News

Gael García Bernal is joining Nicole Kidman in the Amazon Prime thriller Holland, Michigan.

Mimi Cave is directing the movie, which is described as a “Hitchcock-style thriller involving secrets that lurk beneath a Midwestern town.”

Andrew Sodroski is behind the screenplay. Kidman is producing with Per Saari via her Blossom Films banner, which has a longstanding relationship with Amazon, having recently teamed for Things I Know to Be True, an adaptation of Andrew Bovell’s award-winning play, and the upcoming drama series Expats. Pacific View Management and Productions’ Peter Dealbert is also producing. Churchill Films’ Kate Churchill is executive producing.

Bernal, repped by WME and Hansen Jacobson, is reteaming with Amazon following his role in Cassandro, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to overwhelmingly positive reviews. Reads The Hollywood Reporter‘s festival review: “Bernal nails his best role in years, giving a performance steeped in cheeky humor, resilience...

Hilary Linstead, the agent, casting director and film producer who launched Australia’s first talent agency, has died aged 83.

Talked of as a “force of nature” by industry friends, Linstead is considered to have nurtured many of Australia’s most successful stage, film and TV talents, and is known for discovering Rome and Juliet director Baz Luhrmann among others, representing him and the likes of Power of the Dog director Jane Campion, Gillian Armstrong (Little Women) and Adelaide festival joint artistic director Neil Armfield.

Linstead was born in London in 1938 but moved to Australia to become an actress. However, she soon switched to become a casting director and worked at International Casting Services representing actresses. She then teamed with Liz Mullinar to form M&l Casting Consultants, which led casting on productions such as Rocky Horror Show and Jesus Christ Superstar and Australian film classics such as Picnic at Hanging Rock.

“The Undoing” has now surpassed 12.3 million viewers, with 48% coming from digital viewing, Variety has learned. This makes the HBO miniseries headlined by Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant the premium cable network’s most-watched show of 2020, surpassing the audience for both seasons of “Big Little Lies.”

The psychological thriller and mystery drama, written and produced by David E. Kelley, directed by Susanne Bier, and featuring Donald Sutherland, Lily Rabe and Noma Dumezweni, was a ratings success for HBO from its Oct. 25 debut to its finale on Nov. 29.

According to the network, the six-parter’s finale drew a total of 3 million viewers across all platforms, a 43% boost from the penultimate episode and more than double the premiere’s tally. The whodunnit’s finale also performed strongly on WarnerMedia’s streamer HBO Max, as numbers were up more than 80% from the penultimate episode and were nearly five times higher than the debut’s first night on the platform.

Academy Award and Emmy-winner Nicole Kidman will executive produce a television series based on Maria Sødahl’s European Cinemas Label-winning “Hope” under her Blossom Films banner. “Hope” is currently in the running as the Norweigan entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 93rd Academy Awards.

The rights to the film’s adaptation were acquired by Amazon Studios. The script is being penned by Alice Bell, who will also serve as an executive producer alongside Kidman. The original “Hope” film, released in 2019, stars Andrea Bræin Hovig and Stellan Skarsgård. The romance and family drama was nominated for best director and best actress at the 2020 European Academy Awards. Not much is being divulged yet about “Hope” (the show), but we do know that the narrative will chronicle over the twelve days of Christmas for a couple in a tenuous marriage and six children between them.

Blossom Films, founded by...

Nicole Kidman is keeping her crown as the small screen queen, setting her third series project at Amazon Studios with Things I Know to Be True. Kidman is set to star in and executive produce the series adaptation of Andrew Bovell’s play, which centers on a married couple who watch as their adult children make shocking […]

The post ‘Things I Know to Be True’: Nicole Kidman, Amazon Studios Reteam for Third Series Project appeared first on /Film.

Los Angeles, Oct 29 (Ians) Actress Nicole Kidman will soon star in and executive produce the drama series, Things I Know To Be True.

Based on the play of the same name by Andrew Bovell, the series is said to be about the resilience of an enduring marriage and the evolving nature of a family's love through the eyes of a couple, Bob and Fran Price.

It is about the decisions that their adult children make and how they change the course of their lives, reports variety.com.

"I'll never forget the experience I had watching Andrew's play in Sydney, having one of those transcendent theater experiences. Andrew's play is exquisite and his scripts for the series are just as good," Kidman said.

Bovell will write the screen adaptation. and also serve as executive producer.

"This is a story about family, that thing you spend your life trying to escape from...

Nicole Kidman. (Photo: Flickr/Gage Skidmore)

Nicole Kidman will star in and executive produce Things I Know To Be True for Amazon Studios, based on the play by Andrew Bovell.

Producing alongside Kidman’s Blossom Films banner is Matchbox Pictures, in association with Jan Chapman Films.

Things I Know To Be True is about enduring marriage and the evolving nature of a family’s love, following Bob and Fran Price (Kidman) as they watch their adult children make unexpected decisions which change the course of their lives.

Bovell is adapting his own work, and will also serve as an EP with Kidman and Per Saari for Blossom, Matchbox’s Amanda Higgs and Alastair McKinnon, and Jan Chapman.

“Thing I Know To Be True is a wonderfully complex and intense emotional journey exploring what pulls a family apart and tests the very bonds of love that unite them,” said Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke.

Amazon Studios has ordered a TV series adaptation of Andrew Bovell’s award-winning play Things I Know to Be True with Oscar and Emmy winner Nicole Kidman set to star and executive produce under her Blossom Films banner. The project will come from Amazon Studios, NBCUniversal International Studios’ Matchbox Pictures and Blossom Films in association with Jan Chapman Films. Things I Know To Be True will debut on Amazon Prime Video, with a date Tba.

Bovell’s Things I Know to Be True is about the resilience of an enduring marriage and the evolving nature of a family’s love, as Bob and Fran Price watch their adult children make unexpected decisions that change the course of their lives.

“I’ll never forget the experience I had watching Andrew’s play in Sydney, having one of those transcendent theater experiences,” said Kidman. “Andrew’s play is exquisite and his scripts...

Amazon has picked up a series adaptation of the play “Things I Know to Be True” from writer Andrew Bovell and executive producer and star Nicole Kidman, the streamer announced Wednesday.

An adaptation of Bovell’s 2016 play of the same name, the family drama centers on Bob and Fran Price as they watch their adult children make unexpected decisions that change the course of their lives. It is described as a story “about the resilience of an enduring marriage and the evolving nature of a family’s love.”

Kidman is attached to star as Fran and executive produce via her Blossom Films banner. Bovell, who is adapting his own play, will also executive produce.

“I’ll never forget the experience I had watching Andrew’s play in Sydney, having one of those transcendent theater experiences,” Kidman said in a statement. “Andrew’s play is exquisite and his scripts for the series are just as good.

Nicole Kidman is attached to star in and executive produce the drama series “Things I Know to Be True,” which has been ordered to series at Amazon

Based on the play of the same name by Andrew Bovell, the series is said to be about the resilience of an enduring marriage and the evolving nature of a family’s love, as Bob and Fran Price watch their adult children make unexpected decisions which change the course of their lives.

“I’ll never forget the experience I had watching Andrew’s play in Sydney, having one of those transcendent theater experiences,” Kidman said. “Andrew’s play is exquisite and his scripts for the series are just as good. With Amazon’s belief, Jen Salke’s guidance, and an extraordinary producing team, we have big hopes for what this can be.”

Bovell will write the screen adaptation and will also serve as executive producer.

Nicole Kidman is coming undone again.

Amazon has handed a straight-to-series order to Things I Know To Be True, a family drama starring and exec produced by the Oscar and Emmy-winning actress. A rep for the streamer confirms to TVLine that the project is being conceived as an ongoing series (like Kidman’s HBO smash Big Little Lies) vs. a limited one (like her current HBO thriller The Undoing).

More from TVLineYep, That's Nicole Kidman Singing Undoing's 'Dream' Theme -- WatchThe Undoing Recap: Grace Under Fire -- Plus, Grade the Premiere!The Undoing's Nicole Kidman Addresses Big Little Lies Comparisons,...

Nicole Kidman has landed another project at Amazon.

The prolific actress and producer, who has a first-look deal at the streamer, will star in and executive produce a drama series called Things I Know to Be True for Amazon’s Prime Video platform. The show is her third at Amazon, following The Expatriates (which has a series green light) and Pretty Things (in development).

Based on a play by Andrew Bovell, I Know These Things to Be True centers on a married couple, Bob and Fran Price, who watch as their adult children make unexpected decisions that change the course of their lives. The series will explore the resilience ...

Nicole Kidman has landed another project at Amazon.

The prolific actress and producer, who has a first-look deal at the streamer, will star in and executive produce a drama series called Things I Know to Be True for Amazon’s Prime Video platform. The show is her third at Amazon, following The Expatriates (which has a series green light) and Pretty Things (in development).

Based on a play by Andrew Bovell, I Know These Things to Be True centers on a married couple, Bob and Fran Price, who watch as their adult children make unexpected decisions that change the course of their lives. The series will explore the resilience ...

Wayne Blair and Nel Minchin’s Firestarter – The Story of Bangarra has won Adelaide Film Festival’s documentary competition, pocketing a $10,000 cash prize.

The jury, consisting of playwright and screenwriter Andrew Bovell; director, producer and screenwriter Khao Do; film critic and programmer Zak Hepburn; producer Rebecca Summerton and actress, singer and dancer Natasha Wanganeen, rated the doc as the film that “resonated most profoundly”.

Produced by Ivan O’Mahoney, Firestarter follows the 30-year history of the Bangarra Dance Company and brothers Stephen, Russell, and David Page. Examining how ‘art can become a weapon that helps people to survive and a nation to heal’, the film combines the Page family’s home movies, interviews with the company’s leading figures, and archive footage.

Also vying in the comp was fellow local doc A Hundred Years of Happiness, from Jakeb Anhvu, as well as Sundance Special Jury Prize winner, Benjamin Ree’s The Painter and the Thief...

Kate Bonner and Natasha Wanganeen in ‘Waiyiri.’

After playing characters who were in chains or oppressed earlier in her career, Natasha Wanganeen is relishing the chance to portray a wide diversity of roles.

Demonstrating her versatility, the Ngarrindjeri, Narungga, Kaurna and Noongar woman plays Indigenous bushranger Mary Ann Bugg in Network 10’s upcoming Drunk History Australia; a chef in Closer Productions/ABC comedy Aftertaste; and a government official in Seth Larney’s 2067.

“What I would love to do now is take all the strength from action movies, fantasy and sci-fi and put that into our style,” the Black Lives Matter activist tells If. “We are some of the strongest people on Earth.

“I want our kids to wake up and see us doing powerful things instead of seeing the mainstream media put out news about another death in custody or Indigenous people as alcoholics or facing drug issues. A...

‘When Pomegranates Howl’.

Adelaide Film Festival has revealed its full program for 2020, including the world premieres of local titles When Pomegranates Howl, Yer Old Father, This is Port Adelaide, ShoPaapaa, and more, as well as a special strand dedicated to Australian indies.

Overall, the biennial festival – due to be an entirely physical event thanks to dedicated Covid-Safe plans – has snared a total of 54 features from more than 40 countries, including 22 world premieres and 27 Australian premieres.

As previously announced, the festival will open with Seth Larney’s sci-fi thriller 2067, starring Kodi Smit-McPhee, Ryan Kwanten and Deborah Mailman, and will close out with the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award winner, Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari.

Stephen Johnson’s High Ground, which bowed in Berlinale, will vie in the festival’s official competition, up against Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round; Christos Nikou’s Apples, Dea Kulumbegashvili’s Beginning, Yolqin Tuychiev’s 2000 Songs of Farida,...

Lillian Crombie and Ningali Lawford-Wolf.

Indigenous performers Lillian Crombie and the late Ningali Lawford-Wolf have been voted joint recipients of the 10th annual Equity Lifetime Achievement Award.

Australian actor, writer and director Wayne Blair was among the 32 members of the Equity National Performers’ Committee who selected Lillian and Ningali for this year’s award.

“Their rich and varied careers have been observed by generations of First Nations performers coming behind them. They have led by example and paved the way for so many others to follow in their footsteps,” says Blair.

A proud woman from the Pitjintjara/Yungkuntjara Nation, Crombie left Port Pirie in South Australia as its best classical ballerina and landed in Sydney in the 1970s to dance her way into Black performance, politics and culture.

Her career as one of Australia’s leading performers followed with roles in Baz Luhrmann’s Australia, The Secret Life of Us,...

‘Ganesh Versus the Third Reich’.

Who has the right to tell certain stories? Who has the right to play certain characters?

They’re questions, within industry conversations of diversity, inclusivity and authentic storytelling, that are raised often.

And they’re questions at the heart of Back to Back Theatre’s play Ganesh Versus The Third Reich, which the company is adapting for the screen thanks to a $100,000 development grant from arts agency Creative Victoria.

Back to Back Theatre, based in Geelong, is a theatre company that employs an ensemble of actors with intellectual disabilities. Its first foray into screen was 2017’s Oddlands, a 30-minute pilot produced with Matchbox Pictures for the ABC, a product of Adelaide Film Festival, ABC Arts, the Australia Council and Screen Australia’s Hive initiative. A further six-part series is now currently in development at Matchbox.

However, when Back to Back director Bruce Gladwin first looked at moving to screen,...

Ningali Lawford-Wolf in The Secret River.

Renowned Indigenous actor Ningali Lawford-Wolf died on Sunday while touring with the Sydney Theatre Company production in Edinburgh of The Secret River, Andrew Bovell’s adaptation of the Kate Grenville novel. She was 52.

The performer and mentor was hospitalised after suffering a heart attack and died surrounded by her family.

“Ningali was an incredibly talented performer as well as a wonderfully caring and thoughtful person,” the Stc posted on its website. “We’ve lost one of Australian theatre’s greatest treasures.”

A Wangkatjungka woman born under a tree at Christmas Creek Station in the far north Kimberley region of Western Australia, her film credits included Phillip Noyce’s Rabbit-Proof Fence, Rachel Perkins’ Bran Nue Dae and Jeremy Sims’ Last Cab to Darwin.

Noyce said: “Ningali will be remembered as an extraordinarily loving artist who gave her all to everything and everyone. Without Ningali Rabbit-Proof...

Alastair McKinnon.

A generational change is sweeping through Matchbox Pictures as the NBCUniversal-owned production company develops a raft of projects with emerging writers and producers.

“Talent development has always been a priority for Matchbox,” says Alastair McKinnon, who started as MD last December after three years with the ABC, most recently as head of content investment and planning,

McKinnon signed on just as the company founded by Penny Chapman, Tony Ayres, Helen Bowden, Michael McMahon and Helen Panckhurst was celebrating its 10th anniversary. “That was the perfect time to reflect and think about what Matchbox has done incredibly successfully over that time as the leading drama production company in Australia,” he tells If in his first interview since taking charge.

“But the industry has transformed in that 10 years and is unrecognisable if you think about the sorts of shows, how they are financed and the distribution models of drama.

Exclusive: Ambitious La and London-based management and production outfit 42 is bolstering its production ranks with a trio of key hires.

Former Cohen Media Group and Miramax exec Erica Steinberg is joining as Senior Vice President, Film, and former Red Wagon Entertainment exec Charlie Morrison is newly on board as Vice President, Film.

Both will be based in 42’s Los Angeles office — where they join TV exec Tara Tucker — and start this month.

Meanwhile, former Ecosse exec Tom Williams has been hired as Development Executive, based in London, also starting this month.

Steinberg most recently served as Senior Vice President of Production at Cohen Media Group where she developed Andrew Bovell’s adaptation of Stoner, and Operation Mincemeat, which has John Madden attached to direct. She is an exec producer on Christoph Waltz’s Georgetown, currently in post.

She started out at Miramax where she was exec producer on the Kill...

Tommy Lee Jones is set to star in Stoner, the next project from Brit director Joe Wright (Atonement)

The film, which is being produced by Blumhouse Productions and backed by the Cohen Media Group and Film4, is based on John Williams' 1965 novel, adapted by Andrew Bovell, and will see the Oscar-winning actor team with newly minted Academy Award winner Casey Affleck, whose casting was announced last month. Although the book wasn't a hit when it was first published, it became a best-seller after being reissued in 2003.

Affleck is set to play the title role of William Stoner, a...

Manchester By The Sea Oscar winner Casey Affleck is boarding Stoner, a movie from Blumhouse, Cohen Media Group and Film 4 based on the critically acclaimed 1965 novel by John Williams. Joe Wright is set to direct Andrew Bovell’s adapted screenplay. Affleck plays the title role of William Stoner, a dirt poor farmer-turned-academic who emerges as an unlikely existential hero while making his way through the first half of the 2oth century. In the book, Stoner deals with his…...

Blumhouse Productions, Cohen Media Group (Cmg), and Film4 have today announced a massive team-up: a big screen adaption of John Williams’ novel “Stoner” that will pair up Oscar-winning actor Casey Affleck (in the title role) and multiple BAFTA-winning director Joe Wright, aided by a Andrew Bovell-penned screenplay. Based on Williams’ 1965 novel, the film will follow “the hardscrabble life of William Stoner, a dirt-poor farmer turned academic, who emerges as an unlikely existential hero while making his way through the first half of the 20th century.”

While Williams first published the book in the mid-sixties, but reissues by both Vintage and New York Review Books Classics in the early aughts helped propel it to the admiration that previously eluded it (the book sold just 2,000 copies in its first run, and went out of print a year later). Blumhouse optioned the book in 2011.

Read More:What Barry Jenkins, Casey Affleck, Viola Davis...

Casey Affleck and Joe Wright are teaming up to adapt Stoner, the acclaimed 1965 novel by John Williams.

Blumhouse Productions, Cohen Media Group (CMG) and Film4 , who made the announcement, are behind the feature project.

Andrew Bovell, a playwright-turned-screenwriter who previously wrote Lantana and the Mel Gibson thriller Edge of Darkness, is penning the script that adapts the story that tells the “hardscrabble life of William Stoner, a dirt-poor farmer turned academic, who emerges as an unlikely existential hero while making his way through the first half of the 20th Century,” according to the companies.

The novel was...

Hounds of Love..

In a David and Goliath battle, the screenplays for Ben Young.s debut feature Hounds of Love and Mel Gibson.s Hacksaw Ridge will compete for the original feature film prize at this year.s Awgie Awards.

That pits a low-budgeted film scripted by Young, which has grossed $125,000 in three weeks at six Australian cinemas, against the $US40 million WW2 drama written by Andrew Knight with Robert Schenkkan, which has amassed $US175.3 million worldwide.

There is only one nomination for the feature film adaptation category so the winner almost certainly will be Luke Davies for Lion, based on Saroo Brierley.s memoir.

The 50th Annual Awgie Awards presented by the Australian Writers. Guild will be handed out in Sydney on Friday August 25.

Individual category winners will be eligible for the Major Award, given to the most outstanding script of the year. Past winners have included the writers...

Dual campaigns to fight online piracy worldwide and to withstand any weakening of copyright protection in Australia are stepping up.

Village Roadshow and Foxtel have joined a newly-formed global coalition of 30 content creators and on-demand entertainment companies dedicated to reducing online piracy.

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (Ace) will draw on the worldwide anti-piracy resources of the Motion Picture Association of America, in concert with the efforts of coalition members.

Ace.s membership includes the Hollywood majors, Amazon, Netflix, BBC Worldwide, HBO, Hulu, Lionsgate, CBS, Canal+ Group, Constantin Film, Millennium Media, Sky, Star India, Studio Babelsberg, Stx Entertainment and Telemundo.

Its mandate is to conduct research; work closely with law enforcement to curtail illegal pirate enterprises; file civil litigation; forge cooperative relationships with national content protection organisations; and pursue voluntary agreements with responsible parties across the internet.

Village Roadshow co-chairman/co-ceo Graham Burke said, .Nothing is more important or...

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.

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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,...

Read More :Oscar Buzz: Who's Looking Good In The Original & Adapted Screenplay Races? The BAFTA BFI Screenswriter's Series continued on Friday evening with Andrew Bovell. Known in the industry as a "screenwriter's screenwriter," the Australian playwright has penned novels such as "The Rain Stops Falling" and adaptations such as "Lantana," "Strictly Ballroom," "The Secret River," "Edge of Darkness" and "A Most Wanted Man." Like Nicky Hornby, who kicked off the BFI Series two days prior, Bovell began the evening launching into a conversation with a point that most screenwriters can easily identify with: not being recognized. Bovell hilariously told the audience how he goes through a dilemma everytime he travels by taxi: to lie or not to lie about his profession. He goes back and forth in his head if he should tell the truth, which will inevitably set the cabbie off into a "I've never heard of that one,...

Read More:Nick Hornby Kicks Off BAFTA and BFI Screenwriter's Lecture Series With Honest Discussion About His Place in Hollywood As part of the BAFTA & BFI Screenwriters' Lecture Series, Nancy Meyers followed Nicky Horby and Andrew Bovell to offer audience members an inside look at her life's work and what it means to her to be a writer first. Meyers opened her talk claiming that her passport notes her profession as "writer," therefore, that is her true calling. Cheering up cinemas since the early 1980s, Meyers is responsible for the hit films "Father of the Bride," "The Parent Trap," "What Women Want," "Something's Gotta Give," "The Holiday," "It's Complicated" and the newly released "The Intern." Safe to say that Meyers knows how to flip a script into a film, and moreover, how to keep theaters packed.  Even though Meyers has such an extensive resume in the industry, she doesn't see herself.

Read More: Listen to Emma Thompson Talk Screenwriting: ‘If You Can’t Fail, You Can’t Do This Job For the sixth year running, the BAFTA and BFI Screenwriters’ Lecture Series launched last night with Academy Award winning screenwriter, Nick Hornby, as its kickoff speaker. Hornby will be followed by screenwriters Andrew Bovell, Nancy Meyers, Jimmy McGovern and Beau Willimon. This year’s season is programmed by BAFTA-winning screenwriter Jeremy Brock and BAFTA-winning producer Andrea Calderwood. Jeremy Brock, who created the series, said, "each year, the Screenwriters’ Lecture Series brings the importance of the screenwriters’ role into sharp focus. Through their original ideas and adaptations, this season’s esteemed speakers have helped bring to the screen stories that have touched our hearts, cheered our souls, and made us think." Speaking candidly about the loneliness of writing, Hornby frequently touched on the hardships of writing novels versus ...

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...

The Australian premiere of Cate Blanchett's Carol is set to headline this year's Adelaide Film Festival.

One-hundred and eighty films will screen at the Festival - including over 40 Australian films, and 24 South Australian films - with 51 countries represented at the Festival.

Some of films' biggest names, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Jane Fonda, Michael Keaton, Richard Roxburgh, Anthony Lapaglia and Rachel McAdams.

In its eleventh year, the 2015 Adelaide Film Festival will provide the best of local, Australian and internationally produced films, with an eclectic mix of cinema, television, art and the moving image . plus the one night only reunion of Festival ambassadors Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton, as they host the Ultimate Quiz night.

The Festival will feature new work from Australian directors including Scott Hicks, Jocelyn Moorhouse, Matt Saville, Sue Brooks, Stephen Page, Matthew Bate, Meryl Tankard and Rosemary Myers.

It will also include work from international filmmakers Todd Haynes,...

BAFTA has rounded out its Screenwriters' Lecture Series which takes place this fall. This is a great program that brings prolific and award-winning writers to London to chat about their craft, and the industry in general. Last year, Paul Greengrass and Steven Knight were among the talent. This year, British writers Nick Hornby (An Education, Wild) and Jimmy McGovern (Accused, The Street); Australian Andrew Bovell (Lantana, A Most Wanted Man); and Americans Nancy Meyers (Pr…...

BAFTA has rounded out its Screenwriters' Lecture Series which takes place this fall. This is a great program that brings prolific and award-winning writers to London to chat about their craft, and the industry in general. Last year, Paul Greengrass and Steven Knight were among the talent. This year, British writers Nick Hornby (An Education, Wild) and Jimmy McGovern (Accused, The Street); Australian Andrew Bovell (Lantana, A Most Wanted Man); and Americans Nancy Meyers (Pr…...

Miguel Gomes’ three-volume epic wins eight on the closing night of the Sydney Film Festival.

Director Miguel Gomes and his three-volume 383-minute film Arabian Nights has won the $48,000 (A$62,000) Sydney Film Prize, it was announced on Sunday, the closing night of the 62nd Sydney Film Festival.

Journalist Michael Ware was awarded the $7,730 (A$10,000) Documentary Australia Foundation Award for Australian Documentary for Only the Dead, about his experiences in Afghanistan. The film was co-directed with Bill Guttentag.

Director Andrew Lancaster’s The Lost Aviator received a special mention for a family story of murder, love and aviation.

Jury president and Australian producer Liz Watts said Arabian Nights, which had its world premiere in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, was a film of ambition and political vision which confronts, frustrates, and spellbinds – and ultimately reminds us that cinema continues to be a powerful vehicle to examine the human condition.

“A subject that is so timely – oppression and exploitation are at...

The 2015 Sydney Film Festival has announced the jury in charge of judging the 12 titles in the Official Competition, which "recognises courageous, audacious and cutting-edge film." The winner will take home the Sydney Film Prize and A$60,000 cash.This year's jury will be headed by Australian film producer Liz Watts (Animal Kingdom, Home Song Stories, Jewboy). The jury members include Thai filmmaker Pen-ek Ratanaruang (6ixtynin9, Last Life In The Universe), Japanese producer Aihara Hiromi (Tetsuo II, Tokyo Fist, Last Life in the Universe, Invisible Waves), Executive Director of the Austrian Film Commission Martin Schweighofer and Australian screenwriter Andrew Bovell (Strictly Ballroom, Lantana, A Most Wanted Man). This year's Official Competition titles include: • Arabian Nights (Portugal, France, Germany, Switzerland)• Black Souls (Italy)• The Daughter (Australia) • Me And...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Stars: Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe, Robin Wright, Daniel Brühl, Nina Hoss, Homayoun Ershadi, Vicky Krieps, Mehdi Dehbi, Kostja Ullmann, Martin Wuttke, Rainer Bock | Written by Andrew Bovell | Directed by Anton Corbijn

Gunther Bachman (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) is a German espionage agent stationed in Hamburg to head up a covert anti-terrorist unit tasked infiltrating and gaining intelligence from the local Muslim community. In particular, Bachmann is interested in Dr Abdullah, a local philanthropist who has some shady financial practices. He also learns of Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin), a half-Chechen half-Russian illegal immigrant that was found by Russian intelligence to be linked to terrorism after extensive ‘interrogation’. As he learns more about Karpov’s reasons for being in Hamburg, Bachmann sees an opportunity to finally nail his target.

I’ve got to say, A Most Wanted Man made time pass at double speed. The combination of a...

Editor's Note: We're nearing the end of our individually chosen Fyc's for various longshots in the Oscar race. Here's Amir on "A Most Wanted Man".

Anton Corbijn’s latest film, A Most Wanted Man, is one of the year’s best American films. It’s the type of work that is elevated above the trappings of its overly familiar genre with superb performances and intelligent observations on the real world conditions that give birth to its story. It is arguably the smartest film made about America’s increasingly troubled relationship with, and its definition of, terrorism. Yet, it is surprising to compare the film's screenplay, penned by Andrew Bovell, to its original source, the 2008 novel of the same name by John le Carré, and notice the dramatic improvement that the adaptation has made to the text.

With densely plotted novels, particularly in the espionage genre, one of the biggest challenges...

Every year there is an interesting list of ineligible contenders for the Writers Guild of America (WGA) Awards. Sometimes it's because the film's production company was not a guild signatory (though these things can often be amended retroactively, if there is a will to do so). Other times it's because the writer is not a WGA member. Whatever the case, it's their rules, and they're not that unreasonable, so no reason to get too bent out of shape about it. HitFix has obtained a copy of the official WGA ballot for this year's awards, so let's see what didn't make the cut this year… In the original screenplay category, which features 60 eligible contenders, the biggest Oscar player not on the list is Ava DuVernay and Paul Webb's "Selma." That would have been a nice bump during the guild phase for a film that could be on track for big things at the Academy Awards,...

A Most Wanted Man

Written for the screen by Andrew Bovell

Directed by Anton Corbijn

USA/UK/Germany, 2014

In Anton Corbijn’s foreign espionage thriller A Most Wanted Man, the late Philip Seymour Hoffman lends his take on an unconventional looking German intelligence agent, one without the usual dashing attributes associated with cinematic spies. Although sprinkled with cerebral-minded intrigue and conducting its atmospheric tension in methodical fashion, A Most Wanted Man feels relentlessly sluggish in its execution to live up to its labored political-coated drama. This low-energy, plodding spy showcase has its isolated highlights in sleek suspense, but fails to drive home any genuine revelations about its touchy subject matter regarding counter-intelligence suspicion and terrorist paranoia. Despite solid and committed performances, it’s a slow burn of a thriller that simply lingers without fortifying any convincing punch.

Corbijn’s intelligence operative narrative is based upon a John le Carré novel.

Screen Nsw development and production executive Justin Donoghue is joining Screen Australia.

Donoghue has been appointed development executive, replacing Jo Dillon, who departed in August to become head of production and development at Screen Queensland.

At Screen Nsw he has focussed primarily on feature development as well as TV and interactive projects and he managed the Aurora development program.

He worked on the development of Amiel Courtin-Wilson.s Ruin and Simon Stone.s The Daughter and with Jennifer Kent, Cate Shortland, Andrew Bovell and John Collee. A graduate of the UK National Film & Television School in script development, he had 15 years experience in Europe, South Africa and the UK in development, production and distribution, working on projects for Hallmark Entertainment, Film Four, Channel Five, Downtown Pictures and Kudos Film and Television.

Screen Australia head of production Sally Caplan said, .I am delighted to have Justin bring in his range of skills and experience,...

Had a film the caliber of A Most Wanted Man been made in the late '60s or early '70s, with a name such as Jean-Pierre Melville or Alan J. Pakula, directing it would already be a part of the Criterion Collection, celebrated for the last 40 years as a classic. Whether it will stand so tall 40 years from now is a mystery, but digging into a film of this nature in the midst of today's modern cinematic age is pure joy for cinema lovers, and it's the third film in a row from director Anton Corbijn (Control, The American) deserving of such lofty praise. Adapted from John le Carre's novel of the same name by screenwriter Andrew Bovell (Edge of Darkness), A Most Wanted Man is a slow burn, spy thriller examining a post 9/11 world wherein the idea of friend or foe is a blurry, political mess and the...

Director: Anton Corbijn; Screenwriter: Andrew Bovell; Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright, Willem Dafoe, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Daniel Brühl; Running time: 122 mins; Certificate: 15

Philip Seymour Hoffman's still has two more appearances in The Hunger Games finale Mockingjay before he's gone from our screens forever, but his last starring role is this John le Carré adaptation about a German intelligence agent tracking a Chechen illegal immigrant in the port city of Hamburg.

Hoffman's Günther Bachmann is a man operating in the shadows and, like George Smiley (played superbly by Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), he can be low-key to the point of anonymity. Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin) is the refugee who arrives through the city docks and into the crosshairs of Bachmann, who believes he could be a terror threat.

Of course, this being a le Carré yarn, the web of intrigue spins out far and wide,...

Political thriller The Code took the major Awgie award as well as the trophy for best original miniseries at the Australian Writers. Guild awards on Friday night.

The six-hour series, which premieres on ABC on September 21, is written by Blake Ayshford, Shelley Birse and Justin Monjo and produced by Playmaker Media. The major Awgie recognises the best of the night's winners across stage, screen, new media and radio.

The feature film award went to Adelaide writer Matthew Cormack for his first debut feature 52 Tuesdays, the gender-bending drama hailed as .bold and structurally adventurous..

Winner of the best documentary prize was Sally McKenzie for A Woman.s Journey Into Sex.

Andrew Knight was rewarded for his script for Essential Media and Entertainment.s telemovie The Broken Shore, adapted from the Peter Temple novel. Writer/director Peter Duncan won best TV series script for Essential.s Rake.

Niki Aken and Felicity Packard...

Scarlett Johansson and Marvel.s comic book heroes gave the Australian B.O. a hefty one-two punch last weekend.

However it wasn.t a memorable frame for the more limited releases as A Most Wanted Man posted a middling screen average in its debut and The Keeper of Lost Causes and The Selfish Giant got lost.

And, as If reported, Roadshow.s tactic of going wide with Zak Hilditch.s These Final Hours backfired.

Nationwide, takings improved by 7% to $14.2 million, according to Rentrak's estimates,. but business fell away sharply beneath the top two titles. Johansson.s turn as a drug mule who develops superhuman mental powers worked a treat in Luc Besson.s Lucy, which raked in $4.6 million. Pro-rata, that.s even better than the sci-fi thriller.s $US43.9 million debut in the Us the prior weekend.

Marvel.s Guardians of the Galaxy, cult filmmaker James Gunn.s intergalactic comedy-adventure,...

A Most Wanted Man

Written for the screen by Andrew Bovell

Directed by Anton Corbijn

USA/UK/Germany, 2014

Throughout the beginning of Anton Corbijn’s A Most Wanted Man, it is hard to ignore that there are only a handful of upcoming performances left from Philip Seymour Hoffman in this world. The actor’s untimely death earlier this year left a hole in the world of cinema, one that will not be filled anytime soon. Hoffman was a character actor who managed to become an A-lister, without ever losing his chameleon-like ability to channel whatever or whomever he wanted.

Günther Bachmann is more down-to-earth than other prototypical spy genre leading men, likely to flash a quick grin after a disparaging comment rather than take down an army of terrorists single-handedly. As Bachmann, Hoffman affects a German accent and an unwillingness to look anyone in the eye. Whether this gesture is...

As we've learned from countless novels, movies, and TV shows over the years, the great spies glean information by distracting their marks with one narrative, all the while subtly weaving a separate, hidden agenda. That's a concept that works for screenwriter Andrew Bovell (“Lantana,” “Head On”) and director Anton Corbijn (“The American,” “Control”) in their big-screen adaptation of John le Carré's “A Most Wanted Man.” There are a lot of characters and events for the audience to process and digest, but all the while it's the film's theme that sneaks up and overtakes the plot, making for a powerful climax.

A Most Wanted Man director Anton Corbijn on Philip Seymour Hoffman getting it right: "When we had done a take and he wasn't sure he didn't want to look at the monitor, he would just listen." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Anton Corbijn's A Most Wanted Man, with a script by Andrew Bovell, stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe, Robin Wright, Nina Hoss (star of Christian Petzold's Barbara) and Grigoriy Dobrygin. Anton and I spoke about his supporting cast: Bernhard Schütz, terrific in Frauke Finsterwalder's Finsterworld, Martin Wuttke, Adolf Hitler in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, and Herbert Grönemeyer, who played Ian Curtis's doctor in Corbijn's debut feature Control and is the composer for The American and Anton's latest. Homayoun Ershadi, known for his work with Abbas Kiarostami rounds out the superb cast. We also discussed Wim Wenders' The American Friend and the character of Hamburg.