News
MIFF Short Award Win
Congratulations to all MIFF 2017 Short Award finalists and winners, especially to director John Sheedy for winning the Film Victoria Erwin Rado Award for Best Australian Short Film with MRS MCCUTCHEON. MRS MCCUTCHEON is John’s first foray into directing for film. See the full list if winners here.
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Near Death Experience: 5 Star Review
Doug Anthony All Stars second tour to Edinburgh in as many years continues to garner rave reviews. “The show is, in their own words, about ‘fading in’ when western society wants them to fade out. It’ll make you howl with laughter, punch the air with defiance and break your heart twice. Bring tissues.” Read more here.
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Found: Muriel’s Wedding BFF
“Sydney Theatre Company and Global Creatures announced today that Australian actor Madeleine Jones will play the role of Muriel’s best friend Rhonda in the world premiere of Muriel’s Wedding The Musical.” PJ Hogans iconic film adapted to the stage by the writer himself will open at STC’s Roslyn Packer Theatre in November this year. Read more here.
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Elephant Man review: A poetic and accomplished.
The Real and Imagined History of the Elephant Man, a new Australian adaptation the story of Joseph Merrick’s life opened last night at the Malthouse in Melbourne. Today the first of many spellbound reviewers have summarised their night in the theatre: “Merrick’s life can often seem more about us than him, and Tom Wright’s brilliant, lyrical reimagining, breathtakingly directed by Matt Lutton, finds a fresh centre of balance…Marg Horwell’s design and costume and Paul Jackson’s painterly lighting, together create an ...
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Doug Anthony All Stars Do It Again
After their smash return to the Edinburgh stage last year, the Doug Anthony All Stars are at it again. This year they bring their new show Near Death Experience to the Pleasance Courtyard. Fans old and new are raving: “It’s everything, and more, that long-standing fans of DAAS could have hoped for – no limits comedy, wrapped around songs in which the glorious harmonies let them get away with saying, well, absolutely anything.” Read more here.
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Assassins Announced
Designer Alicia Clements as been working away at the Hayes Theatre (Sydney) to realise the set and costumes for Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins. Directed by Melbourne Theatre Company associate director Dean Bryant, the full cast has now been announced. Read more here.
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Becoming a Screenwriter
Writer Andrew Bovell has put pen to paper, this time to discuss his experienced of becoming a writer for screen. Producer Jan Chapman will officially launch the paper Putting words in their mouths: The playwright and screenwriter at work on August 10 at Sydney Theatre Company. The event will be hosted by STC artistic director Kip Williams. In the meantime you can preview Andrew’s work here.
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MIFF: Kriv Stenders
Director Kriv Stenders has two releases in the 2017 Melbourne International Film Festival: Australia Day and The Go-Betweens: Right Here. Almost polar opposites, both films were shot this year. The Sydney Morning Herald sat down to chat to Stenders about his work: “It’s my passion, it’s also my living … I joke that I used to make TV commercials, now I make the stuff in between TV commercials.” Stender’s discusses success, storytelling and the screen. Read more here.
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North by Northwest: UK Debut
North by Northwest has had its UK premier over the weekend, opening to rave reviews. In the Daily Mail’s five star review the writer notes that director Simon Phillips deftly stages the action “with various ingenious image projections and stage jokes, along with a multi-tasking cast who play scores of characters.” Read more here.
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Good With Maps
Kate Gaul is in Edinburgh with Noëlle Janaczewska’s Good With Maps “a deep meditation of the power of imagination”. Watch Kate talk about the show here:
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STARSTRUCK Returns
Gillian Armstrong’s second feature film Starstruck has for many years been unavailable to viewers world wide. Now, thanks to the National Film & Sound Archive’s NFSA Restores program, Armstrong’s film has been given a second life. The newly restored Starstruck will be screened as part of the Pioneering Women program at Melbourne International Film Festival (3-21 August). A classic wannabe rags-to-riches tale, the film follows a family in a time of crisis “the film is a neon lightning bolt wrapped up in a gaudy tourist tea-towel ...
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Jane Campion’s Own Stories
Coinciding with the U.S. premiere of Jane Campion’s eagerly awaited series Top of the Lake: China Girl the Film Society Lincoln Centre will present a retrospective survey of the director’s work. Released overnight, the Lincoln Center’s announcement advised that: “The filmmaker will appear in person for two special events: An Evening with Jane Campion, a career-spanning discussion to kick off the series on Friday, September 8, and a sneak preview of the first two episodes of Top of the Lake: China Girl on Saturday, ...
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Bovell: Back from the Edge
In an illuminating interview released over the weekend writer Andrew Bovell discusses family, Hollywood, writers block and his sanity. As the Patrick White fellow, Bovell also speaks passionately about the state of writing in Australia: “A lot of writers will tell you a story of being commissioned, spending two or three years writing a play and then not seeing it produced … They shouldn’t abandon a writer like that. If you think a writer’s worth commissioning, they’re worth producing.” Read ...
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VELVET is lots of funky fun
Following it’s homecoming last week, VELVET has been the talk of the town. Directed by Craig Ilott, design by James Browne and lighting design by Matt Marshall VELVET is “lot’s of funky fun”. Starring Marcia Hines, a straight-laced, wide-eyed young man (Tom Oliver) arrives at a hedonistic nightclub where he is able to cut loose and discover himself. Read more about the raunchy fun here.
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VELVET Season Extended
Opening tonight, Craig Ilott’s VELVET has already been extended by two extra weeks due to popular demand. “VELVET shocks, surprises and scintillates at every turn. It’s a party, it’s electrifying, and its exhilarating disco soundtrack never lets up from the opening moment. VELVET is a fantastic sensory overload – funky, fresh, fun and sexy.” To book tickets click here.
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New York Film Week Win
Edited by Simon Price, Kiku Ohe’s first feature film The Lines has been awarded Best Narrative Feature Film at New York Film Week 2017. The Lines is a modern cinematic meditation that reinterprets the symbol of the American landscape. “It follows two actors who escape LA to the isolation of the desert…[it] explores how we connect with each other and the world around us.” Read more about The Lines here.
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TIFF – The Future is Female
The Toronto International Film Festival yesterday released it’s first slate of films – as part of the larger festival this collection is titled The Future is Female. Among the films presented Mary Shelley written by Emma Jensen was featured. Directed Haifaa Al Mansour, the first female Saudi director, Mary Shelley stars Elle Fanning “in this scintillating biopic of the Frankenstein author, chronicling her tempestuous marriage to dissolute poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and the fateful night at a Swiss chateau that inspired her most famous creation.” ...
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Wake In Fright: Teaser Released
Revealed last night was first teaser for Wake In Fright, the new interpretation of the classic 1961 psychological thriller. Directed By Kriv Stenders and production design by Mariot Kerr the two-part miniseries follows a young school teacher who finds himself marooned in a small mining town in Australia’s outback. Watch the teaser below:
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‘Have You Seen the Listers?’ Hits Home
Eddie Martin’s fourth film Have You Seen the Listers? has struck a chord with its subject. Anthony Lister, renowned street artist, has given the film his blessing after getting “quite emotional” on his first viewing. The film relates how the Brisbane City Council encouraged the then 19-year-old to paint dozens of the city’s traffic signal boxes in 1999. In 2014, the council took Lister – by now earning tens of thousands of dollars per piece and with his works hanging in ...
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Picnic at Hanging Rock: Amazon picks up Aussie classic
“With fantastic scripts and outstanding cast […] Picnic at Hanging Rock is set to be a must-see series in 2018.” From co-creator and writer Alice Addison Amazon has acquired Picnic at Hanging Rock, the upcoming six-episode Australian drama series starring Game Of Thrones’ Natalie Dormer. Picnic at Hanging Rock will have its world premiere on Foxtel in Australia in 2018. Read more here.
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This Much Is True… Outstanding Reviews
“Recommended without reservation.” Diana Simmonds – StageNoise “★★★★” Ben Neutze – Daily Review “Do not miss this fabulous production and its stellar cast in the location that inspired it.” Jade Kops – Broadway World “The ensemble is imaginative, adventurous and bold, and they each take the opportunity to showcase extraordinary skill and talent, at a standard that makes us fall in love with the theatre all over again.” Suzy Wrong – Suzy Goes See Just some of the incredible reviews THIS MUCH IS TRUE ...
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Hot Shots Announced
Screen Australia has selected 11 emerging filmmaking teams to share in $989,000 of Hot Shots Plus funding. Writer Anya Beyersdorf’s Bondi 1hr Foto is among those selected. From producer Nash Edgerton, writer Anya Beyersdorf and director Sean Kruck Bondi 1hr Foto is set in 1980s Bondi Beach, the short centres on a teenage girl’s clash with her father and will set the tone for a feature film about an underworld figure dealing with family, crime and police corruption. Read more about the winners and the funding here.
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AACTA Short Film Nominees
The 7th AACTA Award Short Film Nominees have been released with two HLA clients making the cut. MRS MCCUTCHEON directed by John Sheedy and Luci Shroder’s SLAPPER have been nominated. MRS MCCUTCEHON aims to give a voice to the thousands of trans and gender diverse children and SLAPPER follows a rebellious and broke teen in Australian suburbia. Winners are announced in December. Read more about both films here.
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THIS MUCH IS TRUE: Louis writing himself for stage
Louis Nowra has completed the last instalment of his autobiographical trilogy. Following Summer of the Aliens and Cosi, This Much is True finds Louis theatrical mirror Lewis in his forties “living in a scruffy part of town where he becomes caught up in the lives of a motley and remarkable group of locals”. This Much Is True opens at the Old Fitz tonight. You can read more of Louis reflections on his autobiographical self here and book tickets for the show (directed by ...
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