News

Jørn Utzon in Sydney.

The story of the Sydney Opera House's creation is set to be turned into a film in a co-production between Australia, Denmark and Sweden.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, the film's working title is Utzon: The Man Behind The Opera House.

The film will be exec produced by Ole Sondberg (the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Right 2Know.s Lars Weiss alongside Swedish-Australian producer Jann Marnell from Right2Know and Aussie producers Marion Macgowan (South Solitary) and Peter Herbert.

The film will focus on Danish architect Utzon.s battles with the Nsw government which eventually led to his resignation from the project.

Petter Skavlan, the writer of Kon-Tiki, is writing the script, and said "the battle between the architect and the corrupt Askin government" was "perfect movie material.".

Producer Marnell said the story encompassed "creativity versus bureaucracy and political manoeuvring ranging from friend to foe.

The story of Rupert Murdoch’s rise to become the world’s biggest media mogul looks set to become an Australian TV telemovie,

Screen Australia has provided funding development for the work which is being written by Bob Ellis and Stephen Ramsay.

The announcement comes days after Southern Star’s production of Howzat, the story of how Australian media mogul Kerry Packer took on the cricket establishment delivered the Nine Network with 2m+ ratings.

The series has the working title of The News of the World.

The British Sunday tabloid the telemovie is named after was closed by Murdoch last year in the wake of the phone hacking scandal.

Bob Ellis wrote the Australian journalism drama Newsfront and most recently ABC’s Infamous Victory: Ben Chifley’s Battle for Coal while Stephen Ramsey wrote and directed The Baby Boomers Picture Show and Flashbacks.

Ellis told Mumbrella: “What we have...

Local horror film I, Frankenstein is set to begin its 10-week shoot in Victoria next week.

The story, based on a graphic novel by Kevin Grevioux which picks up where Mary Shelley's classic novel finishes, follows Dr. Frankenstein's creature (Aaron Eckhart) into a present day, gothic metropolis, where he is drawn into a power struggle between two immortal clans.

The film, which stars Eckhart (The Dark Knight), Bill Nighy (Underworld), Miranda Otto (South Solitary), Yvonne Strahovski (Killer Elite) and Socratis Otto (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), will begin production on February 27.

I, Frankenstein writer/director Stuart Beattie said in a statement: "Mary Shelley's story is about the creation of the first human being. I, Frankenstein is the story about that being becoming human."

The film is being produced by Us-based Lakeshore Entertainment and Australia's Hopscotch Features. The film is expected to be released in late-2012.

Contact this reporter at.bswift@if.

Local horror film I, Frankenstein is set to begin its 10-week shoot in Victoria next week. The story, based on a graphic novel by Kevin Grevioux which picks up where Mary Shelley's classic novel finishes, follows Dr. Frankenstein's creature (Aaron Eckhart) into a present day, gothic metropolis, where he is drawn into a power struggle between two immortal clans. The film, which stars Eckhart (The Dark Knight), Bill Nighy (Underworld), Miranda Otto (South Solitary), Yvonne Strahovski (Killer Elite) and Socratis Otto (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), will begin production on February 27. I, Frankenstein writer/director Stuart Beattie said in a statement: "Mary Shelley's story is about the creation of the first human being. I, Frankenstein is the story about that being...

Australian comedy A Few Best Men raked in almost $1.9 million at the local box office in its opening weekend.

Directed by Stephan Elliott (The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert), the film . about a wedding that goes wrong . grossed an impressive $1,834,283 across 235 screens. Opening on Australia Day, the comedy . in third position . posted a screen average of $7805.

Its weekend figures were bigger than last year's two biggest films Red Dog ($1.78 million, 245 screens) and Sanctum ($1.59 million, 252 screens).

Written by Death At A Funeral screenwriter Dean Craig, the Icon-distributed film excited exhibitors last year when it screened at the Australian International Movie Convention. It marked Icon's first local film since Oranges and Sunshine (102 screens) in June, last year. In 2010, Icon distributed South Solitary (36 screens) and Triangle (4 screens), while in 2009 it released Mary And Max (49 screens), Disgrace (24 screens) and Blessed (15 screens).

"Stephan set out to make a film to entertain an audience...

The film adaptation of Chinese author Qiu Xiaolong’s successful Inspector Chen novel series (not to be confused with the Detective Inspector Chen series by Liz Williams) will see Chief Inspector Chen come to life across seven films.

Producers Wieland Schulz-Keil (Neofilm, Berlin), Cordula Paetzel (Schmidt & Paetzel Fernsehfilme, Berlin) and Marian Macgowan (Macgowan Films, Sydney) acquired the rights to all seven novels, written in English and set in Shanghai, and are in negotiations with Chinese distribution, a production house and with international sales agents.

Wieland Schulz-Keil was producer on Children of the Silk Road (2008) and executive producer on The Cat’s Meow (2001). Marian Macgowan produced South Solitary (2010), Blessed (2009) and Two Hands (1999).

The co-production comes on the back of last year’s Australia China Screen Alliance, aimed to facilitate co-productions between the two countries. Other recent Australian-Chinese co-productions include 33 Postcards starring Guy Pearce and directed by Pauline Chan and The Dragon Pearl...

For anyone expecting the indigenous cinema of Australia to still revolve around post apocalyptic resource battles between roving bands of homicidal punks or bawdy comedies concerning working class types being transported from the shimmering outback to a modern urban milieu – with hilarious consequences of course – then a visit to the Barbican’s London Australian Film festival over the weekend would have shattered this redundant orthodoxy. Now in its 17th successful incarnation, the festival screened an unintentional double bill of movies from two female directors, two talents whom have crafted a historical drama and one contemporary drama respectively, where the ancient antipodean landscape provides an atmospheric background to the human theatrics that unfurl in the foreground.

The first of this duo is the period drama South Solitary in which Miranda Otto stars as Meredith Baxter, an unmarried young woman whom is accompanying her uncle to a remote island in the late...

Nominations for the 2011 Nsw Premier.s Literary Award were announced yesterday. including the $30,000 Script Writing Award. The award has been offered since 1990, and past recipients include Baz Luhrmann (Strictly Ballroom), Rolf de Heer (Bad Boy Bubby) and Chris Lilley (We Can Be Heroes). This year.s script writing award nominees include Shirley Barrett for South Solitary (Macgowan Films), Glen Dolman for telemovie Hawke (The Film Company), Michael Miller for The Hero.s Standard (Knapman Wyld TV, Sbs), John Misto for telemovie Sisters of War (Sisters of War Pty Ltd), Debra Oswald for TV series Offspring (Southern Star Entertainment) and Samantha Strauss for Dance Academy, Episode 13: Family (Werner Film Productions). Last year.s winners were Jane...

The shortlist for the 2011 Nsw Premier’s Literary Awards has been announced, and the script category includes South Solitary, Hawke, The Hero’s Standard, Sisters of War, Offspring and Dance Academy.

The winner, to be announced on May 16, will receive $30,000. The script nominees are:

Shirley Barrett, South Solitary (Macgowan Films) Glen Dolman, Hawke (The Film Company) Michael Miller, The Hero’s Standard (Knapman Wyld TV, Sbs) John Misto, Sisters of War (Sisters of War Pty Ltd) Debra Oswald, Offspring (Southern Star Entertainment) Samantha Strauss, Dance Academy, Episode 13: Family (Werner Film Productions)...

Animal Kingdom, Beneath Hill 60, and the other winners of the 2011 Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards have been announced. The Film Critics Circle of Australia (Fcaa) “is a group of cinema critics that judge Australian films.” The awards were handed out on March 13, 2011 at the “North Sydney Leagues Club at Cammeray in Sydney. ABC Local Radio’s Rod Quinn hosted the event.” The full listing of the 2011 Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards winners is below.

Best Film

Animal Kingdom, Producer Liz Watts

Best Director

David Michôd, Animal Kingdom

Best Actor – Leading Role

Ben Mendelsohn, Animal Kingdom

Best Actress – Leading Role

Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom.

Lily Bell-Tindley, Lou – Special Mention

Best Actress – Supporting Role

Essie Davis, South Solitary

Morgana Davies, The Tree – Special Mention

Best Actor – Supporting Role

Joel Edgerton, Animal Kingdom

Best Screenplay – Original

David Michôd, Animal Kingdom

Best Screenplay – Adapted Screenplay

David Roach, Beneath Hill 60

Best Cinematography

Denson Baker,...

The Film Critics Circle of Australia has named Animal Kingdom the Best Film of 2010, taking 5 awards including best director, actor, actress, supporting actor and original screenplay.

Beneath Hill 60 took two awards, and South Solitary and The Waiting City took won one each.

These are the winners:

Best Film: Animal Kingdom Best Director: David Michod, Animal Kingdom Best Actor: Ben Mendelsohn, Animal Kingdom Best Actress: Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom Best Supporting Actress: Essie Davies, South Solitary Best Supporting Actor: Joel Edgerton, Animal Kingdom Best Original Screenplay: David Michod, Animal Kingdom Best Adapted Screenplay: David Roach, Beneath Hill 60 Best Cinematography: Denson Baker, The Waiting City Best Editor: Dany Cooper, Beneath Hill 60 Best Music Score: Cezary Skubiszewski, Bran Nue Dae – also SpecialAcknowledgement Award for his continued contribution to Australian cinema. Best Foreign Film – English language: The Social Network Best Foreign Language Film: The White Ribbon Special Mention: Lily Bell-Tindley (Lou...

The Film Critics Circle of Australia has announced the nominees for its 2010 Awards, and Animal Kingdom leads the pack with 10 nominations.

Beneath Hill 60 and The Waiting City follow behind with eight nominations each; Tomorrow, When the War Began has five, and Bran Nue Dae and South Solitary have four each.

It’s the first awards ceremony to recognise the previosly ignored Lou and The Waiting City as two of the best films of the year in the main categories; it’s also the first official recognition for South Solitary, which its producers did not even submit for consideration at last December’s AFI Awards.

The ceremony will be held on March 13 at the North Sydney Leagues Club in Cammeray.

The nominees are:

• Best Film

Animal Kingdom Producer: Liz Watts

Beneath Hill 60 Producer: Bill Leimbach

Bran Nue Dae Producers: Robyn Kershaw, Graeme Isaac

Tomorrow When The War Began Producers: Andrew Mason,...

From Icon, we have Shirley Barret’s South Solitary, starring Miranda Otto as a 1927 unmarried woman who accompanies her uncle (Barry Otto) to an isolated island where he has been appointed lighthouse keeper.

This is a beautiful period piece that has divided opinions; at Encore we found it a little slow but ultimately quite endearing, and both Ottos do a fantastic job.

To win, email [email protected] and tell us, what’s the most isolated place you’ve ever visited?...

The Darwin International Film Festival premiered last night with special guest Shirley Barrett’s South Solitary.

Barrett – who won the prestigious Camera D’Or for Best First Film at Cannes for Love Serenade - introduced the film and then held an audience question and answer session after the screening.

The festival, which runs until Sunday, will screen nine films in total including the Australian premiere of Hans-Christian Schmid’s Storm and Jacques Audiard’s Academy Award nominated The Prophet.

A full list of films being screened at the festival can be found here...

Hi in craft, but low in content, South Solitary is perfect for those who prize art for its own sake and a perfect example of why the rest of Australia is afraid of Australian films.

The Sydney Morning Herald won’t be getting a Christmas card from director Shirley Barrett.

At Encore, we recently published an unfavourable opinion of Brian Trenchard-Smith’s Arctic Blast, so we are not suggesting that all reviews of Australian films should be positive but… are the mainstream media too hard on most local projects? Would they have called Animal Kingdom “depressing” had it not won an award at Sundance and positive reviews from the Us?

Discuss.

Courtesy of Icon Film, we have passes for Shirley Barrett’s South Solitary, with Miranda Otto, Marton Csokas and Barry Otto.

South Solitary is the story of an unmarried 35-year old woman, Meredith (Miranda Otto), who arrives at a remote lighthouse island to assist her strict uncle (Barry Otto), the recentlly-appointed keeper planning on bringing some discipline to the operation. An error of judgement leaves Meredith with a withdrawn assistant (Marton Csokas) as her only companion.

South Solitary opens on July 29. You can read our feature here.

To win, email [email protected] and tell us, when watching a period film, is there any particular decade or century that you would have liked to live in?...

Director Shirley Barrett didn’t get to shoot South Solitary on her dream island, but she found that Plan B is sometimes better. Miguel Gonzalez writes.

Eight years ago Barrett stayed at the first cast concrete lighthouse in Australia, Green Cape, in southern Nsw – it now provides accommodation for visitors. She was there doing research for a film she had written, about whaling in the early 1900s. Eventually Barrett came to the conclusion that it was unlikely that the project would ever be made, due to its cost and the VFX it required. Barrett then started reading copies of the lighthouse log book, which described local shipwrecks and how homing pigeons were so well fed and lovingly tended to that, when they were required to fly home, they simply refused to do it. Barrett had found a new idea for a film.

“A small group of people who have to...

With the world premiere of Australian romantic farce The Wedding Party fast approaching -- in a prestigious slot as the opening night film at the Melbourne International Film Festival -- the filmmakers have released a teaser for the film onto the interwebs! 

The cast for this film looks to be one of those pitch perfect ensembles, and the teaser does a good job of showcasing all of the major roles -- Josh Lawson ($quid: The Movie) and Isabel Lucas (Transformers 2, The Waiting City) in the leads -- plus Steve Bisley (Mad Max, Red Hill), Essie Davis (South Solitary), Heather Mitchell (Three Blind Mice), Bill Hunter (The Square, Muriel's Wedding) and a host of other comedy performers.

Here's the lowdown....

First time feature director Amanda Jane takes her camera into the heart of Melbourne and creates a fun-filled farce about family, love and the choices we make. From the sacred turf...

Bob Ellis looks back at this year’s Sydney Film Festival.

We are forbidden urination after a three-hour film and herded bursting out into the rain and pushed in front of speeding traffic by big Tongan guardians of the Red Carpet while inside, in the ever-gorgeous art-deco foyer, barmen and pie vendors gazed on its lovely emptiness planning their bankruptcies and other careers and cursing, like all of us, the Clare Stewart Effect on world cinema.

Audiences entering successive sessions without hellish incident these last 113 years have not educated this woman; clamour, ticketless offices, caffeine deprivation, pissed trousers and lack of a chance to chat between sessions (or even sit on the marble steps) have characterised her Cromwellian rule for years now and several deaths, I calculate, from the pelting rain and it is wrong for her to preen her ghastly dress sense in golden spotlight just because certain films...

Shirley Barrett’s latest film South Solitary, which opened the Sydney Film Festival last night, has received mixed opinions from the Twitter users in the audience.

While Empire Magazine called it “beautifully shot and performed”, others said that the protagonist’s pet – ‘a sheep in a pink bonnet’ – was the highlight of the film.

The film is the story of a woman (Miranda Otto) who in 1927 arrives at South Solitary island, accompanying her uncle (Barry Otto), the new lighthouse manager.

These are some of the reactions from last night’s premiere:

EncoreMagazine: South Solitary = delicious. Congrats to everyone involved! POM_STAR: Sff opened last night. Speeches too long, South Solitary film was terrible. Hope things improve! empiremag_aus: South Solitary worked well as the Sff opening film. Beautifully shot and performed, the frothy humour won over the State crowd. TristanTweeting: Chatted with Shirley Barrett, director of #sydfilmfest opener, South Solitary.

Shirley Henderson in Todd Solondz’s Life During Wartime (top); Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson in Michael Winterbottom’s The Killer Inside Me (bottom) The 57th annual Sydney Film Festival, which kicks off in two days, has announced the complete list of its Official Competition Jury members. British documentary filmmaker Lucy Walker, whose Countdown to Zero was screened at Cannes earlier this year, will be joining jury president Jan Chapman, the Australian producer of Bright Star and The Piano; John Cooper, director of the Sundance Film Festival; Australian director Shirley Barrett, whose South Solitary is the festival’s Opening Night presentation; and [...]...

Attendees at this year's Sydney Film Festival are in for a treat with the line-up of free public talks recently unveiled. This dynamic program is set to feature a vast array of talented filmmakers and actors speaking about their films, careers and wider questions about the local and international film industry.   The festival will open with David Stratton as he converses with the cast and crew of Shirley Barrett's tender and sweeping South Solitary on June 3. Barrett will be joined by the film's producer Marian Macgowan and the main actors Miranda Otto, Barry Otto (Australia) and Marton Csokas (The Tree, Alice In Wonderland).

Attendees at this year's Sydney Film Festival are in for a treat with the line-up of free public talks recently unveiled. This dynamic program is set to feature a vast array of talented filmmakers and actors speaking about their films, careers and wider questions about the local and international film industry.   The festival will open with David Stratton as he converses with the cast and crew of Shirley Barrett's tender and sweeping South Solitary on June 3. Barrett will be joined by the film's producer Marian Macgowan and the main actors Miranda Otto, Barry Otto (Australia) and Marton Csokas (The Tree, Alice In Wonderland).

Directors Shirley Barrett and Yonfan (Hong Kong) have joined the jury for the Sydney Film Festival’s Official Competition.

They will judge the 12 films under the direction of jury president Jan Chapman, working with the director of the Sundance Film Festival, John Cooper, and a fifth jury member yet to be announced.

Barrett’s latest project, South Solitary, will premiere on June 2, opening the festival. It will be released by Icon on July 29.

The director’s 1996 Love Serenade will also screen, as part of the Deluxe/Kodak film preservation program (June 12).

Yonfan’s Prince of Tears - Hong Kong’s entry for the 2010 Academy Awards – will also premiere at the festival on June 9.

The wining film will be announced on closing night, June 14.

The 12 films are:

• Four Lions, Dir Christopher Morris

• Heartbeats, Dir-Scr Xavier Dolan

• How I Ended This Summer, Dir-Scr Alexej Popogrebski

• If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle,...

The Shirley Barrett period drama South Solitary will be released by Icon Film on July 29.

According to an Icon spokesperson, the film is likely to open with 25-30 prints.

The release follows the world premiere of the film at the opening night gala of the Sydney Film Festival on June 2.

It tells the story of Meredith (Miranda Otto), a 35-year-old unmarried woman arrives at a remote lighthouse island in 1928 with her uncle (Barry Otto) and new head keeper. Bad weather and misadventure leave her marooned, with her only companion being the sullen and withdrawn assistant keeper Fleet (Marton Csokas). A tender, faltering courtship between the pair ensues.

Sydney Film Festival (Sff) has unleashed the Official Program for the 2010 Festival, which runs from 2-14 June 2010. The festival will present 157 Films from 47 Countries out of which 92 are Australian Premieres, 2 international Premieres and 7 World Premieres.

The 2010 Festival kicks off with the World Premiere of Shirley Barrett’s South Solitary. The Australian Premiere of The Kids Are All Right directed by Lisa Cholodenko will close the festival.

2010 Jury President is Australian Producer Jan Chapman whose list of credits includes The Piano, Lantana and most recently, Bright Star. Jan will be joined by Sundance Film Festival Director John Cooper.

Official Competition

Featured in this year’s Official Competition line-up include:

• Three films direct from 2010 Cannes Film Festival – including Cannes Closing Night film, Julie Bertucelli’s Australian/French Co-Production The Tree, along with Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (screening in Cannes Official Competition) and Canadian...

Julie Bertucelli’s The Tree and Ben C. Lucas’ Wasted on the Young will represent Australia in the Sydney Film Festival Official Competition.

They will compete against Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Heartbeats, How I Ended this Summer, If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle, The Killer Inside Me, Life During Wartime, Lola, Women Without Men, Four Lions and Moloch Tropical for the $60,000 cash prize.

The Jury president is producer Jan Chapman, joined by Sundance director John Cooper and three other jurors, which will be announced in the coming weeks.

This year’s edition of the Sff will open on June 2 with Shirley Barrett’s local film South Solitary, starring Miranda Otto and Barry Otto. The closing night selection is the American production The Kids Are Alright, directed by Lisa Cholodenko and starring Julianne Moore, Annette Bening, Mark Ruffalo and Australian actress Mia Wasikowska.

Other local films...