News

Miranda Nation takes a bold approach to pregnancy and abortion in her Geelong-shot film that evokes the work of Jane Campion

Film is an intensely collaborative art form, which is one of the reasons the auteur theory was established: to help navigate a sea of creative people dabbing away at their corner of the canvas. It is an effective way to define authorship and contextualise film history, though sometimes an artist comes along whose work is so strong in a non-directing role they seem to call into question auteurism’s very validity.

The Australian cinematographer Bonnie Elliott is one of them. Her compositions have a striking tendency to explore relationships between people and places. They have profoundly enhanced productions including Spear, Teenage Kicks, These Final Hours, TV’s Seven Types of Ambiguity and now Undertow – a Geelong-shot psychological drama premiering this week at the Melbourne international film festival.

Continue reading.

Survival is all that matters in the newest clip from SundanceTV’s dystopian drama “Cleverman.”

Read More: ‘Cleverman’ Season 2 Trailer Promises Major Change As The Battle Begins — Watch

Season 2 looks promising, bringing a ton of action and discourse to the already divided kakotopia of the future. Rivalries established in Season 1 will also be explored further, along with new conflicts that are greater than just two characters. Hunter Page-Lochard (“Shit Creek,” “Around the Block,” “Spear”) and Rob Collins (“The Wrong Girl”) both return to their roles of feuding brothers to further the story of the aboriginal superhero, Cleverman.

In the above preview of the upcoming season, we see the two estranged Gumbaynggirr brothers forced together to fight for their own survival when one of them is passed the mantle of the “Cleverman.” The series is based on several different stories from Aboriginal folklore, including Hairypeople and Cleverman himself, modernizing these stories...

Geoffrey Rush and Jai Courtney..

Geoffrey Rush and Jai Courtney will star in Shawn Seet.s Storm Boy.remake, with the film gearing up to shoot in South Australia in July. .

Rush will star as Mike 'Storm Boy' Kingley, while Courtney will play 'Hideaway Tom'..

Billed as a .contemporary retelling. of the 1976 film, Storm Boy's script has been written by Justin Monjo (The Secret Daughter, Spear)..

Executive producer Robert Slaviero told If last year.that Monjo.s screenplay was "just spectacular."

"One of the better scripts I.ve read in a long time, whether Australian or otherwise. Absolute cracker," he said, while also noting director Seet (The Code, Deep Water) had a great vision for the film. .

Storm Boy will be produced by Ambience Entertainment.s Michael Boughen (Tomorrow, When the War Began, The Loved Ones) and Matthew Street (Tomorrow, When the War Began, The Bank Job...

Stephen Page and Bonnie Elliott on location (photo credit: Jacob Nash).

Australia.s best DPs are gearing up for the 46th National awards for Cinematography, to be held at Nsw Parliament House this Saturday, May 6.

Again hosted by Ray Martin, the awards will recognize work across 18 categories — student projects, documentary, music videos, TV news and the return of the kids category, CineKids.

.We.re trying to encourage primary-school children up to the age of 15 to get involved, and these kids are coming along in leaps and bounds,. says Acs president Ron Johanson. .I think we have 30-40 members all around Australia — these fantastically talented young kids..

Last year.s expo will not be repeated, says Johanson. .We spoke to the sponsors and they felt they.d give it a miss this year because it.s close to Smpte, so we.ll probably have one next year..

Instead the Acs is...

Stephen Page and Bonnie Elliott on location (photo credit: Jacob Nash).

Australia.s best DPs are gearing up for the 46th National awards for Cinematography, to be held at Nsw Parliament House this Saturday, May 6.

Again hosted by Ray Martin, the awards will recognize work across 18 categories — student projects, documentary, music videos, TV news and the return of the kids category, CineKids.

.We.re trying to encourage primary-school children up to the age of 15 to get involved, and these kids are coming along in leaps and bounds,. says Acs president Ron Johanson. .I think we have 30-40 members all around Australia — these fantastically talented young kids..

Last year.s expo will not be repeated, says Johanson. .We spoke to the sponsors and they felt they.d give it a miss this year because it.s close to Smpte, so we.ll probably have one next year..

Instead the Acs is...

Russell Boyd (r) with Peter Weir (l) shooting Master and Commander.

On May 6, the Acs National Awards for Cinematography will be held at Nsw Parliament House, the 46th edition of the annual awards..

This year, the work of the nominees was judged by a panel of five Acs members — president Ron Johanson plus Russell Boyd, Anna Howard, Ernie Clark and Andrew Taylor — over a three-day period..

Feature nominees this year include Denson Baker (The Dark Horse), Andrew Commis (The Daughter), Katie Milwright (Looking for Grace) and Bonnie Elliott (Spear).

Judging feature work can be a tricky proposition, says Boyd. .We.re there to judge the cinematography, not the story or the direction, although that can influence your decisions..

Boyd may be a veteran, with credits ranging from The Last Wave to Liar Liar, but he has well and truly embraced the digital revolution. .I really only shoot commercials these days and they.re all digital,...

Observant and low-key, Aaron Petersen’s coming-of-age documentary follows one boy’s journey through Indigenous and non-Indigenous rites of passage

When I spoke to renowned Australian choreographer Stephen Page in January last year about his sublime movie musical, Spear, our conversation broached a small but significant character in the film known only by the ominous moniker Suicide Man. Page described him as an urban Aboriginal, “probably similar to me”, driven to madness after failing to reconcile a torn culture: his ancient heritage on one hand and place in mainstream western culture on the other.

Just as we saw Spear explore that challenge in lush metaphysical detail, we see it play out in lower key in director Aaron Petersen’s touching documentary Zach’s Ceremony. The film was shot over six years and captures the coming of age of subject Zach Doomadgee, who is 10 years old at the beginning and 16 at the end.

Aussie feature Undertow has begun pre-production, with shooting to begin in the middle of next month in Geelong and along the Surf Coast.

The thriller will see writer-director Miranda Nation reunite with producer Lyn Norfor, of Emerald Productions, and Dp Bonnie Elliott (Spear)..

The trio previously worked together on Springboard short Perception, which won the Sydney Film Festival's Dendy Award in 2013.

Porchlight's Liz Watts (Animal Kingdom, Lore) is executive producing.

The film, set against the football culture of Geelong, tells the story of Claire, a woman struggling to accept the loss of her baby who becomes suspicious of her husband's relationship with a feisty young woman, Angie..

When she discovers Angie is pregnant, Claire develops an increasingly irrational obsession with the teenager.

The project received development funding from Film Victoria last year. The Melbourne International Film Festival Premiere Fund is also backing, with a Miff 2018 premiere likely.

Nation, who completed...

Luke Bracey and Mel Gibson on the Bringelly set of 'Hacksaw Ridge'. (Photo credit: Mark Rogers)

This year's Oscars ceremony went off alright, but not without a hitch (or two).

During the In Memoriam section, a photo of Australian producer Jan Chapman (Love Serenade, Lantana, The Babadook) was shown next to the name of late costume designer Janet Patterson, with whom Chapman worked on several Jane Campion films including The Piano, Bright Star and Holy Smoke..

Patterson died in October last year. Her final film was Thomas Vinterberg's adaptation of Far From the Madding Crowd, starring Carey Mulligan and Matthias Schoenaerts..

.I was devastated by the use of my image in place of my great friend and long-time collaborator Janet Patterson," the still-very-much-breathing Chapman told Variety..

"I had urged her agency to check any photograph which might be used and understand that they were told that the Academy had it covered.

Web series The Glass Bedroom, currently on ABC iview, aims to provoke conversations about social media.

The 6x5 minute series, directed by Kate Blackmore and produced by Bethany Bruce, profiles six different artists who use Instagram to create self-portraits.

It was commissioned for Art Bites, a joint initiative by the ABC and Screen Australia that was designed to encourage art-related content from early career filmmakers.

For the past decade, Blackmore has worked as a performance artist with the collective Barbara Cleveland, and the series is inspired by her interest in .the way that people perform in particular ways and in everyday contexts..

.I started noticing that these young people were using Instagram as a platform for performance. There was a really interesting fusion of life and lifestyle, author and subject, personality and performance in their posts,. said the director..

Blackmore was introduced to producer Bruce through the series. Ep Bridget Ikin...

Slatevfx was behind the visual effects on The Dressmaker.

This month, Definition Films and Slatevfx will begin building a new production facility at Fox Studios.

The studios, which form part of a joint expansion, will offer editorial, storage, post production, visual effects and sound post. The facility is touted as the first in Nsw able to offer the 4K Christie laser for projection and review screenings, alongside Dolby Atmos and Protools S6 Mixing platforms.

.Our growing companies have worked very closely over the past four years and saw a great opportunity to build a world class facility for our clients and provide a full camera to delivery solution for producers in Nsw. We saw a wonderful opportunity to lift the bar here in Nsw and create a world class finishing theatre in Sydney.s Fox Studios. Sydney.s freelance roster of colourists, sound designers and mixers are eager to work...

Storm Boy.

Screen Australia has unveiled the recipients of its last production investment funding round of 2016. $15 million is shared between seven films and eight television projects, including anticipated titles such as Fred Schepisi.s Andorra and the Shawn Seet remake of Storm Boy..

.We are delighted to be supporting TV projects from so many of the major players all in one round including Foxtel, Channel Seven, Network Ten, the ABC and Sbs," CEO Graeme Mason said. "And in film we look forward to seeing the latest from acclaimed talents Fred Schepisi, Jonathan Teplitzky and John Maynard."

The successful feature film projects are:.

– A contemporary re-imagining of 1976 classic Storm Boy from writer Justin Monjo (The Secret Daughter, Spear), director Shawn Seet (Deep Water, The Code) and Ambience Entertainment producers Michael Boughen and Matthew Street (Tomorrow When the War Began). This time around we meet Mike .Storm Boy. Kingley as a grandfather...

Robert Slaviero.

Robert Slaviero ran Hoyts Distribution for eleven years before guiding the company through its acquisiton by StudioCanal three years ago..

Last month at the Australian International Movie Convention he received the Independent Spirit Award from the Australian Independent Distributors Association.

Since finishing up at StudioCanal in March this year, Slaviero has founded his own company, Graffiti Productions..

The company is consulting to three different production companies (so far): Ambience Entertainment, Prodigy Films and Flying Bark Productions, with Slaviero acting as Ep on several projects. "It.s been really good," he told If.

The project closest to the start line is a remake of Storm Boy for Ambience..

"If you look at what.s been working, it.s Oddball, Paper Planes, Red Dog — broad appeal family films," said Slaviero..

"We released Blinky Bill last year through StudioCanal which did some business as well. It.s who the target audience is.

Eamon Farren and Amber McMahon in Girl Asleep.

George Miller will present the Cameron Creswell Award for Outstanding Contribution to Design at the 6th Annual Australian Production Design Guild Awards.

The event takes place on November 7 at Sydney.s Nida, and celebrates the achievements of designers across 24 categories. New categories this year include Virtual Reality and Game Design.

The Apdg will again acknowledge masters of the craft with three Industry Recognition Awards: The Cameron Creswell Award for Outstanding Contribution to Design, the Global Creatures Artisan Award for Lifetime Achievement in Live Performance and the Canal Road Film Centre Artisan Award for Lifetime Achievement..

For the first time, the recipient of the Thelma Afford Theatre, Stage, TV or Film Costume Design Award will also be announced at the ceremony..

Nominations include:

Production Design on a Feature Film: Jonathon Oxlade - Girl Asleep, Jo Ford - Holding The Man, Roger Ford a.

Vr project Buried.

Screen Australia has announced its latest funding round, with $3 million in production and development funding split between two Indigenous TV projects, eight multiplatform projects, eight feature films, and two individuals and two companies.

The two Indigenous television projects to have received production investment are:

–... ABC TV.s previously announced Indigenous comedy drama series The Warriors. From Robert Connolly's Arenamedia, the show is set in the competitive world of Australian Rules Football, and has major production investment from Screen Australia and funding support from Film Victoria;

–... Nitv documentary Carry The Flag,.which delves into the story behind the Torres Strait Island flag designed by Bernard Namok, from Tamarind Tree Pictures with Screen Queensland and Screen Territory support.

The eight multiplatform projects to have received production investment are:

–... Vr project The Buried, a 3D experience that plunges the viewer into a magical Dreamtime world, from Indigenous writer/director Tyson Mowarin,...

Sensory-swooning coming-of-age film is the cinematic equivalent of No-Doz ground up with a bit of LSD, then baked into a birthday cake

The enchanting cinematic debut of Rosemary Myers, a stalwart of local theatre, is a sensory-swooning coming-of-age film. The sort of weirdly alluring experience that zaps viewers wide awake while lulling them into dreamy la-la land: the cinematic equivalent of No-Doz ground up with a bit of LSD, then baked into a birthday cake.

What a fabulous addition to Australian cinema’s expanding arsenal of talent making the jump from stage to screen. Like recent feature film kick-offs from theatre maestros Stephen Page (Spear) and Simon Stone (The Daughter), who you might have expected to hand over dialogue-larded gabfests, Girl Asleep is intoxicatingly cinematic.

Continue reading...

Director, Robert Connolly, will executive produce, Hive Fund winner, Guilty.

Guilty, Remembering Agatha and Bunghole have won funding in the third and final round of the Adelaide Film Festival Hive Fund initiative.

Australian artists Matthew Sleeth, Emma Magenta and Bruce Gladwin are set to collaborate with screen creatives Maggie Miles, Robert Connolly, Andrew Bovell, Julie Eckersley and Ester Harding on three new projects as part of the initiative.

Hive is an Adelaide Film Festival initiative in collaboration with the Australia Council for the Arts, Screen Australia and ABC Arts.

It is a disruptive initiative designed to bring together Australian artists and filmmakers to cross-pollinate their creative ideas, develop screen-based projects and support bright talent to take the next step.

The three newly commissioned projects will have their world premieres at the next edition of the biennial Adelaide Film Festival in 2017 and will all air on ABC TV.

The first project,...

Director, Robert Connolly, will executive produce, Hive Fund winner, Guilty.

.

Guilty, Remembering Agatha and Bunghole have won funding in the third and final round of the Adelaide Film Festival Hive Fund initiative.

Australian artists Matthew Sleeth, Emma Magenta and Bruce Gladwin are set to collaborate with screen creatives Maggie Miles, Robert Connolly, Andrew Bovell, Julie Eckersley and Ester Harding on three new projects as part of the initiative.

Hive is an Adelaide Film Festival initiative in collaboration with the Australia Council for the Arts, Screen Australia and ABC Arts.

It is a disruptive initiative designed to bring together Australian artists and filmmakers to cross-pollinate their creative ideas, develop screen-based projects and support bright talent to take the next step.

The three newly commissioned projects will have their world premieres at the next edition of the biennial Adelaide Film Festival in 2017 and will all air on ABC TV.

The first project,...

Apichatpong Weerasethakul's.Cemetery of Splendour.

Tomorrow, March 17, will see the presentation of the 2015 Asia Pacific Screen Awards prize of Best Feature Film Award to renowned Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul for his film Cemetery of Splendour.

Marking their tenth year in 2016, the Apsa awards acknowledge excellence in the world.s fastest growing film region: comprising 70 countries, 4.5 billion people, and responsible for half of the world.s film output.

In 2015, 39 films from 22 Asia Pacific countries and areas received award nominations.

Weerasethakul will be presented with his award at Sydney's Carriageworks at 10am tomorrow, after which there will be a preview of the filmmaker's most recent installation work for Sydney's Biennale - Home Movie.

Apsa also nominated Downriver's Reef Ireland for Best Performance by an Actor, Molly Reynolds' Another Country was nominated for a Best Documentary Feature Film prize (won by The Chinese Mayor), and Blinky Bill The Movie was nominated for Best Animated Feature.

Steve Le Marquand in Broke.

The 14th annual Gold Coast Film Festival will screen Australian features Spear, Broke, A Month of Sundays, Girl Asleep, Crushed, Observance and The Hunters Club, and play host to guests including Reg Cribb, David Stratton, Claudia Karvan and Gracie Otto.

Director Stephen Page will also make his debut at the fest..

Page and his leading man (and son) Hunter Page-Lochard, star of the upcoming ABC-tv series Cleverman, will attend a screening of Spear, followed by a Q&A session.

The team behind Broke - director Heath Davis, producer Luke Graham and actors Steve Le Marquand and Max Cullen - will attend the film's Queensland premiere.

The film follows the story of disgraced rugby league star and gambling addict, Ben .Bk. Kelly, who attempts to turn his life around with the support of his two biggest fans..

Writer Reg Cribb (Last Cab to Darwin) will attend...

Bangarra founder and frontman Stephen Page has just returned from Melbourne, where he screened Spear, his first feature, at Acmi.

The dance film, which premiered at Toronto last September, sprang from an early Bangarra piece of the same name.

"When I created Spear in 2000, we had Archie Roach singing his poetic, streetwise songs onstage. Hunter [Page-Lochard, the director's son and star of both Spear and the upcoming Cleverman] was a six year-old onstage. It was one of Wayne Blair's first acting jobs".

So many years later, Spear is now Page's first feature, though the director is no stranger to filmmaking..

"I did a dance film called Colours in 1990 that I choreographed with Victoria Taylor for the Sydney Dance Company. It was all based on colours, so each colour had a short dance story and then it was all patched together. I think Screen Australia was involved. I only got reminded about it four months ago, I forgot I actually did it".

"I...

Hunter Page-Lochard in Cleverman.

Screen Australia and Goalpost Pictures' Cleverman will premiere at the upcoming Berlinale - the same berth given to the likes of Better Call Saul and Bloodline at last year's festival.

The show will be presented as part of the Berlinale Special Series at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, alongside new shows from heavyweights such as Susanne Bier and Nick Hornby.

President of original programming and development for AMC and SundanceTV, Joel Stillerman, said: .We're extremely proud that Cleverman has been selected for a special series screening at Berlinale, and are excited to welcome it to SundanceTV later this year. Cleverman is a wonderfully original piece of indigenous storytelling that will appeal to a very broad audience, and has a lot to say about the world we live in..

The six-part series features Iain Glen (Game of Thrones), Golden Globe® nominee Frances O'Connor (The Missing), Deborah Mailman...

From Jocelyn Moorhouse’s The Dressmaker to Stephen Page’s Spear, film critic Luke Buckmaster counts down his favourite Australian films in what was a healthy year for domestic box office takings

The master list: all the best films of 2015 – interactiveThe best Australian books of 2015 – writers pick their favourites10 great Australian albums that flew under the radar in 2015

Much has been written about the performance of Australian films at the box office in 2015, their collective gross totalling one of the biggest hauls in Australian history. But long after the numbers have been forgotten the films themselves will be remembered.

Related: 10 great Australian albums that flew under the radar in 2015

Continue reading...

Australian director Stephen Page has won an Asia Pacific Screen Award .Special Mention for feature film Spear at a ceremony in Brisbane.

Spear tells a contemporary Indigenous story through movement and Dance..

The film follows young Indigenous man, Djali, as learns the ancient tradtions of becoming a man in a modern world.

Cemetery of Splendour, from Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul, won Best Feature Film.

Films from Thailand, Russian Federation, Turkey, People.s Republic of China, Japan, Palestine, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Australia received accolades at the event.

The awards recognise and promote cinematic excellence and cultural diversity of the world.s fastest-growing film region: comprising 70 countries and areas, 4.5 billion people, and responsible for half of the world.s film output. In 2015, 39 films from 22 Asia Pacific countries and areas received Apsa nominations.

The Apsa Unesco Award for outstanding contribution to the promotion and preservation of cultural diversity through film was awarded...

Asia Pacific prizes also awarded to Hany Abu-Assad for The Idol, Alexey German Jr for Under Electric Clouds and cinematographer Mark Lee Ping-bing for The Assassin.Scroll down for full list of winners

Cemetery of Splendour, by Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul, has won best feature film at the 9th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) in Australia.

The Thai-language drama, which debuted at Cannes, centres on a middle-aged woman who experiences strange visions while tending a soldier with sleeping sickness.

The awards, announced at a ceremony at Brisbane’s City Hall, saw films honoured from Thailand, Russia, Turkey, China, Japan, Palestine, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Australia.

The Apsa Unesco Award for outstanding contribution to the promotion and preservation of cultural diversity through film was awarded to Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad for The Idol, which debuted at Toronto.

Speaking from the set of his latest production, the director said of the award: “Thank you dear jury for this great...

The Assassin will compete for best feature at this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards on Nov 26.Scroll down for the full list

Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s festival hit The Assassin, which won him best director at Cannes this year, has been nominated for three prizes at this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

The film will compete for best feature, achievement in directing for Hou Hsiao-Hsien and achievement in cinematography for Mark Lee Ping-Bing.

Other nominees in the best feature category include multi-territory co-production Cementery Of Splendour, Korean feature End Of Winter and Japanese/French drama Journey To The Shore.

Elsewhere, France’s foreign language Oscar submission Mustang received a best youth feature film nod, while Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look Of Silence will compete for best documentary.

A total of 39 films from 22 countries have received nominations.

The awards ceremony takes place on Thursday 26 November at City Hall, Brisbane.

Full...

The Assassin will compete for best feature at this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards on Nov 26.Scroll down for the full list

Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s festival hit The Assassin, which won him best director at Cannes this year, has been nominated for three prizes at this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

The film will compete for best feature, achievement in directing for Hou Hsiao-Hsien and achievement in cinematography for Mark Lee Ping-Bing.

Other nominees in the best feature category include multi-territory co-production Cementery Of Splendour, Korean feature End Of Winter and Japanese/French drama Journey To The Shore.

Elsewhere, France’s foreign language Oscar submission Mustang received a best youth feature film nod, while Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look Of Silence will compete for best documentary.

A total of 39 films from 22 countries have received nominations.

The awards ceremony takes place on Thursday 26 November at City Hall, Brisbane.

Full...

Australia’s first contemporary Indigenous dance film is an exhilirating cinematic debut for choreographer Stephen Page and his talented team of local film-makers

• Guardian Australia film club in Adelaide – book your tickets now

A near-silent contemporary dance movie tracking the troubled history of Indigenous people in Australia and the coming of age of a teenage boy trying to make sense of it all?

Descriptions of Spear, a strange and beautiful beast adapted from work developed by Sydney’s Bangarra Dance Theatre, will suggest a film that is, God forbid, unique – a word almost entirely extinguished from the cinematic lexicon.

Continue reading...

The Adelaide Film Festival (Aff) has called for entries to fund films that will premiere at the 2017 festival.

The Hive fund is provided by the Aff, Screen Australia, ABC Arts and the Australia Council for the Arts. A total of. $700,000 will be available. Established in 2011, the Hive Fund has commissioned five films . Tender, I Want To Dance Better at Parties and The Boy Castaways . all of which premiered at the 2013 Festival . and Girl Asleep and Spear, which premiere at this year.s festival. Screen Australia.s head of production Sally Caplan said: .We are delighted to continue to support the Hive Fund and Lab. The quality of the films that have come out of the initiative is extraordinary. This year, the films again meet the high standards set by the 3 previous films. Girl Asleep by Rosemary Myers is fresh, charming and delightful and Spear from Stephen Page exquisite and beautiful.

Stephen Page.s innovative debut Spear is one of five nominees for the Unesco award in the 9th Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Adapted from Page.s original work, Spear tells a contemporary Aboriginal story through movement and dance as it follows young Aboriginal man Djali as he journeys through his community to understand what it means to be a man with ancient traditions in a modern world.

The producer is John Harvey, co-produced with Page.s Bangarra Dance Theatre and supported by he Adelaide Film Festival.s Hive Fund. The film had its world premiere in the discovery program at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Determined by the Apsa international jury, the Unesco award recognises outstanding contribution to the promotion and preservation of the cultural diversity through the medium of film.

In previous years the prize-winner was selected from all Apsa-nominated films. For the first time this year, five films...

Biff co-founder and honorary director Kim Dong-ho has been appointed as president of the international jury for this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa).

Kim will be joined on the jury by award-winning Bangladeshi filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar Farooki; director/writer/curator and Beijing Film Academy Professor, Zhang Xianmin; Malaysian writer-director U-Wei Bin Hajisaari; Russian writer-director Alexei Popogrebsky; and Iranian actress Negar Javaherian.

Attending a joint Apsa, Unesco, Mpa reception in Busan, Kim announced the nominations for the Apsa Unesco Award, presented annually for outstanding contribution to the promotion and preservation of cultural diversity through the medium of film.

In previous years, all Apsa-nominated films were eligible for the award, while this year a shortlist of five films has been nominated.

The five nominated films are:

Miaoyan Zhang for A Corner Of Heaven (China, France) – produced by Miaoyan Zhang, Guillaume de Seille.

Ella Manzheeva for The Gulls (Russia) – produced by Elena Glikman, Yaroslav Zhivov...

The Adelaide Film Festival has announced its competition line-up for 2015.

Four directorial debuts are among the Adelaide Film Festival’s (Oct 15-25) 10 competition titles: Visar Morina’s Father, a refugee story that opens in 1990s Kosovo and closes in Germany; Danish director Daniel Dencik’s historical drama Gold Coast, set in Africa; Lamb, set in director Yared Zaleke’s homeland of Ethiopia; and South Korean thriller Office from Hong Won-Chan.

The two Australian films in the mix are Sue Brooks’ Looking For Grace, starring Richard Roxburgh, Radha Mitchell and rising star Odessa Young, and a love story complicated by tribal tradition that was filmed in Vanuatu and sees documentary collaborators Bentley Dean and Martin Butler cross over into narrative drama.

Carol, Todd Haynes’ story of lady love set in Manhattan in the 1950s, also has a strong Australian connection given that the homegrown Cate Blanchett plays a wealthy socialite whose life becomes entangled with that of a shop...

Film festivals are where bold visions are given a place to shine, with an audience eager to experience something new and exciting. Moviegoers attending the Toronto International Film Festival will get a glimpse of something unique with "Spear," and today we have an exclusive clip from the movie. Read More: Podcast: Talking The 2015 Toronto International Film Festival Lineup Directed by Stephen Page, the film stars Hunter Page-Lochard, Aaron Pedersen and Djakapurra Munyarryun, and follows a young man from the outback to the big city of Sydney, all told through dance but with minimal dialogue. Here's the official synopsis: Inspired by director Stephen Page’s seminal 2000 dance work, Spear, and other pieces from the Bangarra Dance Theatre’s repertoire, Spear is the story of Djali, a young Aboriginal man, told in movement, music and words. Djali represents all Indigenous men of 21, who face the questions of that age: What is it to be a man?...

Scandinavian sales outfit LevelK is expanding eastward.

On the eve of this year’s autumn markets, Danish company LevelK has announced that it is bringing on board Derek Luí to to run a brand new office in Hong Kong.

Luí brings extensive experience within the business, including a recent stint at UA Cinemas/Lark Films Distribution, where he was focused on the Cinehub film acquisition and distribution.

“The Hong Kong office is a reflection of LevelK’s growth and a continues commitment to optimize our cooperation with current and future business partners,” said LevelK CEO Tine Klint of the new Asian bridgehead and of Luí’s appointment.

LevelK’s new films in official selection at Toronto International Film Festival (Sept 10-20) include the world premiere of Stephen Page’s Spear, billed as “a visually stunning tale of a young Aboriginal man as he takes a journey through his consciousness to awaken his spiritual self,” and, as an...

While the Toronto International Film Festival looks around the world and in all genres to find features for its annual incarnation, one area that receives focus is films aimed at children. With the understanding both that quality cinema is not dependent on its target audience, and that cinephiles can begin at any age, the festival’s Kids Programme highlights such features.

The Discovery Programme, on the other hand, brings together films from first and second time directors, with an eye on emerging talent. The festival has now announced the lineups for both Programmes in the 2015 incarnation of the event, along with further additions to the Cinematheque and Vanguard lineup. The Discovery lineup joins previously announced Canadian features. The films, with their official synopses, can be seen below.

Tiff Kids

The Boy and the Beast, directed by Mamoru Hosoda, making its International Premiere

A young boy in modern-day Tokyo stumbles into...

With about two weeks left until the ’15 edition kicks off, the festival heads at Tiff have made the final announcements to their upcoming edition with the unveiling of the Discovery programme. With thirty offerings from several first time filmmakers, the section is populated by items that have preemed elsewhere in the awards tipped, Sundance sensation James White from Josh Mond, to the Cannes debuted Les Cowboys from scribe and now director Thomas Bidegain, to the world premiere of Maris Curran’s Five Nights in Maine starring David Oyelowo, Dianne Wiest and Rosie Perez. Here are the offerings:

Discovery

“The Ardennes” Robin Pront, Belgium

“Beast” Tom McKeith, Sam McKeith, Australia/Philippines

“Black” Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah, Belgium

“Born to Dance” Tammy Davis, New Zealand

“Dégradé” Arab Nasser, Tarzan Nasser, Palestine/France/Qatar

“Desde Allá” Lorenzo Vigas, Venezuela

“Downriver” Grant Scicluna, Australia

“Eva Nová” Marko Škop, Slovakia

“Five Nights in Maine” Maris Curran,...

The world premieres of Scott Hicks. documentary Highly Strung and Matt Saville.s comedy/drama A Month of Sundays are among the highlights of this year.s Adelaide Film Festival.

The program includes the debut features from Bangarra Dance Company.s Stephen Page and Windmill Theatre Company.s Rosemary Myers as well as Jocelyn Moorhouse.s The Dressmaker.

A hit at. Sundance this year, Sam Klemke.s Time Machine will have its Australian premiere at the festival, which runs from October 15-25.

Another highlight is the 21st anniversary screening of Rolf de Heer.s Bad Boy Bubby at the Waterside Workers Hall in Port Adelaide on October 17. De Heer said, .It's startling to think that 22 years after Bad Boy Bubby confounded everyone, including me, by winning five prizes at the Venice Film Festival, and 21 years after it was released to an unsuspecting general public, the film is still ticking away,...

Applications are now open for the third and final Hive Lab, an Adelaide Film Festival initiative in partnership with ABC Arts, Australia Council for the Arts,. Screen Australia and the Safc.

Designed to foster new opportunities for talent working in theatre, art, dance and other non-cinematic fields to collaborate with screen practitioners, the workshop will run during the Aff from October 18-21.

Filmmaker/ artist Lynette Wallworth, whose debut feature Tender was supported by the inaugural Hive fund, will lead this year.s lab. Tender had its world premiere at the 2013 Aff and then screened in competition at the Sydney and London Film Festivals and won the TV documentary prize at the 2015 Aacta Awards.

Applications for the Lab close on August 6 and participants will be announced early September.

Entries for the third and final Hive Fund will open in October, with successful projects to premiere at the Adelaide Film Festival 2017 and then screen on ABC TV.