(L-r) John Sheedy, Daisy Axon, Julie Ryan, Lisa Hoppe and Tenille Kennedy (Photo credit: Court McAllister).
John Sheedy’s feature debut H is for Happiness, an adaptation of Barry Jonsberg’s young adult novel My Life as an Alphabet, has won this year’s $100,000 CinefestOZ Film Prize.
Announcing the award at the Saturday night gala, jury chair Rachel Ward said: “If we have the power as jurors to change the world to be a better place, then voting for H is for Happiness to win the CinefestOZ 2019 is our contribution. As juror Alex Dimitriades added, H is also for Hope.”
The other finalists were Owen Trevor’s Go!, Ben Lawrence’s Hearts and Bones, Mirrah Foulkes’ Judy & Punch and Paul Ireland’s Measure for Measure.
Sheedy said: “The competition was so tough. There were five amazing films, I saw all of them. To be chosen in such good company...
John Sheedy’s feature debut H is for Happiness, an adaptation of Barry Jonsberg’s young adult novel My Life as an Alphabet, has won this year’s $100,000 CinefestOZ Film Prize.
Announcing the award at the Saturday night gala, jury chair Rachel Ward said: “If we have the power as jurors to change the world to be a better place, then voting for H is for Happiness to win the CinefestOZ 2019 is our contribution. As juror Alex Dimitriades added, H is also for Hope.”
The other finalists were Owen Trevor’s Go!, Ben Lawrence’s Hearts and Bones, Mirrah Foulkes’ Judy & Punch and Paul Ireland’s Measure for Measure.
Sheedy said: “The competition was so tough. There were five amazing films, I saw all of them. To be chosen in such good company...
- 9/1/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
"I say kill him." Lightyear Entertainment has debuted the official trailer for an indie drama titled Jirga, described as a one-of-a-kind feature film that is luckily getting a theatrical release in select Us theaters this summer. The story of the film is of a soldier who returns to Afghanistan as a tourist to find the family of a civilian he killed, apologize to them and offer them compensation. Seeking forgiveness, he puts his life in the hands of the village justice system – the Jirga. It is a unique look at soldiers and how they handle Ptsd. Sam Smith stars as the soldier, Mike. The film was meant to be shot in Pakistan, but after the government refused to grant them permits, they went on to shoot on the fly in Afghanistan with a single camera bought at a shopping mall. Much of the film was made as they were filming,...
- 7/8/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Nadia Murad once dreamed of opening a salon in her home village in Northern Iraq. The salon would be a place where Iraqi women could feel beautiful and special. But at the age of 21, Murad’s dreams were shattered by the Islamic State.
Murad is now turning her experience with Isis into a campaign to stop the genocide that is wreaking havoc in her home country, and director Alexandria Bombach is showcasing the activist’s fight in the documentary “On Her Shoulders.”
“We made this film to understand and connect with her humanity. To feel the complexity of that journey and her countless frustrations,” producer Hayley Pappas told TheWrap’s Sharon Waxman during a screening of the film at the Landmark Theatres Monday night.
Also Read: 'Jirga' Actor Had to Sleep With Knife Under Pillow in War-Torn Afghanistan While Filming
On August 3, 2014, members of Isis went into Murad...
Murad is now turning her experience with Isis into a campaign to stop the genocide that is wreaking havoc in her home country, and director Alexandria Bombach is showcasing the activist’s fight in the documentary “On Her Shoulders.”
“We made this film to understand and connect with her humanity. To feel the complexity of that journey and her countless frustrations,” producer Hayley Pappas told TheWrap’s Sharon Waxman during a screening of the film at the Landmark Theatres Monday night.
Also Read: 'Jirga' Actor Had to Sleep With Knife Under Pillow in War-Torn Afghanistan While Filming
On August 3, 2014, members of Isis went into Murad...
- 1/8/2019
- by Omar Sanchez
- The Wrap
Buried within the closing crawl of writer, director, cinematographer and co-producer Benjamin Gilmour’s unfortunately cryptic but nonetheless fascinating debut film “Jirga” are shout-outs for security, political and cultural liaisons, as well as an Afghan film advisor. These credits speak, however quietly, to the no-doubt-delicate and clearly arduous making of a film that finds a guilt-ridden Australian soldier returning to Afghanistan three years after mistakenly killing a married father during a village raid to make monetary amends to his widow and orphaned sons, only to be waylaid by a small, cave-dwelling Taliban squad along the barren route.
Warmly received on the festival circuit — almost certainly as much for its spectacular scenery as the frustrating wisp of a plot — “Jirga” (which means “a tribal council” in the film’s predominant Pashto language) has emerged as Australia’s official entry for the Oscar foreign language race as well as the winner of...
Warmly received on the festival circuit — almost certainly as much for its spectacular scenery as the frustrating wisp of a plot — “Jirga” (which means “a tribal council” in the film’s predominant Pashto language) has emerged as Australia’s official entry for the Oscar foreign language race as well as the winner of...
- 12/10/2018
- by Eddie Cockrell
- Variety Film + TV
However you slice the foreign-language film Oscar, it remains bound by rules and regulations that ensure it can never be fully representative of world cinema: in 2018, as global film production grows ever more complex and multinational, the one-film-per-country submission system looks a little quaint, excluding numerous outstanding titles that fall both within and beyond the borders of their ostensible places of origin.
To the Academy’s credit, it hasn’t turned a blind eye to the imperfections of its eligibility requirements — and one relatively recent tweak to the rules, in particular, has dramatically broadened countries’ submission options, dragging the category at least partially into the age of globalization.
Up until 2005, antiquated Academy rules stipulated that a film had to be in the official language of the country submitting it — a snag that kept many strong films from traveling filmmakers out of the running, and reached a head when Michael Haneke...
To the Academy’s credit, it hasn’t turned a blind eye to the imperfections of its eligibility requirements — and one relatively recent tweak to the rules, in particular, has dramatically broadened countries’ submission options, dragging the category at least partially into the age of globalization.
Up until 2005, antiquated Academy rules stipulated that a film had to be in the official language of the country submitting it — a snag that kept many strong films from traveling filmmakers out of the running, and reached a head when Michael Haneke...
- 12/6/2018
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Late at night in a little motel in eastern Afghanistan, Australian actor Sam Smith nervously stared at his door with a knife under his pillow and passport in his pocket. Smith was waiting for someone to barge in as gunshots rang outside.
This wasn’t for a scene. This was the reality of shooting “Jirga.”
“The film is a very mellow version of what actually happened in real life,” Smith told TheWrap’s Sharon Waxman at a Q&A on Monday following a screening of the movie. “Jirga,” Australia’s entry into the Oscar foreign film race, was directed by Benjamin Gilmour, and both he and Smith were in attendance for the screening.
“Jirga” is a drama that traverses the country of Afghanistan on location behind former soldier Mike Wheeler (Smith). Without knowledge of the language or culture, Wheeler enlists a local taxi driver (Sher Alam Miskeen Ustad) to take...
This wasn’t for a scene. This was the reality of shooting “Jirga.”
“The film is a very mellow version of what actually happened in real life,” Smith told TheWrap’s Sharon Waxman at a Q&A on Monday following a screening of the movie. “Jirga,” Australia’s entry into the Oscar foreign film race, was directed by Benjamin Gilmour, and both he and Smith were in attendance for the screening.
“Jirga” is a drama that traverses the country of Afghanistan on location behind former soldier Mike Wheeler (Smith). Without knowledge of the language or culture, Wheeler enlists a local taxi driver (Sher Alam Miskeen Ustad) to take...
- 12/4/2018
- by Omar Sanchez
- The Wrap
‘Jirga’ won the Aacta for Best Indie Film.
Director Benjamin Gilmour’s Jirga took home the inaugural Aacta Award for Best Indie Film – designed to honour films made under $2 million – at the Aacta Industry Luncheon in Sydney yesterday.
The film, produced by John Maynard, beat out Strange Colours, Brothers’ Nest, West of Sunshine and The Second. Starring Sam Smith as a former Australian soldier who returns to Afghanistan seeking forgiveness, Jirga is also Australia’s submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the upcoming Academy Awards.
Some 35 awards were given away at yesterday’s Aacta event, hosted by actress Kat Stewart and comedian Nazeem Hussain. Other key feature film winners were Sweet Country and Ladies in Black, which each took home three gongs.
David Tranter and Steven McGregor won Best Original Screenplay for Sweet Country, while film’s director and Dop Warwick Thornton was honoured with the award for Best...
Director Benjamin Gilmour’s Jirga took home the inaugural Aacta Award for Best Indie Film – designed to honour films made under $2 million – at the Aacta Industry Luncheon in Sydney yesterday.
The film, produced by John Maynard, beat out Strange Colours, Brothers’ Nest, West of Sunshine and The Second. Starring Sam Smith as a former Australian soldier who returns to Afghanistan seeking forgiveness, Jirga is also Australia’s submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the upcoming Academy Awards.
Some 35 awards were given away at yesterday’s Aacta event, hosted by actress Kat Stewart and comedian Nazeem Hussain. Other key feature film winners were Sweet Country and Ladies in Black, which each took home three gongs.
David Tranter and Steven McGregor won Best Original Screenplay for Sweet Country, while film’s director and Dop Warwick Thornton was honoured with the award for Best...
- 12/3/2018
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
For countries in the English-speaking world, entries into the foreign-language Oscar race offer a chance to reflect on the complexity of their own cultures or examine their place in the wider world.
After digging into its colonial past last year in Francois Girard’s Quebec-set “Hochelaga, Land of Souls,” Canada enters the Oscar race with Sophie Dupuis’ “Family First.” Set in a gritty working-class neighborhood, Dupuis’ low-budget feature debut is about a Montreal family bound together by a life of crime. Canada, which took home the foreign-language Oscar in 2003 with Denys Arcand’s “The Barbarian Invasions,” has scored four nominations and three shortlist spots in the past 12 years.
Australia landed its first nomination in 2016 with “Tanna,” a Nauvhal-language romance about two young lovers defying local mores that was the first film ever shot on the island of Vanuatu. This year’s submission for the foreign-language race, “Jirga,” follows a former...
After digging into its colonial past last year in Francois Girard’s Quebec-set “Hochelaga, Land of Souls,” Canada enters the Oscar race with Sophie Dupuis’ “Family First.” Set in a gritty working-class neighborhood, Dupuis’ low-budget feature debut is about a Montreal family bound together by a life of crime. Canada, which took home the foreign-language Oscar in 2003 with Denys Arcand’s “The Barbarian Invasions,” has scored four nominations and three shortlist spots in the past 12 years.
Australia landed its first nomination in 2016 with “Tanna,” a Nauvhal-language romance about two young lovers defying local mores that was the first film ever shot on the island of Vanuatu. This year’s submission for the foreign-language race, “Jirga,” follows a former...
- 11/8/2018
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Roster includes previously announced Jirga, A Land Imagined.
Visit Films will kick off international sales at Afm this week on the Michael Shannon noir State Like Sleep.
The feature from Sight Unseen Pictures and Scythia Films premiered at Tribeca last spring and stars Katherine Waterston as a photographer who returns to Brussels to unravel the mystery surrounding the final days of her celebrity husband.
Luke Evans, Michiel Huisman, and Mary Kay Place round out the key cast and Eddie Vasiman, Julia Lebedev, and Angel Lopez served as producers. Writer-director Meredith Danluck makes her narrative debut and The Orchard will distribute in the Us.
Visit Films will kick off international sales at Afm this week on the Michael Shannon noir State Like Sleep.
The feature from Sight Unseen Pictures and Scythia Films premiered at Tribeca last spring and stars Katherine Waterston as a photographer who returns to Brussels to unravel the mystery surrounding the final days of her celebrity husband.
Luke Evans, Michiel Huisman, and Mary Kay Place round out the key cast and Eddie Vasiman, Julia Lebedev, and Angel Lopez served as producers. Writer-director Meredith Danluck makes her narrative debut and The Orchard will distribute in the Us.
- 10/29/2018
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Nicole Kidman and Joel Edgerton on the set of ‘Boy Erased.’
Joel Edgerton and Simon Baker have scored nominations in the feature film direction and acting categories for Boy Erased and Breath, the first time that’s happened in the same year in AFI | Aacta history.
Edgerton and Baker will compete for four prizes at this year’s awards which will be handed out at an industry luncheon on December 3 and at the ceremony on December 5. Both titles have been nominated for best film and Edgerton and Baker are also in the running for best supporting actor and adapted screenplay.
In total 19 features received nominations, with five vying for best film: Boy Erased, Breath, Yolanda Ramke and Ben Howling’s Cargo, Bruce Beresford’s Ladies in Black and Warwick Thornton’s Sweet Country.
The five titles competing for the new category of best indie film budgeted under $2 million are the Jacobson brothers’ Sibling Rivalry,...
Joel Edgerton and Simon Baker have scored nominations in the feature film direction and acting categories for Boy Erased and Breath, the first time that’s happened in the same year in AFI | Aacta history.
Edgerton and Baker will compete for four prizes at this year’s awards which will be handed out at an industry luncheon on December 3 and at the ceremony on December 5. Both titles have been nominated for best film and Edgerton and Baker are also in the running for best supporting actor and adapted screenplay.
In total 19 features received nominations, with five vying for best film: Boy Erased, Breath, Yolanda Ramke and Ben Howling’s Cargo, Bruce Beresford’s Ladies in Black and Warwick Thornton’s Sweet Country.
The five titles competing for the new category of best indie film budgeted under $2 million are the Jacobson brothers’ Sibling Rivalry,...
- 10/29/2018
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
‘Jirga’
Benjamin Gilmour’s Afghanistan-set drama Jirga will carry Australia’s hopes of being nominated for this year’s Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.
The international recognition as Australia’s official submission follows the film’s international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and winning the $100,000 best film prize, Australia’s richest, at CinfestOZ.
Produced and distributed by John Maynard, the film stars Sam Smith as a former Australian soldier who returns to Afghanistan seeking forgiveness and puts his life in the hands of the village justice system – the Jirga.
There are 87 countries vying for the prize, including first-time entrants Malawi and Niger and high-profile contenders such as Mexico’s Roma and Poland’s Cold War, both of which are hoping to break out of the foreign race and earn nominations for best picture, best director and more.
Gilmour said: “We are thrilled about the honour of representing Australia.
Benjamin Gilmour’s Afghanistan-set drama Jirga will carry Australia’s hopes of being nominated for this year’s Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.
The international recognition as Australia’s official submission follows the film’s international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and winning the $100,000 best film prize, Australia’s richest, at CinfestOZ.
Produced and distributed by John Maynard, the film stars Sam Smith as a former Australian soldier who returns to Afghanistan seeking forgiveness and puts his life in the hands of the village justice system – the Jirga.
There are 87 countries vying for the prize, including first-time entrants Malawi and Niger and high-profile contenders such as Mexico’s Roma and Poland’s Cold War, both of which are hoping to break out of the foreign race and earn nominations for best picture, best director and more.
Gilmour said: “We are thrilled about the honour of representing Australia.
- 10/8/2018
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.