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Great Australian Road Trips rolls out Thursday, July 31, 2025, at 7:30 Pm on Sbs, with a line-up built to travel. The six-part factual series sends four familiar faces across some of Australia’s most iconic and challenging routes. Claudia Karvan teams up with Steph Tisdell, while Melissa Leong pairs with Nazeem Hussain. Together, they crisscross […]

Claudia Karvan, Melissa Leong Lead Sbs’s Star-Packed Road Trip Series...

The Toronto Film Festival kicked off September 5 with a multi-move opening night that included David Gordon Green’s family comedy Nutcrackers starring Ben Stiller. It kicked off a slate of world premieres and buzzy movies across 11 days for the 49th edition of one of North America’s biggest film festivals.

Other key titles making their debuts in Toronto included The Luckiest Man in America starring Paul Walter Hauser, the Amy Adams-starring Nightbitch, theater guru Marianne Elliott’s The Salt Path, DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot and Mike Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck, which won the coveted People’s Choice Award.

Documentaries that made a splash included Elton John: Never Too Late and Paul Anka: His Way.

Click below to read Deadline’s reviews from the ground in Toronto, where the festival wrappred September 15.

The Assessment ‘The Assessment’

Section: Special Presentations

Director: Fleur Fortune

Cast: Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Olsen,...

The Deb had the honor of being the closing film at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, and Rebel Wilson's directorial debut left quite an impression. The Australian star, whose film is based on the stage play by Hannah Reilly, leans into her comic roots by bringing to the festival a cheeky, outrageous musical about two teens who come together to participate in a small town's annual debutante ball. The Deb's timing feels fortuitous; it feels like a natural companion to the Mean Girls musical released earlier this year.

The Deb

Director Rebel WilsonWriters Hannah Reilly, Meg Washington, Rebel WilsonCast Ben Turland, Susan Prior, Sheree da Costa, Ioane Saula, Naomi Sequeira, Steph Tisdell, Tara Morice, Shane Jacobson, Hal Cumpston, Rebel WilsonCharacter(s) Razzie, Dimity, Damo, Shell, Lucinda, Janette, Tish, Mitch, Rick, DancerRuntime 121 MinutesGenres Comedy, Musical The Rebel Wilson Musical Comedy Is Entertaining

The film follows queen bee Maeve (Charlotte MacInnes...

Exclusive: Stan is saying goodbye to the Chalmers-Davis family.

The Australian streamer has put a fifth and final season of Bump into production, with filming underway in Sydney. The comedy-drama is Stan’s longest-running local scripted series, with the first season having launched back in January 2021.

The show is centered around ambitious teenage girl Oly, who unexpectedly has a baby, and the complications that follow for the Davis and Chalmers families.

The final season will hint at the future for the lead characters, jumping between past and present, as they face the cancer diagnosis of Oly’s mother Angie (Claudia Karvan) and try to celebrate the joy of Oly’s second pregnancy. Stan is providing the audience with a chance to be an extra by providing 30-second videos explaining what they’d like to see happen in the final episodes.

Nathalie Morris (We Were Dangerous), who plays Oly, will return...

Fisk, created by Kitty Flanagan and Vincent Sheehan, is an Australian comedy show that aired on ABC Television in 2021. This is a six-episode-long situational comedy about a law firm based in Melbourne that deals with wills and probates. The first episode of the show was released in March 2020 and the last in April of the same year. This is a small show, but it delivers what everyone expects from it.

Fisk Season 1 begins with Helen Tudor-Fisk, played by the impeccable Kitty Flanagan, and her life taking a sudden turn ever since her divorce. Her husband left her for another woman, and Helen’s life at forty-seven has come to a standstill. She does not intend to remain sad forever, which is why she moved to Melbourne from Sydney to start over with her family around her. She has a father who has come out as gay and an aunt who...

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Love Is in the Air.

Love Is in the Air showcases the breathtaking beauty of remote Australian islands, highlighting their naturalistic wonders and quaint seaside towns. Filmed mainly in Queensland, the movie features fictional locations like Fullerton but real places like Whitsunday Airport and Airlie Beach. The stunning Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island is featured in the film, known for its pristine white sand and captivating scenery.

Netflix’s Love Is in the Air features breathtaking views of quaint seaside towns and unspoiled naturalistic beauties, raising questions about the existence of the places mentioned in the Australian rom-com, as well as their filming locations. Debuting in the Top 10 most-watched movies on Netflix in many countries, including the U.S., Love Is in the Air follows chief pilot Dana (Delta Goodrem) as she deals with William (Joshua Sasse), Itcm Financial’s advisor from the UK. William ventures...

Three years into its local production effort in Australia and New Zealand, Netflix has greenlighted two new series, one feature film and one full-length documentary from Australia.

These are in addition to previously announced renewals of teen series “Heartbreak High” and “Surviving Summer” and the go-ahead for prestige book-to-series adaptation “Boy Swallows Universe” and kids animation “Eddie’s Lil Homies.”

Set in the Australian Outback, epic succession tale “Desert King” revolves around billionaire miners, traditional owners, cowboys and desert gangsters fighting over the world’s biggest cattle station the size of Wales. It’s a hot, dusty, sexy Outback Western with guns and helicopters.

It is directed by Greg McLean and created by Tim Lee and Ben Davies, with production by Paul Ranford. The series is a co-production between Easy Tiger and Ronde.

“We’re thrilled to have assembled an incredible creative team, on and off screen, to do justice to the rarely-seen world,...

Netflix has announced four new productions as it ramps up its Australia originals slate, including movie Love Is In The Air, starring Delta Goodrem as a seaplane pilot falling for the man sent to sink her business.

Shot with 8K Vista Vision in Queensland’s picturesque Whitsundays islands, the film is directed by Adrian Powers and co-produced with Jaggi Entertainment. Joshua Sasse, Steph Tisdell and Roy Billing also star in the film, which will premiere on Netflix on September 28.

The new slate also includes two series – Desert King (working title), billed as an ‘Outback Western’ and co-produced with Easy Tiger and Ronde, and crime mystery The Survivors, co-produced with Tony Ayres Productions.

Created by Tim Lee and Ben Davies, Desert King is an epic succession story revolving around billionaire miners, traditional landowners, cowboys and desert gangsters fighting over a cattle station the size of Wales. Greg McLean is directing with...

Australian actors Deborah Mailman and Rachel Griffiths have begun production on the final six-episode season of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s award-winning female-led political drama series “Total Control.”

With screenplays by Stuart Page, Julia Moriarty, Pip Karmel and Meyne Wyatt, season three picks up almost two years after the explosive events of the second season.

Outsider turned kingmaker, Alex Irving (Mailman), is completely at home in the nation’s capital. While Rachel Anderson (Griffiths), now an occasional ally, is threatening to upend the entire system by establishing her own political party. However, as Alex attempts to carve out a nation changing legacy, a controversy engineered by her enemies threatens to destroy her career and public reputation. In the final season, Alex must make a choice: either she can stay true to her principles and accept defeat, or she can get her hands dirty and fight back.

Directed by Wayne Blair and Jub Clerc,...

Special effects maestro Brian Cox and producer and costume designer Catherine Martin were both honoured at the Australian Production Design Guild Awards on Sunday.

Cox, whose 40-year career has included credits such as The Matrix and Moulin Rouge, was awarded the Canal Road Artisan Lifetime Achievement Award, while Martin -Australia’s most prolific Academy Award winner – was recognised with the Cameron Creswell Outstanding Contribution to Design Award.

The awards, which celebrated their 10th anniversary, also marked the end of an era as Apdg president and founder George Liddle announced he was stepping down after more than a decade at the helm.

Speaking at the virtual event, he said the future looked positive for the guild.

“Technological advances change the way we work, but they are mere tools,” he said.

“The creative design mind remains. That means design practitioners will remain an essential part of all successful productions in the live performance,...

“Oh, she’s always challenging me.”

Deborah Mailman is reflecting on playing Senator Alex Irving, her in character Total Control – the most complex role she believes she’s had in a more than 20 year career.

The Blackfella Films political drama is set to return for a second season tonight on the ABC, and for Mailman, the emotional stakes this time around are higher again.

In the Aacta Award-winning first season, Irving engineered a coup to dethrone Prime Minister Rachel Anderson (Rachel Griffiths), who appointed her to the Senate.

Now, she must face the reality of the alliance she’s made with the Opposition Leader Laurie Martin (William McInnes), taking orders from him and his offsider, enigmatic Indigenous politician Paul Murphy (Wayne Blair).

“In season two, the writers took Alex pretty much to breaking point,” Mailman tells If.

“The emotional energy that was required for some of those moments was exhausting.

For the first time in quite a while, last weekend saw major new releases enter the Australian theatrical market, in the form of Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel and Aussie James Wan’s horror Malignant.

Yet neither could catch Marvel film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

While last weekend was technically the Disney title’s eighth in release, for Sydneysiders just emerging from lockdown, it is only the second weekend the film has been available.

Pent-up demand saw it collect $1.2 million, just a 20 per cent dip, moving to just shy of $13 million.

According to Numero, the top 20 titles mustered $3.3 million, up 7 per cent on the previous.

This coming weekend should see the market return to some semblance of normal for the first time since June, with cinemas in Melbourne and Canberra able to reopen from Friday.

However, most exhibitors don’t expect the box office to...

Like many who live in Melbourne, Mitchell Hope is using the lockdown to broaden his skill set.

The young actor, known for his roles in Disney’s Descendents franchise and Let it Snow, has felt the full force of the city’s battle with the virus, having returned to his hometown in February of last year following seven years of dividing his time between Australia and the US.

However, instead of baking banana bread or cultivating a green thumb, he told If he had spent the time indoors furthering his knowledge of filmmaking.

“The pandemic has been terrible, but I’ve started doing something I’ve always wanted to do, which is to write my own work and produce my own films.”

Prior to Covid-19, Hope was in southern Sydney to shoot Eric C. Nash’s Love You Like That, which will become the first new local release since theatres...

The second season of Total Control will launch on the ABC November 7.

In the first season, political newcomer Alex Irving (Deborah Mailman) engineered a coup against Rachel Anderson (Rachel Griffiths), the Prime Minister who appointed her to the Senate.

In season two, both Alex and Rachel find themselves treading different political paths. After being dumped by her own party, Rachel relies on strategist Nick Pearce (Alex Dimitriades) to guide her political ambitions, while Alex finds herself surrounded by a new team, led by her brother Charlie (Rob Collins). But politics can be a nasty business. Will Alex’s determination and the tenacity of her grass-roots driven team be enough? Can she survive a system determined to shake everything she values? And can these political adversaries become political allies?

Reprising their roles in the Blackfella Films series are Rob Collins, Wes Patten, Anthony Hayes, William McInnes, Huw Higginson and Lisa Flanagan,...

Deborah Mailman and Rachel Griffiths will be joined on screen by a host of new faces for the second season of the ABC/Blackfella Films’ Total Control, including Wayne Blair, who will also direct all six episodes.

Steph Tisdell stars in her first dramatic role, alongside other new cast members such as Alex Dimitriades, Colin Friels, Harry Greenwood, Rob Carlton, Daniella Farinacci, Brenna Harding, Benedict Hardie, and Anita Hegh.

Returning are Rob Collins, Anthony Hayes, William McInnes, Huw Higginson, Wes Patten, Lisa Flanagan and Harry Richardson.

Filming is currently underway, with production to take place across Sydney; Canberra, including at Parliament House, and Broken Hill.

The first season of the multiple Aacta Award-winning drama saw political newcomer Alex Irving (Mailman) engineer a coup against Rachel Anderson (Griffiths), the Prime Minister who appointed her to the Senate.

Season two sees Alex running as an independent. She’ll be ready for the...

Andy Canny scooped Best Editing in a Feature Drama for The Invisible Man at the 2020 Ellie Awards yesterday, backing up his recent Aacta win.

Geoff Lamb took home Best Editing in Drama for The Commons, and Deborah Peart Best Editing in Comedy for Upright.

The annual awards, presented by Australian Screen Editors (Ase), were held online this year due to Covid, hosted by comedian Steph Tisdell.

In addition to the celebrations, the event also saw Ase president Fiona Strain announce after five years at the helm that she will be handing the reins to vice-president Danielle Boesenberg from February.

“She has been a calm, intelligent presence in the executive committee and will bring thoughtfulness and a commitment to diversity as we serve a very wide a range of members from students through assistants and others who have been in the industry over 40 years,” Strain told If.

In her speech at the event,...

If audiences enjoy waking up to Nitv’s Big Mob Brekky – Australia’s first ever Indigenous breakfast show – this week as part of Naidoc Week, Sbs director of Indigenous content Tanya Denning-Orman doesn’t rule out it becoming a permanent fixture in the future.

Hosted by Shahni Wellington and Ryan Liddle, the show premiered yesterday, broadcasting live from Sydney’s Taronga Zoo, and will run everyday until Friday.

“It’s an on-air pilot; that’s what we do at the channel,” Denning-Orman tells If.

“If Australians are wanting that different perspective, waking up to something different in the morning, with a bit of our cheekiness as a blackfellas – anything’s possible as part of Sbs.”

The decision to run the show stems from a desire to do something different after a year of heavy news content, as well as the current conversation around diversity in media.

“It epitomises why the...

Steph Tisdell and Gabriel Willie, who will team up for ‘Long Black’.

Screen Australia and Google Australia have announced over $900,000 of production funding for YouTube creators Beau Miles, Bush Tucker Bunjie, Fishing the Wild, Jenny J Zhou, Never Too Small and Tibees, as the recipients of this year’s Skip Ahead initiative.

Now in its sixth year, the program supports the creators of YouTube channels with a substantial subscription base or viewership to expand their vision and create more ambitious content.

The teams will participate in online workshops this month to develop their projects, which include three scripted dramas and three documentaries.

Previous recipients of Skip Ahead funding include Aunty Donna, Superwog, Skit Box and Chloe Morello. The Van Vuuren Bros’ comedy series Over and Out, funded through Skip Ahead in 2017, went on to win Best Short Form Series at Canneseries in 2019. This year marks the highest number of Skip ahead recipients with six teams.

Wil Anderson.

Stan has commissioned Guesswork Television to produce the Australian Lockdown Comedy Festival, a series which will see local comedians perform material from their planned 2020 shows – from their homes.

Signed on are Wil Anderson, Cal Wilson, Nazeem Hussain, Dave Hughes, Zoe Coombs Marr, Tommy Little, Geraldine Hickey, Dilruk Jayasinha, Steph Tisdell, Aaron Chen, Sam Campbell, Michelle Brasier and Nath Valvo, with more to be announced soon.

The series has been announced as a direct result of the cancellation of many of Australia’s comedy festivals and tours as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, including the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Sydney Comedy Festival.

Filming will take into consideration all current health measures – including comedians setting up and operating their own cameras, with a director on hand via video conferencing.

Stan’s chief content officer Nick Forward said: “The brand-new Stan Original Australian Lockdown Comedy Festival will bring together some of our brightest talent,...

‘Ding Dong I’m Gay’.

Screen Australia has announced five online projects that will share in $500,000 funding, including an animated satire about the ghost of Captain Cook; a science fiction drama; and a romantic comedy told from the perspective of someone on the Autism spectrum.

Screen Australia’s online investment manager Lee Naimo said: “In this slate we focused on supporting teams who have established online careers off their own bat. Whether that be creators who published a proof of concept, needed funds to complete their project or are making the leap from documentary into drama.”

“We encourage online creators to not wait for permission to tell their story. It doesn’t matter about production values, length or style, it’s just important to be proactive and start to publish content. As you hone your voice and your skills, you’ll develop a pool of content that you can use...