Documentary of a music teacher who journeys through rural Australia auditioning children for her choir is sweet, slight and good-natured
Lisa Nicol’s modestly charming documentary Wide Open Sky takes some potshots at the Australian education system for its general emphasis of sport over music. But from a cinematic point of view, when it comes to narrative structure and key themes there is usually not a great deal that differentiates feel-good films focused on either pastime – particularly when it comes to stories propelled by young participants.
Related: 'I just sat there and cried': the making of Remembering the Man
Continue reading...
Lisa Nicol’s modestly charming documentary Wide Open Sky takes some potshots at the Australian education system for its general emphasis of sport over music. But from a cinematic point of view, when it comes to narrative structure and key themes there is usually not a great deal that differentiates feel-good films focused on either pastime – particularly when it comes to stories propelled by young participants.
Related: 'I just sat there and cried': the making of Remembering the Man
Continue reading...
- 4/14/2016
- by Luke Buckmaster
- The Guardian - Film News
Adg awards nominee Jennifer Peedom.
More than a third of nominees for this year's Australian Directors Guild awards are women.
Two of the four nominees in the Best Direction in a Feature Film category are women and all five films in the Best Documentary Feature category were directed or co-directed by female filmmakers, the Adg said in a statement..
The 2016 awards will be presented across sixteen categories including film, television, animation, multiplatform, music and advertising..
The nominees for Best Direction in a Feature Film are Sue Brooks for Looking for Grace, Jocelyn Moorhouse for The Dressmaker, Bentley Dean and Martin Butler for Tanna and Jeremy Sims for Last Cab to Darwin.
This year there are five nominations for Best Feature Documentary: Nick Bird and Eleanor Sharpe for Remembering The Man, Jennifer Peedom for Sherpa, Margot Nash for The Silences, Stefan Moore and Susan Lambert for Tyke Elephant Outlaw and Lisa Nicol for Wide Open Sky.
More than a third of nominees for this year's Australian Directors Guild awards are women.
Two of the four nominees in the Best Direction in a Feature Film category are women and all five films in the Best Documentary Feature category were directed or co-directed by female filmmakers, the Adg said in a statement..
The 2016 awards will be presented across sixteen categories including film, television, animation, multiplatform, music and advertising..
The nominees for Best Direction in a Feature Film are Sue Brooks for Looking for Grace, Jocelyn Moorhouse for The Dressmaker, Bentley Dean and Martin Butler for Tanna and Jeremy Sims for Last Cab to Darwin.
This year there are five nominations for Best Feature Documentary: Nick Bird and Eleanor Sharpe for Remembering The Man, Jennifer Peedom for Sherpa, Margot Nash for The Silences, Stefan Moore and Susan Lambert for Tyke Elephant Outlaw and Lisa Nicol for Wide Open Sky.
- 4/12/2016
- by Staff Writer
- IF.com.au
Wide Open Sky.
Wide Open Sky was the winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at last year's Sydney Film Festival.
Director Lisa Nicol's documentary tells the story of Moorambilla Voices, an outback children's choir assembled every year by teacher Michelle Leonard.
"Michelle had children at the same school as me, and I heard about her choir and her doing incredible things with these kids who have no music education", said Nicol (whose previous documentary, A Night At Sea, was about musician Louis Tillett).
"It was so ambitious, and the more I heard about it the more intrigued I was"..
Nicol got the ABC onboard by filming a twelve-minute sizzle reel at one of Leonard's music camps..
For the shoot itself, the filmmaker and regular collaborators Anna Craney (editor/producer) and Carolyn Constantine (Dop) plus a sound recordist travelled around the remote regions of western Nsw.
"We followed Michelle throughout the year.
Wide Open Sky was the winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at last year's Sydney Film Festival.
Director Lisa Nicol's documentary tells the story of Moorambilla Voices, an outback children's choir assembled every year by teacher Michelle Leonard.
"Michelle had children at the same school as me, and I heard about her choir and her doing incredible things with these kids who have no music education", said Nicol (whose previous documentary, A Night At Sea, was about musician Louis Tillett).
"It was so ambitious, and the more I heard about it the more intrigued I was"..
Nicol got the ABC onboard by filming a twelve-minute sizzle reel at one of Leonard's music camps..
For the shoot itself, the filmmaker and regular collaborators Anna Craney (editor/producer) and Carolyn Constantine (Dop) plus a sound recordist travelled around the remote regions of western Nsw.
"We followed Michelle throughout the year.
- 2/11/2016
- by Harry Windsor
- IF.com.au
Lisa Nichol.s Wide Open Sky has won the Foxtel Movies Audience award for best documentary feature at the Sydney Film Festival.
The doc chronicles the journey of an outback Australian children.s choir from auditions to their end-of-year concert and choir founder Michelle Leonard.s mission to bring a desolate musical landscape back to life.
Nicol has previously directed A Night at Sea with Louis Tillet, Pray Ho'tell and Outback Choir.
Voted as the best narrative feature was Alfonso Gomez-Rejon's Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, the saga of a self-deprecating high school student who is forced to befriend a classmate who's been diagnosed with leukaemia. Foxtel Movies Audience Award for Best Documentary top 5:
1. Wide Open Sky, directed by Lisa Nicol 2. Gayby Baby, directed by Maya Newell 3. The Lost Aviator, directed by Andrew Lancaster 4. The Bolivian Case, directed by Violeta Ayala 5. Sherpa, directed by Jennifer Peedom...
The doc chronicles the journey of an outback Australian children.s choir from auditions to their end-of-year concert and choir founder Michelle Leonard.s mission to bring a desolate musical landscape back to life.
Nicol has previously directed A Night at Sea with Louis Tillet, Pray Ho'tell and Outback Choir.
Voted as the best narrative feature was Alfonso Gomez-Rejon's Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, the saga of a self-deprecating high school student who is forced to befriend a classmate who's been diagnosed with leukaemia. Foxtel Movies Audience Award for Best Documentary top 5:
1. Wide Open Sky, directed by Lisa Nicol 2. Gayby Baby, directed by Maya Newell 3. The Lost Aviator, directed by Andrew Lancaster 4. The Bolivian Case, directed by Violeta Ayala 5. Sherpa, directed by Jennifer Peedom...
- 6/17/2015
- by Staff writer
- IF.com.au
Every autumn, Australian conductor Michelle Leonard drives 4,000 kms across the outback of New South Wales in order to audition over 2,000 children for her Moorambilla Voices choir. Wide Open Sky is a documentary by director Lisa Nicol that chronicles the journey of this choir from auditions to their end-of-year concert, which is the headline act at the annual Moorambilla Festival in Coonamble, a country town with a population of a few thousands.At the beginning of Wide Open Sky, viewers get told that this area is the one of the most remote and disadvantaged regions in the state. For the children living there, the choir represents a rare opportunity for them not only to learn music, but also to express themselves outside the usual environment...
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- 6/12/2015
- Screen Anarchy
The 12 titles include Jafar Panahi’s Berlinale winner, Roy Andersson’s Venice victor and Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s Sundance prize-winner.Scroll down for competition line-up
A story shot entirely on iPhone, Sean Baker’s Tangerine, about a transgender La prostitute very cranky with her boyfriend, and another that is told in one take, Sebastian Schipper’s Berlinale award-winner Victoria, which features the Berlin party scene and a bank robbery, are among 12 movies in competition in the Sydney Film Festival (Sff).
Two Iranian films, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad’s Tales and Jafar Panahi’s Berlinale Golden Bear winner Tehran Taxi, are also in the running for the Us$50,000 (A$64,000) prize, as are French director Thomas Salvador’s “minimalist superhero film” Vincent, which he also stars in, and Portuguese director Miguel Gomes’ Arabian Nights, a six-hours-plus portrait of Portugal set to premiere at Cannes this month.
The three selections that have already won major prizes at top tier festivals are Francesco Munzi’s Italian...
A story shot entirely on iPhone, Sean Baker’s Tangerine, about a transgender La prostitute very cranky with her boyfriend, and another that is told in one take, Sebastian Schipper’s Berlinale award-winner Victoria, which features the Berlin party scene and a bank robbery, are among 12 movies in competition in the Sydney Film Festival (Sff).
Two Iranian films, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad’s Tales and Jafar Panahi’s Berlinale Golden Bear winner Tehran Taxi, are also in the running for the Us$50,000 (A$64,000) prize, as are French director Thomas Salvador’s “minimalist superhero film” Vincent, which he also stars in, and Portuguese director Miguel Gomes’ Arabian Nights, a six-hours-plus portrait of Portugal set to premiere at Cannes this month.
The three selections that have already won major prizes at top tier festivals are Francesco Munzi’s Italian...
- 5/6/2015
- by Sandy.George@me.com (Sandy George)
- ScreenDaily
Neil Armfield.s Holding the Man, Simon Stone.s The Daughter, Jeremy Sims. Last Cab to Darwin and Jen Peedom.s feature doc Sherpa will have their world premieres at the Sydney Film Festival.
The festival program unveiled today includes 33 world premieres (including 22 shorts) and 135 Australian premieres (with 18 shorts) among 251 titles from 68 countries.
Among the other premieres will be Daina Reid.s The Secret River, Ruby Entertainment's. ABC-tv miniseries starring Oliver Jackson Cohen and Sarah Snook, and three Oz docs, Marc Eberle.s The Cambodian Space Project — Not Easy Rock .n. Roll, Steve Thomas. Freedom Stories and Lisa Nicol.s Wide Open Sky.
Festival director Nashen Moodley boasted. this year.s event will be far larger than 2014's when 183 films from 47 countries were screened, including 15 world premieres. The expansion is possible in part due to the addition of two new screening venues in Newtown and Liverpool.
As previously announced, Brendan Cowell...
The festival program unveiled today includes 33 world premieres (including 22 shorts) and 135 Australian premieres (with 18 shorts) among 251 titles from 68 countries.
Among the other premieres will be Daina Reid.s The Secret River, Ruby Entertainment's. ABC-tv miniseries starring Oliver Jackson Cohen and Sarah Snook, and three Oz docs, Marc Eberle.s The Cambodian Space Project — Not Easy Rock .n. Roll, Steve Thomas. Freedom Stories and Lisa Nicol.s Wide Open Sky.
Festival director Nashen Moodley boasted. this year.s event will be far larger than 2014's when 183 films from 47 countries were screened, including 15 world premieres. The expansion is possible in part due to the addition of two new screening venues in Newtown and Liverpool.
As previously announced, Brendan Cowell...
- 5/6/2015
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Maya Newell.s Gayby Baby and Lisa Nicol.s Wide Open Sky will screen as part of an expanded program of family-friendly cinema at the 62nd Sydney Film Festival.
Also premiering will be Tomm Moore.s Oscar-nominated animated documentary Song of the Sea and Indian director M. Manikandan.s live action adventure The Crow.s Egg.
In addition, a kids animation showcase will feature shorts targeted at children aged 3-8.
Gayby Baby tells the stories of four children who recount their experiences of growing up with same-sex parents.
The follow-up to Nicol's ABC documentary Outback Choir, Wide Open Sky chronicles the journey of a children's choir in a remote, disadvantaged region from auditions to end-of-year concert.
Sydney Film Festival director Nashen Moodley said the expanded family program is replete with a range of styles and genres.
"The festival aims to ignite a love of film in audiences both young and old,...
Also premiering will be Tomm Moore.s Oscar-nominated animated documentary Song of the Sea and Indian director M. Manikandan.s live action adventure The Crow.s Egg.
In addition, a kids animation showcase will feature shorts targeted at children aged 3-8.
Gayby Baby tells the stories of four children who recount their experiences of growing up with same-sex parents.
The follow-up to Nicol's ABC documentary Outback Choir, Wide Open Sky chronicles the journey of a children's choir in a remote, disadvantaged region from auditions to end-of-year concert.
Sydney Film Festival director Nashen Moodley said the expanded family program is replete with a range of styles and genres.
"The festival aims to ignite a love of film in audiences both young and old,...
- 4/28/2015
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
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