News

Scott Hicks' 2001 supernatural drama "Hearts in Atlantis" should have been a big hit. Based on a novel by Stephen King, the movie blended the author's bent for 1950s and 1960s nostalgia with his knack for mysterious fantasy. Told in flashback, "Hearts" tells the story of a 12-year-old named Bobby (played by eventual "Star Trek" actor Anton Yelchin) who is largely neglected by his self-absorbed mother (Hope Davis) and who spends his idle summer days with his two best friends, Carol (Meeka Boorem) and Sully (Will Rothhaar). To make ends meet, Bobby's mom takes on a lodger named Ted Brautigan (Anthony Hopkins) and Bobby soon learns that Ted has some kind of psychic power. He can read minds, and make objects float. 

Ted explains calmly to Bobby that he has to keep the powers secret, as he is being pursued by people he calls "Low Men." Unusually, Ted's superpowers aren't the center of the film's plot,...

It Ends with Us is a romantic drama film directed by Justin Baldoni from a screenplay by Christy Hall. Based on a 2016 novel of the same name by author Colleen Hoover, the romantic drama film follows the story of Lily Bloom as she moves to Boston to achieve her lifelong dream of opening a business. While running her business she meets Ryle, a charming neurosurgeon, and falls in love with him. But when she sees a side of Ryle that reminds her of her parent’s relationship, their relationship begins to crumble and that’s when her first love Atlas reenters her life. It Ends with Us stars Blake Lively in the lead role with Justin Baldoni, Brandon Sklenar, Isabela Ferrer, Jenny Slate, Alex Neustaedter, and Hasan Minhaj starring in supporting roles. So, if you loved the drama and romance in Blake Lively’s It Ends with Us here are...

Yorgos Lanthimos. Christopher Nolan. Justine Triet. Jonathan Glazer.

What do these four directors have in common? They were all among the nominees for this year’s Academy Awards, and none of them were born in the United States. Lanthimos is Greek, Triet is French, and Nolan and Glazer are British. Among the nominees, only New Yorker Martin Scorsese is American-born.

The last time only one American-born director made it to that year’s Best Director lineup was back in 1997, when Miloš Forman (Czech), Scott Hicks (Australian), Mike Leigh and Anthony Minghella (both English) received Oscar nominations. Of course, this is only technically true. Joel Coen was the one American in the category, yet it was due to a guild rule that he received sole credit for directing despite his helming “Fargo” with his brother Ethan, who would’ve been the second American among the nominees.

SEEOscars: Justine Triet is 8th...

After announcing Kitty Green's The Royal Hotel as its opener earlier this month, Adelaide Film Festival will close out with another South Australian feature, Scott Hicks's documentary My Name’s Ben Folds – I Play Piano.

The post Scott Hicks doc ‘My Name’s Ben Folds – I Play Piano’ to close Adelaide Film Festival appeared first on If Magazine.

It was an unusual evening at the Oscars, with several fresh faces, a veteran actress receiving her first nomination and one film dominating the ceremony. Billy Crystal hosted for the fifth time on March 24, 1997, and kept the ceremony lively, along with award winners who offered some rather entertaining acceptance speeches.

Best Picture winner “The English Patient” dominated, winning nine out of 12 nominations. Fellow Best Picture nominee “Fargo” was the only other recipient of multiple awards, winning two out of seven bids. The films that rounded out that category were “Shine,” which won one out of seven nominations, and “Jerry Maguire” and “Secrets and Lies,” each with five bids, with the former winning one and the latter leaving empty-handed.

A WWII-era epic romance detailing the tragic love affair of a burn victim and his married lover, “The English Patient” claimed victory for its score, sound, art direction, cinematography, costume design and editing.

CinefestOZ Film Festival has awarded actress Isla Fisher its Screen Legend prize for 2021.

The award recognises an Australian actor or filmmaker of international repute and their role in supporting excellence in Australian filmmaking.

Fisher, who was born in Oman and grew up in Perth, has been a fixture of Australian screens since she was nine, when she started in TV commercials before being cast as Shannon Reed in Home & Away, a role she played for three years.

Her career internationally took off with The Wedding Crashers, followed by a range of roles in films such as Rango, The Great Gatsby, Nocturnal Animals, Definitely, Maybe , Now You See Me, Hot Rod, The Brothers Grimsby alongside her husband Sacha Baron Cohen, and Blithe Spirit. Her most recent role is in Stan/Peacock’s upcoming series Wolf Like Me, opposite Josh Gad.

Fisher studied commedia dell’arte in Paris at the renowned L’école Jacques Lecoq performance school,...

Jonathan Taplin with Anne-Katrin Titze on Wim Wenders and Edward Hopper: “Obviously Wim is a student of Hopper in every possible way.”

During my conversation with film producer (and so much more) Jonathan Taplin on his terrific memoir, The Magic Years: Scenes From A Rock-And-Roll Life (Heyday), we discussed his working with Martin Scorsese and Wim Wenders (Until The End Of The World); Shelley Duvall’s Faerie Tale Theatre; Aretha Franklin in Amazing Grace; Eric Clapton and faith; Quentin Tarantino, Charles Manson and Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood; Robert Frank and The Rolling Stones; Leni Riefenstahl, Jodie Foster, and John Hinckley, and Scott Hicks, Shine, and Harvey Weinstein.

Julie Christie in John Schlesinger’s Billy Liar, Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity, Edward Hopper and Wim Wenders, Katharine Hepburn and his mother, the joyous rebellion of Elvis Presley, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis turning into Bob Dylan and The.

The business of depicting genius on screen has always attracted screenwriters, directors, actors and audiences alike. There is fertile dramatic ground in the notion that those born with a gift walk in the same world as the rest of us – and the friction and awe this causes plays a huge part in many of the films on this list. Here’s our look at some of the best Movie Geniuses.

Good Will Hunting

This is the film that introduced the world to Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. It earned the boys a Best Original Screenplay Oscar in 1998 and their transformation to Hollywood big shots is visible when their stunned looks of realisation gives way to youthful exuberance. It’s a treat to watch.

The film deals with the Becoming of Will Hunting, a janitor at a college whose innate genius for Mathematics leads him to the therapy room of that late,...

Kelton Pell.

Actor Kelton Pell is the first Western Australian to receive the Screen Legend accolade from CinefestOZ in the event’s 12-year history.

In a career spanning more than 25 years, his film credits include Blackfellas, Australian Rules, September, Bran Nue Dae, Mad Bastards, Looking For Grace, Red Dog:True Blue and Three Summers.

In his latest screen role he appeared alongside Bill Nighy, Victoria Hill and Milan Burch in director Tim Brown’s Buckley’s Chance, which was partly shot in Wa.

Nighy played Spencer, the estranged grandfather of Burch’s Ridley, who moved to Wa with his mother Gloria (Hill) after his father dies. Spencer tries to reconnect with the boy but he gets lost the outback.

Pell has been a familiar face in such TV shows as Pine Gap, The Gods of Wheat Street, The Circuit, Redfern Now and The Heights.

“It’s a huge honour,” he says of the award.

Exclusive: MarVista Entertainment has promoted three key executives in Creative Affairs. Hannah Pillemer, who has spearheaded the company’s indie film slate is now adding network television and digital content to her responsibilities in the elevated role of Head of Creative Affairs. Additionally, Larry Grimaldi, former Vice President of Creative Affairs, is upped to Senior Vice President of Creative Affairs; and Todd Murata is promoted to Vice President of Creative Affairs.

In her new role, Pillemer will be responsible for managing a slate of approximately 60 plus films per year, as well as television series and digital content across a wide range of genres and budgets. Her team includes Grimaldi, who has oversight of all original movies for network and platform partners; Murata continues to work on movies in his new VP role, reporting into Grimaldi; and Neil Elman, Vice President of Creative Affairs, now spearheads the development of new genres and partnership models.

Ann Dowd and Jeffrey Walker on the set of ‘Lambs of God’ (Photo credit: Mark Rogers).

When director Jeffrey Walker was sent Sarah Lambert’s scripts for the first two episodes of Lambs of God, he replied he’d have to take the job so he could read episode three.

That was in jest – but he could not resist the challenge to direct Lingo Pictures’ comedic drama commissioned by Foxtel, which is unlike any show he had ever directed in the past 15 years.

The four hour miniseries adapted from Marele Day’s novel “treads a fine line between dark comedy, fantasy, fairytale and thriller,” he tells If.

“It definitely pushes the boundaries of expectations and lives in its own space. The scripts were completely unpredictable, from page to page.”

Walker, Lambert and Lingo Pictures’ Jason Stephens attended the world premiere of the first two episodes at the Series Mania festival...

‘Backtrack Boys’ director Catherine Scott is among those who spearheaded the campaign.

More than 250 filmmakers have co-signed an open letter calling for a “radical overhaul” of government policy in order to sustainably support the independent documentary sector now and into the future.

The letter, from the newly formed Australian Independent Documentary (Aid) group, argues that recent policy changes have undermined the viability of the independent documentary sector and its ability to produce distinct and original Australian content for both local and international audiences.

It calls variously for Screen Australia to work with the public broadcasters to create a dedicated strand on Australian public broadcast television for original Australian documentary, and for the federal agency to stop allocating funds to foreign majority owned companies at development and production stage; to increase funding support for original Australian formats; recognise cinema-on-demand as a legitimate form of cinema distribution, and to establish a dedicated fund for international co-production.

Mrc director Gail Kovatseff at the 2018 Screenmakers Conference.

Launching its 2019 program today, Adelaide’s Media Resource Centre (Mrc) announced it will be running a partnership initiative with Screentime to give practitioners opportunity to develop factual TV ideas across all unscripted genres.

Up to six teams will receive hands-on mentoring from the production company’s executives over a period of four months next year, culminating in market ready project pitches for the Screenmakers Conference in July. Screentime launched a Adelaide office earlier this year, headed by Colin Thrupp, kicking off with the production of Rbt. Previously the company has also produced Pine Gap, Wolf Creek and Anzac Girls in Sa. Further information about the initiative will be released soon on the Mrc website.

The Mrc’s Screenmakers Conference, which has continued to grow in scale since its inception five years ago, will expand up to three days next year. The conference...

Mia Wasikowska in ‘Judy and Punch’ (Photo: Ben King)

A record six Australian feature films will screen at the Sundance Film Festival, with Animals, Judy and Punch, Little Monsters, Top End Wedding and I Am Mother having their world premieres in the Utah-based festival, which runs from January 24 – February 3.

In addition, Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale will have its North American premiere after winning the special jury prize and the Marcello Mastroianni award for best new young performer for Baykali Ganambar at this year’s Venice Film Festival.

That surpasses the previous record of five in 1997. Sundance has been a great launching pad for Australian productions including David Michod’s Animal Kingdom in 2010 (World Cinema Jury Prize), Greg McLean’s Wolf Creek in 2005, Scott Hicks’ Shine in 1996, Kitty Green’s Casting JonBenet (2017) and Nash Edgerton’s Mr Inbetween (2018).

“The six films selected by Sundance display the array of stories Australians...

Kamila Andini.

There’s an Australian connection among each of the competition winning films at this year’s Adelaide Film Festival.

The prizes for the best fiction feature, documentary and Vr films were presented yesterday evening at the festival, ahead of the Australian premiere of Felix Van Groeningen’s Beautiful Boy.

Indonesian writer-director Kamila Andini’s The Seen and Unseen, a co-production between Indonesia, the Netherlands, Australia and Qatar, took out the $20,000 prize for International Feature Fiction Competition. Set in Bali, the film follows a young girl who seeks out imaginative ways to cope with the death of her twin brother, and it has also won 2017 Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Youth Feature and the Crystal Bear in Berlin.

The award was presented by director Scott Hicks, on behalf of the International Jury, which also comprised of Paolo Bertolin, filmmaker and selector for Venice and selection committee for Cannes Directors Fortnight,...

With credits include Shine, Snow Falling on Cedars, and The Lucky One, Scott Hicks is a filmmaker who knows how to deliver with an immersive narrative. His latest work Fallen hits DVD October 10 via Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The feature is based on the bestselling young adult book of the same name. Addison [...]...

Australia Day..

Four Aussie films are in contention for CinefestOZ.s $100,000 Film Prize..

Jeffrey Walker.s Ali.s Wedding, Kriv Stenders. Australia Day, Greg McLean.s Jungle and Ben Elton.s Three Summers will compete for the cash prize at the August festival..

The year marks 10 years of CinefestOZ film festival and will be the fourth at which the $100,000 award is given out. Recent winners include Girl Asleep, Putuparri and the Rainmakers and Paper Planes.

CinefestOZ festival chair Helen Shervington said that given the high calibre of finalists, there was a difficult task ahead for the five-member jury — this year headed by Shine director Scott Hicks. .

.We are delighted with the variety and number of entries in this year.s film prize and the finalists are representative of the strength and quality of the Australian film industry today,. Shervington said.

It is rewarding to see the Australian film industry recognising...

It is a widely accepted fact that some of Stephen King’s best work is his stories about people living their lives, and coming of age against the tapestry of American history. Sure, he’s written some iconic, terrifying stuff that has led to some incredible adaptations (It, Misery, The Shining, Carrie) – but it is his less scary stuff (Stand By Me, Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) that has perhaps had the most dramatic impact. This is surely the category that writer-director Johannes Roberts is aiming for with the upcoming film project Hearts In Atlantis.

The movie will be based upon the second part of the 1999 Stephen King collection of the same name, which comprises five sections – two novellas and three short stories. Together, the tales chronicle a passage of time that encompasses the Vietnam War, and feature a number of characters that recur throughout the collection. The first and...

If you are a fan of the 2001 film Hearts In Atlantis, adapted from Stephen King’s book of the same name, then you might be interested to learn that “Hearts In Atlantis,” the story from the book Hearts In Atlantis, is being made for the first time into a movie which will not be called Hearts In Atlantis, Variety reports. That might seem, at first glance, like a nonsense sentence, but it’s actually not.

You see, Hearts In Atlantis is actually a collection of two novellas and three short stories, one of which is called “Hearts In Atlantis.” When legendary screenwriter William Goldman penned the screenplay for Scott Hicks’ film Hearts In Atlantis, he put the narrative together from two related pieces from that book—Low Men in Yellow Coats and “Heavenly Shades Of Night Are Falling.” Now, fifteen years later, British filmmaker Johannes Roberts (In The Deep ...

Picture the ending of the standard-issue based-on-a-true-story film. Once the picture fades on a family’s final teary goodbye or the camera pans up from our hero(ine) in a moment of triumph, there’s a postscript. And then, the inevitable grainy home video or candid photo of the “real” main character, proof that someone in the casting office (or the hair/make-up department) did their job and brought you the closest facsimile of the real thing.

This may be the most common approach, but it doesn’t produce the best biopics. Good biographies recreate a moment; great ones evoke a sprit that reverberates through the current time.

Read More: Director Debuts: The 20 Best First Films of the Last 20 Years

The standout biographical films from the past two decades reflect the different ways that we commemorate figures of fame or infamy. Sometimes we devote three hours of our lives to...

The news of Anton Yelchin’s death in a freak accident hit me hard, partly because of the loss of an important young actor and also because I had met him on a few occasions and was impressed by his honesty and humility, as well as his talent. I first became aware of Anton in Scott Hicks’ movie, Hearts in Atlantis, in which he played a lonely boy befriended by a mysterious stranger played by Anthony Hopkins. The interplay between this Oscar-winning icon and a gifted newcomer was surprisingly evenhanded. Yelchin kept you watching him, even when Hopkins was declaiming.

read more...

Scott Hicks during the making of his feature doc Highly Strung.

Screen Nsw and ABC TV Arts have announced a new three-year joint initiative to fund one feature length documentary on the arts each year..

Screen Nsw will contribute $100,000 and the ABC Licence is $150,000, and the chosen film will premiere at the Sydney Film Festival each year prior to screening on ABC TV.

Applications are sought for projects that will suit primetime broadcast and deal in "Arts in the broadest sense, appealing to a wide audience."

.The documentary feature genre is enjoying a fantastic resurgence, both here in Australia and around the world", Screen Nsw CEO Courtney Gibson said.

"Screen Nsw is pleased to be partnering with ABC TV Arts to seek out and support Nsw-based practitioners with feature length documentary projects, and where better to have their world premiere than at the Sydney Film Festival!"

ABC Director of Television...

Now in its 26th year, Washington Jewish Film Festival (February 24 – March 6) explores gender, migration, the supernatural, Arab citizens of Israel, artists’ lives, and Lgbtq themes. In addition to the groundbreaking lineup of films, the Festival will host talkbacks and panel discussions with over 50 domestic and international filmmaker guests. The Festival is one of the region’s preeminent showcases for international and independent cinema.

A project of the Washington D.C. Jewish Community Center (Dcjcc), the Washington Jewish Film Festival (Wjff) is the largest Jewish cultural event in the greater Washington, D.C. area. This year’s Festival includes 69 films and over 150 screenings at the AFI Silver Theatre, the Avalon Theatre, Bethesda Row Cinema, E Street Cinema, the Jcc of Greater Washington, the National Gallery of Art, West End Cinema, and the Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater at the Dcjcc.

“We are excited to present our most ambitious Festival yet,” said Ilya Tovbis, Director of the Washington Jewish Film Festival. “The Washington Jewish Film Festival is a highlight on our city’s cultural calendar. This has been a banner year for original cinematic visions hitting the screen. It is a genuine pleasure to share this crop of bold, independent, film voices that have been garnering praise at Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, and elsewhere, with DC audiences. This year’s Festival simultaneously challenges and expands on our understanding of Jewish identity.”

The lineup includes new and classic films, encompassing a wide range of Jewish perspectives from the United States, Israel, Europe, Asia, and Africa. While the Festival touches a broad set of themes, this year’s lineup offers two programmatic focuses – one on the lives of artists (“Re-framing the Artists”) and the other on Lgbtq individuals (“Rated Lgbtq”). “Reframing the Artist” features an in-depth exploration of artists’ lives, accomplishments, and inspiration. The seven-film “Rated Lgbtq” series explores sexuality, gender, and identity on screen.

The Festival will also engage attendees with off-screen programming including “Story District Presents: God Loves You? True Stories about Faith and Sexuality,” an evening of true stories presented in partnership with Story District, and the 6th Annual Community Education Day on Arab Citizens of Israel. Kicked off by a screening of "Women in Sink," this day features in-depth conversations with Reem Younis, co-founder of Nazareth-based global high-tech company Alpha Omega, and Tziona Koenig-Yair, Israel’s first Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioner.

A full Festival schedule can be found at www.wjff.org . Select highlights are included below:

Opening Night: "Baba Joon"

Opening Night features Israel’s submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award®, "Baba Joon," a tender tale of a generational divide and the immigrant experience. Yitzhak (Navid Negahban of Showtime’s Emmy Award-winning original series “Homeland”) runs the turkey farm his father built after they emigrated from Iran to Israel.

When his son Moti turns 13, Yitzhak teaches him the trade in hopes that he will take over the family business — but Moti’s dreams lie elsewhere. The arrival of an uncle from America further ratchets up the tension and the family’s tight bonds are put to the test. Opening Night will be held at the AFI Silver Theatre on Wednesday, February 24 at 6:30 p.m. The Opening Night Party, with DirectorYuval Delshad, will be held at the Silver Spring Civic Building at Veterans Plaza immediately following the screening.

Closing Night : "A Tale of Love and Darkness"

Closing Night centers on Academy Award®-winning actress Natalie Portman in her debut as a director (and screenwriter) in a hauntingly beautiful adaptation of Amos Oz’s best-selling memoir, "A Tale of Love and Darkness." In this dream-like tale, Portman inhabits Fania—Oz’s mother—who brings up her son in Jerusalem during the end of the British Mandate for Palestine and the early years of the State of Israel. Dissatisfied with her marriage, and disoriented by the foreign land surrounding her, Fania escapes into elaborate, fanciful stories of make-believe — bringing her adoring, wide-eyed son along. Closing Night will be held at the Dcjcc on Sunday, March 6 at 6:45 p.m. Followed by a Closing Night Reception and the Audience Award Ceremony.

Wjff Visionary Award Presented to Armin Mueller-Stahl

The Wjff’s Annual Visionary Award recognizes creativity and insight in presenting the full diversity of the Jewish experience through moving image. The 2016 honoree is Armin Mueller-Stahl, who will join us for a special extended Q&A and the presentation of the Wjff Visionary Award. The award will be presented alongside a screening of Barry Levinson’s 1990 film "Avalon," an evocative, nostalgic film that celebrates the virtues of family life. “Avalon” begins with Jewish immigrant Sam Krichinsky (portrayed by Armin Mueller-Stahl) arriving in America on July 4th. He settles in Baltimore with his brothers and raises a family. Director Barry Levinson traces various transitions within the Krichinsky family and conveys his appreciation for the anxieties that afflict the suburban middle-class – and multiple generations of immigrants in particular.

Armin Mueller-Stahl is a German actor, painter, writer and musician. He began acting in East Berlin in 1950, winning the Gdr State Prize for his film work. By 1977, however, he was blacklisted by the communist regime due to his persistent activism in protesting government suppression of the arts. After relocating to the West in 1980, he starred in groundbreaking independent European films, such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s “Lola” and “Veronika Voss” and Agnieszka Holland’s “Angry Harvest.” He gained major recognition stateside with two radically different characterizations: an aging Nazi war criminal in Costa-Gavras’ “The Music Box” and Jewish grandpa Sam Krischinsky in Barry Levinson’s “Avalon.” He went on to earn an Oscar® nomination for his role in Scott Hicks’ Shine and appeared in such varied work as “Eastern Promises,” “The Game,” “The West Wing,” “The X Files” and “Knight of Cups.”

The Wjff Visionary Award program will take place at the AFI Silver Theatre on Thursday, March 3 at 6:45 p.m.

Spotlight Evening:

Compared to What? The Improbable Journey of Barney Frank

A polarizing, revolutionary, effective and a most-singular figure in American politics, Barney Frank shaped the debate around progressive values and gay rights in the U.S. Congress for over 40 years. A fresh and contemporary political drama with unparalleled access to one of Congress’ first openly gay Representatives and easily one of the most captivating public figures in recent memory.

Born Jewish, and a longtime friend to the Jewish community and supporter of Israel, Frank is refreshingly honest, likeable and passionate – a beacon of statesmanship that politicians and citizens alike, can look to for inspiration.

Screenings will take place on Tuesday, March 1st at the Avalon Theatre at 6:15 p.m. and Wednesday, March 2 at the Dcjcc at 6:15 p.m. Both screenings followed by a discussion with Barney Frank, husband Jim Ready and filmmakers Sheila Canavan and Michael Chandler.

Spotlight Evening:

Gary Lucas’ Fleischerei: Music From Max Fleischer Cartoons

Celebrating the release of the titular album—on Silver Spring-based label Cuneiform—legendary guitarist Gary Lucas joins forces with Tony®-nominated singer and actress Sarah Stiles (Q Street,Hand to God) for a loving musical tribute to the swinging, jazzy soundtracks that adorned master animator Max Fleischer’s surreal, wacky and Yiddish-inflected "Betty Boop" and "Popeye" cartoons of the 1930’s.

Backed by the cartoons themselves, and the cream of NYC’s jazz performers (Jeff Lederer on reeds, Michael Bates on bass, Rob Garcia on drums and Mingus Big Band’s Joe Fiedler on trombone), Lucas and Stiles have a rare evening in store. Get ready for a swirling melting-pot of jungle-band jazz, Tin Pan Alley torch songs, raucous vaudeville turns, and Dixieland mixed with a pinch of Klezmer.

This event will take place at AFI Silver Theatre on Saturday, March 5 at 8:30 p.m.

Additional Films of Note

The Wjff will present the mid-Atlantic premiere of "Barash." In the film, seventeen-year-old Naama Barash enjoys drugs, alcohol and hanging out with like-minded friends. Her activities are an escape from a strained home life where her parents fight and her rebellious, army-enrolled sister wreaks havoc by dating a Palestinian before going Awol all together. As her parents fret about their older daughter’s disappearance, Naama meets a wild girl in school and discovers the intoxicating rush of first love. “Barash” will be screened three times during the festival, on February 27 at 8:45 p.m. at E Street Cinema, on March 2 at 8:45 p.m. at the Avalon Theatre and on March 3 at 6:15 p.m. at Bethesda Row Cinema.

"Black Jews: The Roots of the Olive Tree" will have its World Premiere at Wjff. The documentary offers a fascinating exploration of African tribes with Jewish roots – in Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Cameroon. Some claim to be descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes; others believe their ancestors were Jews who immigrated from Judea to Yemen. Far from a dry archaeological account, the film focuses on the modern-day personal and institutional practice of Judaism throughout Africa, as well as of recent African immigrants in Israel. This film will be screened on March 2 at 6:45 p.m. at Bethesda Row Cinema and on March 3 at 6:30 p.m. at E Street Cinema.

The mid-Atlantic premiere of "Demon," from director Marcin Wrona, features a chilling, modern interpretation of the Dybbuk legend. Piotr’s joy at visiting his bride-to-be at her Polish home is quickly upended by his discovery of human bones on the property. Since his future father-in-law plans to gift the newlyweds the land, Piotr at first overlooks this ominous find. The disturbed spirit inhabiting these remains isn’t willing to let him off so easily however. Marcin Wrona’s wickedly sharp and creepy story of possession is set against a bacchanal celebration of blissful union. “Demon” will be screened on February 25th at 8:45 p.m. at E Street Cinema and on March 1 at 9:15 p.m. at AFI Silver Theatre.

From Spain, the mid-Atlantic premiere of "Dirty Wolves" is a WWII thriller imbued with notes of magical realism. Director Simón Casal works in the Wolfram (aka tungsten) mines in rural Galicia. A ruthless Nazi brigade, intent on harvesting the rare metal to feed the Third Reich’s war machine, has captured the mines. When Manuela’s sister helps a Jewish prisoner cross the border to Portugal, they are unwittingly forced into a desperate test, which puts their survival squarely at odds with their sense of justice. “Dirty Wolves” will be screened on February 27 at 6:15 p.m. at West End Cinema, on March 1 at 8:45 p.m. at the Avalon Theatre and on March 2 at 6:45 p.m. at AFI Silver Theatre.

In "The Hebrew Superhero," directors Saul Betser and Asaf Galay examine how Israelis long shunned comics as something on the cultural fringe – they were deemed childish, trivial and, perhaps most cuttingly, un-Israeli. Shaul Betser and Asaf Galay (“The Muses of Isaac Bashevis Singer”) outline the medium’s origins, tracing its evolution from quirky upstart to an indelible reflection on the various forms of Israeli heroes. Featuring gorgeous animation and interviews with Daniella London Dekel, Etgar Keret and Dudu Geva, Wjff is presenting the mid-Atlantic premiere of this documentary, which will be screened on February 25 at 7:15 p.m. at the AFI Silver Theatre, March 1 at 6:30 p.m. at Bethesda Row Cinema and March 3 at 8:30 p.m. at E Street Cinema.

Simone Veil’s intrepid fight to legalize abortion in France is brilliantly brought to life in "The Law." In 1974, Veil was charged with decriminalizing abortion and easing access to contraceptives. Facing strong opposition from politicians, an enraged public and the Catholic Church, Veil— an Auschwitz survivor—refused to give up. Fighting for justice amidst a swirl of anti-Semitic sentiment, sexism and personal attacks, her perseverance struck at the heart of national bigotry in a rallying cry for a woman’s right to choose. Wjff will present the D.C. premiere of this French film. It will be screened on February 25 at 8:15 p.m. at Bethesda Row Cinema, on February 29 at 8:45 p.m. at E Street Cinema and on March 5 at 4:45 p.m. at the Dcjcc.

At 90, Miriam Beerman is a survivor. This groundbreaking artist and Potomac, Maryland resident has overcome personal tragedy to inspire friends, family, peers, patrons and students about how to remain defiant, creative and strong. Miriam has struggled with her artistic demons to create haunting images that evoke the suffering of generations of victims. "Miriam Beerman: Expressing the Chaosis" a memorable profile of an artist who has elevated her empathy for the plight of the world’s cast-offs into powerful portrayals of dignity. The Wjff is hosting the mid-Atlantic premiere of this documentary. Screenings will take place on March 2 at 6:30 p.m. at Bethesda Row Cinema and March 3 at 6:15 p.m. at the Dcjcc.

Author and director David Bezmozgis brings his film "Natasha" to Wjff for its D.C. premiere. Adapting his prize-winning story collection,Natasha and Other Stories, to screen, Bezmogis delivers a tragic story of young love. Sixteen-year-old Mark Berman, the son of Latvian-Jewish immigrants, wiles away his hours reading Nietzsche, smoking pot and watching porn. His slacker lifestyle is upended when a 14-year-old hurricane, named Natasha, enters the picture. Drawn to her reckless ways and whispers of her promiscuous past, Mark enters an illicit romance with calamitous consequences. Screenings will take place on February 28 at 5:00 p.m. at West End Cinema, March 3 at 8:30 p.m. at Bethesda Row Cinema and March 5 at 6:15 p.m. at AFI Silver Theatre.

If you believe the fastest way to the heart is through the stomach, "In Search of Israeli Cuisine" offers a delectable, eye-popping culinary journey through Israel is your personal valentine. Weaving through bustling markets, restaurants, kitchens and farms, we meet cooks, vintners and cheese makers drawn from the wide gamut of cultures making up Israel today — Jewish, Arab, Muslim, Christian and Druze. With James Beard award-winning chef Michael Solomonov as your guide, get ready for a cinematic buffet that’s humorous, heady, and of course, delicious! Wjff will be showing the mid-Atlantic premiere of this new documentary. Screenings will take place on February 28 at 5:15 p.m. at E Street Cinema, March 1 at 8:15 p.m. at Bethesda Row Cinema and March 4 at 12:30 p.m. at the Dcjcc.

A complete festival schedule can be found online at www.wjff.org...

The Shine director unpicks the mystery of the string music world but fails to follow up some of his own interesting lines in this messy documentary

Director Scott Hicks has turned his focus to music-related subjects before: most memorably in his 1996 masterpiece Shine and also in the 2007 documentary Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts. In the latter, Hicks got up close and personal with the legendary composer, following him around for a year and taking a detailed look at his day-to-day life. At times the film felt oddly skewed to Glass as a person rather than focusing on the art or the artist – it even featured an oddly long sequence capturing him preparing pizzas in his holiday home.

Related: Shine: rewatching classic Australian films

Continue reading...

facebook

twitter

google+

Wondering what you’ll watch when The Hunger Games franchise is over? We’ve got some ideas…

As well as sequels, remakes, and comic book adaptations, there’s one kind of movie you can feel fairly sure is going to keep popping up at a cinema near you: young adult adaptations. Stories about teenagers are still doing big business in the book trade, and thanks to Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games, Hollywood is convinced of the genre’s appeal, too.

A couple of new franchises have already been kicked off – there’s still at least another Divergent sequel on the way, and another Maze Runner sequel – but what’s more interesting is the list of Ya novels that have been optioned and may soon be taking over the box office. Now, not all of the adaptations on this list will see the light of day,...

The Adelaide Film Festival has announced its competition line-up for 2015.

Four directorial debuts are among the Adelaide Film Festival’s (Oct 15-25) 10 competition titles: Visar Morina’s Father, a refugee story that opens in 1990s Kosovo and closes in Germany; Danish director Daniel Dencik’s historical drama Gold Coast, set in Africa; Lamb, set in director Yared Zaleke’s homeland of Ethiopia; and South Korean thriller Office from Hong Won-Chan.

The two Australian films in the mix are Sue Brooks’ Looking For Grace, starring Richard Roxburgh, Radha Mitchell and rising star Odessa Young, and a love story complicated by tribal tradition that was filmed in Vanuatu and sees documentary collaborators Bentley Dean and Martin Butler cross over into narrative drama.

Carol, Todd Haynes’ story of lady love set in Manhattan in the 1950s, also has a strong Australian connection given that the homegrown Cate Blanchett plays a wealthy socialite whose life becomes entangled with that of a shop...

The Australian premiere of Cate Blanchett's Carol is set to headline this year's Adelaide Film Festival.

One-hundred and eighty films will screen at the Festival - including over 40 Australian films, and 24 South Australian films - with 51 countries represented at the Festival.

Some of films' biggest names, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Jane Fonda, Michael Keaton, Richard Roxburgh, Anthony Lapaglia and Rachel McAdams.

In its eleventh year, the 2015 Adelaide Film Festival will provide the best of local, Australian and internationally produced films, with an eclectic mix of cinema, television, art and the moving image . plus the one night only reunion of Festival ambassadors Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton, as they host the Ultimate Quiz night.

The Festival will feature new work from Australian directors including Scott Hicks, Jocelyn Moorhouse, Matt Saville, Sue Brooks, Stephen Page, Matthew Bate, Meryl Tankard and Rosemary Myers.

It will also include work from international filmmakers Todd Haynes,...

Exclusive: UK actor cast as Kunta Kinte in A+E Networks’ scripted event series.

UK actor Malachi Kirby (Gone Too Far) has been cast in the lead role in A+E Networks’ anticipated remake of landmark 1977 miniseries Roots.

Former Screen Star of Tomorrow Kirby is set to play Kunta Kinte in the seven-part series, which is described as a historical portrait of American slavery recounting the journey of one family’s will to survive.

The narrative spans multiple generations, beginning with young Kunta Kinte, who is captured in his homeland in the Gambia and transported in brutal conditions to colonial America, where he’s sold into slavery.

Throughout the series, the family continues to face adversity while bearing witness and contributing to notable events in Us history - including the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, slave uprisings and eventual emancipation.

Rising star

The fast-rising Kirby, who played in 2013 comedy drama Gone Too Far and Toronto-bound Afghan war thriller...

The actor has been stranded on the edges of blockbusters such as Mad Max: Fury Road and the Divergent series, but ahead of new film Dope she’s taking on Hollywood’s stereotypes and making a name for herself

On her first day shooting her first feature, Zoë Kravitz wasn’t allowed to work. Cast as a goth babysitter in the Catherine Zeta-Jones romcom No Reservations, the teenager couldn’t go on set until her designated guardian had signed in. But Lenny Kravitz was running late, and when he eventually arrived, the rock star caused such a stir that the delays simmered on. The film’s director, Scott Hicks, had no idea Zoë was Lenny’s daughter when he cast her; he wasn’t expecting the fuss. So Zoë took control. “She told her dad off,” says Hicks. “He wasn’t late again.”

Kravitz, now 26, doesn’t take any nonsense.

The world premieres of Scott Hicks. documentary Highly Strung and Matt Saville.s comedy/drama A Month of Sundays are among the highlights of this year.s Adelaide Film Festival.

The program includes the debut features from Bangarra Dance Company.s Stephen Page and Windmill Theatre Company.s Rosemary Myers as well as Jocelyn Moorhouse.s The Dressmaker.

A hit at. Sundance this year, Sam Klemke.s Time Machine will have its Australian premiere at the festival, which runs from October 15-25.

Another highlight is the 21st anniversary screening of Rolf de Heer.s Bad Boy Bubby at the Waterside Workers Hall in Port Adelaide on October 17. De Heer said, .It's startling to think that 22 years after Bad Boy Bubby confounded everyone, including me, by winning five prizes at the Venice Film Festival, and 21 years after it was released to an unsuspecting general public, the film is still ticking away,...

Jim Seibel and Bill Johnson’s company will finance and handle international sales after acquiring Peter Scott’s spec R-rated comedy screenplay.

Film 360’s Daniel Rappaport and Ben Forkner will produce with Industry Entertainment’s Andrew Deane and Michael Botti.

Will Speck and Josh Gordon will serve as executive producers alongside Seibel, Johnson and Ara Keshishian.

The project centres on a couple who visit their freshman son at during parent’s weekend and enjoy the university experience they never had.

Scott (pictured) is the author of two books, Well Groomed and There’s A Spouse In My House: A Humorous Journey Through The First Years Of Marriage.

Lotus Entertainment’s slate includes: David Leveaux’s The Kaiser’s Last Kiss starring Lily James and Christopher Plummer; Tom Tykwer’s A Hologram For A King starring Tom Hanks; Scott Hicks’ Fallen; Sacha Gervasi’s November Criminals with Chloë Grace Moretz and Ansel Elgort; and Tanya Wexler’s [link...

Jim Seibel and Bill Johnson will commence sales in Cannes on the Starz original TV series adaptation starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Olga Kurylenko, Bruce Willis, Bill Murray, Danny Huston, and Kelly Lynch.

Len Blavatnik of AI Film, Brett Ratner of RatPac, Gerry Schwartz of Onex Corporation and Jacky Bibliowicz will produce and finance.

Steve Bing of Shangri-La Entertainment, Alan J Helene and Mitch Glazer produce. CAA represents Us rights with Jeff Berg.

Magic City was originally introduced by Qed International at Afm and takes place in 1962 Miami as a powerful Miami Beach hotel owner fights the mob, CIA and Cuban mercenaries.

Production is scheduled to begin in August.

Lotus Entertainment’s slate includes: Sacha Gervasi’s November Criminals with Chloë Grace Moretz and Ansel Elgort; Xavier Gens’ thriller The Crucifixion; Shekhar Kapur’s adventure Tiger’s Curse; and Tanya Wexler’s Replicas starring Keanu Reeves.

The company is in post on Luis Prieto’s Kidnap starring [link=nm...

Umbrella Entertainment is restoring Australian classic Jedda plus Angel Baby and Burke & Wills for re-issue in HD on DVD and VOD platforms as part of an ongoing preservation program.

The distributor is also working with producer Jane Scott and distributor Andrew Pike on an HD version of Scott Hicks. Shine, and with Scott on Goodbye Paradise.

As part of its restoration program which covers around 200 titles, Umbrella plans to release on one DVD two musical films produced by Peter Clifton, one on The Easybeats. tour of England in 1967, the other looking at a concert by The Rolling Stones at Sydney Showground in 1966, hosted by DJ Ward ..Pally.. Austin.

Shot in 1955, Jedda was the last film from Australian filmmaker Charles Chauvel, who died four years later. The first Australian feature made in colour, it starred Indigenous actors Robert Tudawali and Ngarla Kunoth in the saga of an Aboriginal woman who is...

Internationally acclaimed producer and filmmaker Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth) has come on to direct the epic adventure film Tiger’S Curse, based on the first in a series of New York Times bestselling novels by author Colleen Houck. Julie Plec, creator of “The Vampire Diaries” and “The Originals” has adapted the book for the screen.

Ineffable Pictures’ founder Raphael Kryszek and Jesse Israel will produce along with Lotus Entertainment’s Bill Johnson and Jim Seibel, and with director Shekhar Kapur. Lotus’ D.J. Gugenheim and Ara Keshishian are executive producing and Lotus will introduce the action/adventure to foreign buyers starting at Afm.

Tiger’S Curse follows Kelsey Hayes who learns that she has a powerful connection with a beautiful white tiger named Ren, while working at a circus in Oregon over the summer. When a mysterious stranger arrives to reclaim Ren and return him to his native India, Kelsey is whisked...

Shekhar Kapur will direct the epic adventure project that Bill Johnson and Jim Seibel will introduce to buyers this week.

Tiger’s Curse is based on the first in a series of New York Times novels by Colleen Houck about a circus worker who embarks on an adventure to free a prince from the curse that keeps him inside a tiger’s body.

The Vampire Diaries and The Originals creator Julie Plec adapted the screenplay. Ineffable Pictures’ founder Raphael Kryszek and Jesse Israel will produce alongside Lotus Entertainment’s Johnson and Seibel and Kapur.

Lotus’ DJ Gugenheim and Ara Keshishian serve as executive producers.

“Colleen Houck has created a brilliant story of a young girl’s journey through amazing adventures in the discovery of herself,” said Kapur.

“We are thrilled to pair Kapur’s creative talent with Houck’s epic adventure,” said Kryszek. “This is the first film in a franchise certain to capture the hearts and minds...

Lotus Entertainment and di Bonaventura Pictures announced today Keanu Reeves will star in Replicas from director Tanya Wexler, the follow-up to her successful hit (Hysteria). From a screenplay by Chad St. John, Replicas is produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura (GI Joe, Transformers Franchises), Stephen Hamel, Reeves, and Fundamental Films. Company Films’ partners Hamel and Reeves developed the script based on Hamel’s treatment. Lotus will introduce the sci-fi thriller to foreign buyers starting at the upcoming Afm. CAA is handling domestic rights.

After a car accident kills his loving family, a daring neuroscientist will stop at nothing to bring them back, even if it means pitting himself against a government-controlled laboratory, a police task force, and the physical laws of science themselves.

Production is slated for spring 2015.

No stranger to sci-fi action films, Reeves is possibly best known for his role as “Neo” in the wildly popular The Matrix Trilogy.

Exclusive: As we wait for the acquisition titles here at Toronto to get moving, Relativity has scored its second deal for a film not in the festival. Relativity has closed U.S. distribution rights to the Lotus Entertainment thriller Kidnap, which stars Halle Berry and will be directed by Luis Prieto from a script by Knate Gwaltney. Production on the thriller begins this fall. This follows Relativity’s deal on the fest’s opening day for Woman In Black 2, which is in the can.

It’s also the second deal for Lotus and Gold Star Films, the Kidnap financiers. They previously made a pre-fest North American rights deal with Lionsgate on Maggie, the Henry Hobson-directed zombie film that stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Abigail Breslin, the latter playing the title character who goes through the slow corpsey metamorphosis. Lotus is selling international on Kidnap, a task made easier given Berry...

The ailing screen production sector is set to get a major boost with more than $80 million worth of films, TV dramas and a documentary receiving funding from Screen Australia.

The agency is investing more than $12 million in four features, four adult dramas, two children.s dramas and a theatrical doc. In addition Scroz is providing completion funding to sex comedy The Little Deaths, writer-director Josh Lawson.s feature debut.

The projects include a Blinky Bill animated movie, a comedy set during the Cronulla race riots, the long-mooted Molly Meldrum TV drama and The Principal, the first drama commissioned by Sbs since Better Man.

.We have backed some of our great contemporary writers, directors and producers, alongside some exciting new voices, . said Screen Australia head of production Sally Caplan.

.The projects target audiences as diverse as Australia is today, with projects which are ambitious, risk-taking and culturally important, revealing we have...

Above: Pedro Costa's Horse Money

The Locarno Film Festival has announced their lineup for the 67th edition, taking place this August between the 6th and 16th. It speaks for itself, but, um, wow...

"Every film festival, be it small or large, claims to offer, if not an account of the state of things, then an updated map of the art form and the world it seeks to represent. This cartography should show both the major routes and the byways, along with essential places to visit and those that are more unusual. The Festival del film Locarno is no exception to the rule, and I think that looking through the program you will be able to distinguish the route map for this edition." — Carlo Chatrian, Artistic Director

Above: Matías Piñeiro's The Princess of France

Concorso Internazionale (Official Competition)

A Blast (Syllas Tzoumerkas, Greece/Germany/Netherlands)

Alive (Jungbum Park, South Korea)

Horse Money (Pedro Costa,...

Halle Berry will star in Luis Prieto’s thriller Kidnap and Bill Johnson and Jim Seibel’s Lotus Entertainment is shopping international rights in Cannes.

CAA packaged the project and represents Us rights to the story about a mother who does whatever it takes to rescue her abducted son.

Knate Gwaltney wrote the screenplay and Di Bonaventura Pictures’ Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Erik Howsam are producing.

Joey Tufaro and Colin Bates are executive producers, as are Claudia Blumhuber and Florian Dargel of financier Silver Reel, Lotus’ Johnson and Seibel and Ara Keshishian and DJ Guggenheim.

Berry joins the executive producer roster with her producing partner Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas through their 606 Films production label.

Lotus are also collaborating with di Bonaventura and Silver Reel on Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, which is currently in development.

Lotus’ sales slate includes the beleaguered Cannes opener Grace Of Monaco; Tom Tykwer’s A Hologram For The King starring Tom Hanks; Scott Hicks’ [link...

Tweens. Fallen angels. Supernatural occurrences. A love triangle. Lots and lots of brooding. Yep it's a familiar formula and you'll find it in spades once the big screen adaptation of Lauren Kate's Fallen gets here. Speaking of which, we have your first look... furrowed brows and all.

From the Press Release

Based on the worldwide bestselling book series, Fallen is seen through the eyes of Lucinda “Luce” Price, a strong-willed seventeen-year-old living a seemingly ordinary life until she is accused of a crime she didn’t commit. Sent off to the imposing Sword & Cross reform school, Luce finds herself being courted by two young men to whom she feels oddly connected. Isolated and haunted by strange visions, Luce begins to unravel the secrets of her past and discovers the two men are fallen angels, competing for her love for centuries. Luce must choose where her feelings lie, pitting Heaven...

Scheduled for a 2015 theatrical release, here’s a first look at Fallen. Based on the worldwide bestselling book series by Lauren Kate, Australian filmmaker Scott Hicks (Shine) will direct from a script by Michael Ross.

Fallen is seen through the eyes of Lucinda “Luce” Price, a strong-willed seventeen-year-old living a seemingly ordinary life until she is accused of a crime she didn’t commit. Sent off to the imposing Sword & Cross reform school, Luce finds herself being courted by two young men to whom she feels oddly connected. Isolated and haunted by strange visions, Luce begins to unravel the secrets of her past and discovers the two men are fallen angels, competing for her love for centuries. Luce must choose where her feelings lie, pitting Heaven against Hell in an epic battle over true love.

Fallen stars Addison Timlin (Stand Up Guys), Jeremy Irvine (War Horse), Harrison Gilbertson (Need For Speed...

Oscar nominated writer/director Scott Hicks (Shine) has gone from Oscar contenders to young adult adaptations as he is now working on a feature film adaptation of Lauren Kate's Fallen and today we get the above first look picture as production is underway. amz asin="B002WE46VG" size="small"The film will feature Addison Timlin (Zac Efron's f**k buddy in That Awkward Moment) as Lucinda "Luce" Price, a 17-year-old accused of a crime she didn't commit. Sent off to the Sword & Cross reform school, Luce finds herself being courted by two young men (War Horse star Jeremy Irvine and Harrison Gilbertson who played Little Pete in Need for Speed) who turn out to be fallen angels, whom the official synopsis tells us have been "competing for her love for centuries". Really, before she was even bornc There must be an amazing back-story there, or you can...

Diving into the genre of young-adult film adaptations is a dangerous proposition these days. "Harry Potter" and "The Hunger Games" are two of the biggest film franchises there are and cross all demographics. "Twilight" is more female-oriented and less critically acclaimed, but is also a box-office juggernaut. Even though this year's "Divergent" may not be on the same level, only an idiot wouldn't call it a hit with major potential.

Yet there have been numerous bodies left in their wake. "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones," "Beautiful Creatures," "The Golden Compass," "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant," "I Am Number Four," "The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising," "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events," "City of Ember," "Stormbreaker," "The Spiderwick Chronicles" and more.

Today, Yahoo has premiered the first photo from the latest to give it a go - a film adaptation of Lauren Kate's book series "Fallen". Some...

Fallen, a Gothic romantic thriller based on the first book in a series of novels by Lauren Kate, starts shooting in Budapest in March but there are plenty of Adelaide connections to the Us indie production.

The director is Scott Hicks, who hails from Adelaide, as do cast members Harrison Gilbertson and Sianoa Smit-McPhee.

Hicks will return to Adelaide to cut the film at Kojo Post. He.d liked to have hired an Australian firm to handle the visual effects but the numbers didn.t stack up.

.Our dollar is still high which makes it difficult to compete with other countries, .Hicks tells If on the line from Budapest. A VFX deal is still being finalised but will likely go to a Canadian company.

The plot follows Lucinda (Addison Timlin of Stand Up Guys and TV.s Zero Hour and Californication), a shy teenager who is sent to Sword and...

There are films we see and films we remember. Few leave as lasting an impression as this 1996 biopic, starring 43-year-old Geoffrey Rush in the breakthrough role that won him an Oscar

When audiences met David Helfgott in Scott Hicks’s 1996 biopic, Shine, they met a character they would never forget. Drenched from the rain, with a cigarette drooping from his mouth as he giggles and gabs at a million miles an hour, they watched in awe as Geoffrey Rush transformed before their eyes. Who was this actor, and where did he come from? Aged 43 when Shine opened, Rush was a late bloomer.

If we brush aside every genre we use to contextualise cinema, every shorthand we use to describe the stories we watch, there are only two kinds of films: the films we see and the films we remember. Few films leave a lasting impression as great as Hicks’s film about troubled genius,...

Co-directors Stephen Lance and Mairi Cameron are just back after spending 10 days in the Us polishing the screenplay of The Secrets Lives of Dresses with the Brooklyn-based writer, Aussie Emma Vuletic.

Lance and Cameron also spent a few days in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to soak up the atmosphere in the town where the source material, Erin McKean.s novel, is set.

Producer Leanne Tonkes and Lance are exploring the idea of co-producing the film with heavyweight Us producer Grant Curtis, who produced all three Spider-Man movies and executive-produced Sam Raimi's Oz the Great and Powerful. Curtis and his producing partner Jeremy Wheeler wanted to buy the film rights and contacted Tonkes and Lance after discovering they optioned the novel in 2011.

Tonkes and Lance tell If they will .aim high. in casting the lead roles but will ensure there is significant Australian content to qualify for the 40% producer offset.

The protagonist is Dora,...

Worldview Entertainment has signed on to finance and produce the crime thriller, Candy Store, starring Academy Award winner Robert De Niro, Jason Clarke and Omar Sy.

Academy Award winner Stephen Gaghan will direct from a screenplay he wrote with Shannon Burke. Principal photography will commence in 2014.

Candy Store is the story of an undercover agent who begins a new life as a beat cop in Brooklyn, but finds that his past life comes back to haunt him.

Gaghan and Allison Sheamur through Allison Sheamur Productions will produce alongside Worldview CEO, Christopher Woodrow, and COO, Molly Conners and Nicolas Gonda and Ryan Rettig for Ironwood, which is making an investment in the film. Worldview’s Maria Cestone and Sarah E. Johnson and Lotus’s Bill Johnson and Jim Seibel will executive produce alongside Michael G. Macs for Ironwood, Allyn Stewart and Kipp Nelson for Flashlight Films and Suzanne Joskow for Unsupervised.

Us screenwriter Ellen Fontana knew almost instantly when she first met Emma Booth two weeks ago that the actress is an inspired choice to play one of the main protagonists in the film Shallows.

Booth will play the fiercely independent Queenie in the drama based on the Tim Winton novel which looks at successive generations of a whaling family in Albany, Western Australia, starting in the 1830s.

Queenie gets caught up in the Greenpeace movement which arrived in town in the 1970s, sparking protests which led to the closure of the whaling station.

Fontana is adapting the screenplay, her second involvement with Winton after co-writing with him Cloudstreet,. the miniseries directed by Matt Saville.

.Emma has so many of the qualities, everything I had intuited about Queenie,. Ellen told If on the line from her home in Los Angeles. .She hides nothing; she is a completely authentic person. She.s...

From the story of a teenage daughter of a parent undergoing gender transitioning to North Korea's first rom-com, our pick of the Adelaide film festival

It has been more than two and a half years since the last Adelaide film festival, a long stretch even for a city nurtured on (and thankfully leaving behind) the notion of only hosting major arts events biennially. But anguished cinema junkies can rejoice, with a fresh-look festival bringing joy to October away from the city's crowded "Mad March" calendar. If you're a little rusty and intimidated at the sight of the full package of features, shorts, seminars and parties, then here are 10 filmic delights not to miss.

52 Tuesdays

There is sizzling anticipation for this local production and it will be one of the most prized tickets of the festival. Shot once a week over a year, Sophie Hyde's drama charts the relationship between...