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Miff to showcase six new Australian titles
5 hours ago
Four Australian films and two feature-length documentaries will premiere at the 2013 Melbourne International Film Festival (Miff), which runs July 25 . August 11.
All were backed by the Miff Premiere Fund, which launched in 2008 and has supported more than 40 films and docos.
All told the festival will screen 310 films, 10 world premieres, 166 Australian premieres, 17 program strands, 26 forums, talks and master classes.
The curtain raiser, previously announced, is I.m So Excited! Pedro Almodóvar.s satire on contemporary Spanish society. The closer is All is Lost, the almost wordless survival-at-sea drama starring Robert Redford, writer-director J C Chandor.s follow-up to Margin Call.
Accorded the Centrepiece Gala slot is The Turning, the film adapted from the Tim Winton novel consisting of 17 chapters, each from a different director with a stellar cast led by Cate Blanchett, Rose Byrne, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, Callan Mulvey, Susie Porter and Harrison Gilbertson.
The Australian Showcase section features Zak Hilditch.s These Final Hours, »
- Don Groves
PicSeeder competition fails to germinate
7 hours ago
The picSeeder concept seemed easy to grasp: a global, online pitching competition designed to enable aspiring filmmakers to fund short films.
Alas, the execution proved challenging and the number of entries received by the June 30 deadline- 32- is way below the volume expected by the organisers, filmmaker Bill Bennett and his wife, producer Jennifer Cluff.
Contestants were invited to submit a 1-minute pitch video. Members of the site (www.picseeder.com) get to vote on their favourite pitch until July 8. Those who send in the 12 most popular pitches will be asked to provide a 3-minute video.
The winner will be determined by an international jury comprising Us sales agent Robbie Little, French financier/producer Jean-Charles Levy, Stephen Gates, New York-based head of the literary department at talent management company Evolution Entertainment, actress Michelle Ang and Indian producer Udayan Baijal.
At the outset the organisers said the cash prize, funded from the $28 entry fee, »
- Don Groves
100 Bloody Acres wows Us critics
11 hours ago
Australian horror comedy 100 Bloody Acres got mostly rave reviews in the Us last week including from major media outlets such as The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.
Those plaudits apparently did not stir American cinemagoers as the debut film from the brothers Cameron and Colin Cairnes took just $US3,419 at 13 screens.
However the producers say the primary strategy by the Us distributor Doppelgänger Releasing was to position the film on Video-On-Demand platforms and later on DVD and Blu-ray. It was released simultaneously on VOD with the theatrical launch in cities including New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Portland and Denver. The VOD results won.t be known for some weeks.
The twisted tale of two brothers (Damon Herriman, Angus Sampson) who ran an organic fertiliser business in the bush using human corpses, it opens in Australia on August 1 via eOne Hopscotch.
Produced by Cyan Films. Julie Ryan and Kate Croser, »
- Inside Film Correspondent
The Turning a career catalyst for first-time directors
30 June 2013 8:20 PM, PDT
David Wenham, Stephen Page and Mia Wasikowska had their first taste of film directing on The Turning, an innovative feature based on Tim Winton.s collection of short stories, and now they.ve got the directing .bug..
All three will graduate to directing features, according to Arenamedia.s Robert Connolly who produced The Turning with Maggie Miles.
Billed by Connolly as a .bold cinematic event,.. the film will premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival, which opens July 25, and debut in cinemas later this year, co-distributed by Connolly.s CinemaPlus and Madman Entertainment.
Connolly tells If the film will screen as a three-hour event with intermission around Australia and attendees will receive copies of the programme. He.ll finish the film at the end of next week, one year after he started on what he describes as a .huge endeavour..
Spanning 30 years, the inter-locking stories revolve around the turning points »
- Don Groves
Man of Steel conquers Oz
30 June 2013 6:59 PM, PDT
Zack Snyder.s reboot of the Superman franchise Man of Steel reigned at the Australian box-office last weekend, raking in $8.8 million plus about $600,000 in previews.
The four-day figure was below the opening weekend of Fast & Furious 6 and slightly below The Hangover Part 111.s debut.. But that was rated as an excellent result by one exhibitor who observed the Superman character isn.t as strongly entrenched in Australian pop culture as it is in the Us.
Given the man of steel.s invasion, zombie thriller World War Z held reasonably well in its second frame, down 48%.
The start of the school vacation ensured great turn-outs for the second weekends of Despicable Me 2 and Monster.s University.
But Blue Sky Studios. Epic, a 3D animated adventure comedy set in a suburban forest voiced by Colin Farrell, Jason Sudeikis, Christoph Waltz and Amanda Seyfried, opened weakly. The distributor will be hoping »
- Don Groves
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