kings Cross in 1969 evidently delivers on that promise, encouraging the network to commission a second season as announced by director of television Michael Healy at the launch of Nine's 2014 season this week..
As the writer-producer, Lambert was inspired to make the show when she learned that a close family friend of her mother was one of thousands of women who had been forced to live in an unwed mothers' home and give up her baby daughter for adoption 20 years earlier.
Produced by Playmaker Media, the series follows characters who live and work in a maternity hospital and home for unwed mothers, contrasted with those who inhabit the streets...
- 11/28/2013
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Harvey Weinstein has risked his money releasing more Australian films than any other Us distributor so it is fitting that he.ll receive two awards from Aussie organisations this month.
The maverick producer-distributor will receive the inaugural Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts International Fellowship on November 23 at the Canberra International Film Festival.
At the same event he.s being honoured with the festival.s first Body of Work award, recognising his achievements in helping to elevate independent filmmaking from art house to mainstream.
Harvey and his brother Bob founded Miramax Films in 1979 and rapidly became champions of Australian cinema, distributing films such as Jane Campion.s The Piano and Holy Smoke!, John Duigan.s Sirens, Peter Duncan.s Children of the Revolution, P.J. Hogan.s Muriel's Wedding, Mark Joffe.s Cosi, Baz Luhrmann.s Strictly Ballroom and Phil Noyce.s Rabbit-Proof Fence.
Victoria Treole set up the Miramax...
The maverick producer-distributor will receive the inaugural Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts International Fellowship on November 23 at the Canberra International Film Festival.
At the same event he.s being honoured with the festival.s first Body of Work award, recognising his achievements in helping to elevate independent filmmaking from art house to mainstream.
Harvey and his brother Bob founded Miramax Films in 1979 and rapidly became champions of Australian cinema, distributing films such as Jane Campion.s The Piano and Holy Smoke!, John Duigan.s Sirens, Peter Duncan.s Children of the Revolution, P.J. Hogan.s Muriel's Wedding, Mark Joffe.s Cosi, Baz Luhrmann.s Strictly Ballroom and Phil Noyce.s Rabbit-Proof Fence.
Victoria Treole set up the Miramax...
- 11/5/2013
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Harvey Weinstein has risked his money releasing more Australian films than any other Us distributor so it is fitting that he.ll receive two awards from Aussie organisations this month.
The maverick producer-distributor will receive the inaugural Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts International Fellowship on November 23 at the Canberra International Film Festival.
At the same event he.s being honoured with the festival.s first Body of Work award, recognising his achievements in helping to elevate independent filmmaking from art house to mainstream.
Harvey and his brother Bob founded Miramax Films in 1979 and rapidly became champions of Australian cinema, distributing films such as Jane Campion.s The Piano and Holy Smoke!, John Duigan.s Sirens, Peter Duncan.s Children of the Revolution, P.J. Hogan.s Muriel's Wedding, Mark Joffe.s Cosi, Baz Luhrmann.s Strictly Ballroom and Phil Noyce.s Rabbit-Proof Fence.
Victoria Treole set up the Miramax...
The maverick producer-distributor will receive the inaugural Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts International Fellowship on November 23 at the Canberra International Film Festival.
At the same event he.s being honoured with the festival.s first Body of Work award, recognising his achievements in helping to elevate independent filmmaking from art house to mainstream.
Harvey and his brother Bob founded Miramax Films in 1979 and rapidly became champions of Australian cinema, distributing films such as Jane Campion.s The Piano and Holy Smoke!, John Duigan.s Sirens, Peter Duncan.s Children of the Revolution, P.J. Hogan.s Muriel's Wedding, Mark Joffe.s Cosi, Baz Luhrmann.s Strictly Ballroom and Phil Noyce.s Rabbit-Proof Fence.
Victoria Treole set up the Miramax...
- 11/5/2013
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Australian production company Playmaker and the Nine Network have announced the cast of new series House Husbands.
The 10 part series about stay-at-home dads is due to begin production at the end of the month.
The series is produced by Slide’s Sue Seeary and Lockie Leonard’s Drew Proffitt and created by Proffitt and Ellie Beaumont and directed by The Great Mint Swindle’s Geoff Bennett and Offspring’s Shirley Barrett.
The cast includes Gary Sweet of Rescue Special Ops, Rhys Muldoon of Lockie Leonard, Gyton Grantley of Underbelly and Firass Dirani of Underbelly: Golden Mile as well as Celebrity Apprentice’s Julia Morris, Underbelly: Razor’s Anna McGahan and Winners and Losers’ Natalie Saleeba.
Executive producers are Nine’s Jo Rooney and Andy Ryan and Playmaker’s David Maher and David Taylor.
House Husband’s received funding from Screen Australia two weeks ago.
The 10 part series about stay-at-home dads is due to begin production at the end of the month.
The series is produced by Slide’s Sue Seeary and Lockie Leonard’s Drew Proffitt and created by Proffitt and Ellie Beaumont and directed by The Great Mint Swindle’s Geoff Bennett and Offspring’s Shirley Barrett.
The cast includes Gary Sweet of Rescue Special Ops, Rhys Muldoon of Lockie Leonard, Gyton Grantley of Underbelly and Firass Dirani of Underbelly: Golden Mile as well as Celebrity Apprentice’s Julia Morris, Underbelly: Razor’s Anna McGahan and Winners and Losers’ Natalie Saleeba.
Executive producers are Nine’s Jo Rooney and Andy Ryan and Playmaker’s David Maher and David Taylor.
House Husband’s received funding from Screen Australia two weeks ago.
- 5/18/2012
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
Kat Stewart
Shaun Micallef
A new FremantleMedia Australia production is one of four new television dramas receiving support from Screen Australia.
Produced by Andy Walker and Jason Stephens with Stephens executive producing, the 13-part, hour series Mr & Mrs Murder will air on Ten.
A murder mystery series, Mr & Mrs Murder follows Nicole and Charlie, a married couple who run an extreme cleaning business, specialising in crime scenes, solving the crimes before the police.
The synopsis reads “Armed with wit, smarts and the invisibility that cleaning brings, the duo solve the crimes the cops can’t in a murder mystery with a smile.”
Shaun Micallef of Talkin ‘Bout Your Generation and Newstopia co-created the series with Stephens.
Stephens told Encore: “We’ve found a tone that is not absurd at all, its quite grounded and real.”
Stephens said Micallef, who will play Charlie, alongside Kat Stewart of Offspring and Tangled as Nicole,...
Shaun Micallef
A new FremantleMedia Australia production is one of four new television dramas receiving support from Screen Australia.
Produced by Andy Walker and Jason Stephens with Stephens executive producing, the 13-part, hour series Mr & Mrs Murder will air on Ten.
A murder mystery series, Mr & Mrs Murder follows Nicole and Charlie, a married couple who run an extreme cleaning business, specialising in crime scenes, solving the crimes before the police.
The synopsis reads “Armed with wit, smarts and the invisibility that cleaning brings, the duo solve the crimes the cops can’t in a murder mystery with a smile.”
Shaun Micallef of Talkin ‘Bout Your Generation and Newstopia co-created the series with Stephens.
Stephens told Encore: “We’ve found a tone that is not absurd at all, its quite grounded and real.”
Stephens said Micallef, who will play Charlie, alongside Kat Stewart of Offspring and Tangled as Nicole,...
- 5/4/2012
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
Screen Australia has invested $5.6 million across four TV projects, including a comedy series for Nine, an ABC telemovie and two shows for Network Ten.
Nine's House Husbands tells the story of four modern Australian families through the eyes of stay at home dads. The ten-part series is produced by Sue Seeary and Drew Proffitt and will be directed by Geoff Bennett and Shirley Barrett. The show's stable of seven writers includes Griff the Invisible screenwriter Leon Ford.
After being commissioned by the ABC last October, Essential Media & Entertainment's adaptation of Peter Temple's novel The Broken Shore has also received funding. The adaptation is written by Andrew Knight, directed by Jeffrey Walker and produced by Ian Collie. It follows big-city detective Joe Cashin as he discovers that all may not be as it appears in a quiet coastal town.
FremantleMedia is producing Mr & Mrs Murder for Ten. The 13-part series...
Nine's House Husbands tells the story of four modern Australian families through the eyes of stay at home dads. The ten-part series is produced by Sue Seeary and Drew Proffitt and will be directed by Geoff Bennett and Shirley Barrett. The show's stable of seven writers includes Griff the Invisible screenwriter Leon Ford.
After being commissioned by the ABC last October, Essential Media & Entertainment's adaptation of Peter Temple's novel The Broken Shore has also received funding. The adaptation is written by Andrew Knight, directed by Jeffrey Walker and produced by Ian Collie. It follows big-city detective Joe Cashin as he discovers that all may not be as it appears in a quiet coastal town.
FremantleMedia is producing Mr & Mrs Murder for Ten. The 13-part series...
- 5/4/2012
- by Amanda Diaz
- IF.com.au
For anyone expecting the indigenous cinema of Australia to still revolve around post apocalyptic resource battles between roving bands of homicidal punks or bawdy comedies concerning working class types being transported from the shimmering outback to a modern urban milieu – with hilarious consequences of course – then a visit to the Barbican’s London Australian Film festival over the weekend would have shattered this redundant orthodoxy. Now in its 17th successful incarnation, the festival screened an unintentional double bill of movies from two female directors, two talents whom have crafted a historical drama and one contemporary drama respectively, where the ancient antipodean landscape provides an atmospheric background to the human theatrics that unfurl in the foreground.
The first of this duo is the period drama South Solitary in which Miranda Otto stars as Meredith Baxter, an unmarried young woman whom is accompanying her uncle to a remote island in the late...
The first of this duo is the period drama South Solitary in which Miranda Otto stars as Meredith Baxter, an unmarried young woman whom is accompanying her uncle to a remote island in the late...
- 5/10/2011
- by John
- SoundOnSight
Nominations for the 2011 Nsw Premier.s Literary Award were announced yesterday. including the $30,000 Script Writing Award. The award has been offered since 1990, and past recipients include Baz Luhrmann (Strictly Ballroom), Rolf de Heer (Bad Boy Bubby) and Chris Lilley (We Can Be Heroes). This year.s script writing award nominees include Shirley Barrett for South Solitary (Macgowan Films), Glen Dolman for telemovie Hawke (The Film Company), Michael Miller for The Hero.s Standard (Knapman Wyld TV, Sbs), John Misto for telemovie Sisters of War (Sisters of War Pty Ltd), Debra Oswald for TV series Offspring (Southern Star Entertainment) and Samantha Strauss for Dance Academy, Episode 13: Family (Werner Film Productions). Last year.s winners were Jane...
- 3/17/2011
- by Ruby Lennon
- IF.com.au
The shortlist for the 2011 Nsw Premier’s Literary Awards has been announced, and the script category includes South Solitary, Hawke, The Hero’s Standard, Sisters of War, Offspring and Dance Academy.
The winner, to be announced on May 16, will receive $30,000. The script nominees are:
Shirley Barrett, South Solitary (Macgowan Films) Glen Dolman, Hawke (The Film Company) Michael Miller, The Hero’s Standard (Knapman Wyld TV, Sbs) John Misto, Sisters of War (Sisters of War Pty Ltd) Debra Oswald, Offspring (Southern Star Entertainment) Samantha Strauss, Dance Academy, Episode 13: Family (Werner Film Productions)...
The winner, to be announced on May 16, will receive $30,000. The script nominees are:
Shirley Barrett, South Solitary (Macgowan Films) Glen Dolman, Hawke (The Film Company) Michael Miller, The Hero’s Standard (Knapman Wyld TV, Sbs) John Misto, Sisters of War (Sisters of War Pty Ltd) Debra Oswald, Offspring (Southern Star Entertainment) Samantha Strauss, Dance Academy, Episode 13: Family (Werner Film Productions)...
- 3/17/2011
- by Miguel Gonzalez
- Encore Magazine
The Darwin International Film Festival premiered last night with special guest Shirley Barrett’s South Solitary.
Barrett – who won the prestigious Camera D’Or for Best First Film at Cannes for Love Serenade - introduced the film and then held an audience question and answer session after the screening.
The festival, which runs until Sunday, will screen nine films in total including the Australian premiere of Hans-Christian Schmid’s Storm and Jacques Audiard’s Academy Award nominated The Prophet.
A full list of films being screened at the festival can be found here...
Barrett – who won the prestigious Camera D’Or for Best First Film at Cannes for Love Serenade - introduced the film and then held an audience question and answer session after the screening.
The festival, which runs until Sunday, will screen nine films in total including the Australian premiere of Hans-Christian Schmid’s Storm and Jacques Audiard’s Academy Award nominated The Prophet.
A full list of films being screened at the festival can be found here...
- 9/16/2010
- by georginap
- Encore Magazine
Hi in craft, but low in content, South Solitary is perfect for those who prize art for its own sake and a perfect example of why the rest of Australia is afraid of Australian films.
The Sydney Morning Herald won’t be getting a Christmas card from director Shirley Barrett.
At Encore, we recently published an unfavourable opinion of Brian Trenchard-Smith’s Arctic Blast, so we are not suggesting that all reviews of Australian films should be positive but… are the mainstream media too hard on most local projects? Would they have called Animal Kingdom “depressing” had it not won an award at Sundance and positive reviews from the Us?
Discuss.
The Sydney Morning Herald won’t be getting a Christmas card from director Shirley Barrett.
At Encore, we recently published an unfavourable opinion of Brian Trenchard-Smith’s Arctic Blast, so we are not suggesting that all reviews of Australian films should be positive but… are the mainstream media too hard on most local projects? Would they have called Animal Kingdom “depressing” had it not won an award at Sundance and positive reviews from the Us?
Discuss.
- 8/10/2010
- by Miguel Gonzalez
- Encore Magazine
Courtesy of Icon Film, we have passes for Shirley Barrett’s South Solitary, with Miranda Otto, Marton Csokas and Barry Otto.
South Solitary is the story of an unmarried 35-year old woman, Meredith (Miranda Otto), who arrives at a remote lighthouse island to assist her strict uncle (Barry Otto), the recentlly-appointed keeper planning on bringing some discipline to the operation. An error of judgement leaves Meredith with a withdrawn assistant (Marton Csokas) as her only companion.
South Solitary opens on July 29. You can read our feature here.
To win, email miguel@focalattractions.com.au and tell us, when watching a period film, is there any particular decade or century that you would have liked to live in?...
South Solitary is the story of an unmarried 35-year old woman, Meredith (Miranda Otto), who arrives at a remote lighthouse island to assist her strict uncle (Barry Otto), the recentlly-appointed keeper planning on bringing some discipline to the operation. An error of judgement leaves Meredith with a withdrawn assistant (Marton Csokas) as her only companion.
South Solitary opens on July 29. You can read our feature here.
To win, email miguel@focalattractions.com.au and tell us, when watching a period film, is there any particular decade or century that you would have liked to live in?...
- 7/28/2010
- by Miguel Gonzalez
- Encore Magazine
Director Shirley Barrett didn’t get to shoot South Solitary on her dream island, but she found that Plan B is sometimes better. Miguel Gonzalez writes.
Eight years ago Barrett stayed at the first cast concrete lighthouse in Australia, Green Cape, in southern Nsw – it now provides accommodation for visitors. She was there doing research for a film she had written, about whaling in the early 1900s. Eventually Barrett came to the conclusion that it was unlikely that the project would ever be made, due to its cost and the VFX it required. Barrett then started reading copies of the lighthouse log book, which described local shipwrecks and how homing pigeons were so well fed and lovingly tended to that, when they were required to fly home, they simply refused to do it. Barrett had found a new idea for a film.
“A small group of people who have to...
Eight years ago Barrett stayed at the first cast concrete lighthouse in Australia, Green Cape, in southern Nsw – it now provides accommodation for visitors. She was there doing research for a film she had written, about whaling in the early 1900s. Eventually Barrett came to the conclusion that it was unlikely that the project would ever be made, due to its cost and the VFX it required. Barrett then started reading copies of the lighthouse log book, which described local shipwrecks and how homing pigeons were so well fed and lovingly tended to that, when they were required to fly home, they simply refused to do it. Barrett had found a new idea for a film.
“A small group of people who have to...
- 7/28/2010
- by Miguel Gonzalez
- Encore Magazine
Bob Ellis looks back at this year’s Sydney Film Festival.
We are forbidden urination after a three-hour film and herded bursting out into the rain and pushed in front of speeding traffic by big Tongan guardians of the Red Carpet while inside, in the ever-gorgeous art-deco foyer, barmen and pie vendors gazed on its lovely emptiness planning their bankruptcies and other careers and cursing, like all of us, the Clare Stewart Effect on world cinema.
Audiences entering successive sessions without hellish incident these last 113 years have not educated this woman; clamour, ticketless offices, caffeine deprivation, pissed trousers and lack of a chance to chat between sessions (or even sit on the marble steps) have characterised her Cromwellian rule for years now and several deaths, I calculate, from the pelting rain and it is wrong for her to preen her ghastly dress sense in golden spotlight just because certain films...
We are forbidden urination after a three-hour film and herded bursting out into the rain and pushed in front of speeding traffic by big Tongan guardians of the Red Carpet while inside, in the ever-gorgeous art-deco foyer, barmen and pie vendors gazed on its lovely emptiness planning their bankruptcies and other careers and cursing, like all of us, the Clare Stewart Effect on world cinema.
Audiences entering successive sessions without hellish incident these last 113 years have not educated this woman; clamour, ticketless offices, caffeine deprivation, pissed trousers and lack of a chance to chat between sessions (or even sit on the marble steps) have characterised her Cromwellian rule for years now and several deaths, I calculate, from the pelting rain and it is wrong for her to preen her ghastly dress sense in golden spotlight just because certain films...
- 6/23/2010
- by Miguel Gonzalez
- Encore Magazine
Shirley Barrett’s latest film South Solitary, which opened the Sydney Film Festival last night, has received mixed opinions from the Twitter users in the audience.
While Empire Magazine called it “beautifully shot and performed”, others said that the protagonist’s pet – ‘a sheep in a pink bonnet’ – was the highlight of the film.
The film is the story of a woman (Miranda Otto) who in 1927 arrives at South Solitary island, accompanying her uncle (Barry Otto), the new lighthouse manager.
These are some of the reactions from last night’s premiere:
EncoreMagazine: South Solitary = delicious. Congrats to everyone involved! POM_STAR: Sff opened last night. Speeches too long, South Solitary film was terrible. Hope things improve! empiremag_aus: South Solitary worked well as the Sff opening film. Beautifully shot and performed, the frothy humour won over the State crowd. TristanTweeting: Chatted with Shirley Barrett, director of #sydfilmfest opener, South Solitary.
While Empire Magazine called it “beautifully shot and performed”, others said that the protagonist’s pet – ‘a sheep in a pink bonnet’ – was the highlight of the film.
The film is the story of a woman (Miranda Otto) who in 1927 arrives at South Solitary island, accompanying her uncle (Barry Otto), the new lighthouse manager.
These are some of the reactions from last night’s premiere:
EncoreMagazine: South Solitary = delicious. Congrats to everyone involved! POM_STAR: Sff opened last night. Speeches too long, South Solitary film was terrible. Hope things improve! empiremag_aus: South Solitary worked well as the Sff opening film. Beautifully shot and performed, the frothy humour won over the State crowd. TristanTweeting: Chatted with Shirley Barrett, director of #sydfilmfest opener, South Solitary.
- 6/3/2010
- by Miguel Gonzalez
- Encore Magazine
Shirley Henderson in Todd Solondz’s Life During Wartime (top); Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson in Michael Winterbottom’s The Killer Inside Me (bottom) The 57th annual Sydney Film Festival, which kicks off in two days, has announced the complete list of its Official Competition Jury members. British documentary filmmaker Lucy Walker, whose Countdown to Zero was screened at Cannes earlier this year, will be joining jury president Jan Chapman, the Australian producer of Bright Star and The Piano; John Cooper, director of the Sundance Film Festival; Australian director Shirley Barrett, whose South Solitary is the festival’s Opening Night presentation; and [...]...
- 5/31/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Documentary director Lucy Walker has been announced as the final member of the Jury for the Sydney Film Festival official competition.
Walker (Devil’s Playground, Blindsight, Waste Land and Countdown to Zero) joins president Jan Chapman, the director of the Sundance Film Festival John Cooper and directors Shirley Barrett and Yonfan.
The five industry professionals will judge the 12 films in competition, and award the $60,000 prize for new directions in film.
Walker’s Waste Land – about Brazilian artist Vik Muniz and a lively group of catadores, or pickers of recyclable materials, who find a way from the world’s largest garbage dump in Rio to the most prestigious auction house in London via the surprising transformation of refuse into contemporary art – will have its Australian premiere at Sff on June 3.
Walker (Devil’s Playground, Blindsight, Waste Land and Countdown to Zero) joins president Jan Chapman, the director of the Sundance Film Festival John Cooper and directors Shirley Barrett and Yonfan.
The five industry professionals will judge the 12 films in competition, and award the $60,000 prize for new directions in film.
Walker’s Waste Land – about Brazilian artist Vik Muniz and a lively group of catadores, or pickers of recyclable materials, who find a way from the world’s largest garbage dump in Rio to the most prestigious auction house in London via the surprising transformation of refuse into contemporary art – will have its Australian premiere at Sff on June 3.
- 5/31/2010
- by Miguel Gonzalez
- Encore Magazine
Attendees at this year's Sydney Film Festival are in for a treat with the line-up of free public talks recently unveiled. This dynamic program is set to feature a vast array of talented filmmakers and actors speaking about their films, careers and wider questions about the local and international film industry. The festival will open with David Stratton as he converses with the cast and crew of Shirley Barrett's tender and sweeping South Solitary on June 3. Barrett will be joined by the film's producer Marian Macgowan and the main actors Miranda Otto, Barry Otto (Australia) and Marton Csokas (The Tree, Alice In Wonderland).
- 5/26/2010
- FilmInk.com.au
Attendees at this year's Sydney Film Festival are in for a treat with the line-up of free public talks recently unveiled. This dynamic program is set to feature a vast array of talented filmmakers and actors speaking about their films, careers and wider questions about the local and international film industry. The festival will open with David Stratton as he converses with the cast and crew of Shirley Barrett's tender and sweeping South Solitary on June 3. Barrett will be joined by the film's producer Marian Macgowan and the main actors Miranda Otto, Barry Otto (Australia) and Marton Csokas (The Tree, Alice In Wonderland).
- 5/25/2010
- FilmInk.com.au
Directors Shirley Barrett and Yonfan (Hong Kong) have joined the jury for the Sydney Film Festival’s Official Competition.
They will judge the 12 films under the direction of jury president Jan Chapman, working with the director of the Sundance Film Festival, John Cooper, and a fifth jury member yet to be announced.
Barrett’s latest project, South Solitary, will premiere on June 2, opening the festival. It will be released by Icon on July 29.
The director’s 1996 Love Serenade will also screen, as part of the Deluxe/Kodak film preservation program (June 12).
Yonfan’s Prince of Tears - Hong Kong’s entry for the 2010 Academy Awards – will also premiere at the festival on June 9.
The wining film will be announced on closing night, June 14.
The 12 films are:
• Four Lions, Dir Christopher Morris
• Heartbeats, Dir-Scr Xavier Dolan
• How I Ended This Summer, Dir-Scr Alexej Popogrebski
• If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle,...
They will judge the 12 films under the direction of jury president Jan Chapman, working with the director of the Sundance Film Festival, John Cooper, and a fifth jury member yet to be announced.
Barrett’s latest project, South Solitary, will premiere on June 2, opening the festival. It will be released by Icon on July 29.
The director’s 1996 Love Serenade will also screen, as part of the Deluxe/Kodak film preservation program (June 12).
Yonfan’s Prince of Tears - Hong Kong’s entry for the 2010 Academy Awards – will also premiere at the festival on June 9.
The wining film will be announced on closing night, June 14.
The 12 films are:
• Four Lions, Dir Christopher Morris
• Heartbeats, Dir-Scr Xavier Dolan
• How I Ended This Summer, Dir-Scr Alexej Popogrebski
• If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle,...
- 5/20/2010
- by Miguel Gonzalez
- Encore Magazine
The Shirley Barrett period drama South Solitary will be released by Icon Film on July 29.
According to an Icon spokesperson, the film is likely to open with 25-30 prints.
The release follows the world premiere of the film at the opening night gala of the Sydney Film Festival on June 2.
It tells the story of Meredith (Miranda Otto), a 35-year-old unmarried woman arrives at a remote lighthouse island in 1928 with her uncle (Barry Otto) and new head keeper. Bad weather and misadventure leave her marooned, with her only companion being the sullen and withdrawn assistant keeper Fleet (Marton Csokas). A tender, faltering courtship between the pair ensues.
According to an Icon spokesperson, the film is likely to open with 25-30 prints.
The release follows the world premiere of the film at the opening night gala of the Sydney Film Festival on June 2.
It tells the story of Meredith (Miranda Otto), a 35-year-old unmarried woman arrives at a remote lighthouse island in 1928 with her uncle (Barry Otto) and new head keeper. Bad weather and misadventure leave her marooned, with her only companion being the sullen and withdrawn assistant keeper Fleet (Marton Csokas). A tender, faltering courtship between the pair ensues.
- 5/10/2010
- by Miguel Gonzalez
- Encore Magazine
Sydney Film Festival (Sff) has unleashed the Official Program for the 2010 Festival, which runs from 2-14 June 2010. The festival will present 157 Films from 47 Countries out of which 92 are Australian Premieres, 2 international Premieres and 7 World Premieres.
The 2010 Festival kicks off with the World Premiere of Shirley Barrett’s South Solitary. The Australian Premiere of The Kids Are All Right directed by Lisa Cholodenko will close the festival.
2010 Jury President is Australian Producer Jan Chapman whose list of credits includes The Piano, Lantana and most recently, Bright Star. Jan will be joined by Sundance Film Festival Director John Cooper.
Official Competition
Featured in this year’s Official Competition line-up include:
• Three films direct from 2010 Cannes Film Festival – including Cannes Closing Night film, Julie Bertucelli’s Australian/French Co-Production The Tree, along with Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (screening in Cannes Official Competition) and Canadian...
The 2010 Festival kicks off with the World Premiere of Shirley Barrett’s South Solitary. The Australian Premiere of The Kids Are All Right directed by Lisa Cholodenko will close the festival.
2010 Jury President is Australian Producer Jan Chapman whose list of credits includes The Piano, Lantana and most recently, Bright Star. Jan will be joined by Sundance Film Festival Director John Cooper.
Official Competition
Featured in this year’s Official Competition line-up include:
• Three films direct from 2010 Cannes Film Festival – including Cannes Closing Night film, Julie Bertucelli’s Australian/French Co-Production The Tree, along with Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (screening in Cannes Official Competition) and Canadian...
- 5/5/2010
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Julie Bertucelli’s The Tree and Ben C. Lucas’ Wasted on the Young will represent Australia in the Sydney Film Festival Official Competition.
They will compete against Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Heartbeats, How I Ended this Summer, If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle, The Killer Inside Me, Life During Wartime, Lola, Women Without Men, Four Lions and Moloch Tropical for the $60,000 cash prize.
The Jury president is producer Jan Chapman, joined by Sundance director John Cooper and three other jurors, which will be announced in the coming weeks.
This year’s edition of the Sff will open on June 2 with Shirley Barrett’s local film South Solitary, starring Miranda Otto and Barry Otto. The closing night selection is the American production The Kids Are Alright, directed by Lisa Cholodenko and starring Julianne Moore, Annette Bening, Mark Ruffalo and Australian actress Mia Wasikowska.
Other local films...
They will compete against Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Heartbeats, How I Ended this Summer, If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle, The Killer Inside Me, Life During Wartime, Lola, Women Without Men, Four Lions and Moloch Tropical for the $60,000 cash prize.
The Jury president is producer Jan Chapman, joined by Sundance director John Cooper and three other jurors, which will be announced in the coming weeks.
This year’s edition of the Sff will open on June 2 with Shirley Barrett’s local film South Solitary, starring Miranda Otto and Barry Otto. The closing night selection is the American production The Kids Are Alright, directed by Lisa Cholodenko and starring Julianne Moore, Annette Bening, Mark Ruffalo and Australian actress Mia Wasikowska.
Other local films...
- 5/5/2010
- by Miguel Gonzalez
- Encore Magazine
Australia, that land of cinematic wacky oddballs, gives us yet another absurdist comedy in Shirley Barrett's debut feature, winner of the Camera d'Or at Cannes and recently showcased at the 14th Miami Film Festival. This bizarre comedy about a romantic triangle between two love-starved sisters and the object of their affections, who may or may not be a fish, has a genuine charm and an anarchic humor that is all the more effective for the deadpan nature of its presentation. "Love Serenade" is at times very, very funny, although its slow rhythms may prevent it from breaking out of the art houses. Miramax is releasing domestically.
The film is set in the town of Sunray, a desolate burg where the local Chinese restaurant is forever empty. The sole inhabitants of the town seem to be Vicky-Ann (Rebecca Frith), who works at the beauty parlor, and her emotionally repressed younger sister, Dimity (Miranda Otto). Dimity waits tables at the aforementioned restaurant, whose cook has a propensity for nudism.
The sisters are delighted when they discover that a celebrity has moved to town: Ken Sherry (George Shevtsov), a DJ who made a name for himself in Brisbane and who is now spinning '70s-era discs at the dilapidated local radio station. The desperate Vicky-Ann is wildly excited at the prospect of snaring the laid-back Sherry and shows up at his door bearing the gift of a very large fish. He's resistant to all her efforts, but when Dimity tries a more direct approach and simply takes her clothes off, he's more than willing to relieve her of her virginity. The resulting complications (Sherry eventually takes up with Vicky-Ann as well) eventually find the randy DJ receiving an unexpectedly dramatic comeuppance.
Director-screenwriter Barrett has a distinctly original comic sensibility and displays a real expertise in her dialogue and characterizations and in the film's wide-screen visual compositions, which often provide their own witty, deadpan comic touches. This is the kind of film when you never exactly know what is going to happen next or what unexpected dimension the characters will reveal -- and the revelations are enormously fun.
On the other hand, there is too much of an effort toward the fanciful, and the entire subplot about Sherry possibly being of another species seems overdone and pointless.
The director has garnered expert comic performances from the three leads. Shevtsov, barely changing his facial expressions and delivering all his dialogue in the same slightly bored monotone, is a delight as the cynical DJ and manages to make his character utterly endearing in his sleaziness. Frith, working at an opposite, hysterical pitch, is a perfect counterpoint. But it is the young Otto who steals the film. Her Dimity is a marvelous comic creation, containing an ever-surprising combination of naivete and guile, and her wordless comic reactions generate howls from the audience.
Another bountiful source of humor in the film is the perfectly selected soundtrack of '70s-era oldies, including numerous heavy-breathing seductive classics by Barry White.
LOVE SERENADE
Miramax
Director-screenwriter Shirley Barrett
Producer Jan Chapman
Director of photography Mandy Walker
Film editor Denise Haratzis
Color/stereo
Cast:
Dimity Hurley Miranda Otto
Vicky-Ann Hurley Rebecca Frith
Ken Sherry George Shevtsov
Albert Lee John Alansu
Running time -- 100 minutes
No MPAA rating...
The film is set in the town of Sunray, a desolate burg where the local Chinese restaurant is forever empty. The sole inhabitants of the town seem to be Vicky-Ann (Rebecca Frith), who works at the beauty parlor, and her emotionally repressed younger sister, Dimity (Miranda Otto). Dimity waits tables at the aforementioned restaurant, whose cook has a propensity for nudism.
The sisters are delighted when they discover that a celebrity has moved to town: Ken Sherry (George Shevtsov), a DJ who made a name for himself in Brisbane and who is now spinning '70s-era discs at the dilapidated local radio station. The desperate Vicky-Ann is wildly excited at the prospect of snaring the laid-back Sherry and shows up at his door bearing the gift of a very large fish. He's resistant to all her efforts, but when Dimity tries a more direct approach and simply takes her clothes off, he's more than willing to relieve her of her virginity. The resulting complications (Sherry eventually takes up with Vicky-Ann as well) eventually find the randy DJ receiving an unexpectedly dramatic comeuppance.
Director-screenwriter Barrett has a distinctly original comic sensibility and displays a real expertise in her dialogue and characterizations and in the film's wide-screen visual compositions, which often provide their own witty, deadpan comic touches. This is the kind of film when you never exactly know what is going to happen next or what unexpected dimension the characters will reveal -- and the revelations are enormously fun.
On the other hand, there is too much of an effort toward the fanciful, and the entire subplot about Sherry possibly being of another species seems overdone and pointless.
The director has garnered expert comic performances from the three leads. Shevtsov, barely changing his facial expressions and delivering all his dialogue in the same slightly bored monotone, is a delight as the cynical DJ and manages to make his character utterly endearing in his sleaziness. Frith, working at an opposite, hysterical pitch, is a perfect counterpoint. But it is the young Otto who steals the film. Her Dimity is a marvelous comic creation, containing an ever-surprising combination of naivete and guile, and her wordless comic reactions generate howls from the audience.
Another bountiful source of humor in the film is the perfectly selected soundtrack of '70s-era oldies, including numerous heavy-breathing seductive classics by Barry White.
LOVE SERENADE
Miramax
Director-screenwriter Shirley Barrett
Producer Jan Chapman
Director of photography Mandy Walker
Film editor Denise Haratzis
Color/stereo
Cast:
Dimity Hurley Miranda Otto
Vicky-Ann Hurley Rebecca Frith
Ken Sherry George Shevtsov
Albert Lee John Alansu
Running time -- 100 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/12/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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