“What’s the matter with him? He’d rather talk to a woman than drink?”
Golden Anniversaries, which is co-presented by Cinema St. Louis (Csl) and the St. Louis Public Library, features classic films celebrating their 50th anniversaries. This fourth edition of the event will highlight films from 1971
Monday, April 12th at 7:30pm – Wake In Fright. Intro and discussion by Andrew Wyatt, editor of and film critic for Cinema St. Louis’ blog, The Lens.
Find streaming options on JustWatch
Sign up for the discussion on Eventive
Wake In Fright is a terrifying horror film from 1971 starring Donald Pleasance and directed by Ted Kotcheff . Wake In Fright was based on Kenneth Cook’s 1961 novel Wake in Fright. Gary Bond plays a naive young Australian teacher who is tragically unprepared for his new position in the outback. The community he has been sent to is populated almost exclusively by amoral, primitive toughs,...
Golden Anniversaries, which is co-presented by Cinema St. Louis (Csl) and the St. Louis Public Library, features classic films celebrating their 50th anniversaries. This fourth edition of the event will highlight films from 1971
Monday, April 12th at 7:30pm – Wake In Fright. Intro and discussion by Andrew Wyatt, editor of and film critic for Cinema St. Louis’ blog, The Lens.
Find streaming options on JustWatch
Sign up for the discussion on Eventive
Wake In Fright is a terrifying horror film from 1971 starring Donald Pleasance and directed by Ted Kotcheff . Wake In Fright was based on Kenneth Cook’s 1961 novel Wake in Fright. Gary Bond plays a naive young Australian teacher who is tragically unprepared for his new position in the outback. The community he has been sent to is populated almost exclusively by amoral, primitive toughs,...
- 4/9/2021
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
‘at the Coliseum de Luxe.’
When producer/director Anthony Buckley and co-producer/researcher Les Tod began researching a book on one of Sydney’s grand picture palaces, they faced one big problem: There are no photographs of the original building which was destroyed by fire.
So they teamed up with Paul Brennan’s Ptb Screen, business partner John Laycock and videogame designer Adam Young for a 3D recreation of the Coliseum de Luxe in Miller Street North Sydney, based on original sketch of the façade by Joe Kethel.
The result is at the Coliseum de Luxe, a feature documentary which spans 150 years of Australian entertainment, some of the entrepreneurs who created grand buildings and the women who fought to protect and restore them.
Narrated by Bruce Beresford with a commentary by sound mixer Peter Fenton, the film will premiere at the Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace on Sunday November 3, presented by Buckley and Beresford.
When producer/director Anthony Buckley and co-producer/researcher Les Tod began researching a book on one of Sydney’s grand picture palaces, they faced one big problem: There are no photographs of the original building which was destroyed by fire.
So they teamed up with Paul Brennan’s Ptb Screen, business partner John Laycock and videogame designer Adam Young for a 3D recreation of the Coliseum de Luxe in Miller Street North Sydney, based on original sketch of the façade by Joe Kethel.
The result is at the Coliseum de Luxe, a feature documentary which spans 150 years of Australian entertainment, some of the entrepreneurs who created grand buildings and the women who fought to protect and restore them.
Narrated by Bruce Beresford with a commentary by sound mixer Peter Fenton, the film will premiere at the Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace on Sunday November 3, presented by Buckley and Beresford.
- 9/4/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Sam Neill, Sue Milliken, Anthony Buckley (Photo credit: Peter Jackson).
The 71st Australian International Movie Convention wrapped last week, with a delegation of just over 1,000 converging on the Gold Coast for the five-night-four-day convention.
Seven features screened at Aimc, including three Australian films: Don.t Tell — attended by cast members Jack Thompson Am, Rachel Griffiths, Sara West, Gyton Grantley, Martin Sacks and Robert Coleby; Jasper Jones — introduced by director Rachel Perkins; and Transmission's Oscar contender Lion — attended by mother and son Sue and Saroo Brierley, on whose story the film is based.
Sam Neill followed in the footsteps of Jack Thompson, winning the Aimc Lifetime Achievement award, and used the occassion to read out amusing testimonials from the likes of Bryan Brown, Rob Sitch and John Cleese congratulating him on his award..
Neill.s Hunt for the Wilderpeople director Taika Waititi watched on, fresh from the set of Thor: Ragnarok,...
The 71st Australian International Movie Convention wrapped last week, with a delegation of just over 1,000 converging on the Gold Coast for the five-night-four-day convention.
Seven features screened at Aimc, including three Australian films: Don.t Tell — attended by cast members Jack Thompson Am, Rachel Griffiths, Sara West, Gyton Grantley, Martin Sacks and Robert Coleby; Jasper Jones — introduced by director Rachel Perkins; and Transmission's Oscar contender Lion — attended by mother and son Sue and Saroo Brierley, on whose story the film is based.
Sam Neill followed in the footsteps of Jack Thompson, winning the Aimc Lifetime Achievement award, and used the occassion to read out amusing testimonials from the likes of Bryan Brown, Rob Sitch and John Cleese congratulating him on his award..
Neill.s Hunt for the Wilderpeople director Taika Waititi watched on, fresh from the set of Thor: Ragnarok,...
- 10/17/2016
- by Staff Writer
- IF.com.au
Sam Neill, Sue Milliken, Anthony Buckley (Photo credit: Peter Jackson).
The 71st Australian International Movie Convention wrapped last week, with a delegation of just over 1,000 converging on the Gold Coast for the five-night-four-day convention.
Seven features screened at Aimc, including three Australian films: Don.t Tell — attended by cast members Jack Thompson Am, Rachel Griffiths, Sara West, Gyton Grantley, Martin Sacks and Robert Coleby; Jasper Jones — introduced by director Rachel Perkins; and Transmission's Oscar contender Lion — attended by mother and son Sue and Saroo Brierley, on whose story the film is based.
Sam Neill followed in the footsteps of Jack Thompson, winning the Aimc Lifetime Achievement award, and used the occassion to read out amusing testimonials from the likes of Bryan Brown, Rob Sitch and John Cleese congratulating him on his award..
Neill.s Hunt for the Wilderpeople director Taika Waititi watched on, fresh from the set of Thor: Ragnarok,...
The 71st Australian International Movie Convention wrapped last week, with a delegation of just over 1,000 converging on the Gold Coast for the five-night-four-day convention.
Seven features screened at Aimc, including three Australian films: Don.t Tell — attended by cast members Jack Thompson Am, Rachel Griffiths, Sara West, Gyton Grantley, Martin Sacks and Robert Coleby; Jasper Jones — introduced by director Rachel Perkins; and Transmission's Oscar contender Lion — attended by mother and son Sue and Saroo Brierley, on whose story the film is based.
Sam Neill followed in the footsteps of Jack Thompson, winning the Aimc Lifetime Achievement award, and used the occassion to read out amusing testimonials from the likes of Bryan Brown, Rob Sitch and John Cleese congratulating him on his award..
Neill.s Hunt for the Wilderpeople director Taika Waititi watched on, fresh from the set of Thor: Ragnarok,...
- 10/17/2016
- by Staff Writer
- IF.com.au
The National Film and Sound Archive's (Nfsa) crowdfunding campaign to restore Proof, Jocelyn Moorhouse.s 1991 film, is in its final days..
Written and directed by Moorhouse,.Proof.is the story of Martin (Hugo Weaving), a blind photographer. Andy, played by Russell Crowe, is the only friend Martin trusts to describe his photos to him.
The film launched both Weaving and Crowe.s careers onto the international stage, and was also Moorhouse.s breakout as a director. Proof premiered at Cannes, where it won the Golden Camera award, and has also won a host of AFI awards, including best film, director, screenplay, lead actor and supporting actor.
Since mid-May, the Nfsa has been asking Australians to pitch in $25,000 through a Pozible campaign to help restore the fim into a pristine digital format that can be shown in modern cinemas.
Funds raised by the campaign, now in its final days, will partially...
Written and directed by Moorhouse,.Proof.is the story of Martin (Hugo Weaving), a blind photographer. Andy, played by Russell Crowe, is the only friend Martin trusts to describe his photos to him.
The film launched both Weaving and Crowe.s careers onto the international stage, and was also Moorhouse.s breakout as a director. Proof premiered at Cannes, where it won the Golden Camera award, and has also won a host of AFI awards, including best film, director, screenplay, lead actor and supporting actor.
Since mid-May, the Nfsa has been asking Australians to pitch in $25,000 through a Pozible campaign to help restore the fim into a pristine digital format that can be shown in modern cinemas.
Funds raised by the campaign, now in its final days, will partially...
- 6/27/2016
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
Australian actress Claudia Karvan is set to receive the 2016 Chauvel Award as part of the 14th annual Gold Coast Film Festival..
The Chauvel Award, named in honour of Charles Chauvel, commenced in 1993 and acknowledges an individual who has made significant contribution to Australian cinema.
On April 9, the Gold Coast Film Festival will welcome audiences to David Stratton In Conversation With Claudia Karvan..
The night will be an intimate look at Karvan.s career, accompanied by footage from her films and moderated by film critic and previous Chauvel Award recipient, David Stratton..
Stratton said he was looking forward to the event.
.I have known Claudia since she started acting and even appeared in a film with her once — something I.m certain will be referred to in our informal chat," he said. .
"Her career has gone from strength to strength, and she is unquestionably one of our finest actors..
Karvan.Karvan...
The Chauvel Award, named in honour of Charles Chauvel, commenced in 1993 and acknowledges an individual who has made significant contribution to Australian cinema.
On April 9, the Gold Coast Film Festival will welcome audiences to David Stratton In Conversation With Claudia Karvan..
The night will be an intimate look at Karvan.s career, accompanied by footage from her films and moderated by film critic and previous Chauvel Award recipient, David Stratton..
Stratton said he was looking forward to the event.
.I have known Claudia since she started acting and even appeared in a film with her once — something I.m certain will be referred to in our informal chat," he said. .
"Her career has gone from strength to strength, and she is unquestionably one of our finest actors..
Karvan.Karvan...
- 2/29/2016
- by Inside Film Correspondent
- IF.com.au
The Gold Coast Film Festival has secured Jan Chapman, Melanie Coombs and Alan Finney to be part of its 2016 Chauvel Award committee.
Chapman, producer of the AFI Best Film winner, Lantana and Academy Award winner The Piano, and 2002 Chauvel Award recipient, will join the committee this year alongside Coombs, producer of the Academy Award winner Harvie Krumpet and Finney, a film industry veteran actor and producer..
Film critic David Stratton, Screen Queensland chief executive, Tracey Vieira and Bond University.s Professor Bruce Molloy have also been announced as 2016 Chauvel Committee members.
The Chauvel Award, named in honour of Charles Chauvel, acknowledges an individual who has made significant contribution to Australian cinema..
The award was previously part of the Brisbane International Film Festival and past recipients of the Award have included producer Anthony Buckley, directors George Miller and Rolf de Heer, actors Bryan Brown and Geoffrey Rush, cinematographer John Seale and...
Chapman, producer of the AFI Best Film winner, Lantana and Academy Award winner The Piano, and 2002 Chauvel Award recipient, will join the committee this year alongside Coombs, producer of the Academy Award winner Harvie Krumpet and Finney, a film industry veteran actor and producer..
Film critic David Stratton, Screen Queensland chief executive, Tracey Vieira and Bond University.s Professor Bruce Molloy have also been announced as 2016 Chauvel Committee members.
The Chauvel Award, named in honour of Charles Chauvel, acknowledges an individual who has made significant contribution to Australian cinema..
The award was previously part of the Brisbane International Film Festival and past recipients of the Award have included producer Anthony Buckley, directors George Miller and Rolf de Heer, actors Bryan Brown and Geoffrey Rush, cinematographer John Seale and...
- 12/17/2015
- by Staff Writer
- IF.com.au
The National Film and Sound Archive and the Australian Film Television and Radio School have not escaped unscathed from the federal Budget cuts.
Meanwhile, the lack of transparency in a pending restructure of the Nfsa has been criticised by producers, directors, writers, actors, academics and journalists.
The Nfsa received $27.07 million from the government in the current financial year. That falls to $25.9 million for each of the next two fiscal years. The allocations beyond that are $25.74 million and $26.01 million.
It is not clear how the government.s announcement that $2.4 million will be saved over four years by consolidating the back office functions of a number of Canberra-based collection agencies including the Nfsa, National Gallery of Australia, National Library of Australia and Old Parliament House will affect the Archive.
In April, Nfsa CEO Michael Loebenstein announced a restructuring entailing shedding jobs and reducing its touring program and the number of events at its Arc cinema in Canberra,...
Meanwhile, the lack of transparency in a pending restructure of the Nfsa has been criticised by producers, directors, writers, actors, academics and journalists.
The Nfsa received $27.07 million from the government in the current financial year. That falls to $25.9 million for each of the next two fiscal years. The allocations beyond that are $25.74 million and $26.01 million.
It is not clear how the government.s announcement that $2.4 million will be saved over four years by consolidating the back office functions of a number of Canberra-based collection agencies including the Nfsa, National Gallery of Australia, National Library of Australia and Old Parliament House will affect the Archive.
In April, Nfsa CEO Michael Loebenstein announced a restructuring entailing shedding jobs and reducing its touring program and the number of events at its Arc cinema in Canberra,...
- 5/14/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
(Ted Kotcheff, 1971; Eureka!, 18)
A key film in Australian cinema, Wake in Fright is based on Kenneth Cook's 1961 novel about John Grant, a weak, frustrated teacher in the outback going to Sydney for Christmas, losing all his money gambling in a bleak town known as "the Yabba", and spending several nightmarish days and nights carousing with hard-drinking locals leading up to a bloody kangaroo hunt. Dirk Bogarde bought the novel to star in, with Joseph Losey directing. The screenplay was written by Evan Jones, author of several Losey-Bogarde movies. But like another Losey project set in Australia (Patrick White's Voss scripted by David Mercer), it fell through. Jones's script eventually reached the screen in this remarkable picture, perceptively directed by the London-based Canadian Ted Kotcheff. Skilfully edited by the Australian Anthony Buckley to create an air of constant unease, it's shot by the British cinematographer Brian West to resemble...
A key film in Australian cinema, Wake in Fright is based on Kenneth Cook's 1961 novel about John Grant, a weak, frustrated teacher in the outback going to Sydney for Christmas, losing all his money gambling in a bleak town known as "the Yabba", and spending several nightmarish days and nights carousing with hard-drinking locals leading up to a bloody kangaroo hunt. Dirk Bogarde bought the novel to star in, with Joseph Losey directing. The screenplay was written by Evan Jones, author of several Losey-Bogarde movies. But like another Losey project set in Australia (Patrick White's Voss scripted by David Mercer), it fell through. Jones's script eventually reached the screen in this remarkable picture, perceptively directed by the London-based Canadian Ted Kotcheff. Skilfully edited by the Australian Anthony Buckley to create an air of constant unease, it's shot by the British cinematographer Brian West to resemble...
- 4/19/2014
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
The decision by the AFI/Aacta to maintain seven awards for non-Australian films while combining the best TV comedy and best light entertainment series into one category has been challenged by several producers.
They question why money and resources are being poured into the Aacta International Awards in Los Angeles when the AFI/Aacta is struggling financially due to lack of sponsorship and screen industry support.
Other producers defend the International Awards as a way for the organisation to build the brand and strive to make the awards more valuable to private and government sponsors
AFI/Aacta CEO Damian Trewhella tells If it is simplistic and wrong to believe that ditching the international categories would free up more money for the Australian awards. He says the international awards subsidise the Oz awards.
Producer Anthony Buckley decries .the absurd pomposity of seven international awards. while financial constraints forced the organisation to...
They question why money and resources are being poured into the Aacta International Awards in Los Angeles when the AFI/Aacta is struggling financially due to lack of sponsorship and screen industry support.
Other producers defend the International Awards as a way for the organisation to build the brand and strive to make the awards more valuable to private and government sponsors
AFI/Aacta CEO Damian Trewhella tells If it is simplistic and wrong to believe that ditching the international categories would free up more money for the Australian awards. He says the international awards subsidise the Oz awards.
Producer Anthony Buckley decries .the absurd pomposity of seven international awards. while financial constraints forced the organisation to...
- 12/16/2013
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
By Lee Pfeiffer
The Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, which present contemporary and classic films at their unique restaurant/theaters, have delved into the DVD business- and retro movie lovers can thank their lucky stars. One of the most prominent of the Drafthouse releases is Wake in Fright, a 1971 Australian film classic by Ted Kotcheff, a Canadian born director who had never previously set foot Down Under prior to making this movie. Based on the novel by Kenneth Cook, Wake in Fright is unknown to many film scholars who pride themselves on being acquainted with worthwhile, little-seen films. (I must shamefully admit that I fall into this category myself, having never even heard of the film prior to reviewing the Blu-ray release). Based on the title, I assumed this was a suspense thriller or a horror film. It is neither. In fact, it is virtually impossible to pigeon-hole this movie into a specific genre.
The Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, which present contemporary and classic films at their unique restaurant/theaters, have delved into the DVD business- and retro movie lovers can thank their lucky stars. One of the most prominent of the Drafthouse releases is Wake in Fright, a 1971 Australian film classic by Ted Kotcheff, a Canadian born director who had never previously set foot Down Under prior to making this movie. Based on the novel by Kenneth Cook, Wake in Fright is unknown to many film scholars who pride themselves on being acquainted with worthwhile, little-seen films. (I must shamefully admit that I fall into this category myself, having never even heard of the film prior to reviewing the Blu-ray release). Based on the title, I assumed this was a suspense thriller or a horror film. It is neither. In fact, it is virtually impossible to pigeon-hole this movie into a specific genre.
- 1/24/2013
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Drafthouse Films announced that they will be bringing 1971′s Wake in Fright to Blu-ray and DVD in January. Continue reading for the official release details and cover art:
A schoolteacher gets waylaid in the Australian outback and takes a journey into the heart of darkness in Wake In Fright, a revered and groundbreaking thriller that for 40 years lived only in the memory of its initial viewers. But following its miraculous recovery and restoration, the “lost” film made a triumphant return to screens nationwide this fall. Now it will make its home entertainment debut when Drafthouse Films releases it on high-definition Blu-ray and DVD on January 15, 2013.
Alongside Mad Max and Walkabout, Wake In Fright is widely acknowledged as one of the seminal films of modern Australian cinema. Author Neil Rattigan, in his book about the New Australian Cinema, Images of Australia, called it “a cinematic trip into hell. … No other Australian...
A schoolteacher gets waylaid in the Australian outback and takes a journey into the heart of darkness in Wake In Fright, a revered and groundbreaking thriller that for 40 years lived only in the memory of its initial viewers. But following its miraculous recovery and restoration, the “lost” film made a triumphant return to screens nationwide this fall. Now it will make its home entertainment debut when Drafthouse Films releases it on high-definition Blu-ray and DVD on January 15, 2013.
Alongside Mad Max and Walkabout, Wake In Fright is widely acknowledged as one of the seminal films of modern Australian cinema. Author Neil Rattigan, in his book about the New Australian Cinema, Images of Australia, called it “a cinematic trip into hell. … No other Australian...
- 12/20/2012
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Ted Kotcheff's once lost award-winning film Wake in Fright is getting set to make its long awaited arrival onto DVD and Blu-ray, and believe me, horror fans; this is one trip to the Outback you're really gonna want to take!
From the Press Release
A schoolteacher gets waylaid in the Australian Outback and takes a journey into the heart of darkness in Wake In Fright, a revered and groundbreaking thriller that for 40 years lived only in the memory of its initial viewers. But following its miraculous recovery and restoration, the "lost" film made a triumphant return to screens nationwide this fall. Now it will make its home entertainment debut when Drafthouse Films releases it on high-definition Blu-ray and DVD on January 15, 2013.
Alongside Mad Max and Walkabout, Wake In Fright is widely acknowledged as one of the seminal films of modern Australian cinema. Author Neil Rattigan, in his book about the New Australian Cinema,...
From the Press Release
A schoolteacher gets waylaid in the Australian Outback and takes a journey into the heart of darkness in Wake In Fright, a revered and groundbreaking thriller that for 40 years lived only in the memory of its initial viewers. But following its miraculous recovery and restoration, the "lost" film made a triumphant return to screens nationwide this fall. Now it will make its home entertainment debut when Drafthouse Films releases it on high-definition Blu-ray and DVD on January 15, 2013.
Alongside Mad Max and Walkabout, Wake In Fright is widely acknowledged as one of the seminal films of modern Australian cinema. Author Neil Rattigan, in his book about the New Australian Cinema,...
- 12/19/2012
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
Drafthouse Films will release Wake In Fright (a.k.a. Outback) on DVD and Blu-ray January 15. Directed by Ted Kotcheff, the movie stars John Grant as a British schoolteacher on vacation in Australia who stops in a remote mining town, and undergoes a frightening psychological breakdown at the hands of its residents. Donald Pleasence, Jack Thompson and Chips Rafferty co-star; the movie was barely released Stateside after its premiere at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival, and was thought lost until negative elements were discovered a few years ago and the restoration was undertaken. The anamorphic widescreen transfers on the discs, with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound on the DVD and DTS-hd Master Audio on the Blu-ray, include:
• Audio commentary by Kotcheff and editor Anthony Buckley
• The making-of featurette "To the Yabba and Back"
• Q&A with Kotcheff from the 2009 Toronto Film Festival
• Restoration featurette
• “Who Needs Art?” vintage featurette
• Theatrical trailers
• 28-page booklet...
• Audio commentary by Kotcheff and editor Anthony Buckley
• The making-of featurette "To the Yabba and Back"
• Q&A with Kotcheff from the 2009 Toronto Film Festival
• Restoration featurette
• “Who Needs Art?” vintage featurette
• Theatrical trailers
• 28-page booklet...
- 12/19/2012
- by gingold@starloggroup.com (Michael Gingold)
- Fangoria
Drafthouse Films will release Wake In Fright (a.k.a. Outback) on DVD and Blu-ray January 15. Directed by Ted Kotcheff, the movie stars John Grant as a British schoolteacher on vacation in Australia who stops in a remote mining town, and undergoes a frightening psychological breakdown at the hands of its residents. Donald Pleasence, Jack Thompson and Chips Rafferty co-star; the movie was barely released Stateside after its premiere at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival, and was thought lost until negative elements were discovered a few years ago and the restoration was undertaken. The anamorphic widescreen transfers on the discs, with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound on the DVD and DTS-hd Master Audio on the Blu-ray, include:
• Audio commentary by Kotcheff and editor Anthony Buckley
• The making-of featurette "To the Yabba and Back"
• Q&A with Kotcheff from the 2009 Toronto Film Festival
• Restoration featurette
• “Who Needs Art?” vintage featurette
• Theatrical trailers
• 28-page booklet...
• Audio commentary by Kotcheff and editor Anthony Buckley
• The making-of featurette "To the Yabba and Back"
• Q&A with Kotcheff from the 2009 Toronto Film Festival
• Restoration featurette
• “Who Needs Art?” vintage featurette
• Theatrical trailers
• 28-page booklet...
- 12/19/2012
- by gingold@starloggroup.com (Michael Gingold)
- Fangoria
Drafthouse Films will release Wake In Fright (a.k.a. Outback) on DVD and Blu-ray January 15. Directed by Ted Kotcheff, the movie stars John Grant as a British schoolteacher on vacation in Australia who stops in a remote mining town, and undergoes a frightening psychological breakdown at the hands of its residents. Donald Pleasence, Jack Thompson and Chips Rafferty co-star; the movie was barely released Stateside after its premiere at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival, and was thought lost until negative elements were discovered a few years ago and the restoration was undertaken. The anamorphic widescreen transfers on the discs, with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound on the DVD and DTS-hd Master Audio on the Blu-ray, include:
• Audio commentary by Kotcheff and editor Anthony Buckley
• The making-of featurette "To the Yabba and Back"
• Q&A with Kotcheff from the 2009 Toronto Film Festival
• Restoration featurette
• “Who Needs Art?” vintage featurette
• Theatrical trailers
• 28-page booklet...
• Audio commentary by Kotcheff and editor Anthony Buckley
• The making-of featurette "To the Yabba and Back"
• Q&A with Kotcheff from the 2009 Toronto Film Festival
• Restoration featurette
• “Who Needs Art?” vintage featurette
• Theatrical trailers
• 28-page booklet...
- 12/19/2012
- by gingold@starloggroup.com (Michael Gingold)
- Fangoria
Drafthouse Films will release Wake In Fright (a.k.a. Outback) on DVD and Blu-ray January 15. Directed by Ted Kotcheff, the movie stars John Grant as a British schoolteacher on vacation in Australia who stops in a remote mining town, and undergoes a frightening psychological breakdown at the hands of its residents. Donald Pleasence, Jack Thompson and Chips Rafferty co-star; the movie was barely released Stateside after its premiere at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival, and was thought lost until negative elements were discovered a few years ago and the restoration was undertaken. The anamorphic widescreen transfers on the discs, with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound on the DVD and DTS-hd Master Audio on the Blu-ray, include:
• Audio commentary by Kotcheff and editor Anthony Buckley
• The making-of featurette "To the Yabba and Back"
• Q&A with Kotcheff from the 2009 Toronto Film Festival
• Restoration featurette
• “Who Needs Art?” vintage featurette
• Theatrical trailers
• 28-page booklet...
• Audio commentary by Kotcheff and editor Anthony Buckley
• The making-of featurette "To the Yabba and Back"
• Q&A with Kotcheff from the 2009 Toronto Film Festival
• Restoration featurette
• “Who Needs Art?” vintage featurette
• Theatrical trailers
• 28-page booklet...
- 12/19/2012
- by gingold@starloggroup.com (Michael Gingold)
- Fangoria
Considered lost for years, Wake in Fright is finally getting the release it is due. Anthony Buckley, the film’s editor took it upon himself to sleuth out a negative, eventually finding paydirt in Pittsburgh nearly a decade after the search began. It was discovered in a bin labelled to be destroyed. Wake‘s tenacity to stay alive is a testament to the film’s unflinching, voyeuristic look at humanity under pressure, and the weight that can crush if it is allowed. Wake in Fright is the kind of film you watch and can’t forget, like it or not. It drags you into its uninhibited grime to drown you in a sweaty beer lather. You can see the surface, know that a fresh breath is within reach, but its grip just strengthens and pulls you in deeper. Witnessing the uncontrolled descent of a man becoming what he loathes most is a jarring spectacle. To...
- 9/28/2012
- by Michael Treveloni
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Wake In Fright is a terrifying horror film from 1971 starring Donald Pleasance and directed by Ted Kotcheff (First Blood, Weekend At Bernies, North Dallas Forty) . Never heard of it? You’ll be hearing a lot about it soon. Wake In Fright opens theatrically in New York on October 5 at The Film Forum (NYC), October 19 at The Nuart (La) and will have a national release to follow in major cities after screening at Fantastic Fest 2012 next week (Drafthouse Films). Wake In Fright was based on Kenneth Cook’s 1961 novel Wake in Fright. Gary Bond plays a naive young Australian teacher who is tragically unprepared for his new position in the outback. The community he has been sent to is populated almost exclusively by amoral, primitive toughs, more interested in slaughtering kangaroos and sexual carousing than in such niceties as education or propriety. The methodical shattering of Bond’s dearly held values...
- 9/19/2012
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
According to Screen Australia CEO, the agency’s new draft blueprints for television funding are an important step towards embracing multi-platform production.
“We need to move steadily and methodically into the multi-platform environment. We absolutely know that the audience is diversifying its consumption habits, so we need to have our content on more platforms. There’s no doubt about that,” Harley told Encore.
Harley said Screen Australia has never lost its commitment to television, but in its two years of existence it hasn’t redefined its policies for the sectors because the higher priorities were the merger for its three predecessors, and the “outstanding issues in the feature area.
“TV wasn’t broken, so we just kept funding according to the rules from the past. What we’ve done now is to bring it together as a specific Screen Australia strategy. We loved TV all along but perhaps it was time to say it,...
“We need to move steadily and methodically into the multi-platform environment. We absolutely know that the audience is diversifying its consumption habits, so we need to have our content on more platforms. There’s no doubt about that,” Harley told Encore.
Harley said Screen Australia has never lost its commitment to television, but in its two years of existence it hasn’t redefined its policies for the sectors because the higher priorities were the merger for its three predecessors, and the “outstanding issues in the feature area.
“TV wasn’t broken, so we just kept funding according to the rules from the past. What we’ve done now is to bring it together as a specific Screen Australia strategy. We loved TV all along but perhaps it was time to say it,...
- 11/19/2010
- by Miguel Gonzalez
- Encore Magazine
Wake in Fright (aka Outback) is widely acknowledged as one of the most important films in the development of modern Australian cinema. Although the film was prominently featured in the documentary Not Quite Hollywood, opportunities to actually see it have been scarce. A new eidtion of Wake in Fright on Region 4 DVD and all-region Blu-Ray from Australian distributor Madman fills in the gap left by a decades-long absence of a quality video release.
A brief background discussion is useful in understanding the importance of this new release. Evan Jones wrote the screenplay based on Kenneth Cook's 1961 novel of the same. Ted Kotcheff, who is Canadian, sat in the director's chair. The film was completed in 1970, but the its brutal depiction of life in the Australian outback received a chilly public reception upon its 1971 theatrical release. Critics, however, embraced the Wake in Fright with Garry Maddox of the Sydney Morning...
A brief background discussion is useful in understanding the importance of this new release. Evan Jones wrote the screenplay based on Kenneth Cook's 1961 novel of the same. Ted Kotcheff, who is Canadian, sat in the director's chair. The film was completed in 1970, but the its brutal depiction of life in the Australian outback received a chilly public reception upon its 1971 theatrical release. Critics, however, embraced the Wake in Fright with Garry Maddox of the Sydney Morning...
- 12/10/2009
- Screen Anarchy
I always try to find at least one film at Toronto that's way off the beaten track. I rarely stray further afield than I did Tuesday night, when I found myself watching "Wake in Fright," a film made in Australia in 1971 and almost lost forever. It's not dated. It is powerful, genuinely shocking, and rather amazing. It comes billed as a "horror film," and contains a great deal of horror, but all of the horror is human and brutally realistic.
Donald Pleasence in "Wake in Fright"
The story involves a young school teacher in the middle of the desolate wilderness of the Outback. The opening overhead shot shows a shabby building beside a railroad track, the camera pans 360 degrees and finds only the distant horizon. and then returns to find a second building on the other side of the tracks. One building is the school. The other is the hotel.
Donald Pleasence in "Wake in Fright"
The story involves a young school teacher in the middle of the desolate wilderness of the Outback. The opening overhead shot shows a shabby building beside a railroad track, the camera pans 360 degrees and finds only the distant horizon. and then returns to find a second building on the other side of the tracks. One building is the school. The other is the hotel.
- 9/18/2009
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
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