Adam Elliot’s animated feature Memoir Of A Snail featuring Sarah Snook in its voice cast has sealed deals for key international territories, ahead of its world premiere at Annecy International Animation Film Festival next week, for Anton and Charades.
The film has sold to Benelux (Bantam), Spain (Madfer), Switzerland (Pathe), Austria (Polyfilm), Denmark (Angel Film), Norway (Arthaus), Iceland (Bio Paradis), Sweden and remaining Scandinavian territories (Folkets Bio), Taiwan (Hooray Films), Cis (Magic Films), Israel (Lev Cinema), Turkey (Bir Film), Adriatics (McF Megacom), Thailand (Sahamongkol), India (Pictureworks) and airlines (Aardwolf).
Anton and Charades are co-representing sales on the stop-motion feature,...
The film has sold to Benelux (Bantam), Spain (Madfer), Switzerland (Pathe), Austria (Polyfilm), Denmark (Angel Film), Norway (Arthaus), Iceland (Bio Paradis), Sweden and remaining Scandinavian territories (Folkets Bio), Taiwan (Hooray Films), Cis (Magic Films), Israel (Lev Cinema), Turkey (Bir Film), Adriatics (McF Megacom), Thailand (Sahamongkol), India (Pictureworks) and airlines (Aardwolf).
Anton and Charades are co-representing sales on the stop-motion feature,...
- 6/7/2024
- ScreenDaily
Eric Bana has been a mainstay on the big screen for decades. The Australian comedian turned dramatic actor has been in everything from Ang Lee’s Hulk to Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down, J.J. Abrams’s Star Trek, and Judd Apatow’s Funny People. Getting his big break on the Australian shows Full Frontal and the eponymous The Eric Bana Show Live, the actor hit Hollywood’s radar with his role in Chopper as the infamous criminal Mark Chopper Read. After over twenty years in the industry, Bana returned to Australia for the 2021 mystery The Dry and has now reprised the role of Aaron Falk for the sequel, Force of Nature.
Based on the novel by Jane Harper, Force of Nature picks up a year after The Dry as Aaron Falk and his partner investigate a money laundering scheme with the aid of insider Alice Russell (Anna Torv). When...
Based on the novel by Jane Harper, Force of Nature picks up a year after The Dry as Aaron Falk and his partner investigate a money laundering scheme with the aid of insider Alice Russell (Anna Torv). When...
- 5/22/2024
- by Alex Maidy
- JoBlo.com
Exclusive: IFC Films has acquired North American rights to Memoir of a Snail, a stop-motion drama from Adam Elliot — the writer-director behind the Academy Award-winning 2004 short Harvie Krumpet.
Marking the first lead voice role for star Sarah Snook (Succession), and Elliot’s second stop-motion feature on the heels of 2009’s Mary and Max — also distributed by IFC — the film centers on the life of Grace Pudel, a lonely misfit with an affinity for collecting ornamental snails and an intense love of romance novels. At a young age, when she’s separated from her twin brother, she falls into a spiral of anxiety and angst. Despite a continued series of hardships, inspiration and hope emerge when she strikes up an enduring friendship with an elderly eccentric woman named Pinky. As she slowly learns to let go of the clutter in her home and her mind, Grace starts to find her confidence...
Marking the first lead voice role for star Sarah Snook (Succession), and Elliot’s second stop-motion feature on the heels of 2009’s Mary and Max — also distributed by IFC — the film centers on the life of Grace Pudel, a lonely misfit with an affinity for collecting ornamental snails and an intense love of romance novels. At a young age, when she’s separated from her twin brother, she falls into a spiral of anxiety and angst. Despite a continued series of hardships, inspiration and hope emerge when she strikes up an enduring friendship with an elderly eccentric woman named Pinky. As she slowly learns to let go of the clutter in her home and her mind, Grace starts to find her confidence...
- 5/16/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
The arid landscape of the fictional Australian town Kiewarra lends the 2020 mystery thriller “The Dry” its name and identity. It’s the type of place filled with interpersonal tension, which frequently reflects onto a barren, sun-scorched environment itching to go up in flames.
When federal agent Aaron Falk (Eric Bana) returns to his hometown to look into the double murder-suicide supposedly perpetrated by his childhood best friend, he’s thrust back into the town’s powder-keg energy. Everyone looks at him with suspicion because they suspect he was responsible for the drowning of his high school girlfriend twenty years prior, with their resentment exacerbated by his off-the-books investigation. Adapted from Jane Harper’s procedural mystery novel by the same name, “The Dry” marinates in buried backcountry secrets and childhood trauma, both of which unfortunately never transcend their generic function or presentation on screen.
Four years later, the awkwardly titled sequel...
When federal agent Aaron Falk (Eric Bana) returns to his hometown to look into the double murder-suicide supposedly perpetrated by his childhood best friend, he’s thrust back into the town’s powder-keg energy. Everyone looks at him with suspicion because they suspect he was responsible for the drowning of his high school girlfriend twenty years prior, with their resentment exacerbated by his off-the-books investigation. Adapted from Jane Harper’s procedural mystery novel by the same name, “The Dry” marinates in buried backcountry secrets and childhood trauma, both of which unfortunately never transcend their generic function or presentation on screen.
Four years later, the awkwardly titled sequel...
- 5/10/2024
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
New to Streaming: La Chimera, Let It Be, The Last Stop in Yuma County, Kim’s Video, The Dry 2 & More
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
La Chimera (Alice Rohrwacher)
While Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny perhaps garnered more press out of Cannes, another selection involving archaeologists and tomb raiders will have a longer shelf life. Alice Rohrwacher’s latest feature La Chimera ranked quite highly on our top 50 films of 2023 list for good reason. It’s a dreamy, magical odyssey in which the Italian director whisks viewers away with the kind of transportive vision she’s exuded in all her features thus far.
Where to Stream: VOD
Eileen (William Oldroyd)
Considering how many jokesters online talk about supporting women’s wrongs, Eileen should have made a billion dollars. Alas, not everyone can have impeccable taste. William Oldroyd’s character study grabs you from the first scene,...
La Chimera (Alice Rohrwacher)
While Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny perhaps garnered more press out of Cannes, another selection involving archaeologists and tomb raiders will have a longer shelf life. Alice Rohrwacher’s latest feature La Chimera ranked quite highly on our top 50 films of 2023 list for good reason. It’s a dreamy, magical odyssey in which the Italian director whisks viewers away with the kind of transportive vision she’s exuded in all her features thus far.
Where to Stream: VOD
Eileen (William Oldroyd)
Considering how many jokesters online talk about supporting women’s wrongs, Eileen should have made a billion dollars. Alas, not everyone can have impeccable taste. William Oldroyd’s character study grabs you from the first scene,...
- 5/10/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
If there is any justice in this world, we’ll get an Aaron Falk mystery every few years in perpetuity. Force of Nature: The Dry 2, written and directed by Robert Connolly and based on the novel by Jane Harper, offers up a brand-new case for viewers and does not require that you’ve seen its engaging predecessor (The Dry). This time the setting is the Giralang Ranges, a fictional rainforest of labyrinthine density. Along with the drastic change in scenery from the first outing (which hewed closer to an outback aesthetic tourists would expect), there’s been an expansion of production value. As Falk closes in on the identity of the killer, a violent storm closes in. This time there are more characters, more plot, and more conflicting motivations.
The plot revolves around a corporate retreat gone bad. Five women went out on a team-building hiking-camping trip. Only four came back.
The plot revolves around a corporate retreat gone bad. Five women went out on a team-building hiking-camping trip. Only four came back.
- 5/9/2024
- by Dan Mecca
- The Film Stage
After getting through the reopened old wounds and fresh corpses of “The Dry” in his dusty outback hometown, Eric Bana’s Federal Agent Aaron Falk certainly deserved a change of scenery. He gets one in woodsy “Force of Nature: The Dry 2,” though naturally the second feature adapted by director Robert Connolly from Jane Harper’s print mystery series soon finds him equally knee-deep in troublesome sleuthing. This sequel to one of Australia’s biggest homegrown hits reprises much of its page-turning plottiness — as well as a straining for emotional depth that proves elusive. IFC is releasing to U.S. theaters and home formats on May 10.
Once again, and perhaps a little too neatly, a case forces Falk to revisit the tragedies of his own past. In the prior film, a childhood friend’s funeral set him to investigating its cause, an effort which soon exposed disturbing links to his...
Once again, and perhaps a little too neatly, a case forces Falk to revisit the tragedies of his own past. In the prior film, a childhood friend’s funeral set him to investigating its cause, an effort which soon exposed disturbing links to his...
- 5/9/2024
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
Plot: Five women participate in a hiking retreat but only four come out the other side. Federal agents Aaron Falk and Carmen Cooper head into the mountains hoping to find their informant still alive.
Review: We reviewed the Australian mystery drama The Dry a couple of years ago. We enjoyed Eric Bana’s first Australian film after moving to Hollywood and found director Robert Connolly’s adaptation of Jane Harper’s novel to be refreshing. That film told the story of a federal investigator who returns home to investigate the murder of a childhood friend, which bears a distinct connection to a crime he himself was accused of decades prior. Bana and Connolly have reunited for the second novel in the Aaron Falk trilogy, Force of Nature. Carrying the subtitle that indicates it as a sequel to The Dry, Force of Nature is a substantially different story. Shifting from a...
Review: We reviewed the Australian mystery drama The Dry a couple of years ago. We enjoyed Eric Bana’s first Australian film after moving to Hollywood and found director Robert Connolly’s adaptation of Jane Harper’s novel to be refreshing. That film told the story of a federal investigator who returns home to investigate the murder of a childhood friend, which bears a distinct connection to a crime he himself was accused of decades prior. Bana and Connolly have reunited for the second novel in the Aaron Falk trilogy, Force of Nature. Carrying the subtitle that indicates it as a sequel to The Dry, Force of Nature is a substantially different story. Shifting from a...
- 5/8/2024
- by Alex Maidy
- JoBlo.com
Australian writer-director Robert Connolly had a domestic hit in 2021 with The Dry, a slow-burn murder mystery built around Eric Bana’s somber performance as a pensive city cop drawn back to the remote town of his childhood in the middle of a prolonged drought. Bana returns as Aaron Falk in Force of Nature: The Dry 2, which is otherwise a sequel in name alone. The setting this time is a lush and very wet mountain rainforest, drenched by a massive thunderstorm at a key point in the narrative. That makes half the title a complete misnomer.
This is a handsomely produced, solidly acted thriller that’s certainly watchable, though the perplexing subtitle is not its only issue. Unlike its riveting predecessor, it’s absorbing but never quite gripping.
Connolly sticks to novelist Jane Harper’s template from the first book in her Aaron Falk trilogy, in which the Australian Federal Police...
This is a handsomely produced, solidly acted thriller that’s certainly watchable, though the perplexing subtitle is not its only issue. Unlike its riveting predecessor, it’s absorbing but never quite gripping.
Connolly sticks to novelist Jane Harper’s template from the first book in her Aaron Falk trilogy, in which the Australian Federal Police...
- 5/6/2024
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Robert Connolly’s 2022 directorial venture Blueback is a special kind of film where the marine life is shown with such emotion and care that they become a rich character in the film, overshadowing all the ones played by humans. Based on a novel of the same name by Tim Winton, Blueback is the story of Abby, who returns to her roots in Australia, where she spent her childhood with her mother Dora. Dora was an activist fighting against the growing fishing industry and trying to save the species that were indigenous to the reef near which they lived. Abby comes back to care for Dora, who had a stroke, and reminisces about the time when she had befriended a blue groper.
Spoilers Ahead
Plot Synopsis: What Happens In The Film?
Abby’s father had once gone out into Roebuck Bay and never returned. It was a shark attack, everyone assumed.
Spoilers Ahead
Plot Synopsis: What Happens In The Film?
Abby’s father had once gone out into Roebuck Bay and never returned. It was a shark attack, everyone assumed.
- 2/12/2024
- by Ayush Awasthi
- Film Fugitives
Exclusive: The in-demand Sarah Snook has boarded Oscar-winning Australian director Adam Elliot’s upcoming stop-motion drama Memoir of a Snail as the lead voice and narrator.
Snook will voice the feature animation’s protagonist Grace Puddle, a lonely misfit who hoards ornamental snails and is addicted to romance novels.
Paris-based sales and production company Charades and London-based production and financing studio Anton, which announced last Cannes that they were co-selling the movie, have released a fresh image for the production in the lead-up to the EFM where they will show a new promo.
Memoir of a Snail (c) Arenamedia
News of Snook’s casting comes as the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning Succession star sets forth on a 14-week run of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture Of Dorian Gray at London’s Theatre Royal in which she plays all 26 characters.
Memoir of a Snail marks Snook’s first lead voice role in a feature animation.
Snook will voice the feature animation’s protagonist Grace Puddle, a lonely misfit who hoards ornamental snails and is addicted to romance novels.
Paris-based sales and production company Charades and London-based production and financing studio Anton, which announced last Cannes that they were co-selling the movie, have released a fresh image for the production in the lead-up to the EFM where they will show a new promo.
Memoir of a Snail (c) Arenamedia
News of Snook’s casting comes as the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning Succession star sets forth on a 14-week run of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture Of Dorian Gray at London’s Theatre Royal in which she plays all 26 characters.
Memoir of a Snail marks Snook’s first lead voice role in a feature animation.
- 2/9/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow and Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Based on Jane Harper’s bestseller, this twisty mystery follows Falk as he investigates a dodgy CEO (Richard Roxburgh) and his missing employee (Anna Torv)
Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email
The first and perhaps most obvious point to make about Robert Connolly’s sequel to his popular and finely made mystery-thriller The Dry is that it’s not dry at all – it’s very, very wet. The director, again adapting a bestselling novel by Jane Harper, opens with shots of lush wilderness – the film is largely based in the Victorian mountain ranges – and rain-covered leaves.
The first time we see Eric Bana, back again as federal police agent Aaron Falk, he’s doing laps in a swimming pool. His fellow agent, Carmen Cooper (Jacqueline McKenzie), is anxious to solve their latest case – a missing person’s investigation – as flooding might soon hit the region. It is police informant...
Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email
The first and perhaps most obvious point to make about Robert Connolly’s sequel to his popular and finely made mystery-thriller The Dry is that it’s not dry at all – it’s very, very wet. The director, again adapting a bestselling novel by Jane Harper, opens with shots of lush wilderness – the film is largely based in the Victorian mountain ranges – and rain-covered leaves.
The first time we see Eric Bana, back again as federal police agent Aaron Falk, he’s doing laps in a swimming pool. His fellow agent, Carmen Cooper (Jacqueline McKenzie), is anxious to solve their latest case – a missing person’s investigation – as flooding might soon hit the region. It is police informant...
- 2/7/2024
- by Luke Buckmaster
- The Guardian - Film News
After 'The Dry' made more than $20 million in 2021, it was perhaps inevitable the creative team would look to adapt the next book in Jane Harper’s Aaron Falk series, 'Force of Nature', for the big screen. Writer, director and producer Robert Connolly talks to If about the follow up – and hints there may be a third film yet.
The post Robert Connolly on returning to the world of Aaron Falk for ‘Force of Nature: The Dry 2’ and his continued belief in the big screen appeared first on If Magazine.
The post Robert Connolly on returning to the world of Aaron Falk for ‘Force of Nature: The Dry 2’ and his continued belief in the big screen appeared first on If Magazine.
- 2/2/2024
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Clockwise from top left: X (A24), Everything Everywhere All At Once (A24), Mea Culpa (Netflix)Image: The A.V. Club
This February, Netflix adds a Best Picture Oscar winner, a Ti West horror movie with a sequel arriving later this year, and Tyler Perry’s latest movie. The surreal Everything Everywhere All At Once...
This February, Netflix adds a Best Picture Oscar winner, a Ti West horror movie with a sequel arriving later this year, and Tyler Perry’s latest movie. The surreal Everything Everywhere All At Once...
- 2/1/2024
- by Robert DeSalvo
- avclub.com
Japan heads the nominations, followed by China.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist heads the nominations for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, with nods in four categories including best film, best director, best screenplay and best cinematography.
The Japanese feature premiered at Venice where it picked up both the jury and Fipresci prize, and centres on a father and daughter in a rural village, whose peaceful lives are disrupted by proposals to build a camping site in their area.
Hamaguchi’s latest film, following Oscar-winner Drive My Car, was just ahead of China’s Snow Leopard by the late Tibetan director Pema Tseden,...
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist heads the nominations for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, with nods in four categories including best film, best director, best screenplay and best cinematography.
The Japanese feature premiered at Venice where it picked up both the jury and Fipresci prize, and centres on a father and daughter in a rural village, whose peaceful lives are disrupted by proposals to build a camping site in their area.
Hamaguchi’s latest film, following Oscar-winner Drive My Car, was just ahead of China’s Snow Leopard by the late Tibetan director Pema Tseden,...
- 10/3/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s latest feature, Evil Does Not Exist, leads this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) with four nods, including the gong for Best Film.
Hamaguchi’s nominations haul includes Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography for Yoshio Kitagawa. The film is Hamaguchi’s first film since his Oscar-winning Drive My Car and debuted at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The pic follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. Like generations before them, they live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. A plan to construct a glamping site near Takumi’s house, offering city residents a comfortable “escape” to nature, threatens to endanger the ecological balance of the area and the local people’s way of life.
Also nominated in the Best Film category are Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days, Snow Leopard by Pema Tseden,...
Hamaguchi’s nominations haul includes Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography for Yoshio Kitagawa. The film is Hamaguchi’s first film since his Oscar-winning Drive My Car and debuted at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The pic follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. Like generations before them, they live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. A plan to construct a glamping site near Takumi’s house, offering city residents a comfortable “escape” to nature, threatens to endanger the ecological balance of the area and the local people’s way of life.
Also nominated in the Best Film category are Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days, Snow Leopard by Pema Tseden,...
- 10/3/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Awards
The European Film Academy has revealed the nominations for Lux – The European Audience Film Award. The award is presented by the European Parliament and the European Film Academy in partnership with the European Commission and Europa Cinemas.
The nominated films are: “20,000 Species of Bees” by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (Spain); “The Teacher’s Lounge” by İlker Çatak (Germany); “Fallen Leaves” by Aki Kaurismäki; “On the Adamant” by Nicolas Philibert; and “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood” by Anna Hints.
The five nominated films will now be subtitled in all 24 EU languages. The winner will be determined by the general public and the members of the European Parliament (each holding 50% of the vote) and announced during an awards ceremony in March 2024.
European Film Academy chair and president of the Lux jury Mike Downey said: “We know that cinema not only enhances the imagination but also shows our entire world in multiple perspectives and...
The European Film Academy has revealed the nominations for Lux – The European Audience Film Award. The award is presented by the European Parliament and the European Film Academy in partnership with the European Commission and Europa Cinemas.
The nominated films are: “20,000 Species of Bees” by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (Spain); “The Teacher’s Lounge” by İlker Çatak (Germany); “Fallen Leaves” by Aki Kaurismäki; “On the Adamant” by Nicolas Philibert; and “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood” by Anna Hints.
The five nominated films will now be subtitled in all 24 EU languages. The winner will be determined by the general public and the members of the European Parliament (each holding 50% of the vote) and announced during an awards ceremony in March 2024.
European Film Academy chair and president of the Lux jury Mike Downey said: “We know that cinema not only enhances the imagination but also shows our entire world in multiple perspectives and...
- 9/4/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
‘Force Of Nature: The Dry 2’ is understood to be a wholly Australian production, with no streamer or studio involvement.
Australian distributor Roadshow Films has postponed the August 24 local release of the highly anticipated Force Of Nature: The Dry 2 as star Eric Bana is “unable to do it justice by promoting it thoroughly” due to his membership of SAG-AFTRA and his support of its ongoing strike.
Melbourne-based Bana stars in the film and also produces through his Pick Up Truck Pictures, with writer-director Robert Connolly of Arenamedia and Bruna Papandrea, Jodi Matterson and Steve Hutensky of Made Up Stories,...
Australian distributor Roadshow Films has postponed the August 24 local release of the highly anticipated Force Of Nature: The Dry 2 as star Eric Bana is “unable to do it justice by promoting it thoroughly” due to his membership of SAG-AFTRA and his support of its ongoing strike.
Melbourne-based Bana stars in the film and also produces through his Pick Up Truck Pictures, with writer-director Robert Connolly of Arenamedia and Bruna Papandrea, Jodi Matterson and Steve Hutensky of Made Up Stories,...
- 7/21/2023
- by Sandy George
- ScreenDaily
The scheduled Aug. 24 release of the Eric Bana-starring Australian thriller film “Force of Nature: The Dry 2” has been indefinitely postponed, due to the SAG-AFTRA actors’ strike.
The strike is also forcing adjustments at the Melbourne International Film Festival, which starts in early August.
“It is with some regret, but a large amount of conviction that we have decided to postpone the release of ‘Force of Nature: The Dry 2’,” said Bana, who both stars and produces through his Pick Up Truck Pictures.
“Force of Nature: The Dry 2” is based on the bestselling novel by Jane Harper with Bana reprising his character, Aaron Falk, as a follow-on to the 2021 hit. Robert Connolly returns to direct the movie. Production is by Bruna Papandrea, Jodi Matterson and Steve Hutensky of Made Up Stories, alongside Bana and Connolly through his Arenamedia.
“I’m incredibly proud of this much anticipated...
The strike is also forcing adjustments at the Melbourne International Film Festival, which starts in early August.
“It is with some regret, but a large amount of conviction that we have decided to postpone the release of ‘Force of Nature: The Dry 2’,” said Bana, who both stars and produces through his Pick Up Truck Pictures.
“Force of Nature: The Dry 2” is based on the bestselling novel by Jane Harper with Bana reprising his character, Aaron Falk, as a follow-on to the 2021 hit. Robert Connolly returns to direct the movie. Production is by Bruna Papandrea, Jodi Matterson and Steve Hutensky of Made Up Stories, alongside Bana and Connolly through his Arenamedia.
“I’m incredibly proud of this much anticipated...
- 7/20/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
13 titles have received funding in the latest round from the £7m per year UK Global Screen Fund.
A raft of UK Cannes titles are among the 13 features to receive awards given out by the British Film Institute (BFI) in the latest round of funding from the £7m per year UK Global Screen Fund (Ukgsf), supporting international opportunities for the UK’s independent screen sector.
These include Jessica Hausner’s Club Zero, on which Good Chaos’ Mike Goodridge is the UK producer and will receive the award; Molly Manning Walker’s How To Have Sex, with the funding going to Emily Leo...
A raft of UK Cannes titles are among the 13 features to receive awards given out by the British Film Institute (BFI) in the latest round of funding from the £7m per year UK Global Screen Fund (Ukgsf), supporting international opportunities for the UK’s independent screen sector.
These include Jessica Hausner’s Club Zero, on which Good Chaos’ Mike Goodridge is the UK producer and will receive the award; Molly Manning Walker’s How To Have Sex, with the funding going to Emily Leo...
- 7/7/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Nicolas Cage has been set to lead the cast in the new psychological thriller ‘The Surfer.’
Cage takes on the role of a man who returns to his hometown in Australia and takes on a local gang of surfers.
The synopsis reads; When a man (Cage) returns to his beachside hometown in Australia, many years since building a life for himself in the U.S., he is humiliated in front of his teenage son by a local gang of surfers who claim strict ownership over the secluded beach of his childhood. Wounded, “The Surfer” decides to remain at the beach, declaring war against those in control of the bay. But as the conflict escalates, the stakes spin wildly out of control, taking “The Surfer” to the edge of his sanity.
Also in news – Aimee Lou Wood & Matt Dillon join cast of ‘The Gambler Wife’
Lorcan Finnegan is directing from a screenplay by Thomas Martin.
Cage takes on the role of a man who returns to his hometown in Australia and takes on a local gang of surfers.
The synopsis reads; When a man (Cage) returns to his beachside hometown in Australia, many years since building a life for himself in the U.S., he is humiliated in front of his teenage son by a local gang of surfers who claim strict ownership over the secluded beach of his childhood. Wounded, “The Surfer” decides to remain at the beach, declaring war against those in control of the bay. But as the conflict escalates, the stakes spin wildly out of control, taking “The Surfer” to the edge of his sanity.
Also in news – Aimee Lou Wood & Matt Dillon join cast of ‘The Gambler Wife’
Lorcan Finnegan is directing from a screenplay by Thomas Martin.
- 5/19/2023
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Nicolas Cage has signed on to star in the psychological thriller The Surfer, a film that will be giving us the opportunity to watch Cage do battle with a gang of surfers – and maybe, if we’re lucky, we might even hear him doing a bit of an Australian accent.
Lorcan Finnegan (Vivarium) will be directing The Surfer from a screenplay by Thomas Martin. Here’s the synopsis: When a man (Cage) returns to his beachside hometown in Australia, many years since building a life for himself in the U.S., he is humiliated in front of his teenage son by a local gang of surfers who claim strict ownership over the secluded beach of his childhood. Wounded, “The Surfer” decides to remain at the beach, declaring war against those in control of the bay. But as the conflict escalates, the stakes spin wildly out of control, taking “The Surfer...
Lorcan Finnegan (Vivarium) will be directing The Surfer from a screenplay by Thomas Martin. Here’s the synopsis: When a man (Cage) returns to his beachside hometown in Australia, many years since building a life for himself in the U.S., he is humiliated in front of his teenage son by a local gang of surfers who claim strict ownership over the secluded beach of his childhood. Wounded, “The Surfer” decides to remain at the beach, declaring war against those in control of the bay. But as the conflict escalates, the stakes spin wildly out of control, taking “The Surfer...
- 5/18/2023
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Cage is hitting the beach!
Having recently saddled up for his first Western, Nicolas Cage looks set to ride some waves for the first time on screen, having been cast to lead elevated psychological thriller The Surfer from director Lorcan Finnegan (Vivarium, Nocebo) and screenwriter Thomas Martin.
Mossbank, the partnership between Sculptor Media and Raven and headed by Michael Rothstein and Sam Hall, is handling international sales and introducing The Surfer to buyers at the Cannes Market. Domestic sales will be repped by WME Independent.
In The Surfer, when a man (Cage) returns to his beachside hometown in Australia, many years since building a life for himself in the U.S., he is humiliated in front of his teenage son by a local gang of surfers who claim strict ownership over the secluded beach of his childhood. Wounded, “The Surfer” decides to remain at the beach, declaring war against those in control of the bay.
Having recently saddled up for his first Western, Nicolas Cage looks set to ride some waves for the first time on screen, having been cast to lead elevated psychological thriller The Surfer from director Lorcan Finnegan (Vivarium, Nocebo) and screenwriter Thomas Martin.
Mossbank, the partnership between Sculptor Media and Raven and headed by Michael Rothstein and Sam Hall, is handling international sales and introducing The Surfer to buyers at the Cannes Market. Domestic sales will be repped by WME Independent.
In The Surfer, when a man (Cage) returns to his beachside hometown in Australia, many years since building a life for himself in the U.S., he is humiliated in front of his teenage son by a local gang of surfers who claim strict ownership over the secluded beach of his childhood. Wounded, “The Surfer” decides to remain at the beach, declaring war against those in control of the bay.
- 5/18/2023
- by Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Paris-based sales and production company Charades and London-based production and financing studio Anton are partnering on the worldwide sales of Oscar-winning Australian director Adam Elliot’s upcoming stop-motion drama Memoir Of A Snail.
The poignant tale of a young lonely misfit is the second feature after the award-winning 2019 animation Mary And Max for Elliot, who won an Oscar for the 2004 short Harvey Krumpet.
The partners have unveiled a first image as well as some first members of international voice cast featuring Jacki Weaver (Yellowstone), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Elvis), Dominique Pinon, Magda Szubanski, and Eric Bana (The Dry).
The lead cast has yet to be announced.
The animated feature is produced by Arenamedia, with Liz Kearney (Paper Planes) as producer, and Robert Connolly (The Dry) and Robert Patterson as Executive Producers.
The film is currently shooting in Melbourne, Australia, with an expected release date...
The poignant tale of a young lonely misfit is the second feature after the award-winning 2019 animation Mary And Max for Elliot, who won an Oscar for the 2004 short Harvey Krumpet.
The partners have unveiled a first image as well as some first members of international voice cast featuring Jacki Weaver (Yellowstone), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Elvis), Dominique Pinon, Magda Szubanski, and Eric Bana (The Dry).
The lead cast has yet to be announced.
The animated feature is produced by Arenamedia, with Liz Kearney (Paper Planes) as producer, and Robert Connolly (The Dry) and Robert Patterson as Executive Producers.
The film is currently shooting in Melbourne, Australia, with an expected release date...
- 5/4/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Mia Wasikowska has spoken about her decision to step out of the Hollywood limelight in the late 2010s to return to her native Sydney, Australia.
The now-33-year-old actor landed her breakthrough role leading Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland (2010) opposite Johnny Depp. She was 21 at the time.
The film’s box office success catapulted Wasikowska to fame among the Hollywood “It girls” of the era.
Her career continued on an upward trajectory as she booked starring film roles in Jane Eyre (2011), Stoker (2013), Madame Bovary (2014) and Crimson Peak (2015).
However, it was just after she reprised her role as young Alice in Burton’s spinoff, Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016), that she disappeared from the big screen.
“I want to do more things in life other than be in a trailer,” Wasikowska recently told IndieWire in a new interview. “I didn’t entirely like the lifestyle of going back to back to back.
The now-33-year-old actor landed her breakthrough role leading Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland (2010) opposite Johnny Depp. She was 21 at the time.
The film’s box office success catapulted Wasikowska to fame among the Hollywood “It girls” of the era.
Her career continued on an upward trajectory as she booked starring film roles in Jane Eyre (2011), Stoker (2013), Madame Bovary (2014) and Crimson Peak (2015).
However, it was just after she reprised her role as young Alice in Burton’s spinoff, Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016), that she disappeared from the big screen.
“I want to do more things in life other than be in a trailer,” Wasikowska recently told IndieWire in a new interview. “I didn’t entirely like the lifestyle of going back to back to back.
- 3/3/2023
- by Inga Parkel
- The Independent - Film
Mia Wasikowska seemed to be everywhere at one point. Starting in 2010, the young actress was on a seemingly unending spree of plum roles in indie films and studio products alike, from Cary Fukunaga’s “Jane Eyre” to “Alice in Wonderland” and “The Kids Are All Right,” “Maps to the Stars,” Tracks,” “Stoker,” and “Crimson Peak.” But it seemed to stop when Tim Burton’s “Wonderland” sequel “Alice Through the Looking Glass” sputtered, a financial bleed-out for Disney that also took a critical beating, though not for Wasikowska’s performance. A not unheard-of phenomenon then occurred: A once in-demand, ubiquitous performer suddenly seemed to have vanished.
Well, the Australian actress never went away, exactly — she just stepped out of the limelight. “I want to do more things in life other than be in a trailer,” she told IndieWire in a recent interview discussing her new film “Blueback,” an endearing eco-conscious message...
Well, the Australian actress never went away, exactly — she just stepped out of the limelight. “I want to do more things in life other than be in a trailer,” she told IndieWire in a recent interview discussing her new film “Blueback,” an endearing eco-conscious message...
- 3/3/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
When it comes to films about children bonding with animals, fish don’t generally get much of a look-in. There’s an assumption that they’re too limited in intelligence for any real connection to form, but that notion is quickly dismissed in this conservation-focused tale from Robert Connolly. As its heroine Abby (Ariel Donaghue/Ilsa Fogg) learns, the blue grouper who lives near her childhood home can live to around the same age as a human, and its territoriality means that they have a mutual relationship to the reef upon which to build the rest.
The reef, however, is under threat – like many of those still surviving around Australia’s coast. We learn all this in retrospect from the adult Abby (Mia Wasikowska), an ecologist who is working in different waters when she gets a call informing her that her mother Dora (Elizabeth Alexander) has had a stroke. When she returns to her home.
The reef, however, is under threat – like many of those still surviving around Australia’s coast. We learn all this in retrospect from the adult Abby (Mia Wasikowska), an ecologist who is working in different waters when she gets a call informing her that her mother Dora (Elizabeth Alexander) has had a stroke. When she returns to her home.
- 3/3/2023
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Ivan Sen’s transfixing detective story takes its title from a remote, fictional opal mining town in the South Australian desert, surrounded by a ravaged landscape of craters and dirt mounds that evokes some barren, faraway planet in the stunning drone shots that punctate the film. The bone-dry, pockmarked earth, where many locals live in underground dugouts to escape the extreme heat and dust clouds, provides a bracingly atmospheric setting for this distinctive cold-case procedural. Led by an almost unrecognizable Simon Baker as a jaded cop, Limbo weaves in themes of racial inequity, broken individuals and fractured families to build quiet potency.
Indigenous Australian filmmaker Sen used the genre tropes of the Western to reflect on Aboriginal identity and the uneasy relationship of First Nations people to the country’s justice system in Mystery Road and Goldstone. In Limbo, he veers closer to noir in a film that has similarities...
Indigenous Australian filmmaker Sen used the genre tropes of the Western to reflect on Aboriginal identity and the uneasy relationship of First Nations people to the country’s justice system in Mystery Road and Goldstone. In Limbo, he veers closer to noir in a film that has similarities...
- 2/23/2023
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Dublin International Film Festival will run from February 23 - March 4.
World premieres of Fintan Connolly’s Barber and Claire Dix’s Spotlight are among the line-up for the Dublin International Film Festival.
Connolly’s Barber stars Aidan Gillen as a private investigator investing the disappearance of a wealthy widow’s granddaughter. Gillen previously led Connolly’s 2005 film Trouble With Sex which was nominated for eight Irish Film and Television awards.
Sunlight follows a recovering addict who is caring for his terminally ill sponsor. The cast includes Barry Ward and Liam Carney. Dix was last as Diff in 2013 with audience award-winner Broken Song.
World premieres of Fintan Connolly’s Barber and Claire Dix’s Spotlight are among the line-up for the Dublin International Film Festival.
Connolly’s Barber stars Aidan Gillen as a private investigator investing the disappearance of a wealthy widow’s granddaughter. Gillen previously led Connolly’s 2005 film Trouble With Sex which was nominated for eight Irish Film and Television awards.
Sunlight follows a recovering addict who is caring for his terminally ill sponsor. The cast includes Barry Ward and Liam Carney. Dix was last as Diff in 2013 with audience award-winner Broken Song.
- 2/8/2023
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
"The only way to make sure he's safe, is to keep him secret." Quiver Distribution has revealed an official US trailer for the Australian eco drama Blueback, now set to open in theaters (nationwide!!) in March in the US. The film originally premiered at TIFF 2022 last fall, and already opened in Australia earlier in the year. Most recently it just played at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival last monh. An inspiring story for the whole family, Tim Winton's best-selling novel comes to life on the big screen. The latest film from The Dry director Robert Connolly, starring Mia Wasikowska. The story follows Abby, a young girl who initially befriends a magnificent wild blue groper while diving. When she's older, Abby realizes that the fish is under threat, and she takes inspiration from her activist Mum, Dora, taking on the poachers to save her friend. The film also stars Radha Mitchell,...
- 2/6/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? Blueback filmed in remote Western Australia at the height of the pandemic. Quarantine requirements for cast and crew were significant and the border was closed many times. Once in the extraordinary Bremer Bay where we filmed though, the local community were so supportive and appreciate of the lengths we had gone to to protect their community. Filming with young children […]
The post “The Arrival of a Massive Pod of Dolphins Mid-Shot” | Robert Connolly, Blueback first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “The Arrival of a Massive Pod of Dolphins Mid-Shot” | Robert Connolly, Blueback first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/21/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? Blueback filmed in remote Western Australia at the height of the pandemic. Quarantine requirements for cast and crew were significant and the border was closed many times. Once in the extraordinary Bremer Bay where we filmed though, the local community were so supportive and appreciate of the lengths we had gone to to protect their community. Filming with young children […]
The post “The Arrival of a Massive Pod of Dolphins Mid-Shot” | Robert Connolly, Blueback first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “The Arrival of a Massive Pod of Dolphins Mid-Shot” | Robert Connolly, Blueback first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/21/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Kicking off this Thursday, the 2023 Sundance Film Festival gives us a first glimpse at the year in cinema. Ahead of the fest, we’ve highlighted the films we’re most looking forward to and now we’re providing a trailer round-up for those interested in a preview of the lineup.
Ahead of our coverage, bookmark this page for a continually updated round-up of trailers and clips, kicking off with Polite Society, A Common Sequence, Infinity Pool, Rye Lane, Slow, and more.
Check out the trailers below thus far in alphabetical order and we’ll be publishing reviews soon, so follow along here.
The Amazing Maurice (Toby Genkel)
Blueback (Robert Connolly)
A Common Sequence (Mary Helena Clark and Mike Gibisser)
Deep Rising (Matthieu Rytz)
Divinity (Eddie Alcazar)
The Eight Mountains (Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch)
L’immensità (Emanuele Crialese)
Infinity Pool (Brandon Cronenberg)
Joyland (Saim Sadiq)
Mamacruz (Patricia Ortega)
Other...
Ahead of our coverage, bookmark this page for a continually updated round-up of trailers and clips, kicking off with Polite Society, A Common Sequence, Infinity Pool, Rye Lane, Slow, and more.
Check out the trailers below thus far in alphabetical order and we’ll be publishing reviews soon, so follow along here.
The Amazing Maurice (Toby Genkel)
Blueback (Robert Connolly)
A Common Sequence (Mary Helena Clark and Mike Gibisser)
Deep Rising (Matthieu Rytz)
Divinity (Eddie Alcazar)
The Eight Mountains (Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch)
L’immensità (Emanuele Crialese)
Infinity Pool (Brandon Cronenberg)
Joyland (Saim Sadiq)
Mamacruz (Patricia Ortega)
Other...
- 1/18/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Emma Mackey reaches new heights as ill-fated author Emily Brontë.
Set during the events that inspired “Wuthering Heights,” Frances O’Connor’s directorial debut “Emily” reimagines Brontë’s brush with love, embarking on an epic romance. Fionn Whitehead, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Alexandra Dowling, Adrian Dunbar, and Amelia Gething also star in the feature from Bleecker Street.
“Emily” debuted at 2022 TIFF and charts Brontë’s own Gothic story that inspired her seminal novel, “Wuthering Heights.” The official synopsis reads: “Haunted by the death of her mother, Emily struggles within the confines of her family life and yearns for artistic and personal freedom, and so begins a journey to channel her creative potential into one of the greatest novels of all time.”
“Emily” is produced by Piers Tempest, Robert Connolly, and David Barron.
IndieWire critic David Ehrlich praised “Sex Education” star Mackey’s “brilliant” performance in the titular role, writing, “invented splashes of rebellion...
Set during the events that inspired “Wuthering Heights,” Frances O’Connor’s directorial debut “Emily” reimagines Brontë’s brush with love, embarking on an epic romance. Fionn Whitehead, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Alexandra Dowling, Adrian Dunbar, and Amelia Gething also star in the feature from Bleecker Street.
“Emily” debuted at 2022 TIFF and charts Brontë’s own Gothic story that inspired her seminal novel, “Wuthering Heights.” The official synopsis reads: “Haunted by the death of her mother, Emily struggles within the confines of her family life and yearns for artistic and personal freedom, and so begins a journey to channel her creative potential into one of the greatest novels of all time.”
“Emily” is produced by Piers Tempest, Robert Connolly, and David Barron.
IndieWire critic David Ehrlich praised “Sex Education” star Mackey’s “brilliant” performance in the titular role, writing, “invented splashes of rebellion...
- 1/5/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Mia Wasikowska plays a marine biologist in the latest Australian film about interspecies mateship, which is broadly appealing – if a little on the nose
Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email
Audiences open to an ecological ocean drama that’s gentler, more grounded and certainly more ‘Strayan than James Cameron’s squillion-dollar screensaver can find an appealing – if slight – companion piece in the latest Tim Winton adaptation, brought to the screen by writer-director Robert Connolly.
Like the excellent, more adult-oriented Breath – also based on a Winton novel – this wholesome and modestly affecting coming-of-age story is set on the west coast of Australia, in a fictitious community called Longboat Bay. It’s a family-friendly, broadly appealing film that expands the canon of coastal Aussie pictures involving interspecies mateship – the original and remade Storm Boy, featuring Mr Percival the pelican, and Oddball, featuring a very photogenic Maremma sheepdog that saves a colony of penguins in Victoria.
Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email
Audiences open to an ecological ocean drama that’s gentler, more grounded and certainly more ‘Strayan than James Cameron’s squillion-dollar screensaver can find an appealing – if slight – companion piece in the latest Tim Winton adaptation, brought to the screen by writer-director Robert Connolly.
Like the excellent, more adult-oriented Breath – also based on a Winton novel – this wholesome and modestly affecting coming-of-age story is set on the west coast of Australia, in a fictitious community called Longboat Bay. It’s a family-friendly, broadly appealing film that expands the canon of coastal Aussie pictures involving interspecies mateship – the original and remade Storm Boy, featuring Mr Percival the pelican, and Oddball, featuring a very photogenic Maremma sheepdog that saves a colony of penguins in Victoria.
- 12/29/2022
- by Luke Buckmaster
- The Guardian - Film News
A quartet of Australian films has made it into the line-up for next year's Sundance Film Festival, with Robert Connolly's 'Blueback', Noora Niasari's 'Shayda', Daina Reid's 'Run Rabbit Run' and Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou's 'Talk To Me' all set to screen.
The post ‘Blueback’, ‘Shayda’, ‘Run Rabbit Run’, ‘Talk To Me’ heading to Sundance appeared first on If Magazine.
The post ‘Blueback’, ‘Shayda’, ‘Run Rabbit Run’, ‘Talk To Me’ heading to Sundance appeared first on If Magazine.
- 12/8/2022
- by Sean Slatter
- IF.com.au
Exclusive: Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories and Fifth Season have optioned the rights to Hayley Krischer’s young adult novel The Falling Girls for television. Chloe Stearns and John Wynn are set to write the series.
Set against the backdrop of a high school cheerleading squad, The Falling Girls is a thriller about the dark, intense and all-consuming paths female friendships can take.
Made Up Stories’ Jodi Matterson, Steve Hutensky and Papandrea will exec produce in partnership with Fifth Season.
“We got so excited at the prospect of delving into this world of teenage girl conflict because Hayley has created a mystery at the center of this story that makes it irresistible,” said Made Up Stories execs. “With Chloe and John at the helm, this show is going to take the drama – that we all remember so well from high school and which so often felt like a life...
Set against the backdrop of a high school cheerleading squad, The Falling Girls is a thriller about the dark, intense and all-consuming paths female friendships can take.
Made Up Stories’ Jodi Matterson, Steve Hutensky and Papandrea will exec produce in partnership with Fifth Season.
“We got so excited at the prospect of delving into this world of teenage girl conflict because Hayley has created a mystery at the center of this story that makes it irresistible,” said Made Up Stories execs. “With Chloe and John at the helm, this show is going to take the drama – that we all remember so well from high school and which so often felt like a life...
- 11/21/2022
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
Quiver Distribution has acquired the U.S. rights for Toronto-premiering drama “Blueback,” starring Mia Wasikowska, Radha Mitchell and Eric Bana.
Directed by Robert Connolly, “Blueback” world premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this fall. Based on Tim Winton’s novel of the same name, the story follows novice diver Abby (Wasikowska), who befriends a magnificent wild blue groper, beginning her life-long journey to save the world’s coral reefs.
When the quiet reef at her coastal hometown starts to attract commercial fishing operators, it’s not long until she realizes that the fish she calls a friend is under threat. Taking inspiration from her activist mother, she takes on poachers and developers to save her friend.
The film’s screenplay is written by Connolly and Winton.
“We are thrilled to partner with an amazing filmmaker like Robert Connolly,” said Quiver Distribution co-president Berry Meyerowitz. “This mesmerizing film is one audiences will love.
Directed by Robert Connolly, “Blueback” world premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this fall. Based on Tim Winton’s novel of the same name, the story follows novice diver Abby (Wasikowska), who befriends a magnificent wild blue groper, beginning her life-long journey to save the world’s coral reefs.
When the quiet reef at her coastal hometown starts to attract commercial fishing operators, it’s not long until she realizes that the fish she calls a friend is under threat. Taking inspiration from her activist mother, she takes on poachers and developers to save her friend.
The film’s screenplay is written by Connolly and Winton.
“We are thrilled to partner with an amazing filmmaker like Robert Connolly,” said Quiver Distribution co-president Berry Meyerowitz. “This mesmerizing film is one audiences will love.
- 11/14/2022
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Universal Pictures has snapped up rights to This Bird Has Flown, the upcoming debut novel from The Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs, who will adapt her own work for the screen.
Liza Chasin and Bruna Papandrea — who recently partnered for the first time on the Netflix limited series Anatomy of a Scandal, based on Sarah Vaughan’s same-name novel — will reteam to produce the film adaptation for 3Dot Productions and Made Up Stories, respectively.
Set for publication via Little, Brown and Company on April 4, 2023, This Bird Has Flown is billed as a romantic comedy pulling back the curtain on the music business via the introduction of a very endearing character and her equally charming cohort.
Steve Hutensky and Sarah Harvey on behalf of Made Up Stories and Margaret Chernin on behalf...
Liza Chasin and Bruna Papandrea — who recently partnered for the first time on the Netflix limited series Anatomy of a Scandal, based on Sarah Vaughan’s same-name novel — will reteam to produce the film adaptation for 3Dot Productions and Made Up Stories, respectively.
Set for publication via Little, Brown and Company on April 4, 2023, This Bird Has Flown is billed as a romantic comedy pulling back the curtain on the music business via the introduction of a very endearing character and her equally charming cohort.
Steve Hutensky and Sarah Harvey on behalf of Made Up Stories and Margaret Chernin on behalf...
- 11/10/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Record expenditure reported for the year to end of June 2022.
Australia’s production boom grew to a record 1.47bn (A2.29bn) spent on drama features and series in the year to June 2022.
According to the annual ‘Drama Report’, published by Screen Australia, a record 977m (A1.51bn) was spent on Australian titles and 503m (A777) on international productions during the 12-month period from 2021-2022.
This comprised 24 Australian theatrical features; 62 Australian TV and VOD drama titles; 11 Australian children’s titles; and 65 international projects.
Screen Australia chief executive Graeme Mason told Screen he was pleased two-thirds of expenditure went on Australian titles.
Australia’s production boom grew to a record 1.47bn (A2.29bn) spent on drama features and series in the year to June 2022.
According to the annual ‘Drama Report’, published by Screen Australia, a record 977m (A1.51bn) was spent on Australian titles and 503m (A777) on international productions during the 12-month period from 2021-2022.
This comprised 24 Australian theatrical features; 62 Australian TV and VOD drama titles; 11 Australian children’s titles; and 65 international projects.
Screen Australia chief executive Graeme Mason told Screen he was pleased two-thirds of expenditure went on Australian titles.
- 11/10/2022
- by Sandy George
- ScreenDaily
‘Ticket to Paradise’ producer teams up with production company behind ‘Anatomy of a Scandal’.
Australian film and TV producer Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories is opening a UK outpost run by Ticket To Paradise producer Sarah Harvey.
Harvey is joining the company as producer and creative director.
Made Up Stories’ new London location is in addition to its production offices in Los Angeles and Sydney, Australia.
The British film producer’s most recent credits include Ticket To Paradise, directed by Ol Parker, starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts, and Strangers, directed by Andrew Haigh.
Harvey has held posts at...
Australian film and TV producer Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories is opening a UK outpost run by Ticket To Paradise producer Sarah Harvey.
Harvey is joining the company as producer and creative director.
Made Up Stories’ new London location is in addition to its production offices in Los Angeles and Sydney, Australia.
The British film producer’s most recent credits include Ticket To Paradise, directed by Ol Parker, starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts, and Strangers, directed by Andrew Haigh.
Harvey has held posts at...
- 10/6/2022
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
‘Ticket to Paradise’ producer teams up with production company behind ‘Anatomy of a Scandal’.
Australian film and TV producer Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories is opening a UK outpost run by Ticket To Paradise producer Sarah Harvey.
Harvey is joining the company as producer and creative director.
Made Up Stories’ new London location is in addition to its production offices in Los Angeles and Sydney, Australia.
The British film producer’s most recent credits include Ticket To Paradise, directed by Ol Parker, starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts, and Strangers, directed by Andrew Haigh.
Harvey has held posts at...
Australian film and TV producer Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories is opening a UK outpost run by Ticket To Paradise producer Sarah Harvey.
Harvey is joining the company as producer and creative director.
Made Up Stories’ new London location is in addition to its production offices in Los Angeles and Sydney, Australia.
The British film producer’s most recent credits include Ticket To Paradise, directed by Ol Parker, starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts, and Strangers, directed by Andrew Haigh.
Harvey has held posts at...
- 10/6/2022
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Big Little Lies producer Bruna Papandrea’s production company, Made Up Stories, is expanding with a new UK office run by Sarah Harvey, who has joined the company as a producer and creative director. Harvey officially began her new position in August.
“I’ve long admired Bruna’s tenacity and stellar storytelling instincts, and I’m thrilled to have joined the incredibly talented Made Up Stories Team,” said Harvey.
Harvey has worked across film and TV for over 20 years and has held positions at several production companies, including Blueprint Pictures, Intermedia Films, and Working Title Films. As Head of Film at Blueprint, she developed and co-produced The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, directed by John Madden. The film picked up BAFTA and Golden Globe nods. She also co-produced Martin McDonagh’s directorial debut In Bruges, starring Colin Farrell.
Most recent credits from Harvey include Ol Parker’s romantic comedy Ticket To Paradise,...
“I’ve long admired Bruna’s tenacity and stellar storytelling instincts, and I’m thrilled to have joined the incredibly talented Made Up Stories Team,” said Harvey.
Harvey has worked across film and TV for over 20 years and has held positions at several production companies, including Blueprint Pictures, Intermedia Films, and Working Title Films. As Head of Film at Blueprint, she developed and co-produced The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, directed by John Madden. The film picked up BAFTA and Golden Globe nods. She also co-produced Martin McDonagh’s directorial debut In Bruges, starring Colin Farrell.
Most recent credits from Harvey include Ol Parker’s romantic comedy Ticket To Paradise,...
- 10/6/2022
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
After exploring the devastations of drought in his 2020 acclaimed thriller The Dry, Australian director Robert Connolly takes a deep dive into the majestic world beneath the ocean’s surface in Blueback, his forthcoming environmentalist family film starring Mia Wasikowska and Eric Bana.
Blueback is loosely based on Booker Prize nominee Tim Winton’s critically acclaimed novella of the same name. Connolly spent over 20 years developing the project, which he also co-wrote. He describes it as “a family-friendly celebration of the natural world.”
Taking place in multiple time periods across a young woman’s life, the film tells the story of a girl who befriends a wild blue groper while scuba diving. When she discovers the fish and its kind are under threat, she takes inspiration from her environmental activist mother to face down poachers to protect the creature. The episode marks the beginning...
After exploring the devastations of drought in his 2020 acclaimed thriller The Dry, Australian director Robert Connolly takes a deep dive into the majestic world beneath the ocean’s surface in Blueback, his forthcoming environmentalist family film starring Mia Wasikowska and Eric Bana.
Blueback is loosely based on Booker Prize nominee Tim Winton’s critically acclaimed novella of the same name. Connolly spent over 20 years developing the project, which he also co-wrote. He describes it as “a family-friendly celebration of the natural world.”
Taking place in multiple time periods across a young woman’s life, the film tells the story of a girl who befriends a wild blue groper while scuba diving. When she discovers the fish and its kind are under threat, she takes inspiration from her environmental activist mother to face down poachers to protect the creature. The episode marks the beginning...
- 10/4/2022
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Blueback TIFF Special Presentations Section Reviewed for Shockya.com by Abe Friedtanzer Director: Robert Connolly Writer: Robert Connolly Cast: Ilsa Fogg, Radha Mitchell, Mia Wasikowska, Eric Bana Screened at: TIFF Bell Lightbox, Ontario, 9/17/22 Opens: September 16th, 2022 (Toronto International Film Festival) Nature provides tremendous bounties that are appreciated by many, but their existence and preservation […]
The post TIFF 2022: Blueback Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post TIFF 2022: Blueback Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 9/19/2022
- by Abe Friedtanzer
- ShockYa
Australia’s answer to the 2022 Oscar Best Picture winner Coda is here. I’m only half-joking. Blueback is a bit better than the movie that most recently won Best Picture at the Academy Awards, but it employs a similar sort of lightweight treatment of banner issues. Blueback has two major characteristics in its favor: the aquatic cinematography by Andrew Commis and Rick Rifici and that it’s satisfied with being a message movie for kids. It would be perfect to show in a middle school or elementary school classroom during substitute teacher day, like Free Willy, a choice selection when I was a kid. It’s completely inoffensive but also lacking emotional heft, a result of sloppy story structure and flashback-heavy plotting that may have worked well in the source novel by Tim Winton (who also wrote the screenplay), but drains the tension in this adaptation.
Abby and Dora (Radha Mitchell...
Abby and Dora (Radha Mitchell...
- 9/18/2022
- by Soham Gadre
- The Film Stage
“Take a good close look at what we’re fighting for,” says Mia Wasikowska’s oceanographer in “Blueback,” as she scans the Australian bay where she grew up. She’s talking to a colleague, even as writer-director Robert Connolly (“Paper Planes”) is really saying the same thing to us.
Connolly has turned Tim Winton’s 1997 novella into his own environmental cri de coeur — premiering at the Toronto Film Festival — and while the specifics can get a bit clunky, his passion drives our interest all the way to the end.
The end is where we begin, actually, with Wasikowska’s Abby getting a call while she’s working. Her aging mother, Dora (Liz Alexander), has had a stroke, and Abby has to rush back to remote Longboat Bay (Western Australia’s Bremer Bay stands in for the fictional coast) to care for her.
Also Read:
‘Judy & Punch’ Film Review: Provocative...
Connolly has turned Tim Winton’s 1997 novella into his own environmental cri de coeur — premiering at the Toronto Film Festival — and while the specifics can get a bit clunky, his passion drives our interest all the way to the end.
The end is where we begin, actually, with Wasikowska’s Abby getting a call while she’s working. Her aging mother, Dora (Liz Alexander), has had a stroke, and Abby has to rush back to remote Longboat Bay (Western Australia’s Bremer Bay stands in for the fictional coast) to care for her.
Also Read:
‘Judy & Punch’ Film Review: Provocative...
- 9/16/2022
- by Elizabeth Weitzman
- The Wrap
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
Midnight Moves
Korean film sales agent Finecut has struck several deals for action thriller “Project Wolf Hunting” ahead of its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival’s Midnight Madness section. In Asia, the film has been licensed to Moviecloud for Taiwan, Multivision Multimedia for India, Sahamongkolfilm International for Thailand, The Klockworx for Japan. Finecut also closed a deal with A Contracorriente Films for Spain, Prime Time Media for Cis and Well Go USA for Canada and the U.S. The film set on board a cargo ship which is being used to transport dangerous criminals from the Philippines to Busan, Korea. An escape attempt leads to a riot which in turn unleashes a sinister force. The film is directed by Kim Hongsun and will have a theatrical release in Korea from Sept. 21.
Three Out Of Five Ain’T Bad
Western Australia recently launched a A20 million (13.4 million) production attraction incentive scheme.
Korean film sales agent Finecut has struck several deals for action thriller “Project Wolf Hunting” ahead of its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival’s Midnight Madness section. In Asia, the film has been licensed to Moviecloud for Taiwan, Multivision Multimedia for India, Sahamongkolfilm International for Thailand, The Klockworx for Japan. Finecut also closed a deal with A Contracorriente Films for Spain, Prime Time Media for Cis and Well Go USA for Canada and the U.S. The film set on board a cargo ship which is being used to transport dangerous criminals from the Philippines to Busan, Korea. An escape attempt leads to a riot which in turn unleashes a sinister force. The film is directed by Kim Hongsun and will have a theatrical release in Korea from Sept. 21.
Three Out Of Five Ain’T Bad
Western Australia recently launched a A20 million (13.4 million) production attraction incentive scheme.
- 9/8/2022
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
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.