News

Hulu has revealed the official trailer for Last Days of the Space Age, an eight-part series that will premiere on the streaming service on October 2, 2024.

Starring Radha Mitchell and Jesse Spencer, Last Days of the Space Age is a dramedy series set in 1979 Western Australia, when Perth was at the center of the world’s headlines.

A power strike threatens to plunge the region into darkness while the city hosts the iconic Miss Universe pageant and the US space station, Skylab, crashes just beyond the city’s suburbs.

Against this backdrop of international cultural and political shifts, three families in a tight-knit coastal community find their marriages, friendships, and futures put to the test.

The series is led by Radha Mitchell (Olympus Has Fallen) and Jesse Spencer (Chicago Fire) as wife and husband, Judy and Tony Bissett. Deborah Mailman (Total Control) and Linh-Dan Pham (The Beat That My Heart Skipped...

Boys Will Be Boyz

Sky Documentaries has unveiled plans for “Boyzone,” a three-part documentary series that will examine the trials and tribulations of Irish boyband and 1990s pop sensation Boyzone.

“For the first time in 30 years, band members Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy, Shane Lynch and Michael Graham grant rare and exclusive interview access [..] revealing their personal experiences in a band that sold over 25 million records worldwide, the boys also talk candidly about how they grappled with the true cost of global fame,” Sky said. “They confront the strained relationships and tragic events that have had a lasting impact on all their lives, families and friendships.”

“The documentary examines the key events that shaped Boyzone, including the highs and lows of global stardom, the intense tabloid intrusion in 1990’s Britain forcing Stephen Gately to come out, and after a sensational comeback in 2007, a devastating tragedy struck the band, as Gately died.

Richard Roxburgh, star of hit Netflix show “Rake” and “Elvis,” stars in “The Correspondent,” a fact-based thriller. He portrays Peter Greste, the veteran Australian TV news reporter who was arrested and detained in Cairo in 2013 while reporting for Al Jazeera.

Production of “The Correspondent” wrapped in Sydney, Australia after being directed by Kriv Stenders, who enjoyed major success in Australia with “Red Dog” and also directed hit “Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan.”

The film is based on Greste’s memoir “The First Casualty” and has an adapted screenplay by Peter Duncan. Greste is an award-winning foreign correspondent who, along with two of his colleagues, was reporting on the Arab Spring uprising. Days into his assignment, he became a pawn in a deadly game of ancient rivalries. Surviving an inexplicable nightmare with only his wits keeping him alive, Greste was sentenced to seven years in jail, but was released...

Team members find themselves in a dire situation on CBS’s NCIS: Sydney season one episode seven. Directed by Kriv Stenders from a script by Kim Ho and James Cripps, episode seven – “Bunder Down” – airs on Tuesday, January 16, 2024 at 8pm Et/Pt.

Season one stars Olivia Swann (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow) as NCIS Special Agent Michelle Mackey, Sean Sagar (The Covenant) as NCIS Special Agent DeShawn Jackson, and Todd Lasance (Spartacus: War of the Damned) as her 2Ic Afp counterpart, Sergeant Jim “Jd” Dempsey. The cast also includes Tuuli Narkle (Mystery Road: Origin) as Afp liaison officer Constable Evie Cooper, Mavournee Hazel (Shantaram) as Afp forensic scientist Bluebird “Blue” Gleeson, and William McInnes (The Newsreader) as Afp forensic pathologist Dr Roy Penrose.

“Bunker Down” Plot: When a U.S. Navy researcher is found dead at a glitzy tech launch in a secret underground bunker, part of the team heads over to investigate,...

‘Spit’ is one of five features to receive a share of $4.6m (A$6.9m).

Australian filmmaker Jonathan Teplitzky is working on a sequel to his 2003 crime comedy Gettin’ Square – one of five features to receive a share of $4.6m (A$6.9m) in production funding from national body Screen Australia.

The latest round of funding will also support Kriv Stenders’ The Correspondent; Cathy Randall’s Red Rock Run; Kate Woods’ Kangaroo; and Nicholas Clifford’s One More Shot.

Teplitzky’s Spit will mark the return of David Wenham as ex-junkie John Spitieri, who travels back to Australia only to find himself...

CBS’s NCIS: Sydney season one episode four finds the team working on a cold murder case. Directed by Kriv Stenders from a script by Tamara Asmar, episode four – “Ghosted” – will air on Tuesday, December 5, 2023 at 8pm Et/Pt.

Season one stars Olivia Swann (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow) as NCIS Special Agent Michelle Mackey, Sean Sagar (The Covenant) as NCIS Special Agent DeShawn Jackson, and Todd Lasance (Spartacus: War of the Damned) as her 2Ic Afp counterpart, Sergeant Jim “Jd” Dempsey. The cast also includes Tuuli Narkle (Mystery Road: Origin) as Afp liaison officer Constable Evie Cooper, Mavournee Hazel (Shantaram) as Afp forensic scientist Bluebird “Blue” Gleeson, and William McInnes (The Newsreader) as Afp forensic pathologist Dr Roy Penrose.

“Ghosted” Plot: When a U.S. petty officer’s body is found in Sydney’s historic and haunted Rocks area, a decades-old Navy Cross medal holds the clue to solving the murder,...

Distribution

Anthony Lapaglia‘s upcoming factual series “The Black Hand” is set to be distributed internationally by eOne.

The three-part series will explore Australia’s Italian community, looking at the difficulties they face, their politics, the threat of war and the mafia. According to the series synopsis, The Black Hand is the name for a gang of Italian criminals in Australia.

Alan Erson, Lapaglia, Michael Tear exec produce. Adam Grossetti and Kate Pappas produce. “The Black Hand” is directed by Kriv Stenders and written by Grossetti, Stenders and Anya Beyersdorf.

The series was produced by Wildbear Entertainment for ABC in Australia. The deal with eOne excludes Australia and Scandinavia.

“The Black Hand is truly the definition of premium factual,” said Kate Cundall, eOne’s VP for acquisitions. “We’re very excited about the opportunity to take to market a hugely popular genre like true crime with some amazing auspicious.”

***

Meanwhile,...

Nominations for this year’s Australian Directors’ Guild (Adg) Awards are shared amongst the likes of Wayne Blair, Shannon Murphy, Daniel Nettheim, Tennika Smith, and Jonathan Brough, who have all scored two nods each.

Murphy is one of two women included in the category for Best Direction in a Feature Film for Babyteeth, joining Unjoo Moon (I Am Woman) in a field that also includes Seth Larney (2067), Maziar Lahooti (Below), and Robert Connolly (The Dry).

She also gets the nod for Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Drama Series episode for Killing Eve, where she will compete against fellow double nominee Nettheim, who features for Halifax: Retribution (Series 1 Episode 7), and is also up for Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Miniseries Episode for Line of Duty (Series 6 Episode 1).

Blair is up for Best Direction in a Feature Documentary with co-director Nel Minchin for Firestarter: The Story of Bangarra,...

Members of the Australian Directors’ Guild have had the chance to hear from some of the country’s most established filmmakers over the past five months as part of the Adg-40 ‘First-Hand’ sessions.

Consisting of 40 weekly one-hour webinars fronted by industry mentors, the initiative is due to start again this week following a short break, with Claire McCarthy (The Turning) to share insights from her career on Thursday.

It comes after contributions from Gillian Armstrong, Rachel Perkins, Rolf de Heer, Samantha Lang, Corrie Chen, Ben Lawrence, Ana Kokkinos, Megan Riakos, Josephine Mackerras, Robert Connolly, Garth Davis, Sally Aitken, Jub Clerc, Kriv Stenders, Tom Zubrycki, Anna Broinowski, Peter Andrikidis, Jasmin Tarasin, and Glendyn Ivin.

The sessions are moderated by Adg strategy and development executive Ana Tiwary who is responsible for collating questions from those tuning in.

She has tried to focus on topics covering the practical aspects of directing that cannot be learned from a book,...

Former Wildbear Entertainment senior production manager Mags Scholes has been appointed head of content at Screen Queensland, replacing Diya Eid.

Scholes brings more than a decade of production experience to the role, having previously delivered content Netflix, Universal, HBO, Discovery, BBC, Nhk, Disney, Channel NewsAsia, Channel 5 UK, ITV and MTV among others.

She has also lectured at a variety of tertiary institutions, and is also on the management committee of Dame Changer.

In her new role, she will lead the Screen Queensland’s local production support and talent development initiatives.

Scholes said she was “particularly excited” to begin brainstorming new ideas for programs and assessing applications across games, factual, scripted series, feature films, and shorts.

“I love all forms of screen storytelling and it’s such a privilege to be at a point in my career where I can actively enable the creativity and professional development of emerging and...

For emerging director Samuel Rodwell, the transition from commercial work to films didn’t happen overnight: it took more than three years, during which time he captured one of Australia’s worst natural disasters in living memory.

The bushfires that ripped through the country in the summer of 2019/20 are seen through the eyes of the first responders in Rodwell’s Inferno, a documentary short designed to go beyond the media blockade and provide a real-time snapshot from the frontlines.

It’s a journey that began almost two years prior in January 2018 when Rodwell tried to use his commercial directing experience to craft a promotional film for the Nsw Rural Fire Service.

After having his project approved with the Canobolas District branch of Nsw Rfs in the state’s Central West region, the then 21-year-old went on to film the Mount Canobolas bushfire in February 2018, a deployment he credits with shifting his ambitions for the project.

To celebrate the 40 years since its inception, the Australian Directors’ Guild (Adg) will launch a series of mentoring sessions from some of its most high profile members, starting this week.

Adg-40 ‘First-Hand’ consists of 40 60-minute Zoom forums in a moderated Q&a format that will be held each Tuesday and Thursday from April 8.

Each Adg-40 ‘First-Hand’ webinar will be provided free-of-charge to Adg members across Australia and will include on-notice and ‘from the floor’ questions.

Adg strategy and development executive Ana Tiwary will moderate the forums, with president Samantha Lang to introduce the inaugural session mentor – Adg’s first president, Gillian Armstrong.

Armstrong said she was “delighted” to have the opportunity to “hopefully assist and inspire” the next generation of director members.

“It’s hard to believe it’s 40 years since a passionate and noisy group of us gathered around my kitchen table to form some sort of guild to protect Australian directors,...

The voting public has proclaimed 2011’s Red Dog as their favourite Aussie film of the decade via the Aacta Audience Awards.

Red Dog, directed by Kriv Stenders and produced by Nelson Woss and Julie Ryan, won the Aacta Award for Best Film in 2012, and grossed $21.5 million at the box office.

Network10/Endemol Shine Australia’s Offspring, created by Debra Oswald, Imogen Banks and John Edwards, was deemed Australia’s favourite TV drama of the decade. The show’s star Asher Keddie was also awarded favourite TV actor.

Apparently this happened last night … Red Dog was Your Favourite Australian Film Of The Decade on the Aacta Popular Vote Awards. Thanks peeps ! @RoadshowFilms @Screen_QLD @Screenwest @Aacta pic.twitter.com/Ar7X5gNCbw

— Kriv Stenders (@krivstenders) December 3, 2020

Hugh Jackman was named favourite global star, and Celeste Barber favourite comedy performer.

Masterchef’s Poh Ling Yeow was named favourite TV contestant, while Mick Fanning...

Frank Woodley.

Many producers fear the Federal Government’s sweeping media reforms will spell the death knell of Australian features, forcing them and some writers and directors to focus on content for streamers or free-to-air broadcasters.

Lowering the Producer Offset for films to 30 per cent from July 2021 will leave a gap of at least 25 per cent of the budgets which most producers will find impossible to fill, according to producer/distributor Sue Maslin.

“The exceptions will be largely foreign-financed films or local films with cast led by foreign actors making the most of Australian financial incentives, cast, crew and locations. That or extremely low budget films with little hope of competing in the cinema market,” the Film Art Media principal tells If.

“I find this summary dismissal of Australian cinema devastating and will be forced to relegate all feature films currently in development to the bottom drawer until we see...

Coeli Cutcliffe.

Coeli Cutcliffe has joined Jude Troy and Richard Finlayson’s Wooden Horse, where she will serve as development manager.

Most recently Cutcliffe was a development executive at Porchlight Films, where she worked for three years until the company closure in June 2020. Prior to this she was an executive at Southern Star, where she worked with John Edwards for almost a decade on shows such as The Secret Life of Us and Love My Way.

At Wooden Horse, Cutcliffe will be responsible for working with established and emerging creatives, and developing Australian stories for global audiences. The company currently has projects in development with Stan, ABC, and Sbs.

Joint CEOs Finlayson and Troy said: “We are thrilled to have Coeli join the Wooden Horse family. She is highly regarded within the creative community and her development skills a great asset as we continue to expand our slate of distinctive and diverse stories.

Stuart Beattie.

Screenwriter/producer Stuart Beattie’s illustrious career is in overdrive, with multiple projects bubbling in the US, Australia and Germany.

Some 28 years after the Aussie moved to LA, he is cashing in on his hard-earned reputation and extensive network of creative contacts.

One Australian-based project is a biopic about speed skater Steven Bradbury, who overcame seemingly insurmountable odds to win Australia’s first ever Olympic Winter Games Gold Medal.

The other is Interceptor, an action thriller to be directed by LA-based Australian novelist Matthew Reilly.

His US-based slate includes Rain, a 10-part drama based on a series of books by Barry Eisler about the exploits of a Japanese-American contract killer named John Rain.

Beattie is writing the bible and pilot and executive producing for Bedrock Entertainment, a new production banner founded by director Daniel Sackheim and producer Tony To in partnership with ITV Studios America.

Sackheim will direct the pilot,...

Philip Quast and Hermione Norris in ‘Between Two Worlds’.

After creating five of Australia’s most popular dramas – Always Greener, All Saints, Packed to the Rafters, Winners & Losers and A Place to Call Home – in a stellar 37-year career, Bevan Lee felt he had reached a crossroad.

If he followed one path, he would simply rest on his laurels and be content with his legacy. The other, far more attractive and challenging option: Create a drama unlike anything he’d ever done and which breaks the traditional rules of the genre.

Hence was born Between Two Worlds, a 10-part Seven Studios production which premieres on Seven on Sunday.

The first episode depicts two disparate and seemingly disconnected worlds, typified by one family of extreme wealth and privilege, the other middleclass and suburban.

“I decided I wanted to do a twisty, turny narrative which breaks the rules,” says Lee, who created the show last year,...

‘Descent.’

Aftrs graduate Nays Baghai’s documentary Descent and three short films – Eliza Scanlen’s Mukbang, Alex Wu’s Idol and Sara Hirner and Rosemary Vasquez-Brown’s Gnt – won prizes at the virtual Sydney Film Festival.

The $10,000 Documentary Australia Film Foundation Award for Best Australian Documentary went to Descent, which follows Kiki Bosch, who dives into the world’s coldest waters on one breath, initially seeking healing after a sexual assault.

The underwater footage was shot by Stefan Andrews, Spencer Frost, Peter Lightowler and debut documentary director Baghai.

Judges Kriv Stenders, Lauren Greenfield and Sally Neighbour hailed a visually stunning and beautifully crafted film and an extraordinary story about “overcoming trauma and finding healing and strength at the edges of human endurance.”

They said: “We felt that Kiki Bosch’s story and her free-diving journey through the world’s coldest lakes and oceans is a thrilling and inspiring adventure that...

‘Babyteeth.’

As cinemas around the country prepare to open their doors in July, Universal Pictures has set release dates for Shannon Murphy’s Babyteeth and Kriv Stenders’ Slim & I.

A bittersweet comedy starring Ben Mendelsohn, Essie Davis, Eliza Scanlen and Toby Wallace, Babyteeth will premiere on July 23, counter-programmed against Disney’s Mulan and one week after Warner Bros opens Chris Nolan’s time-travel thriller Tenet.

Universal will be hoping to cash in on the critical buzz for Babyteeth since its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

Produced by Alex White and based on Rita Kalnejais’ play, the drama stars Mendelsohn and Davis as a couple who discover their seriously ill teenage daughter Milla (Scanlen) has fallen in love with drug dealer Moses (Wallace).

It’s her protective parents’ worst nightmare but Milla teaches those in her orbit how to live like there is nothing to lose.

“We aim to...

Kriv Stenders on the set of ‘Slim & I.’

Amid the Covid-19 crisis filmmaker Kriv Stenders alternates between feeling terrified, depressed and positive – but, on balance, he is extremely optimistic.

The writer-director believes the Australian screen industry will be forever changed by the pandemic – mostly for the better.

In a webinar today with Screen Producers Australia CEO Matt Deaner, Stenders said he was “future-proofing” his development slate even before the virus erupted because he expected the industry to re-set.

That includes a ‘four quadrant’ film designed for wide cinema release, a genre feature and two documentaries, one of which can be filmed remotely.

This crisis will “galvanise all of us us; it’s a battle call,” says the director of Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan, Doctor Doctor, Jack Irish and The Pacific: In the Wake of Captain Cook with Sam Neill.

“It will completely change the way I make films on every level.

The Screen Industry Gala Awards.

Despite the event itself being cancelled, Gold Coast Film Festival soldiered on with its annual Screen Industry Gala Awards last night – albeit online.

Winner of the Best Australian Film was director Kriv Stenders’ documentary on Slim Dusty’s wife Joy McKean, Slim & I. Produced by Chris Brown and Aline Jacques, the film sees McKean tell the story of her career, marriage, and her determination to be recognised as a performer and songwriter in her own right.

Indie doco Morgana, co-directed by Josie Hess and Isabel Peppard, took home the Blackmagic Design Best Australian Independent Film Award, winning a Blackmagic Pocket Camera 6K. The film follows Morgana Muses, who in her 40s was an unhappy housewife in Albury. By 50, she was a feminist pornography icon.

Post-production house The Post Lounge won the inaugural Queensland Screen Business of the Year Award and special FX makeup and prosthetics...

The coronavirus pandemic is taking a heavy and growing toll on the screen industry, resulting in the postponement of numerous TV shows including the Seven Network’s Holey Moley and widespread job losses.

Many offices have closed so staff are working remotely and series that are still shooting have closed sets and reduced the number of extras.

Filming of Fremantle/10’s Neighbours stopped today and will resume on Monday to give the creative team time to withstand any impact from Covid-19 by such means as using smaller crews and having less crossover between location and studio crews.

“The impact and devastation to the screen industry will be extreme, there is no doubt about it,” Fremantle CEO Chris Oliver-Taylor told If today.

“Health comes first, then current productions and third the forward slate. Development continues and we are talking to networks internationally and locally about the forward slate.”

Bronte Pictures’ Blake Northfield,...

(L-r) Dop Ben Nott, Kriv Stenders and Jamie Leslie.

Friends and colleagues have paid tribute to film and TV first assistant director Jamie Leslie, who died on Friday from cancer. He was 62.

His final film in a distinguished 38-year career was Kriv Stenders’ Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan.

“Not only was he an industry legend but he was an incredible mentor for me and a huge reason that film came to be,” Stenders says.

“Jamie came on early in pre-production when the film was teetering on the edge of an abyss. We weren’t bonded, we lost $2 million two weeks before shooting, we had no tanks, choppers or guns and we were running on fumes longer than I ever thought was humanly possible.

“But never once did he waver. He was my rock and every hour, every day we just worked the problem, until there was the next one.

Harking back to the type of nationalistic war films that dominated screens during the Reagan era, Kriv Stenders’ film “Danger Close” is a stirring tribute to the soldiers from Australia and New Zealand that gave their lives in the largely forgotten Battle of Long Tan. Yet, despite these noble intentions, the film is unfortunately flat and by-the-numbers, as it tracks an impossible battle between a severely outnumbered company (108 soldiers) against an overwhelming enemy (2500 Viet Cong).

Continue reading ‘Danger Close’ Is A Well-Intentioned War Film That Ultimately Falls Flat [Review] at The Playlist.

By turns viscerally exciting and predictably formulaic — and, quite often, both at once — “Danger Close” is .

Working from a sturdily constructed screenplay credited to Stuart Beattie, James Nicholas, Karel Segers, Paul Sullivan and Jack Brislee, director Kriv Stenders does a fine job of ratcheting up suspense and maintaining a propulsive sense of narrative order as he cuts between various locations and perspectives while recounting the Battle of Long Tan, a 1966 Vietnam War clash that pitted a vastly outnumbered Delta Company of inexperienced Australian and New Zealand troops — most of them 19 to 21 years old — against more than 2,000 battle-hardened Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers.

To be sure, not every perspective is given equal weight. But Stenders and his cast do make it relatively easy to discern cause and effect as the battle rages on and near an isolated rubber plantation, and to comprehend the rapid-fire explanation and execution of military tactics...

‘Ride Like a Girl.’

Australian writers, producers, directors, funding agencies and distributors should ask one key question when evaluating feature film projects: Does this warrant a theatrical release or is streaming a smarter option?

That’s among the most perceptive propositions put forward by a cross-section of screen industry professionals as If sought suggestions on ways to maximise the potential of Australian films as the independent film sector continues to suffer in the cluttered theatrical market.

Some ideas proferred – such as filmmakers identifying their audience at the outset, spending more money on marketing – appear to be stating the obvious. But the fact that some execs see the need to re-emphasize these points suggests lessons have not been learned in some quarters.

The Australian features released in cinemas this year plus holdovers have grossed $37.6 million, trailing the $54.2 million collected in the same period last year, according to the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia.

‘Between Two Worlds.’

When James Warburton was appointed CEO of Seven West Media succeeding Tim Worner he vowed to revitalise the Seven Network’s entertainment programming, focusing primarily on Sunday-Thursday primetime.

Warburton looks like delivering on that promise next year with a raft of initiatives including refreshes for My Kitchen Rules and House Rules, Endemol Shine Australia’s action-drama Rfds and Cjz’s four-part investigation of the disappearance of British backpacker Peter Falconio.

The line-up includes Esa’s revival of Big Brother, Screentime’s endurance competition Sas: Who Dares Wins, Eureka Productions’ extreme mini-golf competition Mega Mini Golf and Seven Studios’ Plate of Origin, billed as the “Olympics of cooking.”

Fremantle and Eureka will co-produce a new version of Farmer Wants a Wife, a format which previously aired on the Nine Network, while Fremantle’s Australia’s Got Talent has been renewed for a second season.

“I’ve been clear...

‘Between Two Worlds’

The international sales campaign for Between Two Worlds, the Seven Studios drama created by Bevan Lee, kicks off this week at the Mipcom market in Cannes.

Entertainment One acquired the distribution rights to the series starring Cold Feet’s Hermione Norris, Philip Quast, Sara Wiseman and Aaron Jeffrey, in its first ever content deal with Seven Studios.

“Seven Studios is thrilled to partner with Entertainment One to take this extraordinary drama to the world,” CEO Therese Hegarty tells If.

“Between Two Worlds is a world class production by master storyteller Bevan Lee and we are looking forward to taking another fantastic Australian production to an international audience.”

The deal was brokered by Noel Hedges, eOne’s executive VP, acquisitions, international distribution, who said: “Between Two Worlds offers us a glimpse into the rare and privileged world of the super-rich and is a fantastically gripping saga presented by...

‘Ride Like a Girl’.

Rachel Griffiths’ Ride Like a Girl will take the crown of highest grossing Australian film on home soil this year.

Meanwhile the low visibility and modest returns from limited releases including Kim Farrant’s Angel of Mine, Sophie Hyde’s Animals and Rodd Rathjen’s Buoyancy have prompted renewed calls from exhibitors to address the challenges facing most Aussie films in the crowded theatrical market.

Griffiths’ biopic starring Teresa Palmer as ground-breaking jockey Michelle Payne pocketed nearly $4 million in its first eight days, including $317,000 on Thursday.

So the Transmission Films release co-starring Sam Neill as Payne’s father Paddy and her brother Stevie Payne as himself will overtake Palm Beach’s $4.4 million this weekend and will zoom past Top End Wedding’s $5.2 million and Storm Boy’s $5 million.

Exhibitors are confident the film is heading for upwards of $10 million and could reach Ladies in Black’s $12 million.

"We all come back, or no one does." Saban Films has released a new Us trailer for the Australian action movie titled Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan, from director Kriv Stenders. We featured the Australian trailer for this military action movie, titled in full Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan, a few months back now you can see the Us trailer. In summer of 1966, in a Vietnamese rubber plantation called Long Tan, 108 young and mostly inexperienced Australian and New Zealand soldiers fight for their lives against 2,500 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers. It's a harrowing story of survival against all odds. The film stars Travis Fimmel, Luke Bracey, Richard Roxburgh, Daniel Webber, Alexander England, Aaron Glenane, Nicholas Hamilton, Myles Pollard, Matt Doran, Stephen Peacocke, Aaron L McGrath, Mojean Aria, Emmy Dougall, and Uli Latukefu. This looks pretty much like every other war zone action film, ...

‘It Chapter Two.’ (Photo credit: Warner Bros.)

Warner Bros/New Line’s It Chapter Two and Roadshow’s Chinese-American dramedy The Farewell gave the flagging Australian box office a much needed jolt last weekend while two new Oz releases struggled.

Kim Farrant’s psychological thriller Angel of Mine and Alan Lindsay’s romantic comedy The Naked Wanderer faced the same challenge which has bedeviled most Australian films this year: Opening on limited screens with minimal P&a, which means low visibility in the marketplace. So relying primarily on reviews, publicity and word of mouth is no guarantee to draw audiences.

Starring Noomi Rapace, Yvonne Strahovski, Annika Whiteley, Finn Little, Luke Evans, Richard Roxburgh and Rob Collins, Farrant’s follow-up to Strangerland grossed $26,000 on 42 screens and $43,000 including festival screenings for R&r Films.

As If reported, the movie co-funded by Screen Australia and Film Victoria has been sold by Fortitude International to...

Meg Mundell.

Fremantle and Triptych Pictures’ Kristian Moliere are teaming up to make a TV drama adapted from New Zealand-born author Meg Mundell’s second novel The Trespassers.

The tome follows a shipload of migrant workers fleeing from a pandemic-stricken UK who seek a fresh start in Australia. For nine-year-old Cleary the journey promises adventure, for former nurse Billie it’s a chance to put a shameful mistake behind her, while struggling schoolteacher Tom hopes for a brighter future.

But when a crew member is murdered and people start falling gravely ill, the Steadfast descends into chaos. Trapped on the ship, the trio must join forces to survive the journey and its aftermath.

The screenplay is being written by Andy Cox, who was a script consultant on Stephen Johnson’s High Ground, script editor on Jeremy Sims’ Last Cab to Darwin and script consultant on Kim Mordaunt’s The Rocket.

‘Ride Like a Girl’.

Graeme Mason recognises the structural challenges facing independent films but does not subscribe to the view that this is a down year for Australian cinema.

While the Screen Australia CEO acknowledges 2019 has yet to produce a breakout hit like Peter Rabbit, Lion or Ladies in Black, he rates the year to date as very successful on a number of fronts, including:

Seven films have each grossed each more than $1 million. Exhibitors have high hopes for Rachel Griffiths’ Ride Like a Girl, the Michelle Payne biopic staring Teresa Palmer, which Transmission Films launches on September 26; some pundits think it can make upwards of $10 million. The consistent popularity of feature doc such as Damon Gameau’s 2040 and Richard Lowenstein’s Mystify: Michael Hutchence. Australian films are making their marks at the Sundance, Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals. Shannon Murphy won the gig of directing two episodes of...

‘The Nightingale.’

While Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale has achieved an 86 per cent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes since the world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, many critics have described the tale of rape, murder and revenge as harrowing and bleak.

So in that context the film’s opening in Australia last weekend via Transmission Films was quite respectable – and some exhibitors expect it will have a leggy run.

Meanwhile Madman Entertainment’s The Australian Dream had a buoyant second weekend, helped by word-of-mouth and the two-for-one ticket offer to Afl members.

Rachel Ward’s Palm Beach advanced to $3.8 million after nabbing $305,000 in its fourth weekend, easing by 31 per cent for Universal Pictures. Kriv Stenders’ Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan dipped by just 16 per cent to $250,000 in its fourth, delivering $2.5 million for Transmission Films.

The Nightingale grossed $98,000 on 32 screens, bringing the total including festival screenings to...

‘The Australian Dream.’

The racist slurs which ended the football career of Sydney Swans star Adam Goodes dominated the national conversation for weeks in the lead-up to the premieres of Ian Darling’s The Final Quarter and Daniel Gordon’s The Australian Dream.

So how to explain the fact that Gordon’s acclaimed film ranked at No. 12 in Australian cinemas last weekend after winning the Miff Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature and earning a nomination for an Aacta Award?

Some 640,000 people watched The Final Quarter on Network 10 after its Sydney Film Festival premiere in June. That plus the copious publicity for both docs and the issues of race, identity and belonging may well have prompted some people to think: “I know the story, so I don’t need to see The Australian Dream.”

To be fair, the film written by Stan Grant and produced by Good Thing Productions’ Nick Batzias,...

‘Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan.’

Most Australian films are caught in a catch-22: Independent distributors are constrained in how much they can spend on P&a. The upshot: Films suffer from lack of visibility and find it tough, if not impossible, to achieve their box office potential.

That’s according to Red Dune Productions’ Martin Walsh, who produced Kriv Stenders’ Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan with Deeper Water Films’ Michael and John Schwarz.

The Vietnam War movie starring Travis Fimmel, Luke Bracey, Richard Roxburgh, Daniel Webber, Nicholas Hamilton, Aaron Glenane and Anthony Hayes has grossed $1.75 million in 13 days on 235 screens.

Walsh has no quarrel with the distributor Transmission Films, telling If: “They have done a sterling job with the resources they have, we love working with them and they were the only distributor willing to support our film.

“There would be no Danger Close without...

Sophia Forrest, Alex Williams and Travis Jeffery

Sophia Forrest, Alex Williams and Travis Jeffery — all graduates of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts – will be the ambassadors for this year’s CinefestOZ Film Festival.

CinefestOZ Chair Helen Shervington said: “Sophia, Alex and Travis are all incredibly talented professionals and we are proud to once again be welcoming them to the South West for an immersive five-day film experience this year as CinefestOZ ambassadors.

“Having Wa-trained gems like Sophia, Alex and Travis at the forefront of CinefestOZ is a testament to the incredible growth and burgeoning talent within the Australian film industry.”

Sophia graduated from Waapa in 2016 and went on to tour internationally with the theatre productions Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Coriolanus.

Her film credits include Rachel Griffiths’ Ride Like a Girl, which will screen at the festival, Reaching the Distance and Aquaman.

Since graduating from Waapa in 2011, Williams...

‘Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood.’

Quentin Tarantino’s ninth movie Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood posted the biggest debut of his career in Australia last weekend, emulating its Us success.

The 1969-set drama/thriller starring Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie and Damon Herriman opened 68 per cent bigger than his previous best effort Django Unchained in 2012.

The downside: The Sony Pictures release sucked a lot of air from the second weekends of Universal’s Palm Beach and Transmission Films’ Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan.

The top 20 titles raked in $14.4 million, 3 per cent up on the previous frame, according to Numero. Mind Blowing Films’ Bollywood film Mission Mangal and Magnum Films’ Hong Kong thriller Line Walker 2 had buoyant launches while Universal’s A Dog’s Journey opened with neither bark nor bite, mirroring its Us fate.

The lurid tale of a TV actor (DiCaprio) who wants...

George Pullar.

George Pullar and newcomer Ashlyn Louden-Gamble have won the lead roles in Moon Rock for Monday, a coming-of-age road movie from first-time writer-director Kurt Martin.

Pullar, whose star is on the rise after roles in Fighting Season, Playing for Keeps and A Place to Call Home, will play homeless teenager Tyler.

Tyler is on the run from the cops when he meets Monday (Louden-Gamble), a terminally ill 11-year-old, at a train station. Forming an unlikely bond, they embark on a road trip across the country in search of a moon rock which Monday believes will heal her. The pair is pursued by the police who believe Tyler has kidnapped the girl.

Jim Robison, who formed Lunar Pictures after an affable split from Blake Northfield’s Bronte Pictures, will produce. Shooting is due to start in Sydney and Coober Pedy on August 26, funded by private investors and the Producer Offset.

‘Palm Beach.’

The head-to-head clash between Universal’s Palm Beach and Transmission Films’ Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan last weekend was far from ideal, but both films are positioned to have leggy runs thanks to word of mouth.

Rachel Ward’s Palm Beach opened in third spot behind the fourth weekend of Disney’s blockbuster The Lion King and the second lap of Universal’s Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.

Scripted by Ward and Joanna Murray-Smith, the comedy-drama about a group of lifelong friends reuniting to celebrate a special birthday rang up $1.14 million on 250 locations and $1.23 million with previews.

Starring Bryan Brown, Sam Neill, Greta Scacchi, Richard E Grant, Jacqueline McKenzie, Claire van der Boom, Aaron Jeffrey, Heather Mitchell and Matilda Brown, the film opened 3 per cent ahead of Wayne Blair’s Top End Wedding, which finished with $5.2 million, and at the same level as Jeremy Sims’ Last Cab to Darwin,...

‘Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan.’

The box office results for the Australian films and feature docs released in cinemas this year underline yet again the deep polarisation in the indie film market between the higher earners and the also-rans.

The top five titles – Wayne Blair’s Top End Wedding, Shawn Seet’s Storm Boy, Anthony Marais’ Hotel Mumbai, Damon Gameau’s 2040 and Richard Lowenstein’s Mystify: Michael Hutchence – accounted for $15.8 million or 93 per cent of the Oz releases’ takings.

The Aussie films plus holdovers racked up nearly $17 million through the end of July, according to the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia.

That’s a long way below the $40.6 million generated in the same period last year, led by Peter Rabbit’s $26.6 million, Breath’s $4.4 million (finishing with $4.6 million) and Sweet Country’s $2 million.

Surveying the challenges facing the indie film business, Transmission Films’ Andrew Mackie tells If:...

Rosemary Kariuki of ‘Rosemary’s Way’.

Screen Australia has announced the final round of documentary funding for the 2018-19 financial year, which sees $3.8 million spread across 18 projects – five under the commissioned program and 13 under the producer program.

The announcement comes as Screen Australia prepares to seek industry feedback on proposed updates to its documentary funding programs; the agency will release an issues paper in late September.

“The last time our documentary programs were revised was in 2014-15, and since that time there has been substantial change in screen business models, content creation and audience viewing habits,” said Screen Australia head of documentary Bernadine Lim.

“We will be looking to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the sector, and how Screen Australia can best support quality, culture and innovation in the documentary industry.”

A review of the documentary programs was first announced in January, when the agency flagged that the base...

The new Viet Nam war movie, "Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan", based on a true story, directed by Kriv Stenders, stars Travis Fimmel ("Vikings") as 'Major Harry Smith', opening August 8, 2019:

"...August 1966, in a Vietnamese rubber plantation called 'Long Tan', 108 young and mostly inexperienced Australian and New Zealand soldiers...

"...fight for their lives against 2500 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers..."

Cast also includes Daniel Webber as 'Private Paul Large', Luke Bracey as 'Sergeant Bob Buick', Richard Roxburgh as 'Brigadier David Jackson', Nicholas Hamilton as 'Private Noel Grimes', Matt Doran as 'Major Noel Ford', Stephen Peacocke as 'Lieutenant Adrian Roberts', Myles Pollard as 'Flight Lieutenant Frank Riley', Uli Latukefu as 'Bombadier 'Ray Ngatai', Anthony Hayes as 'Lieutenant Colonel Colin Townsend', Sam Parsonson as 'Lieutenant David Sabben', Alexander England as 'Csm Jack Kirby' and Lasarus Ratuere as 'Corporal Buddy Lea'.

'Soldier' background performers appearing in the film included...

Outnumbered. Outgunned. Never Out of Courage.

It seems like it’s been awhile since we’ve seen a movie set during the Vietnam war, but we’ve got one coming called Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan and it tells a pretty crazy story.

The film tells the harrowing true story of 108 young and inexperienced Australian and New Zealand soldiers who are forced to fight to survive against 2,500 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers who are attacking them.

This is the kind of intense survival war story that I love to hear about and it looks like it going to make for a solid film. The movie my not have any big name actors in it, but it looks good and I’ll watch it! Here’s the synopsis:

Late afternoon August 18, 1966 South Vietnam – for three and a half hours, in the pouring rain, amid the mud and shattered...

"Stay strong, protect your mates. You're Delta company!" Transmission has debuted the first Australian trailer for an Australian action movie titled Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan, from director Kriv Stenders. This is Australia's take on a Michael Bay-esque military action movie, set during the Vietnam War. In August of 1966, in a Vietnamese rubber plantation called Long Tan, 108 young and mostly inexperienced Australian and New Zealand soldiers fight for their lives against 2,500 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers. It's a harrowing, inspiring, intense story of survival against all odds. "Outnumbered. Outgunned. Never Out of Courage." Starring Travis Fimmel, Luke Bracey, Richard Roxburgh, Daniel Webber, Alexander England, Aaron Glenane, Nicholas Hamilton, Myles Pollard, Matt Doran, Stephen Peacocke, Aaron L. McGrath, Mojean Aria, Emmy Dougall, and Uli Latukefu. Looks pretty much like every other big military survival movie. Here's the first official trailer for Kriv Stenders' Danger Close: The Battle...

Kriv Stenders.

Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan and Red Dog director Kriv Stenders will be the guest tutor for the Screenworks 2019 Directing Intensive.

Stenders, together with a leading documentary director yet to be announced, will advise 12 selected early career regional screen directors on technique, skills and project development for drama and documentary film and television.

To be eligible for the two-day workshop, to be held in Byron Bay in late August, applicants must demonstrate some experience directing content for screen and must be living in regional Nsw, regional Queensland or Western Australia.

The program is delivered in partnership with the Australian Directors’ Guild (Adg), Linnaeus Estate Education Fund and with support from Create Nsw, as well as support for individual participants from Screen Queensland and Screenwest.

“We are looking forward to connecting Kriv Stenders with our 2019 participants,” said Screenworks CEO Ken Crouch.

“His talent is legendary; with the...

‘2040’.

Five months into the year, 18 Australian films and feature docs released in cinemas since the start of the year, plus holdovers, have racked up a modest $14.3 million.

That compares with $37.6 million generated in the same period last year, led by Peter Rabbit’s $26.4 million, Breath’s $3.6 million in four weeks (finishing with $4.6 million) and Sweet Country’s $2 million.

Shawn Seet’s Storm Boy is the top title with nearly $5 million, a creditable result. But almost certainly that would have been rather higher if Sony Pictures had been able to use Geoffrey Rush in the publicity campaign.

Wayne Blair’s Top End Wedding has grossed $4.7 million through Sunday, its sixth weekend, and could finish with $5.5 million.

Anthony Maras’ Hotel Mumbai collected $3.3 million, knee-capped by the dreadful co-incidence of opening on the same weekend as the Christchurch massacre.

Damon Gameau’s 2040 has earned $568,000 after its second weekend and, buoyed by word-of-mouth, distributor...

Anthony Hayes in ‘Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan’.

Anthony Hayes has been acting since he was nine. While there is no danger of him giving up that stellar career, for the present he is concentrating more on his other passions: writing and directing.

In the past five or six years he has been in the fortunate position of choosing roles he really wanted to do – in the movies Cargo, War Machine and The Light Between Oceans and TV’s Mystery Road and Seven Types of Ambiguity – rather than just for a pay cheque.

Now his primary focus is writing and directing, starting with Gold, a thriller in which he will co-star with Sam Worthington about two guys who discover the world’s biggest gold nugget in the Australian desert. After that he hopes to make Stingray, a crime thriller he wrote and was set to direct in 2016 until the financing fell through.

Beck Cole with Tessa Rose on the set of ‘Grace Beside Me’ (Photo credit: Magpie Picture/Julian Panetta).

As a proud woman from Warramungu/Luritja nations filmmaker Beck Cole has worked on numerous Indigenous-themed TV series and documentaries including First Australians, Redfern Now, Grace Beside Me and Black Comedy.

Two years ago she decided to embark on a wider range of projects, a strategy that’s paid off as she has directed two episodes of Fremantle/Foxtel’s Wentworth and is preparing to direct two episodes of Seven Studios’ drama Between Two Worlds.

Later this year she will resume her role as voice director on the third season of Ned Lander Media’s animated series Little J & Big Cuz for Sbs.

Cole and emerging writer/director Samuel Paynter are among eight Indigenous teams from Australia and New Zealand who are making the anthology feature Cook 2020: Our Right of Reply.

Travis Fimmel.

Saban Films has snapped up North American rights to Kriv Stenders’ Vietnam War movie Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan.

Travis Fimmel stars as Major Harry Smith, who led a largely inexperienced company of 108 men who held off about 2,500 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers for three and a half hours in torrential rain on August 18 1966.

The drama scripted by Stuart Beattie, based on a story by James Nicholas, Jack Brislee, Karel Segers and Paul Sullivan, co-stars Luke Bracey, Richard Roxburgh, Daniel Webber, Nicholas Hamilton, Aaron Glenane, Anthony Hayes and Stephen Peacocke.

Transmission Films will launch the film produced by Red Dune Productions’ Martin Walsh and Deeper Water Films’ John and Michael Schwarz on August 8. It will premiere at the Sydney Film Festival.

The key crew includes Dop Ben Nott, costume designer Lizzie Gardiner, production designer Sam Hobbs, special effects supervisor Brian Cox, composer Caitlin Yeo and...