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George Miller and David Stratton in conversation.

David Stratton and George Miller had a wide-ranging chat at the Chauvel last night as guests of the French Film Festival, of which both are patrons.

Miller described growing up in Chinchilla, where he fell in love with movies during the saturday matinees at the local cinema, which was his "secular cathedral".

He also praised Stratton's tenure at the Sydney Film Festival and its influence on a generation of Australian filmmakers..

Miller's short, Violence in the Cinema, Part 1, played at the festival in 1971, as part of the Benson and Hedges awards.

The cigarette manufacturer was the only company willing to sponsor a festival for Australian shorts, joked Stratton, who also queried the title of Miller's short - "there was never a part two".

Violence in the Cinema starred Arthur Dignam, and was programmed before a film by Vittoria de Sica. Miller recalled his...

Strange Behavior. What an apt title for this film. Released in 1981, Aka Dead Kids, Strange Behavior is a unique mash up of a popular (at the time) sub-genre and one long forgotten – the Slasher and The Mad Scientist. For fans of either, it provides a weird, loving tribute to the latter while quietly etching a place for itself in the former. A lot of horror lovers missed the boat on this one at the time of its release, which is strange behavior, indeed.

Given a limited release in October by World Northal stateside, Strange Behavior impressed many critics at the time with its ethereal quality and 50’s throwback feel, but audiences really never got a chance to see it until released on video the following year. And even then, it never picked up steam with the horror crowd. Which is quite sad, as the film still plays as a creepy,...

Casting is underway for The Daughter, a movie which theatre director Simon Stone is adapting from his radical re-imagining of Henrik Ibsen.s The Wild Duck.

Producers Jan Chapman and Nicole O.Donohue are collaborating with Stone, who made his screen debut directing Robyn Nevin, Richard Roxburgh and Cate Blanchett in a segment of Tim Winton.s The Turning.

Shooting is due to start in September. Screen Nsw funded development of the project. Scripted by Stone and Chris Ryan "after Ibsen," the stage production of his 1884 play is set in contemporary rural Australia.

The Belvoir production had rave reviews, typified by Fairfax Media.s Cameron Woodhead who said, .Go see this production of The Wild Duck. Theatre of such delicacy and distillation is vanishingly rare. The ensemble performance is magnificent, the writing effortlessly overheard, the design possesses a chiselled power, and the direction confirms Simon Stone as one of our...