"I know what it's like out there. I know what happens when things turn bad." IFC Films has unveiled the official US trailer for the Australian mystery sequel titled Force of Nature: The Dry 2, arriving in the US to watch this May (in theaters & on VOD). This crime thriller is a follow-up to the hit film The Dry (2020) continuing the story with the same character. Both of these star Eric Bana as a Federal Agent named Aaron Falk; in the first film, he gets wrapped up in a murder mystery when he goes to his hometown. In this next one, five women participate in a hiking retreat but only four come out on the other side. Federal agents Falk and Cooper head into the Victorian mountains hoping to find her still alive. Bana co-stars with Anna Torv, Deborra-Lee Furness, Robin McLeavy, Sisi Stringer, Lucy Ansell, Richard Roxburgh, Jeremy Lindsay-Taylor,...
- 3/27/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Stan Original Series Population 11, starring some of Australia’s most extraordinary BTS talent, brings their comedy to small-town Australia. And if you saw the incredible true-life Netflix documentary Last Stop Larrimah and hoped it could be made into a drama TV series, here is the next best thing.
Population 11 | Official Trailer
Ben Feldman headlines Stan and Lionsgate’s ‘Population 11’. This original series is poised to be a massively enjoyable and jam-packed trip, both as a thriller and a comedy.
The 12-part series is based on the reported missing case of Paddy Moriarty, who was last seen in the remote Northern Territory town of Larrimah around December 2017. It was also the subject of the new Netflix documentary Last Stop Larrimah.
The story revolves around a guy (Darren Gilshenan) who goes missing from a small outback town of just 12 people and his estranged son Andy, portrayed by Feldman, who travels...
Population 11 | Official Trailer
Ben Feldman headlines Stan and Lionsgate’s ‘Population 11’. This original series is poised to be a massively enjoyable and jam-packed trip, both as a thriller and a comedy.
The 12-part series is based on the reported missing case of Paddy Moriarty, who was last seen in the remote Northern Territory town of Larrimah around December 2017. It was also the subject of the new Netflix documentary Last Stop Larrimah.
The story revolves around a guy (Darren Gilshenan) who goes missing from a small outback town of just 12 people and his estranged son Andy, portrayed by Feldman, who travels...
- 2/7/2024
- by Mantisha
- https://dailyresearchplot.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/new-sam
Exclusive: Superstore star Ben Feldman will lead Australian comedy crime caper Population 11.
Lionsgate, streamer Stan and Phil Lloyd and Trent O’Donnell from No Activity producer Jungle Entertainment have teamed for the 12-part series ahead of a March 14 launch in Australia.
The series, which Jungle produces Entertainment in association with Factor 30 Films, has been quietly shooting in Western Australia’s Kimberley Region. We’ve now got full cast details, a trailer (see below) and first-look images.
Based on true events, the series is based around a man, Hugo, who goes missing from a tiny outback town of only 12 residents. His son, Andy Pruden (Feldman), a suburban Ohio bank teller, has journeyed across the world to visit and is alarmed when he discovers he is missing. Andy teams with another outsider Cassie (Perry Mooney) on a quest to find his father, and the pair find themselves in increasing danger as they...
Lionsgate, streamer Stan and Phil Lloyd and Trent O’Donnell from No Activity producer Jungle Entertainment have teamed for the 12-part series ahead of a March 14 launch in Australia.
The series, which Jungle produces Entertainment in association with Factor 30 Films, has been quietly shooting in Western Australia’s Kimberley Region. We’ve now got full cast details, a trailer (see below) and first-look images.
Based on true events, the series is based around a man, Hugo, who goes missing from a tiny outback town of only 12 residents. His son, Andy Pruden (Feldman), a suburban Ohio bank teller, has journeyed across the world to visit and is alarmed when he discovers he is missing. Andy teams with another outsider Cassie (Perry Mooney) on a quest to find his father, and the pair find themselves in increasing danger as they...
- 1/30/2024
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
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
"None of you have been honest with me about what happened out there..." Roadshow Films in Australia has unveiled an official trailer for their crime thriller sequel Force of Nature: The Dry 2, a follow-up to the hit film The Dry from a few years ago. Both of these star Eric Bana as a Federal Agent named Aaron Falk; in the first film, he unwittingly gets wrapped up in a murder mystery when he goes to visit his hometown. In this next one, five women participate in a hiking retreat but only four come out on the other side. Federal agents Falk and Cooper head into the Victorian mountains hoping to find their informant still alive. Eric Bana returns with Anna Torv, Deborra-Lee Furness, Robin McLeavy, Sisi Stringer, Lucy Ansell, Jacqueline McKenzie, Jeremy Lindsay-Taylor, Richard Roxburgh, Tony Briggs, and Kenneth Radley. Another chilling crime movie / murder mystery to keep audiences hooked.
- 6/20/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
WME Independent licences crime thriller in Australia, UK, Italy.
IFC Films has acquired North American rights to The Dry follow-up and Australian crime thriller Force Of Nature, which WME Independent is continuing to sell at TIFF.
Roadshow Films has acquired the thriller for Australia and New Zealand, Leonine Studios for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Notorious Pictures for Italy and Spain, Sky for the UK, Three Lines for Benelux, M2 for Eastern Europe and Selmer for Scandinavia.
Bana reprises his role as federal agent Aaron Falk and reunites with The Dry director Robert Connolly on the story of agents who venture...
IFC Films has acquired North American rights to The Dry follow-up and Australian crime thriller Force Of Nature, which WME Independent is continuing to sell at TIFF.
Roadshow Films has acquired the thriller for Australia and New Zealand, Leonine Studios for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Notorious Pictures for Italy and Spain, Sky for the UK, Three Lines for Benelux, M2 for Eastern Europe and Selmer for Scandinavia.
Bana reprises his role as federal agent Aaron Falk and reunites with The Dry director Robert Connolly on the story of agents who venture...
- 9/9/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Click here to read the full article.
IFC Films has picked up the North American rights to the Australian crime thriller Force of Nature from director Robert Connolly.
The follow-up to Connolly’s box office The Dry reteams the director with Eric Bana, who reprises his role as Aaron Falk. Force of Nature is based on the book series by Jane Harper and captures five women taking part in a corporate hiking retreat where only four come out on the other side.
Federal Agents Falk and Carmen Cooper head deep into the Victorian mountain ranges to investigate and hopefully find their whistle-blowing informant, Alice Russell, alive.
“Eric Bana brought the character of Aaron Falk to life last year, intriguing audiences across the globe. Returning to this beautifully written true-crime universe with Eric, Robert, and the amazing team at Made Up Stories ensures all the ingredients that made The Dry a...
IFC Films has picked up the North American rights to the Australian crime thriller Force of Nature from director Robert Connolly.
The follow-up to Connolly’s box office The Dry reteams the director with Eric Bana, who reprises his role as Aaron Falk. Force of Nature is based on the book series by Jane Harper and captures five women taking part in a corporate hiking retreat where only four come out on the other side.
Federal Agents Falk and Carmen Cooper head deep into the Victorian mountain ranges to investigate and hopefully find their whistle-blowing informant, Alice Russell, alive.
“Eric Bana brought the character of Aaron Falk to life last year, intriguing audiences across the globe. Returning to this beautifully written true-crime universe with Eric, Robert, and the amazing team at Made Up Stories ensures all the ingredients that made The Dry a...
- 9/9/2022
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Eric Bana and Robert Connolly Reunite for ‘Force of Nature,’ Following Australian Hit Film ‘The Dry’
Director Robert Connolly and star Eric Bana are reuniting for a detective film based on the novel “Force of Nature,” set in the Australian wilderness.
Connolly and Bana were previously teamed on Australian smash hit movie “The Dry,” which like “Force of Nature” was adapted from a novel by Jane Harper. They also worked together on “Blueback,” a family-friendly, ecologically activist celebration of the natural world, adapted from a Tim Winton novella.
“Force of Nature” sees five women take part in a corporate hiking retreat, with only four coming out on the other side. Federal agents Aaron Falk (Jeremy Lindsay-Taylor) and Carmen Cooper (Jacqueline McKenzie) head deep into the Victorian mountain ranges to investigate, in hopes of finding their whistle-blowing informant still alive.
Production is now underway and will take place entirely within Victoria state, primarily in the Dandenong Ranges, Yarra Valley and the Otways.
The film is a Made Up Stories...
Connolly and Bana were previously teamed on Australian smash hit movie “The Dry,” which like “Force of Nature” was adapted from a novel by Jane Harper. They also worked together on “Blueback,” a family-friendly, ecologically activist celebration of the natural world, adapted from a Tim Winton novella.
“Force of Nature” sees five women take part in a corporate hiking retreat, with only four coming out on the other side. Federal agents Aaron Falk (Jeremy Lindsay-Taylor) and Carmen Cooper (Jacqueline McKenzie) head deep into the Victorian mountain ranges to investigate, in hopes of finding their whistle-blowing informant still alive.
Production is now underway and will take place entirely within Victoria state, primarily in the Dandenong Ranges, Yarra Valley and the Otways.
The film is a Made Up Stories...
- 5/17/2022
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Typecast Entertainment has optioned Tara June Winch’s novel The Yield for the screen, with Tony Briggs and Kodie Bedford to write the script.
Published in 2019, the book follows Albert ‘Poppy’ Gondiwindi, who takes pen to paper, knowing that he will soon die.
Having spent his life on the banks of the Murrumby River at Prosperous House, on Massacre Plains, Albert is determined to pass on the language of his people and everything that was ever remembered.
His granddaughter August Gondiwindi has been living on the other side of the world for ten years when she learns of his passing, prompting her to return home for his burial.
After confronting the love of her kin, she learns Prosperous is to be repossessed by a mining company, leading her to undertake a quest to save their land.
The Yield has garnered widespread acclaim since its release, culminating in the 2020 Miles Franklin Literary Award.
Published in 2019, the book follows Albert ‘Poppy’ Gondiwindi, who takes pen to paper, knowing that he will soon die.
Having spent his life on the banks of the Murrumby River at Prosperous House, on Massacre Plains, Albert is determined to pass on the language of his people and everything that was ever remembered.
His granddaughter August Gondiwindi has been living on the other side of the world for ten years when she learns of his passing, prompting her to return home for his burial.
After confronting the love of her kin, she learns Prosperous is to be repossessed by a mining company, leading her to undertake a quest to save their land.
The Yield has garnered widespread acclaim since its release, culminating in the 2020 Miles Franklin Literary Award.
- 5/20/2021
- by Sean Slatter
- IF.com.au
Screen Australia has announced $2 million of funding via its Enterprise program, including four Business & Ideas projects and 11 Enterprise People talent opportunities.
Recipients include Doc Society, which is launching Global Story and Impact Labs that will enable Australian documentary makers to elevate the social impact of their work.
Funding will also be given to A2K Media for an online disability equity and inclusion training program called Disability Justice Lens.
Screen Australia’s CEO Graeme Mason said the past year had inspired “incredible” innovation and adaptability across the screen sector.
“These [are] bold proposals that are set to improve the industry, whether it’s White Spark Pictures developing innovative virtual reality technology, A2K Media improving participation for people with disability, or Typecast Entertainment expanding their ability to support storytelling from First Nations people and people of colour,” he said.
“We’re also excited to support Doc Society’s new labs which will...
Recipients include Doc Society, which is launching Global Story and Impact Labs that will enable Australian documentary makers to elevate the social impact of their work.
Funding will also be given to A2K Media for an online disability equity and inclusion training program called Disability Justice Lens.
Screen Australia’s CEO Graeme Mason said the past year had inspired “incredible” innovation and adaptability across the screen sector.
“These [are] bold proposals that are set to improve the industry, whether it’s White Spark Pictures developing innovative virtual reality technology, A2K Media improving participation for people with disability, or Typecast Entertainment expanding their ability to support storytelling from First Nations people and people of colour,” he said.
“We’re also excited to support Doc Society’s new labs which will...
- 3/30/2021
- by Sean Slatter
- IF.com.au
One of the key things that encouraged AP Pobjoy to apply for the Victorian Screen Development Internship, which sees creatives spend 12 months working across Film Victoria, the ABC and either Fremantle Australia or Princess Pictures, was that their identity was actually listed on the application.
“Being a queer, trans person it was so great to see I had a level opportunity to make it into a type of initiative where I hadn’t seen my gender on a piece of paper before,” the filmmaker tells If.
“I was ready to take the next step in my career, but also bring my identity with me.”
AP joins producer and writer Ravi Chand in being selected for this year’s program, aimed at talent from under-represented backgrounds.
The initiative is designed to “fast-track” career progression by giving recipients exposure to the lifecycle of development.
At Film Vic, the duo will help assess pitches,...
“Being a queer, trans person it was so great to see I had a level opportunity to make it into a type of initiative where I hadn’t seen my gender on a piece of paper before,” the filmmaker tells If.
“I was ready to take the next step in my career, but also bring my identity with me.”
AP joins producer and writer Ravi Chand in being selected for this year’s program, aimed at talent from under-represented backgrounds.
The initiative is designed to “fast-track” career progression by giving recipients exposure to the lifecycle of development.
At Film Vic, the duo will help assess pitches,...
- 3/25/2021
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
The Birrarangga Film Festival will return to Melbourne next month, featuring a line-up of more than 70 narrative features, documentaries, and short films.
Designed to celebrate Indigenous projects from around the world, this year’s festival will screen works from Canada, New Zealand, US, Chile, Greenland, Peru, Russia, Finland, Norway, Solomon Islands and Australia.
The inaugural Birrarangga Film Festival took place two years ago in Melbourne after being developed through the creative partnership of Wurundjeri/Yorta Yorta creative Tony Briggs (The Sapphires) and producer Damienne Pradier of Typecast Entertainment.
For Briggs, who is the festival’s artistic director, the second iteration of the event takes place against a markedly different backdrop than its predecessor.
“So much in the world has changed since our inaugural Birrarangga Film Festival two years ago, including the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, #MeToo and the ongoing global pandemic,” he says.
“We hope the recurring...
Designed to celebrate Indigenous projects from around the world, this year’s festival will screen works from Canada, New Zealand, US, Chile, Greenland, Peru, Russia, Finland, Norway, Solomon Islands and Australia.
The inaugural Birrarangga Film Festival took place two years ago in Melbourne after being developed through the creative partnership of Wurundjeri/Yorta Yorta creative Tony Briggs (The Sapphires) and producer Damienne Pradier of Typecast Entertainment.
For Briggs, who is the festival’s artistic director, the second iteration of the event takes place against a markedly different backdrop than its predecessor.
“So much in the world has changed since our inaugural Birrarangga Film Festival two years ago, including the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, #MeToo and the ongoing global pandemic,” he says.
“We hope the recurring...
- 2/16/2021
- by Sean Slatter
- IF.com.au
The ten Indigenous-led productions due to participate in Bunya Talent Lab LA will each receive development funding and participate in a companion writing program with Netflix.
Originally scheduled for May 2020 in LA, the five-day incubator program was delayed due to travel restrictions but will now take place virtually in early February 2021.
In order for the creatives to maintain momentum and utilise the extra time ahead of the event, Screen Australia’s Indigenous department and Netflix will give each team development funding to further develop their projects with Bunya producers.
As part of the hub, each project will also receive one-on-one international mentorship for their production from Australians in Film (AiF).
A final pitch session to Netflix commissioners in early 2021 will see one of the projects land a formal development deal with Netflix, with Bunya Productions engaged as producers.
Projects include a range of feature film and TV series ideas encompassing comedy,...
Originally scheduled for May 2020 in LA, the five-day incubator program was delayed due to travel restrictions but will now take place virtually in early February 2021.
In order for the creatives to maintain momentum and utilise the extra time ahead of the event, Screen Australia’s Indigenous department and Netflix will give each team development funding to further develop their projects with Bunya producers.
As part of the hub, each project will also receive one-on-one international mentorship for their production from Australians in Film (AiF).
A final pitch session to Netflix commissioners in early 2021 will see one of the projects land a formal development deal with Netflix, with Bunya Productions engaged as producers.
Projects include a range of feature film and TV series ideas encompassing comedy,...
- 11/12/2020
- by Staff Writer
- IF.com.au
Tony Briggs and Tracey Rigney.
Tony Birch’s Miles Franklin-shortlisted novel The White Girl is set in the 1960s but the themes of the courage, strength and dignity of Indigenous resistance are just as relevant today, according to Damienne Pradier.
Emerging producer Pradier and her partner, writer-actor Tony Briggs, optioned the novel and are developing a feature film with Tracey Rigney as the director and co-writer.
It’s among six Australian projects selected to participate in Attagirl, the feature film development lab devised and run by For Film’s Sake.
The plot follows Odette Brown, who is raising her granddaughter Sissy, who was conceived when she was raped by Joe Kane, a white pastoralist for whom Odette once worked as a domestic.
Traumatised by her violation and unable to cope with life as a mother, Odette’s daughter Lila fled to the big city, leaving behind Sissy, the white girl of Birch’s title.
Tony Birch’s Miles Franklin-shortlisted novel The White Girl is set in the 1960s but the themes of the courage, strength and dignity of Indigenous resistance are just as relevant today, according to Damienne Pradier.
Emerging producer Pradier and her partner, writer-actor Tony Briggs, optioned the novel and are developing a feature film with Tracey Rigney as the director and co-writer.
It’s among six Australian projects selected to participate in Attagirl, the feature film development lab devised and run by For Film’s Sake.
The plot follows Odette Brown, who is raising her granddaughter Sissy, who was conceived when she was raped by Joe Kane, a white pastoralist for whom Odette once worked as a domestic.
Traumatised by her violation and unable to cope with life as a mother, Odette’s daughter Lila fled to the big city, leaving behind Sissy, the white girl of Birch’s title.
- 9/8/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
‘Fads and Miracles’ (Photo credit: Matt Sav.)
Tracey Rigney, Emma Freeman, Tanya Modini, Laura Scrivano, Zoe Pepper, Eve Spence and Amin Palangi are among the directors who will take part in Attagirl, the new lab dedicated to creating production and distribution pathways for feature films by female and non-binary creative teams.
Six Australian projects and one from New Zealand are among 13 from around the world selected for the lab designed and run by For Film’s Sake (Ffs), financially supported by Screen Australia’s Enterprise Business and Ideas funding program and other Australian and international screen agencies.
The first of three workshops consisting of nine days of project development during TIFF’s Industry Conference and digital festival begins tomorrow. The second next January will look at ways to identify and reach the target audience, including digital distribution and the future of exhibition.
The third, affiliated with the Sydney Film Festival in June,...
Tracey Rigney, Emma Freeman, Tanya Modini, Laura Scrivano, Zoe Pepper, Eve Spence and Amin Palangi are among the directors who will take part in Attagirl, the new lab dedicated to creating production and distribution pathways for feature films by female and non-binary creative teams.
Six Australian projects and one from New Zealand are among 13 from around the world selected for the lab designed and run by For Film’s Sake (Ffs), financially supported by Screen Australia’s Enterprise Business and Ideas funding program and other Australian and international screen agencies.
The first of three workshops consisting of nine days of project development during TIFF’s Industry Conference and digital festival begins tomorrow. The second next January will look at ways to identify and reach the target audience, including digital distribution and the future of exhibition.
The third, affiliated with the Sydney Film Festival in June,...
- 9/8/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Top row: Aven Yap, Helen Morrsion. Centre row: Ben Hackworth, Dean Gibson. Bottom Row: Krissy Kneen, Anthony Mullins.
Screen Queensland’s Ride Feature Film Fund is now a rolling fund, with the agency putting a call out today for pitches from creatives from under-represented groups.
The initiative is a partnership between Sq, Sbs, Madman Entertainment, The Post Lounge and Media Super, and guarantees a production budget of $1.5 million for one feature film to be created each year for the next three years.
Creatives can apply to Ride at anytime, with projects selected to move into further intensive development and join the Ride Slate, from which the partners will then select films for production.
Writers, directors and producers with between 0-2 feature film credits can apply for Ride as an individual or in a team. For this program, under-represented groups are recognised as differences in gender, age, Aboriginal identity, CaLD, Lgbtqi+, regional and remote,...
Screen Queensland’s Ride Feature Film Fund is now a rolling fund, with the agency putting a call out today for pitches from creatives from under-represented groups.
The initiative is a partnership between Sq, Sbs, Madman Entertainment, The Post Lounge and Media Super, and guarantees a production budget of $1.5 million for one feature film to be created each year for the next three years.
Creatives can apply to Ride at anytime, with projects selected to move into further intensive development and join the Ride Slate, from which the partners will then select films for production.
Writers, directors and producers with between 0-2 feature film credits can apply for Ride as an individual or in a team. For this program, under-represented groups are recognised as differences in gender, age, Aboriginal identity, CaLD, Lgbtqi+, regional and remote,...
- 5/13/2020
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
A new wave of Australian drama series has shined a light on Indigenous cultures, with Aboriginal-led productions reshaping the domestic market while finding a global platform for Indigenous stories.
What that might mean for Indigenous Australians was the focus of “Mainstream, Genre and Indigenous Perspectives: New Wave Australian Series,” a panel that took place Tuesday during the Berlinale Series Market, moderated by Jenny Cooney, executive vice president of Bunya Productions.
The panel featured Wayne Blair, director of “Mystery Road 2,” which premiered this week in Berlin; Darren Dale, co-creator and producer of “Total Control”; and Tony Briggs, actor (“Cleverman”) and creator and producer of “The Warriors.”
“Total Control” is a six-part drama series about a female senator, played by Aboriginal actress Deborah Mailman, caught up in the rough-and-tumble world of Australian politics. Blair held the series up as an example of the new possibilities for Indigenous creators. “Even to see an...
What that might mean for Indigenous Australians was the focus of “Mainstream, Genre and Indigenous Perspectives: New Wave Australian Series,” a panel that took place Tuesday during the Berlinale Series Market, moderated by Jenny Cooney, executive vice president of Bunya Productions.
The panel featured Wayne Blair, director of “Mystery Road 2,” which premiered this week in Berlin; Darren Dale, co-creator and producer of “Total Control”; and Tony Briggs, actor (“Cleverman”) and creator and producer of “The Warriors.”
“Total Control” is a six-part drama series about a female senator, played by Aboriginal actress Deborah Mailman, caught up in the rough-and-tumble world of Australian politics. Blair held the series up as an example of the new possibilities for Indigenous creators. “Even to see an...
- 2/26/2020
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Miranda Tapsell and Nakkiah Lui in ‘Get Krack!n’ (Photo credit: ABC).
The nine creative teams comprising 13 individuals who will take part in the inaugural Bunya Talent Indigenous Hub in Los Angeles in March were announced today.
Presented in association with Netflix Australia and Screen Australia’s Indigenous Department, the five-day talent incubator is aimed at mid-career Indigenous writers, showrunners, directors and producers.
The 13 will develop and pitch their projects and attend meetings and presentations by executives from Netflix and other industry practitioners.
The feature film and TV series ideas encompass comedy, drama and the supernatural. The event will take place at Charlie’s, Australians in Film’s hub for business, project development and networking for the Australian screen community in La.
At the end of the incubator, one participant’s work will be selected to proceed to further development with Bunya Productions as producers, receiving up to $20,000 in further development...
The nine creative teams comprising 13 individuals who will take part in the inaugural Bunya Talent Indigenous Hub in Los Angeles in March were announced today.
Presented in association with Netflix Australia and Screen Australia’s Indigenous Department, the five-day talent incubator is aimed at mid-career Indigenous writers, showrunners, directors and producers.
The 13 will develop and pitch their projects and attend meetings and presentations by executives from Netflix and other industry practitioners.
The feature film and TV series ideas encompass comedy, drama and the supernatural. The event will take place at Charlie’s, Australians in Film’s hub for business, project development and networking for the Australian screen community in La.
At the end of the incubator, one participant’s work will be selected to proceed to further development with Bunya Productions as producers, receiving up to $20,000 in further development...
- 1/29/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Richard Roxburgh, Emma Booth and Daisy Axon in ‘H is for Happiness.’
The Australian presence at the Berlin International Film Festival has been bolstered with the selection of the shorts Elders, Grevillea and The Flame in the Generation program.
It will be the world premieres for Jordan Giusti’s Grevillea and Nick Waterman’s short doc The Flame. Tony Briggs’ Elders played at the Melbourne and Sydney Film Festivals and had its first international screening at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in Toronto.
John Sheedy’s debut feature H is for Happiness, which opens in Australian cinemas on February 6, was announced today as the opening film of the Generation KPlus section, its international premiere.
In addition, Australian director Kitty Green’s #MeToo Us drama The Assistant will screen in the Panorma sidebar, which the programmers say is “emblematic of the urgency for political action and civil disobedience.”
The Generation...
The Australian presence at the Berlin International Film Festival has been bolstered with the selection of the shorts Elders, Grevillea and The Flame in the Generation program.
It will be the world premieres for Jordan Giusti’s Grevillea and Nick Waterman’s short doc The Flame. Tony Briggs’ Elders played at the Melbourne and Sydney Film Festivals and had its first international screening at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in Toronto.
John Sheedy’s debut feature H is for Happiness, which opens in Australian cinemas on February 6, was announced today as the opening film of the Generation KPlus section, its international premiere.
In addition, Australian director Kitty Green’s #MeToo Us drama The Assistant will screen in the Panorma sidebar, which the programmers say is “emblematic of the urgency for political action and civil disobedience.”
The Generation...
- 1/22/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
‘Young Mob Questioning Treaty’.
Four shorts supported by Nitv and Film Victoria – What If, Unceded, Young Mob Questioning Treaty, and Treaty Now? – will screen on Nitv this weekend as part of the channel’s Naidoc Week line-up.
The Treaty initiative, from Film Victoria and Nitv, supported Indigenous Victorian filmmakers to create an original short film about what Treaty means to them and their local community, and links in with the theme of this year’s Naidoc Week, Voice.Treaty.Truth.
What If, from writer-director Daniel King, brings five Victorian community members together to contemplate ‘what if’ a Treaty was signed in 1788, when the first British ships arrived in Botany Bay.
In Unceded, by musician and filmmaker Robbie Bundle (Keeping Harmony: The Earth Songlines & Mixing It Up), three Aboriginal men meet in a recording studio to discuss what a Treaty is all about and record a song titled ‘Unceded’.
Tarneen Onus...
Four shorts supported by Nitv and Film Victoria – What If, Unceded, Young Mob Questioning Treaty, and Treaty Now? – will screen on Nitv this weekend as part of the channel’s Naidoc Week line-up.
The Treaty initiative, from Film Victoria and Nitv, supported Indigenous Victorian filmmakers to create an original short film about what Treaty means to them and their local community, and links in with the theme of this year’s Naidoc Week, Voice.Treaty.Truth.
What If, from writer-director Daniel King, brings five Victorian community members together to contemplate ‘what if’ a Treaty was signed in 1788, when the first British ships arrived in Botany Bay.
In Unceded, by musician and filmmaker Robbie Bundle (Keeping Harmony: The Earth Songlines & Mixing It Up), three Aboriginal men meet in a recording studio to discuss what a Treaty is all about and record a song titled ‘Unceded’.
Tarneen Onus...
- 7/5/2019
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Tracey Rigney (Photo credit: Michelle Grace Hunder).
Growing up in western Victoria, Tracey Rigney, a member of the Wotjobaluk and Ngarrindjeri peoples, rarely saw black faces on television apart from David Gulpilil and Ernie Dingo.
Today the writer-director, who started out as a playwright with Belonging and How Blak R U? in 2002, is among the screen industry’s fast-rising Indigenous storytellers.
Currently she is crafting ideas for one of eight shorts which will comprise the anthology feature Cook 2020: Our Right of Reply, jointly commissioned by Screen Australia and the New Zealand Film Commission.
When there was a call-out for applications initially she decided not to apply, given the demands on her time and energy as the mother of a two-and-a-half year-old girl.
A producer friend told her she had some good ideas and encouraged her to give it a go. “I applied not thinking I would get anywhere,” she tells If.
Growing up in western Victoria, Tracey Rigney, a member of the Wotjobaluk and Ngarrindjeri peoples, rarely saw black faces on television apart from David Gulpilil and Ernie Dingo.
Today the writer-director, who started out as a playwright with Belonging and How Blak R U? in 2002, is among the screen industry’s fast-rising Indigenous storytellers.
Currently she is crafting ideas for one of eight shorts which will comprise the anthology feature Cook 2020: Our Right of Reply, jointly commissioned by Screen Australia and the New Zealand Film Commission.
When there was a call-out for applications initially she decided not to apply, given the demands on her time and energy as the mother of a two-and-a-half year-old girl.
A producer friend told her she had some good ideas and encouraged her to give it a go. “I applied not thinking I would get anywhere,” she tells If.
- 5/26/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Tony Briggs on the set of his short ‘Elders.’
After Tony Briggs spent a year playing Pete Baxter in Neighbours, his screen debut, he discovered the producers had debated whether to identify his character as Indigenous.
He was not aware of those discussions and was very pleased when he found out another actor on the serial had advised the producers that wasn’t necessary.
That was in 1988. Since then he has played numerous characters whose nationality was not mentioned in Rosehaven, Rake, Cleverman, The Warriors (which he co-created with Robert Connolly), Seven Types of Ambiguity, Nowhere Boys and Wentworth, alternating with multiple stage roles.
The creator of The Sapphires is serving as the artistic director of the inaugural Birrarangga Film Festival, a celebration of Indigenous filmmakers from around the world, which will be staged at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image from April 26 – 29.
He is gratified to see more...
After Tony Briggs spent a year playing Pete Baxter in Neighbours, his screen debut, he discovered the producers had debated whether to identify his character as Indigenous.
He was not aware of those discussions and was very pleased when he found out another actor on the serial had advised the producers that wasn’t necessary.
That was in 1988. Since then he has played numerous characters whose nationality was not mentioned in Rosehaven, Rake, Cleverman, The Warriors (which he co-created with Robert Connolly), Seven Types of Ambiguity, Nowhere Boys and Wentworth, alternating with multiple stage roles.
The creator of The Sapphires is serving as the artistic director of the inaugural Birrarangga Film Festival, a celebration of Indigenous filmmakers from around the world, which will be staged at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image from April 26 – 29.
He is gratified to see more...
- 3/28/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
‘Falls Around Her.’
In curating the program for the inaugural Birrarangga Film Festival, Tony Briggs was spoiled for choice.
“I wasn’t surprised to discover there is so much extraordinary work being produced by Indigenous communities around the world,” the actor, writer and director tells If.
“I attended the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in Toronto last October and it was an eye-opening experience, a confirmation of that talent. A lot of the stories were parallel to my own culture.
“Opportunities are far and few between to get content on screens, particularly from Indigenous filmmakers, so it is exciting to show these works at the festival, aligned with the theme ‘humanity through family and culture.'”
Briggs has selected 13 features and assorted Vr works and short films for the festival which will run from April 26-29 at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, with support from major sponsors Creative...
In curating the program for the inaugural Birrarangga Film Festival, Tony Briggs was spoiled for choice.
“I wasn’t surprised to discover there is so much extraordinary work being produced by Indigenous communities around the world,” the actor, writer and director tells If.
“I attended the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in Toronto last October and it was an eye-opening experience, a confirmation of that talent. A lot of the stories were parallel to my own culture.
“Opportunities are far and few between to get content on screens, particularly from Indigenous filmmakers, so it is exciting to show these works at the festival, aligned with the theme ‘humanity through family and culture.'”
Briggs has selected 13 features and assorted Vr works and short films for the festival which will run from April 26-29 at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, with support from major sponsors Creative...
- 3/27/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Sgaawaay K’uuna (Edge of the Knife)
The inaugural Birrarangga Film Festival, a celebration of Indigenous filmmakers from around the world, will be staged at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image from April 26 – 29.
Curated by writer/actor Tony Briggs, the event will focus on films that explore the curatorial themes of ‘humanity through family and culture’ as well as honouring the history of the First Peoples’ cultural practices.
The program will feature more than 40 new features and short films, opening with the Australian premiere of the Canadian film Sgaawaay K’uuna (Edge of the Knife), the first film made by the Haida Gwaii community in their own language.
Co-directed by Gwaai Edenshaw and Helen Haig-Brown, it recounts the story of the Gagiixiid or wildman set in the mid-nineteenth century, shot with community actors and many of the crew drawn from local communities.
Respected elder Aunty Zeta Briggs Thomson has...
The inaugural Birrarangga Film Festival, a celebration of Indigenous filmmakers from around the world, will be staged at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image from April 26 – 29.
Curated by writer/actor Tony Briggs, the event will focus on films that explore the curatorial themes of ‘humanity through family and culture’ as well as honouring the history of the First Peoples’ cultural practices.
The program will feature more than 40 new features and short films, opening with the Australian premiere of the Canadian film Sgaawaay K’uuna (Edge of the Knife), the first film made by the Haida Gwaii community in their own language.
Co-directed by Gwaai Edenshaw and Helen Haig-Brown, it recounts the story of the Gagiixiid or wildman set in the mid-nineteenth century, shot with community actors and many of the crew drawn from local communities.
Respected elder Aunty Zeta Briggs Thomson has...
- 3/12/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
(L-r) Shari Sebbens, Calen Tassone, Siria Kickett and Marcus Graham in ‘The Heights’ (Photo: Ben King)
When Shari Sebbens graduated from Nida and Waapa she expected her fair complexion would mean she would be cast mostly as white characters in shows about Indigenous people.
Happily she was wrong. After making her screen debut in Wayne Blair’s 2012 hit The Sapphires she starred in a bunch of series including Redfern Now, The Gods of Wheat Street, 8Mmm Aboriginal Radio and Black Comedy, all true to her cultural identity.
“I think The Sapphires confused the hell out of everybody as they thought, ‘She looks white but she says she’s Aboriginal,’ she tells If. “It’s something our community has known since colonisation: our people come in very different shades. I call it the Fifty Shades of Black.”
The actress will next be seen in the Matchbox Pictures/For Pete’s Sake Productions 30-episode drama serial The Heights,...
When Shari Sebbens graduated from Nida and Waapa she expected her fair complexion would mean she would be cast mostly as white characters in shows about Indigenous people.
Happily she was wrong. After making her screen debut in Wayne Blair’s 2012 hit The Sapphires she starred in a bunch of series including Redfern Now, The Gods of Wheat Street, 8Mmm Aboriginal Radio and Black Comedy, all true to her cultural identity.
“I think The Sapphires confused the hell out of everybody as they thought, ‘She looks white but she says she’s Aboriginal,’ she tells If. “It’s something our community has known since colonisation: our people come in very different shades. I call it the Fifty Shades of Black.”
The actress will next be seen in the Matchbox Pictures/For Pete’s Sake Productions 30-episode drama serial The Heights,...
- 2/13/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Vulture Watch What fate awaits Koen and Waruu? Has the Cleverman TV show been cancelled or renewed for a third season on SundanceTV? The television vulture is watching all the latest cancellation and renewal news, so this page is the place to track the status of Cleverman season three. Bookmark it, or subscribe for the latest updates. Remember, the television vulture is watching your shows. Are you? What's This TV Show About? Airing on the SundanceTV cable channel, Cleverman stars Hunter Page-Lochard, Rob Collins, Iain Glen, Frances O’Connor, Deborah Mailman, Tasma Walton, Rarriwuy Hick, Jada Alberts, Rachael Blake, Tony Briggs, Clarence Ryan, Taylor Ferguson, Rob Collins, Stef Dawson, Ryan Corr, and Jack Charles. The supernatural drama draws inspiration from Australian Aboriginal mythological traditions. Set in the near future — when beings of Aboriginal legend live among humans — the story...
- 9/8/2017
- by TVSeriesFinale.com
- TVSeriesFinale.com
Although it was originally billed as an actual mini-series, rather than the nebulous "limited event series," which is common these days, SundanceTV and Australia's ABC TV renewed the Cleverman TV show for a second season, back in June of 2016. Now it remains to be seen if it can build up its audience, particularly in the Us. Will Cleverman be cancelled or renewed for season three? Stay tuned. A supernatural drama, Cleverman stars Hunter Page-Lochard, Rob Collins, Iain Glen, Frances O’Connor, Deborah Mailman, Tasma Walton, Rarriwuy Hick, Jada Alberts, Rachael Blake, Tony Briggs, Clarence Ryan, Taylor Ferguson, Rob Collins, Stef Dawson, Ryan Corr, and Jack Charles. The SundanceTV series draws inspiration from Australian Aboriginal mythological traditions. Set in the near future — when beings of Aboriginal legend live among humans — the story moves between two worlds: The City and The Zone. In the...
- 7/28/2017
- by TVSeriesFinale.com
- TVSeriesFinale.com
Vulture Watch What fate awaits Koen and Waruu? Has the Cleverman TV show been cancelled or renewed for a third season on SundanceTV? The television vulture is watching all the latest cancellation and renewal news, so this page is the place to track the status of Cleverman season three. Bookmark it, or subscribe for the latest updates. Remember, the television vulture is watching your shows. Are you? What's This TV Show About? Airing on the SundanceTV cable channel, Cleverman stars Hunter Page-Lochard, Rob Collins, Iain Glen, Frances O’Connor, Deborah Mailman, Tasma Walton, Rarriwuy Hick, Jada Alberts, Rachael Blake, Tony Briggs, Clarence Ryan, Taylor Ferguson, Rob Collins, Stef Dawson, Ryan Corr, and Jack Charles. The supernatural drama draws inspiration from Australian Aboriginal mythological traditions. Set in the near future — when beings of Aboriginal legend live among humans — the story...
- 7/21/2017
- by TVSeriesFinale.com
- TVSeriesFinale.com
Network: SundanceTV. Episodes: Ongoing (hour). Seasons: Ongoing. TV show dates (Us): June 1, 2016 — present. Series status: Has not been cancelled. Performers include: Hunter Page-Lochard, Rob Collins, Iain Glen, Frances O'Connor, Deborah Mailman, Tasma Walton, Rarriwuy Hick, Jada Alberts, Rachael Blake, Tony Briggs, Clarence Ryan, Taylor Ferguson, Rob Collins, Stef Dawson, Ryan Corr, Robyn Nevin, Lynette Curran, Tysan Towney, Andrew McFarlane, Marcus Graham, Leeanna Walsman, Jada Alberts, Tamala Shelton, Luke Ford, Alec Doomadgee, Lasarus Ratuere, Lisa Flanagan, and Jack Charles. TV show description: A supernatural drama the Cleverman TV show draws inspiration from Australian Aboriginal mythological traditions. Set in the near future -- when beings of Aboriginal legend live among humans -- the story moves between two worlds: The City and The Zone.
- 6/29/2017
- by TVSeriesFinale.com
- TVSeriesFinale.com
Dual campaigns to fight online piracy worldwide and to withstand any weakening of copyright protection in Australia are stepping up.
Village Roadshow and Foxtel have joined a newly-formed global coalition of 30 content creators and on-demand entertainment companies dedicated to reducing online piracy.
The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (Ace) will draw on the worldwide anti-piracy resources of the Motion Picture Association of America, in concert with the efforts of coalition members.
Ace.s membership includes the Hollywood majors, Amazon, Netflix, BBC Worldwide, HBO, Hulu, Lionsgate, CBS, Canal+ Group, Constantin Film, Millennium Media, Sky, Star India, Studio Babelsberg, Stx Entertainment and Telemundo.
Its mandate is to conduct research; work closely with law enforcement to curtail illegal pirate enterprises; file civil litigation; forge cooperative relationships with national content protection organisations; and pursue voluntary agreements with responsible parties across the internet.
Village Roadshow co-chairman/co-ceo Graham Burke said, .Nothing is more important or...
Village Roadshow and Foxtel have joined a newly-formed global coalition of 30 content creators and on-demand entertainment companies dedicated to reducing online piracy.
The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (Ace) will draw on the worldwide anti-piracy resources of the Motion Picture Association of America, in concert with the efforts of coalition members.
Ace.s membership includes the Hollywood majors, Amazon, Netflix, BBC Worldwide, HBO, Hulu, Lionsgate, CBS, Canal+ Group, Constantin Film, Millennium Media, Sky, Star India, Studio Babelsberg, Stx Entertainment and Telemundo.
Its mandate is to conduct research; work closely with law enforcement to curtail illegal pirate enterprises; file civil litigation; forge cooperative relationships with national content protection organisations; and pursue voluntary agreements with responsible parties across the internet.
Village Roadshow co-chairman/co-ceo Graham Burke said, .Nothing is more important or...
- 6/13/2017
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
The Warriors.
Filming has started in Melbourne on The Warriors, an eight-part Indigenous comedy drama for the ABC.
Lisa McCune, John Howard and Vince Colosimo will star alongside a cast of emerging Indigenous actors.
The Warriors, which explores the world of Aussie Rules, is the brainchild of Tony Briggs (The Sapphires) and Robert Connolly (Paper Planes, Barracuda).
The series has been exclusively written and directed by Indigenous Australians, including Jon Bell (Cleverman), Briggs and newcomer Tracey Rigney..
Directors include Adrian Russell Wills (Wentworth), Beck Cole (Black Comedy), Steven McGregor (Croker Island Exodus, Redfern Now), Catriona McKenzie (The Circuit, Redfern Now and The Gods of Wheat Street)..
Producers are Connolly, John Harvey and Liz Kearney, and Justin Monjo is story producer.
The Warriors follows two new Afl recruits - plucked from obscurity into fame and fortune - and two established players, who have been thrown together into a share house in Melbourne.
Filming has started in Melbourne on The Warriors, an eight-part Indigenous comedy drama for the ABC.
Lisa McCune, John Howard and Vince Colosimo will star alongside a cast of emerging Indigenous actors.
The Warriors, which explores the world of Aussie Rules, is the brainchild of Tony Briggs (The Sapphires) and Robert Connolly (Paper Planes, Barracuda).
The series has been exclusively written and directed by Indigenous Australians, including Jon Bell (Cleverman), Briggs and newcomer Tracey Rigney..
Directors include Adrian Russell Wills (Wentworth), Beck Cole (Black Comedy), Steven McGregor (Croker Island Exodus, Redfern Now), Catriona McKenzie (The Circuit, Redfern Now and The Gods of Wheat Street)..
Producers are Connolly, John Harvey and Liz Kearney, and Justin Monjo is story producer.
The Warriors follows two new Afl recruits - plucked from obscurity into fame and fortune - and two established players, who have been thrown together into a share house in Melbourne.
- 10/11/2016
- by Staff Writer
- IF.com.au
Hit Australian musical drama "The Sapphires" is being turned into a twenty-six part animated series by Goalpost Pictures, Sticky Pictures, ABC and Screen Nsw.
The Wayne Blair-directed film, an adaptation of a musical stage play by Tony Briggs, followed four Aboriginal girls from an Outback town who who went to Vietnam to entertain American troops fighting in the Vietnam War.
Premiering at Cannes in 2012, the film went on to collect 12 Aacta awards and became a box-office success domestically. Tony Briggs and Keith Thompson return as writers for the TV series which will be lighter and aimed at kids and family audiences as it follows the girls through musical misadventures in a small Australian town.
Source: Variety...
The Wayne Blair-directed film, an adaptation of a musical stage play by Tony Briggs, followed four Aboriginal girls from an Outback town who who went to Vietnam to entertain American troops fighting in the Vietnam War.
Premiering at Cannes in 2012, the film went on to collect 12 Aacta awards and became a box-office success domestically. Tony Briggs and Keith Thompson return as writers for the TV series which will be lighter and aimed at kids and family audiences as it follows the girls through musical misadventures in a small Australian town.
Source: Variety...
- 2/3/2016
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
(L-r) Gail, Julie, Cynthia, Kay in The Sapphires.
Goalpost Pictures and Sticky Pictures are in the final stages of development on The Sapphires, an animated series based on Goalpost's 2012 feature.
Developed as a 26 x 22 minute series with ABC TV Australia, The Sapphires will be aimed at a kids (7-12 years) and families. .
.The Sapphires has been a wonderful journey and we are delighted Sticky Pictures is partnering with us to reach a brand new audience", said Kylie du Fresne from Goalpost Pictures.
"We are thrilled to be working again with writers Tony Briggs and Keith Thompson; the magic that was created on screen for the original movie looks certain to appear again with the TV series, which, like the movie, will have a phenomenal soundtrack. .The characters in The Sapphires are strong and inspiring role models and it is exciting for us to see the connection with a young audience...
Goalpost Pictures and Sticky Pictures are in the final stages of development on The Sapphires, an animated series based on Goalpost's 2012 feature.
Developed as a 26 x 22 minute series with ABC TV Australia, The Sapphires will be aimed at a kids (7-12 years) and families. .
.The Sapphires has been a wonderful journey and we are delighted Sticky Pictures is partnering with us to reach a brand new audience", said Kylie du Fresne from Goalpost Pictures.
"We are thrilled to be working again with writers Tony Briggs and Keith Thompson; the magic that was created on screen for the original movie looks certain to appear again with the TV series, which, like the movie, will have a phenomenal soundtrack. .The characters in The Sapphires are strong and inspiring role models and it is exciting for us to see the connection with a young audience...
- 2/2/2016
- by Staff Writer
- IF.com.au
(L-r) Gail, Julie, Cynthia, Kay in The Sapphires.
Goalpost Pictures and Sticky Pictures are in the final stages of development on The Sapphires, an animated series based on Goalpost's 2012 feature.
Developed as a 26 x 22 minute series for the ABC, The Sapphires will be aimed at a kids (7-12 years) and families. .
.The Sapphires has been a wonderful journey and we are delighted Sticky Pictures is partnering with us to reach a brand new audience", said Kylie du Fresne from Goalpost Pictures.
"We are thrilled to be working again with writers Tony Briggs and Keith Thompson; the magic that was created on screen for the original movie looks certain to appear again with the TV series, which, like the movie, will have a phenomenal soundtrack. .The characters in The Sapphires are strong and inspiring role models and it is exciting for us to see the connection with a young audience..
Sticky...
Goalpost Pictures and Sticky Pictures are in the final stages of development on The Sapphires, an animated series based on Goalpost's 2012 feature.
Developed as a 26 x 22 minute series for the ABC, The Sapphires will be aimed at a kids (7-12 years) and families. .
.The Sapphires has been a wonderful journey and we are delighted Sticky Pictures is partnering with us to reach a brand new audience", said Kylie du Fresne from Goalpost Pictures.
"We are thrilled to be working again with writers Tony Briggs and Keith Thompson; the magic that was created on screen for the original movie looks certain to appear again with the TV series, which, like the movie, will have a phenomenal soundtrack. .The characters in The Sapphires are strong and inspiring role models and it is exciting for us to see the connection with a young audience..
Sticky...
- 2/2/2016
- by Staff Writer
- IF.com.au
Andrew Anastasios and Andrew Knight.s The Water Diviner won the top prize and the gong for best original feature at the 2015 Awgie Awards.
It was the first time a feature collected the Australian Writers' Guild's Major Award and the gong for original feature since 2012 when Tony Briggs and Keith Thompson won with The Sapphires.
The prize for feature film adaptation was shared by Brendan Cowell for Scarlett Productions'. Ruben Guthrie and Tommy Murphy for Matchbox Pictures' Holding the Man.
Matchbox and Full Clip.s Deadline Gallipoli was named best original TV miniseries, acknowledging the work of writers Jacquelin Perske (also script producer), Stuart Beattie, Shaun Grant and Cate Shortland.
FremantleMedia.s Wentworth Season 3, Episode 3 The Governor.s Pleasure by Stuart Page shared the TV series award with Endemol Australia.s Offspring Episode 511 by Michael Lucas. Jan Sardi and Mac Gudgeon took the award for best miniseries adaptation for...
It was the first time a feature collected the Australian Writers' Guild's Major Award and the gong for original feature since 2012 when Tony Briggs and Keith Thompson won with The Sapphires.
The prize for feature film adaptation was shared by Brendan Cowell for Scarlett Productions'. Ruben Guthrie and Tommy Murphy for Matchbox Pictures' Holding the Man.
Matchbox and Full Clip.s Deadline Gallipoli was named best original TV miniseries, acknowledging the work of writers Jacquelin Perske (also script producer), Stuart Beattie, Shaun Grant and Cate Shortland.
FremantleMedia.s Wentworth Season 3, Episode 3 The Governor.s Pleasure by Stuart Page shared the TV series award with Endemol Australia.s Offspring Episode 511 by Michael Lucas. Jan Sardi and Mac Gudgeon took the award for best miniseries adaptation for...
- 9/14/2015
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Game of Thrones. Iain Glen, Frances O.Connor, Deborah Mailman, Hunter Page-Lochard, Rob Collins and Ryan Corr are shooting Cleverman, an innovative six-part futuristic action drama for ABC-tv.
Based on an original concept by Ryan Griffen, the plot follows a group of non-humans who are battling for survival in a world where humans feel increasingly inferior and want to silence, exploit and kill them.
The protagonists are two estranged Indigenous brothers (Page-Lochard and Collins), who are forced together to fight for their own survival. Otherworldly dreaming creatures also emerge into this .real world. dystopian landscape.
Commissioned by ABC-tv's Indigenous department, the series is an Australian/New Zealand co-production between Goalpost Pictures and Pukeko Pictures.
The Sapphires. Wayne Blair is lead director with Leah Purcell also directing. Blair recently completed Us thriller Septembers of Shiraz, which tells the true story of a secular Jewish family caught in the Islamic revolution in Iran,...
Based on an original concept by Ryan Griffen, the plot follows a group of non-humans who are battling for survival in a world where humans feel increasingly inferior and want to silence, exploit and kill them.
The protagonists are two estranged Indigenous brothers (Page-Lochard and Collins), who are forced together to fight for their own survival. Otherworldly dreaming creatures also emerge into this .real world. dystopian landscape.
Commissioned by ABC-tv's Indigenous department, the series is an Australian/New Zealand co-production between Goalpost Pictures and Pukeko Pictures.
The Sapphires. Wayne Blair is lead director with Leah Purcell also directing. Blair recently completed Us thriller Septembers of Shiraz, which tells the true story of a secular Jewish family caught in the Islamic revolution in Iran,...
- 4/29/2015
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
A chance meeting at the 2013 Logie awards was the catalyst for the launch of a joint venture between Blackfella Films and Werner Film Productions.
Big Chance Films. first production, Ready for This, a teenage drama with mostly Indigenous characters commissioned by ABC3, is now shooting in Sydney.
The ensemble cast includes two newcomers, rapper/singer Majeda Beatty who competed in The X Factor, and Liam Talty, who studied at the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts in Brisbane.
They join Aaron McGrath (The Code, Redfern Now, The Doctor Blake Mysteries), Leonie Whyman (Redfern Now), Madeleine Madden (The Code, Jack Irish: Dead Point, Redfern Now), Christian Byers (Puberty Blues season 2), Christine Anu (Dance Academy, Outland) and Lasarus Ratuere (The Mule, Mabo, Terra Nova).
Set in inner city Sydney, the plot follows five Indigenous kids who come to the city to pursue their dreams. Anu and Ratuere play the couple who run the kids. boarding house.
Big Chance Films. first production, Ready for This, a teenage drama with mostly Indigenous characters commissioned by ABC3, is now shooting in Sydney.
The ensemble cast includes two newcomers, rapper/singer Majeda Beatty who competed in The X Factor, and Liam Talty, who studied at the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts in Brisbane.
They join Aaron McGrath (The Code, Redfern Now, The Doctor Blake Mysteries), Leonie Whyman (Redfern Now), Madeleine Madden (The Code, Jack Irish: Dead Point, Redfern Now), Christian Byers (Puberty Blues season 2), Christine Anu (Dance Academy, Outland) and Lasarus Ratuere (The Mule, Mabo, Terra Nova).
Set in inner city Sydney, the plot follows five Indigenous kids who come to the city to pursue their dreams. Anu and Ratuere play the couple who run the kids. boarding house.
- 3/15/2015
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
A chance meeting at the 2013 Logie awards was the catalyst for the launch of a joint venture between Blackfella Films and Werner Film Productions.
Big Chance Films. first production, Ready for This, a teenage drama with mostly Indigenous characters commissioned by ABC3, is now shooting in Sydney.
The ensemble cast includes two newcomers, rapper/singer Majeda Beatty who competed in The X Factor, and Liam Talty, who studied at the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts in Brisbane.
They join Aaron McGrath (The Code, Redfern Now, The Doctor Blake Mysteries), Leonie Whyman (Redfern Now), Madeleine Madden (The Code, Jack Irish: Dead Point, Redfern Now), Christian Byers (Puberty Blues season 2), Christine Anu (Dance Academy, Outland) and Lasarus Ratuere (The Mule, Mabo, Terra Nova).
Set in inner city Sydney, the plot follows five Indigenous kids who come to the city to pursue their dreams. Anu and Ratuere play the couple who run the kids. boarding house.
Big Chance Films. first production, Ready for This, a teenage drama with mostly Indigenous characters commissioned by ABC3, is now shooting in Sydney.
The ensemble cast includes two newcomers, rapper/singer Majeda Beatty who competed in The X Factor, and Liam Talty, who studied at the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts in Brisbane.
They join Aaron McGrath (The Code, Redfern Now, The Doctor Blake Mysteries), Leonie Whyman (Redfern Now), Madeleine Madden (The Code, Jack Irish: Dead Point, Redfern Now), Christian Byers (Puberty Blues season 2), Christine Anu (Dance Academy, Outland) and Lasarus Ratuere (The Mule, Mabo, Terra Nova).
Set in inner city Sydney, the plot follows five Indigenous kids who come to the city to pursue their dreams. Anu and Ratuere play the couple who run the kids. boarding house.
- 3/15/2015
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
A chance meeting at the 2013 Logie awards was the catalyst for the launch of a joint venture between Blackfella Films and Werner Film Productions.
Big Chance Films. first production, Ready for This, a teenage drama with mostly Indigenous characters commissioned by ABC3, is now shooting in Sydney.
The ensemble cast includes two newcomers, rapper/singer Majeda Beatty who competed in The X Factor, and Liam Talty, who studied at the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts in Brisbane.
They join Aaron McGrath (The Code, Redfern Now, The Doctor Blake Mysteries), Leonie Whyman (Redfern Now), Madeleine Madden (The Code, Jack Irish: Dead Point, Redfern Now), Christian Byers (Puberty Blues season 2), Christine Anu (Dance Academy, Outland) and Lasarus Ratuere (The Mule, Mabo, Terra Nova).
Set in inner city Sydney, the plot follows five Indigenous kids who come to the city to pursue their dreams. Anu and Ratuere play the couple who run the kids. boarding house.
Big Chance Films. first production, Ready for This, a teenage drama with mostly Indigenous characters commissioned by ABC3, is now shooting in Sydney.
The ensemble cast includes two newcomers, rapper/singer Majeda Beatty who competed in The X Factor, and Liam Talty, who studied at the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts in Brisbane.
They join Aaron McGrath (The Code, Redfern Now, The Doctor Blake Mysteries), Leonie Whyman (Redfern Now), Madeleine Madden (The Code, Jack Irish: Dead Point, Redfern Now), Christian Byers (Puberty Blues season 2), Christine Anu (Dance Academy, Outland) and Lasarus Ratuere (The Mule, Mabo, Terra Nova).
Set in inner city Sydney, the plot follows five Indigenous kids who come to the city to pursue their dreams. Anu and Ratuere play the couple who run the kids. boarding house.
- 3/15/2015
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts is inviting screen professionals to apply to be jurors for the 4th Aacta Awards to be held in Sydney in January 2015.
Jurors must be Aacta members and are sought for these categories: Feature Film Pre-Selection; Short Fiction Film & Short Animation; Documentary Television; Feature Length Documentary; Television Drama; Television Comedy & Light Entertainment; Reality Television; and Children's Television.
Last year more than 100 screen professionals took part in Aacta Awards juries.
Actress Susan Prior (Puberty Blues, The Rover), who was a juror for the 3rd Aacta Awards, said, .The debate between jurors was vigorous and passionate and it was wonderful to hear the thoughts of other jurors who have such a range of deep experience in filmmaking. I was proud that there was such diversity in our final choices and I would be involved again in a heartbeat."
Writer/actor Tony Briggs (Healing, The Sapphires) said,...
Jurors must be Aacta members and are sought for these categories: Feature Film Pre-Selection; Short Fiction Film & Short Animation; Documentary Television; Feature Length Documentary; Television Drama; Television Comedy & Light Entertainment; Reality Television; and Children's Television.
Last year more than 100 screen professionals took part in Aacta Awards juries.
Actress Susan Prior (Puberty Blues, The Rover), who was a juror for the 3rd Aacta Awards, said, .The debate between jurors was vigorous and passionate and it was wonderful to hear the thoughts of other jurors who have such a range of deep experience in filmmaking. I was proud that there was such diversity in our final choices and I would be involved again in a heartbeat."
Writer/actor Tony Briggs (Healing, The Sapphires) said,...
- 5/14/2014
- by Staff writer
- IF.com.au
Chicago – “The Sapphires” is inspired by a true story, about an Australian girl group who entertains the troops in 1968 Viet Nam. There is little feeling regarding the era the film is portraying, and it’s essentially used as a vehicle for period pop songs that have been heard before.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
The attempt to create some heat in the film is sincere, including the addition of comic actor Chris O’Dowd (the cop in “Bridesmaids), but the presentation is hampered by the obvious lack of experience in the actresses portraying the girl group and the budgetary limitations of recreating the 1960s, including Viet Nam. There is no big moment in the film that seems honest, it’s just a backstage story of group-comes-together, group-goes-through-trials and group-wows-the-naysayers. There is a barely explored subplot involving racism issues in 1960s Australian, and calculated romance, but none of those themes are enough to propel the film,...
Rating: 3.0/5.0
The attempt to create some heat in the film is sincere, including the addition of comic actor Chris O’Dowd (the cop in “Bridesmaids), but the presentation is hampered by the obvious lack of experience in the actresses portraying the girl group and the budgetary limitations of recreating the 1960s, including Viet Nam. There is no big moment in the film that seems honest, it’s just a backstage story of group-comes-together, group-goes-through-trials and group-wows-the-naysayers. There is a barely explored subplot involving racism issues in 1960s Australian, and calculated romance, but none of those themes are enough to propel the film,...
- 3/30/2013
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
New York — While making his latest film "The Sapphires," Chris O'Dowd noticed a common thread between the indigenous Australian community and his own Irish heritage.
"I was really surprised by how similar Aboriginals and Irish people are, like in their mentality, particularly coming from that time," the 33-year-old actor said, noting both the Aboriginals and the Irish were fighting against oppression in their native lands.
In the film, based on a true story, O'Dowd plays manager to four young Aboriginal girls in a singing group called The Sapphires who are looking to secure a gig in Vietnam during the height of the war. But first he needs to get local audiences to look beyond the color of their skin.
"I think it's why the character as an Irish guy works quite well, because we're all part of the same team," O'Dowd said.
Aborigines are only 2.3 percent of Australia's 23 million people but are the poorest,...
"I was really surprised by how similar Aboriginals and Irish people are, like in their mentality, particularly coming from that time," the 33-year-old actor said, noting both the Aboriginals and the Irish were fighting against oppression in their native lands.
In the film, based on a true story, O'Dowd plays manager to four young Aboriginal girls in a singing group called The Sapphires who are looking to secure a gig in Vietnam during the height of the war. But first he needs to get local audiences to look beyond the color of their skin.
"I think it's why the character as an Irish guy works quite well, because we're all part of the same team," O'Dowd said.
Aborigines are only 2.3 percent of Australia's 23 million people but are the poorest,...
- 3/29/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
"The Sapphires" is an unpolished gem of a musical, a dramedy with a familiar '60s girl-group-on-the-rise story pasted over a backdrop of Australian racism and America's long war in Vietnam.
It's a tribute to the filmmakers (director Wayne Blair, working from a Tony Briggs and Keith Thompson script) that this confection often manages to connect the jaunty, sassy musical elements to the serious comment on Australian history.
A prologue captures a group of Aboriginal girls singing for family and friends in the Outback of the 1950s. This was an era when Australia routinely "stole" light-skinned aboriginal children to be raised in institutions and taught "white ways." So that quartet, when we next see them 10 years later, is only a trio.
Gail, given a sneering fierceness by Deborah Mailman of "Bran Nue Day" and "Rabbit-Proof Fence," plays guitar and bosses sister Cynthia (Miranda Tapsell) around. They're off to a town talent show,...
It's a tribute to the filmmakers (director Wayne Blair, working from a Tony Briggs and Keith Thompson script) that this confection often manages to connect the jaunty, sassy musical elements to the serious comment on Australian history.
A prologue captures a group of Aboriginal girls singing for family and friends in the Outback of the 1950s. This was an era when Australia routinely "stole" light-skinned aboriginal children to be raised in institutions and taught "white ways." So that quartet, when we next see them 10 years later, is only a trio.
Gail, given a sneering fierceness by Deborah Mailman of "Bran Nue Day" and "Rabbit-Proof Fence," plays guitar and bosses sister Cynthia (Miranda Tapsell) around. They're off to a town talent show,...
- 3/28/2013
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
Chicago – In other countries and cultures, there are parallel moments going on that are interesting mirrors to U.S. history. In “The Sapphires,” a girl group from Australia entertains the troops in Viet Nam, with many of the same U.S. issues of war, peace and social discord. The film is directed by Wayne Blair and features Jessica Mauboy.
Based on a true story, the film reflects on the practice in Australia of the “stolen generation,” when lighter skinned native Aborigines were stolen from their darker skinned families and assimilated into the white society. This is a thread in “The Sapphires,” as a stolen cousin rejoins the singing group before they go into Viet Nam. The film co-stars Chris O’Dowd (the cop in “Bridesmaids”), who is the manager of the group, and falls in love with one of the singers.
Jessica Mauboy as Julie in ‘The Sapphires’
Photo credit:...
Based on a true story, the film reflects on the practice in Australia of the “stolen generation,” when lighter skinned native Aborigines were stolen from their darker skinned families and assimilated into the white society. This is a thread in “The Sapphires,” as a stolen cousin rejoins the singing group before they go into Viet Nam. The film co-stars Chris O’Dowd (the cop in “Bridesmaids”), who is the manager of the group, and falls in love with one of the singers.
Jessica Mauboy as Julie in ‘The Sapphires’
Photo credit:...
- 3/25/2013
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
When translating a hit stage production to the screen, it seems only right to retain at least some of the talent that made it a success in the first place – and not merely as a good-luck token. That’s a logic that frequently escapes Hollywood, as any number of Broadway ensembles replaced wholesale by bigger names can tell you. When it came to Tony Briggs’s popular 2005 production “The Sapphires,” however, two cast members remained on board when the Australian musical comedy was translated to the big screen, though neither one in quite the same capacity. But while actress Deborah Mailman...
- 3/23/2013
- by Guy Lodge
- Hitfix
Outside of largely being a comedy with musical elements, The Sapphires does have a few things to say about race and the treatment of the "Stolen Generation" of Australia's Aborigines. But, for the most part, it's just a crowd-pleasing story of four young, talented Aborigine girls given the opportunity to sing for the troops in Vietnam under the guidance of their kind-hearted, soul-loving, lost-in-his-own-way manager played by Chris O'Dowd (Bridesmaids) who steals the show and proves necessary for it to succeed. Picked up by The Weinstein Co. in advance of this year's Cannes Film Festival, The Sapphires suddenly became something worth seeking out. Directed by first time feature helmer Wayne Blair and written by Keith Thompson and Tony Briggs, the latter of which is the son of one of the four women that inspired the story, this is a feel good movie through-and-through. It is a bit messy in its...
- 3/22/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
It's been over a decade since Tony Briggs first conceived The Sapphires based on stories told by his mother, an original member of the soul-singing quartet of Aboriginal women that entertained Vietnam troops in the 1960s. First developed as a 2005 stage play, then a feature film that screened at last year's Cannes Film Festival, The Sapphires will finally reach U.S. audiences this Friday March 22 when it opens in theaters. As the filmmakers are on a whirlwind tour promoting the release, I had a chance to chat briefly with Briggs and director Wayne Blair about making the movie, and what we can look forward to seeing. Jt: Tell me about how the project came...
- 3/21/2013
- by Jai Tiggett
- ShadowAndAct
It's been over a decade since Tony Briggs first conceived The Sapphires based on stories told by his mother, an original member of the soul-singing quartet of Aboriginal women that entertained Vietnam troops in the 1960s. First developed as a 2005 stage play, then a feature film that screened at last year's Cannes Film Festival, The Sapphires will finally reach U.S. audiences this Friday March 22 when it opens in theaters. As the filmmakers are on a whirlwind tour promoting the release, I had a chance to chat briefly with Briggs and director Wayne Blair about making the movie, and what we can look forward to seeing. Jt: Tell me about how the project...
- 3/21/2013
- by Jai Tiggett
- ShadowAndAct
It’s all about soul in this clip from the upcoming musical comedy The Sapphires. In the film, adapted from a stage musical which was loosely based on the real life story of The Sapphires, an all-girl singing group made up of four Indigenous Australians in 1968.
When a talent scout, played by Bridesmaids’ scene-stealer Chris O’Dowd catches a country music performance by the girl group, he recognizes their true potential and takes them under his wing. With a flashy new name, a few lessons in soul music, and a make-over, the girls are headed to Vietnam to sing for troops during the Vietnam War. The original stage production was written by Tony Briggs, who based the play on his aunt and mother who travelled to Vietnam to sing for troops stations there. Briggs also co-wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation which features actress Deborah Mailman, Aussie pop singer Jessica Mauboy,...
When a talent scout, played by Bridesmaids’ scene-stealer Chris O’Dowd catches a country music performance by the girl group, he recognizes their true potential and takes them under his wing. With a flashy new name, a few lessons in soul music, and a make-over, the girls are headed to Vietnam to sing for troops during the Vietnam War. The original stage production was written by Tony Briggs, who based the play on his aunt and mother who travelled to Vietnam to sing for troops stations there. Briggs also co-wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation which features actress Deborah Mailman, Aussie pop singer Jessica Mauboy,...
- 3/14/2013
- by Rachel West
- Cineplex
Watch fresh clips from Weinstein Co's The Sapphires, and get feedback from star Chris O'Dowd and director Wayne Blair, as well as Deborah Mailman, Shari Sebbens, Miranda Tapsell and writer Tony Briggs. The music drama opens in theaters on March 22nd, and is inspired by a true story. Here's the synopsis: The Sapphires follows four vivacious, young and talented Australian Aboriginal girls from a remote mission as they learn about love, friendship and war when their all girl group The Sapphires entertains the U.S. troops in Vietnam in 1968. Cynthia (Tapsell), Gail (Mailman), Julie (Mauboy) and Kay (Sebbens) are discovered by Dave (O’Dowd), a good-humored talent scout...
- 3/10/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
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