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Exclusive: Australian streamer Stan has today unveiled a 25-strong slate, adding scripted titles from Matchbox Pictures and the producers behind Colin From Accounts, acquisitions from the UK and U.S. and a new version of Drag Race to its ranks.

Content from the likes of All3Media, AMC, Banijay, the BBC, Fremantle, ITV, Lionsgate, Universal Internatational Studios, Paramount, Sony and Warner Bros Discovery is on the slate, which was showcased at the iconic Sydney Opera House as Stan’s latest salvo in Australia’s competitive streaming market.

Among the key scripted originals is Critical Incident, a psychological crime thriller from Matchbox, the Australian production subsidiary of Universal Studio Group-owned Universal International Studios. Written by Sarah Bassiuoni (The Secrets She Keeps), it recently completed production in Western Sydney, with major production investment from Screen Australia.

The six-part show depicts life in the Western suburbs of Sydney and delves into the complex...

With Peter Jackson’s re-cut of The Beatles: Get Back coming at the end of November, we are reminded the Beatles were cinematic stars as well as musical artists. Beyond the group’s films, John Lennon played Private Gripweed in Richard Lester’s How I Won the War, and Ringo Starr acted in quite a few films. His choices were far more in keeping with the underground and independent air of the time. Starr starred with Peter Sellars in the anti-capitalist satire The Magic Christian, as the villain in the Spaghetti Western Blindman, and the voyeuristic Mexican gardener Emmanuel in the sex farce Candy. But his most counterculture and independent nod was as Frank Zappa in the film 200 Motels (1971). A special edition of its soundtrack, Frank Zappa 200 Motels 50th Anniversary Edition, is coming out on Dec. 17.

Written by Zappa, who co-directed with Tony Palmer, 200 Motels is a musical...

Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels is an education in musical composition, soundtrack recordings, and rock history. In celebration of its 50th anniversary, Zappa Records, UMe, and MGM assembled a definitive Super Deluxe six-disc box set of the soundtrack, which drops on Nov. 19. The 200 Motels 50th Anniversary Edition was remastered by Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering, and includes unreleased and rare material from the Zappa music vault.

The sound quality is excellent, the separation gives the multitude of instruments and voicings enough space to hear what is going on very clearly, though the music is still very dense. The players included Ian Underwood on keyboards and woodwinds, George Duke on keyboards and trombone, drummers Aynsley Dunbar and Jimmy Carl Black, with Ruth Underwood on an orchestra drum set. Zappa plays guitar and bass, because there was a change in personnel, between bassists Jeff Simmons and Martin Lickert, partway through recording and filming.

There is no such thing as a casual Frank Zappa fan — it’s an all-or-nothing proposition. (Really, there’s no such thing as a casual Frank Zappa listener, period: You either immediately recoil from his grandiose, often goofy odes to dancin’ fools and yellow snow, self-promoting pimps and and S&m aficionados … or you end friendships arguing over which bootleg of his Over Nite Sensation ’73 shows is the best.) And on a scale from one to plays-in-a-Joe’s-Garage-cover-band, we’d put Alex Winter’s level of worship somewhere near an eight.

Sooner or later, any commercially viable documentary about the life and work of avant-garde musician Frank Zappa — outsider art’s ultimate inside man — has to grapple with the same headache from which Zappa suffered for the length of his career: the hostile relationship between commerce and creation. The biologically improbable love child of a time-bending orgy between Igor Stravinsky, Weird Al Yankovic, Jacob Collier, and Led Zeppelin (or maybe it would be easier to just call him a true original), the self-appointed Mother of Invention was a composer by nature, and a rock star by necessity.

He strove to create music that was alive with the same unbridled sense of freedom as he was; music that captured the absurdity of this world and served it back to the masses on wax. As Zappa is heard saying in the new and Alex Winter documentary that bears his name: “A lot of...

As we enter the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend during an era when the box office is struggling and more weight is being placed on streamers for new product, there are still titles making theatrical debuts amid the digital film landscape as people recover from their turkey-induced tryptophan haze. It all starts with three films spotlighting a trio of artists that made a significant impact on pop culture.

IFC Films is set to release Wednesday the Gabriel Range-directed David Bowie pic Stardust starring Johnny Flynn as the iconic glam rocker as well as Marc Maron and Jena Malone​.

Written by Range and Christopher Bell, Stardust (not to be confused with the 2007 Matthew Vaughn fantasy pic) isn’t a full-blown, cradle-to-the-grave biopic. Instead, it spotlights Bowie’s life at one significant moment in his career — before he...

Alex Winter’s musical documentary Zappa is a fun movie which frames Frank Zappa the way he should be, as a hero. While this may ring particularly true for fans of the original Mother of Invention, the film is also a must-see for anyone who plugged in a guitar, banged drums, pounded a piano, ruined their teeth on clarinet reeds, or waited for their triangle part to come up in a Julliard School of Music chamber ensemble. It is also for social justice warriors stretching to see beyond the warning labels. The feature documentary is an intimate look at an artist who defied labels, both the record industry ones which curtailed output, and the easy, cheesy, tags of pundits, critics and frightened senate committees.

“This is the beginning of your new future,” Zappa assures an appreciative audience in the archival concert footage which sets the tone. Winter begins the film in the Czech Republic,...

The thing about artists is that their life’s work is objective. It remains once they’re gone. Few other career paths can claim that since money doesn’t count. You don’t make money. Some earn it. Some steal it. Some do everything in their power to avoid its hold on their lives beyond the basic need for survival. And by all accounts, Frank Zappa was keenly aware of that distinction. He knew what was necessary to help raise a family and what was necessary to feed his creative process. Money was therefore not the endgame, but instead a crucial raw material. That which came in went out to build what truly mattered: a legacy on vinyl, paper, and tape. He created as a compulsion, not as an enterprise.

It therefore makes perfect sense when director Alex Winter sets his camera inside the composer’s personal vault to see...

Ahead of the November 27th release of Zappa — a documentary about the unclassifiable rocker, composer and guitar god Frank Zappa — Rolling Stone is premiering the latest trailer for director Alex Winter’s long-in-the-works film.

The documentary — the first made with the approval and cooperation of the Zappa estate — features tons of never-before-seen home movies, interviews and live footage excavated from Zappa’s enormous vault.

“We were loud, we were coarse, and we were strange,” Zappa says in voiceover of the initial reaction to his music.

Zappa charts the late icon...

Ruth Underwood.

Glasgow-based Synchronicity Films, which co-produced with December Media The Cry, the BBC/ABC psychological thriller directed by Glendyn Ivin, has opened an Australian arm.

Former BBC drama development exec Ruth Underwood is heading the Melbourne office with the remit to produce high-end drama for the domestic and international markets, including potential UK-Australian co-productions.

Its first project is an adaptation of The Cry author Helen FitzGerald’s latest novel Ash Mountain. Set in Australia, the tome follows Fran, a single mother who returns to her sleepy hometown to care for her dying father when a devastating bush fire breaks out.

Nent Studios UK represents the international distribution rights for Ash Mountain. The Times‘ reviewer Mark Sanderson hailed a “compassionate novel about the consequences of crime [which] bursts with black humour and features a bravura portrayal of a bush fire that eventually descends on the community like the wrath of God.

Glasgow-based Synchronicity Films, which has credits including ABC/BBC miniseries The Cry, is opening Melbourne-based offshoot Synchronicity Australia.

Former BBC Drama Development Producer Ruth Underwood has been hired to head up the new outfit, which has locked its debut project as a TV adaptation of The Cry writer Helen FitzGerald’s upcoming noir thriller Ash Mountain. The book is set to be published August 20 in the UK and March 2021 in Australia; it is a portrait of small-town life in rural Victoria, where a catastrophic event changes things forever.

Nent Studios UK will represent international distribution rights for Ash Mountain.

The move follows The Cry – which starred Jenna Coleman as a schoolteacher whose four-month old baby disappears while she and her fiancé visit Australia – being mounted as a UK-Australia co-production, shooting in the latter. Underwood, who also had roles at Kudos and Shed media Group, will be tasked with setting up future co-pros.

Magnolia Pictures has acquired the North American rights to “Zappa,” a documentary about the art-rock master Frank Zappa directed by “Bill & Ted Face the Music” star Alex Winter, the distributor announced Thursday.

“Zappa” looks at the life of the innovative artist and musician through access to the Zappa family trust and other archival footage, and Magnolia will release the documentary in theaters and on-demand Nov. 27.

Winter sits down with many of Zappa’s musical collaborators such as Mike Keneally, Ian Underwood, Steve Vai, Pamela Des Barres, Bunk Gardner, David Harrington, Scott Thunes, Ruth Underwood, Ray White and others. And the documentary also includes appearances by Zappa’s widow Gail.

Also Read: 'The Go-Go's' Film Review: Transcendent Rock Doc Examines 1980s Glass-Ceiling Shatterers

“Alex Winter has created an amazing documentary,” Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles said in a statement. “‘Zappa’ is an incredibly nuanced and compelling look at the visionary iconoclast...

Exclusive: It won’t be absolutely free, but a new Frank Zappa movie is coming to North America. Magnolia Pictures has acquired rights to Zappa, a documentary directed by Bill & Ted’s Alex Winter that will hit theaters and VOD on Thanksgiving weekend.

Billed as an intimate and expansive look into the innovative life of the iconic — and iconoclastic — musician and artist, the pic was made with unfettered access to the Zappa family trust and all archival footage. It explores the private life behind the musical career that never shied away from the political turbulence of its time.

Zappa features appearances by the musician’s widow Gail Zappa and several of his musical collaborators including Mike Keneally, Ian Underwood, Steve Vai, Pamela Des Barres, Bunk Gardner, David Harrington, Scott Thunes, Ruth Underwood, Ray White and others.

“Alex Winter has created an amazing documentary,” said Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles. “Zappa is...

A little more than four years after filmmaker Alex Winter started making a documentary about rock iconoclast and classical composer Frank Zappa’s life, the movie — simply titled Zappa — will premiere at South by Southwest. The festival will take place in Austin, Texas, between March 13th and March 22nd.

Although Zappa has been the subject of many films, Winter’s movie is unique in that it covers the artist’s entire life; he had access to the Zappa family’s vault of uncirculated and rarely seen footage. The film will include commentary from Frank,...

Eat That Question: Frank Zappa In His Own Words takes its title from a song found on the composer’s 1972 fusion album The Grand Wazoo, and there may be no better preparation for the Frank Zappa revealed in director Thorston Schutte’s extraordinary documentary than this command to consume, and then presumably digest and defecate out, the sort of journalistic queries Zappa routinely endured, with patience, smarts and inescapable sarcasm, throughout his career. “Being interviewed is one of the most abnormal things that you can do to somebody,” Zappa explains during a TV interview to a reporter whose expression, an uneasy mixture of intimidation and confusion, remains constant throughout their encounter.

The composer’s testy relationship with the media is one of the threads that unites Schutte’s somewhat unusual approach—there are none of the usual associates, scholars and friends on hand to tell you secondhand (at best) what a genius Zappa was,...