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Film Independent is currently in the middle of a Matching Campaign to raise support for the next 30 years of filmmaker support. All donations make before or on September 15 will be doubled—dollar-for-dollar up to $100,000. To celebrate the campaign, we’re re-posting a few of our most popular blogs.

Since the early 2000s, there’s been a disappointing trend in movies away from full-fledged opening title sequences. Whether because of the desire to jump straight into the action or the impulse to keep the audience focused on a film’s story (rather than its creators), elaborate, artful opening title sequences, once commonplace, have become increasingly rare—which is too bad.

Great opening title sequences do a whole lot more than just show the names and guild memberships of those behind-the-scenes folks who make it all happen. They can do the critical early-movie work of establishing a movie’s mood and texture,...

A panel comprising Rachel Griffiths, producer Sue Maslin, Teresa Palmer, and Event Hospitality and Entertainment CEO Jane Hastings will judge next month’s inaugural Australian Women’s Film Festival.

The short film festival, which is being relaunched after the pandemic forced its postponement last year, will be held on Sunday, March 14 at Event Cinemas Bondi Junction in Sydney, in line with International Women’s Day.

Designed to support, encourage, and celebrate female storytellers and leaders within the film industry, Awff is the brainchild of Australian producers and filmmakers Kelly Tomasich and Tahyna MacManus (MuM – Misunderstanding of Miscarriage Documentary).

A condition of entry to Awff is that three out of five key creatives on a project must be female.

Entries are also subject to the Bechdel test – a measure of the representation of women in fiction that asks whether a work features at least two women who talk to each other...

Netflix has acquired the North American rights to “Penguin Bloom,” a drama based on a true story and starring Naomi Watts that premiered at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

Netflix also snagged rights in the UK, France and select countries in Asia, though not worldwide, and the film will debut on the platform on Jan. 27.

Glendyn Ivin directs the film that also stars Andrew Lincoln, Jacki Weaver and Rachel House. Watts stars in “Penguin Bloom” as Samantha Bloom, who in real life was an active outdoors-woman of a mom of three who became paralyzed from the chest down after a fall and found solace in a wild magpie that her kids named Penguin. The film looks at her road to recovery and acceptance of her new self.

Shaun Grant and Harry Cripps wrote the screenplay based on the book by Sam Bloom’s husband Cameron Bloom and Bradley Trevor Greive.

“Penguin Bloom,” the Toronto International Film Festival player led by Naomi Watts, has been acquired by Netflix in key territories.

The streamer will roll out the film in North America, the U.K., France and select countries in Asia on Jan. 27.

Oscar nominee Watts stars in the real-life survival story of Samantha Bloom, an active and vibrant Australian mom who is paralyzed from the chest down on holiday with her family. Her struggle to forge ahead is helped along by a wounded baby magpie her kids take in, named Penguin.

Glendyn Ivin directs from a script by Shaun Grant and Harry Cripps, based on the book by Bloom’s husband Cameron Bloom and Bradley Trevor Greive.

Andrew Lincoln, Jacki Weaver, Rachel House, Leeanna Walsman, Lisa Hensley, Griffin Murray-Johnston, Felix Cameron and Abe Clifford-Barr co-star.

Ivin directed the short film “Cracker Bag,” which was awarded the Palme d’Or at Cannes,...

One of the biggest Indian Film Festivals outside of India, the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne has just announced its nominations for its annual awards ceremony. The festival is presented by the Victorian Government, is an annual festival that takes place in the cultural melting pot, Melbourne. This year's theme of the festival is Courage with over 58 films selected and to be screened in 21 languages.?

Apart from an exciting line up of some of the best Indian film talent set to visit the city to attend the celebrations at the festival, the annual award night will be held on 8th August the Palais Theatre, which is an iconic landmark of the city. ?

Each year the festival has had the privilege of some of the biggest Australian film talent on the jury panel. After a successful past few years, this year the jury comprises of some of the most renowned and...

Darlene Johnson at the Screen Forum (Photo credit: Patrick Huban).

The Australian International Screen Forum presented its inaugural scholarship, a placement with an American director on a Us film, to Indigenous filmmaker Darlene Johnson.

Toni Collette and editor Jill Bilcock each received the Pioneering Woman in Film award while Baz Luhrmann was presented with the Trailblazer award at the forum, which ran from March 19-22 at the Lincoln Centre in New York.

Johnson, who directed episodes of the ABC drama serial The Heights for Matchbox Pictures and For Pete’s Sake Productions, will get a three-month attachment on a film that is due to shoot in New York later this year. The forum organisers expect to confirm the title in the next few weeks.

Announcing the award, Australian International Screen Forum chairman Chris Beale said: “Darlene is an award-winning documentarian who is moving to narrative filmmaking. She came to our...

In today’s film news roundup, New Line’s Misty Copeland biopic moves ahead, Rapman’s “Blue Story” is becoming a feature film and “Muriel’s Wedding” is getting a 25th anniversary showing.

Director Attached

New Line has hired “Tall Girl” helmer Nzingha Stewart to direct its feature adaptation of Misty Copeland’s biography “Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina.”

Copeland was the first African American woman to be promoted to principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre. Michelle Rosenfarb is writing the screenplay.

Producers are Adam Shankman and Jennifer Gibgot from Offspring Entertainment, and Philip Sandhaus. Stewart is currently in production on the film “Tall Girl” for Netflix and served as executive producer on Lionsgate’s “For Colored Girls.”

“As an African American woman, I know firsthand that when Misty Copeland leaps, we all soar,” Stewart said. “As a filmmaker, I am thrilled to bring this hopeful, triumphant, and...

Jason Blum.

Jason Blum, one of Hollywood’s hottest producers, will be among the speakers at the second annual Australian International Screen Forum in New York this month.

The founder of Blumhouse Productions, he specialises in highly profitable low-budget genre films including Get Out, Glass, Split, Halloween and The Purge,. Insidious and Paranormal Activity franchises.

According to The Numbers, he has produced or exec produced 66 films with a worldwide aggregate box office of nearly $US4 billion.

Comprising workshops, panel conversations and screenings, the event for Us and Australian professionals will run from March 19-22 at the Lincoln Centre’s Francesca Beale Theatre.

Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale will screen on opening night and Wayne Blair’s Top End Wedding will be the closing night attraction.

There will be sessions on financing, audience development, casting and creative relationships and festivals and markets, with a specific focus on international independent feature film and television production.

Event runs in New York from March 19-22.

Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale will open the second annual Australian International Screen Forum, a four-day gathering in New York City that will include workshops and a panel discussion with producer Jason Blum.

Recent Sundance premiere Top End Wedding will close the event showcasing Australian talent, which runs from March 19-22 and will also present workshops, panel conversations and showcases.

This year’s topics include sessions related to financing, audience development, casting, creative relationships, and festivals and markets, with a specific focus on international independent feature film and television production, devised in...

Sue Maslin.

Producers Anita Jacoby and Sue Maslin, writers Ray Harding and Bevan Lee, and actor Magda Szubanski were among the screen professionals who received Australia Day honours on Saturday.

Jacoby, a former managing director of ITV Studios Australia and head of development and production at Zapruder’s Other Films, was named a Member of the Order of Australia (Am) for her significant service to the broadcast and print media, and to community mental health groups.

An authority member of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma) and a board director of AFI | Aacta, Jacoby has worked in the industry for more than 30 years. Her extensive list of credits include The Gruen Transfer, Enough Rope, Hungry Beast, Angels and Demons, 60 Minutes, and the Today Show. She is a member of Screen Producers Australia (Spa) and a supporter of the Documentary Australia Foundation. In 2013, she established the Jacoby Walkley Scholarship, which supports young journalists.

‘Gurrumul’.

Director Paul Williams and producer Shannon Swan’s portrait of the late blind Indigenous musician Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, Gurrumul, won Best Documentary Feature Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) in Brisbane last night.

It was the first time an Australian film has won in the category, with Gurrumul beating out Amal, Of Fathers and Sons (Syrian Arab Republic, Lebanon, Qatar, Germany), Of Love & Law (Japan, UK, France) and Up Down & Sideways

Accepting the award together with Williams, Swan described the moment as bittersweet knowing that Gurrumul wasn’t there to share in it.

“To G, thank you so much for inviting us into your life and trusting us with your story,” he said.

Gurrumul also won Feature Documentary of the Year at last week’s Screen Producers Australia Awards, and is also nominated for five awards at next week’s AACTAs, including for Best Feature Documentary alongside Mountain,...

‘Gurrumul’.

For the first time, ten documentaries are in competition for the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta) Award for Best Feature Length Documentary.

The ten films on the shortlist, determined by Aacta’s documentary branch (made up of past winners/nominees as well as other members of the documentary sector), include: Backtrack Boys, Dying to Live, Ghosthunter, Guilty, Gurrumul, Have You Seen the Listers?, Island of the Hungry Ghosts, Jill Bilcock: Dancing the Invisible, Mountain and Working Class Boy.

All Aacta members will then vote to determine the nominees in October, with the winner then to be determined during a second round of voting in November.

Each of the ten films will screen as part of a standalone Docs Fest across the first week of October in Sydney at Aftrs, in Melbourne at Cinema Nova and in Brisbane at Griffith Film School, as well as online via Aacta TV.

Rani Mukerji won hearts everywhere with her outstanding performance in Yash Raj Films’ superhit film Hichki. As Naina Mathur, a passionate teacher who deals with Tourette Syndrome, Rani delivered a powerful performance, also communicating a key message about equal treatment for people with physical challenges in India. Her character inspires positive change in school students from economically backward origins, a story that resonated globally for Hichki to become a massive hit and now Indian Film Festival of Melbourne has awarded Rani with the Best Actress Award for the year.

Hugely popular with sizeable Indian diaspora living in Melbourne, Rani expressed her gratitude saying, “Indian Film Festival of Melbourne has always welcomed the best of Indian cinema and celebrated our form of storytelling. I feel very proud and thankful that Hichki has been accepted and loved by audiences here. It’s a story with universal resonance, and it’s spirit of...

CinemaWhile Fahadh has been nominated for ‘Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum’, Keerthy has been nominated for her performance in ‘Mahanati’.Digital NativeDigital NativeThe Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (Iffm) is scheduled to take place from August 10 - 22. On the jury are Simi Garewal, Nikkhil Advani, Sue Maslin, Jill Bilcock, Andrew Anastasios and Geoffrey Wright who will be selecting winners under these categories – Best Film, Best Indie Film, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Supporting Role and Best Director. A majority of the films competing for the awards are from Bollywood, such as Padman, Hichki, Padmaavat, Sanju, Secret Superstar and Raazi. Two Tollywood films, Mahanati and Rangasthalam, are also in the competition for the Best Film award. The nominees for the Best Actor award are Ranbir Kapoor (Sanju), Varun Dhawan (October), Fahadh Faasil (Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum), Ranveer Singh (Padmaavat), Akshay Kumar (Padman), Manoj Bajpayee (In the Shadows), Soumitra Chatterjee (Mayurakshi) and Shahid Kapoor (Padmaavat). The heroines vying for the Best Actress award are Keerthy Suresh (Mahanati), Rani Mukerji (Hichki), Vidya Balan (Tumhari Sulu), Deepika Padukone (Padmaavat), Alia Bhatt (Raazi), Bhanita Das (Village Rockstars), Tillotama Shome (Sir) and Zaira Wasim (Secret Superstar). In the Best Director category, the nominations are Rajkumar Hirani (Sanju), Shoojit Sircar (October), R Balki (Padman), Siddharth P Malhotra (Hichki), Advait Chandan (Secret Superstar), Dipesh Jain (In the Shadows), Ere Gowda (Balekempa), Suresh Triveni (Tumhari Sulu), Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Padmaavat), Rima Das (Village Rockstars), Meghna Gulzar (Raazi), Tabrez Noorani (Love Sonia) and Rohena Gera (Sir). Samantha Akkineni has been nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category for her performance in Mahanati. A galaxy of stars, including Freida Pinto, Rani Mukerji, Vicky Kaushal, Ram Charan, Richa Chadha, Rajkumar Hirani, Ali Fazal, Simi Garewal and Malaika Arora, will attend this year’s Iffm. Legendary actors Shashi Kapoor and Sridevi, who passed away recently, will be honoured with special screenings of their iconic films Siddhartha and Chandni, respectively. Also read: Marathon hearing on Section 377 concludes, Sc reserves verdict (Content provided by Digital Native)...

One of Australia’s most gifted film editors on Baz Luhrmann, Michael Hutchence and making Muriel likable

Anybody with the most basic understanding of film editing will tell you there are many words to describe different kinds of techniques. Montage. Juxtaposition. Fade. Dissolve. Wipe. Jump cut. Shot reverse shot. Fast cutting. Slow cutting. Cross cutting. The list goes on.

The renowned editor Jill Bilcock infused the director Baz Luhrmann’s first three films – Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge (aka the red curtain trilogy) – with a famously frenetic, flashy, in-your-face style. The term she and the glitzy auteur coined to describe their approach is unlikely to be added to textbooks any time soon: they call it “frame fucking”.

Continue reading...

(l-r) Jocelyn Moorhouse and Sue Maslin on the set of 'The Dressmaker' (photo: Ben King).

Kicking off tomorrow, the Gold Coast Film Festival (April 19-30) will screen 32 feature films from 13 countries, including four world premieres and nine Australian ones, plus a host of shorts, events and filmmaker Q&A.s. The fest will also host a series of 14 panels covering a range of screen industry topics. On April 22, producers Jan Chapman, Sue Maslin and Trish Lake will talk about their experiences in a session entitled .Producing: Money Vs Time...Maslin will also be this year.s special guest at the third annual Women In Film lunch on April 21. Presented by Screen Queensland, the lunch recognises the contribution of women in film and television in Australia. On the eve of the festival, Maslin speaks to If about the push for gender equity and her slate of projects.

What will...

'Jill Bilcock: Dancing the Invisible'.

16 projects will share in over $3.2 million from Film Victoria, including a feature-length portrait of veteran editor Jill Bilcock (Strictly Ballroom, Muriel.s Wedding, The Dressmaker).

Jill Bilcock: Dancing the Invisible is also being supported by Screen Australia. Likewise feature doc Leunig: A Tale in 16 .Parts, directed by Fell's Kasimir Burgess, and 2040, a highconcept hybrid documentary from Damon Gameau (That Sugar Film)..

10 television projects and one VOD project also received funding, including new seasons of Offspring, Wrong Girl and animation Jar Dwellers Sos. Film Vic will assist five trainees to work on Jar Dwellers at animation studio Viskatoons..

Another Victorian animation team, Chocolate Liberation Front (The Adventures of Figaro Pho) have also received funding for new series Larry the Wonderpug.

In documentaries, Wtfn.s Ask The Doctor for the ABC will look at the future of health care in Australia, December Media...

Gillian Armstrong's 1971 student film The Roof Needs Mowing.

Secret City director Emma Freeman remembers Vca Film and Television School, where she studied for three years in the early 2000.s, .as a place where .a lot of people were really scraping things together to make their movie..

.That's what I loved about that school., Freeman says..

.It taught me about being a storyteller and it also taught me to be resourceful. Never to be limited by what you have..

Vca Film and TV is celebrating 50 years of scraping things together this year, from its opening at Swinburne in 1966 to the jump to the Vca in 1992 and beyond.

Cinematographer Ian Baker (Japanese Story, Words and Pictures) was one of the first, in 1968..

..I had no idea what I wanted to do when I completed the course,. Baker says.

.I didn't really know that I wanted to be a cinematographer, even though...

Screen Australia has given six projects more than $1.8 million in funding as part of the new round of documentary producer funding.

Scientific innovation, the 1987 World Motorcycle Grand Prix, ancient songlines and the world.s first jetpack are just some of the topics explored by seven documentary teams sharing in more than $1.8 million from Screen Australia.s Documentary Producer Program.

The Documentary Producer Program provides producers with foundation funding so that they are supported to drive their projects commercially and creatively..

The program is designed to support innovative documentaries that have been identified as having a strong creative vision and a highly developed understanding of how they will reach their audience.

The program supports singles and series intended for broadcast, festival, theatrical, digital and multimedia audiences.

Screen Australia senior manager, documentary, Liz Stevens, said the successful projects shone through a really competitive producer funding round..

"The teams presented high-quality and well considered vision for their projects,...

Chasing Asylum.

Eva Orner's detention-centre documentary Chasing Asylum will have its world premiere at Canada's Hot Docs on April 28 before premiering locally May 5 at the Human Rights Arts & Film Festival in Melbourne..

Orner, who won an Oscar for producing Alex Gibney's Taxi to the Dark Side, will then take the film - which promises to showcase "never before seen footage from inside Australia.s offshore detention camps" - on a roadshow to Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, Hobart, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin and Alice Springs.

The filmmakers will team up with presenting partners in most locations to host special events, including the Human Rights Arts & Film Festival, Sydney Writers Festival, Adelaide Film Festival, Amnesty International Tasmanian Branch and the Tasmania Breath of Fresh Air Film Festival..

.For too long the Australian Government has been hiding behind a policy of secrecy regarding offshore detention", said Orner.

"The Australian people can.t decide...

Jocelyn Moorhouse.s The Dressmaker rules the Australian B.O. after earning $560,000 on Thursday plus $416,000 in previews and the Adelaide Film Festival screening.

The dramedy starring Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, Liam Hemsworth and Sarah Snook is well placed to collect upwards of $2.5 million in its first four days.

The opening day was bigger than those of Mao.s Last Dancer ($514,000), Saving Mr Banks ($494,000 in school holidays), Bran Nue Dae ($403,000) and The Sapphires ($323,000).

Given good word-of-mouth, the Universal Pictures release will easily surpass $10 million as it is faces no serious competition until Spectre (November 12) and the final edition of The Hunger Games (November 19).

As If had reported, next week The Dressmaker will catapult Australian films. total grosses this year past $70 million, an all-time record in dollars, beating the previous high of $63.4 million in 2001.

This week the film received 12 nominations at the Aacta Awards including best film (producer Sue Maslin), best director,...

Now this is a list that could result in a lot of fascinating dissection and thanks to HitFix it comes to our attention almost three years after it was originally released back in 2012, celebrating the Motion Picture Editors Guild's 75th anniversary. Over at HitFix, Kris Tapley asks, "Is this news to anyone elsec" Um, yes, I find it immensely interesting and a perfect starting point for anyone looking to further explore the art of film editing. In an accompanying article we get the particulars concerning what films were eligible and how films were to be considered: In our Jan-feb 12 issue, we asked Guild members to vote on what they consider to be the Best Edited Films of all time. Any feature-length film from any country in the world was eligible. And by "Best Edited," we explained, we didn't just mean picture; sound, music and mixing were to be considered as well.

A random bit of researching on a Tuesday night led me to something I didn't know existed: The Motion Picture Editors Guild's list of the 75 best-edited films of all time. It was a feature in part celebrating the Guild's 75th anniversary in 2012. Is this news to anyone else? I confess to having missed it entirely. Naturally, I had to dig in. What was immediately striking to me about the list — which was decided upon by the Guild membership and, per instruction, was considered in terms of picture and sound editorial as opposed to just the former — was the most popular decade ranking. Naturally, the 1970s led with 17 mentions, but right on its heels was the 1990s. I wouldn't have expected that but I happen to agree with the assessment. Thelma Schoonmaker's work on "Raging Bull" came out on top, an objectively difficult choice to dispute, really. It was so transformative,...

Production wraps in Australia on Jocelyn Moorhouse feature.

Production has wrapped in Australia on director Jocelyn Moorhouse’s (Proof) comedy-drama The Dressmaker, starring Kate Winslet.

The first still released from the production spotlights Winslet’s character - a glamorous woman with a penchant for haute couture who returns to her small town in rural Australia to exact revenge on those who previously did her wrong.

Post production is taking place at Soundfirm Melbourne with composer, David Hirschfelder (Elizabeth) and editor, Jill Bilcock (Moulin Rouge).

“We are delighted to be closer to bringing this Australian bittersweet 1950’s comedy (based on the novel by Rosalie Ham) to screens around Australia, October 1, 2015” said the film’s producer Sue Maslin.

Kate Winslet in The Dressmaker..

Director Jocelyn Moorhouse has wrapped production on feature film The Dressmaker, which has been shooting at Docklands Studio Melbourne and various locations in Victoria for the past eight weeks.

Set in the 1950s, the movie follows Myrtle "Tilly" Dunnage (Kate Winslet) who returns to her hometown in the Australian countryside to take care of her sick mother (Judy Davis), after being exiled when she was ten years old because of false accusations of murder. Having since become an expert dressmaker in Paris, Tilly transforms the town members with her couture creations and in the process, exacts revenge on the people who wrongly accused her of murder all those years ago.

The film also stars Liam Hemsworth and Hugo Weaving, as well as featuring Rebecca Gibney, Kerry Fox , Caroline Goodall, Gyton Grantley, Sacha Horler, Shane Jacobson, Sarah Snook and Barry Otto.

.Working with Kate, Judy, Liam and Hugo was wonderful,...

Kate Winslet and Judy Davis lead cast of the new film from director Jocelyn Moorhouse.

Production has begun on The Dressmaker at Docklands Studios Melbourne, directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse (Proof, A Thousand Acres).

As previously announced, the cast includes Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, Liam Hemsworth and Hugo Weaving.

Joining the cast are Caroline Goodall, Shane Bourne, Kerry Fox, Rebecca Gibney, Sacha Horler, Shane Jacobson, Alison Whyte, Genevieve Lemon and Sarah Snook.

Based on the best-selling novel by Rosalie Ham, The Dressmaker is described as “a bittersweet comedy”, set in 1950s Australia.

Winslet plays Tilly Dunnage, who returns to her rural home town after many years working as a dressmaker in Parisian fashion houses. She reconciles with her ailing mother Molly, played by Davis, and goes about transforming the women of the town to get revenge on those who did her wrong.

The Dressmaker is set to release in Australia on Oct 1, 2015.

“I’ve waited years to...

Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, Liam Hemsworth and Hugo Weaving star in The Dressmaker, a tale of love, revenge and haute couture now shooting at Docklands Studios..

The ensemble cast includes Caroline Goodall, Shane Bourne, Kerry Fox, Rebecca Gibney, Sacha Horler, Shane Jacobson, Alison Whyte, Genevieve Lemon and Sarah Snook.

There have been two changes in the cast since it was first anounced in Cannes. Elizabeth Debicki dropped out to play the lead in the Foxtel drama The Kettering Incident, replaced by Sacha Horler. And Isla Fisher dropped out and Sarah Snook took her role. .

Directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse and based on the best-selling novel by Rosalie Ham, The Dressmaker is a bittersweet comedy set in 1950s Australia.

Tilly Dunnage (Winslet) is a beautiful and talented misfit who after many years working as a dressmaker in Parisian fashion houses returns home to Dungatar - a fictional rural town - to right some wrongs of the past.

Aacta.s Raymond Longford Award almost certainly will be renamed the Longford Lyell Award in recognition of Lottie Lyell, the Australian film pioneer.s partner in life and filmmaking. Producer Tony Buckley has been lobbying for the change for two years, a campaign that has been widely supported. Now Aacta is putting the proposal to its members, seeking feedback by October 10. .We think it.s a really good suggestion,. AFI | Aacta CEO Damian Trewhella told If today. .Informally we have had a lot of support and no one has objected. Unless there are strong alternative views there is a strong chance we will adopt the new name.. First presented in 1968, the award is the highest accolade the Australian Academy can bestow upon an individual who has made a truly outstanding contribution to the enrichment of Australia's screen environment and culture. Previous recipients include Peter Weir, Geoffrey Rush, Fred Schepisi, Ken G. Hall,...

Kriv Stenders' Kill Me Three Times may well have had a .boisterously enthusiastic reception. at its Toronto International Film Festival premiere, as The Sydney Morning Herald reported last week.

However the critics in Toronto were far from unanimous in their judgments on the comedy-thriller that stars Simon Pegg as an assassin who encounters a group of increasingly violent locals who carry their own dark secrets.

Sullivan Stapleton, Teresa Palmer, Callan Mulvey, Luke Hemsworth, Alice Braga and Bryan Brown co-star in the film scripted by James McFarland and produced by Laurence Malkin, Share Stallings, Tania Chambers. EOne, which will release the film in Australia next year, hasn.t revealed the launch date.

The pro- camp saw a very funny, cleverly plotted and crowd-pleasing film that subverts expectations.

The anti- brigade saw a mediocre, derivative crime potboiler.

Stenders and Chambers understandably are keen to stress the Tiff audiences. reactions and the positive reviews.

Moulin Rouge! is a mixed bag. It’s an idea that looks good on paper, but looks horrendous in execution. It’s a film where it should have the ability to make all the right emotional pivots, but succumbs to an ostentation that exists in its final product, making this a hallmark for director Baz Lurhmann’s career. I appreciate him, in an odd way, for injecting a very strange version of romance in his films, one that, in Moulin Rouge!, is wonderfully cynical and melancholy. In almost all of his work, his maximalism overshadows some of the most interesting aspects of the films (the sole exception being Strictly Ballroom, his first feature): the post-modern comments on capitalism in William Shakespeare’s Romeo+ Juliet, the inherent frivolity of “freedom, beauty, truth, and love” in Moulin Rouge!, and the hollow decadence of the parties in The Great Gatsby. But everything...

Liam Hemsworth, Isla Fisher and Elizabeth Debicki will join Kate Winslet and Judy Davis in The Dressmaker, Jocelyn Moorhouse.s 1950s-set comic drama that.s due to shoot in Victoria in October.

The casting was announced at the Cannes Film Market where the UK.s Embankment Films is pitching the project to international buyers and co-representing the Us rights with CAA.

Adapted by Moorhouse from Rosalie Ham.s novel, it.s described as a Gothic tale of love, revenge and haute couture.

Winslet will play Tilly, a glamorous young woman who returns after many years in Europe to her small home town in rural Australia aiming to right some wrongs from the past as she was accused of murder when she was a child.

She also falls unexpectedly in love, which leads to her greatest loss and her most destructive deed. Davis will play her eccentric mother.

Hemsworth, who stars in The Hunger Games franchise,...

Liam Hemsworth, Isla Fisher, Elizabeth Debicki, Kate Winslet and Judy Davis are all set to join "Proof" director Jocelyn Moorhouse's romantic drama "The Dressmaker".

Winslet's character returns home to the remote country town from which she fled as a child after being accused of murder. Trying to make amends with her eccentric mother.

Initially ostracised, she soon liberates and empowers the town's women with her quick wit and beautiful clothing - unexpectedly finding love and exacting sweet revenge on those who wronged her.

Also onboard are director of photography Don McAlpine ("Moulin Rouge"), costume designer Tim Chappel ("The Adventures of Priscilla"), production designer Roger Ford ("Babe") and editor Jill Bilcock ("Elizabeth: The Golden Age").

Sue Maslin produces and filming begins in Victoria, Australia in October.

Source: Screen...

Exclusive: Isla Fisher, Elizabeth Debicki also board drama readying for October shoot.

The Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth, Now You See Me star Isla Fisher and rising talent Elizabeth Debicki are set to join Kate Winslet and Judy Davis in Jocelyn Moorhouse’s romantic drama The Dressmaker, which Embankment Films will be shopping in Cannes.

Principal photography is due to get underway in Victoria, Australia on October 13, 2014. Embankment co-reps Us rights with CAA.

Winslet will play an avenging angel who returns home to the remote country town from which she fled as a child after being accused of murder, to make amends with her eccentric mother.

Although ostracised, as an exponent of the most stunning 1950’s haute couture inspired by Madame Vionnet and Balenciaga, she liberates and empowers the town’s women with her quick wit and beautiful clothing. She unexpectedly finds love and ultimately exacts sweet revenge on those who wronged her.

Jocelyn Moorhouse ([link...

The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (Iffm) announced the winners of the inaugural Iffm Awards, at a sold out gala at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre, recently.

Amitabh Bachchan, the living Bollywood legend and the special guest at the event, was recognised with the Iffm International Screen Icon Award. Director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Sports biopic Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, which follows the life of one of India’s greatest living athletes and Olympian, Milkha Singh, dominated the evening, taking every award which it was nominated for – Best Film, Western Union Best Director and Best Actor (Male) for Farhan Akhtar.

The Lunchbox, directed by Ritesh Batra, won Best Indie Film and Best Actor for Irrfan Khan (shared with Farhan Akhtar, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag). The Lunchbox is set to premiere at Iffm on 10th May and will be releasing in July, in Australia. Kangana Ranaut won Best Actor (Female) for Queen and director...

A still from Goynar Baksho

Sholay 3D will open the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne which will take place from May 1-11. The screening will be followed by Q&A with the film’s star Amitabh Bachchan.

Amitabh Bachchan will be honoured as the Iffm International Screen Icon for 2014. To celebrate this visit, La Trobe University of Melbourne is creating the ‘Shri Amitabh Bachchan’ scholarship and Bachchan will present the inaugural scholarship to a student during his visit.

The festival will close with Goynar Baksho, directed by Aparna Sen, which will be introduced by lead actor Konkona Sen Sharma.

‘Hurrah Bollywood!’ section of the festival will feature “the best mainstream Hindi cinema from the last 12 months”, including Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram Leela and Dhoom 3.

‘Beyond Bollywood’ section will present arthouse and regional language cinema including Gajendra Ahire’s Anumati, Nitin Kakkar’s Filmistaan, Nagraj Manjule’s Fandry,...

The southern hemisphere’s greatest annual celebration of Indian cinema, The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne will take place from 1-11 May and will feature, among many luminaries from Bollywood,including the esteemed actor Amitabh Bachchan Masterclasses, an awards show, over 45 film screenings and some of the biggest stars… it will be 11 days of unadulterated desi entertainment.

This year, Iffm will explore the richness of contemporary Indian cinema across four program streams, with films spanning Bollywood to art house and the subcontinent, as well as establishing an international competition, the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne Awards. Amitabh Bachchan will be honoured as the Iffm International Screen Icon for 2014. To celebrate this visit, La Trobe University is creating the ‘Shri Amitabh Bachchan’ scholarship and Mr Bachchan will personally present the inaugural scholarship to a student during his visit.

Other guests during the festival will include National Award-winning arthouse star Konkona Sen Sharma,...

The 2014 Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (Iffm) is proud to announce the establishment of an international competition in 2014 with the presentation of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne Awards. The festival is the southern hemisphere’s greatest annual celebration of Indian cinema and takes place from Thursday 1 to Friday 11 May.

The inaugural Indian Film Festival Awards (Iffm Awards) will honour films in five categories: Best Film, Best Performance, Best Director, Best Independent Film and the People’s Choice Award. This will be the first Indian cinema awards of its kind in Australia.

A select number of narrative feature films will be invited into competition. The films will be judged by an International Jury of prominent Indian and Australian film industry figures from a wide range of backgrounds. The stellar list includes award-winning Australian director Phillip Noyce (Rabbit Proof Fence, Dead Calm, The Quiet American); world renowned Australian film editor Jill Bilcock (Strictly Ballroom,...

Australian Cinematographers Society national president Ron Johanson felt he was being called to the headmaster.s office when he was asked to take an urgent Skype call from the AFI/Aacta.

CEO Damian Trewhella told him about the Byron Kennedy Award, named after the co-founder of the Mad Max production company Kennedy Miller (now Kennedy Miller Mitchell), who died aged 33 in a helicopter crash in 1983.

The affable Johanson asked, .What.s that got to do with me?. He was flabbergasted when he was informed the Acs is the recipient of the next Byron Kennedy Award, which celebrates outstanding creative enterprise in the film and television industries and is given to an individual or organisation whose work embodies innovation and the pursuit of excellence.

It.s the first time the award, first presented in 1984, has been bestowed on a guild or professional association. Past honorees include Roger Savage, Dion Beebe, Jane Campion,...

With a promise to be back next year, bigger and better, the final day of the 15th Mumbai Film Festival presented by Reliance Entertainment and organized by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Images (Mami) unfolded.

After a week of celebrating cinema, the final few films screened today included Red Wedding directed by Guillaume Suon and Lida Chan, Short Term 12 by Destin Cretton, Saving General Yang directed by Ronny Yu, Hiroshi Toda’s Seventh Cat, Five Years by Stefan Schaller, Costa Gavras’s Amen and the much acclaimed Z, A Few Days More by Om Prakash Srivastava among others.

The last of the 15th Mumbai Film Festival’s master classes was conducted by the legendary director Bruce Beresford, on Preparation by the Director. “I thought I would talk about the necessity of story boarding. These days, with tight budgets and short schedules, if you don’t plan them, you’ll...

Diego Quemada-Diez scoops top prize; Nagraj Manjule wins jury award.Scroll down for full list of winners

Mexican film A Golden Dream (La Jaula De Oro) scooped the top prize, the Golden Gateway Of India award, in the Mumbai Film Festival’s international competition for first features, while Nagraj Manjule’s Fandry was awarded the Jury Grand Prize.

Directed by Diego Quemada-Diez, who started his career as an assistant to Ken Loach, A Golden Dream (fka The Golden Cage)follows the journey of three young Guatemalans attempting to emigrate to the Us.

The film debuted at Cannes in May where it won the Talent award in the Un Certain Regard section. It recently won the Best International Feature Film at the Zurich Film Festival.

The only Indian film in competition, the Marathi-language Fandry revolves around an “untouchable” or Dalit boy and his love for a girl from a higher caste.

Anthony Chen’s [link...

Diego Quemada-Diez scoops top prize; Nagraj Manjule wins jury award.Scroll down for full list of winners

Mexican film The Golden Cage (La Jaula De Oro) scooped the top prize, the Golden Gateway Of India award, in the Mumbai Film Festival’s international competition for first features, while Nagraj Manjule’s Fandry was awarded the Jury Grand Prize.

Directed by Diego Quemada-Diez, who started his career as an assistant to Ken Loach, The Golden Cage follows the journey of three young Guatemalans attempting to emigrate to the Us.

The film debuted at Cannes in May where it won the Talent award in the Un Certain Regard section. It recently won the Best International Feature Film at the Zurich Film Festival.

The only Indian film in competition, the Marathi-language Fandry revolves around an “untouchable” or Dalit boy and his love for a girl from a higher caste.

Anthony Chen’s Ilo Ilo continued its successful festival...

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Mexican film The Golden Cage (La Jaula De Oro) scooped the top prize, the Golden Gateway Of India award, in the Mumbai Film Festival’s international competition for first features, while Nagraj Manjule’s Fandry was awarded the Jury Grand Prize.

Directed by Diego Quemada-Diez, who started his career as an assistant to Ken Loach, The Golden Cage follows the journey of three young Guatemalans attempting to emigrate to the Us. The only Indian film in competition, the Marathi-language Fandry revolves around an “untouchable” or Dalit boy and his love for a girl from a higher caste.

Anthony Chen’s Ilo Ilo continued its successful festival sweep by winning best director and best actress for Yann Yann Yeo. Best actor went to Vincent Macaigne for his role in Tonnerre, directed by France’s Guillaume Brac.

The jury also gave a special prize for “Best Work in Cinematography” to Australia-Laos-Thailand co-production The Rocket, directed by [link...

The Mumbai Film Festival has announced that Bruce Beresford will head its International Competition jury, while Asghar Farhadi will head the jury of the India Gold competition.

Beresford’s 1989 film Driving Miss Daisy won the Academy Award for best film and he was also nominated for best director in 1984 for Tender Mercies. Joining him on the International Competition jury are French actress Nathalie Baye, Japanese filmmaker Masato Harada and Indian actress Konkana Sen Sharma (Mr And Mrs Iyer, Omkara).

Joining Farhadi on the India Gold jury are Afghan director Siddiq Barmak (Osama), UK actor/director Waris Hussein, Australian editor Jill Bilcock and Roger Garcia, executive director of the Hong Kong International Film Festival.

“The jury is the core of every film fest and we have a proud legacy of having eminent personalities on our jury every year,” said Mumbai Film Festival director Srinivasan Narayan. “This year too we’re welcoming some very accomplished names, all masters...

Academy-award winner Australian director Bruce Beresford ( Driving Miss Daisy, Double Jeopardy) will head the International Competition Jury of the 15th Mumbai Film Festival.

Bruce Beresford will be accompanied by French actor Nathalie Baye (Catch Me if You Can), Japanese director Masato Harada (Chronicle of my Mother) and Indian actor Konkana Sen Sharma (Mr. And Mrs. Iyer, Omkara) on the International Jury.

Academy Award winner Iranian director Asghar Farhadi ( A Separation, About Elly) will head the India Gold 2013 competition Jury of the festival. The other members of the Jury are Afghani director Siddiq Barmark (Osama), British actor/director Waris Hussein (Little Gloria…Happy at last), Australian Film Editor Jill Bilcock (Moulin Rouge) and film critic Roger Garcia who is also the executive director of the Hong Kong International Film Festival.

The 15th Mumbai Film Festival will take place from the 17th – 24, October 2013 at Metro Cinema and Liberty Cinemas as the main festival venues and Cinemax,...

Films directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse, Michael Rowe and Ben Chessell received a total of $4.4 million in funding at Screen Australia.s board meeting on Wednesday.

The agency said the three features will generate almost $25 million in production investment. The casts include Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, Melissa George and Canadian Roy Dupuis.

Winslet and Davis will star in writer/director Moorhouse and producer Sue Maslin.s comic drama The Dressmaker.. Adapted from Rosalie Ham.s novel, it.s described as a Gothic tale of love, revenge and haute couture.. Winslet will play Tilly, a glamorous young woman who returns after many years in Europe to her small home town in rural Australia aiming to right some wrongs from the past as she was accused of murder when she was a child. She also falls unexpectedly in love, which leads to her greatest loss and her most destructive deed. Davis will play her eccentric mother.

Screen Australia says it has not mismanaged its finances by spending its annual production funding in just six months - a state of affairs which it says reflects the strength of the local film industry.

The government screen agency revealed in mid-December 2012 that it had spent its entire annual $42 million drama production allocation due to the unprecedented number of quality feature film and television projects seeking support. The shock announcement was reminiscent of the agency's abrupt decision to cut its investment cap in 2009 while several films were mid-financed. That decision.threw several major Australian productions into dissaray including The Tree and the biggest box office hit of.2010, Tomorrow When the War Began (Omnilab Media had to increase its investment at the last minute to ensure production).

Overspending on such a scale has never occurred before, even going back to the era of Screen Australia.s predecessor funding arm, the Film Finance Corporation.

French actress Emmanuelle Béart has been added to the cast of Australian film My Mistress alongside Harrison Gilbertson and Rachael Blake ahead of shooting later this month on the Gold Coast.

The film received Screen Australia funding in November. It’s directed by Stephen Lance and written by Top of the Lake’s Gerard Lee with production by Bran Nue Dae’s Robyn Kershaw and distributed by Transmission Films.

The announcement:

Internationally acclaimed French actress Emmanuelle Béart (A Heart in Winter, Nathalie, Manon of the Spring, Mission: Impossible) will join one of Australia’s rising international stars, AFI Award‐winning Harrison Gilbertson (U.S. independent film Haunt – in the title role opposite Jacki Weaver, Accidents Happen, Blessed, Beneath Hill 60, Conspiracy 365) and AFI Award‐winning actress Rachael Blake (Sleeping Beauty, Lantana, Hawke) in the seductive and touching new film My Mistress.

What starts as a beautiful and strangely innocent...

Martin Connor has won best editing in a feature film award at the Australian Screen Editors Awards held over the weekend.

Connor won for his work on Burning Man, directed by Jonathan Teplitzky. The film is constructed with a non-linear storyline.

Connor and Burning Man beat Jill Bilcock for Mental, Dany Cooper for The Sapphires and Jason Ballantine for Wish You Were Here. Read the full list of nominees.

Roberta Horslie was honoured with a lifetime membership, while Sally Fryer and Lawrence Silvstrin were both accredited with Ase titles.

In the advertising category, Drew Thompson won for his edit of the Volkswagen Tiguan’s commercial, Cross Country.

Full list of winners:

Best Editing, Open Content

Event Zero – Episode 4, Julian Harvey

Best Editing in a Short Film

The Wilding, Anthony Cox

Best Editing in a Music Video

‘Bird on the Buffalo’ – Angus Stone, Peter Barton

Best Editing in a Commercial

Volkswagen...

The Australian Screen Editors’ Guild has added a new category to include online and new content streams to its awards night and announced the nominees for the 2012 Ase Awards.

The announcement:

The Australian Screen Editors’ (Ase) Guild is dedicated to the pursuit and recognition of excellence in screen editing across all its forms. It aims to highlight the often invisible art of editing to the public while supporting the people who construct our screen narratives frame by frame.

In 2012 the Ase expanded its activities by opening a new Committee in Brisbane, growing the membership base already established in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide, and expanding its year-round program of seminars, screenings, masterclasses, training days and mentorships. This year the Ase also celebrated its 10th anniversary of Accreditation, the highest honour the Guild can bestow on an editor.

The culmination of the Guild’s year happens at the annual Ase Awards,...

Australian comedy The Wedding Party will have a limited Us theatrical run after securing a deal with Mousetrap Films.

The small Us release, set for 2013, will be through Mousetrap.s recently launched Film Festival Flix program . an innovative method of bringing film festival favourites without a distribution deal to a wider audience.

Film Festival Flix . a .mini-festival. . is held in cinemas on one-night, once-a-month, in more than 25 cinemas in more than 15 cities. Three films are screened (a documentary, a signature feature, and a late night genre picture); a short Q&A is held with the filmmakers; and DVDs of the film are available to buy on-site. The film is also distributed simultaneously on other platforms such as VOD, in-store retailers and on TV/cable.

Australian drama Face to Face, directed by Michael Rymer, was also released in similar fashion in the Us through Film Festival Flix.

The Wedding Party, which...