Category Archives: Film

Film news with a particular orientation towards Australia.

The Hitman’s Bodyguard director Patrick Hughes launches Australian film company

Directing, Film, Latest News

Karl Quinn Sydney Morning Herald 11 January 2022

One of Hollywood’s most in-demand action directors is setting up shop in Australia with the ambition of bringing a rolling slate of big-budget genre productions to the country.

Action movie director Patrick Hughes (centre) is setting up shop in Melbourne, with three features already in the pipeline. His partners in Huge Films are Greg McLean (executive producer) and writer James Beaufort.
Action movie director Patrick Hughes (centre) is setting up shop in Melbourne, with three features already in the pipeline. His partners in Huge Films are Greg McLean (executive producer) and writer James Beaufort.

Patrick Hughes, the Australian director of The Hitman’s Bodyguard and The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, has launched a new company, Huge Film, in partnership with Greg McLean (Wolf Creek) and James Beaufort. McLean will serve as executive producer, with Beaufort as Hughes’s co-writer. The team will be based in Melbourne. Action movie director Patrick Hughes (centre) is setting up shop in Melbourne, with three features already in the pipeline. His partners in Huge Films are Greg McLean (executive producer) and writer James Beaufort.

The first production from Huge Film (a mispronunciation of his surname that also describes the kind of movies he makes) is the sci-fi action thriller War Machine, which was announced in November. The second, a Netflix thriller called The Raid, has been announced today, with action maestro Michael Bay (Armageddon, The Rock, Transformers) producing.

Also in development is a third instalment in The Hitman’s Bodyguard franchise.

For Black Rock-born Hughes, who self-financed his first feature, the Omeo-set modern-day Western Red Hill (2010) before being enlisted by Sylvester Stallone to direct The Expendables 3 (2014), setting up shop on home ground is the realisation of a dream decades in the making.

“For the past 22 years I’ve worked all around the world, shooting commercials and then movies,” he says. “Now I feel like I’ve reached a new stage in my career where I’ve got a bit of sway and I can say, ‘this is where I want to work’.”

Hughes and Ryan Reynolds on the set of The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard.

Hughes lauds the combination of federal and state government incentives that have made it feasible for the kind of Hollywood-financed big-budget films he directs to be made locally.

“For the first time in my career, Australia’s location incentives are globally competitive, so making big-budget action movies on my home soil is now a viable reality,” he says. “I’ve never before been able to drive to work, and to come home and say to my kids ‘how was your day’. This is the dream for me.”

Hughes and McLean (who produced Red Hill) date their friendship back to 2001, when as a pair of student filmmakers they found themselves in the same St Kilda bar on New Year’s Eve with just $5 to their names.

https://www.smh.com.au/culture/movies/the-hitman-s-bodyguard-director-patrick-hughes-launches-australian-film-company-20220109-p59mto.html 2/4

13/01/2022, 10:18 The Hitman’s Bodyguard director Patrick Hughes launches Australian film company

Over the one beer they could each afford before heading home they swore they would one day make it. With Huge Film, they look to have made good on that commitment.

In announcing War Machine in the Hollywood trade press in November, Erin Westerman, head of production for Lionsgate (the mini-studio behind the Hunger Games franchise, and the producer of War Machine), described Hughes as “simply one of the best action directors working today”.

He is certainly one of the busiest. His latest film, The Man From Toronto, starring Woody Harrelson and Kevin Hart, will be released in cinemas in August.

Although locations for War Machine, which is likely to cost more than $US80 million, are yet to be revealed, this masthead understands it will be shot in New Zealand, with some studio scenes and all post-production to be based in Melbourne.

Locations for the Netflix action thriller The Raid are also yet to be confirmed, but Hughes has had plenty of time to put his mind to it. In 2014, he told this masthead that the remake of Welsh director Gareth Evans’s 2011 film set in an Indonesian high-rise was to be his next project, following his Hollywood debut with The Expendables 3.

But Hughes and the studio parted company over differing visions for the film: they wanted a straight remake, while he wanted to explore the world of undercover Drug Enforcement Agency operatives. The version of The Raid Netflix has commissioned will reflect that.

Lifeline for Aust producers as TIF Temporary Interruption Fund extended

Film, Latest News, Television

Screen Producers of Australia media release 12 January 2022

Screen Producers Australia (SPA) today warmly welcomed the Federal Government’s announcement that the Temporary Interruption Fund (TIF) for screen productions will be extended for a further 6 months until 30 June 2022.

The announcement reflects the continuation of difficulties in accessing screen production insurance due to the coronavirus pandemic and provides much-needed support for screen businesses as they strive to keep cameras rolling and thousands of Australians in jobs.

SPA CEO Matthew Deaner said:

“We are extremely pleased with this decision from the Morrison Government. The TIF has been of substantial benefit to investment, employment and sustainability in the sector, and we are grateful for the strong support the Government has shown the sector through the creation and extension of the fund. The TIF has been instrumental in ensuring continuity of activity in the sector during the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated challenges in the financing market.

“Our advice to Government has been that the challenges arising from COVID-19 associated with the confidence in the market associated with the financing of Australian content are persistent and will continue. This means that the underlying market gaps which justified the creation of the TIF are still in place, and are likely to be for some time.

“The extension of the fund announced by Minister Fletcher today not only protects businesses and thousands of jobs but also ensures the pipeline of much-loved Australian content continues to flow, to the benefit of Australian and international audiences. This is a great result for Australian screen content, businesses, employment and audiences.”

Run Rabbit Run directed by Daina Reid begins shooting

Directing, Film, Latest News

Variety January 24, 2022 by Patrick Frater

Run Rabbit Run cast
Alex Vaughn, Lauren Bamford.

Top Australian actor Damon Herriman and U.K.-Italian star Greta Scacchi join “Succession” star Sarah Snook in horror-thriller “Run Rabbit Run” from “The Handmaid’s Tale” director Daina Reid. The film starts production in Victoria and South Australia this week.

Snook replaced Elizabeth Moss who was previously attached, but who dropped out late last year due to scheduling clashes. Snook plays a fertility doctor whose firm grasp on the cycle of life is put to the test as her young daughter begins to exhibit increasingly strange behavior.

The script was written by acclaimed South Australian novelist Hannah Kent (“Devotion,” “Burial Rites”) from an original idea developed with Carver Films. Anna McLeish and Sarah Shaw of Carver Films (“Relic,” “Partisan,” “Snowtown”) are producing.

Los Angeles-based XYZ Films is executive producing, financing and handling world sales, having taken over sales duties from STX International which previously touted the project at 2020’s virtual Cannes Market. Storyd Group’s Deanne Weir and Olivia Humphrey and Filmology’s Jack Christian and D.J. McPherson are also executive producing.

The film’s director of photography is Bonnie Elliott. Production designer is Vanessa Cerne. Costume designer is Marion Boyce. Make up and hair designer is Angela Conte. Casting director is Allison Meadows, Mullinars. Casting editor is Sean Lahiff.

The film has major production investment from XYZ and Screen Australia, in association with Film Victoria, the South Australian Film Corporation and Soundfirm. Umbrella and Maslow Entertainment are handling Australia and New Zealand distribution.

Herriman has credits including “Judy & Punch,” “Once Upon A Time in Hollywood,” “Mindhunter,” “Justified” and “The Tourist.” Scacchi has credits including “The Player” and Looking for Alibrandi.”

The three established stars are joined by newcomer Lily LaTorre in a significant role. And by Trevor
Jamieson (“Storm Boy,” “Bran Nue Dae”), Neil Meville (“Five Bedrooms,” “Brilliant Lies”), Naomi Rukavina (“Pawno,” “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”),  Georgina Naidu (“SeaChange,” “Newton’s Law”), Genevieve Morris (“Bloom,” “No Activity”), Katherine Slattery (“Balibo,” “The Secret Life of Us”) and newcomer Sunny Whelan in supporting roles.

Reid has previously directed Snook in limited series “The Secret River.” Reid has also directed Apple TV’s “The Shining Girls,” HBO’s “The Outsider” and Amazon’s “Upload.”

Deanne Weir and Olivia Humphrey launch Storyd Group

Film, Latest News, Screenwriting

by Sean Slatter IF Magazine January 25, 2022

Deanne Weir and Olivia Humphrey.

Female-led Australian feature films and content-related technology start-ups are the focus of a new company launched by entrepreneurs Deanne Weir and Olivia Humphrey.

Born out of a shared passion for local stories told through a gender lens, Storyd Group will work with filmmakers, founders, and investors to find new audiences and support innovation in storytelling, technology, and finance models within the country’s independent film sector.

The company’s first official film investments are Gracie Otto’s Seriously Red and Daina Reid’s Run Rabbit Run, the latter of which commences production this week.

Both Humphrey and Weir have also invested Renée Webster’s How to Please a Woman, which is being produced by Tania Chambers and Judi Levine.

Elsewhere, Storyd has optioned Lyn Yeowart’s debut novel The Silent Listener for screen adaptation and has made investments in two content-related technology start-ups – Viewie, an app where anyone can publish and watch videos about their favourite tv shows and movies; and Omelia, a new tool designed to help writers and game designers develop, plan, structure, and manage stories in real-time.

Humphrey, who spent 20 years in media distribution before founding global indie film streaming platform Kanopy in 2008, said she and Weir would use their experience to help filmmakers find new forms of finance and explore better paths to market.

“Female-driven projects find it more difficult to access funding, distribution and exhibition opportunities, so Storyd intends to play a role in bringing a more balanced view of the world to our screens,” he said.

“Our investments in film-related start-ups will complement our vision for a globally competitive and robust Australian independent film sector.”

Weir, who helped set up Screen Australia’s Gender Matters Taskforce during her time on the agency’s board and is also chair of the Sydney Film Festival and For Film’s Sake, said the venture combined the pair’s love of film with their business experience and investment funds under a “very clear” gender lens.

“Olivia and I have known each other since our Austar days nearly 20 years ago,” she said.

“It was a joy to watch her create Kanopy from nothing, taking the risk to move her family to San Francisco and build the company into an international success. 

“Since Olivia’s exit from Kanopy we have been talking about the intersection of storytelling and technology, and the entrepreneurial mindset needed for Australian screen creatives to succeed in an ever-changing global market.

“We are both passionate advocates for gender equality, and we want to see more screen stories about women, told by women.”

Here’s Why This Young Cannes Director Pre-Shoots His Entire Movie

Directing, Film, Latest News

After seeing Beanpole, you’d never imagine that Kantemir Balagov got his start on YouTube — or that he was 26 years old when he directed it. The film, which won the Un Certain Regard Best Director Award at Cannes earlier this year, has the kind of visual sophistication and narrative confidence that directors spend a career cultivating. But Balagov is far from an established auteur; Beanpole is only his second film. Balagov’s unseasonable mastery may, in part, be explained by an unusual element of his filmmaking process.

To pre-visualize their films, some directors draw 1,000 storyboards. Others build scenes with Legos. Balegov, however, pre-shoots his entire movie.

The preparation is writ large onscreen. Beanpole is rich with intentionality; each frame is meticulously designed, from the period details of the set to the cinematography, which carries the characters’ emotions in every camera movement. Set in Leningrad just after the end of World War II, Beanpole stars Viktoria Miroshnichenko as Iya, an inordinately tall young nurse (hence the nickname) who suffers from unpredictable bouts of paralysis as a result of an injury she suffered in the war. In the hospital where Iya works, soldiers beg to be euthanized. All across the city, fractured psyches cling to humanity by a single thread.

Even though Russia has emerged victorious, the war has wreaked unimaginable havoc on the bodies and souls of its citizens. Further proof of this devastation comes barrelling in as Iya’s friend Masha (Vasilisa Perelygina) returns from the front lines with the energy of an unstable nuclear element, bringing with her the chaotic, emotionally-charged, selfish nihilism of war. What ensues is a cat-and-mouse game of emotional debt-paying, romantic inclinations, and a futile quest for meaning in a world that seems indifferent to anyone’s future, let alone two young girls named Iya and Masha.

No Film School sat down with Balagov at this year’s New York Film Festival to discuss why he pre-shot the film, how he used the camera to capture the fraught intimacy between the characters, and more.

Beanpole
‘Beanpole’

Kantemir Balagov: I just wanted to be a director! [Laughs] I was trying to find myself through photography and video games. I made some YouTube series and sent them to Alexander Sokurov [the Russian director, whose movie Russian Ark was filmed in a single shot]. One day, he took me into his studio.

“I wanted the cinematography to look like paintings.”

NFS: So Sokurov was kind of your portal into the industry?

Balagov: He created me as a person. He gave me self-awareness. He showed me a love of literature and it helped my filmmaking. He helped me find my voice.

NFS: So, you made your first feature with Sekulov, and this is your second. How did you come to the topic of Beanpole?

Balagov: I came to this topic a while working on my first feature, actually. I read the book, “The Woman, The Face of War”, in 2015. At the time, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to make my first film about The Second World War because it would be too expensive of a production.

My first feature, Closeness, premiered at Cannes, and after that, I thought I could start working on Beanpole.

NFS: When you were thinking about the way that you wanted to bring this world to life, what were your visual inspirations?

Balagov: Dutch paintings. With my first film, I had visual references in documentary photography. For this one, I wanted the cinematography to look like paintings.

Beanpole
‘Beanpole’

NFS: What was your process with your cinematographer to create this look?Balagov: We just tried to find a unique style for a period drama. There’s a lot of war movies about the Soviet Union. Our film looks unique because we wanted it to loo watchable for a young audience.

NFS: You have a lot of scenes that were one takes and I thought those were really well done. How did you approach those on set?

Balagov: For the one takes, I tried to put close-ups and wide shots into the same take. Like a montage inside of the frame. It’s hard to film because each actor and crew member has to move in the exact same way at the exact right time.

“Producers don’t want to take risks and invest in a new director.”

NFS: How do you get this precision?

Balagov: Before shooting, we pre-shoot the film. We took a video camera and all the actresses and just shoot the whole film.

I don’t do storyboards because I do prefer to work with real spaces. So when we had our locations, we do the pre-shoot. It helps me to cut some scenes before the actual shoot. It also helped actresses to feel the mis-en-scene, and how they should move in each frame. It helped the DP, too. Everyone was prepared on set—everyone knew how they should set up the lights and what we were going to shoot.

Beanpole
‘Beanpole’

Pre-shooting also really helped me understand that the film was too long—the pre-shoot cut was 3 hours and 15 minutes.

“Pre-shoots are especially important for first-time directors.”

I think pre-shoots are especially important for first-time directors because you feel comfortable with the material and confident in yourself.

NFS: How long do you do the pre-shoot for?

Balagov: I think two and a half weeks.

NFS: And this is instead of doing rehearsals with the actors?

Balagov: No, we do rehearsals after. The pre-shoot was just for the physical understanding for the actresses.

NFS: How did you cast the film? I’m not sure if the two main actors were trained or if you found them a different way.

Balagov: They were studying. They were the fourth year, I think. But Sasha, the boy, used to sell the book in bookstores. We found him on social media. Also, the doctor is not a professional actor. He’s a musician.

Beanpole
‘Beanpole’

Balagov: I would say that sometimes untrained actors give richer performances than professional actors because there’s more life in them. But there’s a risk that they won’t remember things from the take to take, so adjustments can be more difficult.

When I’m casting, the important thing to look for is charisma and personality.

“Sometimes, untrained actors give richer performances than professional actors because there’s more life in them.”

NFS: Do you have any advice for a new filmmaker who wants to make festival fare films, like you have, but doesn’t have a traditional path there?

Balagov: It’s really hard because producers don’t want to take risks and invest in a new director. And I’m saying that because with my first feature, even though I worked at Alexander’s studio, no one gave a shit about my script. I had so many no’s. It’s hard to make your first film. I just got lucky.

Some advice that Alexander’s studio gave is that you should read more books and watch [fewer] movies.

NFS: Do you think that you will continue to make films in the vein of your first two films?

Balagov: I really want to make an animated movie. I’m also really interested in directing a film inspired by a video game. I’m really into video games.

Samantha Lang joins Garth Davis/See-Saw Films joint venture

Directing, Film, Latest News, Screenwriting, Television

Lion and Mary Magdalene director Garth Davis and See-Saw Films have launched a production co-venture with Samantha Lang as head of development.

Entitled I Am That, the partnership will develop feature film and TV projects for Davis to direct and produce alongside See-Saw founders Iain Canning and Emile Sherman.

The president of the Australian Directors Guild, Lang has started work already, based at See-Saw Films’ Sydney office. “This is a really great fit,” Sam tells IF. “I really admire Garth and Emile and we look forward to creating beyond beautiful, large scale international film and TV projects together.”

Davis said: “I Am That stems from my long-standing relationship with both Iain Canning and Emile Sherman, who have been incredibly supportive of me in my filmmaking journey and are wonderful partners.

“I also feel very lucky to have the talented Samantha Lang by our side in this new chapter, helping us unearth compelling stories for film and television. Bec Smith and Keya Khayatian of UTA continue to be an indispensable part of my team.”

In a statement Canning and Sherman added, “Garth is that rare director who has an auteur’s eye, can build complete worlds and is at home in the intimate creation of character and performance.

“We are also so pleased to have found Samantha Lang to drive the creative acquisition and development of projects across film and television. Her creative talents and intelligence are second to none and our tastes are all deeply aligned.”

As IF reported last year Lang has been developing several projects including Kill the Messenger, a romantic tragi-comedy adapted from Nakkiah Lui’s play about the couple at the centre of a post-colonial interracial love story; and Lucy and Linh, scripted by Michelle Law and based on the young adult novel by Alice Pung about the daughter of a Chinese migrant family who goes to an exclusive girls’ school dominated by a cabal of white girls known as the Cabinet.

See-Saw recently produced 10-part drama The End for Foxtel and the Emmy Award-winning State of the Union.

Its upcoming slate includes Jane Campion’s feature The Power of the Dog for Netflix, Francis Lee’s period romance Ammonite starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan, Andrew Haigh’s BBC miniseries The North Water with Jack O’Connell and Colin Farrell and John Madden’s World War 2 drama Operation Mincemeat with Colin Firth.

05 November, 2019 by Don Groves IF Magazine

Go West: Seph McKenna on his vision for Screenwest

Film, Latest News, Television

Formerly the head of Australian production at Roadshow Films, Seph McKenna left
the east coast to take on the role of Screenwest CEO in January, succeeding Ian
Booth.

But the former exec says he’s no stranger to Western Australia. Roadshow has been
involved with many recent films that were shot in the state, including Bran Nue Dae,
Red Dog, Paper Planes and Red Dog: True Blue. It acquired Simon
Baker’sBreath and will distribute upcoming See Pictures film Go Karts, shooting
in Busselton.

McKenna particularly credits regional film festival CinefestOz for luring east coast
distributors and producers like himself into the west’s regions over the past seven or
eight years.

“It woke all of us up in the east to the potential of the west,” he says.
Western Australia has grown as a production destination over the last decade. Ten
years ago it was averaging about one feature-length film a year. In 2015-16,
Screenwest supported a record seven feature-length films to shoot in WA, and in
2016-17, the production of four and the post of two others.

McKenna says that while he was at Roadshow they found their biggest films, in terms
of indie Aussie fare at least, came out of WA.

“Red Dog was the standard bearer there – until Lion came along it was the highest
performing independent Australian film of the last 20 years.

“What we found was because Western Australia is a big outdoor canvas for our
filmmakers, all of Australia really embraces the film. It feels like they are big, epic
Australian films of scale on the big screen, because you have these phenomenal
landscapes. You don’t run into any rivalries between Sydney and Melbourne.

“Films that are made here are just intrinsically Australian, and we found we could
sell that to audiences successfully.”

Vision and new opportunities

Given its varied and spectacular landscapes, WA is a natural home for the outdoor
film, says McKenna.

“If you’re looking for a big canvas to paint on, you can’t lose in WA. And we have
both experienced crews now and post facilities to do everything here.

“I think there used to be this presumption – I used to have it years ago at Roadshow
– that you could do some things in WA, but you couldn’t do everything here. Now
you can do everything here.”

McKenna praises his predecessor Booth, and Screenwest head of development and
production Rikki Lea Bestall, for the uptick in production activity and the growth of
infrastructure in WA.

“Including – and they so often don’t get the acknowledgement because you don’t get
the big splashy roll outs – our documentary producers who are the vanguard of
selling to international.

“Our documentary companies are the bedrock of the Western Australian screen
sector. In the feature land we can learn from what they’re doing because they’re
having such success.”

In his new role, McKenna is keen to capitalise on that level of production nous and
capacity that now exists in WA.

He says his time at Roadshow has left him with a sense of what works in the market,
what doesn’t and why. It’s a skill he believes will be important at Screenwest now
that it has transitioned from a government agency into an independent non-profit
organisation.

“I do think there is a sense of cautious optimism about what the new Screenwest
structure can bring, and it really is on me to deliver.”

Under the new non-profit structure, Screenwest continues to receive funding via the
WA government and Lotterywest. However, McKenna envisions the agency will now
have the flexibility and opportunity to ramp up its production attraction by building
partnerships with organisations in a way that may have previously been in conflict
with government policy or restrictions. This includes market and fundraising
partnerships.

“When I say fundraising, I mean going out and trying to raise funds around either
specific films, helping producers go out and do that, or finding pots of money that
can come in and partner with us in a general slate way – something you absolutely
couldn’t do in government.”

McKenna argues these partnerships will help Screenwest to find potential flagship
projects to “sell the state on” that will play both in Australia and find a home
internationally.

Small screen

While the west has seen a strong upswing in feature production, there isn’t much TV
drama being produced in the state at present – with some notable exceptions like the
ABC’s Mystery Road.

For McKenna, drumming up more is a key focus. In particular, he’s keen to see a fan-
driven drama in the vein of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries that would attract fans to WA to visit the show’s locations – just as they might visit Hobbiton in New Zealand or Highclere Castle in the UK, where Downton Abbey is shot.

“I would not only love to see that, I’m actively looking for a production or
productions that could fall into that category.

“And I think we’re probably more likely to find a television series of scale than we are
to find a movie of scale. But of course we’ll take either, or both.

“But for crews and consistency of work, nothing beats television. Series television is
becoming more and more difficult Australia wide to find, produce and fund. Our
most natural partners in that are the ABC and SBS, and we are working closely with
them.”

Just as CinefestOz was successful in luring east coast feature film execs to the WA
around seven or eight years ago, McKenna says there is more work to do to bring
those working in TV in the east over to the west to show them what’s possible.

“I think once they get familiar with the opportunities, the place and the locations,
they’ll start to see that. So it’s about getting our east coast TV people comfortable
with the idea that you can shoot in the west and that’s okay.

“And we have WAAPA, and WAAPA brought us Hugh Jackman. I think we have the
best acting school in the country here – don’t tell NIDA. But it’s certainly producing
strong students who go off to do amazing things. There’s a wellspring of talent here
and they’re happy to stay here if they can shoot here.”

Challenges and promise

Lotterywest, which runs the lottery in WA, supports both Screenwest and the Perth
International Arts Festival, as well as other cultural activities in the state.

However, The Australian reported in late January that lottery driven revenue was
declining in Western Australia by almost $300 million per year and that $16.5m out
of $25m multi-year grants issued by the state arts department were due to be funded
with revenue from Lotterywest, but a nearly $2m gap opened up between what it was
able to be eventually delivered.

“Younger people aren’t buying lottery tickets at newsagents, they are either not
gambling or they’re gambling online; it’s just a declining source of revenue,” says
McKenna.

“Lotterywest funding is really what has supported the organisation’s funding into
production for quite some time. So that’s a concern to everybody, and everybody’s
well aware.”

However, McKenna says the Western Australian Regional Fund – “purpose-built to
bring work into the nine different regions of WA” – is healthy and been “quite a tool”
for Screenwest.

Established in 2016, the $16 million Western Australian Regional Fund is designed
to support high quality international and Australia feature films, high-end television
series and documentaries to shoot in regional WA. It’s already helped to attract Ben
Elton’s Three Summers, Mystery Road and the upcoming Go Karts to the state.

“Everyone is pretty excited by that because it absolutely has been successful in
bringing in productions,” says McKenna.

The fund does have defined rules – you have to show economic and cultural benefit
to the region, and it has a minimum 2:1 spend – so McKenna says it can knock out
productions that are sniffing out extra funding from any old place.

However, he says for the productions that are aligned to a region, it can be a terrific
fit that can overcome the higher costs that can be associated with shooting in the
west if people need to be flown over. “That’s major for us.”

As for what is working else to attract productions, McKenna says: “We’ve got money,
we’ve got weather and we’ve got locations. That’s the west sell.”

The challenge for interstate or overseas producers shooting in WA will always be the
tyranny of distance, but McKenna counters: “It’s just being away from home, which
is something all producers face as they run around the world for places to shoot.

“The good news for Australian producers that need otherworldly landscapes is you
can find it here in Australia. You don’t have to go abroad; it’s here.”

18 May, 2018 by Jackie Keast INSIDEFILM

How Canada Became a Springboard for Female Directors

Directing, Diversity, Film, Latest News

Perhaps Australia could learn from the Canadians about how to nurture the careers of our female directors.

This article by Etan Viessing of THR explains the Canadian success. Of note is their support for micro-budget features that have a chance to break through into the film festival circuit.

See below:

How Canada Became a Springboard for Female Directors: Multiple government initiatives are pushing for gender parity in the film business by 2020.
2/12/2018 by Etan Vlessing THR

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau proudly displayed his progressive bona fides three years ago when he announced that his 30-member Cabinet would be the country’s first to represent men and women equally, 50- 50. When asked by a journalist why, he made global headlines with his blunt reply: “Because it’s 2015.”

Roughly a year later — and well before the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements — Telefilm Canada, the powerful, well-funded film financing arm of the Canadian government, followed Trudeau’s lead and unveiled its own ambitious drive to achieve gender parity in the film sector by 2020. The goal was clear: The agency would choose which films to finance based on whether projects were directed by, or revolved around, women (among other criteria).

The initiative already is having an effect: A 2017 Telefilm study shows a 27 percent increase in agency-backed projects directed by women since 2015. And it’s not just Telefilm: The National Film Board of Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and the Canada Media Fund also have unveiled plans to achieve gender parity by 2020.

But with its deep pockets — the agency invests around $100 million annually in homegrown filmmaking — Telefilm is leading the way.

“There are systemic barriers to funding,” says Federal Heritage Minister Melanie Joly, a close ally of Trudeau. “We believe that we should, as a feminist government, have a clear commitment to overcome these barriers.”

The practical initiatives from Telefilm include its Talent to Watch program, formerly the Micro-Budget Production Program. Telefilm renamed and revamped the 5-year-old micro-budget program in November with a mandate to back 50 first-time and, where possible, female-led features annually, with investments capped at $120,000 for each movie.

That in turn led organizers to consider how they could help maintain a young filmmaker’s momentum in the industry after completion of that all-important first project. So, also in late 2017, Telefilm unveiled its Fast Track program, which assures $500,000 in second-feature financing for filmmakers producing internationally recognized first features.

To promote female voices and visions, Telefilm, when considering funding for projects of equal value — determined by such factors as the script, talent attached and the production team — between a male or female applicant, is favoring projects directed and/or written by women. “We want to create a path to success,” says Telefilm executive director Carolle Brabant. “We want to reward the success of the first features by having emerging directors make their second film.”

Take Werewolf, writer-director Ashley McKenzie’s debut feature about youth and drug addiction in a small Nova Scotia mining town. The indie received microbudget financing from Telefilm and became a critical hit on the film festival circuit after bowing at Toronto and screening at Berlin.

Now McKenzie is eyeing possible Fast Track financing as she develops her second feature. “There’s a gap for filmmakers to take the next step after their first feature,” she says, adding that Telefilm has helped to shorten the time she and her producer Nelson MacDonald need to secure financing for their sophomore effort.

Brabant says Canada’s push for gender parity has helped alter long-standing perceptions in an industry where female filmmakers have become accustomed to discouraging barriers to the industry. “It has made women realize, ‘Well, it can happen,’ ” she says. “It’s comforting to know you can get your foot in the door,” adds Sonia Boileau, who leveraged Telefilm investment for her debut feature,Le Dep, to develop her second film, Rustic Oracle, about an 8-year-old Mohawk girl searching for a missing sister.

The push for gender parity has implications beyond Canada. Jordan Canning, who directed more than a dozen short films before completing her first and second features, We Were Wolves and Suck It Up, respectively, says Telefilm’s Talent to Watch and Fast Track programs can help open doors in the U.S. and other foreign markets.

“Once you have two features, you’re hopefully at a level where you can access funding in different countries and team up with international co-producers,” she says.

With the various gender-parity initiatives gaining steam, insiders say the lure of financing is also leading filmmakers to rethink projects from the conception point.

“In the general community at large, people are just hungry to attach women to projects and slates, because it’s smart from a tactical viewpoint. I’d do the same,” says Molly McGlynn, whose debut feature, Mary Goes Round, was produced through Telefilm’s Talent to Watch program.

Toronto-based director Michelle Latimer says the initiatives help female filmmakers avoid “going up against the old guard.” After the success of her documentary short film Nucca, which screened at Sundance and Toronto, Latimer nabbed a yearlong filmmaking fellowship with Laura Poitras’ (Citizenfour) documentary unit Field of Vision.

“[Telefilm] is democratizing the way we secure film financing, and it’s particularly good for younger filmmakers who can’t go the regular financing route,” Latimer says.

The Canadian film sector is also focusing on hiring more women in key positions throughout the industry. Jane Tattersall, senior vp at Sim Post Toronto, who supervised the sound editing on Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, says she’s hiring more women as mixers and editors in a traditionally male-dominated business.

“I’m not being idealistic or doing favors,” she says. “It’s much more selfish — the workplace is more interesting and more normal when you have a mix of women and men.”

Marjolaine Tremblay, VFX producer and supervisor at Rodeo FX, insists that the Canadian industry needs to allow women to move from management and backroom jobs to active creative roles, including overcoming technical VFX challenges. “I have a great employer now that believes in all of my skill sets and supports me all the way,” says Tremblay.

Another point of emphasis for Minister Joly is creating a healthy environment in the Time’s Up era. To that end, she says the Canadian industry now has a zero-tolerance policy for workplace harassment.

“The #MeToo movement for us is clearly a fundamental change of culture,” she says. “It’s changing the way people will interact with each other and make sure there’s more respect between men and women, and ensuring the entertainment-sector workplace, as all workplaces, is much safer.”

A very good year? What the box office figures really say about Australian cinema

Film, Latest News

Australian cinema has just enjoyed another big year. But scratch the surface and
the picture is far from rosy. Take Lion out of the equation and it would have been a
dismal year financially.

Australian cinema is in serious trouble, although you wouldn’t necessarily know it
from the most recent annual box-office round-up.

The figures released last week showed Australian box office totalled $1.2 billion in
2017, a drop of roughly 5 per cent from the previous year but still the third-highest
result ever (after 2015 and 2016).

As late as November, some players were predicting a 10 to 12 per cent year-on-year
drop, so the total – helped by the $50 million or so Star Wars: Return of the Jedi added in just two weeks – was not too shabby after all. As Motion Picture Distributors’ Association of Australia boss Lori Flekser says, “film is a cyclical business, and it would have been a miracle if it had gone up again in 2017”.

Even Australian releases seemed to fare well, at first blush at least. Their $49.4
million was 4.1 per cent of the total. In 2016, they managed just $24.1 million, for a
1.9 per cent share.

Drill down into the figures, though, and you’ll find the true state of affairs is cause for
concern rather than congratulations.

While there are more screens (2210) than ever before, attendances are on the slide.
Precise numbers are hard to come by, but it’s likely there were around 85 million
cinema visits last year – down from 91.3 million the year before (the figure is arrived
at by dividing total box office by average ticket price, which is around $14.13). Frequency of visits, which peaked at 11.3 in 1996, now sit around 8.5 a year.

We are going to the movies less often despite the fact we now have, in theory at least,
more choice than ever before.

According to the MPDAA, there were 697 new-release films on our cinema screens
last year – and that doesn’t include festival releases, re-releases and carry-over titles
(typically those films released on Boxing Day of the year prior).

But in truth, our choices aren’t as great as those figures would suggest. According to
Screen Australia, blockbusters – defined as movies released on 400+ screens –
accounted for 4.5 per cent of releases in 2017 but they took more than half (50.9 per
cent) of the box office dollars. Wide-release movies (200-399 screens) accounted for
a further 9.1 per cent of releases and 35.4 per cent of revenue.

In other words, our screens are hogged by Hollywood action-adventure, superhero,
fantasy (like Disney’s chart-topping live-action Beauty and the Beast), and animated
family films, with the result that the top one-seventh (14 per cent) of new releases
took a whopping 86¢ of every dollar at the Australian box office.

And that left the rest – about 600 movies in all – fighting over the scraps.

For anyone who still clings to the idea that our cinemas should find space for adult-
oriented and/or home-grown fare, this is terrible news.

There is a clear (though not guaranteed) correlation between number of screens and
box office success. Fifteen of the top 20 films last year were “blockbuster” releases;
the other five were “wide”. For smaller releases, it is now becoming so hard to find
screens that many are doomed to underperform from the outset.

As a general rule of thumb, the narrower the release, the smaller the spend on
advertising and marketing and the lower the likelihood of audiences even being
aware of a film’s presence, let alone of being persuaded to give it a shot.

This dynamic is especially acute for Australian movies, 55 of which (including feature
documentaries and event screenings) made it to the cinema in 2017, according to the
MPDAA. But only four of the new releases made it onto more than 100 screens. The
vast majority were shown on fewer than 20.

Lion, which had the widest release of any Australian film (more than 250 screens),
was the biggest local film of the year, taking $29.5 million. Next was Red Dog: True
Blue, which was released in December 2016 but took most of its $7.54 million in
2017. Three more titles passed $2 million (Jasper Jones, Dance Academy, the
documentary Mountain) but only one more (Ali’s Wedding) topped $1 million.
Take Lion out of the equation and it would have been a dismal year financially
(though not artistically: Killing Ground, Berlin Syndrome, Hounds of Love, Whiteley, Hotel Coolgardie, The Go-Betweens: Right Here and many others had plenty to offer audiences, if only they could find them).

The release-return correlation isn’t a guarantee, of course. Ben Elton’s Three Summers went out on more than 100 screens but took just $792,000 <from a budget of $3.5m>. At the other end of the spectrum, Hounds of Love was on just seven screens, but its $209,000 gave it a better per-screen average than many bigger films. Remarkably, Jennifer Peedom’s documentary Mountain topped $2 million off just 36 screens nationally.

What all this points to is a massive constriction of opportunity for smaller-release
movies in our cinemas. And that’s especially bad news for Australian filmmakers
(and not much comfort for fans of indie fare from America, Britain and the rest of the
world either).

For small-release movies, the competition has never been so great. Screen Australia’s
analysis suggests just under 83 per cent of all films released in 2017 – about 580
films – slugged it out for a combined 9 per cent of the box office. It’s a miracle,
perhaps, that Australian cinema registers at all.

What’s more, that 9 per cent is increasingly fought over by films that are targeting
audiences that a decade or two back didn’t even exist: Chinese-language cinema
accounted for around $14 million; movies from India for more than $24 million;
special event screenings (live theatre, ballet, Doctor Who telemovies on the big
screen) for almost $6.5 million.

In truth, many of the Australian movies getting a cinema run do so only because they
are obliged to as a condition of receiving the producer offset. It’s a requirement that
has, in recent years, been forgivingly interpreted, and at least one of the content
reviews underway in Canberra will surely recommend that it be significantly
amended, if not dropped entirely. That would free the way for many titles to focus on
digital release strategies, a cheaper and potentially more effective approach.

There are of course people who will claim that Australian movies struggle because
they are no good, and it’s true that not every Australian movie is worth seeing. But
here’s the counter-argument: Fast and Furious. Enough said.

Right now, you could go to the cinema to see Warwick Thornton’s excellent outback
Indigenous western Sweet Country, a film that speaks directly to the Australian
experience and which has been racking up awards internationally. It’s on 72 screens
nationally, a decent, though far from massive, release.

Alternatively, you might prefer to see Star Wars: The Last Jedi, a movie that will
surely go down as one of the more so-so entries in the ever-expanding franchise. It
opened last December on 970 screens – almost half of the available space in the
country – and has so far taken more than $56 million locally, and almost $US1.3
billion ($A1.6 billion) globally.

The choice is yours. But, one has to wonder, for how much longer?

Karl Quinn – SMH – January 28 2018

‘EMO the Musical’ snapped up by Netflix

Film, Latest News

Writer-director Neil Triffett’s EMO the Musical is said to be poised to break even after being acquired by Netflix.

The streaming giant has bought exclusive, worldwide SVOD rights (excluding Australia/NZ) to the high school comedy, which stars Benson Jack Anthony, Jordan Hare, Rahart Adams, Jon Prasida and Lucy Barrett.

Producer Lee Matthews said: “The Netflix deal as negotiated by XYZ Films in the U.S. will enable me to pay off the film’s debts, albeit over a three year period, so thanks to the generous production grant from Screen Australia, the Australian government’s Producer Offset and Film Victoria’s assigned production investment, the film will be able to break even.”

EMO the Musical premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2016, before heading to Berlinale in 2017. The film went on to receive a limited theatrical release in Australia via Bonsai Films, which saw it take $40,640, and was picked up by Madman for home distribution. Australian broadcast and SVOD rights are yet to be signed.

Triffett said Netflix was the perfect platform for the film, which he had always hoped would appeal to a wider audience.

“Particularly because it is a global release, I’m excited to reach our followers around the world, from Berlin to Brazil, who might not be able to access the film as easily otherwise,” he said.

“The film and its themes about identity and difference are most relevant to young people, but they’re not necessarily the kind of audience who watch films at the cinema these days, so Netflix will allow them to access it more easily. We’re also hoping that older audiences who get the film’s offbeat humour, will be able to stumble upon the film along the way. I feel our film and Netflix’s already awesome collection will complement each other well.”

The film will premiere on Netflix February 1.

IF Magazine 30 January 2018