Vicki Madden and Vincent Sheehan en route to the launch of ‘The Kettering Incident’.
Screen Tasmania is supporting the development of 13 projects – a mix of feature films, comedy and drama series and factual – involving both experienced and emerging talent.
The $242,500 in additional project development funding is part of the Tasmanian Government’s cultural and creative industries stimulus package.
While the individual sums are modest, averaging $20,000, the funding round sheds light on some intriguing projects from such creatives as Vicki Madden, Fiona McConaghy, Elli Eliades, Jungle Entertainment, Good Thing Productions, Blur Films, Roar Films and Fredbird Entertainment.
Renewing their collaboration after Stan’s The Gloaming, Madden’s Sweet Potato Films and John Molloy’s 2 Jons are preparing Wireless Hill. The 8 x 1 hour drama follows 10 bright young scientists from around the world who are given the opportunity of a lifetime to study on the unique Macquarie Island.
They discover they are unwitting...
Screen Tasmania is supporting the development of 13 projects – a mix of feature films, comedy and drama series and factual – involving both experienced and emerging talent.
The $242,500 in additional project development funding is part of the Tasmanian Government’s cultural and creative industries stimulus package.
While the individual sums are modest, averaging $20,000, the funding round sheds light on some intriguing projects from such creatives as Vicki Madden, Fiona McConaghy, Elli Eliades, Jungle Entertainment, Good Thing Productions, Blur Films, Roar Films and Fredbird Entertainment.
Renewing their collaboration after Stan’s The Gloaming, Madden’s Sweet Potato Films and John Molloy’s 2 Jons are preparing Wireless Hill. The 8 x 1 hour drama follows 10 bright young scientists from around the world who are given the opportunity of a lifetime to study on the unique Macquarie Island.
They discover they are unwitting...
- 6/21/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Anni Browning and Dan Read.
Film Finances Australasia managing director Anni Browning today announced that she will step down from her position, and will be succeeded by Dan Read, who joined Film Finances in 2013 and was appointed as CEO in 2017.
However, Browning will continue in an advisory position for the completion guarantor company into the foreseeable future.
“Dan will do a wonderful job. He knows the people and the business really well. Under his care the company will continue to thrive.
“I have had a fabulous 22 years at Film Finances. But now it is time to hand over the tiller so I can go sailing. It has been a complete privilege to work with so many talented and ingenious filmmakers and help realise so many really wonderful films and TV shows,” Browning said.
“I am not going far and will continue to be available to Dan and our great team.
Film Finances Australasia managing director Anni Browning today announced that she will step down from her position, and will be succeeded by Dan Read, who joined Film Finances in 2013 and was appointed as CEO in 2017.
However, Browning will continue in an advisory position for the completion guarantor company into the foreseeable future.
“Dan will do a wonderful job. He knows the people and the business really well. Under his care the company will continue to thrive.
“I have had a fabulous 22 years at Film Finances. But now it is time to hand over the tiller so I can go sailing. It has been a complete privilege to work with so many talented and ingenious filmmakers and help realise so many really wonderful films and TV shows,” Browning said.
“I am not going far and will continue to be available to Dan and our great team.
- 7/1/2019
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Upcoming Noomi Rapace-starring psychological thriller “Angel of Mine” is set as the first acquisition by R & R Films, a new Australian distributor. The company was recently established by industry veterans Richard Becker and Robert Slaviero.
The film goes into production this month in Melbourne, Australia. It is the story of intuition and obsession featuring a couple coming to terms with the untimely death of their daughter. The woman becomes convinced that another girl is her own. The script is adapted by Luke Davies (“Lion”) and David Regal from the French film “L’Empreinte,” by Safy Nebbou.
Alongside Rapace, the film stars Yvonne Strahovski (“The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Dexter”) and Luke Evans. Other cast includes Richard Roxburgh, Finn Little (“Storm Boy”) and Rob Collins (“Cleverman”), alongside Tracy Mann, Pip Miller and Rachel Gordon.
Richard Becker is a veteran who for years headed the sales, production and distribution group Becker Film.
The film goes into production this month in Melbourne, Australia. It is the story of intuition and obsession featuring a couple coming to terms with the untimely death of their daughter. The woman becomes convinced that another girl is her own. The script is adapted by Luke Davies (“Lion”) and David Regal from the French film “L’Empreinte,” by Safy Nebbou.
Alongside Rapace, the film stars Yvonne Strahovski (“The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Dexter”) and Luke Evans. Other cast includes Richard Roxburgh, Finn Little (“Storm Boy”) and Rob Collins (“Cleverman”), alongside Tracy Mann, Pip Miller and Rachel Gordon.
Richard Becker is a veteran who for years headed the sales, production and distribution group Becker Film.
- 5/8/2018
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
“The Handmaid’s Tale” star Yvonne Strahovski has come on board to star opposite Noomi Rapace in the Australian psychological thriller “Angel of Mine,” with Kim Farrant directing.
Rapace was attached to the project in early February and Fortitude International began pre-selling the picture at the European Film Market in Berlin. “Angel of Mine” is a remake of 2008 French film “L’Empreinte de L’Ange,” which follows a woman’s descent into madness after she loses her daughter and becomes convinced that another woman’s child is in fact her own. Strahovski, a native of Australia, will play a woman accused of stealing the daughter.
Farrant, whose first film was the Nicole Kidman-starring “Strangerland” in 2015 will direct from a script by Luke Davies (“Lion,” “Candy”) and David Regal. Production is scheduled to begin in April.
Production companies are SixtyFourSixty and Garlin Pictures. Producers are Brian Etting, Josh Etting, and Su Armstrong.
Rapace was attached to the project in early February and Fortitude International began pre-selling the picture at the European Film Market in Berlin. “Angel of Mine” is a remake of 2008 French film “L’Empreinte de L’Ange,” which follows a woman’s descent into madness after she loses her daughter and becomes convinced that another woman’s child is in fact her own. Strahovski, a native of Australia, will play a woman accused of stealing the daughter.
Farrant, whose first film was the Nicole Kidman-starring “Strangerland” in 2015 will direct from a script by Luke Davies (“Lion,” “Candy”) and David Regal. Production is scheduled to begin in April.
Production companies are SixtyFourSixty and Garlin Pictures. Producers are Brian Etting, Josh Etting, and Su Armstrong.
- 3/28/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Yvonne Strahovski is set to star opposite Noomi Rapace in the Kim Farrant-directed thriller Angel Of Mine, which follows a mother Lizzie (Rapace) who, still struggling to cope with the loss of her daughter several years earlier, becomes convinced that a stranger’s daughter is, in fact, her own.
Strahovski, who will star in the soon-to-be-released second season of Hulu’s acclaimed series The Handmaid’s Tale, will play Claire, the woman who Lizzie alleges has stolen her daughter.
The film, from SixtyFourSixty and Garlin Pictures, is based on French feature, L’Empreinte with the adaption penned by Lion scribe Luke Davies. Brian Etting, Josh Etting, and Su Armstrong are producing the projects. Exec producers include Robert Ogden Barnum and Nadine de Barros of Fortitude International as well as Davies and Brian Rosen.
Screen Australia, in association with Film Victoria, provided the principal production investment.
Strahovski, next seen...
Strahovski, who will star in the soon-to-be-released second season of Hulu’s acclaimed series The Handmaid’s Tale, will play Claire, the woman who Lizzie alleges has stolen her daughter.
The film, from SixtyFourSixty and Garlin Pictures, is based on French feature, L’Empreinte with the adaption penned by Lion scribe Luke Davies. Brian Etting, Josh Etting, and Su Armstrong are producing the projects. Exec producers include Robert Ogden Barnum and Nadine de Barros of Fortitude International as well as Davies and Brian Rosen.
Screen Australia, in association with Film Victoria, provided the principal production investment.
Strahovski, next seen...
- 3/28/2018
- by Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
Claire McCarthy.
The Waiting City's Claire McCarthy is attached to direct The Personal History of Rachel DuPree, about black frontier women in the American Old West.
Doubt's Viola Davis is exec producing after buying the rights to the original novel by Ann Weisgarber, with Skyfall's Naomie Harris set to star.
Su Armstrong and Brian Rosen are producing for their SixtyFourSixty banner, with Julius Tennon exec producing with Davis..
London-based Gfm were shopping the film to buyers in Cannes; Idris Elba was briefly announced as being attached but dropped out.
McCarthy had a busy Cannes, with her Ophelia, starring Naomi Watts and Daisy Ridley, another hot market title.
The director, who contributed a segment to 2013's The Turning but hasn't made a feature since 2009's The Waiting City, is repped by Rgm Artists in Sydney and CAA in the U.S.
The Waiting City's Claire McCarthy is attached to direct The Personal History of Rachel DuPree, about black frontier women in the American Old West.
Doubt's Viola Davis is exec producing after buying the rights to the original novel by Ann Weisgarber, with Skyfall's Naomie Harris set to star.
Su Armstrong and Brian Rosen are producing for their SixtyFourSixty banner, with Julius Tennon exec producing with Davis..
London-based Gfm were shopping the film to buyers in Cannes; Idris Elba was briefly announced as being attached but dropped out.
McCarthy had a busy Cannes, with her Ophelia, starring Naomi Watts and Daisy Ridley, another hot market title.
The director, who contributed a segment to 2013's The Turning but hasn't made a feature since 2009's The Waiting City, is repped by Rgm Artists in Sydney and CAA in the U.S.
- 5/26/2016
- by Staff Writer
- IF.com.au
Naomie Harris is attached to star in writer-director Claire McCarthy’s indie drama “The Personal History of Rachel Dupree,” which is based on the novel by Ann Weisgarber, TheWrap has learned. Harris will play a heavily pregnant woman on an isolated, drought-stricken ranch who is forced to take matters into her own hands when she begins to doubt whether she can trust her husband to put his starving family before his own ambitions. Su Armstrong and Brian Rosen are producing for SixtyFourSixty, while Viola Davis and Julius Tennon serve as executive producers. The film is an Australian/Canadiana co-production, and Gfm will begin shopping.
- 5/11/2016
- by Jeff Sneider
- The Wrap
Emma Slade, Steve Kearney, Briget Callow-Wright heading for the UK’s Production Finance Market.
Sales agents from across the world yesterday voted New Zealand’s Emma Slade as the producer at the 37º South Market who most deserves a spot at the UK’s Production Finance Market (Pfm) in October, plus $1,860 (A$2,000) in travel assistance.
Runner-ups Steve Kearney and Bridget Callow-Wright from Australia also won places – but no cash.
Organizers said 2,203 meetings were held as part of the eighth edition of the co-financing film market, which is part of the business arm of the Melbourne International Film Festival (Miff).
Slade will be seeking a sales agent for The Love Of Humankind, the lead project in her slate, during her visit to London.
The “vodka-fuelled tragicomedy about unrequited love” is to be directed by comedian Danny Mulheron (Fresh Meat) from a script by he and Brian Sergent.
Based on a stage play, her one-liner...
Sales agents from across the world yesterday voted New Zealand’s Emma Slade as the producer at the 37º South Market who most deserves a spot at the UK’s Production Finance Market (Pfm) in October, plus $1,860 (A$2,000) in travel assistance.
Runner-ups Steve Kearney and Bridget Callow-Wright from Australia also won places – but no cash.
Organizers said 2,203 meetings were held as part of the eighth edition of the co-financing film market, which is part of the business arm of the Melbourne International Film Festival (Miff).
Slade will be seeking a sales agent for The Love Of Humankind, the lead project in her slate, during her visit to London.
The “vodka-fuelled tragicomedy about unrequited love” is to be directed by comedian Danny Mulheron (Fresh Meat) from a script by he and Brian Sergent.
Based on a stage play, her one-liner...
- 8/4/2014
- by Sandy.George@me.com (Sandy George)
- ScreenDaily
Writer-director Sarah Spillane.s debut film Around the Block will test the viability of a short window between theatrical and home entertainment release.
The drama starring Christina Ricci, Hunter Page-Lochard and Jack Thompson will begin a limited cinema roll-out at the Cremorne Orpheum on June 16 - one month before it.s released on DVD, Blu-ray and digital platforms.
Producers Brian Rosen and Su Armstrong are hoping the accelerated release, with Screen Australia contributing to the $200,000 P&A spend, will provide a bigger upside than a conventional cinema season and then waiting 120 days for ancillary revenues.
The film is booked at the Randwick Ritz on June 23 and dates in Melbourne and Canberra are to be confirmed. There will be Q&A screenings with the director and key cast, excluding Ricci.
Pinnacle Films will release the title on DVD, Blu-ray and all major digital platforms including iTunes, Big Pond Movies, Foxtel, Google Play,...
The drama starring Christina Ricci, Hunter Page-Lochard and Jack Thompson will begin a limited cinema roll-out at the Cremorne Orpheum on June 16 - one month before it.s released on DVD, Blu-ray and digital platforms.
Producers Brian Rosen and Su Armstrong are hoping the accelerated release, with Screen Australia contributing to the $200,000 P&A spend, will provide a bigger upside than a conventional cinema season and then waiting 120 days for ancillary revenues.
The film is booked at the Randwick Ritz on June 23 and dates in Melbourne and Canberra are to be confirmed. There will be Q&A screenings with the director and key cast, excluding Ricci.
Pinnacle Films will release the title on DVD, Blu-ray and all major digital platforms including iTunes, Big Pond Movies, Foxtel, Google Play,...
- 4/16/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Two music-themed films and a love story from The Rocket director Kim Mordaunt are among the 15 features to secure new development money from Screen Australia.
The Musician, produced by Brian Rosen and Su Armstrong, is about how Richard Goldner, a violinist who arrived in Australia from Vienna as a refugee, set up Musica Viva, one of the largest presenters of chamber music in the world.
Clara, which is being developed by producer Sue Maslin and writer/director Jocelyn Moorhouse, tells of the deep bonds between Clara Schumann, one of the foremost classical pianists of the Romantic era, her husband, the composer Richard Schumann, and their protégé Johannes Brahams – and that included a love triangle.
“Jocelyn has wanted to tell this story for years,” Maslin told ScreenDaily, adding that the film is set in Austria and Germany.
“It is a very international film, with great music and a story that’s little known.”
Maslin and Moorhouse...
The Musician, produced by Brian Rosen and Su Armstrong, is about how Richard Goldner, a violinist who arrived in Australia from Vienna as a refugee, set up Musica Viva, one of the largest presenters of chamber music in the world.
Clara, which is being developed by producer Sue Maslin and writer/director Jocelyn Moorhouse, tells of the deep bonds between Clara Schumann, one of the foremost classical pianists of the Romantic era, her husband, the composer Richard Schumann, and their protégé Johannes Brahams – and that included a love triangle.
“Jocelyn has wanted to tell this story for years,” Maslin told ScreenDaily, adding that the film is set in Austria and Germany.
“It is a very international film, with great music and a story that’s little known.”
Maslin and Moorhouse...
- 12/12/2013
- by Sandy.George@me.com (Sandy George)
- ScreenDaily
.
The rhetorical question addressed by a panel at the Australian Directors Guild conference in Sydney on Thursday was: Do We Really Need Directors?
Aside from the obvious affirmation of the directors. pivotal role in the creative process, there were some telling observations from the panellists.
Veteran filmmaker Fred Schepisi asserted the director.s power is at its peak from the first day of the shoot until the last day, but after that the producers or Us studio can assert control. The director can fire any cast member in the first three weeks, he said, but any attempt to do so after that would probably result in the director getting the bullet.
He recalled that half the $US9 million budget for Last Orders, his 2001 drama about a bunch of guys mourning the death of their mate of 50 years, promised from a German film fund never materialised.
In the final week of...
The rhetorical question addressed by a panel at the Australian Directors Guild conference in Sydney on Thursday was: Do We Really Need Directors?
Aside from the obvious affirmation of the directors. pivotal role in the creative process, there were some telling observations from the panellists.
Veteran filmmaker Fred Schepisi asserted the director.s power is at its peak from the first day of the shoot until the last day, but after that the producers or Us studio can assert control. The director can fire any cast member in the first three weeks, he said, but any attempt to do so after that would probably result in the director getting the bullet.
He recalled that half the $US9 million budget for Last Orders, his 2001 drama about a bunch of guys mourning the death of their mate of 50 years, promised from a German film fund never materialised.
In the final week of...
- 11/7/2013
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Tree Australia.s Brian Rosen and Taylor Media.s Sue Taylor have been re-elected for a third term as president and vice-president of the Screen Producers Association of Australia for 2013/2014.
Spaa is changing its constitution to elect future presidents for a two-year term, capped at a maximum of two terms. Rosen has indicated he will step down as president at the end of his third year.
Members of the 2013/14 Spaa Council are: Donna Andrews, Sticky Pictures; Mark Bamford, TressCox Lawyers; Ben Grant, Goalpost Pictures; Chris Hilton, Essential Media and Entertainment; Morgan Jaffit, Defiant Development; Linda Klejus, Circa Media; Nathan Mayfield, Hoodlum Entertainment; Alaric McAusland, Deluxe Australia; David Redman, Instinct Entertainment; Andrew Ogilvie, Electric Pictures; Chris Oliver-Taylor, Matchbox Pictures; and Joanna Werner, Werner Film Productions.
The outgoing councillors are Dan Pearce, Holding Redlich Lawyers; Ros Tatarka, CreatEve; and Jennifer Wilson, The Project Factory.
Of that trio Spaa says, .Together they have...
Spaa is changing its constitution to elect future presidents for a two-year term, capped at a maximum of two terms. Rosen has indicated he will step down as president at the end of his third year.
Members of the 2013/14 Spaa Council are: Donna Andrews, Sticky Pictures; Mark Bamford, TressCox Lawyers; Ben Grant, Goalpost Pictures; Chris Hilton, Essential Media and Entertainment; Morgan Jaffit, Defiant Development; Linda Klejus, Circa Media; Nathan Mayfield, Hoodlum Entertainment; Alaric McAusland, Deluxe Australia; David Redman, Instinct Entertainment; Andrew Ogilvie, Electric Pictures; Chris Oliver-Taylor, Matchbox Pictures; and Joanna Werner, Werner Film Productions.
The outgoing councillors are Dan Pearce, Holding Redlich Lawyers; Ros Tatarka, CreatEve; and Jennifer Wilson, The Project Factory.
Of that trio Spaa says, .Together they have...
- 10/3/2013
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Around the Block looks like being a catalyst for the careers of first-time writer/director Sarah Spillane and co-star Hunter Page-Lochard.
Spillane and Page-Lochard, 20, have signed with Paradigm, one of Hollywood.s leading entertainment talent agencies.
Their deals with Paradigm followed. Around the Block.s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it played to appreciative audiences.
Both are represented in Australia by Rgm Artists, which introduced Spillane and Page-Lochard to Paradigm.
Paradigm's clients include Aussie Leigh Whannell, who wrote the first two Saw films, Insidious and Insidious: Chapter 2, and actors Domhnall Gleeson, who stars in Angelina Jolie's upcoming drama Unbroken, Adrien Brody, Mark Harmon, Mimi Rogers, Kathy Baker, Roseanne Barr, Luca Calvani and Jared Harris.
Produced by Brian Rosen and Su Armstrong, Around the Block stars Christina Ricci as Dino, an American teacher who is eager to impart her love of Shakespeare to students at a tough inner-city school.
Spillane and Page-Lochard, 20, have signed with Paradigm, one of Hollywood.s leading entertainment talent agencies.
Their deals with Paradigm followed. Around the Block.s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it played to appreciative audiences.
Both are represented in Australia by Rgm Artists, which introduced Spillane and Page-Lochard to Paradigm.
Paradigm's clients include Aussie Leigh Whannell, who wrote the first two Saw films, Insidious and Insidious: Chapter 2, and actors Domhnall Gleeson, who stars in Angelina Jolie's upcoming drama Unbroken, Adrien Brody, Mark Harmon, Mimi Rogers, Kathy Baker, Roseanne Barr, Luca Calvani and Jared Harris.
Produced by Brian Rosen and Su Armstrong, Around the Block stars Christina Ricci as Dino, an American teacher who is eager to impart her love of Shakespeare to students at a tough inner-city school.
- 9/24/2013
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Before the world premiere of Sarah Spillane.s Around the Block at the Toronto International Film Festival, producer Brian Rosen predicted its young lead, Hunter Page-Lochard,. will become Australia.s premier indigenous filmmaker in the next 10 years.
That was a bold call but the initial reviews have heaped praise on Page-Lochard.s performance as Liam, a troubled high school student who is mentored by his American drama teacher (Christina Ricci).
.An attention-grabbing, potentially profile-elevating performance by up-and-comer Hunter Page-Lochard is the major selling point of Around the Block, an Aussie variation of the oft-spun scenario about an at-risk high-schooler who gets a shot at redemption through a transformative extracurricular activity,. opined Variety.s Joe Leydon.
.Christina Ricci claims top billing . and provides some modest marquee allure..But Page-Lochard is the one more likely to earn the critical plaudits that this well-intended yet cliché-ridden pic will need to have any chance...
That was a bold call but the initial reviews have heaped praise on Page-Lochard.s performance as Liam, a troubled high school student who is mentored by his American drama teacher (Christina Ricci).
.An attention-grabbing, potentially profile-elevating performance by up-and-comer Hunter Page-Lochard is the major selling point of Around the Block, an Aussie variation of the oft-spun scenario about an at-risk high-schooler who gets a shot at redemption through a transformative extracurricular activity,. opined Variety.s Joe Leydon.
.Christina Ricci claims top billing . and provides some modest marquee allure..But Page-Lochard is the one more likely to earn the critical plaudits that this well-intended yet cliché-ridden pic will need to have any chance...
- 9/20/2013
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Exclusive: 40 Canadian and international producer teams selected for Omdc’s eighth annual Toronto co-financing market.
New films by Donald Petrie, Timo Vuorensola, Baltasar Kormakur [pictured], Nick Broomfield, Gillies Mackinnon are some of the 40 selections for the eighth Omdc’s International Financing Forum. (Full list below)
The Ontario Media Development Corporation’s feature film co-financing market will be held Sept 8-9, running concurrently to Tiff.
The two-day event includes one-on-one producer meetings, a top-level panel discussion, roundtable meetings, a networking luncheon, and a networking reception.
The initiative focuses on English language feature film projects being developed by international and Canadian producers, who meet with executives including sales agents, financiers, distributors, agents and executive producers – from companies including Beta Cinema, Big Beach, Cinetic, eOne, Film4, Film Nation, TF1, Wild Bunch and William Morris Endeavor.
The Canadian-produced projects selected this year include Nick Broomfield’s fiction feature film debut The Catastrophist to star Freida Pinto and John C Reilly and to...
New films by Donald Petrie, Timo Vuorensola, Baltasar Kormakur [pictured], Nick Broomfield, Gillies Mackinnon are some of the 40 selections for the eighth Omdc’s International Financing Forum. (Full list below)
The Ontario Media Development Corporation’s feature film co-financing market will be held Sept 8-9, running concurrently to Tiff.
The two-day event includes one-on-one producer meetings, a top-level panel discussion, roundtable meetings, a networking luncheon, and a networking reception.
The initiative focuses on English language feature film projects being developed by international and Canadian producers, who meet with executives including sales agents, financiers, distributors, agents and executive producers – from companies including Beta Cinema, Big Beach, Cinetic, eOne, Film4, Film Nation, TF1, Wild Bunch and William Morris Endeavor.
The Canadian-produced projects selected this year include Nick Broomfield’s fiction feature film debut The Catastrophist to star Freida Pinto and John C Reilly and to...
- 8/27/2013
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
Six Australian films will screen at the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) next month following the overnight announcement that Around the Block and Canopy have been selected.
Both will have their world premieres as part of the festival.s Discovery program, which showcases works by ..directors to watch: The future of world cinema..
First-time writer/director Sarah Spillane.s Around the Block is the saga of an Aboriginal boy who is torn between his love of acting and the disintegration of his family. Hunter Page-Lochard, whose credits include The Sapphires and Bran Nue Dae, plays the lead alongside Christina Ricci as his unconventional, American-born drama teacher. Jack Thompson, Matt Nable, Damian Walshe-Howling and Daniel Henshall round out the key cast.
Produced by Brian Rosen and Su Armstrong, the film will open in Australia on November 7, distributed by Michael Wrenn's Greenlight Releasing. Rosen tells If it will debut on 30-...
Both will have their world premieres as part of the festival.s Discovery program, which showcases works by ..directors to watch: The future of world cinema..
First-time writer/director Sarah Spillane.s Around the Block is the saga of an Aboriginal boy who is torn between his love of acting and the disintegration of his family. Hunter Page-Lochard, whose credits include The Sapphires and Bran Nue Dae, plays the lead alongside Christina Ricci as his unconventional, American-born drama teacher. Jack Thompson, Matt Nable, Damian Walshe-Howling and Daniel Henshall round out the key cast.
Produced by Brian Rosen and Su Armstrong, the film will open in Australia on November 7, distributed by Michael Wrenn's Greenlight Releasing. Rosen tells If it will debut on 30-...
- 8/20/2013
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Sarah Spillane’s low-budget feature, Around the Block, points to inventive business models as it seeks to capitalise on the success of indigenous films says Ed Gibbs.
Although noticeably absent during Encore’s set visit, the shadow of the film’s Hollywood star, Christina Ricci, can be felt in the two-storey house in Sydney’s inner west where production is underway for the micro-budget feature Around the Block.
Ricci, who declined to do any press ahead of the film’s release, agreed to sign on to the project after writer/director Sarah Spillane’s producers, Sue Armstrong and Brian Rosen of Tree Films, inked what’s becoming an increasingly popular deal for features from first time filmmakers.
An undisclosed share of the profits, should they be forthcoming, will make up for the modest remuneration received up front.
Sarah Spillane on set
Ricci’s input – filling the role of the arts...
Although noticeably absent during Encore’s set visit, the shadow of the film’s Hollywood star, Christina Ricci, can be felt in the two-storey house in Sydney’s inner west where production is underway for the micro-budget feature Around the Block.
Ricci, who declined to do any press ahead of the film’s release, agreed to sign on to the project after writer/director Sarah Spillane’s producers, Sue Armstrong and Brian Rosen of Tree Films, inked what’s becoming an increasingly popular deal for features from first time filmmakers.
An undisclosed share of the profits, should they be forthcoming, will make up for the modest remuneration received up front.
Sarah Spillane on set
Ricci’s input – filling the role of the arts...
- 12/12/2012
- by Luke
- Encore Magazine
Don Groves is a Deadline contributor based in Sydney. Brian Rosen and Su Armstrong’s Australian film production company Tree is taking root in North America. The producers plan to start shooting 33 Liberty Lane, a comedy starring Emily Watson, Sandra Oh, Melora Hardin and Nia Vardalos, in Winnipeg in February, and they’re developing Doll, a U.S. romantic drama, with Chartoff Productions’ Lynn Hendee. Englishman Peter Hewitt (Garfield, The Maiden Heist) will direct Liberty Lane from a script by Canadian-born Australian resident Stephen Ayres. The plot follows four down-on-their-luck women who turn to phone sex as a way to make a quick buck and enlist the help of a hooker (not yet cast). Sales agent LevelK has negotiated presales worth $700,000 to Canada (Union Pictures), Russia and other territories, Rosen tells Deadline. Tree is co-producing with Phyllis Laing’s Winnipeg-based Buffalo Gal Pictures. Doll is the saga of an up-and-coming...
- 11/8/2012
- by THE DEADLINE TEAM
- Deadline TV
Screen Australia has committed almost $700,000 in development support across 23 feature projects.
Fifteen new projects have been added to Screen Australia.s development slate, while eight teams will receive continued support to develop their projects.
Two Australian filmmakers will also be supported to undertake overseas internships: producer Ma.ara Bobby Romia will work for six months with Screentime Group in New Zealand and director Ariel Martin-Merrells will work under the mentorship of director James Foley in Los Angeles for five months.
Screen Australia.s head of development Martha Coleman said in a statement: .Following a now well-established tradition, the development slate announced today includes a diverse range of compelling stories from both established and emerging filmmakers. The high calibre of screenplays coming through our door backs up positive feedback we are getting from the domestic and international marketplace and I.m looking forward to seeing the best of these projects make...
Fifteen new projects have been added to Screen Australia.s development slate, while eight teams will receive continued support to develop their projects.
Two Australian filmmakers will also be supported to undertake overseas internships: producer Ma.ara Bobby Romia will work for six months with Screentime Group in New Zealand and director Ariel Martin-Merrells will work under the mentorship of director James Foley in Los Angeles for five months.
Screen Australia.s head of development Martha Coleman said in a statement: .Following a now well-established tradition, the development slate announced today includes a diverse range of compelling stories from both established and emerging filmmakers. The high calibre of screenplays coming through our door backs up positive feedback we are getting from the domestic and international marketplace and I.m looking forward to seeing the best of these projects make...
- 8/29/2012
- by Staff reporter
- IF.com.au
The story of Rupert Murdoch’s rise to become the world’s biggest media mogul looks set to become an Australian TV telemovie,
Screen Australia has provided funding development for the work which is being written by Bob Ellis and Stephen Ramsay.
The announcement comes days after Southern Star’s production of Howzat, the story of how Australian media mogul Kerry Packer took on the cricket establishment delivered the Nine Network with 2m+ ratings.
The series has the working title of The News of the World.
The British Sunday tabloid the telemovie is named after was closed by Murdoch last year in the wake of the phone hacking scandal.
Bob Ellis wrote the Australian journalism drama Newsfront and most recently ABC’s Infamous Victory: Ben Chifley’s Battle for Coal while Stephen Ramsey wrote and directed The Baby Boomers Picture Show and Flashbacks.
Ellis told Mumbrella: “What we have...
Screen Australia has provided funding development for the work which is being written by Bob Ellis and Stephen Ramsay.
The announcement comes days after Southern Star’s production of Howzat, the story of how Australian media mogul Kerry Packer took on the cricket establishment delivered the Nine Network with 2m+ ratings.
The series has the working title of The News of the World.
The British Sunday tabloid the telemovie is named after was closed by Murdoch last year in the wake of the phone hacking scandal.
Bob Ellis wrote the Australian journalism drama Newsfront and most recently ABC’s Infamous Victory: Ben Chifley’s Battle for Coal while Stephen Ramsey wrote and directed The Baby Boomers Picture Show and Flashbacks.
Ellis told Mumbrella: “What we have...
- 8/28/2012
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
A new film starring American actress Christina Ricci and local veteran actor Jack Thompson is due to begin filming in Sydney this month.
Written and directed by Sarah Spillane and produced by Su Armstrong, Brian Rosen and Andrew Fierberg, for Tree Productions, Around the Block is about a young American drama teacher at Redfern High School who helps an Indigenous student on his path to becoming an actor by staging a production of Hamlet.
Snowtown’s Daniel Henshall, Bikie Wars’ Damien Walshe-Howling, TV presenter Ruby Rose, Matt Nable and Madeline Madden have also been cast along with Hunter Lochard Page as Liam, the aspiring actor.
Spillane said: “This a story about freedom, the ability to choose one’s own path in life and create one’s own destiny. As Liam is lead down two opposing paths by his criminally minded brother and optimistically inspiring drama teacher he becomes painfully aware...
Written and directed by Sarah Spillane and produced by Su Armstrong, Brian Rosen and Andrew Fierberg, for Tree Productions, Around the Block is about a young American drama teacher at Redfern High School who helps an Indigenous student on his path to becoming an actor by staging a production of Hamlet.
Snowtown’s Daniel Henshall, Bikie Wars’ Damien Walshe-Howling, TV presenter Ruby Rose, Matt Nable and Madeline Madden have also been cast along with Hunter Lochard Page as Liam, the aspiring actor.
Spillane said: “This a story about freedom, the ability to choose one’s own path in life and create one’s own destiny. As Liam is lead down two opposing paths by his criminally minded brother and optimistically inspiring drama teacher he becomes painfully aware...
- 6/17/2012
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
Christina Ricci has signed on to star in a new Australian indie titled Around The Block, which is set to begin filming in Sydney this coming Monday. The film is written and directed by Sarah Spillane, who is also producing the film through her production company Kick Pictures alongside Brian Rosen and Su Armstrong’s Tree Films.
The synopsis for the film reads:
“Around The Block is about breaking family and cultural cycles for a hopeful future. A contemporary story of love, revenge, and triumph, a young Aboriginal boy becomes torn between his unexpected love of acting and the disintegration of his family. Meanwhile his high school drama teacher must practice what she teaches if she is to succeed in her personal and professional life.”
Ricci is set to play an American school teacher who attempts to help the lives of troubled Aboriginal school students. Her co-stars will include Hunter Page-Lochard,...
The synopsis for the film reads:
“Around The Block is about breaking family and cultural cycles for a hopeful future. A contemporary story of love, revenge, and triumph, a young Aboriginal boy becomes torn between his unexpected love of acting and the disintegration of his family. Meanwhile his high school drama teacher must practice what she teaches if she is to succeed in her personal and professional life.”
Ricci is set to play an American school teacher who attempts to help the lives of troubled Aboriginal school students. Her co-stars will include Hunter Page-Lochard,...
- 6/15/2012
- by Blake Dew
- We Got This Covered
Australian feel-good film Around the Block, starring Christina Ricci, has begun filming this week in Sydney.
Ricci plays unconventional American drama teacher Dino Chalmers, who develops a friendship with 16-year-old Australian-Aboriginal boy Liam (played by Hunter Page-Lochard), who is torn between his unexpected love of theatre and the disintegration of his family. Ricci arrives in Australia on Saturday and will be in the country for the entire four-week shoot which is taking place in the .Block. in Redfern, according to producer Brian Rosen.
.It.s a very uplifting film and it.s very hopeful at the end . it.s symbolic of the Block,. he said. .The Block is rekindling itself now and rising from the ashes and that.s what this story is about . it.s about a kid who rises from the ashes to make something of himself..
The film also stars Jack Thompson (who is also executive producing), Matthew Nable,...
Ricci plays unconventional American drama teacher Dino Chalmers, who develops a friendship with 16-year-old Australian-Aboriginal boy Liam (played by Hunter Page-Lochard), who is torn between his unexpected love of theatre and the disintegration of his family. Ricci arrives in Australia on Saturday and will be in the country for the entire four-week shoot which is taking place in the .Block. in Redfern, according to producer Brian Rosen.
.It.s a very uplifting film and it.s very hopeful at the end . it.s symbolic of the Block,. he said. .The Block is rekindling itself now and rising from the ashes and that.s what this story is about . it.s about a kid who rises from the ashes to make something of himself..
The film also stars Jack Thompson (who is also executive producing), Matthew Nable,...
- 6/15/2012
- by Brendan Swift
- IF.com.au
Garfield director Peter Hewitt is going from the world of animated-family fun and shifting his focus to a more adult-themed comedy. According to THR, the English director is bringing along Emily Watson, Sandra Oh, Nia Vardalos, and Melora Hardin to star in his upcoming romcom, titled 33 Liberty Lane.
Scripted by Stephen Ayres — and to be produced by Good Will Hunting‘s Su Armstrong and Ferngully‘s Brian Rosen — it tells the story of “four down-on-their-luck women turning to telephone sex as a way to make a quick buck. But without much in the way of sexual expertise – their team includes mother and recently dumped wife Brenda (Watson), the 40-year-old virgin Karen (Oh), stalled corporate executive Connie (Hardin) and serial marrier Isabella (Vardalos) – they enlist the services of a local hooker to keep their new erotic business afloat.”
After the success of Bridesmaids, it was only a matter of time before...
Scripted by Stephen Ayres — and to be produced by Good Will Hunting‘s Su Armstrong and Ferngully‘s Brian Rosen — it tells the story of “four down-on-their-luck women turning to telephone sex as a way to make a quick buck. But without much in the way of sexual expertise – their team includes mother and recently dumped wife Brenda (Watson), the 40-year-old virgin Karen (Oh), stalled corporate executive Connie (Hardin) and serial marrier Isabella (Vardalos) – they enlist the services of a local hooker to keep their new erotic business afloat.”
After the success of Bridesmaids, it was only a matter of time before...
- 4/30/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
The femme comedy quartet of Emily Watson, Sandra Oh, Nia Vardalos and Melora Hardin have checked into to 33 Liberty Lane, a romantic comedy about four friends who set up a phone-sex company. British helmer Peter Hewitt (Garfield, The Borrowers) is set to direct the laffer for producers Su Armstrong (Good Will Hunting) and Brian Rosen (Ferngully) of Australian shingle Tree. Filming is set to start this summer in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The film's plot has the down-on-their-luck women turning to telephone sex as a way to make a quick buck. But without much in the
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- 4/30/2012
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
MELBOURNE, Australia -- U.S.-based film producer Brian Rosen has been named CEO of Film Finance Corp. Australia, the country's principal government-funded screen investment agency. The appointment ends a protracted recruitment process that lasted more than a year. Rosen, who in recent weeks emerged as a strong contender for the job, is managing director of Rosen Harper Entertainment, Australia, and president of Classic Films U.S. His credits include We of the Never Never, Ferngully: The Last Rainforest and James and the Giant Peach. He also has been CEO of Hoyts Prods. Australia. He will assume his new role at the beginning of next month. By far the most important of Australia's screen funding sources, the FFC receives about $AUS60 million ($37 million) a year to invest in fiction features, TV programs and documentaries.
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