News

Screen Australia has announced $2 million of funding via its Enterprise program, including four Business & Ideas projects and 11 Enterprise People talent opportunities.

Recipients include Doc Society, which is launching Global Story and Impact Labs that will enable Australian documentary makers to elevate the social impact of their work.

Funding will also be given to A2K Media for an online disability equity and inclusion training program called Disability Justice Lens.

Screen Australia’s CEO Graeme Mason said the past year had inspired “incredible” innovation and adaptability across the screen sector.

“These [are] bold proposals that are set to improve the industry, whether it’s White Spark Pictures developing innovative virtual reality technology, A2K Media improving participation for people with disability, or Typecast Entertainment expanding their ability to support storytelling from First Nations people and people of colour,” he said.

“We’re also excited to support Doc Society’s new labs which will...

Writer/director Jub Clerc, from Quedjinup, Wa is one of 12 women selected to participate in Screenwork's Athena Project.

Following a nation-wide callout, Screenworks has selected 12 female filmmakers from across regional Australia to participate in its upcoming career enhancement program, The Athena Project.

Among those selected are BAFTA Award winning director Hattie Dalton (Byron Bay Nsw), award-winning animated film writer/director Justine Wallace (Barkers Creek Vic), Nyul Nyul/Yawuru woman and writer/director Jub Clerc (Quedjinup Wa) and co-winner of the Northern Territory Book of the Year 2016, Clare Atkins (Darwin Nt).

The twelve selected participants will spend two and a half days in an intensive residential program in Byron Bay, where they will receive advice from some of the most notable woman in the Australian screen industry, including Gillian Armstrong (Women He.s Undressed, My Brilliant Career), Felicity Packard (Janet King), Debbie Lee (Barracuda) and Cate McQuillen (dirtgirlworld).

As part of the residential program,...

Screen Australia has committed almost $700,000 in development support across 23 feature projects.

Fifteen new projects have been added to Screen Australia.s development slate, while eight teams will receive continued support to develop their projects.

Two Australian filmmakers will also be supported to undertake overseas internships: producer Ma.ara Bobby Romia will work for six months with Screentime Group in New Zealand and director Ariel Martin-Merrells will work under the mentorship of director James Foley in Los Angeles for five months.

Screen Australia.s head of development Martha Coleman said in a statement: .Following a now well-established tradition, the development slate announced today includes a diverse range of compelling stories from both established and emerging filmmakers. The high calibre of screenplays coming through our door backs up positive feedback we are getting from the domestic and international marketplace and I.m looking forward to seeing the best of these projects make...

The story of Rupert Murdoch’s rise to become the world’s biggest media mogul looks set to become an Australian TV telemovie,

Screen Australia has provided funding development for the work which is being written by Bob Ellis and Stephen Ramsay.

The announcement comes days after Southern Star’s production of Howzat, the story of how Australian media mogul Kerry Packer took on the cricket establishment delivered the Nine Network with 2m+ ratings.

The series has the working title of The News of the World.

The British Sunday tabloid the telemovie is named after was closed by Murdoch last year in the wake of the phone hacking scandal.

Bob Ellis wrote the Australian journalism drama Newsfront and most recently ABC’s Infamous Victory: Ben Chifley’s Battle for Coal while Stephen Ramsey wrote and directed The Baby Boomers Picture Show and Flashbacks.

Ellis told Mumbrella: “What we have...

Chicago – Though Benedict Cumberbatch has been delivering fine work in film and television for the past decade, he hadn’t received a great deal of attention until last year, when he played strikingly diverse characters in Oscar bait such as “War Horse” and “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” while earning legions of fans on BBC’s “Sherlock.” He’s such a deft chameleon that it’s easy for audiences to overlook his formidable body of work.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

In Hattie Dalton’s “Third Star,” which is currently available via On Demand, Cumberbatch delivers the sort of performance that would be considered a Best Actor front-runner this awards season—had it been delivered by George Clooney. As James, a 29-year-old man stricken with cancer, Cumberbatch is utterly wrenching without ever once settling for easy clichés. Though he says early on that, “The sickness may be mine but the tragedy is there’s,” referring to his loved ones,...

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides; Pina; Incendies; Insidious; The Roommate; Third Star; Take Me Home Tonight

The failure of 3D TVs to make any significant inroads into the nation's front rooms ensures that even the most high-profile stereoscopic cinema outings wind up being watched in good old flatscreen at home. This doesn't much matter for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011, Disney, 12), in which the much-vaunted "real 3D" was utterly forgettable – much like the feature itself. It would have been hard for new franchise helmsman Rob Marshall to make a worse fist of things than previous incumbent Gore Verbinski, but what this belated fourth instalment lacks in outrageous awfulness it makes up for in terms of plodding mediocrity.

Despite being based (in part) on the novel from which it takes its subtitle, On Stranger Tides suffers from the same lack of narrative coherence that hobbled its lengthy...

Commencing on the 8th June, the Annual Sydney Film Festival (now in its 58th year) promises to be a sterling celebration of modern cinema from around the world. Perhaps not as glitzy as Cannes, nor as iconic as Sundance or Toronto, the Sff has in any case plenty to recommend it, with one of the most impressively diverse film line ups I’ve had the pleasure of glancing over in a long time. Fifth generation Chinese director Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine) is Jury President of the Official Competition where 12 films will be in competition for the $60,000 film prize.

The festival will open with a Gala premiere of Joe Wright’s (Atonement, Pride and Prejudice) pursuit thriller Hanna, with Aussie’s answer to Meryl Streep actress Cate Blanchett in attendance on the red carpet and will close with Mike Mills’ (Thumbsucker) Toronto Film Festival triumph, the drama of later life-changing...

The Sydney Film Festival has announced a selection of free talks, Q&As and workshops surrounding film premieres and the arrival of international filmmakers.

Meet the Filmmakers at the Apple Store

Director Miranda July discusses her film The Future, in Official Competition, about a couple who feel the impending pressure of adopting a kitten and live out their dreams before responsibility strikes. The Future has competed at Sundance and Berlin film festivals. Session time: Sunday 12 June, 2-3pm.

The Forgiveness of Blood director, Joshua Marston will discuss his film, about an Albanian family caught in an old feud, and no doubt his debut, 2004′s Maria Full of Grace. Session time: Monday 13 June 12.30-1.30pm.

Phil Rosenthal discusses his hit TV series Everybody Loves Raymond and his feature film Exporting Raymond, about attempting to turn the show into a Russian sitcom. Session time: Monday 13 June, 2-3pm.

Metro Screen Q&As

Jody Shapiro,...

Hattie Dalton's competent feature debut is an addition to that familiar genre in which a group of friends gathers around a dying close acquaintance or at their funeral for declarations of love, the exchange of reminiscences, the dragging of skeletons from cupboards and outbursts of blood-letting. In this case, the 29-year-old James (Benedict Cumberbatch), suffering from terminal cancer, takes a final trip along his beloved Pembrokeshire coast with three, middle-class, lifelong friends, all frustrated creative types, before making his quietus. They laugh, bicker bitterly, have bizarre encounters with some locals, experience minor calamities and it is all rather familiar and predictable, though not dislikable.

DramaBenedict CumberbatchPhilip French

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Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (12A)

(Rob Marshall, 2011, Us) Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Ian McShane, Geoffrey Rush, Sam Claflin. 137 mins

Ahoy! Aha! Ahem. The excitement of another rip-roaring high seas adventure dissipates almost before they set sail in this lightweight epic of action set-pieces and people trying to get stuff they want. Depp is business as usual and the presentation is classy, but the new blood brings little to this non-party, which feels less like a story than a succession of twists and swoops along well-established tracks – like a theme-park ride, in fact. Oh, hang on …

Win Win (15)

(Tom McCarthy, 2011, Us) Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale. 106 mins

Giamatti's hard-up lawyer inherits a whole heap of surrogate family issues, and a teen high-school wrestling ace, in a wry drama that doesn't really stray out of its suburban comfort zone.

Julia's Eyes (15)

(Guillem Morales, 2010, Spa) Belén Rueda, Lluís Homar,...

Benedict Cumberbatch heads an impressive, young British cast for debut director Hattie Dalton's comedy-drama set in Wales.

With her debut feature, after some impressive, award-winning shorts, director Dalton has pooled a decent selection of young British acting talent. Cumberbatch's James is dying from cancer, so he and his three closest friends take one last trip to an obscure Welsh beach that holds fond memories for him. It's picaresque and directionless for quite some time, only falling into focus in the final furlong when James's true intent becomes known. The characters aren't particularly likable or clever, but their chemistry is convincing and it's well performed. Effective work in the directing and cinematography camps also smooths over a lot of the holes left by lack of money and experience.

Rating: 3/5

ComedyDramaPhelim O'Neill

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“From Britain with Love” – a curated program of six independent UK films will screen across ten Us cities from June 11 – July 9, 2011, as part of a partnership between Film Society of Lincoln Center, UK Film Council and Emerging Pictures.

The showcase’s premiere constitutes a component of the Film Society’s celebration of its new Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, and the screenings will run contemporaneously to online webcast conversations with the film’s key talent.

A similar program, named “From Blighty with Love” was run across India in 2010.

Featured in the program are the following films, three of which will be making their Us premieres:

· A Boy Called Dad (80min)

Director: Brian Percival

The debut feature from BAFTA short film winner Brian Percival follows the story of a boy thrust into early adulthood when he becomes a father at the age of 14. Newcomer, Kyle Ward, delivers an impressive performance as...

“From Britain with Love” – a curated program of six independent UK films will screen across ten Us cities from June 11 – July 9, 2011, as part of a partnership between Film Society of Lincoln Center, UK Film Council and Emerging Pictures.

The showcase’s premiere constitutes a component of the Film Society’s celebration of its new Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, and the screenings will run contemporaneously to online webcast conversations with the film’s key talent.

A similar program, named “From Blighty with Love” was run across India in 2010.

Featured in the program are the following films, three of which will be making their Us premieres:

· A Boy Called Dad (80min)

Director: Brian Percival

The debut feature from BAFTA short film winner Brian Percival follows the story of a boy thrust into early adulthood when he becomes a father at the age of 14. Newcomer, Kyle Ward, delivers an impressive performance as...

Film Society of Lincoln Center, UK Film Council & Emerging Pictures presents From Britain With Love

June 11 . July 9

6 indie UK films will screen in 10 Us cities launching with Toast starring Helena Bonham Carter

The Film Society of Lincoln Center, UK Film Council and Emerging Pictures announced the details today for plans to showcase six recent independent films produced in the United Kingdom for a release in more than ten cities stateside from June 11 . July 9.

Curated by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and in partnership with Emerging Pictures – the largest all-digital specialty film and alternate content theatre network in the United States – the showcase will premiere at the Film Society of Lincoln Center on June 11 as part of the opening celebration for its state-of-the art Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center. Each of the films will be shown once at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and once downtown at the IFC Center.

Independent Films have released the first trailer and poster for comedy-drama Third Star.

Directed by BAFTA Award-winning filmmaker Hattie Dalton, Third Star stars Hugh Bonneville, Tom Burke, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jj Feild, Rupert Frazer, Nia Roberts, Adam Robertson and Eros Vlahos.

James (Cumberbatch) and his three closest lifelong friends go on an ill-advised trip to the stunning coastal area of Barafundle Bay in West Wales. What follows is a touching and comical adventure dealing with friendship, heroism and love.

Third Star closed the 64th annual Edinburgh International Film Festival last year, and will be released nationwide on May 20.

Check out the poster below, then head over to The Guardian to watch the trailer premiere:...

"We really only completed the film a couple of days before we found out we were closing Edinburgh," "Third Star" director Hattie Dalton told indieWIRE days before her film debuted at the Scottish film festival. "So we literally had just finished the mix and everything, and I was in this stage of still slightly reeling. I wasn't sure if the film quite worked or not. I mean, it's a natural role ...

With the Edinburgh Film Festival finished for this year, I thought that it would be a great opportunity to list my personal top ten films at the festival.

Although I loved all of these films, there has to be a winner out of the bunch and so I will count from my tenth favourite film to my number one from the fantastic film festival and it’s amazing line-up.

You can click on the name of the film to link to my review.

10. Winter’s Bone

This dark drama managed to win the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and really deserves its critical success, with a strong female protagonist, shifty characters and a dark, realistic story that keeps your attention all the way through. The reason for being number ten? It’s a dark, gritty film that I loved seeing on the big screen, but...

Lovely bones...

The 64th Edinburgh international film festival closed last night, giving its highest prize to Skeletons. Directed by Nick Whitfield, the dark comedy stars Jason Isaacs and two new talents, Ed Gaughan and Andrew Buckley, as a pair of "emotional exorcists". Skeletons goes on general release next weekend, boosted by the Michael Powell Award for the festival's best new British feature. Other winners included the brilliant David Thewlis for Mr Nice (although Rhys Ifans plays the film's lead, as drug runner Howard Marks), and the Moët New Directors Award went to Gareth Edwards for his inventive sci-fi road movie, Monsters. The festival closed with Hattie Dalton's debut feature, a tender male bonding drama called Third Star. It looks beautiful, and Dalton brings a sensual understanding of male ego to the proceedings.

Lynch mob

David Lynch has appealed to his fans for cash in order to finance an autobiographical documentary.

Third Star is the official film to end the Edinburgh Film Festival and although I am sad that the festival has seemed to come to an end so quickly, this lovely film from Wales helps to soften the blow.

Having directed several short films and edited some of the most recognisable British films during the last few years, Hattie Dalton has made a lovely debut into feature length films with this film.

The film follows thirty-something James (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his three friends as they attempt to head out for one last road trip on his birthday before James’ cancer advances and takes his life away.

Travelling to James’ favourite location, which is a coastal area named Barafundle Bay, their friendship builds up during the course of the film and they face new challenges into what they individually believe in and the difficulties they have back home. From meeting a...

This week Jason Solomons meets one of the team behind one of cinema's most enduring classics, Jean-Luc Godard's À bout de souffle (Breathless), which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Pierre Rissient was part of the production team and talks about the shooting of the masterpiece and its subsequent influence on a generation of film-makers.

Meanwhile, the Edinburgh film festival continues and Jason meets Hattie Dalton, the director of this year's closing night gala, Third Star. Hattie discusses her tale of death and friendship among a group of young men holidaying in rural Wales.

Andrew Pulver joins Jason to review some of this week's other releases including Larry David in Woody Allen's Whatever Works and Russell Brand in Get Him to the Greek.

Jason SolomonsAndrew PulverJason Phipps...

London -- Former Bond girl Britt Ekland, director Mike Hodges, New York's Museum of Modern Art's senior film curator Laurence Kardish and Iranian director Rafi Pitts have all been called to jury duty as the Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff) is due to kick off June 16.

The quartet have signed up for the festival's main draw jury, the Michael Powell jury, and will assemble under the panel's president Patrick Stewart, organizers said.

Named in homage to the U.K. filmmaker and inaugurated in 1993, the Michael Powell Award is sponsored by the U.K. Film Council and carries a prize of £15,000 ($22,000).

The prize aims to reward imagination and creativity in British filmmaking and 2009 saw Duncan Jones walk off with the prize for his debut "Moon," while the jury gave Katie Jarvis last year's best performance in a British film for "Fish Tank."

The winner of 2010's Michael Powell Award will come from Ashey Horner's "brilliantlove,...

Two highly-anticipated second feature films from U.S. underground filmmakers will be making their World Premieres all the way over at the 64th annual Edinburgh International Film Festival, which will run for twelve days on June 16-27. The films are Rona Mark’s The Crab and Zach Clark’s Vacation!.

The Crab, which screens on June 21, is the touching story of a verbally abusive man born with two enormous, mutant-like hands; while Vacation!, which screens on June 20, tracks four urban gals let loose in a sunny seaside resort down South.

Both Mark and Clark previously screened their debut features at Eiff. Mark’s Strange Girls screened there in 2008 and Clark’s Modern Love Is Automatic screened in 2009. Both films also ended up as runners-up in Bad Lit’s annual Movie of the Year award, again Strange Girls in 2008 and Modern Love in 2009. Sadly, these two masterpieces are still unavailable on...

The Edinburgh International Film Festival this afternoon published their full line-up for 2010, and it’s looking good. Check out the website - www.edfilmfest.org.uk

I’ll be covering the festival which runs from 16th-29th of June, so keep your eye out for reviews, interviews and insider info in our third year of coverage from Eiff.

The McHenry brothers direct Jackboots on WhiteHall an eagerly anticipated film in which Winston Churchill hides out in lawless Scotland, as an all-star cast voices an alternative animated history of WWII – I can’t wait to see this one! In Ollier Kepler’s Expanding Purple World, the brilliant Edward Hogg (White Lightnin’; Bunny and the Bull) stars in a darkly funny study of one man’s walk on the weird side. Then there’s Cherry Tree Lane, Paul Andrew Willaim’s latest thriller. Pelican Blood by Karl Golden looks pretty incredible and...

New films from Werner Herzog and Steven Soderbergh will screen at the 64th Edinburgh International Film Festival. This year's program includes 133 features from 34 countries.

Sylvain Chomet’s “The Illusionist” will open the festival at the June 16 gala, while the world premiere of “Third Star,” from first-time British director Hattie Dalton, will close the festivities on June 26.

Herzog’s “My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done” (produced by David Lynch) and Soderbergh’s documentary “And Everything is Going Fine” are among the marquee titles on the Edinburgh docket. Morag McKinnon’s “Donkeys,” the second of the Scottish-Danish Advance Party features, receives a World Premiere in a strong British field that also features Paul Andrew William’s thriller “Cherry Tree Lane,” Ben Miller’s comedy about comedians “Huge” and Bernard Rose’s Howard Marks biopic “Mr. Nice.”

The festival runs June 16-27.

Rarely seen works by Ken Russell, Stephen Frears and Albert Finney among festival retrospective

A batch of "lost and forgotten" British films, made more than 30 years ago by many of the industry's leading figures, including Ken Russell, Stephen Frears and Albert Finney, is to be screened at this year's Edinburgh film festival.

The retrospective of 16 rarely seen British-made and directed films from between 1967 and 1979, which have been rediscovered after more than a year's detective work by the event's staff, is expected to be a highlight of the festival, which opens in two weeks.

Some are being shown for the first time in decades, as many of the films, including Savage Messiah made by Ken Russell in 1972 and starring Helen Mirren, the children's detective story What Next, and the original cut of Robert Fuest's The Final Programme, starring Jon Finch, have never been released on video or DVD.

The mini-season,...

Werner Herzog will unveil his 'horror film without the blood' alongside new work from Soderbergh and Bernard Rose's biopic of Howard Marks

New work from the likes of Werner Herzog, Bernard Rose and Steven Soderbergh will take its place among 133 features screening at this year's Edinburgh film festival.

The event opens on 16 June with The Illusionist, an animation set in Scotland and created by Sylvain Chomet, previously best known for the acclaimed Belleville Rendez-vous. The curtain comes down 11 days later with the premiere of Third Star, a British buddy movie that marks the feature debut of director Hattie Dalton.

Other potential highlights include screenings of Toy Story 3, Bernard Rose's Howard Marks biopic Mr Nice and the Argentine thriller The Secret in Their Eyes – winner of this year's best foreign film Oscar. Elsewhere, London to Brighton director Paul Andrew Williams returns with Cherry Tree Lane, while Soderbergh is...

London -- This year's Edinburgh International Film Festival will close with the world premiere of "Third Star," a British tragicomedy from newcomer Hattie Dalton starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Burke, Jj Feild and Adam Robertson.

The movie will bookend the Scottish shindig with the previously announced opening gala of Sylvain Chomet's "The Illusionist" at the festival boasting 133 movies from 34 countries, organizers said Tuesday.

British galas competing for the U.K. Film Council sponsored Michael Powell Award for best British feature include world debuts for Paul Andrew Williams' "Cherry Tree Lane," "Huge" by Ben Miller, Edward McHenry and Rory McHenry's "Jackboots On Whitehall," Nick Moran's "The Kid," Viv Fongenie's "Ollie Kepler's Expanding Purple World," "Pelican Blood," by Karl Golden and "Soulboy" by Shimmy Marcus.

Organizers picked Ryan Piers Williams' "The Dry Land," Werner Herzog's "My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?," Floria Sigismondi's...

Did you happen to see Duncan Jones’ quiet little sci-fi picture “Moon” when it played in limited release over the summer? Did you love it? Did you hope it won some awards when you walked out (little gold men even)? Well, it still might. However, it did receive handsome kudos from the Sitges Film Festival taking home the prizes for film, best actor for Sam Rockwell, and the screenplay award for Nathan Parker. More of the “Moon” accomplishments after the jump, one of which is the conclusive evidence that there is no cheese on its surface.

Duncan Jones’ film tells the story of Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell), and American astronaut that is nearing the end of his contracted three-year stint on the moon as a miner of a gas called Helium-3, which has become Earth’s primary source of energy. Bell maintains and operates each facility and machinery on the moon,...