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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,...

Written, directed and produced by Serhat Caradee, with producers Liz Burton and Steve Jaggi, A Lion Returns is an emotionally-charged and intense drama that reveals the impact of a returned Australian militant (Tyler de Nawi) on his family and those closest to him. Bonsai Films will release the Aacta-nominated film in select cinemas November 5.

The post ‘A Lion Returns’ (Trailer) appeared first on If Magazine.

Shannon Murphy’s feature debut Babyteeth leads the early Aacta Awards race, scoring nods in 12 out of 13 film categories, while Mystery Road and Stateless are ahead in television.

The Australian Academy revealed the first round of nominees for the annual awards over the weekend, to be presented across two ‘reimagined’ events later this month.

Television and documentary craft nominations, visual effects and animation, casting, hair and make-up and subscription television presenter categories are yet to be announced, expected on November 12.

Despite the disrupted year for film, some 19 narrative features are nominated so far.

However, six dominate alongside the aforementioned Babyteeth: Justin Kurzel’s True History of the Kelly Gang, with 10 nominations, John Sheedy’s H is for Happiness with nine, Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man and Unjoo Moon’s I Am Woman close behind with eight and seven nominations respectively, and Natalie Erika James’ Relic with five. Each will...

‘I Am Woman’.

This year’s Gold Coast Film Festival will be bookended by two Aussie features, opening with Unjoo Moon’s Helen Reddy biopic I Am Woman, and closing with the locally shot comedic thriller Bloody Hell, directed by Alister Grierson.

The April festival dropped its full program today, announcing more than 100 films, including four world premieres: Kriv Stenders’ documentary on Silm Dusty’s wife Joy McKean, Slim & I; Hayley MacFarlane’s Swimming for Gold; Josh Hale’s House of Inequity and Serhat Caradee’s A Lion Returns.

Other local films to screen include Never Too Late, Smoke Between Trees, Disclosure, Hearts and Bones, Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks, Tommy Emmanuel: The Endless Road, Dark Whispers Vol 1, The Show Must Go On, Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie’s Dead Aunt), Morgana, and Love Opera.

Ahead of its premiere on the ABC April 19, the festival will also screen...

Excellent news out of Cannes for some friends of the ScreenAnarchy family here in Toronto. The film adaptation of the novel Mark of Kane is going ahead with a joint co-production between Canada and Australia. The novel by Michael Prescott, under pen name Douglas Barton, was adapted for film by our friends Justin McConnell and Serena Whitney (Do You Hear What I Hear?). As Cannes/Marché du Film begins, Australia’s Dicentium Films and Canada’s Unstable Ground have joined forces to produce Mark of Kane, the feature-film adaption of New York Times bestselling-author Michael Prescott’s cult horror novel Kane (originally published under the author name Douglas Borton). The film will shoot in Australia late 2017, to be directed by award-winning Au-director Serhat Caradee (Cedar Boys, Hunters). The...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Exclusive: Project based on the cult novel Kane by Michael Prescott.

Australia’s Dicentium Films and Toronto-based Unstable Ground have joined forces to produce horror project Mark Of Kane.

Producers Justin McConnell of Unstable Ground and Dicentium Films’ Judd Tilyard are flying into Cannes to meet sales agents on the adaptation of Michael Prescott’s cult novel Kane.

Serhat Caradee is lined up to direct from the adapted screenplay by Serena Whitney and McConnell.

Producing with McConnell and Tilyard are Unstable Ground’s Whitney, and Avi Federgreen.

Genre director Adam Mason and George Mihalka serve as consulting producers on the project, which went through the Fantasia Film Festival’s Frontieres International Co-Production Market in 2014.

Mark Of Kane pits the inhabitants of a small California desert town against a homicidal man hell-bent on killing everyone in sight.

The producers have earmarked a production start later this year in Australia.

Five established filmmakers have come together to create new Australian production company Bonafide Pictures..

Writer-director-actors Serhat Caradee (Cedar Boys) and Daniel Krige (West) have joined forces with producers Anne Robinson (West, Backyard Ashes), Tim Maddocks (Terminus) and Liz Burton (Cedar Boys) to develop content for local and international markets under the Bonafide banner.

The company is currently in development on both long and short-form projects for the big screen as well as TV, including advertising and corporate videos..

.Having known each other for a while, we all share the same drive and passion for wanting to tell entertaining and engaging stories that say something about our world, so it made sense to join forces and pool our resources., the team said in a statement..

Currently they have nine feature films in development, plus three TV series, two documentaries and two web series..

The team is also aiming to nurture up-and-coming filmmakers through industry attachments,...

UK producer Kevin Loader joins comedy drama B Model, to be directed by actor Rachel Griffiths.

Now that it is likely to be set up as a UK/Australian co-production, prolific UK producer Kevin Loader (In the Loop, Hyde Park on Hudson, Le Week-End) has become part of the team behind the comedy drama B Model, to be directed by actor Rachel Griffiths.

Griffiths has directed two shorts, Roundabout and Tulip and this will be her first feature – providing the money can be raised.

Australian producer Louise Smith was reluctant to provide details of the project precisely because it is yet to be financed. The current draft of the script is being written by Samantha Stauss, co-creator of the series Dance Academy.

B Model is included in a list of 18 features that Screen Australia has injected a total of Us$500,000 worth of development money into in the last four months.

One of the...

Screen Australia today announced nearly $535,000 in development funding for 18 features including projects set in Canada, inner-city Berlin, Mexico City, Vietnam, the Middle East and medieval England.

The genres range from family and musical to comedy, drama, thriller, sci-fi and action. The funding will support eight new projects as well as further assistance for 10 titles.

Through its Talent Escalator programs, the agency is placing three producers in professional posts to improve their direct industry experience and supporting short film director Nicholas Verso in the next stage of his professional development.

Screen Australia.s Head of Production Sally Caplan said, .In this round it is encouraging to see such a great range of Australian stories receive support from filmmakers at different levels, some with international creative partners and several with international focus.

"We are also pleased to be able to support emerging local talent with international placements that will increase our industry...

Actors seldom complain about a lack of diversity in the casting of Australian films and TV programs, according to actress/filmmaker Pearl Tan.

The reason, she says, is that when actors do voice their opinions, they are .vilified. on social media. Tan has joined Equity.s Diversity Committee, which was formed in July and aims to promote and advocate the principles of diverse casting and to foster more opportunities for Equity members from diverse communities.

Reflecting the depth of feeling on the issue, the committee has 32 members including Amanda Bishop, Annette Shun Wah, Bali Padda, Eddie Tang, Jay Laga'aia, Jonathan Chan, Joy Hopwood, Kasia Kaczmarek, Kate Hood, Maria Papas, Ming-Zhu Hii, Robert Jago, Sachin Joab and Serhat Caradee.

Producers are supporting their cause. The new Australian Feature Film Agreement includes a section on diversity in casting which states .Spaa, Ipi and the Meaa recognise the need for expanding the participation...

Screen Australia has committed more than $450,000 in development funding across 19 feature films.

Of the 19 projects, six are new to Screen Australia.s developmental slate, while the other 13 will continue to receive support.

The new projects include the drama script Clive, about a privileged man whose life is transformed after a serious accident, and Em, a comedic take on Jane Austen.s classic Emma.

Clive comes from writer/director Natasha Pincus, producer Bridget Ikin and executive producer John Maynard.

Em will be set in 1950s rural Australia and comes from writer Matthew Dabner, director Kate Riedl and producers Karen Radzyner and Anna Vincent.

Psychological thriller Lonely Girl will also receive developmental support. Written by Lynne Vincent McCarthy and produced by Samantha Jennings, the project was also supported through Screen Australia.s Springboard Program.

The crime drama My Country, written by Sam Meikle and Serhat Caradee and produced by Matthew Dabner, will also receive funding.

Over $450 000 in funding will be spread across 19 feature films following an announcement from Screen Australia today.

Of the 19 projects, six are new to Screen Australia.s developmental slate, while the other 13 will continue to receive support.

The new projects include the drama script Clive, about a privileged man whose life is transformed after a serious accident, and Em, a comedic take on Jane Austen.s classic Emma.

Clive comes from writer/director Natasha Pincus, producer Bridget Ikin and executive producer John Maynard.

Em will be set in 1950s rural Australia and comes from writer Matthew Dabner, director Kate Riedl and producers Karen Radzyner and Anna Vincent.

.Pyschological thriller Lonely Girl will also receive developmental support. Written by Lynne Vincent McCarthy and produced by Samantha Jennings, the project was also supported through Screen Australia.s Springboard Program.

The crime drama My Country, written by Sam Meikle and Serhat Caradee and produced by Matthew Dabner,...

Brendan Cowell

Writer and actor Brendan Cowell will make his feature film directorial debut with the adaptation of his play Ruben Guthrie - the story of a wild-boy agency creative who burns himself out.

Cowell’s project is among 19 films to receive a cut of the $450,000 development support from Screen Australia.

Cowell has teamed up with Yael Bergman, producer of I Love You Too, which starred Cowell, and executive producers Laura Waters and Andrea Denholm.

The film’s synopsis reads: “By day, 29-year-old Ruben Guthrie is the wunderkind creative at one of Sydney’s hottest boutique ad agencies; by night, he is one of Sydney’s most notorious party boys until he jumps off a hotel roof into a wading pool and nearly kills himself. Over the next 12 months, Ruben tries to build a life around AA, cups of tea, inner growth and sex with a reformed addict. His friends,...

Tina Mabry's "Mississippi Damned," an independent American production, won the Gold Hugo as the best film in the 2009 Chicago International Film Festival, and added Gold Plaques for best supporting actress (Jossie Thacker) and best screenplay (Mabry). It tells the harrowing story of three black children growing up in rural Mississippi in circumstances of violence and addiction. The film's trailer and an interview with Mabry are linked at the bottom.

Kylee Russell in "Mississippi Damned"

The win came over a crowed field of competitors from all over the world, many of them with much larger budgets. The other big winner at the Pump Room of the Ambassador East awards ceremony Saturday evening was by veteran master Marco Bellocchio of Italy, who won the Silver Hugo as best director for "Vincere," the story of Mussolini's younger brother. Giovanna Mezzogiorno and Filippo Timi won Silver Hugos as best actress and actor,...