The Matrix cast and crew revolutionized movies 25 years ago with a mesmerizing story and cutting-edge technology. Directed by the Wachowskis, The Matrix became a surprise hit in 1999 and launched a franchise that extended to movies, comics, and video games.
Keanu Reeves gave a career-defining performance as Neo, paving the way for his status as a bonafide action star and fan-favorite actor. His supporting cast in The Matrix included Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne, and Hugo Weaving. Together, they delivered a movie that influenced a generation of filmmaking and holds up 25 years later. The Matrix may have been a surprise then, but now it’s no wonder the cast remains active in movies and TV.
Keanu Reeves Keanu Reeves | Brenda ChaseOnline USA, Inc (L); Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images (R)
Before being cast in The Matrix, Keanu Reeves was best known for the Bill and Ted comedies and action movies like Point Break and Speed.
Keanu Reeves gave a career-defining performance as Neo, paving the way for his status as a bonafide action star and fan-favorite actor. His supporting cast in The Matrix included Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne, and Hugo Weaving. Together, they delivered a movie that influenced a generation of filmmaking and holds up 25 years later. The Matrix may have been a surprise then, but now it’s no wonder the cast remains active in movies and TV.
Keanu Reeves Keanu Reeves | Brenda ChaseOnline USA, Inc (L); Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images (R)
Before being cast in The Matrix, Keanu Reeves was best known for the Bill and Ted comedies and action movies like Point Break and Speed.
- 3/29/2024
- by Matt Moore
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
This dark, moody and minimalist key art from Australian design house Barlow.Agency injects some metaphor and iconography into Mark Leonard Winter's feature film debut, The Rooster. We have featured the design work of Timothy Barlow's company a few years ago for the short film, Green. The textured feather and muted red comb of the rooster is counterbalanced with the warm smoothness of the egg in its beak (the colour of which is echoed in the brown of the eye). The title and credit block are well enough out of the way at the bottom, so much so that all I can focus on is the bird and its eye. It is compelling even if it does not offer much of a clue as to what the...
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- 3/8/2024
- Screen Anarchy
The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta) handed out its 2024 awards on Saturday, and Talk to Me won big, including for best film and best director, while Margot Robbie was honored with the Trailblazer Award.
Barbie, Oppenheimer and The Bear were among the Hollywood honorees, with big Australian winners including the likes of The Newsreader, Deadloch and The New Boy.
“Talk to Me is the biggest winner of the night, adding a further three awards to its collection and taking its total wins to eight, following the Aacta Industry Awards earlier in the week,” the Australian Academy noted. The honors include the one for best direction in film for sibling-YouTubers-turned-directors Danny and Michael Philippou.
Among acting talent earning trophies, rising star Sophie Wilde won the best lead actress in film award for her performance in Talk to Me, while Aswan Reid got the best lead actor in film...
Barbie, Oppenheimer and The Bear were among the Hollywood honorees, with big Australian winners including the likes of The Newsreader, Deadloch and The New Boy.
“Talk to Me is the biggest winner of the night, adding a further three awards to its collection and taking its total wins to eight, following the Aacta Industry Awards earlier in the week,” the Australian Academy noted. The honors include the one for best direction in film for sibling-YouTubers-turned-directors Danny and Michael Philippou.
Among acting talent earning trophies, rising star Sophie Wilde won the best lead actress in film award for her performance in Talk to Me, while Aswan Reid got the best lead actor in film...
- 2/10/2024
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“Talk to Me” was the runaway winner at this year’s main awards from the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts.
The native production, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival last year and was acquired by A24 for North American distribution, scored three of the evening’s top prizes, including wins for best film, best lead actress for Sophie Wilde and best direction for the filmmaking duo of brothers, Danny Philippou and Michael Philoppou.
Other winners from this year’s edition include “The New Boy” stars Aswan Reid and Deborah Mailman in lead actor and supporting actress, respectively, and Hugo Weaving in supporting actor for “The Rooster.”
The Aacta Awards were held Saturday evening at the Home of the Arts, Gold Coast in Queensland. Rebel Wilson served as host, while Australian star Margot Robbie was honored with the group’s trailblazer award.
See the full list of winners below.
The native production, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival last year and was acquired by A24 for North American distribution, scored three of the evening’s top prizes, including wins for best film, best lead actress for Sophie Wilde and best direction for the filmmaking duo of brothers, Danny Philippou and Michael Philoppou.
Other winners from this year’s edition include “The New Boy” stars Aswan Reid and Deborah Mailman in lead actor and supporting actress, respectively, and Hugo Weaving in supporting actor for “The Rooster.”
The Aacta Awards were held Saturday evening at the Home of the Arts, Gold Coast in Queensland. Rebel Wilson served as host, while Australian star Margot Robbie was honored with the group’s trailblazer award.
See the full list of winners below.
- 2/10/2024
- by J. Kim Murphy
- Variety Film + TV
Talk to Me was named Best Film at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, which were handed out today on the Gold Coast. The teen horror pic also won Best Director for Danny and Michael Philippou and Best Lead Actress for Sophie Wilde.
Talk to Me took eight total statuettes, including five from the Aacta Industry Awards earlier in the week. The Newsreader and Deadloch also won five AACTAs each, including the Industry nods.
The group also revealed its winners in TV, online and other categories. See the full list from both Aacta Awards ceremonies below.
Aswan Reid took Best Lead Actor in a Film for The New Boy, and his co-star Deborah Mailman won the Supporting Actress prize. Hugo Weaving scooped Best Supporting Actor for The Rooster and added a Best Lead Actor in a Drama trophy for Love Me.
On the TV side, The Newsreader took Best Drama Series,...
Talk to Me took eight total statuettes, including five from the Aacta Industry Awards earlier in the week. The Newsreader and Deadloch also won five AACTAs each, including the Industry nods.
The group also revealed its winners in TV, online and other categories. See the full list from both Aacta Awards ceremonies below.
Aswan Reid took Best Lead Actor in a Film for The New Boy, and his co-star Deborah Mailman won the Supporting Actress prize. Hugo Weaving scooped Best Supporting Actor for The Rooster and added a Best Lead Actor in a Drama trophy for Love Me.
On the TV side, The Newsreader took Best Drama Series,...
- 2/10/2024
- by Erik Pedersen and Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Hot Hosts Head For Hota
Australian actor Rebel Wilson has been named as the emcee of the 2024 edition of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta) awards. Wilson will take to the stage on Saturday, Feb. 10.
Two days earlier, on Feb. 8, singer and actor Harry Connick Jr. will be the host of the Aacta Industry Awards. Both hosts will be joined by some of the industry’s most dynamic stars presenting at the ceremonies. And both ceremonies, presented by Foxtel Group, will be held at the Home of the Arts (Hota) on the Gold Coast in Queensland.
Shorts To Features
Writer-director-actor Alice Englert, producer Jodi Matterson, director David Michôd, and producer Jamie Hilton, will be among the speakers at Flickerlab 2024 on Thursday. Pitched as a one-day journey from shorts to features, the Bondi, New South Wales-located event is backed by the Australian Film Television and Radio School (Aftrs...
Australian actor Rebel Wilson has been named as the emcee of the 2024 edition of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta) awards. Wilson will take to the stage on Saturday, Feb. 10.
Two days earlier, on Feb. 8, singer and actor Harry Connick Jr. will be the host of the Aacta Industry Awards. Both hosts will be joined by some of the industry’s most dynamic stars presenting at the ceremonies. And both ceremonies, presented by Foxtel Group, will be held at the Home of the Arts (Hota) on the Gold Coast in Queensland.
Shorts To Features
Writer-director-actor Alice Englert, producer Jodi Matterson, director David Michôd, and producer Jamie Hilton, will be among the speakers at Flickerlab 2024 on Thursday. Pitched as a one-day journey from shorts to features, the Bondi, New South Wales-located event is backed by the Australian Film Television and Radio School (Aftrs...
- 1/22/2024
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
The Yellow Affair has boarded world sales on Sundance World Cinema Dramatic Competition title “Reinas,” directed by Klaudia Reynicke. Variety has been given access to the trailer (below).
The film is set in Lima in the summer of 1992. Lucia, Aurora and their mother Elena are about to leave. They are apprehensive about saying goodbye to a country, to family and friends, but above all to Carlos, a father and ex-husband who has all but disappeared from their lives.
In the midst of Peru’s social and political chaos, this announced departure will give rise to contradictory feelings, reviving old regrets and generating new illusions. Facing the uncertainty of their future head on, their frustrations and fears are mixed with excitement and expectation, as the family faces the difficult truth about the losses this departure implies.
The Yellow Affair says the film is a “beautiful, dramatically intense and ultimately heart-warming film...
The film is set in Lima in the summer of 1992. Lucia, Aurora and their mother Elena are about to leave. They are apprehensive about saying goodbye to a country, to family and friends, but above all to Carlos, a father and ex-husband who has all but disappeared from their lives.
In the midst of Peru’s social and political chaos, this announced departure will give rise to contradictory feelings, reviving old regrets and generating new illusions. Facing the uncertainty of their future head on, their frustrations and fears are mixed with excitement and expectation, as the family faces the difficult truth about the losses this departure implies.
The Yellow Affair says the film is a “beautiful, dramatically intense and ultimately heart-warming film...
- 1/11/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
The Australian drama premiered at Cannes and stars Cate Blanchett.
Warwick Thornton’s The New Boy leads the nominations for the 2024 Aacta (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts) Awards with 12 nods, closely followed by horror Talk To Me with 11 nominations.
The New Boy is up for best film, actress for Cate Blanchett and actor for newcomer Aswan Reid while Australian Indigenous filmmaker Thornton is nominated for best director, screenplay and cinematography.
The film is set in 1940s Australia and stars Blanchett (who also serves as a producer) as a nun who takes in a nine-year-old Aboriginal orphan boy. It...
Warwick Thornton’s The New Boy leads the nominations for the 2024 Aacta (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts) Awards with 12 nods, closely followed by horror Talk To Me with 11 nominations.
The New Boy is up for best film, actress for Cate Blanchett and actor for newcomer Aswan Reid while Australian Indigenous filmmaker Thornton is nominated for best director, screenplay and cinematography.
The film is set in 1940s Australia and stars Blanchett (who also serves as a producer) as a nun who takes in a nine-year-old Aboriginal orphan boy. It...
- 12/11/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Chip & Joanna Gaines’ Blind Nil Media and The Roost Podcast Network, a Rooster Teeth and Warner Bros Discovery division, announce their partnership to build a new podcast network, Blind Nil Audio. The Texas-based media companies will launch this new network with two debut programs on October 11, 2023.
Joanna and Chip Gaines are taking Blind Nil Media to the next level by venturing into podcasting. This new podcast network will feature inspiring and empowering content that will inform, entertain, and catalyze new ways of thinking to expand perspectives and bring people together.
“We believe in the power of storytelling and are excited to explore new formats with this platform,” said Chip and Joanna Gaines, Co-Founders of Blind Nil Media. “The Roost has done incredible things in podcasts and we’re thrilled to bring our teams together to see what new voices and stories there are to share with the world.”
Aligned with their tag,...
Joanna and Chip Gaines are taking Blind Nil Media to the next level by venturing into podcasting. This new podcast network will feature inspiring and empowering content that will inform, entertain, and catalyze new ways of thinking to expand perspectives and bring people together.
“We believe in the power of storytelling and are excited to explore new formats with this platform,” said Chip and Joanna Gaines, Co-Founders of Blind Nil Media. “The Roost has done incredible things in podcasts and we’re thrilled to bring our teams together to see what new voices and stories there are to share with the world.”
Aligned with their tag,...
- 10/12/2023
- Podnews.net
Caroline Ingvarsson’s feature debut will play in the Thrill strand.
Finland-based firm The Yellow Affair has boarded world sales on psychological thriller Unmoored, ahead of its world premiere next month at the BFI London Film Festival (Lff October 4-15).
The film is the feature debut of Swedish filmmaker Caroline Ingvarsson, and follows a successful TV presenter whose life unravels when she confronts her domineering husband about an accusation against him.
The film will debut in the Lff Thrill strand. It is written by fellow debut filmmaker Michele Marshall, adapted from Hakan Nesser’s 2013 novel The Living and the Dead In Winsford.
Finland-based firm The Yellow Affair has boarded world sales on psychological thriller Unmoored, ahead of its world premiere next month at the BFI London Film Festival (Lff October 4-15).
The film is the feature debut of Swedish filmmaker Caroline Ingvarsson, and follows a successful TV presenter whose life unravels when she confronts her domineering husband about an accusation against him.
The film will debut in the Lff Thrill strand. It is written by fellow debut filmmaker Michele Marshall, adapted from Hakan Nesser’s 2013 novel The Living and the Dead In Winsford.
- 9/29/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The SXSW Sydney festival has set a 75-film screening schedule for its first edition. The selection skews heavily towards music, but is also distinctly international.
Headline titles include re-edited Talking Heads concert film “Stop Making Sense,” “Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles,” an exploration of iconic Australian musical act The Wiggles; drill rap documentary “Onefour: Against All Odds,” directed by Gabriel Gasparinatos; and the widely-acclaimed “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus,” directed by Neo Sora.
“The first ever SXSW Sydney Screen Festival aims to platform the most exciting new voices, new forms and new ways of creating on screen. We hope to inspire our audiences and industry, by unwrapping the future of screen innovation as it emerges,” said Ghita Loebenstein, the festival’s head of screen. “Like our Austin counterparts, our festival presents global programming from leading creators, and our unique offer is this distinctive Asia Pacific lens. We also thematically lean...
Headline titles include re-edited Talking Heads concert film “Stop Making Sense,” “Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles,” an exploration of iconic Australian musical act The Wiggles; drill rap documentary “Onefour: Against All Odds,” directed by Gabriel Gasparinatos; and the widely-acclaimed “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus,” directed by Neo Sora.
“The first ever SXSW Sydney Screen Festival aims to platform the most exciting new voices, new forms and new ways of creating on screen. We hope to inspire our audiences and industry, by unwrapping the future of screen innovation as it emerges,” said Ghita Loebenstein, the festival’s head of screen. “Like our Austin counterparts, our festival presents global programming from leading creators, and our unique offer is this distinctive Asia Pacific lens. We also thematically lean...
- 9/21/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Helsinki-based sales company The Yellow Affair has acquired world sales rights to the TIFF Centrepiece title Je’Vida, a Sámi language historical drama by Finnish filmmaker Katja Gauriloff.
The film had its world premiere at Tribeca International Film Festival earlier this year and is one of the first feature films to feature the indigenous Skolt Sámi language. The pic also won the top prize at Finnish Film Affair, Helsinki Film Festival’s parallel industry section.
Set in a time following the Second World War when fierce policies of assimilation fueled attacks on Sami culture, the pic follows an aunt and her niece who’ve never met before when they embark on a trip to Lapland to empty a house they’ve inherited. However, it turns out the withdrawn and distrusting aunt had been a victim of the assimilation policies, and the niece must make a big decision. By taking an interest in each other,...
The film had its world premiere at Tribeca International Film Festival earlier this year and is one of the first feature films to feature the indigenous Skolt Sámi language. The pic also won the top prize at Finnish Film Affair, Helsinki Film Festival’s parallel industry section.
Set in a time following the Second World War when fierce policies of assimilation fueled attacks on Sami culture, the pic follows an aunt and her niece who’ve never met before when they embark on a trip to Lapland to empty a house they’ve inherited. However, it turns out the withdrawn and distrusting aunt had been a victim of the assimilation policies, and the niece must make a big decision. By taking an interest in each other,...
- 8/10/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
In coming up with the story for his feature directorial debut 'The Rooster', starring Phoenix Raei and Hugo Weaving, Mark Leonard Winter tried to depict the strangeness and difficulty that came with a time of "deep depression".
The post ‘The hero moment is continuing to survive’: Mark Leonard Winter draws from darkness to create ‘The Rooster’ appeared first on If Magazine.
The post ‘The hero moment is continuing to survive’: Mark Leonard Winter draws from darkness to create ‘The Rooster’ appeared first on If Magazine.
- 8/8/2023
- by Sean Slatter
- IF.com.au
Three projects win places at London’s Production Finance Market.
New Zealand producer Morgan Leigh Stewart has won the best pitch award at Melbourne International Film Festival’s industry market, which closed with confirmation that Miff Industry director Mark Woods is to step down after 16 years.
Stewart secured the prize for her efforts pitching relationship horror So Lonely I Could Die at 37ºSouth Market, Miff’s film co-financing event, which ran from August 3-6.
The film, written and directed by Andrew Todd and Johnny Hall (Ghost Shark 2: Urban Jaws), is produced by Auckland-based The Hot House and was seeking...
New Zealand producer Morgan Leigh Stewart has won the best pitch award at Melbourne International Film Festival’s industry market, which closed with confirmation that Miff Industry director Mark Woods is to step down after 16 years.
Stewart secured the prize for her efforts pitching relationship horror So Lonely I Could Die at 37ºSouth Market, Miff’s film co-financing event, which ran from August 3-6.
The film, written and directed by Andrew Todd and Johnny Hall (Ghost Shark 2: Urban Jaws), is produced by Auckland-based The Hot House and was seeking...
- 8/7/2023
- by Sandy George
- ScreenDaily
Actor turned film-maker Mark Leonard Winter’s directorial debut, which pairs veteran Weaving as a slobbering hermit with Phoenix Raei’s broken cop, doesn’t hurry towards anything
I tend to wince whenever I hear a film introduced as a blend of comedy and tragedy – not because it’s a bad combination, but because it’s one of the hardest to get right. So many artists attempt to tickle our funny bones while hitting us where it hurts, and so many come up short. Actor turned film-maker Mark Leonard Winter gives it a noble crack in his directorial debut The Rooster, a bumpy outdoorsy drama about two broken men – a cop and a hermit – connecting and potentially healing through the deployment of pensive stares and introspective dialogue, performed in Australian bush settings.
The film’s core dynamic works in contrasts, pairing Phoenix Raei’s sullen cop Dan with a violently...
I tend to wince whenever I hear a film introduced as a blend of comedy and tragedy – not because it’s a bad combination, but because it’s one of the hardest to get right. So many artists attempt to tickle our funny bones while hitting us where it hurts, and so many come up short. Actor turned film-maker Mark Leonard Winter gives it a noble crack in his directorial debut The Rooster, a bumpy outdoorsy drama about two broken men – a cop and a hermit – connecting and potentially healing through the deployment of pensive stares and introspective dialogue, performed in Australian bush settings.
The film’s core dynamic works in contrasts, pairing Phoenix Raei’s sullen cop Dan with a violently...
- 8/7/2023
- by Luke Buckmaster
- The Guardian - Film News
The Melbourne International Film Festival has confirmed that it will provide $202,000 will go to the winner of its Bright Horizons competition for features by first- and second-time directors. Bragging rights to being the richest film competition in the country previously belonged to the smaller CinefestOZ festival in West Australia, which follows later in August.
The Melbourne festival (in cinemas Aug. 3-20) has this year added two significant prizes: the inaugural First Nations Film Creative Award in collaboration with Kearney Group, and the return of the Blackmagic Design Australian Innovation Award, worth $47,500 recognizing an outstanding Australian creative within a film playing in the Melbourne 2023 program.
Winners across long-form awards categories will be announced at Melbourne’s closing night gala on Aug. 19, These will include the juried prizes and the Miff Audience Award.
The First Nations Film Creative Award supports First Nations talent and storytelling with the recipient awarded a $13,500 cash prize and $16,900 worth of financial services.
The Melbourne festival (in cinemas Aug. 3-20) has this year added two significant prizes: the inaugural First Nations Film Creative Award in collaboration with Kearney Group, and the return of the Blackmagic Design Australian Innovation Award, worth $47,500 recognizing an outstanding Australian creative within a film playing in the Melbourne 2023 program.
Winners across long-form awards categories will be announced at Melbourne’s closing night gala on Aug. 19, These will include the juried prizes and the Miff Audience Award.
The First Nations Film Creative Award supports First Nations talent and storytelling with the recipient awarded a $13,500 cash prize and $16,900 worth of financial services.
- 7/27/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Choirs Of Angels
Sakamoto Ryuichi, the Japanese film composer and music supervisor who died in March, has been posthumously named as the recipient of the Jecheon Film Music Award at the 19th Jecheon International Music & Film Festival (Aug. 10-15). Sakamoto won Academy Awards and Golden Globes for his score for “The Last Emperor” and has other credits including “The Sheltering Sky,” “Railroad Man,” “The Revenant,” “Call Me By Your Name” and “The Fortress.”
Abrai Joji from Commons the music label established jointly with Sakamoto, and Yutaka Toyama from Promax, which had produced Sakamoto’s concerts since 1986, will visit the festival. Additionally, a tribute concert will be held on Aug. 12 at the Jecheon Stadium.
Sports Production Fund
U.K. pay TV operator Sky has launched the New Focus Fund, designed to uncover fresh talent in sports content creation. Developed in recognition that traditional routes into sports media can be limited, and often attract narrow talent pools,...
Sakamoto Ryuichi, the Japanese film composer and music supervisor who died in March, has been posthumously named as the recipient of the Jecheon Film Music Award at the 19th Jecheon International Music & Film Festival (Aug. 10-15). Sakamoto won Academy Awards and Golden Globes for his score for “The Last Emperor” and has other credits including “The Sheltering Sky,” “Railroad Man,” “The Revenant,” “Call Me By Your Name” and “The Fortress.”
Abrai Joji from Commons the music label established jointly with Sakamoto, and Yutaka Toyama from Promax, which had produced Sakamoto’s concerts since 1986, will visit the festival. Additionally, a tribute concert will be held on Aug. 12 at the Jecheon Stadium.
Sports Production Fund
U.K. pay TV operator Sky has launched the New Focus Fund, designed to uncover fresh talent in sports content creation. Developed in recognition that traditional routes into sports media can be limited, and often attract narrow talent pools,...
- 7/13/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
CinefestOZ has unveiled the finalists for this year's $100,000 film prize, with Sean McDonald's 'Bromley: Light After Dark', Matt Vesely's 'Monolith', Noora Niasari's 'Shayda' and Mark Leonard Winter's 'The Rooster' vying for the award.
The post ‘Bromley: Light After Dark’, ‘Monolith’, ‘Shayda’, ‘The Rooster’ up for $100,000 CinefestOZ prize appeared first on If Magazine.
The post ‘Bromley: Light After Dark’, ‘Monolith’, ‘Shayda’, ‘The Rooster’ up for $100,000 CinefestOZ prize appeared first on If Magazine.
- 7/13/2023
- by Sean Slatter
- IF.com.au
Cannes titles and debut features make strong appearances throughout the programme.
Melbourne International Film Festival (Miff) has revealed the 11 titles in the running for its $93,400 competition prize, and will open with Shayda by Australian-Iranian director Noora Niasari.
The festival, which runs August 3-20, unveiled the titles at a programme launch this evening (July 11). Debut and second features are eligible for the Bright Horizons competition, which was introduced last year for the 70th edition, but debuts undoubtedly dominate this year.
Scroll down for full list of competition titles
In fact, the only undeniably second film is Mexican director Lila Avilés’ Tótem.
Melbourne International Film Festival (Miff) has revealed the 11 titles in the running for its $93,400 competition prize, and will open with Shayda by Australian-Iranian director Noora Niasari.
The festival, which runs August 3-20, unveiled the titles at a programme launch this evening (July 11). Debut and second features are eligible for the Bright Horizons competition, which was introduced last year for the 70th edition, but debuts undoubtedly dominate this year.
Scroll down for full list of competition titles
In fact, the only undeniably second film is Mexican director Lila Avilés’ Tótem.
- 7/11/2023
- by Sandy George
- ScreenDaily
Cannes titles and debut features make strong appearances throughout the programme.
Melbourne International Film Festival (Miff) has revealed the 11 titles in the running for its $93,400 competition prize, and will open with Shayda by Australian-Iranian director Noora Niasari.
The festival, which runs August 3-20, unveiled the titles at a programme launch this evening (July 11). Debut and second features are eligible for the Bright Horizons competition, which was introduced last year for the 70th edition, but debuts undoubtedly dominate this year.
Scroll down for full list of competition titles
In fact, the only undeniably second film is Mexican director Lila Avilés’ Tótem.
Melbourne International Film Festival (Miff) has revealed the 11 titles in the running for its $93,400 competition prize, and will open with Shayda by Australian-Iranian director Noora Niasari.
The festival, which runs August 3-20, unveiled the titles at a programme launch this evening (July 11). Debut and second features are eligible for the Bright Horizons competition, which was introduced last year for the 70th edition, but debuts undoubtedly dominate this year.
Scroll down for full list of competition titles
In fact, the only undeniably second film is Mexican director Lila Avilés’ Tótem.
- 7/11/2023
- by Sandy George
- ScreenDaily
The Melbourne International Film Festival has unveiled the full lineup for its 2023 edition, with “Shayda,” by Iranian-Australian director Noora Niasari, set as the opening title.
The festival will run as a live event August 3-20, at venues around the city and its suburbs, and online Aug 18 – 27. The hybrid format was developed during the Covid pandemic and Miff found it useful as a tool to reach further away audiences and wider demographics than a strictly in-theater edition.
The ‘Bright Horizons’ competition section open to films by first- or second-time feature directors contains an 11-title mix of new and recently-debuted works.
As well as opening the festival, “Shayda” will play in competition. The competition’s other Australian-made title was announced as “The Rooster,” from actor turned writer-director Mark Leonard Winter.
International titles in competition include “Banel & Adama,” by Franco-Senegalese director Ramata-Toulaye Sy, which played in competition in Cannes; “How to Have Sex,...
The festival will run as a live event August 3-20, at venues around the city and its suburbs, and online Aug 18 – 27. The hybrid format was developed during the Covid pandemic and Miff found it useful as a tool to reach further away audiences and wider demographics than a strictly in-theater edition.
The ‘Bright Horizons’ competition section open to films by first- or second-time feature directors contains an 11-title mix of new and recently-debuted works.
As well as opening the festival, “Shayda” will play in competition. The competition’s other Australian-made title was announced as “The Rooster,” from actor turned writer-director Mark Leonard Winter.
International titles in competition include “Banel & Adama,” by Franco-Senegalese director Ramata-Toulaye Sy, which played in competition in Cannes; “How to Have Sex,...
- 7/11/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Sales company also takes on Janis Pugh’s Great 8 selection ‘Chuck Chuck Baby.’
The Yellow Affair has boarded international sales for Mark Leonard Winter’s feature directorial debut The Rooster starring Hugo Weaving (The Lord Of The Rings) and Phoenix Raei (The Night Agent).
When the body of his oldest friend is found buried in a shallow grave, a small-town cop, forms a strange relationship with a volatile hermit who may have been the last person to see his friend alive.
Winter is an acclaimed actor who previously appeared in The Dressmaker, Elvis and Top of the Lake: China Girl.
The Yellow Affair has boarded international sales for Mark Leonard Winter’s feature directorial debut The Rooster starring Hugo Weaving (The Lord Of The Rings) and Phoenix Raei (The Night Agent).
When the body of his oldest friend is found buried in a shallow grave, a small-town cop, forms a strange relationship with a volatile hermit who may have been the last person to see his friend alive.
Winter is an acclaimed actor who previously appeared in The Dressmaker, Elvis and Top of the Lake: China Girl.
- 5/12/2023
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
Rising star Phoenix Raei joins Hugo Weaving as the lead of “The Rooster,” an Australian mystery drama film in which a small-town cop discovers the dead body of his best friend.
The film, which has just completed principal photography in Victoria state, is directed by actor Mark Leonard Winter (“Escape From Pretoria”), making his debut as a feature director.
As performers, Weaving and Winter have previously appeared together in “Measure for Measure” and “The Dressmaker.”
Raei, who has recent credits in “Clickbait,” “Stateless” and “The Night Agent,” stars in “The Rooster” as the cop who confronts Weaving’s volatile character, a forest-dwelling hermit who was the last person known to have seen his pal.
Other cast include: Helen Thomson, Rhys Mitchell, Bert La Bonte, John Waters, Camilla Ah Kin, Robert Menzies and Deirdre Rubenstein.
“ ‘The Rooster’ is a gripping story about friendship and how hope can come from unlikely places.
The film, which has just completed principal photography in Victoria state, is directed by actor Mark Leonard Winter (“Escape From Pretoria”), making his debut as a feature director.
As performers, Weaving and Winter have previously appeared together in “Measure for Measure” and “The Dressmaker.”
Raei, who has recent credits in “Clickbait,” “Stateless” and “The Night Agent,” stars in “The Rooster” as the cop who confronts Weaving’s volatile character, a forest-dwelling hermit who was the last person known to have seen his pal.
Other cast include: Helen Thomson, Rhys Mitchell, Bert La Bonte, John Waters, Camilla Ah Kin, Robert Menzies and Deirdre Rubenstein.
“ ‘The Rooster’ is a gripping story about friendship and how hope can come from unlikely places.
- 7/20/2022
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
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