News

Travis Fimmel as Major Harry Smith.

Transmission Films has released two images and the trailer of Kriv Stenders’ Vietnam War movie Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan.

Travis Fimmel plays 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.

“To see the battle portrayed on screen for the first time is a heart pounding and emotional experience for audiences. The passion and expertise of the filmmaking team...

Sigrid Thornton.

Sigrid Thornton will be presented with the Chauvel Award tonight at a screen industry gala event held as part of the Gold Coast Film Festival.

The award recognises the prolific actress’ significant contribution to the Australian screen industry. Her long career includes films such The Man From Snowy River and The Lighthorsemen, and TV series SeaChange, All The Rivers Run, Prisoner and recently, The Code and Wentworth. Established in 1992, previous winners of the Chauvel Award include Fred Schepisi, Gillian Armstrong, George Miller, Jan Chapman, Heath Ledger and Deborah Mailman.

“This recognition is a wonderful and very humbling acknowledgement of essentially what’s been a lot of hard work,” Thornton tells If.

“It’s a career that’s been full, rich and enormously joyful, but it’s also had a lot of ups and downs as well.”

Thronton will soon return to one of her most notable roles, that of Laura Gibson,...

Xavier Samuel in Kimble Rendall's Bait 3D.

Adelaide-raised Xavier Samuel is returning home to star in South Australian feature Bad Blood, a suspense thriller to be directed by David Pulbrook (Last Dance) about a couple's long weekend away that turns sinister.

Samuel will star alongside Morgan Griffin (San Andreas, Unbroken) in his first Sa-shot film since his debut film, 2006's 2:37 (the film which also provided an early breakout role for Teresa Palmer).

Bad Blood will be produced by Wolf Creek's David Lightfoot alongside Antony I. Ginnane, with filming in the Adelaide Hills and at Adelaide Studios to begin June 6 and run for three weeks.

.Interest in filming in South Australia is currently very high, with the State.s experienced crews, diverse filming locations and the state-of-the-art Adelaide Studios all proving strong drawcards among producers and directors," South Australian Film Corporation Chief Executive Annabelle Sheehan said.

.In the last two years,...

Antony I. Ginnane has long been concerned about what he regards as a high level of film illiteracy among many writers, producers and directors, both established and emerging.

And the veteran producer/distributor believes that even among those filmmakers who are steeped in screen history, some have little or no knowledge of the countless classic films produced in the decades before the 1970s.

That.s part of the motivation for Ginnane.s new book, The Unusual Suspects: 104 Films That Made World Cinema, which Currency Press is launching next month.

His eclectic choices range from D.W. Griffith.s Way Down East (1920) through to Quentin Tarantino.s Kill Bill Volume 1 (2003).

Omitting any title produced after 2003, he explains, does not suggest that no great films had been made since then, but rather that the grammar of cinema had already been laid down.

He is quick to point out his list, which includes Alfred Hitchcock.s Vertigo,...

The American Society of Cinematographers is set to honour Dean Semler Am Acs Asc with the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.

Semler will receive the award alongside peers Rodney Charters Asc Csc (who will receive the Career Achievement in Television Award), Robby Müller Nsc Bvk (who will receive the International Achievement Award) and Curtis Clark Asc (who will receive the President.s Award).

.Dean.s creative prowess is seemingly limitless,. Asc Awards committee chairman Daryn Okada Asc said in a statement announcing the awards. .His long list of impressive credits has defined a generation of cinema. Dean is consistently innovative, and is always outdoing himself from film to film. While we recognise his tremendous contribution to our art form, we will keep an eye on the future and highly anticipate what he will create next..

The Australian Cinematographers Society also said it was incredibly proud of Dean's achievements.

Semler earned his...

Australian actor Gary Sweet has spoken of his sadness over the death of his friend Jon Blake, who passed away 25 years after he was left brain-damaged in a horrific car crash.

Blake died at the age of 52 on Sunday after suffering complications from pneumonia.

The popular actor's career was cut short in 1986 when he was involved in a car smash while filming The Lighthorsemen in the South Australian desert, which left him permanently brain-damaged and dependent on his mother Mascot to look after him.

Sweet, who starred alongside Blake in the film and was by his friend's bedside following the accident, found Blake's deterioration "devastating".

He recalls, "We got on very well... we used to sit around and shoot the breeze, and he was very popular with the ladies. (After the accident) we tried anything just to get him to wake up. It was quite devastating."

Another The Lighthorsemen co-star, Peter Phelps, adds, "We had formed a really good friendship in The Lighthorsemen, going up to the hills and to the pub together. There was always some hope that with the mystery of a brain injury there was a chance. I hope there was no pain (in his death)."

Actor Tony Bonner adds, "It's a blessing of some kind that John is not travelling in any more pain. I hope that he is in a peaceful place now."

Blake's funeral will be held later this week (ends05Jun11).

In a 2010 issue of Filmink, we ran an article in our popular ‘What's Wrong With The Australian Film Industry' column revisiting the life of Australian actor Jon Blake whose career tragically halted to a complete stop after a fatal accident. With Blake having just passed away, we thought we'd republish his story as it's one that's absolutely worth remembering... On December 1, 1986, the world was Jon Blake's oyster. He'd just wrapped shooting on a big budget war film, The Lighthorsemen, in which he played the lead, and he had a number of other films awaiting release.

Australian actor Jon Blake has died after suffering complications from pneumonia. He was 52.

The star lost his fight for life on Sunday.

Blake shot to fame in the 1980s with roles on several hit shows, including soap opera The Restless Years and TV miniseries Anzacs.

The actor hit headlines in 1986 when he was involved in a car smash in the South Australian desert on the last day of filming movie The Lighthorsemen.

He was left permanently brain-damaged and never worked again, relying on his mother Mascot to look after him, before her death in 2007. His son Dustin then took over as his father's carer.

Blake's funeral will be held later this week (ends05Jun11).

Jon Blake has passed away at the age of 52. The Australian actor, who was best known for his roles in The Slim Dusty Movie, Anzacs, The Restless Years and A Country Practice, died of complications from pneumonia. Blake was dubbed "the next Mel Gibson" after starring in The Lighthorsemen but his career ended after he had a serious car accident on the last day of filming in 1986. He was left with permanent brain damage. The star went through various court cases and was eventually awarded $$7.7 million (£5 million) in (more)...

Catch .44

Opens: 2011

Cast: Forest Whitaker, Bruce Willis, Malin Akerman, Nikki Reed, Deborah Ann Woll

Director: Aaron Harvey

Summary: The story focuses on three women being thrust into an extraordinary situation involving a psychopathic hitman, a grizzled trucker and a delusional line cook.

Analysis: Oddly little is known about this indie crime comedy aside from the three lead female roles have gone through more than a couple of rounds of casting musical chairs. The likes of Maggie Grace, Kate Mara, Laura Ramsey, Sarah Roemer, Lizzy Caplan and Lauren German were all attached at one point or another before the final trio of Malin Akerman ("Watchmen"), Nikki Reed ("Twilight") and Deborah Ann Woll ("True Blood") were settled on.

Bruce Willis, Forest Whitaker, Michael Rosenbaum and Brad Dourif also star with Willis as a crime boss behind everything that happens and Whitaker as a dangerously unstable assassin. Aaron Harvey, who last directed...

Catch .44

Opens: 2011

Cast: Forest Whitaker, Bruce Willis, Malin Akerman, Nikki Reed, Deborah Ann Woll

Director: Aaron Harvey

Summary: The story focuses on three women being thrust into an extraordinary situation involving a psychopathic hitman, a grizzled trucker and a delusional line cook.

Analysis: Oddly little is known about this indie crime comedy aside from the three lead female roles have gone through more than a couple of rounds of casting musical chairs. The likes of Maggie Grace, Kate Mara, Laura Ramsey, Sarah Roemer, Lizzy Caplan and Lauren German were all attached at one point or another before the final trio of Malin Akerman ("Watchmen"), Nikki Reed ("Twilight") and Deborah Ann Woll ("True Blood") were settled on.

Bruce Willis, Forest Whitaker, Michael Rosenbaum and Brad Dourif also star with Willis as a crime boss behind everything that happens and Whitaker as a dangerously unstable assassin. Aaron Harvey, who last directed...

In news from the Cannes International Film Festival the short film Deeper Than Yesterday, a story of men who have been submerged in a submarine for 3 months and its impact upon them, won the Kodak Discovery Award for a Short Film and the Petit Rail d'Or at the prestigious Cannes Critics’ Week. The Kodak Discovery Award, which includes €3,000 worth of 35mm film... - Australian Film Scene: Local Business: Screen Australia has announced funding of 4 short films as part of its Springboard program aimed at assisting filmmakers who intend on making a short film which will be used to market an expanded feature version of the same project. The films selected include: - Cryo (feature film Cargo) a sci-fi thriller directed by Luke Doolan- Transmission (feature film These Final Hours) an apocalyptic drama written & directed by Zak Hilditch- Mercury (feature film Hound) a conspiracy thriller written &amp...

Australian Film Scene: Local Business: Screen Australia has announced funding of 4 short films as part of its Springboard program aimed at assisting filmmakers who intend on making a short film which will be used to market an expanded feature version of the same project. The films selected include: - Cryo (feature film Cargo) a sci-fi thriller directed by Luke Doolan- Transmission (feature film These Final Hours) an apocalyptic drama written & directed by Zak Hilditch- Mercury (feature film Hound) a conspiracy thriller written & directed by Paul Oliver- Rarer Monsters (feature film Tremula) a sci-fi thriller written & directed by Shane Krause The Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (Efic) will provide loans against the Producer Offset to filmamkers to assist with small film and TV productions. The eligibility criteria will be to have an international distribution agreement and a provisional certificate from Screen Australia. Amounts will be loaned up to...