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Exclusive: Passion Pictures has hired Pixar veteran David Park as Head of Production for Long Form Animation.

Park previously served as production manager on Coco and Monsters University, animation department manager on Toy Story 3, animation co-ordinator on Wall-e and art co-ordinator on Ratatouille. He most recently worked at UK animation firm Locksmith as associate producer on their upcoming feature Ron’s Gone Wrong.

Park joins Passion as the firm looks to expand its animation output, following Netflix series Love Death & Robots, Headspace, and Disney’s 101 Dalmatian Street. With Head of CG Jason Nicholas, he will oversee R&d into new technology for Passion’s in-house film and TV pipeline.

Park said: “Im thrilled to join such a talented collective. Helping the Passion team further expand their very unique and eclectic voices into even more long form stories is going to be a lot of fun.”

Andrew Ruhemann, founder of Passion Pictures,...

Pursekey Productions director and principal producer Michaela Perske is the Australian International Documentary Conference (Aidc) Stanley Hawes Award recipient for 2021.

Perske’s recognition was announced today alongside the 20 nominees for the inaugural Aidc awards.

Designed to recognise the “outstanding completed works of new Australian documentary and factual content”, the awards will be presented in person across eight cities, as well as livestreamed to Aidc delegates.

Originally trained as a journalist, Perske has over 20 years of media experience across radio, print and TV.

Since turning her hand to factual content, she has produced films including Girls Can’t Surf, Black Divaz, After the Apology, and Destination Arnold.

In announcing the award, the Aidc said it wanted to acknowledge “her outstanding contribution to the Australian documentary and factual sector”.

Australian practitioners had the opportunity to submit across six categories for the Aidc Awards: Best Feature Documentary, with a $5,000 cash prize presented by Doc...

Shannon Murphy’s Babyteeth, Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man and Daniel Gordon’s Adam Goodes documentary The Australian Dream may all end up in contention at this year’s BAFTA Awards.

The British Academy announced the longlist for its annual film awards on Friday, ahead of the nominations to be announced on March 9.

Babyteeth has been longlisted in the direction, adapted screenplay and casting categories, which means potential nods for Murphy, writer Rita Kalnejais and casting director Kirsty McGregor respectively.

Starring Eliza Scanlen, Toby Wallace, Ben Mendelsohn and Essie Davis, Babyteeth was Murphy’s debut feature, with Kalnejais adapting her 2012 Belvoir St stageplay for the screen. Dubbed a “bittersweet comedy”, the film produced by Alex White and EP’d by Jan Chapman premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2019, going on to win acclaim and a slew of awards, including nine AACTAs.

Australian Kitty Green, who helmed #MeToo drama The Assistant,...

“Saint Maud,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Nomadland,” “The Trial of the Chicago 7” and “Ammonite” are among the leading films on the British Academy of Film and Television Arts’ (BAFTA) longlist for annual British Film Awards that were announced Thursday.

The publication of the longlists follows the BAFTA 2020 Review, where over 120 wide-ranging changes were introduced across voting, membership and campaigning to address a lack of diversity in the 2020 Film Awards nominations. As part of these changes, a new longlisting initial round was introduced for the awards, resulting in three rounds of voting. Round one voting, which took place from Jan. 12-26, produced the longlists in all categories.

The directing category sees the BAFTA make an effort towards gender parity. To determine this longlist, in Round One, the directing chapter voted and the top eight female and top eight male directed films were automatically longlisted. The remaining two female and two...

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has unveiled “longlists” that narrow the field in 24 categories at the Ee British Academy Film Awards. The longlists were part of an overhaul of BAFTA voting procedures instituted in September to increase the diversity of nominations. Longlists existed in BAFTA voting prior to 2012 but were eliminated that year.

Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7” led all films by being longlisted in 15 different categories, buoyed by four different cast members in the Best Supporting Actor category. It was followed by David Fincher’s “Mank” with 14, Emerald Fennell’s “Promising Young Woman” with 13 and Paul Greengrass’ “News of the World” with 12.

Other films that hit double digits included “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “The Mauritanian” and “Saint Maud,” which were each shortlisted in 11 categories.

The lists cast a wide net, with Best Film semifinalists including everything from “Da 5 Bloods,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom...

BAFTA has published the longlists for its 2021 Film Awards, which members will now whittle down to the final nominations. You can see the lists in full below, there are 15 per category for most awards, with exceptions.

These aren’t nominations, so drawing too many conclusions from them is premature at this stage. However, if a title didn’t make the cut here, it won’t be getting a nom.

A few takeaways: as per the Globes, Minari is in for foreign-language movie but not for Best Film (Another Round made both); Tenet missed both Best Film and British Film but did make Director and below-the-line categories; Spike Lee isn’t on the Director list, but Da 5 Bloods is on nine including Best Film and Screenplay; Malcolm & Marie missed everything aside from the two lead performances; zilch for On The Rocks, and fairly slim pickings for Apple in total,...

Exclusive: David Moulton has joined Oscar-winning factual production firm Passion Pictures as Creative Director.

Moulton joins from Minnow Films where he served as Director of Development. Working with SVODs on commissions like Netflix’s Bad Boy Billionaires, he also oversaw a slate of premium series and feature documentaries for HBO, Amazon and Sky Documentaries.

Prior to Minnow, Moulton worked on projects such as the BAFTA-winning The Murder Detectives and BBC1’s BAFTA and Emmy-nominated Ebola Frontline.

At Passion, Moulton will be tasked with diversifying Passion’s feature output into TV and streaming doc series.

Also joining the company at the same time will be Chris Williams, a recent graduate of the Mama Youth project, a program aimed at tackling the lack of people from under-represented groups in the media.

Feature documentaries from Passion in 2019 include The Australian Dream, Circus Of Books, Sid & Judy, Citizen K, Mystify and Andy Murray: Resurfacing.

Netflix Korean-language “Crash Landing on You” was named as the best drama series at the third running of the Asian Academy Creative Awards. Malaysia-Singapore co-production “The Garden of Evening Mists” was named as the best feature film.

Singapore actors features prominently among the performance winners. Yeo Yann Yann was named best lead actress for her role in HBO’s “Invisible Stories,” while Lina Ng was named best supporting actress for “Last Madame.”

The awards ceremony was staged over two nights within a high-tech 3D virtual environment. That made it one of the most ambitious prize shows of this coronavirus-hit year. Aaca’s red carpet merged 6 remote studios and a multitude of feeds to allow celebrities from all over the region to strut their stuff as if for real.

The event is a part of the Singapore Media Festival, which also includes the Singapore Film Festival and the Asian Media Forum.

Justin Kurzel has assembled a high-profile cast to shoot “Nitram,” a feature film about a mass murder. He has also reteamed with writer Shawn Grant, who previously delivered the screenplay for Kurzel’s incendiary feature debut, 2011’s “The Snowtown Murders.”

The picture is now shooting and will play in theaters and screen as an original show for local streamer Stan in 2021. Overseas rights sales are being handled by Wild Bunch International.

The cast features Caleb Landry Jones, Judy Davis (“The Dressmaker”), Essie Davis (“True History of the Kelly Gang”) and Anthony Lapaglia (“Lantana”).

Stan describes “Nitram” as “a scripted feature film that looks at the events leading up to one of the darkest chapters in Australian history in an attempt to understand why and how this atrocity occurred.” But it avoids identifying the specific factual basis of the picture.

Australian media, however, have revealed that the film depicts the build...

Update: This story is being updated this week as the new longlists are unveiled. Today (November 20) the Best Documentary longlist has been published, see below.

Previously, November 17: Organizers of the British Independent Film Awards have confirmed their upcoming ceremony will delay from its traditional end-of-year dates to February, 2021, moving in line with this year’s major awards shows.

This week, the BIFAs will unveil its various longlists of awards, which will be whittled down to its final nominations, to be revealed on December 9.

Today, the New Talent awards longlists have been unveiled, featuring a total of 46 directors, writers and producers. Each of the below will participate in BIFA’s Springboard scheme, a tailored program of professional development and peer to peer support.

Best Documentary

The Art Of Political Murder Paul Taylor, Teddy Leifer, Regina K. Scully

The Australian Dream Daniel Gordon, Stan Grant, Sarah Thomson, Nick Batzias, Virginia Whitwell,...

‘The Reason I Jump’, ‘White Riot’ also make the list.

Films about Irish singer Shane MacGowan and natural historian David Attenborough are among the 13 titles on the best documentary longlist for the 2020 British Independent Film Awards.

The longlist is the final of four to be announced this week, following lists for new talent, most promising newcomer and international film.

Julien Temple’s Crock Of Gold: A Few Rounds With Shane MacGowan is a look at the celebrated Irish punk musician and singer, combining archive and family footage with animation. It debuted at San Sebastián in September; Altitude has the rights for the UK and Ireland,...

New Delhi, Oct 31 (Ians) Cricket Australia was left surprised after the Australia men's team coach Justin Langer mentioned the name of Adam Goodes, a former Australian rules football player, to the media as one of the people the cricket board and team management may consult over possible ways of denouncing racism through on-field messages during India's tour of Australia.

Langer had also mentioned the name of journalist Stan Grant, who had written and partially narrated "The Australian Dream", a film that explores the racism Goodes suffered during his playing days.

A report in the Sydney Morning Herald claimed, "CA is empathetic the pair became the subject of headlines. It said it had intended to address them privately and did not want unnecessary stress and burden placed on them. CA insiders were also surprised Langer publicly referred to Goodes and Grant."

Australian broadcaster Tracey Holmes, who is Grant's wife, also criticised...

Stan Grant.

As a proud Wiradjuri, Kamilaroi and Dharawal man, Stan Grant learned from the earliest age about the exploits of Pemulwuy, Australia’s first Indigenous resistance fighter who led a 12-year war against British Colonial oppression.

So the former broadcaster, author and writer of The Australian Dream was delighted when Phillip Noyce, who has wanted to tell Pemulwuy’s story for more than 50 years, asked him to serve as a co-executive producer on the biopic.

Catriona McKenzie is attached to direct the drama scripted by Jon Bell.

Andrew Dillon and Ian Sutherland will produce Pemulwuy for That’s-a-Wrap Productions with Noyce, Mathew Walker and James Robinson serving as executive producers alongside Grant.

A member of the Bidjigal clan, Pemulwuy led the opposition to British forces’ attempts to take over traditional hunting grounds from the early years of the colony until he was shot dead in 1802.

Bennelong, who helped establish a...

David Anderson.

Over the next five years the ABC aims to become more culturally diverse in its staff and programming, more local and to make its services more personalised.

ABC MD David Anderson made that commitment today in a speech to the National Press Club as he also emphasized the ways in which the broadcaster is providing practical support to help Australians during the pandemic.

Referring to the fragmentation in the media landscape, he observed: “The big global streaming platforms are looking to grow stronger, while smaller players aim to snatch slices of the market.

“The danger is that our Australian stories get lost in the mix, or don’t get told at all, and that our sense of shared national identity is thereby diminished.

“Meanwhile across the world there are more extreme voices, and more cries of ‘fake’ news. There has been a worrying decline in public confidence in democratic institutions,...

Exclusive: Soccer ace Wayne Rooney, England’s all-time leading goal scorer, is to be the subject of an official documentary biopic from Maradona producer-financier Lorton Entertainment.

Production is underway on the film about the life and career of the former Manchester United, Everton and DC United star, who currently plays for Derby County.

Directed by BAFTA-winner Matt Smith (Rio Ferdinand: Being Mum and Dad), the access doc will feature personal archive footage and interviews with talking heads from across the world of football and beyond.

Rooney burst onto the scene after making his professional debut for Everton aged 16. In a glittering career, not without its bumps along the way, the forward went on to become Manchester United and England’s record goalscorer. The film will track Rooney’s path to the present day and ask what next for the Liverpudlian superstar.

Rooney said: “I’m excited to be the subject of this documentary.

To mark the release of The Australian Dream, out now, we’ve been given an iTunes Voucher for the documentary to give away to 1 winner.

The Australian Dream is a documentary that uses the remarkable and inspirational story of indigenous Afl legend Adam Goodes as the prism through which to tell a deeper and more powerful story about race, identity and belonging.

Please note: This competition is open to UK residents only

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Small Print

Open to UK residents only The competition will close 25th June 2020 at 23.59 GMT The winner will be picked at random from entries received No cash alternative is available Please note prizes may be delayed due to Covid-19 To coincide with Gdpr regulations, competition entry information will not be stored once the competition has ended and the winners have been chosen and prizes sent out.

The usual T&Cs can be found here.

We were going to begin this article by highlighting the unfortunate relevance of Daniel Gordon’s latest documentary The Australian Dream – which takes a harsh and barbed look at the aforementioned nation’s problem with race, through the eyes of Afl legend Adam Goodes, who was subject to vile abuse from the terraces. But then there’s never not been a time when this tale hasn’t been pertinent, which is why it’s a film – and dialogue – that needs to be seen, and discussed.

We had the pleasure of doing just that, with the film’s subject himself, Adam Goodes, as well as with the director Dan Gordon. You can watch fascinating and moving interviews with both, in their entirety below. We should add, these interviews were conducted prior to the murder of George Floyd.

Watch the interviews here:

Synopsis

Afl legend Adam Goodes shares the story of his...

Noah Media Group has acquired international sales rights to Lorton Entertainment’s “Make Us Dream,” the story of soccer star Steven Gerrard, produced by Oscar-winner James Gay-Rees, and “Bleed Out,” HBO’s critically acclaimed documentary investigating medical malpractice in the U.S., produced by Oscar-winner Dan Cogan (“Icarus”).

“Make Us Dream” tells the story of Liverpool and England legend Steven Gerrard, exploring success, failure and Gerrard’s identity as a player who stayed with one club throughout his career. The film is available globally on Amazon Prime, and Noah will be selling free TV rights (excluding U.K.) around the world.

HBO documentary “Bleed Out” follows comedian and filmmaker Steve Burrows’ investigation into the deep flaws within America’s healthcare system and highlights ways the problems could be fixed. “Bleed Out” marks the first non-sport documentary to be represented by Noah.

Noah, the producer of acclaimed sports documentaries like “Bobby Robson: More Than a Manager...

The 69th edition of the festival was due to run in August.

The 69th Melbourne International Film Festival has been cancelled due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Australia’s biggest film festival was due to run August 6-23 but both the public-facing event and industry platforms 37º South Market and Accelerator Lab have now been pushed to August 2021. Exact dates have yet to be announced.

It marks the first time since the festival began in 1952 that Miff will not take place.

“The thought of a winter without Miff in our city is a disorienting one; deeply disappointing to both our organisation and,...

It is the company’s first third-party sales project.

UK-based documentary company Noah Media Group has acquired international rights to Daniel Gordon’s sports feature The Australian Dream, about the indigenous Australian Football League player Adam Goodes. The film explores race, identity and belonging in contemporary Australian society

The deal excludes Australia, Canada, the UK and airlines. The film was released in Australia by Madman Entertainment in August 2019. Dogwoof took UK rights to the title in October, with the BBC acquiring exclusive UK television rights. Mongrel has Canadian rights.

Written by Stan Grant, The American Dream is an Australian-uk co-production...

Noah Media Group, a specialist in feature-length sports documentaries, has acquired international sales rights to feature documentary “The Australian Dream,” about the Australian Football League star Adam Goodes. The deal excludes rights to Australia, Canada, the U.K. and airlines.

Noah will sell the film through its international sales and distribution arm Noah X. This marks the first time that a third-party project will be sold by the company, and reinforces its commitment to showcasing acclaimed sports documentaries.

Directed by BAFTA award-winning filmmaker Daniel Gordon (“Hillsborough”), written by Walkley award-winning journalist Stan Grant, and produced by Oscar- and BAFTA-winner John Battsek (“Searching for Sugar Man”), “The Australian Dream” tells Goodes’ story through his journey during the 2013-15 Afl season, while also exploring race, identity and belonging in Australian society today.

The critically acclaimed film received a theatrical release in Australia last year and won the Aacta for best documentary. It...

‘In My Blood It Runs.’

Maya Newell’s feature documentary In My Blood It Runs has been winning hearts and minds since the world premiere in competition at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival last year.

The biopic of 10-year-old Dujuan Hoosan, a child healer and hunter in the Northern Territory who was struggling at school and facing increasing scrutiny from welfare and the police, is resonating with both festival and commercial audiences.

Developed via GoodPitch Australia, the film grossed an impressive $127,000 from the Sydney, Melbourne, Darwin, Brisbane, CinefestOZ and Screenwave film festivals and, earlier this month, the Perth Festival.

Co-distributed by Jonathan Page’s Bonsai Films and the filmmakers, the doc launched on six screens in the capital cities last Thursday, sold out multiple Q&a sessions and rang up $55,000.

It was among the top titles at Cinema Nova, where CEO Kristian Connelly observes: “In My Blood It Runs surpassed all expectations,...

"All anyone ever wants is to be respected for who you are." Dogwoof has debuted an official UK trailer for an acclaimed, empowering documentary titled The Australian Dream, which originally premiered at the Melbourne Film Festival last year. It tells the story of an Australian Football League player named Adam Goodes, who is an aboriginal native. Most of us outside of Australia don't know his story, but despite being of the best players this sports has ever seen, he was ousted and made to look like a bad guy after he started calling out racism in Australia. This doc covers the entire story, from start to finish, and examines how the truth got twisted, how the media went after him, and how racist many people in Australia still are. It's one of the best documentaries I saw last year (at Idfa) and it moved me to tears. You can read my full review here.

Afca Awards host Adam Ross.

Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale dominated the Australian Film Critics Association’s annual awards, winning all eight prizes for local narrative features, while The Australian Dream was named best documentary.

The 1825 revenge drama produced by Kristina Ceyton, Bruna Papandrea, Steve Hutensky and Kent was voted best film, shading fellow nominees Buoyancy, Hotel Mumbai, Judy and Punch and The King.

King took the director and screenplay awards and Aisling Franciosi was named best actress, mirroring the film’s success at the Aacta Awards.

The other accolades went to Baykali Ganambarr (best actor), Sam Claflin (supporting actor), Magnolia Maymuru (supporting actress) and Radek Ladczuk (cinematography).

The win for Daniel Gordon’s The Australian Dream, produced by Good Thing Productions’ Nick Batzias and Virginia Whitwell and Passion Pictures’ John Battsek, followed its Aacta award.

In the international categories Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman was judged best English language film,...

‘I Met a Girl.’

Screen Australia is taking a slightly tougher position in evaluating feature film projects this year, while the agency is seeing a spike in feature documentary and high-end TV drama pitches.

There has been a slight drop in feature film funding applications, which could imply that fewer theatrical features will be funded, with some money diverted to docs, TV drama and online projects.

“We are still incredibly supportive of and committed to film but we are seeing some applications that are not strong enough,” Screen Australia head of content Sally Caplan tells If.

“The scripts may be good but the pathway to audiences and the financing may not necessarily have been thought through. We are being a bit tougher.”

According to Caplan the intention is to fund the development of fewer feature projects, an approach that is a “bit stricter” than previously.

The agency is getting a...

Writer Jackie van Beek and director Armagan Ballantyne, who will collaborate on ‘Nude Tuesday’.

Two feature films, one from Robert Connolly and the other a Kiwi-Aussie co-pro penned by The Breaker Upperers’ Jackie van Beek; a ABC TV comedy from Closer Productions; and two online projects are the latest recipients of $3.5 million worth of production funding from Screen Australia.

Connolly, writer/director of box office hit Paper Planes, will return to Western Australia to shoot a feature film adaptation of Tim Winton’s acclaimed novel Blueback, while Nz’s Firefly Productions will join forces with Good Thing Productions to create absurdist dramedy feature Nude Tuesday, directed by Armagan Ballantyne. Erik Thomson teams up with Adelaide’s Closer Productions to produce Yes, Chef! for the ABC, following a notorious celebrity chef who is forced to flee to his hometown in the Adelaide Hills.

Screen Australia head of content Sally Caplan said:...

Exclusive: Oscar-winning producer John Battsek (One Day In September) is exiting Passion Pictures after a stellar 20-year run to launch La and London-based company Ventureland with Kerstin Emhoff, Ali Brown, and director Paul Hunter of U.S. production and commercials firm Prettybird.

Ventureland will produce a range of content across the documentary and scripted spaces but will also work in branded content, technology, music and original IP.

Battsek and Emhoff have previously teamed up to produce Emmy-winning projects Manhunt: The Inside Story Of The Hunt For Bin Laden and The Tillman Story, as well as The Final Year, Sergio and Legion Of Brothers. The duo have worked together on-and-off for more than a decade and the majority of Passion’s U.S. productions have been based out of Prettybird’s La facilities.

Battsek co-founded Passion Pictures Films in 1999 with Andrew Ruhemann and won the company’s first Oscar with One Day In September,...

Turns out, “The Australian Dream” is more similar to the American Dream than we might realize — and the obstacles to achieving it are all too familiar as well. In both countries, idealistic conversations about opportunity and equality quickly butt up against the realities of racism. And yet, for many, as soon as the R-word comes out, the conversation shuts down, which is why examining the situation on foreign soil — through the upsetting case of Aussie rules football star Adam Goodes in Daniel Gordon’s smart, solutions-oriented essay film — serves as such a great learning tool for audiences on the other side of the globe.

Australian rules football may be the field on which this particular story unfolds, but this is no straightforward sports doc. Gordon uses blockbuster tools — pairing bold visuals with the kind of thundering sound design that makes your joints rattle — to turn this well-organized sociology lesson into a more visceral cinematic experience.

“Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom” — the story about a young displaced teacher who travels to Bhutan and is taught his own life lessons from the happy and kind locals (including a yak) — won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at The Palm Springs International Film Festival (Psiff), it was announced Sunday.

“Gay Chorus Deep South” — a documentary following the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus as the group embarks upon a high-risk tour of the Deep South to spread a message of tolerance — won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature.

“Parasite” screenwriters Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won won the Fipresci Prize for International Screenplay for their tale about two Korean families — one wealthy and one poor — whose live intersect in the most unexpected way.

Among the acting awards, Bartosz Bielenia from “Corpus Christi” and Helena Zengel from “System Crasher” took top honors.

Also Read: Palm Springs: Renée Zellweger,...

Updated with Audience Award winners: The 31st annual Palm Springs Film Festival has named the Bhutan drama Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom the winner of its Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature, and Gay Chorus Deep South its Audience Award for Best Documentary.

The news Sunday comes after the fest yesterday revealed its juried award winners at a luncheon at the Hilton Palm Springs. There, Russian pic Beanpole took the Fipresci prize, while Bong Joon-Ho’s Oscar favorite Parasite copped the Fipresci Screenplay prize.

Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, from director Pawo Choyning Dorji, was filmed on location at more than 16,000 feet in one of the most remote villages in Bhutan. The pic centers on a young displaced teacher who is taught his own life lessons from the happy and kind locals.

David Charles Rodrigues’ U.S. docu Gay Chorus Deep South follows the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus...

The Palm Springs International Film Festival, which began just after the New Year and wraps January 13, screened 188 films; 51 of them were submitted for the Best International Feature Film Academy Award. The Palm Springs Film Festival prize winners announced Saturday over brunch at the Hilton included a handful of these films. See the full list of winners below. Audience awards will be announced on Sunday.

Fipresci Prize for Best International Feature Film: “Beanpole” (Russia), Director Kantemir Balagov.

Fipresci Prize for Best Actor in a International Feature Film: Bartosz Bielenia from “Corpus Christi” (Poland).

Fipresci Prize for the Best Actress in a International Feature Film: Helena Zengel from “System Crasher” (Germany).

Fipresci Prize for International Screenplay: “Parasite” (South Korea), Screenwriters Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin-Won.

Fipresci Prize for International Screenplay Special Mention: “Antigone” (Canada), Screenwrier Sophie Deraspe.

The Fipresci jury members were film critics Pamela Biénzobas, Alferov Gavrylyshyn, and Tina Hassannia.

The Palm Springs Film Festival has announced its juried winners, with “Beanpole” taking the Fipresci prize for films in the international feature film Oscar submissions program. The documentary award went to “Talking About Trees.”

Acting prizes went to Bartosz Bielenia from “Corpus Christi” for actor and Helena Zengel from “System Crasher” for actress. “Parasite” won the screenplay prize from the Fipresci jury of international film critics.

The festival, held from January 2-13, screened 192 films from 81 countries.

The New Voices New Visions award for first and second time filmmakers went to “Song Without a Name,” while “Monos” received the Ibero-American Award for films from Latin America, Spain or Portugal.

Other prizes included the local jury award to “Adam,” the Young Cineastes Award to “Corpus Christi,” and the Bridging the Borders award to “Advocate.”

The audience prizes will be announced Sunday.

A complete list of winners follows:

Fipresci Prize for Best International...

‘Ride Like a Girl.’

The Australian films and feature docs released in cinemas last year, including minor contributions from holdovers, generated more than $40.2 million.

While that trailed the 2018 total of $57.4 million, there are several positives for the screen production industry.

The not-so-good news for the broader screen sector is that the 2019 calendar year B.O. seems certain to fall below $1.2 billion for the first time since 2014.

Ten titles including three feature docs – Damon Gameau’s 2040, Richard Lowenstein’s Mystify: Michael Hutchence and Daniel Gordon’s The Australian Dream – each grossed more than $1 million.

Rachel Griffiths’ Ride Like a Girl was the stand-out, raking in $11.5 million. Arguably, Wayne Blair’s Top End Wedding ($5.2 million), Shawn Seet’s Storm Boy ($5 million) and Rachel Ward’s Palm Beach ($4.4 million) fulfilled their potential and reaped the benefits of wide releases and hefty marketing campaigns – a level of support denied to numerous local films.

‘The Nightingale’.

Last night’s Aacta Awards saw a trifecta for Jennifer Kent, who took home Best Film, Best Direction and Best Screenplay for The Nightingale, with star Aisling Franciosi also winning Best Lead Actress.

Set in 1825, The Nightingale follows a young, female Irish convict (Franciosi) who chases a British officer through the Tasmanian wilderness bent on revenge after he committed an act of violence against her family, and who along the way enlists the help of an Aboriginal tracker. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2018, with Kent the only female director in competition. It won the Special Jury Prize and Baykali Ganambarr the Marcello Mastroiaani Award for his debut performance.

Produced by Causeway Films’ Kristina Ceyton, Made Up Stories’ Bruna Papandrea and Steve Hutensky, and Kent, the period tale beat out The King, Judy & Punch, Hearts and Bones, Ride Like A Girl and Top End Wedding for the Best Film prize.

Natalie Miller.

The Australian films and feature documentaries released in cinemas this year including holdovers collectively have grossed $39.7 million.

So while the calendar year total will fall short of 2018’s $57.4 million, it should be noted Peter Rabbit was the top local title last year, grossing $26.7 million, which alone could explain the year-on-year decline. Sony Pictures is due to launch Peter Rabbit 2 next March, so that is virtually certain to be a big contributor to the 2020 revenues.

As Cinema Nova has supported almost every Australian release, If asked co-executive director Natalie Miller to assess the overall commercial and critical appeal of this year’s Oz slate.

“It’s not bad but it’s not great,” says the veteran exhibitor/distributor, who gives high marks to Ride Like a Girl, Top End Wedding, Storm Boy, Palm Beach and the feature docs 2040, Mystify: Michael Hutchence and The Australian Dream.

Among the...

Chinese drama “So Long, My Son” was nominated in six categories for this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards, an unprecedented haul that makes the Wang Xiaoshuai-directed film a clear favorite.

A drama about separation, secrets, a lifetime of regret, and the consequences of China’s one-child policy, “So Long, My Son” had its premiere in February at the Berlin festival. There it won Silver Bear prizes for both lead actor Wang Jingchun and actress Yong Mei. Both received Apsa nominations, most of which were announced Wednesday.

Those unveiled encompass 11 categories, and cover 37 films from 22 countries and territories.

China emerged as the dominant contender. Seven mainland Chinese films together earned 13 nominations, more than double the six nods for films from Iran and four for pictures from India.

Surprisingly, Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite,” which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and is considered a hot favorite for an Oscar nomination,...

‘Buoyancy’.

Two Australian films – Rodd Rathjen’s debut feature Buoyancy and Daniel Gordon’s feature documentary The Australian Dream – are nominated for Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa).

Some 37 films for 22 countries are nominated for the 13th iteration of the awards, which will be presented in Brisbane in November. Overall, films from China received the most nominations; 13 in total across seven films – the country is represented in all but one category.

Wang Xiaoshuai’s So Long, My Son (Di Jiu Tian Chang) leads the tally with nominations across six categories: actor (Wang Jingchun), actress (Yong Mei), screenplay, cinematography (Kim Hyunseok), directing (Wang Xiaoshuai) and Best Feature Film.

Fellow nominees for Best Feature Film are Pema Tseden’s Balloon; Kantemir Balagov’s Beanpole, Ridham Janve’s The Gold-Laden Sheep and The Sacred Mountain and Bong Joon-ho’s Palme d’Or winning Parasite.

Announced today alongside the nominations was the Asia Pacific Screen Forum,...

‘Ride Like a Girl’.

Rachel Griffiths’ Ride Like a Girl will take the crown of highest grossing Australian film on home soil this year.

Meanwhile the low visibility and modest returns from limited releases including Kim Farrant’s Angel of Mine, Sophie Hyde’s Animals and Rodd Rathjen’s Buoyancy have prompted renewed calls from exhibitors to address the challenges facing most Aussie films in the crowded theatrical market.

Griffiths’ biopic starring Teresa Palmer as ground-breaking jockey Michelle Payne pocketed nearly $4 million in its first eight days, including $317,000 on Thursday.

So the Transmission Films release co-starring Sam Neill as Payne’s father Paddy and her brother Stevie Payne as himself will overtake Palm Beach’s $4.4 million this weekend and will zoom past Top End Wedding’s $5.2 million and Storm Boy’s $5 million.

Exhibitors are confident the film is heading for upwards of $10 million and could reach Ladies in Black’s $12 million.

‘The Australian Dream’.

Australia’s beleaguered documentary sector may see significant shifts in government funding availability if a raft of new proposed recommendations from Screen Australia are ratified.

Screen Australia released potential revisions to its documentary funding program in a discussion paper today and is calling for industry feedback; the last time the programs were reviewed was five years ago.

They include changes made to the existing Development, Producer and Commissioned programs and the creation a new Completion funding pathway for lower-budget documentaries, replacing the Producer Equity Program (Pep).

There are four core reforms proposed:

The funding pool for Development and initiatives would increase by up to $500,000 to $1.3-$1.7 million, to help projects build momentum and early market interest with encouragement for creation of local formats. Three types of development opportunities would be offered: Seed funding, General Development funding and Advanced Development funding. Applications would be open to Producer Program funding five times a year,...

‘Downton Abbey’.

Downton Abbey continues its box office domination, having now taken over $7 million in two weeks and beating out new releases Ad Astra, Good Boys and Rambo: Last Blood.

The Universal title eased by just 30 per cent in its second run, bringing in $2.6 million from 452 screens.

The period drama’s success has also been reflected overseas, enjoying a buoyant North American opening weekend – a record for Focus Features with Us$31 million across 3,079 theatres. Downton also opened in 15 other markets with global box office takings sitting royally at Us$61.8 million.

Cinema Nova Gm Kristian Connelly says Downton Abbey’s outstanding cinema performance across both weekends amplified the importance of content for older audiences.

“The traditionally slow to act senior set, older demographic audience needs ample time to get around to see films like Downton Abbey and The Farewell which is already in release,” he said.

He added that the same...

‘Hearts and Bones’ stars Andrew Luri, Bolude Watson, director Ben Lawrence and star Hugo Weaving.

For director Ben Lawrence, the reaction to his feature debut Hearts and Bones at the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) was both “emotional and overwhelming”.

Lawrence reports the standing ovations at every screening and the outpouring of praise for the cast, particularly for South Sudanese immigrant Andrew Luri in his acting debut, made a huge impact.

Of the film’s Canadian reception, Liane Cunje, Tiff Discovery and International programming associate said: “I’ve run the gamut of audiences reactions here at Tiff for films we programme from around the world, and I’ve never witnessed such an emotional celebration after a screening as the one I saw after Hearts and Bones.”

The film, which made its world premiere in competition at the Sydney Film Festival in June, screened as part of the Tiff Discovery program,...

The story of Afl superstar and Australian of the Year-recipient Adam Goodes should resonate for Americans who’ve been following the crusade of former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. From his minority background, stalwart fight against injustice, and the resulting sports-wide fan backlash—their similarities are endless. The people loved Goodes because he left everything on the field and checked every “gladiator” box as far as playing through debilitating injuries to carry a team on his back towards a championship. They loved him so much that they initially let him have a soapbox to speak-up for the aboriginal community of which he’s a member. This was his incentive to score. Bleed for us first and then champion the unfortunate. But you better not dare place their ills at our feet.

That’s the rub, right? My family is Middle Eastern and yet even they fall prey to the white trappings...

Buyers circling Bad Education, The Platform, The Friend.

Two on-site deals have breathed life into a typically slow start on the acquisitions front at Tiff as Magnolia Pictures picked up North American rights to Tiff Discovery selection Two Of Us, while Bleecker Street acquired the Us for Military Wives.

Two Of Us premiered on Saturday and Magnolia closed the deal on Monday (9). France-based Italian filmmaker Filippo Meneghetti’s feature directorial debut follows two older women played by Barbara Sukowa and Martine Chevallier who live across the hall from each other in the same apartment building but have kept their romance hidden for decades.

‘Bad Education’ starring Hugh Jackman, ’The Friend’ and ’Human Capital’ are generating buzz.

Heading into at the end of the first Tiff weekend with no major on-site deals in the bag, buyers were hopeful Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney in Cory Finley’s school embezzlement comedy drama Bad Education would inject life into a quiet market.

Endeavor Content represents the world and jointly handles the Us with CAA. At time of writing, acquisitions teams were circling Gabriela Coperthwaite’s cancer drama The Friend, which Stx International and Endeavor Content represent, UTA Independent Film Group was fielding interest in Marc Meyers’ hit-and-run drama Human Capital,...

Buyers circling Bad Education, The Platform, The Friend.

Two on-site deals have breathed life into a typically slow start on the acquisitions front at Tiff as Magnolia Pictures picked up North American rights to Discovery selection Two Of Us, while Bleecker Street acquired the Us for Special Presentations entry Military Wives.

Two Of Us premiered on Saturday and Magnolia closed the deal on Monday (9). France-based Italian filmmaker Filippo Meneghetti’s feature directorial debut follows two older women played by Barbara Sukowa and Martine Chevallier who live across the hall from each other in the same apartment building but have kept their romance hidden for decades.

‘It Chapter Two.’ (Photo credit: Warner Bros.)

Warner Bros/New Line’s It Chapter Two and Roadshow’s Chinese-American dramedy The Farewell gave the flagging Australian box office a much needed jolt last weekend while two new Oz releases struggled.

Kim Farrant’s psychological thriller Angel of Mine and Alan Lindsay’s romantic comedy The Naked Wanderer faced the same challenge which has bedeviled most Australian films this year: Opening on limited screens with minimal P&a, which means low visibility in the marketplace. So relying primarily on reviews, publicity and word of mouth is no guarantee to draw audiences.

Starring Noomi Rapace, Yvonne Strahovski, Annika Whiteley, Finn Little, Luke Evans, Richard Roxburgh and Rob Collins, Farrant’s follow-up to Strangerland grossed $26,000 on 42 screens and $43,000 including festival screenings for R&r Films.

As If reported, the movie co-funded by Screen Australia and Film Victoria has been sold by Fortitude International to...

‘The Nightingale.’

While Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale has achieved an 86 per cent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes since the world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, many critics have described the tale of rape, murder and revenge as harrowing and bleak.

So in that context the film’s opening in Australia last weekend via Transmission Films was quite respectable – and some exhibitors expect it will have a leggy run.

Meanwhile Madman Entertainment’s The Australian Dream had a buoyant second weekend, helped by word-of-mouth and the two-for-one ticket offer to Afl members.

Rachel Ward’s Palm Beach advanced to $3.8 million after nabbing $305,000 in its fourth weekend, easing by 31 per cent for Universal Pictures. Kriv Stenders’ Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan dipped by just 16 per cent to $250,000 in its fourth, delivering $2.5 million for Transmission Films.

The Nightingale grossed $98,000 on 32 screens, bringing the total including festival screenings to...

Few contemporary national sports heroes have endured the abusive treatment heaped on Adam Goodes, the Aboriginal Aussie Rules star who landed at the center of an angry social media storm, fueled by conservative media, when he ordered security to remove a 13-year-old girl from the stands after she loudly called him an ape during the Australian Football League's 2013 annual Indigenous Round game. When he was named Australian of the Year 12 months later for his anti-racism advocacy, his forthright views on the need to take responsibility as a nation freshened the controversy, contributing to a sustained booing campaign ...

Colorado’s Telluride Film Festival, part of the late-summer trifecta of such cinematic binges — including those in Venice and Toronto– that officially kick off awards season each year, has revealed its slate of titles. The festival’s 46th year officially starts on Friday Aug. 20 and ends Monday Sept. 2.

Among the the must-see movies is “Marriage Story,” filmmaker Noah Baumbach‘s portrait of a broken marriage and the bitter and twisted process of dissolving such a union. The film already premiered at the Venice International Film Festival to passionate raves for both its writer/director as well as stars Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson.

The much-anticipated high-altitude world premieres include director Rupert Goold‘s “Judy,” with Renee Zellweger (see above) bringing to life Judy Garland in the last few weeks of her life while doing a run of sold-out concerts in London in 1969 — the year of her death from an accidental...

Colorado’s San Juan Mountains will soon be alive with the sights and sounds of movies.

The line-up for the 46th Telluride Film Festival has been announced.

The starry slate includes the world premiere of “Judy,” director Rupert Goold’s biopic about the final months of Judy Garland’s life with Renée Zellweger in the title role. “Maybe because Renée hasn’t done a huge number of things in the past few years, she’s saved up all of her tenderness, all of that vulnerability to bring to this role,” Telluride co-director Julie Huntsinger told Variety.

“Judy” is certainly not the only world premiere during this year’s festivities, which run from Friday, Aug. 30 to Monday, Sept. 2. James Mangold’s real-life car racing drama “Ford v Ferrari” starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale is on the bill. Edward Norton will premiere his directorial debut “Motherless Brooklyn,” with an ensemble including Gugu Mbatha-Raw,...