WOMEN DIRECTORS FLY OZ FLAG AT SUNDANCE 2021

The feature documentary Playing with Sharks, virtual reality project Prison X - Chapter 1: The Devil & The Sun and short film GNT will fly the Australian sector flag at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. The iconic event has responded to the COVID pandemic by scheduling both online and theatrical sessions across the US from 28 January to 3 February.

Playing with Sharks, a documentary about iconic Australian diver and filmmaker Valerie Taylor, will make its world premiere in the World Documentary Competition.

“To launch this film at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival is a dream come true,” enthused director Sally Aitken. “Valerie’s daredevil exploits and her astounding underwater archive are a potent mix for any director. That she is still diving and fighting for sharks at the age of 85 shows Valerie’s incredible passion and thirst for adventure remains undiminished. Her life-affirming journey as an unlikely conservationist proves what is possible with our interconnectedness to the natural world, if we allow it.”

PLAYING WITH SHARKS (Dir: Sally Aitken; Prod: Bettina Dalton) Synopsis: Valerie Taylor is a shark fanatic and an Australian icon. A marine maverick who forged her way as a fearless diver, cinematographer and conservationist. She filmed the real sharks for Jaws and famously wore a chain mail suit, using herself as shark bait, in experiments that changed scientific understanding of sharks forever.

Virtual reality animation Prison X – Chapter 1: The Devil & The Sun will make its world premiere in the New Frontier section which showcases emerging media storytelling, multimedia installations, performances, and films across fiction, nonfiction and hybrid projects. The project takes viewers on a mythological journey inside a Neo-Andean underworld, where The Jaguaress greets you at the gateway between theater and reality and casts you as Inti, a young man imprisoned after his first job as a drug mule..

“As a storyteller, Virtual Reality gave me the tools and technological capacity to push my imagination to a further degree,” said Quechua filmmaker Violeta Ayala. “But it takes a community to make a film, and I'm very proud that the team behind Prison X represents the Australia that we see on the streets.” The production utilised the talents of Bolivian-Australian, Ghanaian-Australian and Filipino-Australian creatives.

PRISON X – THE DEVIL & THE SUN (Writ/Dir: Violeta Ayala; Prods: Violeta Ayala, Dan Fallshaw, Roly Elias) Synopsis: A virtual reality project where heavy doors open up and suck you in as a world of magical realism swirls around you, where you have to hang onto your soul so the devil doesn't take it away.

Animated short film GNT (pictured, top), which won the Yoram Gross Animation prize at Sydney Film Festival 2020, follows one woman’s outrageous mission to conquer social media and upstage her friends. Creators Sara Hirner and Rosemary Vasquez-Brown said, “We put so much love into this chaotic four minutes, and feel especially humbled that it will be shown at Sundance. We hope it makes you giggle, or at the very least, question your choices on social media.”

GNT (Writ/Dirs: Sara Hirner, Rosemary Vasquez-Brown; Prods: Sara Hirner, Rosemary Vasquez-Brown) Synopsis: An animation that follows Glenn, a woman on an unwholesome mission to conquer her clique and social media at large.

“Congratulations to these teams, this selection is an incredible accomplishment,” said Screen Australia’s CEO Graeme Mason. “These projects each have a distinctive Australian voice and demonstrate the breadth and ingenuity of our industry on the world stage. It’s fantastic to have three projects representing Australia all helmed by female directors in this year’s program.” Screen Australia were principal production investors on Playing with Sharks and Prison X – Chapter 1: The Devil & The Sun, in association with Screen NSW. GNT was created as a graduation project out of University of Technology Sydney.

BABYTEETH TAKES BITE OUT OF TRANSILVANIA F.F. AWARD ROSTER

Australian director Shannon Murphy’s striking debut feature Babyteeth, featuring a star-solidifying turn by actress Eliza Scanlen (pictured, below), continues its award-winning festival circuit run with two top awards courtesy of the 2020 Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF). The winners of the 19th annual gathering were announced last Sunday, August 9, at an outdoor event in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Selected from 12 debut or follow-up features from around the world, Murphy’s (pictured, below) fiercely original coming-of-age story earned the ‘Transilvania Trophy’ for Best Film. The top honour was voted for by an all-Romanian jury, a first for the event in the wake of an enforced COVID-19 restructure. 

Babyteeth also won the highly-coveted Audience Award ahead of a particularly strong line-up that included Tim Mielants’ Patrick (Belgium) and Zheng Lu Xinyuan’s The Cloud in Her Room (China), whose helmers shared Best Director honours; Nigina Sayfullaeva’s Fidelity (Russia), which secured leading lady Evgeniya Gromova the gender-neutral Best Acting trophy; and, Svetla Tsotsorkova’s Sister (a Bulgarian/Qatari co-production), the winner of a Special Jury Prize.

 In his first Australian feature in nine years, Ben Mendelsohn stars alongside Essie Davis as Henry and Anna Finlay, the overprotective parents of gravely sick Milla (Eliza Scanlen). When their daughter becomes enamored with a local drug dealer (Toby Wallace) and begins living her waning life to its fullest potential, Henry and Anna’s life takes on a newly energized perspective.

Even by the limited opportunities presented in the truncated 2020 festival calendar, Screen Australia and production partners Spectrum Films, Jan Chapman Films and Whitefalk Films are filling their trophy cabinets with Babyteeth accolades. It has earned Shannon Murphy festival honours in Luxembourg, Palm Springs, Pingyao, São Paulo and Zurich; screenwriter Rita Kalnejais took out a Screenplay Jury Prize at the Portugese event, FEST; and, cast members Scanlen and Wallace (pictured, left) have statuettes in the mail coming from Venice and Marrakech festival organisers.

Babyteeth is currently in release in Australian cinemas via Universal Pictures Australia; with other territories to follow.

AUDIO GUIDE FOLLOW-UP SOUNDS GOOD BUT SHORTS NEED CASH

From its World Premiere at the SciFi Film Festival last September, Chris Elena’s award-winning short film Audio Guide was set to take the world by storm. When the young director shipped it around, programmers responded; it was booked for slots at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival and California’s Cinequest.

But COVID-19 nixed those festivals, as well as the 2020 run of the Aussie arts bash, Short + Sweet. Elena connected with the creative team behind the planned production of Refused Classification, a darkly comedic anti-censorship play that was to have debuted at Short + Sweet. Together, they have reworked the concept and the project has re-emerged as Elena’s highly anticipated follow-up.

"It is a fictional story about the M.P.A.A. and how they've been negatively geared towards queer relationships and sex in general,” says Elena (pictured, right). “Polyamorous, bisexual and queer audiences have been robbed of seeing themselves on screen without restrictions. And lovers of film have had to put up with condensed and watered down stories and depictions due to a flawed and dated ratings system.”

Elena has adapted the play’s text with co-writer Bradford Elmore, who co-hosts the podcast By The Bi with his wife, Angela (pictured, below). The popular chat show explores bisexuality, the swinger lifestyle and open relationships, most notably their own. “Refused Classification is a love letter to them and the community," promises Elena, who will reteam for the shoot with his Audio Guide DOP Kym Vaitiekus and leading lady Emma Wright, who is on board as associate producer.

Faced with an arts sector in financial turmoil and an industry funding model that has abandoned the short film format, Elena is banking on private backers. “We’re crowdfunding this project because it won't exist otherwise,” states Elena, bluntly. “It's a short story but it's an important one and we want to share it with you.” 

The production is utilising the Australian Cultural Fund website to collate it’s production budget and launches in line with an online screening of Audio Guide on the St Kilda Short Film Festival; the campaign will be active until August 1.

THE LIST: FIVE OF THE BEST FROM SUSAN PRIOR

Every film industry needs an actress like Australian film needs Susan Prior. In Hollywood, it’s Judy Greer; the U.K. has Janet McTeer and Joely Richardson; the French rely upon Ludivine Sagnier. Prior and her global peers are that most valued of cast members - the character actor, the presence that ensures depth, integrity and intelligence. Prior has become a beloved presence on the small-screen (All Saints; Puberty Blues; Top of the Lake; The Gloaming) and one of the nation’s most respected stage performers (opposite Hugo Weaving in Riflemind, for director Philip Seymour Hoffman; the renowned Bell Shakspeare production of King Lear).

Recognised early in her career as an asset to any film production (Idiot Box, 1996; Heaven's Burning, 1997; Praise, 1998), our film sector has turned repeatedly to one of our finest actors. Ahead of her online discussion with Actors Centre Australia Head of Acting Adam Cook this Wednesday, May 13, we look to the big-screen for Susan Prior’s five best movie moments....        

THE ROVER (Dir: David Michôd; 2014) Pairing with her Animal Kingdom director brought Prior a long-overdue industry statuette - the AACTA Best Supporting Actress trophy for her role as ‘Dorothy Peeples’. David Michôd’s bleak, dystopian outback-noir needed an actress of rare strength to shine against the eccentricity of leads Guy Pearce and Robert Pattison and ugliness of the setting; Prior (and co-star Gillian Jones) punch through the oppressiveness of the material with fierce, forceful, female potency. 

THE VIEW FROM GREENHAVEN (Dirs: The MacRae Brothers; 2008) Kenn and Simon MacRae’s bittersweet drama/comedy allows Prior her most naturally warm and endearing role. As ‘Kate’, the daughter who yearns for some input into the complex marital dynamics of her ageing parents, Wendy Hughes and Chris Hayward, Prior (alongside a wonderful Russell Dyskstra) is a typically lovely presence; the naturalness of her performance underlines the ease with which the actress projects warmth and empathy on-screen.

A DIVIDED HEART (Dir: Denny Lawrence; 2005) An all-too-rare lead role for Prior in this World War II-set romantic drama. Director Denny Lawrence (Emoh Ruo, 1985; Afraid to Dance, 1995) and legendary producer, the late David Hannay (Stone, 1974; Mapantsula, 1988) cast Prior as Millie Vickery, the wife of an Australian soldier (David Roberts) who finds herself in conflict with her sister (Blazey Best) for the affection of an American serviceman (fellow NIDA alumni, Christopher Stollery). Scant cinema exposure and dumped onto DVD by Roadshow Home Video, the handsomely-produced period piece is testament to Prior’s potent presence as a leading lady given the right vehicle.

BOOK WEEK (Dir: Heath Davis; 2018) In one of 2018’s great support performances, Prior plays Lee, a career high-school teacher whose pragmatism and strength of character helps her boozy, directionless colleague Nick (the equally wonderful Alan Dukes; pictured, right) through some tough times.  “Susan is easily the most hard working, passionate and prepared actress I’ve ever seen,” director Heath Davis told Cinema Australia. “She puts her heart and soul into everything in order to find the truth of a scene. She lives and breathes it like all the greats.” (Read the SCREEN-SPACE Review here)    

ANIMAL KINGDOM (Dir: David Michôd; 2010) Prior and Michôd had worked together as part of the editorial team at industry journal Inside Film, where they became close. When the young director moved forward on his debut feature after years in development, Prior’s involvement in a small but pivotal role as ‘Alicia Henry’ came about through both their friendship and a deep respect for each other's talent. In hindsight, the acclaimed crime thriller launched a new wave of local talent into the global film sector and Prior’s presence was central to a landmark moment in Australian film history.

IN CONVERSATION: SUSAN PRIOR is a live streaming event via the ACTORS CENTRE AUSTRALIA Facebook page. It will commence 7:30pm AEST on Wednesday, May 13.

THE NIGHTINGALE SOARS AT AACTA 2019

Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale has dominated the 2019 AACTA Awards in a ceremony held in Sydney’s Star Casino last night. The brutal account of an unlikely friendship stemming from vengeance in colonial Tasmania took home five AACTA trophies, when tallied with its win at the Luncheon Ceremony held Tuesday.

Kent’s follow-up to her global hit The Babadook has earned her a unique place in AFI | AACTA history, with her wins for Best Direction, Best Screenplay and Best Film (as producer) being a first for a woman across all three categories, for the same film, in a single year. (Pictured, top; from left, Aisling Franciosi and Jennifer Kent. Photo credit:Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP)

The film’s lead, Aisling Franciosi took out the Best Actress prize with her first nomination against such heavyweight competition as Mia Wasikowska (Judy and Punch), Miranda Tapsell (Top End Wedding) and Teresa Palmer (Ride Like a Girl). The Nightingale also earned first-time nominee Magnolia Maymuru (pictured, right) a gong in the Best Supporting Actress category.

Denying the film an AACTA clean sweep last night were Damon Herriman winning Best Actor for Mirrah Foulkes’ Judy and Punch and Joel Edgerton winning Best Supporting Actor for David Michod’s The King. Tuesday’s luncheon ceremony, in which key technical categories were honoured, evened out the playing field a bit further with nods to DOP Adam Arkapaw (Best Cinematography, The King); Peter McNulty and Anthony Maras (Best Editing, Hotel Mumbai); Liam Egan (Best Sound, Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan); Fiona Crombie, Alice Felton  (Best Production Design, The King); and, Jane Petrie (Best Costume Design, The King). Composer François Tétaz won Best Original Score for Judy & Punch.

Australia’s entrant in the Best Foreign Language Oscar race, Rodd Rathjen’s Bouyancy (largely spoken in Thai/Khmer), won the Best Independent Film category. Daniel Gordon’s’ The Australian Dream, one of two accounts of footballer Adam Goodes’ fight against systemic racism, took out Best Documentary. Fresh off a Best Film win at the recent Asia Pacific Screen Awards, Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite took Best Asian Film honours.

BEST FILM PRESENTED BY FOXTEL
WINNER: The Nightingale
Hotel Mumbai; Judy & Punch; The King; Ride Like a Girl; Top End Wedding

BEST INDIE FILM PRESENTED BY EVENT CINEMAS
WINNER: Buoyancy (pictured, right)
Acute Misfortune; Book Week; Emu Runner; Sequin in a Blue Room

BEST DIRECTION
WINNER: Jennifer Kent The Nightingale
Anthony Maras Hotel Mumbai; Mirrah Foulkes Judy & Punch; David Michod The King

BEST LEAD ACTOR
WINNER: Damon Herriman Judy & Punch
Timothee Chalamet The King; Baykali Ganambarr The Nightingale; Dev Patel Hotel Mumbai; Hugo Weaving Hearts and Bones

BEST LEAD ACTRESS
WINNER: Aisling Franciosi The Nightingale
Nazanin Boniadi Hotel Mumbai; Teresa Palmer Ride Like a Girl; Miranda Tapsell Top End Wedding; Mia Wasikowska Judy & Punch

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
WINNER: Joel Edgerton The King (pictured, right)
Damon Herriman The Nightingale; Andrew Luri Hearts And Bones; Ben Mendelsohn The King; Michael Sheasby The Nightingale

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
WINNER: Magnolia Maymuru The Nightingale
Tilda Cobham-Hervey Hotel Mumbai; Hilary Swank I Am Mother; Bolude Watson Hearts And Bones; Ursula Yovich Top End Wedding

BEST DOCUMENTARY
WINNER: The Australian Dream
The Eulogy; The Final Quarter; In My Blood It Runs; Mystify: Michael Hutchence

BEST SCREENPLAY
WINNER: The Nightingale Jennifer Kent 
Hotel Mumbai John Collee, Anthony Maras; Judy & Punch Mirrah Foulkes; The King David Michôd, Joel Edgerton

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
WINNER: The King Adam Arkapaw
Danger Close: The Battle Of Long Tan Ben Nott; Hotel Mumbai Nick Remy Matthews; The Nightingale Radek Ladczuk

BEST EDITING 
WINNER: Hotel Mumbai Peter Mcnulty, Anthony Maras
Judy & Punch Dany Cooper; The King Peter Sciberras; The Nightingale Simon Njoo

BEST SOUND
WINNER: Danger Close: The Battle Of Long Tan Liam Egan
Hotel Mumbai Sam Petty, Pete Smith, Nakul Kamte, James Currie, Peter Ristic; The King Robert Mackenzie, Sam Petty, Gareth John, Leah Katz, Mario Vaccaro, Tara Webb; The Nightingale Robert Mackenzie, Dean Ryan, Leah Katz, Pete Smith

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
WINNER: Judy & Punch François Tétaz
Danger Close: The Battle Of Long Tan Caitlin Yeo; Hotel Mumbai Volker Bertelmann (aka Hauschka); Ride Like A Girl David Hirschfelder

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
WINNER: The King Fiona Crombie, Alice Felton
Hotel Mumbai Steven Jones-Evans; Judy & Punch Jo Ford; The Nightingale Alex Holmes

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
WINNER: The King Jane Petrie
Hotel Mumbai Anna Borghesi; Judy & Punch Edie Kurzer; The Nightingale Margot Wilson

BEST ASIAN FILM
WINNER: Parasite (pictured, right)
Andhadhun; Gully Boy; Hello, Love, Goodbye; Ne Zha; Shadow; Super Deluxe; The Wandering Earth; We Are Little Zombies

MENDO'S BABYTEETH LEAVES IMPRESSION ON VENICE SELECTORS

The project credited with bringing acting legend Ben Mendelsohn back home for the first time in nine years has secured the Australian industry’s only feature film placement at the 2019 Venice Film Festival. Director Shannon Murphy’s Babyteeth, a bittersweet rom-com/drama about a seriously ill teenage girl and the drug dealer she falls for, will face off against new works from Brad Pitt, Roman Polanski, Scarlett Johansson, Olivier Assayas, Joaquin Phoenix and Steven Soderbergh on The Lido in the prestigious festival’s In Competition strand.

Adapted by Rita Kalnejais’ from her own hit play and representing the debut feature for experienced television helmer Murphy, Babyteeth was produced by Alex White and executive produced by Oscar-nominated producer Jan Chapman (The Piano, 1993). Australian distribution was picked up by Universal Pictures Australia as part of their acquisition of Entertainment One (eOne); international sales are through Celluloid Dreams.

The Venice selection marks a stellar debut for White’s development and production company Whitefalk Films, who launched their feature slate with Babyteeth after the success of their shorts Trespass (Best Australian Short Film, MIFF 2017) and Florence Has Left the Building (Best Short Film, Australian Academy of Cinema & Television Arts Awards 2015). Also on board as financing entities are Screen Australia in association with Create NSW, WeirAnderson.com and Spectrum Films.

Mendelsohn (pictured, top) stars opposite Essie Davis as Henry and Anna Finlay, the over-protective parents of gravely sick Milla (Eliza Scanlen). When their daughter becomes enamored with a local drug dealer (Toby Wallace) and begins living her waning life to its fullest potential, Henry and Anna’s life takes on a newly energized perspective.

Babyteeth is the latest high-profile project for 20 year-old Scanlen (pictured, right), who scored big opposite Amy Adams in the mini-series Sharp Objects and will next be seen as ‘Beth March’ in Greta Gerwig’s fresh look at Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, alongside Timothée Chalamet, Meryl Streep, Emma Watson and Saoirse Ronan.

Also set to premiere at Venice is the short The Diver, from directors Michael Leonard and Jamie Helmer, as well as two virtual reality short films - Callum Cooper's Porton Down and the migrant experience vision, Passenger, from co-directors Isobel Knowles and Van Sowerwine.

While Babyteeth is the only Australian feature to earn a screening berth at Venice (and one of only two films in competition that are directed by women), other homegrown talent Lido-bound include director David Michod, who will debut his latest Netflix-backed title The King, and Nicole Kidman, co-star of Stanley Kubrick’s 1999 work Eyes Wide Shut, which will feature as a Special Screening alongside Matt Wells’ doco Never Just a Dream: Stanley Kubrick And Eyes Wide Shut.

The full list of the 2019 Venice Film Festival’s IN COMPETITION titles are:

The Truth (Kore-eda Hirokazu; France/Japan) – OPENING FILM
The Perfect Candidate (Haifaa Al-Mansour; Saudi Arabia/Germany)
About Endlessness (Roy Andersson; Sweden)
Wasp Network (Olivier Assayas; France/Belgium)
Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach; U.S.)
Guest of Honor (Atom Egoyan; Canada)
Ad Astra (James Gray; U.S.)
A Herdade (Tiago Guedes; Portugal/France)
Gloria Mundi (Robert Guediguian; France)
Waiting for the Barbarians (Ciro Guerra; Italy)
Ema, (Pablo Larrain; Chile)
Saturday Fiction (Lou Ye; China)
Martin Eden (Pietro Marcello; Italy/France/Germany)
La Mafia non è più quella di Una Volta (Franco Maresco; Italy)
The Painted Bird (Vaclav Marhoul; Czech Republic)
The Mayor of Rione Sanità (Mario Martone; Italy/France)
Babyteeth (Shannon Murphy; Australia)
Joker (Todd Philips; U.S.)
An Officer and a Spy (Roman Polanski; France)
The Laundromat (Steven Soderbergh; U.S.)
No. 7 Cherry Lane (Yonfan; China)

OZPLOITATION PIONEER'S CLASSIC COLLECTIBLES SEEKING NEW HOME

Despite being sidelined by high-minded historians as a peddler of lowbrow schlock, the late Australian director John D. Lamond was in every respect a passionate advocate for and great lover of cinema. The director of Ozploitation classics Australia After Dark (1975), The ABC of Love and Sex: Australia Style (1978) and Felicity (1978) passed away at the age of 71 in October 2018, leaving behind not only a body of work adored by his legion of fans but also film memorabilia spanning his five decades in showbusiness.

Filmmaker Andrew Leavold (The Search for Weng Weng, 2007; The Last Pinoy Action King, 2015) became a close friend of Lamond and his family in those final years; the 2002 interview between the two men, a moment in time that Leavold points to as the starting point of their friendship, provides profound insight into their kindred spirituality. With the blessing of the director’s widow Diana, Leavold is overseeing a vast eBay auction of Lamond’s remarkable legacy. “I’d say the collection is like the inside of John’s head,” asserts the Queensland-based director and author, “a Carry On film directed by Stanley Kubrick.”

“I miss John so much it still feels like an open wound,” says Leavold (pictured, right), who would spend long hours with his friend and mentor at the family home at Mermaid Beach, on Queensland’s Gold Coast. “The healthy John I remember was a one of a kind, mischievous, with the crassest sense of humour I’ve ever encountered. (He) was housebound because of his Parkinson’s, but it didn’t stop him from trawling through his memorabilia and watching movies with me, telling tall stories, and generally being a sweetheart. He was such a generous man.”

The collection is comprised of artifacts from Lamond’s career both behind the camera and in the distribution sector. In addition to material collated from his own films (amongst them, the much-derided 1980 romp, Pacific Banana, and his 1982 mainstream romance, Breakfast in Paris), Leavold will be releasing marketing assets held over from Lamond’s mid-‘70s tenure as a publicity executive with distributor Village Roadshow. Alongside industry giant Alan Finney, Lamond oversaw campaigns for such films as A Clockwork Orange, Dirty Harry, Blazing Saddles, The Exorcist and Deliverance. (Pictured, below; from the Lamond Collection, a series of promotional stills from The World of Suzie Wong, 1960)

According to Leavold, the collection represents a more truthful portrait of Lamond and his lifelong love of film. “It perfectly reflects John’s eclectic taste, ranging from the silly and low-brow to classical Hollywood,” he says. “He was a well-travelled, cultivated man who was often overlooked in serious discussions on Australian cinema, yet here are letters from directors such as Robert Wise and Ken G. Hall thanking him for his friendship.” Other item certain to attract the attention of cashed-up buffs include Australian daybill posters for Vertigo and Gone With The Wind and a huge selection of soundtracks, including original pressings of all the early James Bond scores, Star Wars and Mad Max (“Still in its shrink wrapper!”, exhorts Leavold)

At the heart of the collection is Lamond’s beloved 16mm camera, dating back to the 1960s, which Leavold calls “a magnificent beast” and which he believes was used to lens the landmark box-office hit Australia After Dark. Also highlighted is a treasure trove of material from Leavold’s favourite Lamond film, the bawdy coming-of-age tale Felicity. “We found the working script with John’s handwritten annotations, shooting schedule (and) wardrobe lists, all in a modest manila folder. In a frame next to it was the original Felicity concept art ,” he recalls. (Pictured, below; Lamond with the original Felicity art) 

In addition to helping Lamond’s family recoup medical costs, Andrew Leavold hopes the sale of these items helps paint his late friend in a different light. “Someone like John was often seen as a footnote or a punchline in Aussie film industry as he made genre films rather than David Williamson adaptations, but he was the real deal, a self-made man who lived life to the fullest,” he says. “I want the name John Duncan Lamond to live on in the hearts of unrepentant Aussie cinephiles, and I can safely say that will happen with Felicity smiling down proudly from someone’s wall.”

All proceeds will go to paying the medical costs incurred by the family in those final years, when Lamond began to suffer the late stages of the Parkinson’s Disease that he had fought for nearly two decades. 

The JOHN D. LAMOND MEMORIAL AUCTION can be found at the eBay page here. The full collection will roll out over the coming weeks.

Andrew Leavold will commence the TRASHFEST 2019 Australian Tour on June 26, a month-long screening road-trip to launch his FILM SAFARI Kickstarter Project and promote the Lamond Collection sale. The filmmaker will be present at the following venues:
Wednesday 26th June: The Bison Bar, NAMBOUR
Thursday 27th June: Elizabeth Picture Theatre, BRISBANE
Sunday 30th June: Mercury Cinema, ADELAIDE
Friday 5th July: Nova Cinema, Carlton, MELBOURNE
Sunday 7th July: Brisbane Hotel, HOBART
Thursday 11th July: First Coat Studios, TOOWOOMBA
Friday 12th July: Private Event, BURLEIGH HEADS
Saturday 13th July: Star Court Theatre, LISMORE
Sunday 14th July: The Regent Cinema, MURWILLUMBAH
Monday 15th July: The Press, TAMWORTH
Wednesday 17th July: The Royal Exchange, NEWCASTLE
Friday 19th July: Pink Flamingo Cinema, Marrickville, SYDNEY
Saturday 20th July: Canberra Technology Park, Watson, CANBERRA
For further details, contact Andrew Leavold at andrewleavold@gmail.com.

FCCA 2018 WINNERS SPAN A CENTURY OF AUSTRALIAN STORIES

The Australian film sector’s long and prestigious history of period films was kept alive in 2018, according to the voting members of the Film Critics Circle of Australia. Warwick Thornton’s turn-of-the-century outback thriller Sweet Country, Bruce Beresford’s mid-century melodrama Ladies in Black and Simon Baker’s ‘70s-set coming-of-age surfing drama Breath were the big winners at the FCCA’s annual Award Ceremony, held last night in the auditorium of the Paddington/Woollahra R.S.L. Club in inner–city Sydney.

The evening was attended by some of the industry’s most revered names, with Oscar-winning DOP John Seale (The English Patient, 1996), Gallipoli leading man Mark Lee, thesps Amanda Muggleton and Andrew McFarlane and beloved acting icon Lorraine Bayly on hand to present key categories. Other guests included FCCA President Rose Capp, writer/director Ted Wilson (Under the Cover of Cloud, 2018), entertainer Paul Capsis, and actor/director Alex Lykos (Alex & Eve, 2016; Me & My Left Brain, 2019).

Sweet Country, Thornton’s brutal manhunt ‘western’, earned three of the night’s top honours, winning Best Film, Best Director and Best Lead Actor for Hamilton Morris (pictured, right; Morris with co-star Natassia Gorey Furber); producer David Jowsey accepted on behalf of all the production’s honorees. The film has been an awards season favourite since its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where it took out the event’s Critic’s Prize. It has since secured the best picture trophy at the AACTA Awards and Asia Pacific Screen Awards, along with major gongs at the Adelaide and Toronto film festivals.

A hit with domestic audiences, Ladies in Black had been long in development before Beresford’s clout helped it come to fruition. The adaptation of Madeline St John’s novel won Best Lead Actress for Angourie Rice (producer Allanah Zitserman present to accept on behalf of her leading lady), as well Best Supporting Actress for industry great Noni Hazelhurst and Best Original Score for Christopher Gordon’s orchestration.

Simon Baker’s directorial debut Breath, an adaptation of Tim Winton’s acclaimed semi-autobiographical novel, earned the director the Supporting Actor trophy for his role as an emotionally troubled surfer. As the film’s only representative on the night, Baker made several trips to the podium on behalf of his collaborators; he shared Best Screenplay honours with co-scribe Gerard Lee, while editor Dany Cooper and cinematographers Marden Dean and Rick Rifici were rewarded for their contributions. (Pictured, left; Baker with co-stars Ben Spence, centre, and Samson Coulter)

One of the most successful box-office years for feature length factual films led to a hotly contested Best Documentary category. In the end, a specially selected five person jury could not split Catherine Scott’s Backtrack Boys and Paul Damien Williams’ Gurrumul for top honours, resulting in a rare ‘joint award’. A clearly moved Scott noted that her film has swept audience polls at several festivals, including both the Sydney Film Festival and Melbourne International Film Festival, but had not connected with voting bodies until the FCCA honour.

Nominated films that went home empty-handed but which indicate what a diverse and rich year that 2018 was for local cinema included Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke’s zombie thriller Cargo (3 nominations); Leigh Whannell’s gruesome sci-fier Upgrade (2 nominations); Alena Lodkina’s rural drama Strange Colours (4 nominations); Joel Edgerton’s family melodrama Boy Erased (3 nominations); and, Jason Raftopoulos’ West of Sunshine, for which leading man Damien Hill received a posthumous Best Lead Actor nomination.   

THE GENTLEMAN G.M. GUIDING CINEMA GIANT'S NEW WAVE OF OLD FILMS

For Australia’s 108 year-old exhibition giant EVENT Cinemas, programming screen content beyond the core ‘studio blockbuster’ releases is now a priority. The man in charge of helping to redefine the viewing experience at the chain’s national multiplex locations is Anthony Kierann, General Manager of Film Festivals. The jewel in his crown is the hugely successful In The House retrospective seasons, which have introduced a new generation of filmgoers to such pop culture touchstones as The Dark Crystal, Stand by Me, Scarface, The Thing and Die Hard. The 2019 season of nine films kicks off March 11 with the 1983 Stallone classic, First Blood, and will include the De Niro/Pacino thriller Heat (March 25), Winona Ryder in Heathers (May 27) and the Gen-X teen classic, Pretty in Pink (July 8).

At the Sydney head office of Event Hospitality and Entertainment, the charismatic, passionately film-focused Kierann (pictured, above: with director Gillian Armstrong, left, and critic Margaret Pomeranz) sat with SCREEN-SPACE to discuss his role, the company’s alternative programming objectives and the second season of Hollywood Classics, his retro-strand from cinema’s golden years. Chatting movies as we settle in a meeting room, he observes, “At my age, cinema has enriched my life and given me so much”…   

SCREEN-SPACE: What philosophies, as both an EVENT executive and a lover of film culture and programming, do you adhere to in your role?

KIERANN: EVENT Entertainment is a company that celebrates big films, the blockbusters, which we are well known for, in auditoriums that provide great sound, great comfort, great imagery. I think it is also important, as part of our goals as an exhibition company, to speak to a generation watching movies today that haven’t seen some of the greatest movies ever made; movies that are part of this company's history. So the challenge was to bring people back to the cinema and celebrate that rare kind of storytelling that [provides] an amazing community experience. Part of our mission statement is to bring more people together for those universal stories that tell us about life. And we know that that experience is not always going to be provided by the films of today. We need to look to the films of the 60s or the 70s where there were different social conditions, revolutionary thinking in reaction to the real world, things that teach people. One of the greatest joys I’ve had is watching families come together – a father bringing a son, a mother bringing a daughter – and saying, ‘You must see this on the big screen.’” (Pictured, above; Event Cinemas George Street site)

SCREEN-SPACE: There is no denying that the retrospective seasons, while servicing the film buff, also serve to re-energise audience demographics that don’t go to the movies that much…

KIERANN: Absolutely, 100%. We have a series of obligations. One, as a business, we need to bring people back to the cinema, to be commercially viable. We need to come up with as many ways possible to get patrons back in our theatres, patrons who won’t come out for the next huge Disney or Roadshow film. So, yes, retrospectives play that function, but it has to be about more than just bringing old films back. It is bringing them back in a manner that celebrates them, be that by our hosting, the theming, the key artwork, social media messaging; components that celebrate those stories. Our programming needs to be eclectic, so that it serves both our commercial needs and the greater social role that film and film-going still plays. We do that through not just the retrospective programming but also the film festivals we host, those celebrations of film culture that I think are so important.

SCREEN-SPACE: In The House celebrates pop-culture titles, which in retro-cinema terms means programming beloved but often-revived films like Alien (April 8) and Pulp Fiction (July 22). Are there plans for more esoteric, little-seen film classics?

KIERANN: When we’ve built an established audience that knows we are programming diverse material, we’ll do that, but we have to build that audience. The ‘pop culture’ themed In Your House sessions are a great way for us to tap into the ‘Event audience’. So that when we do program a Jim Jarmusch film, let’s say, or some very early Scorsese or De Palma work, which is a dream of mine, we are in a position where the audience has been primed for that sort of programming and we can launch with confidence. The way we move forward to that stage is via a program like Hollywood Classics, which we started last year. Our second season will feature 12 Angry Men, The Red Shoes, Calamity Jane The Apartment, Terms of Endearment (pictured, right), those kinds of films, which I think lead us down the path of more thought-provoking, character-driven cinema. It is a sensitive, moderate way for us to step towards a deeper, film-history focussed retro-program. That is certainly my vision.

SCREEN-SPACE: Event George Street is equipped for Digital Cinema Package, or DCP projection, correct? Has that dictated the films you screen? 

KIERANN: We screen everything on DCP, so there have been some programming choices we haven’t been able to screen. We’ve tried to screen from Blu-ray before, but had issues; a session of the anime classic Akira had a line thru the image that we had no control over, so after that we decided on DCP or not at all. We have a responsibility to our audience to screen the best version of a film we can. So we speak to the distributors and try to convince them to convert to and provide DCPs, which is when everyone looks at things fiscally and decisions are made. But there are 100s of films I’d love to screen that I’ve lined up well into the future.

SCREEN-SPACE: For years, Sydney had a great revival-screening culture at sites like The Mandolin or The Valhalla at Glebe. Is part of your role to reposition the George Street centre as a new mecca for nostalgic film buffs?

KIERANN: We are definitely undertaking a process to reposition the George Street complex as more than just the home of the latest blockbuster, absolutely. We need to be competitive, it’s as simple as that. That’s the landscape; if we don’t do it, people will go to see the alternative films at Palace or The Chauvel. What’s interesting is that where [Palace and Dendy] owned that space many years ago, they now screen the latest blockbusters. We’re engaged in this balancing act; everyone knows that there is a wider need for a greater range of films than ever before. We think we are exhibiting a willingness to be business savvy, to realise the needs of the audience, and the immensely successful In The House sessions speak to that. The Hollywood Classics had an incredible launch last year, so a second season was assured. And further to your question, George Street is our Sydney base, but the In Your House programming is playing at around 30 sites nationally, which is very exciting for us.

Event Cinema's 2019 HOLLYWOOD CLASSICS Program begins March 4 with the Doris Day classic, Calamity Jane; IN THE HOUSE 2019 sessions launch March 11. For full ticketing and session details go to the Event Cinemas website.

AUSTRALIAN FILMS UNITED AT 2019 MANCHESTER FILM FESTIVAL

Two features and a wave of short films will represent the Australian film sector at the 5^th Manchester International Film Festival (MANIFF), launching March 2 at the Odeon Cinemas in the north-west metropolis’ iconic Great Northern Railway Warehouse centre.

Expanding to a week-long celebration for the first time in its history, MANIFF will host the U.K. premiere of Heath Davis’ bittersweet dramatic-comedy Book Week, which has benefitted from a strong grass-roots marketing campaign and independent release strategy in its homeland.

For Davis (pictured, right), the MANIFF acceptance of his little-film-that-could is deeply rewarding. “It’s wonderful,” he told SCREEN-SPACE. “It helps get your voice heard on an international platform and validates that what you’re creating resonates on a global level.” The two sessions of Book Week will see Davis return to Manchester for the first time since the festival screened his acclaimed drama Broke in 2016.

The festival will also host the first screenings in England’s north-west of Ben Hackworth’s opera drama Celeste, starring Radha Mitchell (pictured, top), which played the London Film Festival in October 2018. Australian talent also features in Jeff Vespa’s international co-production Paris Song, with actress Abbie Cornish (pictured, below) co-starring with Sanzhar Madiyev in the true story of Kazakh singer Amre Kashaubayev and his presence in an international singing competition at the 1925 Paris Expo. The Antipodes are further represented by New Zealander Dustin Feneley’s Stray, a potent romantic drama shot in the Otago region of the nation’s South Island.

In addition to the feature line-up, Australian short films have commandeered an impressive 12 slots in the program, including six U.K. premieres and one, Luke Wissel’s A Stone’s Throw, getting its first international exposure. It is a significant showing that Heath Davis says represents a burgeoning pool of Down Under filmmakers. “There’s a new wave of Aussie talent brewing and we want to create a brand where Australian films are sought after,” he says. “It’s starting to happen and this is an example of that.”

The vast richness displayed in the programming of the Australian content reflects the commitment of the festival to offer Manchester filmgoers breadth and depth of choice. In a press statement, Head of Programming Al Bailey says, “This year’s line-up is the perfect example of what we set out to achieve five years ago – a showcase of the most eclectic independent films from around the world and the strength of the selection shows the reputation that the festival has and continues to gain.” 

The short film roster includes:

Colony (Dir: Catherine Bonny; starring Emma Burnside, Alicia Hellingman, Ben Leyden; pictured, right) In the future two women struggle for survival as part of a work colony.

For Your Sins (Dir: Julian Lucas; starring Ryan Shelton, Dave Lawson, Michala Banas) A young man realises that everyone is sinning and seeks the help of a boutique communications agency to help raise awareness for his cause.

St. Bernie (Dir: Elise Tyson; starring Lara Robinson) Like any teenager, Bernie is curious about her developing body, sexuality and romantic interests but, denied any sex education in school or at home, Bernie feeds her curiosity in secret.

Solus (Dir: Adam Jamsek; starring Stephen Degenaro, Christopher Kirby, Tycho Richardson) A father and his chronically ill son go tracking into the heart of a forest in search for a magical healing bird.

Bridget and Iain (Dir: Leah Patterson; starring Vivienne Powell, Damian Sommerlad, Sala Baker) A loving mother struggles with her addict son and comes to realise that her actions maybe enabling his addiction.

Rooftops (Dir: Odeya Rush; starring Odeya Rush, Ryan Lee, Harry Nathan) The story of a boy in love, centered around the lyric "Rollin' like it's high school fantasy".

Skates (Dir: Maddelin McKenna; starring Renee Kypriotis, William McKenna, Corey Robert Hunt) New Year's Eve 1979; a young boy working at the local roller-skating rink forms a bond with a girl, skating alone.

A Stone’s Throw (Dir: Luke Wissel; starring Lily Pearl, Anna Steen, Patrick Graham) A rock thrown from an overpass sets in motion a series of crises that open emotional wounds for a middle-class family.

Behind Barres (Dir: Sophia Bender; starring Tizana Saunders , Damien Welch; pictured, right) A prisoner within her own body, ballerina Adelina is tortured by injury and begins to detach from reality in order to fight the physical pain and personal demons that torment her.

Cherry (Dir: Claudia Bailey, Vanessa Bray, Evie Friedrich) An anthology of stories that address virginity take an unflinching look into the awkward, perverse, intimate and sometimes embarrassing nature of sex.

Shooter (Dir: Andrew Carbone; starring Dugald Mullen, Clayton Watson, Mark Lee) Two boys dealing with the loss of their mother are faced with a father who is becoming increasingly unhinged in his grief.

Don’t Call Me Beautiful (Dir: Jill Robinson; Documentary) In 1965, at the age of 3 months, Zeitha Murphy was removed from the care of her Aboriginal mother, setting in motion years of emotional and physical abuse. Now, determined to create a better life for herself and her sons, Zeitha embarks on a journey to find her true place in society and her birth family.

The 2019 Manchester International Film Festival runs March 2-10. Full session and ticketing details can be found at the event’s official website.