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Exclusive: Lydia West, Abbie Cornish and Brooke Satchwell are among high-profile acting talent leading Stan’s tenth anniversary slate, we can reveal.

The Australian streamer is today unveiling its latest TV series, films and acquisitions at a splashy showcase event held at Linseed House at the Grounds of Alexandria in Sydney. In total, it unveiled 14 originals — three scripted series, six features and five docs — along with a host of acquisitions.

On the originals front, Stan’s Chief Content Officer Cailah Scobie and Head of Originals Amanda Duthie are announcing the likes of He Had It Coming, Love Divided By Eleven and Whale Shark Jack, and a horror-comedy series, Gnomes.

He Had it Coming stars Lydia West (It’s a Sin), Natasha Liu Bordizzo (Ahsoka: Star Wars) and Liv Hewson (Yellowjackets). It follows Elise (West), an awkward English scholarship student who forms an unlikely alliance with fashion influencer Barbara (Liu Bordizzo) after...

Kathy Bates stars in the new reboot of Matlock on CBS, which has been such a success that it is already returning for a second season.

As Monsters and Critics have reported, the new Matlock show is a bit different from the original with Andy Griffith, and those differences are exciting to see.

Kathy Bates stars as lawyer Madeline Matlock, much like the original Ben Matlock, but her character is shrouded in mystery.

Kathy’s reasons for working in a specific law firm stem from good intentions revealed at the end of Season 1, Episode 1, and explained in the next few episodes.

Just as fans dig in to see what happens next, CBS has pulled Matlock from airing new episodes this week and next.

Fans cannot immediately see the next new episode of Matlock: Belly of the Beast, Season 1, Episode 7, but the wait will only build up anticipation for the following exciting developments.

Meet Lauren. She’s freshly divorced, a mother-of-two, and is looking for sex without commitment.

With the help of her best friend, Alex, Lauren creates the “Spreadsheet” – a database of male options, customised to ensure her sushi train of sex rolls around with variety and order amidst the chaos of her life.

Starring Katherine Parkinson, Robbie Magasiva, Stephen Curry, Katrina Milosevic, Ryan Shelton and Kerry Armstrong, Spreadsheet is set to premiere on Paramount+ October 27.

Created and written by Kala Ellis, Spreadsheet is a Northern Pictures production.

Joining Ellis in the writers room were Romina Accurso, Rhys Nicholson and Darren Ashton, who was also the set-up director with Sian Davies.

Spreadsheet has received major production investment from Screen Australia in association with Film Victoria. ITV Studios is handling international distribution.

The post ‘Spreadsheet’ (Trailer) appeared first on If Magazine.

The second season of Sarah Kendall’s comedy Frayed is currently filming in Sydney for the ABC/Sky Studios UK, with Hamish Michael, Jane Hall and Emma Harvie joining the regular cast.

The next instalment will find Sammy (Kendall) and her kids, having made it out of Australia, living in a tiny London flat while she frantically tries to prove that her lawyer, Rufus (Robert Webb), stole her house. Barely able to make ends meet working in ‘exhaust management’ (she’s a secretary in a muffler repair shop), Sammy is desperate to find a way to reclaim her opulent London life. She must also keep her kids far away from Australia and the truth about what happened to their neighbour.

Meanwhile back down under in Newcastle, an ambitious cop heads up the missing persons case and simply does not believe Sammy’s neighbour would just disappear.

With Jim (Ben Mingay...

Lionsgate has released the long-awaited trailer for The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee. In the meta-comedy, Paul Hogan (Crocodile Dundee) plays a heightened version of himself, along with some of his good friends. Hogan is reluctantly thrust back into the spotlight as he desperately attempts to restore his sullied reputation on the eve of being knighted in the comedy that also stars John Cleese (Monty Python and the Holy Grail), Chevy Chase (Caddy Shack), Olivia Newton-John (Grease), and Jacob Elordi as Hogan's son (Euphoria). The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee is set to premiere on Digital and On Demand December 11th from Lionsgate.

Retired in L.A. and overshadowed by his Crocodile Dundee character, Hogan is offered a knighthood by the Queen of England in The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee. But before he can accept it, Hogan gets caught up in a series of comical scandals that dominate gossip shows and social media feeds.

When a character returns to the place of their childhood after an extended time away, those stories tend to build to epiphany. Faced with what’s been missing from their life, our hero resolves to change their ways and learn from those they once overlooked. To its benefit, “Frayed,” the latest HBO Max summer import, doesn’t really have that moment. Instead, the series (which aired in Australia and the U.K. late last year), finds both comedy and drama in the more gradual idea that returning from a long time away can raise as many questions as it answers.

For “Frayed,” that starts with Sammy Cooper (Sarah Kendall), a London socialite whose life gets flipped when her wealthy husband is found dead. As details of his compromising situation start to surface and his estate is frozen, Sammy (who’s been going by Simone in an attempt to better ingratiate...

FrightFest, the UK horror festival that was forced to move online this year because of pandemic disruption, has unveiled a lineup for its 21st edition (August 27-31) including seven world premieres.

The event opens with the UK premiere of Sky Sharks, which features Nazi zombie-piloted airborne killer sharks.

World premieres include Logan Thomas’s There’s No Such Thing As Vampires, Patrick Rea’s I Am Lisa, Ruben Pla’s The Horror Crowd, G-Hey Kim’s Don’t Click, Toby Watts’ Playhouse, Airell Anthony Hayles and Sam Casserly’s They’re Outside, and Francesco Giannini’s Hall.

Industry-focused events will include a panel hosted by Den Of Geek’s UK editor Rosie Fletcher about how the horror genre has been affected by the pandemic.

All online film screenings will be geo-locked to UK audiences and available through FrightFest’s website.

“We will desperately miss seeing all of you in person...

Tim Franklin as Colby in and Maddy Jevic as Amber in ‘Home and Away.’

After playing a nurse in three seasons of Fremantle/Foxtel’s Wentworth, Maddy Jevic was delighted when she was offered the role of a carer in Home and Away.

The Seven Network soap was among her favourite shows when she grew up in Adelaide. As a huge fan of Jennifer Lawrence and Jodie Foster, Maddy had wanted to be an actress since she was four or five.

Apart from the regular employment in Seven’s serial, another attraction for her was the chance to play a character who is very different from Wentworth’s nurse Lee Radcliffe.

On Thursday Jevic makes her debut as Amber, who helps wheelchair-bound John Palmer (Shane Withington) with his rehabilitation after he suffered a stroke.

Unlike Radcliffe, who hated her job in the prison, Amber is loyal, funny and tough. Viewers...

Stars: Kerry Armstrong, Kathryn Wilder, Gary Sweet, Stephen Hunter, Jordan Waller, Kevin Harrington, Don Bridges, Helen Dallimore, Madekaine Nunn, Anna Tolputt, Danxia Yang, Rob Sheean, David Adlam, Kasha Bajor | Written by Jordan Waller | Directed by Jesse O’Brien

After the death of their adoptive mother, shy butcher Norman and his drama queen twin sister Annabelle leave the UK and adventure to Australia in search of their biological mother, but the local townsfolk of Two Heads Creek are hiding a dark secret… but aren’t they all when it comes to small towns in horror movies?

Australia and New Zealand have a fine tradition of mixing comedy and horror to superb effect. Be it the early work of Peter Jackson such as Bad Taste and Brain Dead, or more recent efforts such as Primal and The Loved Ones, horror from down under always seems to walk a very fine line be laughs and scares,...

Barbara Leane has been remembered by friends and colleagues as a trailblazing talent agent, an astute businesswoman and a mentor to countless actors and young agents.

Leane died on Friday on the Gold Coast after being diagnosed with cancer in January. Her age was a ‘state secret.’

Barbara Leane Management mentored some of the country’s most successful actors including Luke Ford, Wendy Hughes, Max Cullen, Kerry Armstrong, Peter Phelps, Bruce Spence, Anne Looby, Ian Stenlake and Susan Prior.

Phelps was 18 and making his debut on The Restless Years when legendary actor John Ewart asked him about his agent. “What do they do?” Phelps asked, so Ewart urged him to approach Leane, who went on to represent him for 25 years until she retired.

“Barbara was the den mother to every one of her beloved actor cubs,” Phelps tells If. “She chose her client actors on who that person was as...

Exclusive: Shaked Berenson and Jonathan Barkan’s genre distribution label The Horror Collective has acquired the North American distribution rights to the Jesse O’Brien-directed horror-comedy Two Heads Creek. The pic is slated for a summer release.

Written by Jordan Waller, who also stars in the UK-Australian film alongside Kathryn Wilder, Two Heads Creek follows a timid butcher and his drama-queen twin sister as they venture off to Australia in search of their birth mother. While there, they are among seemingly tolerant townsfolk but little do they know, they are hiding a dark, meaty secret.

More from DeadlineShaked Berenson And Jonathan Barkan Launch Genre Distro Label The Horror CollectiveSydney Film Festival Cancelled Over CoronavirusChina Moviegoing Survey Reveals 62% Of People Will Wait For Complete Covid-19 Containment Before Returning To Cinemas

“Making Two Heads Creek was a horror fan’s dream,...

Crocodile Dundee actor Paul Hogan is back in the new poster for his upcoming movie The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee. Rather than stepping back into the boots of his most well-known character, however, Hogan will be playing himself in the new meta-comedy movie. On the poster, Hogan can be seen smiling as he brandishes two inflatable crocodiles, acknowledging his iconic role. "He's back, whether he likes it or not," the movie's tagline reads, teasing the long-awaited return of Hogan to pop culture.

Several other familiar faces will appear in The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee, with a handful of them shown on the poster standing behind Hogan. This includes Chevy Chase (Vacation), John Cleese (Monty Python), Olivia Newton-John (Grease), Shane Jacobson (Australia's Got Talent), and Jacob Elordi (Euphoria). As revealed on the poster, the movie also stars Rachael Carpani, Charlotte Stent, Reginald VelJohnson, Wayne Knight, and Kerry Armstrong. Comedian Jim Jeffries...

Jordan Waller in ‘Two Heads Creek.’

Producers Brett Thornquest, Steven Matusko and Mat Graham have launched Entertainment Advocate, an Australian distribution company with the aim of handling a limited number of Oz, Us and UK titles each year.

The banner’s debut release, Two Heads Creek, a macabre, irreverent horror comedy directed by Jesse O’Brien, opened last weekend after premiering at Monster Fest.

While the weekend gross was a modest $14,000 including festival screenings, Matusko, who is partnered with Thornquest in Eclectik Vision, tells If: “We understand the business and will approach distribution with a producer’s mindset rather than a distributor’s.

“We are not looking to outbid larger distribution companies but we want to work with other Australian producers and also to release select films from the UK and Us.”

Graham was one of the producers on Eclectik Vision’s Infini and The Osiris Child, both directed by Shane Abbess.

‘Frayed.’

Merman Television and Guesswork Television’s comedy Frayed created by and starring Sarah Kendall will premiere on the ABC and iview on Wednesday October 16 at 9.10 pm.

The UK-based Australian comedian plays Simone Cooper, a fabulously wealthy London housewife who in 1988 is forced to return to her Newcastle hometown after her husband has a fatal attack during sex with a prostitute.

Broke, homeless and a social outcast, back home with her children she must revisit her past and the events that led her to flee as a teenager years earlier.

The ensemble cast includes Kerry Armstrong as Simone’s mother, Ben Mingay as her brother Jim, Doris Younane as Jim’s partner Bev, Matt Passmore as Dan, Simone’s high school sweetheart whom she left behind in Newcastle 20 years earlier, Diane Morgan and Robert Webb.

Nicole O’Donohue is the producer and the directors are Jennifer Leacey and Shaun Wilson.

Ben Mingay.

When Ben Mingay awoke at 4 o’clock one morning, he checked his emails and saw he’d been sent the scripts for an ABC TV comedy drama.

The 1989-set series created by UK-based Australian comedian Sarah Kendall is set in Newcastle, which struck a chord with the Novocastrian-born actor/performer.

He started reading, laughing so loud and so often he woke up his wife, and didn’t stop until he had read all five episodes of Frayed he’d been sent.

Ben was asked to audition for the role of Jim, the brother of Kendall’s Sammy, a fabulously wealthy London housewife. Sammy is forced to forced to return to her Newcastle hometown with her two kids after her husband died while having sex with a prostitute.

He nailed the part after doing chemistry reads with Kendall, with whom he had an instant rapport (“we were riffing like...

Sigrid Thornton and John Howard.

Brooke Satchwell, Dan Wyllie, Darren McMullen and Katrina Milosevic have joined the cast of Every Cloud Productions and ITV Studios Australia’s SeaChange, which started production today.

Wayne Blair is the set up director and Lois Randall is producing the Nine Network reboot set 20 years after the ABC series created by Deb Cox and Andrew Knight.

Sigrid Thornton reprises her role as Laura Gibson, who returns to Pearl Bay after the breakup of her marriage and losing her job. Questioning her place in the world she learns that her family and her town need her as much as she needs them.

John Howard returns as the former mayor Bob Jelly with Kerry Armstrong as Heather Jelly, his estranged wife, and Kevin Harrington as local business owner Kev Findlay.

Satchwell is Miranda Gibson, Laura’s daughter. Also new to the cast are Ella Newton, Kate Lister and Alex Tarrant.

(L-r) Kevin Whyte, Lisa Wang and Todd Abbott accepting Spa’s Comedy Television Production of the Year award for ‘Please Like Me’ s2.

The screen industry needs to stop cutting writers’ fees and to do a lot better in providing career paths for writers, according to Guesswork Television MD Kevin Whyte.

Chiming with the concerns of the Australian Writers’ Guild and Cjz executives Nick Murray and Matt Campbell, Whyte tells If: “Working out how we can make Australia an attractive and lucrative place to be a television writer, which means we put stories and ideas first and foremost, is critically important.

“The struggling artist cliché is wearing a bit thin. The industry should focus on creating career paths, not just so people stay but to entice people in into the industry.

“I am not saying there is an easy solution but as our budgets come under more and more pressure...

Peep Show and Back star Robert Webb and Motherland’s Diane Morgan have joined the cast of Sky and ABC Australia comedy Frayed.

The pair will star alongside Sarah Kendall, Hacksaw Ridge’s Ben Mingay, The Glades’ Matt Passmore and Razzle Dazzle’s Kerry Armstrong in the six-part comedy, which is produced by Guesswork Television, the production company behind Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette, and Sharon Horgan’s Merman.

The series sees Kendall, who also appeared in Motherland, as a well-off London housewife who suddenly finds herself back in the Australian town that she grew up in, facing the flawed family she left behind. Set in 1988, Kendall plays Simone Burbeck, whose life appears perfect with a mansion in London with her perfect husband and children. However, it’s all lies. When her husband has a fatal heart attack in a disastrous session with a prostitute, the true state of their finances is revealed.

'2.22'..

Director Paul Currie.s 2.22, a romantic thriller starring Teresa Palmer, Game of Thrones. Michiel Huisman and Sam Reid, launches in Italy, the Middle East and a bunch of Asian markets on Thursday, followed by the Us on Friday.

Italy will be the widest release as distributor Notorious Pictures has booked 600 screens for the saga of Huisman.s Dylan, an air traffic controller in New York who nearly causes a fatal mid- air collision at the stroke of 2:22.

In the Us the film will get a limited theatrical release combined with premium VOD via Magnolia Pictures. The UK and France are the only major territories as yet unsold.

After arranging test screenings in Los Angeles Currie, who co-wrote the screenplay with American Todd Stein, told If, .We know the film plays well with date audiences. It is a commercial romantic thriller with a recurring theme of love through time.

George Miller.

Geoffrey Rush, Rose Byrne and George Miller will be among those presenting at the 6th Aacta Awards in Sydney next Wednesday evening..

Mel Gibson, whose.Hacksaw Ridge.is up for 13 awards, including Best Film and Best Direction, will also be attending the ceremony. He'll be joined by fellow nominees Danielle Cormack, Pamela Rabe, Matt Nable, Samuel Johnson, Kerry Armstrong, Donna Hay and Shaynna Blaze.

Other presenters include Joel Jackson, 800 Words. Melina Vidler and Erik Thomson, and Home and Away.s Bonnie Sveen and Georgie Parker..

Play School presenter Justine Clarke, Natalie Bassingthwaite and Bindi Irwin will also attend.

The ceremony will be broadcast on Seven at 8.30pm, December 7.

Tickets are available here..

George Miller.

Geoffrey Rush, Rose Byrne and George Miller will be among those presenting at the 6th Aacta Awards in Sydney next Wednesday evening..

Mel Gibson, whose.Hacksaw Ridge.is up for 13 awards, including Best Film and Best Direction, will also be attending the ceremony. He'll be joined by fellow nominees Danielle Cormack, Pamela Rabe, Matt Nable, Samuel Johnson, Kerry Armstrong, Donna Hay and Shaynna Blaze.

Other presenters include Joel Jackson, 800 Words. Melina Vidler and Erik Thomson, and Home and Away.s Bonnie Sveen and Georgie Parker..

Play School presenter Justine Clarke, Natalie Bassingthwaite and Bindi Irwin will also attend.

The ceremony will be broadcast on Seven at 8.30pm, December 7.

Tickets are available here..

Jessica Marais in The Wrong Girl.

Network Ten has announced its new Aussie drama, The Wrong Girl, based on the book by Zoë Foster Blake, will premiere on September 28.

The show follows the life of 29-year old breakfast television producer Lily Woodward, played by Jessica Marais (Love Child, Packed to the Rafters)..

.I.m thrilled to bring the character of Lily Woodward to life. She is fun, confident, determined, quick to react and disarmingly charismatic. I hope audiences love her as much as I do,. said Marais.

.It has been a pleasure working with the exceptional cast and crew, and I.m incredibly proud to be involved in this fresh and exciting new drama..

Marais will be joined by a cast that includes Craig McLachlan, Kerry Armstrong, Madeleine West, Hamish Blake, Doris Younane, Steve Vizard, Rob Collins, Ian Meadows, Hayley Magnus, Kevin Harrington, Leah Vandenberg, Christie Whelan Browne, Hugo Johnstone-Burt,...

Hugh Jackman has paid an emotional tribute to his late mother-in-law Fay Duncan, calling her "one of the greatest women" he's ever met. Duncan died Sunday following a long illness. She was 81. The actor took to Instagram on Wednesday to honor Duncan, posting a sweet photo of the two together. "I'm blessed to say Fay Duncan was my Mother in Law. She was one of the greatest women I've ever met. Wise, funny, loving, cheeky, generous, and a true leader," he captioned the above photo. "She had an incredible gift for always being right …. which must have been a true...

Hugh Jackman has paid an emotional tribute to his late mother-in-law Fay Duncan, calling her "one of the greatest women" he's ever met. Duncan died Sunday following a long illness. She was 81. The actor took to Instagram on Wednesday to honor Duncan, posting a sweet photo of the two together. "I'm blessed to say Fay Duncan was my Mother in Law. She was one of the greatest women I've ever met. Wise, funny, loving, cheeky, generous, and a true leader," he captioned the above photo. "She had an incredible gift for always being right …. which must have been a true...

Watch the stars of Pawno celebrate the opening night at The Sun Theatre.

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Australian feature Pawno has opened to postive reviews and a healthy box office.

The film, directed/produced by Paul Ireland and written/produced by Damian Hill, opened nationally on April 21 and achieved $3,120 per showing on 19 screens over the Anzac Day long weekend.

The character driven ensemble, set in the diverse and mulicultural Melbourne suburbe of Footscray, recorded particularly strong results at The Sun in Yarraville, Melbourne, where the film opened to a gala premiere.

Ireland, Hill, and key cast members including Kerry Armstrong (Lantana), Tony Rickards (Holding The Man) and Mark Coles Smith (Last Cab to Darwin), walked the red carpet before guests packed out four sold-out sessions..

Australian actors Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under), Damian Walshe Howling, film industry figure Steve Vizard, and Victorian Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley were among the audience attending.

Hill...

David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz will reunite to host a special screening of independent Australian feature Pawno.

The screening, .at Sydney.s Chauvel Cinema on April 12, will see Pomeranz and Stratton join in a Q&A with the key talent of the new Australian comic drama film from first time director Paul Ireland, which Pomeranz describes as .a bolt from the blue..

.I love this film, loved it, loved it,. she said.

Pawno is produced by Paul Ireland and Damian Hills. Toothless Pictures and distributed by Mind Blowing World. It opens across 20 screens nationally on April 21..

Joining Margaret and David onstage will be director Paul Ireland, Pawno screenwriter and actor Damian Hill, beloved Australian veteran actors John Brumpton and Kerry Armstrong, and other key cast members..

The character-driven ensemble film takes place in a dusty old pawnbroker.s, where world-weary owner Les Underwood (John Brumpton) watches as the lives of...

Pawno, the debut film of director Paul Ireland which premiered at last year's Miff, will open in cinemas nationally on April 21..

Set in Footscray, Melbourne, the film's cast includes Pawno screenwriter Damian Hill, John Brumpton (Romper Stomper), Kerry Armstrong (Lantana), Tony Rickards (Holding The Man), Maeve Dermody (Griff the Invisible) and Mark Coles Smith (Last Cab to Darwin).

Brumpton plays Les Underwood, the proprietor of an old pawnbroker's shop..

Produced by Paul Ireland and Damian Hills. production company Toothless Pictures, the privately financed feature was shot in Barkly Street, Footscray..

The soundtrack features Tom Waits, Vance Joy, hip-hop group Astronomy Class and Chris Saray..

After premiering it Miff, Pawno premiered internationally at the Black Nights Festival in Tallinn, Estonia.

It has also screened at the Singapore Film Festival and Cinefest Oz in Western Australia.

Pawno is the first feature film to be distributed by the new production and distribution company Mind Blowing World,...

Adrian Brody in Backtrack..

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Five Aussie films will vie for the $100,000 CinéfestOZ Film Prize, with two of the entries to have their Australian premiere at the Festival in August.

Backtrack, Now Add Honey, Pawno, Putuparri and the Rainmakers and The Daughter have each been selected out of over 30 submissions to make up the shortlist for the prize, now in its second year.

The winner will be announced at the Festival on Saturday 29th August, 2015.

The Film Prize is awarded to the producer of an Australian feature film (including feature documentaries) and last year was taken out by Robert Connolly for his family feature Paper Planes.

The film, which Connolly also directed, went on to enjoy huge success at the Australian box office and will be released by distribution companies Lionsgate in the UK and in North America by Eone.

The finalists for this year.s prize were determined by five...

Teresa Palmer, Game of Thrones. Michiel Huisman and The Railway Man.s Sam Reid head the cast of 2.22, director Paul Currie.s romantic thriller which starts shooting in Sydney on Monday.

The Dutch-born Huisman plays Dylan, an air traffic controller in New York who nearly causes a fatal mid- air collision at the strike of 2:22.

Forced to go on leave, he meets and falls in love with Palmer.s character Sarah, who coincidentally was one of the passengers on the plane. To his horror Dyan realizes the same patterns in his life are happening every day.

Reid plays Jonas, a high profile New York-based artist who is an ex-boyfriend of Sarah.s. The cast includes Richard Davies as a fellow air traffic controller, John Waters as Dylan.s boss, Maeve Dermody as his ex-girlfriend, Kerry Armstrong and Remy Hii.

.We.re creating a smart, stylized romantic thriller,. Currie tells If.

To have any chance of international sales, Australian films need to be original, bold, tell universal stories and be extremely well executed.

That.s according to some international sales agents whom If interviewed as part of our ongoing series of articles on the state of Australian cinema and ways to reach audiences more effectively.

While their views may sound obvious, they say that too often Australian films are failing on most if not all counts.

Michael Favelle of Odin.s Eye Entertainment agrees with the premise that producers should go big or small and avoid middle budget films, as If canvassed last week, but he sees a deeper problem.

.Yes there is a challenge in recouping and financing mid-range films but where we are failing more often is in original films with clear and compelling premises or stories with universal appeal,. says Favelle, the international sales rep for Canopy, Forbidden Ground,...

Odd List Ryan Lambie Simon Brew 5 Dec 2013 - 06:54

Our voyage through history's underappreciated films arrives at the year 2001, and a vintage year for lesser-seen gems...

Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C Clarke may have seen 2001 as the year we'd head off to meet alien intelligences in the depths of space, but in reality, its cinematic landscape was dominated by fantasy rather than extra-terrestrials. Rowling and Tolkien dominated the box office, with Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone and The Fellowship Of The Ring earning almost $1bn each, while Monsters, Inc and Shrek thrilled old and young audiences alike.

At the other end of the spectrum of success, 2001 was such a vintage year for movies that we had to whittle our usual selection of 25 films down from an initial selection of more than 40. This is why the decision was made - with heavy heart - to exclude some of our favourite films,...

Veteran Australian producer Al Clark will receive the Aacta Raymond Longford Award in recognition of his three-decade career which has included iconic films such as Chopper and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Clark, who emigrated from the UK in the 1980s after representing music acts such as the Sex Pistols and Phil Collins, has produced or executive produced 19 feature films. He has also served on the board of the Australian Film Commission (1989-1992) and participated in official juries of several international film festivals, including the San Sebastian and Valladolid Film Festivals.

..With a love of films that always transcends the frustrations of getting them made, I.ve tried to choose distinctive projects, to navigate them soundly, to find gifted people to work with, and to bring out the best in their considerable talents," Clark said after being told of the award. "I.m grateful to Aacta for...

The results of one of the most detailed pieces of research conducted on how the public feels about a range of more than 700 Australian celebrities and sports stars will be unveiled at Mumbrella360.

The Encore Score conducted research into public attitudes to 738 personalities, charting how widely recognised they are, and how positively or negatively they are perceived.

The project is similar to the Q Score research which takes place in the Us and was previously conducted in Australia, although the methodology for calculating the score takes a different approach.

A total of 2,650 respondents completed the survey. The online survey of the public was conducted by Pure Profile, while analysis and processing has been carried out by research house The Acid Test.

Research such as the Encore Score is one tool that TV programmers, advertising agencies, brands and PRs use when hiring talent and selecting ambassadors.

As well as being revealed at the Mumbrella360 conference,...

When Prisoner began in 1979, no one could have predicted it would go on to air 692 episodes and become a cult classic. In light of Foxtel’s commissioning of Prisoner re-imagining Wentworth, Bob Ellis looks back at the original.

Watching the first episodes of Prisoner today, when Helen Travers (Kerry Armstrong) and Lynn Warner (Pieta Toppano) are ‘settling in’ (one is innocent of burying a baby alive, the other guilty of stabbing an adulterous husband who bullied her into an abortion, his death a scene reminiscent of Psycho) and Bea (Val Lehman) and Mum are released from what Scott Morrison would call ‘luxury accommodation’, we are less drawn into the unfolding stories and characters than we were in 1979.

We are less keen now to accept the bullying, the furniture-smashing violence, the unremarked corruption, the Governor’s piss-elegant Toorak accent, the male doctor’s bad acting, and the, well, imprecise morality at...

The Australian Film Institute (AFI) have launched a new festival to showcase the local films of the past year vying for an Aacta (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award).

The Festival will run from 6 October to 14 November in Sydney and 11 October to 14 November in Melbourne and showcase the 21 feature films, as well as 12 non feature nominees including best short fiction film, Best short animation and Best feature length documentary in lead up for the inaugural Aacta Awards held in January 2012.

“Through Aacta,” Damian Trewhella, AFI Aacta CEO said, “we not only celebrate Australia’s best screen practitioners, but also engage audiences with our great stories; the Samsung AFI І Aacta Festival of Film provides a perfect platform for this at an exciting time for our screen industry.”

The festival aims to showcase the films to generate greater audience reach and engagement. “Having increased awareness of our screen industry...

Lincoln Lewis will star as Amos in “The Forgotten Men”, An Australian short film which co-stars Jack Thompson, Kerry Armstrong and Gyton Grantley. The 23 minute film set for limited release later this year had it’s premiere at the Dungog Film Festival earlier this year. Check out it’s trailer below: Earlier this week Lincoln and his girlfriend Rhiannon Fish celebrated [...]...

"I've had people come up to me and go, ‘Can you just marry her?' I say, ‘Marry who? Are we talking about Kerry Armstrong or Ada Nicodemou? I don't know what show you're talking about.'"Jay Laga'aia has an eminently recognisable face, but it's not one connected to any particular character. For some, he's Reverend Elijah Johnson in Home & Away, romancing Ada Nicodemou's Leah. For others, he's Nick the mechanic, love interest of Kerry Armstrong's Louisa on Bed Of Roses. Or maybe you think of him as Captain Typho from the Star Wars prequels, while for the kids, he's the friendly face on Play School and the singer who's made a couple of great children's albums - the ones with music that doesn't patronise young listeners.

We rifle through what's on offer this summer from ABC, Seven, Nine, Ten and Sbs.

Just a few days of ratings to go and then it's all but over for 2010.

The Aussie ratings year ends on November 27 with 10 weeks of summer to follow.

This summer will be an interesting one from a programming point of view because we have never had so many channels on offer before. That's a positive and a negative. It means shows that networks would have stored for summer have already been playing on multi-channels.

Here's some of what's on offer:

ABC

Season three of Kerry Armstrong's More >>...

Underbelly star Vince Colosimo has started dating Kerry Armstrong, it has been reported. The couple, who have been friends for a long time and worked together on film Lantana, were spotted getting cosy at the Australian Open tennis tournament last week. One onlooker, who reportedly saw 43-year-old Colosimo put his arm around the 51-year-old actress, told The Daily Telegraph: (more)...

SYDNEY -- The affection with which the breezy Australian mockumentary "Razzle Dazzle: A Journey Into Dance" tweaks the twinkle-toed denizens of the competitive dance scene makes it easy to like. Sure, there are exuberant bursts of "Mickey" and "Footloose" and plenty of jazz hands, which almost make fun of themselves. But mostly the humor is understated and wry, contrasting nicely with the exhibitionist antics of its Bedazzler-worshiping targets.

This gently mocking approach, which Christopher Guest applied so deftly to the folkie satire "A Mighty Wind", allows an often laugh-out-loud sendup to also function as a conventional let's-put-on-a-show crowd-pleaser.

Energetic dance routines choreographed by John O'Connell ("Strictly Ballroom", "Moulin Rouge") and performed by a cute cast of preteen hoofers up the feel-good factor. "Razzle Dazzle" should prove a hit with Australian families when it opens locally March 15. Overseas prospects also are good, with the runaway success of "The Office" in Britain and its offshoot in the U.S. proving that there's a large audience for this type of deadpan, slightly surreal humor. (Comic writer Robin Ince, a longtime collaborator of "The Office" creator Ricky Gervais, co-wrote the script.)

Originally a parody of pushy stage mothers, "Razzle Dazzle" evolved into a comic examination of the do-or-die intensity surrounding kids' dance competitions, with the spotlight firmly on the adults. They mostly behave appallingly -- bribing judges, foisting nose jobs on their offspring, kidnapping professional ring-ins -- while the poor kids, all gangly limbs and braces, aim simply and sensibly to do their best.

British actor Ben Miller has the best lines as the determinedly cheery Mr. Jonathon, head of Mr. Jonathon's Dance Academy, and his poker-faced delivery of crazy assertions will be familiar to fans of "The Office".

Winning the Sanosafe Troupe Spectacular, the pinnacle of dance contests, means a lot to Mr. Jonathon. Not only would it allow him to triumph over Miss Elizabeth (Jane Hall), a longtime rival whose ultra-conservative style is routinely rewarded by the judges, it also would validate his unorthodox approach to dance.

Mr. Jonathon is, in the words of his rival, a "cause slut," obsessed with using his routines to tackle social issues, such as global warming, skin cancer and dolphins in tuna nets. He feels he's onto a winner with his piece about the oppression of Afghan women under the Taliban, but parental interference will prove more of a challenge than the skill of his dancers.

With the exception of Justine (Kerry Armstrong), an alarmingly single-minded stage mom who tortures her poor daughter Tenille (Shayni Notelovitz) in a quest for vicarious glory, most of the daffy characters stop short of caricature.

But they're not short on quirks. Mr. Jonathon's officious offsider Barbara (Denise Roberts) will only play foster parent to children with rhythm. The troupe's costume designer Marianne (Tara Morice, "Strictly Ballroom") dresses dramatically in goth-inspired creations but never says a word.

The free-spirited and very pregnant Paulette (a wonderfully warm Nadine Garner), who drives daughter Grace (Clancy Ryan) nuts with her chronic tardiness, is the most "normal" of the stage moms. But she is struggling to remain serene about her TV-handyman husband running off with a male co-star. It's all absurd but vaguely plausible and Ashton knows exactly when to pull back.

Tucked in among the emotional pyrotechnics and onstage pizzazz is a scene such as the one in which the normally silent Marianne, sewing costumes with Mr. Jonathon and Paulette, spontaneously breaks into a lovely rendition of Spandau Ballet's "Gold". It's a showstopper.

Razzle Dazzle: A Journey Into Dance

Palace Films, Wild Eddie Prods.

Credits:

Director: Darren Ashton

Screenwriters: Carolyn Wilson, Robin Ince

Producers: Jodi Matterson, Andrena Finlay

Executive producer: Al Clark

Director of photography: Garry Phillips

Production designer: Karen Harborow

Music: Roger Mason

Costume designer: Ariane Weiss

Editors: Julieanne Deruvo, Philip Horn

Cast:

Justine: Kerry Armstrong

Mr. Jonathon: Ben Miller

Paulette: Nadine Garner

Barbara: Denise Roberts

Marianne: Tara Morice

Miss Elizabeth: Jane Hall

No MPAA rating, running time 92 minutes.

LONDON -- The Cinema Guild has picked up North American distribution rights to Anna Reeves' Oyster Farmer, Australia- and U.K- based movie sales and financing house Beyond Films said Thursday. Cinema Guild plans to give the movie a platform release this summer, Beyond said. No further details were disclosed. The film, which stars Kerry Armstrong, David Field, Jim Norton, Alex O'Lachlan, Diana Glenn and Jack Thompson, tells the story of an inept thief who finds salvation by going to work in an isolated community of oyster farmers. Shot entirely on location on the Hawkesbury River in Australia, the movie is a U.K. and Australian co-production. The deal was hammered out by Beyond Films' head of sales and acquisitions Hilary Davis and Ryan Krivoshey at the Cinema Guild. Australia's Dendy Films will release Oyster in Australia and New Zealand.