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A cult classic, an underrated indie darling, and “one of the lost gems of Australian cinema” has been restored and will be released in the U.S. for the first time.

Haydn Keenan’s 1983 film “Going Down,” a landmark in Aussie indie film that has been largely unavailable, will be re-released in 4K thanks to the launch of a new distribution company called Muscle Distribution. And Muscle, as its first acquisition and theatrical release, will give “Going Down” its first-ever U.S. run starting with a premiere at Bam in New York City on May 9, IndieWire can reveal exclusively.

“Going Down” was self-distributed to little fanfare upon its first release but slowly grew as one of the quintessential examples of the Australian indie film scene. One of its only U.S. screenings was at the Sundance Film Festival in 1986, where it screened as part of an independent Australian side-bar program.

Amazon Prime Video Anz has released first-look images of Top End Bub, the sequel series to Top End Wedding, Wayne Blair’s 2019 road movie that proved to be a big hit in Australia for Universal Pictures.

The eight-part series is created, executive produced and written by Miranda Tapsell and Joshua Tyler and produced by Goalpost Pictures, and follows on from the events of Top End Wedding. Tapsell also plays Indigenous lawyer Lauren, one of the stars of the franchise.

When we last saw Lauren in Top End Wedding, she had married her British boyfriend Ned (Gwilym Lee) in her hometown of Darwin, despite some hiccups and familial drama along the way. Top End Bub sees Lauren and Ned head back up north when they discover that Lauren’s eight-year-old niece Bub has been orphaned. The couple decide to leave behind their life of comfort down south to look out for Bub,...

Nash Edgerton’s Shark and Madeleine Gottlieb’s You and Me, Before and After are heading to the Toronto International Film Festival in September, where they will screen as part of TIFF Short Cuts.

Shark forms Edgerton’s sequel to previous shorts Bear and Spider, continuing the adventures of prankster Jack. As well as directing, Edgerton wrote the film with David Michôd, and stars alongside Rose Byrne. Michele Bennett produces, with cinematographer Aaron McLisky and editor David Whittaker.

TIFF will form the film’s world premiere, while Sydney Film Festival also announced this week that it will compete for the Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films in November.

Edgerton said: “We are very excited to share Jack’s latest dating misadventures in Shark, our sequel to Spider and Bear, and even more excited to premiere the film in Toronto.”

Nash Edgerton and Rose Byrne in ‘Shark’.

Yael Stone and Emily Barclay...

Madeleine Gottlieb.

Madeleine Gottlieb is co-developing a seven-part online series which will give female and non-binary perspectives on contemporary masculinity as well as writing a feature for Revlover Films’ Martha Coleman and Lauren Edwards.

Screen Australia is funding the development of Masc (working title), which she co-created with Easy Tiger’s Laura Nagy.

Her co-collaborators are Nagy, Renée Marie Petropoulos, Hyun Lee, Imogen McCluskey, Shari Sebbens and Cloudy Rhodes. Each segment will focus on a different man at his particular stage of life.

“I am really interested in exploring the sensitive, more gentle, non-hyper masc side of masculinity,” Gottlieb tells If.

The feature is Panyee, which is set on the man-made floating island of Koh Panyee in Thailand, to be directed by Matt Devine, inspired by his short Panyee Fc.

The narrative will follow a group of young Thai boys who build a rickety football pitch in their floating village,...

"Every time I see Lola, I'm more convinced..." "Convinced of what...?" Lionsgate has debuted the official trailer for an indie film titled Angel of Mine, the second feature film made by Australian filmmaker Kim Farrant. Described as an "intense thriller", the film stars Noomi Rapace as a grieving mother struggling to cope with the loss of her infant daughter. Her fraught emotional state puts her on edge, and she begins to believe the daughter of a neighbor is actually her own. This also stars Yvonne Strahovski, Luke Evans, Richard Roxburgh, Finn Little, Rob Collins, Rachel Gordon, Tracy Mann, and Emily Gruhl, with Annika Whiteley. This looks mega creepy and extra terrifying, what a twist on a story of grief. Goodness. Here's the official trailer for Kim Farrant's Angel of Mine, direct from Lionsgate's YouTube: In this intense thriller, a woman (Noomi Rapace) grieving over the death of her daughter...

Rachel Griffiths, Claudia Karvan, Rachel Ward, Bryan Brown, Leah Purcell and Tracy Mann will be the presenters at the Australian Directors’ Guild Awards in Sydney on Monday May 6.

Writers-directors-performers Eliza Reilly and Hannah Reilly will host the awards at the City Recital Hall.

Warwick Thornton (Sweet Country), Joel Edgerton (Boy Erased), Garth Davis (Mary Magdalene) and Anthony Maras (Hotel Mumbai) will compete for best direction in a feature film budgeted at $1 million and above.

In the new category of best direction in a feature budgeted below $1 million, the nominees are Christopher Kay (Just Between Us), Donna McRae (Lost Gully Road), Dustin Feneley (Stray) and Jason Perini (Chasing Comets).

The awards cover the breadth of screen directing with categories across feature film, documentary, television, subscription VOD, commercial, short film, animation, online, music video and interactive media.

For the full list of nominees go here.

The post Presenters named for Australian Directors...

Upcoming Noomi Rapace-starring psychological thriller “Angel of Mine” is set as the first acquisition by R & R Films, a new Australian distributor. The company was recently established by industry veterans Richard Becker and Robert Slaviero.

The film goes into production this month in Melbourne, Australia. It is the story of intuition and obsession featuring a couple coming to terms with the untimely death of their daughter. The woman becomes convinced that another girl is her own. The script is adapted by Luke Davies (“Lion”) and David Regal from the French film “L’Empreinte,” by Safy Nebbou.

Alongside Rapace, the film stars Yvonne Strahovski (“The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Dexter”) and Luke Evans. Other cast includes Richard Roxburgh, Finn Little (“Storm Boy”) and Rob Collins (“Cleverman”), alongside Tracy Mann, Pip Miller and Rachel Gordon.

Richard Becker is a veteran who for years headed the sales, production and distribution group Becker Film.

ABC black romantic comedy Laid has gone south for series two, with shooting starting today in Melbourne. After filming in Sydney for the first series in July last year, the.six-part.production . created and written by.Marieke Hardy and Kirsty Fisher . has moved due to several cast and creatives already being based in Melbourne. Financial assistance was also provided from Film Victoria. The series will again explore the .robustly comical motifs of sex and death., Hardy says. Reprising their roles include Alison Bell (as Roo), Celia Pacquola (as Ej), Toby Truslove (as Ej.s on again, off again boyfriend Zach), Graeme Blundell and Tracy Mann (as Roo.s parents Graham and Marion), and Shaun Micallef as G-Bomb (Roo.s gyno with the...