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"She's not gone... she spoke to me too last night." Greenwich Entertainment has unveiled the first official trailer for Went Up the Hill, an intriguing ghost story film from New Zealand. This initially premiered at the 2024 Toronto Film Festival last year, and will be released in limited theaters this summer in the US. The second feature made by Kiwi director Samuel Van Grinsven, also of Sequin in a Blue Room before this. Jack ventures to remote New Zealand for the funeral of his estranged mother and meets her widow Jill. But his mother's spirit returns to inhabit each of their bodies – instigating a life-threatening three-way nocturnal dance. Went Up the Hill is a psychological drama is inspired by writer / director Samuel Van Grinsven's own memories of his childhood in New Zealand’s South Island. An intimate, modern ghost story that explores the extremities of grief in our pursuit of letting go.

“Phantom Thread” star Vicky Krieps is deepening her onscreen presence with a haunting ghost story, “Went Up the Hill.” Titled after the nursery song (the lead characters are Jack and Jill), the feature centers on Krieps’ character, who for the first time meets her stepson after Krieps loses her wife to suicide. In her grief, the two each become possessed by the spirit of Krieps’ dead wife.

The intense trailer, which you can watch below, sums up the premise with the tagline, “Three Souls. Two Bodies.” The official synopsis reads: “Abandoned as a child, Jack (Dacre Montgomery) travels to remote New Zealand to attend the funeral of his estranged mother Elizabeth. There he meets her widow, Jill (Krieps), who has questions of her own. Over the nights that follow, Elizabeth returns and possesses Jack and Jill, using each of their bodies to speak to the other. Jill faces Elizabeth’s suicide,...

Dacre Montgomery (“Stranger Things”) stars alongside Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread) in Went Up the Hill, a haunting ghost story that’s coming to theaters on August 15, 2025.

Watch the trailer for Went Up the Hill, which features rave reviews from outlets including The Hollywood Reporter. They call it “one of the most startlingly original ghost stories in years.”

Dacre Montgomery and Vicky Krieps star as strangers brought together by a family connection in this haunting tale of grief, possession and breaking free from the past.

“The film will chart how after being abandoned as a child, Jack (Montgomery) ventures to remote New Zealand to attend the funeral of his estranged mother and there meets her grieving widow, Jill (Krieps). His search for answers becomes dangerous when his mother’s ghost returns to inhabit both Jack and Jill, using each of their bodies to speak to the other, and instigating a life-threatening...

Missing good old-fashioned ghost stories? Want to enjoy the twists and turns without being too terrified? Then get ready for Went Up the Hill! The new film, starring Stranger Things star Dacre Montgomery and Vicky Krieps is finally hitting theaters after it received praise from last year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Directed by Samuel Van Grinsven, the movie was applauded for its "brilliant performances" by Collider's Anna Miller. And now we have an exclusive new look at the film!

The trailer for Went Up the Hill shows Jack (Montgomery) going to the funeral of his estranged mother, Elizabeth. When he meets his mother's widow, Jill (Krieps), the two question each other and what we see in the trailer is the start of a pretty incredible ghost story. Possession, twists, and an eerie home? Went Up the Hill has it all. With the release of the trailer also comes...

The New Year That Never Came, a drama about the Romanian revolution of 1989, written and directed by Bogdan Muresanu, won the Grand Prix, the top prize, at the 15th edition of the Luxembourg City Film Festival (LuxFilmFest) on Saturday.

“December 20, 1989. Romania is on the brink of revolution. The authorities are preparing New Year’s festivities as if nothing – or almost nothing – is happening, but the official façade begins to crack,” reads a synopsis for the film, which world premiered at Venice 2024. “Amid the fervor of the uprising, six lives will intersect over the course of an extraordinary day, which leads to the fall of Nicolae Ceaușescu and his regime.”

The fest jury, led by Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, also included Danish actress Trine Dyrholm (The Girl With the Needle, Poison), VFX expert Jeff Desom (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Austrian actress Valerie Pachner (Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, A Hidden Life...

Exclusive: Greenwich Entertainment has acquired North American rights to UnBroken, the award-winning documentary that tells an extraordinary story of survival from Nazi Germany.

The distributor plans a February 21 theatrical release of the film from first-time director Beth Lane (watch the film’s trailer below). UnBroken bowed at the Heartland Film Festival in 2023 where it won Best Premiere Documentary Feature, going on to screen at Doc NYC and other festivals across the U.S. It won audience awards at RiverRun International Film Festival in North Carolina, Julien Dubuque International Film Festival in Iowa, and Berkshire International Film Festival in Massachusetts.

An animated sequence in ‘UnBroken’

The Weber siblings — Alfons, Senta, Ruth, Gertrude, Renee, Judith and Bela — faced incredible danger as World War II erupted and the Nazis implemented their hideous plan to exterminate all Jews. After their mother was seized and sent to Auschwitz where she was killed, their father made...

A specific release date has not yet been announced for the film, but The Hollywood Reporter has revealed the news that Greenwich Entertainment has picked up the North American distribution rights to the psychological drama/ghost story Went Up the Hill, which stars Dacre Montgomery of the hit Netflix series Stranger Things and Vicky Krieps of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread and M. Night Shyamalan’s Old. Went Up the Hill will receive a theatrical release sometime next summer.

Written and directed by Samuel Van Grinsven, who previously made the 2019 thriller Sequin in a Blue Room, Went Up the Hill sees Montgomery taking on the role of Jack, a man abandoned as a child who travels to remote New Zealand to attend the funeral of his estranged mother Elizabeth. There he meets her widow, Jill (Krieps), whose relationship with his mother was less than peaceful. Over a series of nights,...

Bill Skarsgard and Dacre Montgomery have been cast in an upcoming new movie together – Dead Man’s Wire!

The 34-year-old Swedish actor and the 30-year-old Australian actor will star in a hostage thriller from acclaimed filmmaker Gus Van Sant, according to Deadline.

Keep reading to find out more…

The publication reports the film is based on a true story and “follows a former real estate developer who takes the mortgage banker who did him wrong hostage, demanding $5 million and a personal apology.”

Producer Cassian Elwes shared in a statement, “It’s an absolute thrill to reunite with one of the greatest directors in the world and I can’t wait to work with the fantastic actors he’s assembling for this film.”

Bill has recently been on the promo trail for his new movie Nosferatu, which is set to hit theaters on Christmas Day!

Dacre was last seen on screen in...

Greenwich Entertainment has picked up North American rights to Went Up The Hill, a psychological drama/ghost story from New Zealand director Samuel Van Grinsven (Sequin in a Blue Room) with Stranger Things actor Dacre Montgomery and Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread, Old).

Montgomery plays Jack, a man abandoned as a child who travels to remote New Zealand to attend the funeral of his estranged mother Elizabeth. There he meets her widow, Jill (Krieps), whose relationship with his mother was less than peaceful. Over a series of nights, the ghost of Elizabeth returns to possess Jack and Jill in turn, using each of their bodies to speak to the other. Caught in a life-threatening nocturnal dance, Jack and Jill must find a way to relinquish Elizabeth’s hold before she pushes them to the edge.

Went Up the Hill premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, where it wowed Hollywood Reporter critic Caryn James,...

Exclusive: Greenwich Entertainment has acquired North American distribution rights to Went Up The Hill directed by Samuel Van Grinsven (Sequin in a Blue Room).

The Pop Film and Causeway Films production stars Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread) and Dacre Montgomery (Stranger Things).

Pic had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and Greenwich will release the film in theaters next summer.

The synopsis reads: “Abandoned as a child, Jack (Dacre Montgomery) travels to remote New Zealand to attend the funeral of his estranged mother Elizabeth. There he meets her widow, Jill (Vicky Krieps), who has questions of her own. Over the nights that follow, Elizabeth returns and possesses Jack and Jill, using each of their bodies to speak to the other. Caught in a life-threatening nocturnal dance, Jack and Jill must find a way to relinquish Elizabeth’s hold before she pushes them to the edge.”

The psychological drama...

One dreary day in New Zealand, a young man named Jack finds himself visiting his estranged mother’s funeral. Elizabeth was a gifted architect who sadly lost her life, and Jack has come to learn more about the woman who gave him up long ago. He meets Elizabeth’s widow, Jill, who now inhabits the couple’s secluded home high in the mountains.

Though confused by Jack’s presence, Jill welcomes him into her life of mourning. But there are secrets yet untold regarding Elizabeth and her past. Strange happenings soon make it clear that Elizabeth did not wish to leave this world, and her spirit has held on, possessing both Jill and Jack against their will.

Directed with subtle skill by Samuel Van Grinsven, Went Up the Hill tells a haunting tale of generational trauma. Its leading actors, Vicky Krieps and Dacre Montgomery, bring nuanced life to those navigating painful revelations.

Went Up the Hill is a different kind of ghost story. It haunts its characters physically and psychologically, forcing them to face their trauma. The film, directed by Samuel Van Grinsven, who co-wrote it with Jory Anast, looks at generational trauma with nuance and asks if it can indeed be stopped. The characters at its center Jack (Stranger Things Dacre Montgomery) and Jill (Vicky Krieps) are dealing with the death of a loved one, but the story is just as much about grief as it is about abuse.

Went Up the Hill

Director Samuel Van GrinsvenRelease Date September 6, 2024Writers Jory Anast, Samuel Van GrinsvenCast Arlo Green, Vicky Kreps, Sarah Peirse, Dacre MontgomeryRuntime 100 MinutesGenres Drama, Thriller

Went Up the Hill captures all that and more in a chilling film filled with plenty of emotional depth and strange occurrences, like a warped ghost sex scene that is one of the most uncomfortable Ive seen onscreen.

Deadline launched its TIFF portrait studio at the Bisha Hotel on Friday, hosting talent from the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, including actors and filmmakers from the weekend’s lineup.

Opening day guests included The Last Showgirl cast Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kiernan Shipka, Dave Bautista and Brenda Song; The Cut stars Orlando Bloom and Catriona Balfe; and Went Up the Hill’s Vicky Krieps, Dacre Montgomery and director Samuel Van Grinsven. Chloe Sevigny, Aliocha Schneider, Claes Bang and Nailia Harzoune of Bonjour Tristesse also stopped by, as did Ben Foster and Cobie Smulders of Sharp Corner.

Day 2 featured visits from Unstoppable stars Jennifer Lopez, Don Cheadle, Bobby Cannavale and Jharrel Jerome, as well as the movie’s real-life inspiration Anthony Robles. Naomi Watts stopped by with The Friend writer-director duo Scott McGehee and David Siegel, plus her Great Dane co-star Bing. Amy Adams also posed for a photo with...

Jamie Lee Curtis, Kiernan Shipka, Pamela Anderson, Chole Sevigny, Ben Stiller and more struck a pose at TheWrap’s 2024 TIFF Studio sponsored by Moët & Chandon and Boss Design.

This year’s iteration of the Toronto International Film Festival is playing host to the premieres of the Stiller-fronted comedy “Nutcrackers,” Anderson’s Vegas showgirl drama “The Last Showgirl,” the adaptation “Bonjour Tristesse” and others, and the cast and filmmakers behind these films stopped by TheWrap’s studio for interviews and to post for portraits by photographer O’Shane Howard.

Peruse TheWrap’s TIFF Studio portrait gallery below and check back throughout the festival as we update with more portraits.

Photo by O’Shane Howard

Kiernan Shipka, “The Last Showgirl” at TheWrap TIFF 2024 Portrait Studio.

Photo by O’Shane Howard

Jamie Lee Curtis, “The Last Showgirl” at TheWrap TIFF 2024 Portrait Studio.

Photo by O’Shane Howard

Pamela Anderson, “The Last Showgirl” at TheWrap TIFF 2024 Portrait Studio.

The cast and director of the haunting thriller “Went Up the Hill” say the film helped them overcome their own “personal ghost” on set, and that hopeful journey to healing is what ultimately made them sign on to be part of the project.

“When I received the script, I was mourning someone who died. I was very much living with a ghost — it felt like living with a ghost,” actress Vicky Krieps told TheWrap’s Steve Pond at TheWrap’s 2024 TIFF Studio sponsored by Moët & Chandon and Boss Design. “I didn’t know how to get rid of it [or] move past it. I received the script, not only was it challenging to think that we could play three people as two actors, but also the ghost component as the way I read it, in a modern psychological sense.”

The “Phantom Thread” actress continued: “There has to be courage of...

In the old nursery rhyme, Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. In the Samuel Van Grinsven drama “Went Up the Hill,” characters named Jack and Jill have their own business on that hill, and it does involve water, but it’s a lot more complicated than that. .

The movie called “Went Up the Hill,” which had its world premiere on Thursday during the opening night of the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, is a ghost story with roots in children’s doggerel, a tale of possession that runs on mood, not scares. The second feature from the New Zealand-born director Van Grinsven, the film is ferociously atmospheric, exquisitely creepy and languid to the point of obsession.

It’s spooky, to be sure, and full of often malignant spirits, but it steers well clear of any horror movie tropes. Instead, it’s a disquieting study...

The Toronto Film Festival on Thursday returned post-strikes with Hollywood star wattage as Ben Stiller and director David Gordon Green gave a glittering lift-off for their opening night film Nutcrackers.

Gordon Green introduced Stiller to the crowd at Roy Thomson Hall in the Canadian city that looked primed for film fest fun with the opening night comedy. The Zoolander and Tropic of Thunder star then recalled making movies in Canada.

“When people will talk to me sometimes about the Night at the Museum movies, they’ll say, Wow, what’s it like to shoot in the Museum of Natural History? And I’ll say it was actually a warehouse in Vancouver,” Stiller recounted.

“I’ve made a bunch of movies in Canada, and it’s always been an amazing experience,” Stiller added. His comments followed Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau touting Canada as a foreign location destination for Hollywood. “Our...

TIFF audiences got a surprise musical performance at the world premiere of When Up the Hill on Thursday night when the film’s star, Vicky Krieps, performed the closing theme live.

Krieps wrote the song, Jill, inspired by her character in the psychological ghost story from New Zealand director Samuel Van Grinsven. Krieps plays a grieving widow whose partner has recently died. At the funeral, she is confronted by her partner’s estranged son, Jack (Stranger Things star Dacre Montgomery). The spirit of Jack’s mother returns to possess both of them in turn, using their bodies to speak to the other and draw the pair closer together, with dangerous results.

Bankside Films is selling Went Up the Hill internationally, co-repping North American sales rights with CAA Media Finance.

“I always write a song for every character I play,” Krieps tells The Hollywood Reporter, “but this is the first time...

Writer-director Samuel Van Grinsven says that his new film “Went Up the Hill” was inspired by a single image of two people in a room, a coffin between them, both equally mourning the person inside, but knowing next to nothing about one another.

His film, which debuts this week at the Toronto International Film Festival, sees a young man, Jack (Dacre Montgomery), travel to a remote part of New Zealand to attend the funeral of his estranged mother. There he meets her grieving widow, Jill (Vicky Krieps). But his mother’s spirit returns, inhabiting both of their bodies to speak to the other one and instigating a threatening three-way nocturnal dance.

The film is financed with principal production investment from the New Zealand Film Commission and Screen Australia with support from Screen CanterburyNZ, Create Nsw, Spectrum Films, Stage 23, Rm Sound, Head Gear Films, Fulcrum Media Finance and the New Zealand Government’s Screen Production Grant.

Exclusive: Kiwi filmmaker Samuel Van Grinsven heads to TIFF this year with Went Up The Hill, a psychological ghost story starring Vicky Krieps and Stranger Things actor Dacre Montgomery. Check out a first look clip from the flick above.

Directed by Van Grinsven from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jory Anast, the film follows Jack, an orphan, who travels to remote New Zealand to attend the funeral of his estranged mother Elizabeth. There he meets her widow, Jill, who has questions of her own. Over the nights that follow, Elizabeth returns and possesses Jack and Jill, using each of their bodies to speak to the other. Jill faces Elizabeth’s suicide, while Jack confronts his abandonment. As they learn she is trapped in limbo, Jack begins to doubt Elizabeth’s reason for returning. Caught in a life-threatening nocturnal dance, Jack and Jill must find a way to let go of...

David Gordon Green y Rebel Wilson en la inauguración y clausura.

El Festival Internacional de Cine de Toronto (TIFF) ha revelado su programación para la edición de 2024.

La nueva película de David Gordon Green, “Nutcrackers”, protagonizada por Ben Stiller, inaugurará el Festival, mientras que la nueva película musical “The Deb”, dirigida y protagonizada por Rebel Wilson, será la encargada de clausurarlo.

Entre las películas que harán su debut mundial en TIFF, se encuentran el drama deportivo “Unstoppable”, dirigido por William Goldenberg y protagonizado por Jharrel Jerome y Jennifer Lopez; la película dramática “Hard Truths”, de Mike Leigh y con Marianne Jean-Baptiste; el terror psicológico de A24, “Heretic”, de Scott Beck y Bryan Woods con Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher y Chloe East; la comedia criminal “Riff Raff”, de Dito Montiel, con Jennifer Coolidge, Dustin Hoffman, Brian Cox, Gabrielle Union, Pete Davidson, Ed Harris y Bill Murray; la película de animación “The Wild Robot”, de Chris Sanders,...

New Zealand-born, Sydney-based filmmaker Samuel Van Grinsven's psychological thriller 'Went Up the Hill' will have its world premiere at this year's Toronto International Film Festival after being included in today's official line-up announcement.

The post Samuel Van Grinsven’s ‘Went Up the Hill’ to join Rebel Wilson’s ‘The Deb’ at TIFF appeared first on If Magazine.

Hot Hosts Head For Hota

Australian actor Rebel Wilson has been named as the emcee of the 2024 edition of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta) awards. Wilson will take to the stage on Saturday, Feb. 10.

Two days earlier, on Feb. 8, singer and actor Harry Connick Jr. will be the host of the Aacta Industry Awards. Both hosts will be joined by some of the industry’s most dynamic stars presenting at the ceremonies. And both ceremonies, presented by Foxtel Group, will be held at the Home of the Arts (Hota) on the Gold Coast in Queensland.

Shorts To Features

Writer-director-actor Alice Englert, producer Jodi Matterson, director David Michôd, and producer Jamie Hilton, will be among the speakers at Flickerlab 2024 on Thursday. Pitched as a one-day journey from shorts to features, the Bondi, New South Wales-located event is backed by the Australian Film Television and Radio School (Aftrs...

Exclusive: Shooting has wrapped on Went Up the Hill, the psychological ghost story starring Cannes award winner Vicky Krieps and Stranger Things actor Dacre Montgomery.

Above is a first look at the Samuel Van Grinsven flick, which is headed for next week’s AFM via Bankside Films. Buyers in LA will be presented with a promo reel, with Bankside repping international sales and co-repping North American rights with CAA Media Finance.

The film was shot on location in New Zealand and was the latest collaboration between London-based Bankside and Causeway Films following their partnership on Danny & Michael Philippou’s Talk to Me, which is nearing $100M at the global box office. We first told you about it last year.

Went Up the Hill stars Montgomery as Jack and Krieps as Jill. Abandoned as a child, Jack ventures to remote New Zealand to attend the funeral of his estranged mother and there meets her grieving widow,...

Supernatural horror was a hit at Sundance in January.

Bankside Films has sold all worldwide territories on Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou’s Sundance title Talk To Me.

Deals on the genre film have now been sealed with Gaga (Japan), Neo (Greece), Sun Distribution, PVR (India), Prima Cinema (Indonesia), Gsc Movies (Malaysia), 888 Films International (the Philippines), The Shaw Organisation (Singapore), Vertigo, Independenta (Romania), Lev Cinemas (Israel), Empire (South Africa), BirFilm (Turkey), Btv Media Group (Bulgaria) and Penny Black Media (airlines).

Talk To Me follows a group of friends who discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand. They become hooked on the new thrill,...

Acclaimed “Phantom Thread” actor Vicky Krieps’ latest film, “Ingeborg Bachmann – Journey into the Desert,” directed by German cinema legend Margarethe von Trotta, has its world premiere in competition at the Berlin Film Festival.

Krieps plays the titular Austrian Bachmann, one of the most renowned German-language poetry and prose writers of the 20th century. The film follows her life and career and her relationships with Swiss playwright (Ronald Zehrfeld), Austrian author Adolf Opel (Tobias Samuel Resch) and German composer Hans Werner Henze (Basil Eidenbenz) during a six-year period in her life from 1958.

The actor was familiar with the writer from her formative years. “I knew about Bachmann because in Germany she’s very famous. I grew up with her in school,” Krieps told Variety. “I was very into poetry when I was younger, so I knew her poetry.” Krieps familiarized herself further with Bachmann’s work once she was cast.

Screen is rounding up the key projects launched before and during this year’s American Film Market.

Screen International is rounding up the key projects launched before and during this year’s American Film Market.

Refresh the page for latest updates.

From the US

The Pack

Alexander Skarsgard marks his feature directing debut with this psychological thriller starring Florence Pugh. Production begins in March 2023. CAA Media Finance and 30West jointly represent US rights.

International sales: The Veterans

Immaculate

Sydney Sweeney produces (with Fifty-Fifty films) and stars in this psychological horror set in the Italian countryside. Michael Mohen will direct with...

Stranger Things actor Dacre Montgomery has signed on as a lead in upcoming horror movie Went Up The Hill. The Australian actor had first joined the stellar cast of the Netflix show for Stranger Things season 2 as Billy Hargrove, Max’s stepbrother. His character starts out as a bitter teenager but traversed through an arc becoming the man of the hour by the end of season 3. The same year, Montgomery had also appeared as Red Ranger in Power Rangers’ reboot, and later, as Steve Binder in Elvis this year. He is also slated to star in the drama Spider & Jessie.

Went Up The Hill, directed and written by Samuel Van Grinsven and co-written by Jory Anast, is being produced by Samantha Jennings and Kristina Ceyton of Causeway Films, an outfit that shares other notable credits from the same genre namely The Babadook and The Nightingale. The film is currently in...

Dacre Montgomery of the Netflix series Stranger Things and Vicky Krieps of M. Night Shyamalan’s Old have landed the lead roles in director Samuel Van Grinsven’s ghost story Went Up the Hill, which is currently in pre-production and will be filming in New Zealand. If the film’s title brings to mind the nursery rhyme about Jack and Jill going up the hill, it’s for good reason. Van Grinsven and co-writer Jory Anast have even named Montgomery and Krieps’ characters Jack and Jill.

Went Up the Hill has the following synopsis:

After being abandoned as a child, Jack (Montgomery) ventures to remote New Zealand to attend the funeral of his estranged mother and there meets her grieving widow, Jill (Krieps). His search for answers becomes dangerous when his mother’s ghost returns to inhabit both Jack and Jill, using each of their bodies to speak to the other,...

Stranger Things star Dacre Montgomery is returning to the supernatural genre, with Vicky Krieps in tow. They will both star in the upcoming ghost story Went Up the Hill. Deadline reports that the two actors will star in the New Zealand-set film. Montgomery will play Jack, who travels to New Zealand to attend the funeral of his long-estranged mother, who abandoned him as a child. There, he meets her widow, Jill (Krieps), whom he hopes will provide him with the answers he seeks — only for his mother's ghost to appear and inhabit both of them, placing them all in danger. The film will be directed by Samuel Van Grinsven, who said of the casting:...

Fresh off his role as Billy in “Stranger Things,” Dacre Montgomery has been set to star alongside Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread) in Went Up The Hill, a new horror movie.

Deadline reports that the upcoming ghost story is currently in pre-production.

“The film will chart how after being abandoned as a child, Jack (Montgomery) ventures to remote New Zealand to attend the funeral of his estranged mother and there meets her grieving widow, Jill (Krieps). His search for answers becomes dangerous when his mother’s ghost returns to inhabit both Jack and Jill, using each of their bodies to speak to the other, and instigating a life-threatening nocturnal dance between the three of them.”

Samuel Van Grinsven will direct the film from his script co-written with Jory Anast.

Deadline notes that the film is “being produced by Samantha Jennings and Kristina Ceyton of Causeway Films with Vicky Pope of Pop...

Exclusive: Corsage and Phantom Thread star Vicky Krieps has been set to lead ghost story Went Up The Hill with Stranger Things actor Dacre Montgomery.

Currently in pre-production, the film will chart how after being abandoned as a child, Jack (Montgomery) ventures to remote New Zealand to attend the funeral of his estranged mother and there meets her grieving widow, Jill (Krieps). His search for answers becomes dangerous when his mother’s ghost returns to inhabit both Jack and Jill, using each of their bodies to speak to the other, and instigating a life-threatening nocturnal dance between the three of them.

Bankside is launching international sales on the project going into next month’s AFM and will co-rep domestic with CAA Media Finance. Samuel Van Grinsven directs from his script co-written with Jory Anast. The official New Zealand-Australia co-production will shoot on location in the former.

Pic is being produced...

Parkland Pictures, Bankside Films and WME handle international sales on four awarded features.

Screen Australia has selected four features to receive production funding in its latest round of awards including a 1930s-set romantic comedy inspired by Australia’s first female commercial pilot.

The titles are Little Bird, directed by Darren Ashton; Samuel Van Grinsven’s thriller Went Up The Hill; Jon Bell’s psychological horror The Moogai; and Marcelle Lunam’s romantic comedy Addition.

The government agency has approved 8.2m (AU12m) to be shared among the features as well as three TV dramas and two children’s projects.

UK-based...

Screen Australia and Australians in Film (AiF) have announced the participants for the Talent Gateway and the Global Producers Exchange, both designed to connect Australian creatives with key US decision-makers.

The delegates chosen for the Talent Gateway program are Vanessa Alexander, Jon Bell, and Samuel Van Grinsven, as well as teams Alice Foulcher and Gregory Erdstein, and Naomi Higgins and Humyara Mahbub.

Each participant or team will receive a grant of up to $20,000 to enable them to take part in the initiative, which runs from this month until June 2022. Funding is also available to develop, refine and market the IP on their slate that receives positive interest, in order to quickly engage international partners.

A total of 12 delegates from six production companies will take part in Global Producers Exchange, a scripted development lab that features a series of roundtables and masterclasses with key US-based decision-makers and mentors.

The recipients comprise...

We never learn the name of the main character in Samuel Van Grinsven’s fearless queer debut, “Sequin in a Blue Room.” Anonymous is just the way he likes it. Using a gay cruising app, he goes by the handle “Sequin,” seeking casual, no-strings sex from strangers. Once the hookup’s complete, he blocks the other party, so they can’t contact him again. And then he goes searching for his next thrill.

A redheaded twink who meets his trysts in a sparkling silver club top, Sequin is just 16, but he knows what he wants — or at least he thinks he does. Such confidence can be disarming, since most kids haven’t figured themselves out yet at that age, which makes them easy prey for more experienced partners. But Sequin seems to intuit the power that youth and beauty confer upon someone in his position, and this single-minded young man...

To mark the release of Sequin in a Blue Room on 17th May, we’ve been given 3 copies to give away on Blu-ray.

Samuel Van Grinsven’s stylish debut feature is an uncompromising exploration of sex in a cyber space. Powerfully intense and visually stunning, this bold and energetic coming-of-age tale features a breakout performance from Conor Leach, who plays Sequin. The film won the Audience Award for Best Feature at the Sydney Film Festival and has played to wide acclaim around the world, including Outfest and Toronto International Film Festival.

Sequin in a Blue Room is the story of Sequin, who is exploring his burgeoning sexuality through an obsession with anonymous, no-strings sexual encounters. That is until he finds his way into The Blue Room – a strictly anonymous, limitless sex party – where a whole new, alluring world unfolds before him. There, Sequin connects with a captivating stranger, but they are separated suddenly.

Samuel Van Grinsven brings New Queer Cinema back to life in this dark intoxicating drama that evokes the seductive abyss of Gregg Araki’s direction, and the coming-of-age feel of Russell T Davies’ writing. Sequin in A Blue Room is a reminder of Nineties angst media and queer celebration, within the dark corners of adolescence.

High school pupil Sequin (Conor Leach) spends most of his days surfing the dating app scene for hook-ups. After an encounter becomes more emotionally demanding than expected, Sequin attends an anonymous sex party where he feels an instant connection to one of the guests, while the man from his recent past is watching from the shadows. Sequin sets out on a path to find the man he met that night, after feeling a genuine connection for the first time.

Australian cinema has been consistently impressive with indie features in the last decade, and Grinsven continues to show the.

Samuel van Grinsven’s impressive graduation project is a gay coming-of-age tale that ripples with sexual energy

Boldly declaring itself a “homosexual film”, Sequin in a Blue Room is neither coy nor moralistic about online gay hookup culture. The apps have a toxic side, yes, but the film also acutely understands the heady, tactile pleasure of casual sex. Despite the thriller aesthetics, Sequin in a Blue Room is at its heart a coming-of-age tale in a digital world filled with instant sexual gratifications and perilous risks.

The film is, in one word, hot; rippling with an electrifying sexual energy. The anonymity is key. Even the 16-year-old protagonist, played by Conor Leach, has no name. He is known only as Sequin, a display name on a hookup app where he procures no-strings sex from much older men. With cut-glass cheekbones, Sequin is striking and arrogantly cocksure of the power attached to such assets.

Second features from directors Natalie Erika James (Relic) and Samuel Van Grinsven (Sequin in a Blue Room) are among the 28 projects to recently share in $1 million worth of development funding from Screen Australia.

The agency announced the funding recipients today, with money going towards seven features, 16 TV drama and five online projects.

These are the first projects to be announced for the 2020-21 financial year, from both the Premium and Generate funds.

Projects funded via Premium Plus, the additional development funding allocation Screen Australia launched to support the industry through Covid-19, are expected to be announced later today.

Screen Australia head of development Nerida Moore said: “It’s great to see producers thinking globally and developing unique stories for Australian audiences and the world. We’re excited to support these original story ideas, many with distinct storyworlds and fantastic comedic imaginations that I’m confident will resonate. We’re also...

‘Sequin in a Blue Room’ (Photo credit: Nicholas Gascoine).

Writer-director Samuel Van Grinsven’s Sequin in a Blue Room is set to premiere in major overseas markets, a big achievement for the film he made as his graduate project in the Master of Arts Screen program at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (Aftrs) in 2018.

The US and UK rights to the queer coming-of-age tale produced by Aftrs graduate Sophie Hattch have been acquired by Peccadillo Pictures, a UK-based distributor of art house, gay and lesbian, independent and world cinema.

On-demand firm Salzgeber bought the film for German-speaking markets while Optimale has the rights in French-speaking territories.

Last year it won the best narrative feature in the Sydney Film Festival audience awards and it screened at Miff and the Mardi Gras Film Festival,

Starring Conor Leach in his film debut, Simon Croker, Jeremy Lindsay Taylor and Anthony Brandon Wong,...

Sophie Hyde, pictured here on the set of ‘Animals’, has been nominated for two Adg Awards.

First-time feature directors Thomas Wright (Acute Misfortune), John Sheedy (H is for Happiness), Ben Lawrence (Hearts and Bones) and Natalie Erika James (Relic) will vie for the Australian Directors’ Guild (Adg) Award for Best Direction in a Feature Film ($1 million or over) against Sophie Hyde (Animals) and Wayne Blair (Top End Wedding).

Up in the $1 million or under category are Josephine Mackerras for Alice, Imogen Thomas for Emu Runner, Lucy Colman for Hot Mess, Luke Sullivan for Reflections In The Dust and Samuel Van Grinsven for Sequin In A Blue Room.

The Adg announced nominees for its annual awards today, with winners to be announced in Sydney at a ceremony October 19. A record 202 entries were received this year, up from 117 in 2019.

“At these challenging times, it is more important than ever that we come...

‘Miss Fisher & the Crypt of Tears’.

Miss Fisher & the Crypt of Tears, the feature film spin-off Every Cloud Productions’ series Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, and writer-director Michael Bentham’s indie Disclosure, will both make their world premiere at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in early January.

Each will screen as part of the World Cinema Now section, alongside other Australian films, Shannon Murphy’s Babyteeth and Mirrah Foulkes’ Judy & Punch. Samuel Van Grinsven’s Sequin in a Blue Room will screen as part of Queer Cinema Today & the GayLA, and as Australia’s submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, Rodd Rathjen’s Buoyancy will also screen alongside the other 51 submissions for the Oscar from around the world.

‘Disclosure’.

Directed by the series’ set up director Tony Tilse from a screenplay by Deb Cox, Miss Fisher & Crypt of Tears was shot on location in Melbourne and in Morocco,...

Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale tops the nominations pool for film at this year’s Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (Aacta).

The thriller, which debuted at Venice last year where it won a special jury prize, picked up 15 nods including best film and best direction.

Australian actor Damon Herriman is up for supporting actor for his role in The Nightingale, and also lead actor for his performance in Mirrah Foulkes’ Judy & Punch, which picked up a total of nine nominations including best film.

Herriman is also nominated twice on the TV side for roles in Lambs Of God and Mr Inbetween and has now become the Aacta record holder for the most nominations across performance categories. The actor is having a banner 2019, having also played Charles Manson in both Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood and the Netflix series Mindhunter this year.

Tied...

‘Lambs of God’.

Lingo Pictures’ four-part TV drama Lambs of God has collected an unprecedented 18 Aacta Award nominations, while Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale leads in film with 15 nods.

The Australian Academy revealed the full list of nominees for the annual awards today, with almost 60 to be presented across two events in Sydney in six weeks time.

Some 15 films are up for awards, though four dominate almost every category: Kent’s revenge tale, Anthony Maras’ debut feature Hotel Mumbai and David Michôd’s Netflix-backed The King, which each received 13 nominations, and Mirrah Foulkes’ dark comedy Judy & Punch, which earned nine. Each is nominated for Best Film alongside Rachel Griffiths’ Ride Like A Girl and Wayne Blair’s Top End Wedding.

Up in the Best Indie Film category (budgeted under $2 million) are Thomas M. Wright’s Acute Misfortune, Heath Davis’ Book Week, Rodd Rathjen’s Buoyancy, Imogen Thomas’ Emu...

‘Top End Wedding’, ‘Hearts and Bones’ and ‘The King’ are among the 34 longlisted films.

Some 34 feature films will compete for nominations for this year’s Aacta Awards, and the longlist covers a diverse range of titles, from box office earners like Top End Wedding and Storm Boy, through to critically lauded films like The Nightingale and micro budget indies such as Suburban Wildlife.

However, perhaps the most notable inclusion in the longlist is David Michôd’s Netflix Original The King, which premiered at Venice Film Festival last week to an eight-minute standing ovation.

Typically, to be eligible for Aacta Awards, a film – even when made for a streaming platform – must have paid cinema screenings in Australia or local festival play.

Aacta has made an exception for The King, which is not due to play in Australian cinemas or in festivals before its release on Netflix later this year, because of...

Margot Robbie in Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood’.

The 2019 Melbourne International Film Festival is being touted as the largest yet, with some 259 features, 123 shorts and 16 Vr experiences, including Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood.

The 1969-set film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, will screen on the opening weekend in the Astor Theatre on 35mm. An elegy to the Golden Age of Hollywood, it also features Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate and Damon Herriman as Charles Manson, as well as Al Pacino, Kurt Russell, Timothy Olyphant, Dakota Fanning, Damien Lewis and Luke Perry.

Of his first program, which includes 44 films straight from Cannes, Miff artistic director Al Cossar said: “I am absolutely thrilled to share my first festival with Melbourne in 2019. Rich in its diversity, this program is a true celebration of cinema: promising countless adventures into the kinds of places and people,...

Time spent in a modern war zone can be traumatic for participant and observer alike, yet across continents and cultures, the shared experiences of living and loving in the wake of such experiences can be startlingly similar. This is multi-faceted and overarching theme woven throughout Ben Lawrence’s sensitive and affecting new Australian drama “Hearts and Bones,” an impressive narrative feature debut from the winner of last year’s Sydney Film Festival documentary prize for “Ghosthunter.”

Lawrence’s thoughtful drama also casts an illuminating light on the current hot-button issue of immigrants to Australia and their place in the social fabric, specifically in the Western Sydney suburbs in which it is filmed. The film’s second-place finish in the narrative section of the fest’s audience award (behind Samuel Van Grinsven’s “Sequin in a Blue Room”) suggests it struck a chord with traditionally partisan Aussie audiences, and with proper handling,...

‘Sequin in A Blue Room’.

Sydney Film Festival announced its audience awards today, with best narrative feature awarded to Samuel Van Grinsven’s Sequin in a Blue Room and best documentary to Selina Miles’ Martha: A Picture Story – both Aussie films.

Sequin in a Blue Room, a queer coming-of-age story, is Van Grinsven’s debut feature, completed as part of an Aftrs Masters project and produced by Sophie Hattch. It stars Conor Leach in his film debut, alongside Jeremy Lindsay Taylor and Anthony Brandon Wong.

Martha: A Picture Story, documents the life and work of NYC photo journalist Martha Cooper. It is the first full length documentary film from Miles, and was executive produced by Jennifer Peedom and and produced by Daniel Joyce.

Two other Australian films – Ben Lawrence’s Hearts and Bones and Imogen McCluskey’s microbudget debut Suburban Wildlife – were also voted in the top five narrative films,...

Outfest has unveiled its programming lineup, including appearances by Kathy Griffin, Trixie Mattel, Angelica Ross and Robert Englund, for its 37th version on July 18-28.

Officially titled the 2019 Outfest Los Angeles Lgbtq Film Festival, the event opens at the Orpheum Theatre with the “Circus of Books” documentary and closes at The Theater at the Ace Hotel with family comedy “Before You Know It” from Hannah Pearl Utt (who also co-wrote and stars), featuring Judith Light alongside Alec Baldwin and Mandy Patinkin.

Films are from 33 countries and in 26 languages, and more than two-thirds of the titles are directed by women, people of color and trans filmmakers.

“As my tenure comes to an end I am most proud of Outfest’s increased visibility in Hollywood and our ever-growing stature within the industry,” said executive director Christopher Racster. “Outfest Los Angeles continues to shine a spotlight on those stories we must see and...

After 37 years as the nation’s premier Lgbtq film festival, Outfest shows no signs of slowing down. The 2019 festival, scheduled to take place in Los Angeles from July 18-28, has just announced its full schedule. The lineup features a combination of festival favorites and rarely-seen foreign films, placing Lgbtq cinema in a truly global context.

The festival opens on July 18 with “Circus of Books,” the Tribeca hit about a daughter’s learning about her parents’ groundbreaking gay porn shop. It closes out with Sundance breakout “Before You Know It,” and will feature 28 world premieres during its run.

From features and documentaries to shorts and episodic content, this is truly an all-inclusive launching pad for Lgbtq filmmakers. The festival continues to push the boundaries of progress, with a majority of this year’s films directed by filmmakers from groups underrepresented in queer film.

“As my tenure comes to an end I...