News

Daniel Lapaine as Lord “Lofty” Lofthouse.

When UK-based actor Daniel Lapaine was asked by his mate Tim Minchin to play his aggrieved brother in Lingo Pictures/Foxtel’s Upright, he was both surprised and delighted.

Surprised because it was his first role in an Australian production since he moved to the UK 20 years ago.

While he was filming Upright, director Tony Tilse and producer Fiona Eagger offered him the part of Lord “Lofty” Lofthouse in Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears, which opens on Thursday.

This week he began filming the second season of Hoodlum Entertainment/Network 10’s Five Bedrooms, directed by Peter Templeman, Fadia Abboud and Shirley Barrett.

“It was the longest comeback in Australian screen history,” Lapaine tells If. “I had been working mostly in theatre in London but also had the chance to appear in series like Catastrophe with Sharon Horgan and The Durrells. It...

‘Mr Black’

When Adam Zwar first pitched the Mr Black concept to Cjz, group CEO Matt Campbell was immediately impressed, telling Zwar: “This is so formattable, everyone can relate to the character.”

So it has proved as Cjz has signed a format deal with Fox Entertainment’s SideCar, a content development accelerator launched earlier this year by Hollywood heavy-hitter Gail Berman.

SideCar has made a script development commitment to the single-camera comedy, with Berman, a former president both of Fox Entertainment and Paramount Pictures, as executive producer.

Several Us production companies were chasing the remake rights. Campbell tells If that SideCar won mostly due to the enthusiasm of Berman, who told him: “We have been waiting for a show like Mr Black to come along. We’re thrilled to have him.”

The La-based Zwar, who co-created Squinters, Lowdown and Wilfred, is expected to be involved in the development of the remake.

Top row (l-r) Polly Staniford, Sarah Shaw, Tania Chambers, Clayton Jacobson; middle: Jason Byrne, Rikki Lea Bestall, Dena Curtis, Liz Watts, Vincent Sheehan, Anna Vincent; bottom: Steve Jaggi, Scott Corfield, Kristian Moliere.

Polly Staniford, Sarah Shaw, Tania Chambers, Kristian Moliere, Liz Watts and Vincent Sheehan are among a delegation of 13 film and television producers who will travel to Los Angeles to meet with more than 30 development companies and streaming services next month.

The mission is led by Ausfilm as part of its annual Partner with Australia producer connection program. The goal is to provide strategic opportunities for Australian producers with commercially viable feature and TV projects that hold international appeal.

The initiative also supports Ausfilm’s corporate membership of screen services businesses by connecting these companies to Us film and television executives and Australian producers. The program runs from April 14-17.

Supported by Create Nsw, Film Victoria, Screen Queensland, the...

(L-r): Nadine Garner, Sophie Wright, Nick Russell, Stephen Curry and Paul Denny in ‘Mr Black’.

Cjz MD Nick Murray and CEO Matt Campbell are grappling with three major issues facing the screen industry as the company ramps up its production and development slates.

They identify the challenges as the rising cost of drama budgets; a shortage of top-class writers given the talent drain to the Us and UK; and finding original concepts for factual and factual entertainment shows.

Murray questions why drama is more expensive to produce than comedy, observing: “I don’t know that the additional money that goes into drama is necessarily visible on screen to the audience.

“The costs of drama are going up and we need to be making it cheaper. There are work practices which make it impossible to make drama at the price it should be made at. We should be employing people differently or with more flexibility,...

Caitlin Yeo and Apra Amcos CEO Dean Ormston.

Caitlin Yeo and Matteo Zingales each won two awards at the annual annual Screen Music Awards staged by Apra Amcos and the Australian Guild of Screen Composers (Agcs) at the City Recital Hall in Sydney on Monday night.

Yeo won feature film score of the year and best soundtrack album for The Butterfly Tree, Priscilla Cameron’s movie about an ex-burlesque queen (Melissa George) who puts a curse on single dad Al (Ewen Leslie) and his son Fin (Ed Oxenbould).

The president of the Agsc, Yeo previously won feature film score of the year for Kim Mordant’s The Rocket in 2013.

Matteo Zingales was rewarded for his work on Hoodlum Entertainment’s Harrow as best television theme and for his collaboration with Antony Partos on Bunya Productions’ Mystery Road, which was deemed best music for a miniseries or telemovie.

Nerida Tyson-Chew took...

Lucy Lawless, star of Cjz’s ‘My Life Is Murder’.

The newly-rebranded Network 10 on Wednesday night unveiled 13 new Australian shows for 2019 including romantic comedy Five Bedrooms, thriller The Secrets She Keeps and four entertainment series spun-off from shows which screened during Pilot Week.

Created by Michael Lucas and Christine Bartlett and produced by Hoodlum Entertainment, Five Bedrooms will follow five very different people who meet on the singles’ table at a wedding and decide to buy a house together.

Lingo Pictures’ The Secrets She Keeps is a psychological thriller based on the novel by Australian author Michael Robotham, a dark tale of two women from different walks of life who have one thing in common – explosive secrets that could destroy their lives.

Jonathan Gavin and Sarah Walker will script the six-part series. The protagonists are Meg, who has a handsome husband, two gorgeous children and a third bundle of joy on the way,...

Ceremony awards £40,000 post-production to both best film and best director.

Manchester horror event Grimmfest has given out the awards for its 2018 event, with Issa López’s Tigers Are Not Afraid taking four prizes including best feature.

The film is a dark fairy tale about a gang of five children trying to survive the horrific violence of the cartels and the ghosts created every day by a drug war.

As well as best feature, it also picked up best screenplay for writer-director López, best actor for Juan Ramón López and the audience award, voted for by Grimmfest attendees.

It also received...

Signature Entertainment boards dark comedy.

Australian production, sales and distribution outfit Odin’s Eye has closed a UK deal at Tiff for its dark, dramatic comedy Brothers’ Nest with Signature Entertainment.

The deal comes in advance of the film’s UK premiere at Grimmfest, Manchester’s festival of horror, cult and fantastic film, which celebrates its 10th anniversary edition in early October.

Brothers’ Nest, which had its world premiere at this year’s SXSW, has also sold to Middle East (Phonencia) and China (Times Vision) with other territories under negotiation. It’s the second film directed by Clayton Jacobson, who...

Manchester-based genre film festival Grimmfest have announced the first 3 of many UK premieres lined up for this year’s 10th anniversary edition; along with details of some very special awards prizes on offer for films in the official selection. The full festival programme is due to be unleashed on Monday 3rd September 2018, but here’s an early sneak preview of 3 of this year’s titles…

First up Grimmfest will have the UK premiere of the much-anticipated Nightmare Cinema, a weird, wild and most welcome throwback to the classic EC-comics-inspired horror anthologies of the 1970s, from genre giants Alejandro Brugués, Joe Dante, Mick Garris, Ryûhei Kitamura and David Slade. Fresh from its world premiere at Fantasia International Film Festival, the film stars Mickey Rourke, Elizabeth Reaser, Richard Chamberlain and Annabeth Gish.

Director Rob Grant will be making a welcome return to the festival with the UK Premiere of Canadian shocker Alive.

A pair of hapless brothers plot to ensure their inheritance stays in the family in Brothers' Nest, the latest film from director Clayton Jacobson. Jeff (Clayton Jacobson) and Terry (Shane Jacobson) are middle-aged brothers who have come up with a plan to ensure that their family home doesn't go to their stepfather when their cancer ridden mother kicks the bucket. They are going to kill him. Unfortunately for them, they have to survive each other first in this black as pitch comedic thriller that was one of my favorite films at this year's festival. The brothers couldn't be more different in their demeanor. Jeff the elder is a meticulous sort who has planned out the murder to the minute to ensure that no evidence remains...

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

Eleven years after Kenny, Shane and Clayton Jacobson team up again for another comedy classic – this one stranger, darker and ickier

The last time brothers Shane and Clayton Jacobson partnered on a feature film, the result was a bona fide Australian classic: the 2006 toilet cleaner mockumentary Kenny. Starring Shane and directed by Clayton, it premiered in a small town in Victoria called Poowong (the pun was definitely intended) and became a surprise smash hit down under, even spawning a short-lived television spin-off.

Eleven years later, the Jacobson siblings return with Brothers’ Nest, both starring in the lead roles, and with Clayton once again directing. This is also a comedy, albeit of a much darker kind. It is a stunningly depraved piece of work, infused with itchy psychological energy and structured in the way of a wordy, nowhere-to-run chamber piece.

Twelve years after their breakout mockumentary hit “Kenny,” which followed a big-hearted plumber described as “the Dalai-Lama of Waste Management” as he touched the lives of many, brothers Shane and Clayton Jacobson are back with a very different kind of vehicle that nevertheless continues to showcase their distinctive, blue-collar sibling interplay. Though brimming with pitch-black comedy, “Brothers’ Nest” actually plays like more of an absurdist tragedy as it pits good brother against good-brother-gone-bad in a cautionary tale of longing and desperation that packs a surprisingly affecting punch.

In chilliest rural Victoria, mastermind Jeff and his nervous little brother Terry (Shane Jacobson) arrive early at the house in which they were raised. Ominously, they have to break in, and as they prepare for some kind of intricate crime, it is soon revealed that their plan involves murder most foul.

The target of the mission is their stepfather Rodger (Kim Gyngell), whom...

Brothers’ Nest follows two siblings played by real-life brothers Clayton and Shane Jacobson.

Clayton Jacobson’s dark comedy Brothers’ Nest has been acquired by Australian sales outfit Odin’s Eye Entertainment (Oee) and La-based Guardian Entertainment International (Gei), who have teamed up to manage worldwide sales.

Brothers’ Nest follows two siblings — played by real-life brothers Clayton and Shane Jacobson — who return to their childhood home intending to murder their stepfather.

The film had its world premiere at this year’s SXSW and is slated for a theatrical release in Australia and New Zealand in late Q2 through executive producer Tait Brady’s Label Distribution.

The awkwardly titled Brothers' Nest sees director Clayton Jacobson follow up his sweetly comic debut feature, 2006's Kenny, with an Aussie spin on the kind of bloody farce we expect from Ben Wheatley or the Coens. Jacobson stars alongside his brother and Kenny leading man Shane, working off a script from Jaime Browne (The Mule, which premiered at SXSW in 2014) that's set almost entirely on one secluded country property, and the filmmaker manages to sustain a short-film premise — two brothers stake out a house in the middle of nowhere, with murder on their minds — for a mostly...

Although it was first planned as mini-series, SundanceTV and the BBC renewed the Top of the Lake TV show for a second season, and production kicked off back in January of 2016. Can SundanceTV's "three night event" woo back the American audience after a four year hiatus? Will Top of the Lake be cancelled or renewed for season three? Stay tuned. A mystery crime drama, the Top of the Lake TV series stars Elizabeth Moss as Detective Robin Griffin. In "China Girl" -- the second season -- the SundanceTV cast also includes Kip Chapman, Jacqueline Joe, Ewen Leslie, Clayton Jacobson, Nicole Kidman, Gwendoline Christie, Alice Englert, David Dencik, Anjee Douangphoumy, Elaine Crombie, Merlynn Tong, Lincoln Vickery, Byron Coll, Ling Cooper Tang, and Ben Wood. Top of the Lake: "Little China Girl,” is set in Sydney Australia, four years after...

Network: SundanceTV. Episodes: Ongoing (hour). Seasons: Ongoing. TV show dates: March 18, 2013 — present. Series status: Has not been cancelled. Performers include: Elizabeth Moss, David Wenham, Peter Mullan, Thomas M. Wright, Skye Wansey, Geneviève Lemon, Robyn Malcolm, Kip Chapman, Jacqueline Joe, Ewen Leslie, Clayton Jacobson, Nicole Kidman, Gwendoline Christie, Alice Englert, David Dencik, Anjee Douangphoumy, Elaine Crombie, Merlynn Tong, Lincoln Vickery, and Byron Coll. TV show description: A mystery crime drama, the Top of the Lake TV series stars Elizabeth Moss as Detective Robin Griffin. The first season centers on the investigation into the disappearance of a pregnant 12 year old New Zealand girl named Tui Mitcham (Joe). Due to dark events in her own past, Griffin identifies with...

Craig Carter..

One of Australia.s most respected sound designers, Craig Carter, has died in Melbourne.

The multiple AFI award winner had a heart attack last Friday, aged 60. The sound designer, editor, and recordist worked on more than 100 productions in a career spanning 34 years..

He was working with producer Tait Brady on Clayton Jacobson.s film Sibling Rivalry, now three weeks into production..

Brady, who first collaborated with Carter on Craig Monahan.s Healing, told If: .It.s incredibly sad. .Craig was such a great guy, gentle, thoughtful, so good natured and generous. A perfectionist who always went the extra mile and a very smart, sensitive sound designer who was also a musician and had a great musical ear, which fed into his work..

One of his last projects, PACmen, Luke Walker.s documentary on the inside workings of the controversial Political Action Committees which raise millions to support Us political candidates and causes,...

Shane Jacobson in 'Kenny', written and directed by brother Clayton. The two will join forces again on 'Sibling Rivalry'.

The brothers behind Kenny,.Shane and Clayton Jacobson, are set to reunite for a new film, black comedy Sibling Rivalry..

The feature is one of four film projects and seven television dramas supported by Screen Australia in its latest $8.8 million funding round..

The pair will co-star in the film, which revolves around two brothers who, with their mother at death.s door, go to extreme lengths to protect their inheritance.

Clayton will direct the film and produce along with Jason Byrne (Sucker, How to Talk Australians). The script has been penned by Jamie Browne (The Mule, Secret Daughter, Please Like Me), with Tait Brady (The BBQ, Little Acorns, Healing) and Julia Adams (Mako Mermaids,The Day My Butt Went Psycho) executive producing..

Among the other projects funded...

Debuting today (March 17) on Vimeo on Demand, Play It Safe is the the debut feature from Melbourne filmmaker Chris Pahlow..

The indie features Nicholas Kato (Gallipoli, The Fear), Clayton Jacobson (Kenny, Animal Kingdom), Maya Aleksandra (Neighbours, Winners and Losers, Wilfred), and is the story of Jamie (Kato), a 26-year-old musician who is out of work and down on his luck..

According to the logline: "After his band breaks up, Jamie.s left with no music, no career and no girlfriend. Stuck teaching piano at a soul-destroying music school, Jamie must decide whether to take a risk and follow his dreams, or surrender to his unhappiness and play it safe"..

Pahlow cites Andrew Bujalski.s pioneering mumblecore feature, 2005's Mutual Appreciation, as a watershed moment.

.I left the screening irrevocably changed. I got outside and asked my friend why nobody had made a film like it in Melbourne, where characters just...

The first streaming service dedicated exclusively to Australian films will launch in the first half of 2016. Ozflix will aim to offer 250-400 titles initially, with producers receiving 50 per cent of each pay-per-view transaction. The long-term goal is to make available every Australian film from the 1900s to latest releases. That timetable will depend on how long it takes to convert hundreds of films to digital. The company directors are veteran distributor/producer and AFI-Aacta chair Alan Finney and producer/director Ron V. Brown. Brown tells If he first had the idea for an all-Australian streaming service five years ago. He pitched the concept to Foxtel and got a tepid response. Earlier this year he floated the proposal with Finney, who said, .We have to do this and do this now.. They put their plan to distributors at the Australian International Movie Convention, which was warmly received. The site will...

Tropfest 2014 will screen on Sbs 2 on Sunday December 7 and will be streamed worldwide by Sbs Online. Tropfest aficionado Adam Spencer and The Feed and Movie Mayhem.s Marc Fennell return as the hosts joined by The Feed's. reporter Jeannette Francis. .Mirror. is this year's Tropfest signature item. Sbs 2 will showcase the 16 finalist films as well as exclusive interviews with celebrity and industry judges and filmmakers..

Sbs Online will live stream the broadcast at sbs.com.au/tropfest, making Tropfest available everywhere in the world. Since its creation by John Polson at. a café in Darlinghurst 22 years ago, Tropfest has evolved to become a feature on the national event calendar.

Each year it attracts huge crowds in Sydney as well as hosting live screenings in Melbourne, Canberra, Perth, Brisbane, Hobart, Adelaide and Surfers Paradise.

More than 600 aspiring filmmakers have entered their short films for Tropfest 2014 and the 16 finalists will be announced next week.

Justine Clarke will play the female lead in A Month of Sundays, director Matt Saville.s follow-up to Felony.

Anthony Lapaglia will star as Frank Mollard, a real estate agent whose life takes an unexpected turn when he receives a call from his dead mother, sending him on a journey of redemption.

Clarke, whose film credits include Healing and the upcoming Maya the Bee Movie, will play Frank.s estranged wife. Saville wrote the screenplay, inspired by his family.s experiences. Screen Australia is co-funding the project, the first narrative feature from Madman Productions.

The producers are Nick Batzias and Kirsty Stark. Voltage Pictures is handling international sales. Stark and Batzias collaborated on the webseries Wastelander Panda commissioned by ABC iview.

Kenny.s Clayton Jacobson is attached to direct Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, a film adapted from the popular novels and diaries of former oil rigger...

Now shooting in Melbourne and country Victoria, the comedy Oddball is breaking all the rules which say you should never work with children, animals, birds and on or near water.

.You name the risk, we.re taking it,. Wtfn.s Richard Keddie, who is producing with Steve Kearney and Sheila Hanahan Taylor, tells If.

Based on a true story, the film stars Shane Jacobson as Swampy Marsh, an eccentric chicken farmer who, helped by his granddaughter, trains his mischievous dog Oddball to protect a wild penguin sanctuary from fox attacks.

Saran Snook plays Swampy.s daughter Emily, a single mother, with Coco Gillies as her daughter and Alan Tudyk as an American tourism consultant who is hired to help the town get back on its feet.

Richard Davies is a local conservationist, Deborah Mailman is the mayor, Frank Woodley is a dogcatcher and Meeko, a maremma, is Oddball.

Animal trainer...

Shane Jacobson, Saran Snook, Alan Tudyk, Deborah Mailman and a dog named Meeko head the cast of Oddball, a comedy which starts shooting in Melbourne and country Victoria on Monday.

Based on a true story, the film features Jacobson as Swampy Marsh, an eccentric chicken farmer who, helped by his granddaughter, trains his mischievous dog Oddball to protect a wild penguin sanctuary from fox attacks.

In the process he reunites his family and saves their seaside town.

The director is Stuart McDonald (Summer Heights High, Super Fun Night), replacing the originally announced Clayton Jacobson who left the project a couple of week ago.

The cast includes Sarah Snook (These Final Hours, Not Suitable For Children), Alan Tudyk (I, Robot, Serenity, Frozen, Knocked Up), Coco Gillies (Maya the Bee Movie), Richard Davies (Offspring, Howzat! Kerry Packer.s War), Deborah Mailman (The Sapphires, Bran Nue Dae, Offspring), Frank Woodley (Kath & Kimderella, The...

Anton Corbijn’s Life also set to get direct government investment from Screen Australia.

Many Australian filmgoers were today thrilled to hear that director Clayton Jacobson and his brother, the actor Shane Jacobson, the two brains behind the good-natured local box office hit Kenny [pictured], are finally going to be making a followup.

The family movie Oddball is one of two features to get direct government investment from Screen Australia, it was announced today. In the other, the official co-production Life, starring Robert Pattinson of Twilight fame, Australia and Germany are minority partners alongside Canada.

“Oddball has the perfect mix to really carry across to an international audience,” Clayton Jacobson told Screendaily. “It is your classic four quadrant film. Both Shane and I were invited on board for the ride… We are thrilled to be able to work together again. It’s not every day someone pays you to hang out with family.”

Kenny was made...

Director Rachel Ward.s The Seduction and a debut film from Anthony Maras titled The Water Diviner are among the most advanced of the films in development at Hopscotch Features.

The Seduction, set in Paris, is about a French woman coming to terms with her life at the same time as the son she left in Australia years earlier arrives unannounced. It is adapted from The Tin Man by Ward and the novel.s author Sarah Walker.

Andrew Knight and Andrew Anastasios have written the script of The Water Diviner about a man who returns to Gallipoli to seek reconciliation three years after the famous World War I battle. Anthony Maras directed the celebrated short film The Palace, which premiered at Telluride.

Australian directors Gregor Jordan, Stephan Elliott, Clayton Jacobson, Robert Luketic and Ray Lawrence are attached to some of the other dozen or so features in development and two...

Costume drama Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries premieres tonight on the ABC1, 8:30pm.

The series is based on Australian author Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher detective novels and stars Essie Davies as Miss Fisher.

The show is produced by Every Cloud Productions’ Deborah Cox and Fiona Eagger with episodes directed by David Ceasar, Kate Dennis, Emma Freeman, Clayton Jacobson, and Daina Reid.

Screen Australia has just announced almost $500,000 in funding to support the development of 18 feature films - a mix of exciting new projects from of our finest filmmakers, as well as a slew of promising new voices.   Filmmakers to receive support for feature development include Oscar-winning producer Emile Sherman (The King's Speech) working with writers Jamie Browne, Kris Mrksa and director Clayton Jacobson (Kenny) to develop the crime feature The Docks.

Screen Australia has announced a new round of funding for 18 filmmaking teams to develop feature projects including teams led by producer Emile Sherman (The King’s Speech), director Kriv Stenders (Red Dog) and director Gillian Armstrong.

The funding totals $500,000.

Sherman is working with Clayton Jacobsen (Kenny) to develop crime film The Docks with writers Jamie Browne and Kris Mrksa.

Auteur director and cancer sufferer Paul Cox is working with executive producer Shaun Miller and producer Maggie Miles to develop his own memoir Tales from the Cancer Ward into drama script Force of Destiny.

Screen Australia also continues its investment in producer Marian Macgowan’s The Great, with writer Tony McNamara and director Gillian Armstrong on the adaptation of McNamara’s play of the same name.

Red Dog director Kriv Stenders works with his Lucky Country writer Andy Cox to develop their comic romance script F*****! A Romance.

Screen Australia has...

Us actor Willem Dafoe, currently shooting The Hunter in Tasmania, will be one of the presenters at the Samsung Mobile AFI Awards this Saturday in Melbourne.

Other presenters include Catherine McClements, Sigrid Thornton, Asher Keddie, Vince Colosimo, Nick Giannopoulous, Stephen Curry, Julia Zemiro, Josh Lawson, Joel Edgerton, Alan Jones, Caitlin Stasey, Yvonne Strahovski, Alex Dimitriades, Fred Schepisi, Shaun Micallef, Adam Zwar, Poppy Lee Friary, Claudia Karvan, Lincoln Lewis and Nash Edgerton.

Both the Industry Awards (Dec 10) and the Awards Ceremony (Dec 11) will be hosted by Shane Jacobson. The broadcast on the Nine Network will include coverage of the red carpet arrivals, hosted by Giaan Rooney.

Celebrity guests include Ben Mendelsohn, Justine Clarke, Sacha Horler, Aaron Pederson, Deborah Mailman, Aden Young, Clayton Jacobson, The Hon. Simon Crean, Giaan Rooney, Damien Walshe-Howling, James Frecheville, Harrison Gilbertson, Morgana Davies, Laura Wheelwright, Cheree Cassidy, Ashleigh Cummings, Deniz Akdeniz, Phoebe Tonkin, Chris Pang, Nathan Phillips,...

Universal Pictures International has signed a two-year first-look deal with Hopscotch Features, aiming to develop and produce “one or two” Australian projects with international appeal.

“This partnership is a fantastic outcome for Hopscotch Features as it gives us international expertise and muscle to make more larger scale local features. It is also a great result for the Australian industry in general as it shows real studio commitment to our cinema landscape and specifically the local talent that makes it happen,” said Hopscotch’s Troy Lum.

Mike Baard, managing director of Upi Australia, said the company had been looking for the right partner since the new Universal theatrical business was set up in 2006, ” a partner with whom to develop locally produced content for both Australian and international audiences. I am delighted that Universal and Hopscotch can combine our expertise to fulfill this ambition.”

Universal has similar arrangements in Germany (Ufa) and...

David Michod has won the Australian Directors Guild Award for Best Direction – Feature Film for Animal Kingdom – and shared the Best Stand Alone Documentary with Jennifer Peedom for Solo.

This is a summary of our live Twitter coverage of the event, which took place on Thursday night in Sydney:

Minister for the Arts Virginia Judge gives opening speech, talking about the state’s well known and publicised screen plans… such as AFI awards coming to Sydney, $25m extra funding, etc. Best Direction Tvc: Tim Bullock, Nothing Soft Gets In (Toyota). Best Original Online Program: Clayton Jacobson, Mordy Koots. Best Cross-Platform Interactive Project: Marcus Gillezeau, Storm. That’s a new category this year. Best Music Clip: Craig Melville, The Bedroom Philosopher – Northcote. So hungover. That was the title, not a statement! Highly Commended to the only other music clip nominee, The Glue Society, The Bumblebeez – Misfit. Best Student Film: Ariel Kleiman,...

With the release of Dslr cameras that can shoot in full HD, the screen industry stumbled unwittingly upon a new age of cinematography and many are following. Micah Chua found that producing good quality picture doesn’t need to be as expensive as it once was.

When Canon released the 5D Mark II with full HD video capabilities in late 2008 for photojournalists to accompany their stills with moving images, nobody had really predicted what would follow. It wasn’t the first camera to possess this capability – that honour goes to Nikon – but certainly it was the one that started a revolution.

“It’s exploded into a videographer subculture”, said Sony’s product specialist in digital imaging, Sean Ellwood.

But subculture may be an understatement. A wide variety of screen industry practitioners and filmmakers ranging from low budget independents through to top end international studio networks have caught on to the...

The Australian Directors Guild has published its list of nominees for this year’s awards, with Jeremy Sims, Rachel Perkins, David Michod, Claire McCarthy and Robert Connolly competing in the feature film category.

Television nominees include Tony Tilse for Underbelly: The Golden Mile, Peter Andrikidis for East West 101 and Amanda Brotchie for Lowdown; there are also nominations for environmental efforts and online projects.The wiinners will be announced on September 23 at Star City, Sydney.

This is the full list of nominees:

Feature Film

Beneath Hill 60 Jeremy Sims Bran Nue Dae Rachel Perkins Animal Kingdom David Michôd The Waiting City Claire McCarthy Balibo Robert Connolly

Television Mini series

East West 101: Atonement Peter Andrikidis The Circuit II: Sorry Business Steve Jodrell The Circuit II: Of Mice and Men James Bogle

Documentary Feature

Indonesia Calling: Joris Ivens in Australia John Hughes Three Boys Dreaming Michael Cordell The Burning Season...

It’s been four years since Encore published its Top 20 Directors and Producers list, and we felt it was time to compile a new, more comprehensive list that included professionals working across all areas – film, television and Tvc production – as well as the leaders and decision-makers that determine the direction of the industry.

Instead of having a limited list of panellists, we consulted with the main agencies and organisations, and also asked our readers to nominate their candidates. We ended up with a list of more than 200 screen industry professionals, and deciding the final 50 was indeed a difficult task. Of course, some other very influential and successful people didn’t make the final cut, but there were only 50 spots and too many talented men and women!

We hope you’ll enjoy – or not, and if so, debate it passionately – the selection of what will become our annual Power 50 list.

1. Christopher Mapp...

The nominees for the 2010 Streamys were announced today. The Streamys celebrate online television programming and this year they have a fantastic line up of nominees. Last year was the Streamys debut year and the winners included high profile shows such as Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and the exceptional Battlestar Galactica web series The Face of the Enemy.

This year there is even more competition with some really interesting content now being released on the web rather than through more traditional media routes. Two of my favourites from this year’s nominee list are the excellent Interview Project which is presented by davidlynch.com and the slightly flawed but thoroughly enjoyable Angel of Death, created by Ed Brubaker and starring Zoe Bell, which also received a DVD release last year.

The awards ceremony takes place on April 11th 2010 and the full list of nominees is listed below with handy links...

Title: Kenny (2008) Starring: Shane Jacobson, Hayley Preusker, Glenn Preusker Produced by Thunderbox Films Written by Clayton Jacobson and Shane Jacobson Directed by Clayton Jacobson Score: Technical: 80, Story: 100, Acting: 100, Overall: 94 Kenny is a feature length adaptation of a popular 2005 Australian short film. This mockumentary follows Kenny Smyth played by Shane Jacobson , an unappreciated but very likable character, who’s job is to deliver and maintain porta-toilets to the biggest festivals and to the smallest church socials. In the absence of his boss, Kenny finds himself in Nashville Tennessee, where he represents his employer “Splashdown” at the International Pumper and Cleaner Expo (or “Poo HQ” as Kenny calls it). A fish out of water, Kenny still manages to find himself a [...]...

SYDNEY -- Two of Australia's biggest boxoffice hits in 2006, Happy Feet and Kenny, form the centerpiece of the new Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft anti-piracy campaign unveiled Tuesday at the Australian International Movie Convention.

The day also saw a keynote from MPA chief Dan Glickman, who used his address to reiterate the trade group's focus on piracy and engaging consumers better with technology.

The big-ticket campaign launched by Happy Feet producer George Miller and Kenny writer-director Clayton Jacobson targets the 23% of the Australian population that is estimated to have taken part in movie piracy in 2005, with the majority of those making or watching illegal copies of films.

The consumer education campaign features burning movie posters of Happy Feet, Kenny and local 2005 hit Wolf Creek with the tagline "What are you really burning?" It is designed to "change Australian attitudes and behaviours to piracy," AFACT executive director Adrienne Pecotic said.

The campaign will run in cinemas, on DVD, in home video rental and retail stores and in the print media for at least 12 months.

According to AFACT, more than 47 million illegal DVDs were distributed in Australia in 2005, almost equal in number to the 52 million legitimate DVDs sold that year. Another 11 million films were estimated to have been illegally downloaded.

• It is award season in Australia again and the time for the small number of people in the Australian film industry to come together and pat each other on the back for a mostly mediocre job well done. The most prestigious of the three major award ceremonies that occur over the next month is the L’Oreal Paris Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards. It is the ceremony that attracts big names and they like people to know that. Russell Crowe hosted last year. Who cares if he isn’t actually Australian? This year this ceremony has snagged Australian actor Geoffrey Rush to host, a step up from last year. Pleasingly there are a few nominated films that warrant the caliber of the host. Suburban Mayhem, Kenny and Ten Canoes stand out from the rest for varying reasons and look to be the big winners of the night. Suburban Mayhem

...