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Australia has made some amazing contributions to the Western genre of film over the years, dating all the way back to 1906 with The Story of the Kelly Gang, and 2013's Mystery Road is no exception. Set in Australia's outback, indigenous detective Jay Swan, played by Aaron Pedersen, must confront drug dealers and a corrupt police force to investigate the murder of a young indigenous girl, and hopefully protect other girls from meeting the same grisly fate. The story of a solitary lawman navigating a brutal landscape populated with sordid characters makes Mystery Road a must-watch for fans of Western films.

Modern Australian westerns have been tackling the violent history and ongoing consequences of colonization and oppression of the indigenous people of Australia. Mystery Road is an unapologetic portrayal of the corrupt systems that allow abuse and violence to run rampant, while also depicting nuanced characters who don't fit neatly into...

Natalie Burn Joins Anthony Hopkins In ‘Eyes In The Trees’

Exclusive: Natalie Burn (Til Death Do Us Part) has joined Anthony Hopkins, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Ashley Greene in sci-fi thriller Eyes in the Trees. She will play the role of Marcy, a seasoned military veteran who reluctantly agrees to join former teammates for a final mission. They are dispatched to investigate the work of Dr Moreau’s enigmatic successor, Dr. Addis, a brilliant yet mysterious geneticist. Soon, the team finds their resolve tested as they delve into a world of chilling and dangerous experiments taking place on a remote island. Shooting is taking place on location in Thailand. Burn recently starred opposite Jason Patric and Cam Gigandet in action-comedy Til Death Do Us Part and was in period action flick The Last Redemption, which stars Angus Macfadyen and Kevin Sorbo. She also completed shooting comedy Dashing Through the Snow...

Luke Hemsworth has joined the cast of Australian cop comedy Deadloch‘s second season on Prime Video.

The actor has been filming in his native Australia, joining leads Kate Box, Madeleine Sami, Nina Oyama and Alicia Gardiner in the comedy series, which has been hit for Amazon’s streaming service.

Hemsworth will play Jason Wade, creator and star of ‘Jason Wade’s Adventures Down Under’ and the owner of ‘Jason Wade’s Land of Crocs and Other Animals’ Wildlife Park.

The show follows Dulcie (Box) and Eddie (Sami), a pair of mismatched detectives. In the new season, they are investigating the death of Eddie’s former policing partner, Bushy. When a body is discovered in a remote town, they are flung into a new sweatier, stickier investigation.

Filming has wrapped in the croc-infested waters of the Northern Territories and moved to Brisbane’s studios in Queensland.

Is it possible that network television is so back? That's the immediate reaction to hearing CBS bought a new workplace comedy pilot starring Tim Meadows. Per Deadline, the sitcom is called Dmv, and Meadows "will play former high school English teacher Gregg, the examiner who likes to get through the driving tests,...

Radioactive is set to give the horror comedy The Red, a feature expansion of director Ryan Coonan’s 2014 short film Waterborne, a theatrical release across Australia and New Zealand on October 31st, with a press release also promising that the film will arrive in the United States sometime during “the spooky season.” We don’t have a date for any releases outside Australia and New Zealand, but we do have a trailer for the film, and you can check that out in the embed above.

At the heart of The Red is Rippy, the giant Zombie Kangaroo. “Rippy is your average bloke by day, and a terrifying Zombie Kangaroo by night.” Rippy is joined in the cast by Tess Haubrich (Wolf Creek season 2), Angie Milliken (MDA), and Michael Biehn (The Terminator), with Haubrich taking on the role of young police officer Maddy, who is determined to live up to her deceased father’s legacy.

The AMC Networks August 2024 schedule has been announced. It includes new episodes of Snowpiercer Season 4 and Orphan Black: Echoes, both available on AMC and AMC+.

Sundance Now offers an impressive lineup of thrillers including the provocative new tennis drama Fifteen-Love, starring Aidan Turner (Poldark), a new season of hit Nordic noir Wisting, and the new two-part special Kennedy, Sinatra, and the Mafia. Meanwhile, Acorn TV offers new installments of fan-favorite international series Signora Volpe and Under the Vines.

Other highlights include new episodes of BBC America’s landmark nature series Planet Earth: Mammals, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, and the highly-anticipated second season of Allblk’s breakout drama Kold x Windy, among other new series, films, and specials across its suite of targeted streaming services.

Film highlights this month include the sequel to IFC Films’ 2020 hit thriller Force of Nature: The Dry 2, starring Eric Bana (Dirty John) and Anna Torv (Fringe); Ghostlight,...

Nutcrackers, David Gordon Green’s heartfelt comedy starring Ben Stiller, is set to open the 2024 Toronto Film Festival on Sept. 5.

The TIFF opener — marking Stiller’s first starring role in a movie since Mike White’s Brad’s Status and Noah Baumbach’s Netflix family drama The Meyerowitz Stories in 2017 — will have a world premiere at Roy Thomson Hall, which is filled with ordinary moviegoers (and not only industry people as in Cannes and Venice).

Written by Leland Douglas, Nutcrackers follows Mike (Stiller), a straight-laced workaholic who has to travel to rural Ohio to care for his four nephews after their parents die in a car accident. After weeks of farm-life mayhem, Mike realizes he won’t have to find a new home for the orphaned children. They found a new home for him.

Nutcrackers — with an ensemble cast that includes Linda Cardellini, Edi Patterson, Tim Heidecker and Toby Huss — is...

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...

Lada Guruden Singh Steps Down From Sony Pictures India Role

Lada Guruden Singh has stepped down from his role as General Manager, Sony Pictures International Productions (Spip), India, where he oversaw local production, and has entered a producing deal with the studio. At Spip India, Singh has been instrumental in acquiring and developing superhero IP Shaktimaan while other projects included the remake of Spanish hit Campenoes and Chetan Bhagat’s One Indian Girl. Singh also expanded Sony Pictures’ footprint in Telugu with breakout hit Major and spearheaded the studio’s debut in Tamil with Amaran which is due for release later this year. Said Singh: “I am grateful to Sony for its belief and support as I chart a new producer path, beginning with the films I set up at studio itself… My producing role will allow me to chase clutter breaking IPs and produce larger than life theatricals that cut across languages,...

Aussie crime series offer a gritty and specific twist on the classic police procedural, showcasing Australia's unique storytelling capabilities. Australian crime dramas blend English sardonic tone with American plotlines, set against visually stunning oceanic backdrops for a captivating experience. These shows, like Deadloch and Mystery Road, explore diverse narratives with dark humor, societal issues, and captivating mysteries, worth a watch.

A great Aussie crime series features every aspect of what normally goes into a classic police procedural but with a specificity and grittiness that only the country/continent can produce. While Australia is an excellent setting for post-apocalyptic productions, there is plenty more to the country than barren wastelands filled with souped-up cars and men in masks praying to gasoline gods. Australia's thriving crime series industry has shown the country can produce just as thrilling crime drama TV shows as its British and American counterparts.

What Australia offers, besides actors...

South Australian Anthony Frith’s close encounter with “Sharknado” prodco The Asylum in “Mockbuster” is among five handpicked titles to be showcased at the Adelaide Film Festival Goes to Cannes showcase, held at Cannes Marché du Film on May 17.

The five works in progress range from queer adult anime, comedic doc, and traditional non-fiction to family dramas, helmed mostly by newcomers, and reflect the dynamic filmmaking community of Southern Australia, set to tempt potential co-financiers in Cannes.

So far two titles have received international backing. “Mockbuster” has been pre-sold to Giant Pictures and Drafthouse Films for North America, on top of domestic distribution in Australia via Umbrella Entertainment; Kelly Schilling’s drama “With or Without You,” handled locally by Icon Film Distribution, has been picked up by global sales agent LevelK.

Aimed at bringing together selected South Australian creators and producers with global industry delegates and to promote South Australia as a filmmaking hub,...

Desert Fury: Sen Gets Bleak in the Heat of a Cold Case Mystery

Despite it being the title of innumerable films from around the world, Limbo happens to feel like the most felicitous description for Indigenous Australian filmmaker Ivan Sen’s seventh film, a denuded black and white genre brood-fest which conjures an actual sense of oblivion on the border between heaven and hell.

Strangely, it plays like the inverse, in many ways, of his most well-traveled title, 2013’s Mystery Road, where an Indigenous detective is trying to solve a young girl’s murder in the Australian outback. He returns to the same zone of interest with a similar narrative thrust, except this time the detective is a grizzled, white man idly trying to dig up clues about a twenty year old case of a missing Aboriginal girl whilst nursing his heroin addiction.…...

“Fool Me Once” star Michelle Keegan is set to return for a second season of “Ten Pound Poms.”

Set in post-war Britain, the U.K.-Australian co-production follows a group of Brits as they leave behind their dreary lives to seek adventure down under. (In Australia “Pom” is a nickname for British people).

Keegan stars as nurse Kate Thorne in the show, which was created by “Fool Me Once” screenwriter Danny Brocklehurst.

Season 2 will pick up as Thorne tries to turn her Australian dream into reality as well as introducing some new characters who are sure to bring the drama, including the Skinner family, who have arrived from Ireland, and an unscrupulous landlord called Benny Bates.

Faye Marsay (“Black Mirror”) and Warren Brown (“Luther”) will also reprise their roles in the show alongside Rob Collins (“Mystery Road”) as Ron, Leon Ford (“Elvis) as Bill, Declan Coyle (“Long Black”) as Stevie,...

La Brea's final season will see the journey of the 10,000 B.C. survivors come to a close, with the entire cast of characters integral to the plot and forming an unbreakable bond. The actors discuss their experience filming the final season, expressing sadness at its end but also excitement and love for the show's limited time. The characters of Veronica and Lucas are expecting their first child, expanding the found family and raising questions about how they will navigate raising a baby in 10,000 B.C.

The final season of La Brea premieres Tuesday, January 9 on NBC and will see the 10,000 B.C. survivors' journey come to a close. While the series centers around the Harris family, the entire cast of characters has become integral to the plot and one another. Thrown together under impossible circumstances, they have formed an unbreakable bond, and with Veronica and Lucas expecting their first child,...

Production is underway on “Kangaroo Island,” the feature film debut from Australian director Tim Piper and screenwriter Sally Gifford.

The family relationship drama-comedy centers around a struggling Hollywood actress forced to reunite with her sister as part of her father’s last wishes. It stars Rebecca Breeds, Erik Thomson, Adelaide Clemens and Joel Jackson.

Lou Wells (portrayed by Breeds) was set to become Hollywood’s next big thing – but a few years later, she’s hit rock bottom. Broke and aimless, she reluctantly accepts a ticket from her estranged father (Thomson), home to Kangaroo Island for a “family reunion.” When her father’s real agenda unfolds, years of tension resurface, and Lou struggles between continuing to run away from her past or working to repair the damage done.

“Kangaroo Island” is a Pouch Potato Productions production, in conjunction with Piro Inc. Ot has financial support from the South Australian Film...

Brandon Walters took a hiatus from acting for 11 years after his role in Australia. Despite his international acclaim, Walters struggled financially, and acting wasn't feasible for him. Walters has appeared in two other acting roles after Australia. Unfortunately, he faced legal troubles in 2020 and hasn't acted since.

Brandon Walters was 11 years old when he appeared in Baz Luhrmann’s Australia, memorably stealing scenes as the young Indigenous boy Nullah, but what happened to him afterward isn't as well known. Hailing from the West Australian town of Broome, Walters had a tumultuous childhood as he was diagnosed with leukemia, a condition that he beat by the age of nine. His life then obviously turned upside down when his very first foray into cinema turned out to be a big-budget venture like Luhrmann’s 2008 epic, notably sharing the screen with popular movie stars like Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman.

Walters apparently wasn...

Before Baz Luhrmann took award season by storm with "Elvis," he made "Australia." If you've forgotten about the 2008 epic starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, you're not alone; the movie wasn't exactly embraced upon release, and while it made plenty of money at the box office, it also became a bit of a punchline among critics that year. As Stephanie Zacharek wrote in a review for Salon, "The second half of 'Australia,' Luhrmann's attempt to pull off a wartime weeper, is so aggressively sentimental that it begins to feel more like punishment than pleasure."

So what does "Australia" have to do with "Faraway Downs"? Well, everything. The upcoming six-episode limited series set to drop on streaming next month has been branded as a reimagining of Luhrmann's movie -- a second stab at his Australian "Gone With The Wind." It's an unusual choice from an always-interesting filmmaker, and we'll know...

Plans to ax several screen funding programs in Australia are “hard to comprehend” and will be a “disaster” for the country’s film and TV industry, the country’s producers body has warned.

The New South Wales government, which presides over Sydney and its surrounding areas, is planning to cut a number of existing programs, including the Made in Nsw Fund.

The program funds domestic high-end TV and features and has been credited attracting overseas investment into local productions. The likes of local drama Mystery Road, Mad Max 2: Furiosa, Mother and Son, Disney+’s The Artful Dodger and Thor: Love and Thunder have benefitted from the fund, which Screen Producers Australia says created “jobs and multiples of economic activity in in Sydney and regional areas of the state.”

Also impacted by the cuts are the Post Digital and Visual Effects and the Digital Games Development Rebate Program, both...

Brainstorm Media has picked up Ivan Sen’s crime drama Limbo ahead of its North American premiere at the 2023 Toronto Film Festival on Monday.

The Australian noir, which bowed in Berlin, will be released as part of a partnership between Brainstorm Media and Music Box Films. Limbo has Simon Baker starring as a jaded detective investigating the cold case murder of a local Indigenous girl.

As truths about the murder begin to unfold, Baker’s character gains more insight into the unsolved case from the victim’s fractured family, the surviving witnesses and the reclusive brother of the chief suspect.

“Limbo explores the deeper impact of a crime on an Indigenous family through the eyes of a white policeman. The source of these ideas has largely come from my personal experience, from family members and friends who have been victims of crime. I have witnessed their struggle not only for justice,...

A year and a half has gone by since it was announced that Julia Garner (Ozark) and Jessica Henwick (The Matrix Resurrections) had signed on to star in The Royal Hotel, an Australian production that was being described as a “social thriller”. The project was a reunion for Garner and director Kitty Green, as they had previously worked together on Green’s feature directorial debut, the 2019 drama The Assistant. The Royal Hotel has since made its way through production and had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival – and now it’s ready to be seen by a wider audience. Neon will be giving the film a theatrical release on October 6th, and today a trailer has dropped online. You can check it out in the embed above.

Also starring Hugo Weaving (The Matrix) and said to be inspired by true events, The Royal Hotel follows Hanna (Garner) and...

Twelve Times Two

Production is under way on season two of “The Twelve,” a crime drama which follows a controversial murder trial as seen through the lens of the 12 jury members, ordinary members of the public with their own realities and struggles. On completion, it will screen on Foxtel’s Binge streaming service. International distribution is by Fifth Season. Western Australia premier Roger Cook said that the “The Twelve S2” is the largest ever production in the state.

As previously announced, Sam Neill and Frances O’Connor (“The End,” “AI”) reprise their roles as senior lawyers.

Joining them is an all-star Australian cast including: Tasma Walton (“Mystery Road,” “Sweet As”), Kris McQuade (“Rosehaven”), Amy Mathews (“A Place to Call Home”), Erroll Shand (“The Clearing”), Fayssal Bazzi (“Shantaram”), Josh McKenzie (“La Brea”), Anthony Brandon Wong (“Queen of Oz”), Stefanie Caccamo (“Fighting Season”), Sharon Johal (“Neighbours,” “Shantaram”), Luke Pegler (“Ladies In Black”), Adriano Cappelletta...

International dramas have been on par with if not eclipsing their U.S. counterparts for awhile now, and that includes crime dramas in Australia. Their police procedurals and mysteries have built up tension -- and steady audiences -- just like American favorites. However, they also possess a tone and style that makes them more vibrant than a Law & Order or NCIS.

Australian police procedurals not only take full advantage of the country's culture, but they often feature rich characters and strong performances. Whether pulling from true crime or creating wholly original stories, many of them keep viewers guessing or biting their nails until the very end. And thanks to the access of streaming services, these great Australian cop shows can be enjoyed by genre fans around the world.

Related: 10 Most Binge-Worthy Crime Dramas

Rush

Anyone who's watched the excellent Canadian police drama Flashpoint will also find a lot to love about Rush,...

"As hard boiled as the ground is hard-baked." Madman Films in Australia has released an official trailer for an indie crime thriller titled Limbo, from filmmaker Ivan Sen. This initially premiered at the 2023 Berlin Film Festival earlier this year in the Main Competition section, but it didn't win any awards; it also played at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival this summer. In a small Australian outback town Travis Hurley, a detective, arrives to review a 20-year-old unsolved homicide of a young Indigenous girl. Travis discovers a collection of unpleasant truths hiding around this dusty town, highlighting the intricacies of loss and injustice faced by Indigenous Australians. Limbo is an Australian indie mystery-crime film directed by Ivan Sen, starring Simon Baker, Rob Collins, Natasha Wanganeen, and Nicholas Hope. This is a very sleek dialogue-free trailer, relying entirely on critics' quotes and the vivid B&w images to sell this film. This tricky...

Simon Baker revealed his new look in the new Australian film Limbo, in which he has short brown hair and a beard.

The 53-year-old Aussie actor posted a series of black-and-white screenshots of Limbo on Instagram, promoting his film that is screening in Australian cinemas. The Mentalist star has been known for his long blond hairstyle, and the new short hair look definitely shocked the fans.

“I love your rugged appearance in this film, different but strong ,” one Instagram user wrote under his movie promotion post

“Congratulations! You are almost unrecognizable with that extremely short hair,” added another fan.

In the newly released movie Limbo, made by Australian indigenous filmmaker Ivan Sen, Baker plays a detective who is visiting a small town to investigate an old unsolved murder of an Aboriginal woman.

The talented auteur Sen is known for the films Mystery Road and Goldstone.

>Watch Simon Baker’s uBIO Now!

After helming TV series such as 'Mystery Road' and 'Firebite', Warwick Thornton returns to where he says his heart is – cinema – with 'The New Boy'. The writer, director and Dop talks to If about the making of the film and his approach to directing - "there are no f***ing rules".

The post ‘Cinema is where my heart is’: Warwick Thornton on ‘The New Boy’ appeared first on If Magazine.

Documentary follows stolen generations member Brenda Matthews’ search for her white foster parents

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The inherently fragmentary nature of memories is a difficult thing to visualise, but The Last Daughter’s co-directors, Brenda Matthews and Nathaniel Schmidt, do a fine job of it in this tenderly crafted documentary. Imagery throughout the film is tuned to the testimony of Matthews, a Wiradjuri woman and member of the stolen generations who was removed from her biological family when she was very young. She was placed in the custody of white foster parents who raised her in a loving home for five years before being directed to return her to her Aboriginal family. This created, in the long run, a large gap in her understanding of her past.

Matthews’ first memories were of growing up in a white family but where did they go? Why did they leave her life?...

Rebel Wilson is set to direct her first feature, The Deb, a musical set in Australia “that brings the bush into the city.”

The Deb was written by Hannah Reilly and Meg Washington based on a stage show that Wilson championed when it premiered at Sydney’s Australian Theatre for Young People (Atyp) in 2022. Wilson revealed that she also will co-star in the film and told us that two songs not used in the stage production will be featured in the film.

Amanda Ghost, Len Blavatnik and Gregor Cameron are producing through their company Unigram (Tetris) and sister company AI Film.

Shooting on locations in Sydney and rural New South Wales starting in September, The Deb will be produced in partnership with Wilson’s Camp Sugar Productions and award-winning Australian producer Bunya Productions. Danny Cohen executive...

Film is produced by Unigram and AI Film which recently co-financed and produced ‘Tetris’ for Apple TV+

Bridesmaids and Pitch Perfect star Rebel Wilson is set to direct her first feature, The Deb, a musical comedy set in rural Australia.

Based on an Australian musical, The Deb is to set to be produced by Unigram’s Amanda Ghost, Len Blavatnik, and Gregor Cameron and sister company AI Film. The two companies recently co-financed and produced Tetris with Marv Studios for Apple TV+.

The film will be produced in partnership with Rebel Wilson’s Camp Sugar Productions and Australian producer Bunya Productions,...

Acorn TV continues to bet on international productions and is preparing for the arrival of its next great thriller series, Cannes Confidential. Filmed entirely in Cannes, the romantic thriller stars renowned French television actress Lucie Lucas (Porto and Gloria), Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica), and Tamara Marthe (Profilage).

Check out the trailer released by Acorn TV below:

Cannes Confidential centers on the unlikely relationship between serious detective Camille Delmasse and infamous swindler Harry King. Both must work together to solve a series of crimes on the French Riviera, while their relationship is built between disagreements and funny moments.

Beyond the yachts and the renowned festival, the series will present a version of Cannes that few know and most will never see. It's a great time for the trailer, with the Cannes Film Festival making headlines at the moment. The premiere is scheduled for June 26, with two episodes arriving each week until...

In reviewing Ivan Sen’s Limbo, many critics have noted the parallels between the film and the auteur’s previous features Mystery Road and Goldstone. All fit within the “outback noir” genre – following a cop who heads into a remote outback town to solve a mystery – and have First Nations themes. However, whereas the Mystery Road franchise’s Jay Swan was an Indigenous police officer, the lead character in Limbo, the jaded and damaged detective Travis, is white. Simon Baker is...

The post “True auteurism”: Ivan Sen and Simon Baker on their collaboration in ‘Limbo’ appeared first on If Magazine.

The cast are uniformly excellent in the auteur’s latest outback noir, with his star playing a tough, sorrowful detective investigating the murder of an Indigenous girl 20 years before

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After making last year’s Loveland, a heavily ponderous and unsubtle sci-fi film set in Hong Kong, the Indigenous auteur Ivan Sen – most famous for directing the Mystery Road movies – has returned to crime in the sunscorched desert. And damn it’s great to have him back doing outback noir, because Sen is so bloody good at it. His latest work, Limbo, is an eerily meditative production with top-notch performances and a harshly beautiful monochrome veneer.

Simon Baker leads the cast as Travis Hurley, a tough, sorrowful, heroin-injecting detective with a buzz cut and a downbeat, Walter White-ish demeanour. At one point a child accurately observes that he looks more like a drug dealer...

The genesis of Warwick Thornton’s seventh narrative feature The New Boy stretches back to the beginning of the Australian’s fictional filmmaking career. Thornton drafted the first script of The New Boy — a story about innocence and survival, following a lone Indigenous boy who finds himself in a Christian monastery in 1940s Australia — 18 years ago, well before he won Cannes’ Camera d’Or prize in 2009 for his feature debut, Samson & Delilah. The New Boy has always been a deeply personal project for Thornton, who as a young boy was sent by his mother to a remote boarding school run by Spanish monks.

“I had been getting in trouble back home in Alice Springs [a small city in Australia’s Northern Territory] and it was what she thought I needed to sort me out,” says Thornton. “I had never been inside a church before. I walked into the church building for the first time and saw this guy...

A couple weeks ago, the Hulu streaming service unveiled a teaser trailer for their upcoming eight-part psychological thriller series The Clearing, which is set to premiere with two episodes on May 24. With the premiere date now just three weeks away, the streamer has released a full trailer for the show, and you can check it out in the embed above.

Based on the best-selling crime novel In the Clearing by author J.P. Pomare and said to be “inspired by the darkness of real-life cults in Australia and around the world“, The Clearing is an emotional and psychological thriller that follows the nightmares of a cult and a woman who’s forced to face the demons from her past in order to stop the kidnapping and coercion of innocent children in the future. The series burrows under the skin and inside the mind, blurring the lines between past and present, reality...

The upcoming Hulu Original Series “The Clearing,” based on the best-selling crime thriller In The Clearing by author J.P. Pomare, unveiled a first trailer this afternoon that gives a closer look at the cult at the center of the series.

In the new trailer, one character ominously asks a child, “Are you ready for your Clearing?”

Watch it below.

“The Clearing” is created and written by Elise McCredie and Matt Cameron, with co-writer Osamah Sami, and draws inspiration from real-life cults in Australia and around the world. Look for this series to arrive next month, on May 24, 2023.

The eight-episode series is “an emotional and psychological thriller that follows the nightmares of a cult and a woman who’s forced to face the demons from her past in order to stop the kidnapping and coercion of innocent children in the future.”

Teresa Palmer (“Discovery of Witches,” Lights Out), Miranda Otto (Talk to Me,...

The Hulu streaming service has released a teaser trailer for their upcoming psychological thriller series The Clearing, and you can check it out in the embed above. Based on the best-selling crime novel In the Clearing by author J.P. Pomare, this eight-part series is set to premiere with two episodes on May 24. The remaining six episodes will be released on a weekly basis, with a new episode arriving on Hulu every Wednesday.

Said to be “inspired by the darkness of real-life cults in Australia and around the world“, The Clearing is an emotional and psychological thriller that follows the nightmares of a cult and a woman who’s forced to face the demons from her past in order to stop the kidnapping and coercion of innocent children in the future. The series burrows under the skin and inside the mind, blurring the lines between past and present, reality and nightmare in a truly unnerving way…...

The upcoming Hulu Original Series “The Clearing,” based on the best-selling crime thriller In The Clearing by author J.P. Pomare, unveiled a first look teaser today that introduces its cast and nightmarish psychological thrills.

“The Clearing” is created and written by Elise McCredie and Matt Cameron, with co-writer Osamah Sami, and draws inspiration from real-life cults in Australia and around the world. Look for this series to arrive next month, on May 24, 2023.

The eight-episode series is “an emotional and psychological thriller that follows the nightmares of a cult and a woman who’s forced to face the demons from her past in order to stop the kidnapping and coercion of innocent children in the future.”

Teresa Palmer (“Discovery of Witches,” Lights Out), Miranda Otto (Talk to Me, Annabelle: Creation), and Guy Pearce (Prometheus, Ravenous) lead the Australian cast that also includes Hazem Shammas (“Safe Harbour”), Mark Coles-Smith (“Mystery Road”), Kate Mulvany...

A new study published Friday by Screen Australia shows that the country’s on-screen television diversity has increased significantly in the past six years, but there remains more to be done.

“Seeing Ourselves 2: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Australian TV Drama” examined the diversity of the main characters in 361 scripted Australian TV and online dramas broadcast between 2016 and 2021. It compared that data with the Australian population and a previous report “Seeing Ourselves” published in 2016.

The new report shows that there is higher representation for First Nations people, disabled people (6.6% from 3.6%), Lgbtqi+ people (7.4% from 4.5%), and non-European people (16% from 6.9%).

“However, a number of Australia’s communities remain under-represented on-screen compared to population benchmarks and in particular disability representation remains critically low,” the report said.

The report looked at First Nations people, cultural background of non-First Nations people, disability, gender identity and sexual orientation, age and occupational status, and diversity in children’s drama.

Australian TV drama has improved levels of diversity, especially representation of the country’s First Nations population, but several communities remain under-represented on local screens, according to a study issued today by government agency Screen Australia.

The report shows that representation of First Nations people has increased from 4.8% to 7.2% since 2016, compared to the population benchmark of 3.8%. Australian scripted series including Mystery Road and Total Control, along with comedy sketch show Black Comedy, were noted for contributing to the positive result.

“This result shows good progress and it’s not by accident – it represents years of advocacy and consistent hard work to ensure our practitioners feel supported and are afforded opportunities in an industry that hasn’t always been accessible,” said Screen Australia’s Head of First Nations, Angela Bates.

The study, ‘Seeing Ourselves 2: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Australian TV Drama’, looked at the diversity of main characters in...

There’s a parched austerity to the landscape of the Australian outback, along with an embedded history of conflict between Indigenous and invading occupants, that makes it irresistibly well-suited to screen westerns. But there’s a loneliness to it, too, a sense that its quiet vastness could swallow you whole and without trace, that lends itself as easily to moody, smoky mystery.

Aboriginal filmmaker Ivan Sen has twice before dabbled in the harsh, dry space where those genre possibilities overlap, in his features “Goldstone” and “Mystery Road.” In his latest, most accomplished film “Limbo,” he once more surveys the region with a critical eye, finding a history of racial injustice in its sharp cracks and long shadows. But the genre styling this time has been pushed all the way to stark, monochromatic stylization. This is outback noir — oblique, secretive and as hard-boiled as the ground is hard-baked — and Sen wears it well.

Global blockbuster Avatar: The Way of Water was named Best Film today at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts’ 12th annual Aacta International Awards. See the full list of film and TV winners below.

Austin Butler followed up his BAFTA triumph by taking Best Lead Actor for playing the King in Elvis, and the pic’s Baz Luhrmann won Best Director. Cate Blanchett continued impressive her awards-season run with another Best Lead Actress win for her title role in Tár. It’s her third win in the category, having won for Carol and Blue Jasmine in 2015 and 2013, respectively.

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Elsewhere,...

Australian writer Kodie Bedford has signed with CAA for representation.

Bedford co-wrote, executive produced, and script produced ABC series “All My Friends Are Racist,” which won Best Short Form Comedy at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta) Awards in 2021. Created and co-written by Enoch Mailangi, the show follows Casey and Belle who live together and are the hottest friendship in town but when their ‘burn book’ wall, where they’ve listed all their friends as racists, is discovered, they are suddenly ousted from the friendship group.

The writer’s credits also include ABC series “Mystery Road.” In 2020, she was nominated for an Aacta in the Best Screenplay in Television category for the episode “Mystery Road: Broken” and in 2018 in the same category for the episode “Mystery Road: Waterhole.” In the series, detective Jay Swan is assigned to investigate a mysterious disappearance on an outback cattle station. Soon,...

Swedish star Sofia Helin (“The Bridge”) has signed a multi-year first look deal with Scandinavian production company Nordic Drama Queens to exclusively co-develop a slate of film and TV projects.

Nordic Drama Queens, which is backed by Fifth Season (previously Endeavor Content), was founded in September 2021 by Sandra Harms, Miso Films’s former managing director, Josefine Tengblad, former head of drama at Swedish network TV4/CMore (“Blinded”), Line Winther Skyum Funch, a former executive producer at Yellow Bird.

Helin, who is best known for her role as detective Saga Norén in “The Bridge,” previously collaborated with Harms on the HBOMax comedy-series “Lust” which they developed and produced together. The show is nominated for best comedy at Rose d’Or, which will be held during Content London.

“Lust” world premiered at Berlinale Series earlier this year and won best comedy at the Swedish TV awards Kristallen 2022. The daring series stars Helin as Anette,...

Loosely based on the 2007 Urewera raids, New Zealand’s submission to the 2023 Oscars speaks truth to power – but it’s sometimes too brash for its own good

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A quietly powerful and dignified performance from Cliff Curtis is the heart of Tearepa Kahi’s New Zealand action-thriller Muru: a film that’s in no way quiet or subtle, and not intended to be. Curtis plays Taffy Tāwharau, the kind of cop who is, as they say, one of the good guys, filling in as a school bus driver and standing up to racist and misinformed colleagues.

Taffy is torn between different worlds and laws: his Māori heritage and remote Te Urewera community on one hand, and on the other, the uniform and badge to which he’s sworn allegiance. Australian film-makers have explored similar tensions recently in productions including True Colours and Mystery Road.

Netflix’s series adaptation of Australian novel Boy Swallows Universe has unveiled its cast, and first images from the shoot have been released.

Travis Fimmel, Simon Baker and Phoebe Tonkin topline an ensemble cast for the eight-part limited series, which is based on Trent Dalton’s book and is now in production in Brisbane, Australia.

Deadline first revealed news of the project in May 2019, and Netflix boarded it earlier this year.

2022 Netflix Pilot & Series Orders

The book, set in the violent working-class suburban fringe of Brisbane in 1983, follows Eli Bell, an articulate 12-year-old boy, and his mute brother Gus. A synopsis for the novel reads: “Eli Bell’s life is complicated. His father is lost, his mother is in jail and his stepdad is a heroin dealer. The most steadfast adult in Eli’s life is Slim — a...

Princess Diana Police Investigations Explored By Channel 4 & Discovery+

The story of the two police investigations into the death of Princess Diana is to be told in a rare co-production for Channel 4 and Discovery+. With access to top detectives in the UK and France, most of whom are speaking for the first time, Sandpaper Films’ four-parter Investigating Diana: Death in Paris (working title) will examine investigations led by the French Brigade Criminelle in 1997 and UK’s Metropolitan Police in 2004. The People’s Princess’ 1997 car crash shocked the world and ignited a debate about how she died, one that is still being discussed in forensic detail today, riddled with conspiracy theories. Channel 4 will launch first in the UK and Discovery+ has taken second window outside the UK. “This utterly compelling series explores in forensic detail what happened in the investigations following the death of Princess Diana – what it was like for...

Australian pay-tv and streaming service Foxtel is forging ahead with its originals slate.

Long-serving Foxtel executive Brian Walsh, who recently formally extended his consultancy agreement, will serve as executive director of drama for the Foxtel Group. He will oversee all Australian commissioned scripted content for Foxtel and its streaming service Binge.

“More than ever, the Foxtel Group [is] competing with the global streaming giants and we have to generate our originals to maintain and to grow our audiences,” Walsh told Variety.

Foxtel recently premiered its 10-episode courtroom drama, “The Twelve,” based on the Belgium series “De Twaalf.” It stars Sam Neill, making a long awaited return to Australian television, and is Foxtel’s most watched drama series this year.

“Our commissions, I would describe as premium,” said Walsh. “Because our major international suppliers are HBO and BBC, our audiences demand intelligent, smart drama that features marquee casts.”

Foxtel has eight upcoming...

Noma Sets Crypto Feature Film Trio

Exclusive: Japanese film company Noma is developing a series of three feature films about the world of crypto, with Sefi Carmel (Legacy Of Lies) joining as composer and sound designer. The first theatrical feature film in the series, The Rhetoric Star, is currently in production. The second film in the series is Opus, an animated serialized movie that will document the production process of The Rhetoric Star and is due be released in one-minute-long segments weekly from now until the film’s release in 2024. The third film is to be announced later in 2022. Producing The Rhetoric Star is filmmaker and founder of Noma Taichi Itô (Fringe Man). Also aboard is Japanese animator Haruna Gohzu, who has worked on Pokémon, Pokémon the Movie, and Doraemon the Movie: Nobita’s New Dinosaur. Producing the franchise is Mai Fujimoto, founder and CEO of Gracone Inc, a Tokyo-based blockchain and cryptocurrency consultancy,...

“Sex Education” producer Eleven has cast “Ten Pound Poms,” a drama series from “Brassic” creator Danny Brocklehurst for BBC and Australian streamer Stan.

Michelle Keegan (“Brassic”), Faye Marsay (“Game of Thrones”) and Warren Brown (“The Responder”) lead the cast alongside Australian actors Rob Collins (“Mystery Road”), Leon Ford (“Elvis”), Declan Coyle (“Long Black”), David Field (“Shantaram”), Stephen Curry (“Hounds of Love”), Hattie Hook (“Savage River”), Finn Treacy (“The Portable Door”) and Emma Hamilton (“The Tudors”).

The six-part series follows a group of Brits as they leave dreary post-war Britain in 1956 to embark on a life-altering adventure on the other side of the world, in sun-soaked Australia. But life down under isn’t exactly the idyllic dream the new arrivals have been promised.

Brocklehurst said: “ ‘Ten Pounds Poms’ demands an ensemble cast that we are always rooting for, actors we love and want to succeed. I am thrilled to have found those actors.

Miranda Otto, Jesse Spence and Guy Pearce are among the high-profile stars featuring on Disney+’s debut slate in Australia and New Zealand.

Announced at an event at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, the 2022/23 slate comprises three dramas, four documentaries and two lifestyle/general factual entertainment series. Several are for Disney+’s adult vertical Star.

On the scripted drama front, The Clearing is adapted from Jp Pomare’s novel ‘In the Clearing’ and is inspired by Australian cult The Family and its founder Anne Hamilton-Byrne, one of the few female cult leaders in history.

Teresa Palmer (A Discovery of Witches), Miranda Otto (The Usual Suspects) and Guy Pearce (Jack Irish) lead the cast, alongside the lies of Hazem Shammas (Safe Harbour), Mark Coles-Smith (Mystery Road), Tom Budge (Bloom).

Written and created by Matt Cameron (Jack Irish) and Elise McCredie (Stateless) alongside co-writer Osamah Sami (Ali’s Wedding), it comes from...

Zombie Action-Horror Wyrmwood: Apocalypse has released new BTS photos and gory character posters ahead of the April 14 VOD release from XYZ Films.

Rhys lives in the zombie-infested wasteland. His job is to capture civilians and deliver them to what’s left of the military. When Rhys captures a half-zombie-half-human named Grace, he comes to believe she is the key to ending the apocalypse.

Check out the trailer.

The latest feature from Australian filmmaking brother duo Kiah Roache-Turner and Tristan Roache-Turner, whose previous collaborations include their breakout feature debut Wyrmwood: Road Of The Dead, which premiered at the 2014 Fantastic Fest and put them on the map internationally for their creative use of low-budget gore and highly effective horrific story, and the 2018 TIFF Midnight Madness premiere Nekrotronic. The two share co-writing credits while Kiah handles direction with energetic ease and Tristan produces.

With a mix of new and familiar faces from...