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Ari Aster’s feature directorial debut Hereditary is a psychological horror story that takes the audience on a wild and terrifying ride along with the Graham family. Ari Aster's filmmaking career began with short films in the late 2000s and became widely known thanks to his 2011 short film The Strange Thing About the Johnsons. After a couple more short films, Aster made his feature-length directorial debut in 2018 with Hereditary, also written by him.

Hereditary follows the Graham family, who are grieving the death of their secretive grandmother. This begins to reveal a series of disturbing family secrets, as well as unleashing a series of sinister occurrences, including one more family tragedy. The Grahams soon learn they are no longer safe and are being watched, but the reasons behind all that are beyond what they could have ever imagined. Hereditary is not only very well-written and directed, but it also has...

Few actors have as much experience in renowned independent films as Toni Collette, and the Australian performer has become one of the most respected names in the industry. The best Toni Collette movies and TV shows serve as a showcase for her near-unrivaled ability to play nuanced and complex characters, and span multiple genres and decades following her feature-length debut in 1992s Spotswood.

Born in 1972 and active since 1990, Toni Collette landed her first role in an episode of the Australian soap opera A Country Practice in 1990. This was followed by Spotswood in 1992, though it was taking the lead in 1994s Muriels Wedding that catapulted her career and set her on the trajectory to the reputation she now deservedly enjoyed. Still active today thanks to movies like Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken and the upcoming Mickey 17 in 2025, the best Toni Collette movies and TV shows include some of the most highly...

DreamWorks Animation's 2023 film, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, features well-known actors in an animated tale of kraken royalty and mermaid threats. Lana Condor voices the title character, a teenage kraken who must embrace her heritage to protect the sea from evil mermaids. Despite being a box office flop, the film received mixed reviews, with the voice cast being one of its most praised elements.

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is an animated action comedy movie with a voice cast full of well-known names. DreamWorks Animation continues to expand and explore different stories, characters, and settings, and one of its 2023 releases was Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken. Directed by Kirk DeMicco, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken takes the audience to a world where krakens and mermaids exist, and though they can coexist with humans, they can’t reveal their true forms to them.

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken introduces the title character, who lives among...

During a recent Gold Derby video interview, senior editor Rob Licuria spoke in-depth with Murray Bartlett (“Welcome to Chippendales”) about his Hulu limited series, which is eligible at the 2023 Emmys. Watch the full video above and read the complete interview transcript below.

In “Welcome to Chippendales,” Bartlett follows up his Emmy-winning “The White Lotus” role with his acclaimed portrayal of the late choreographer/director Nick De Noia. The eight-episode show was created by Robert Siegel (“Pam & Tommy”) and inspired by the book “Deadly Dance: The Chippendales Murders” by K. Scot Macdonald and Patrick MontesDeOca.

“It’s very seductive to play a character like Nick De Noia,” the actor explained in our webchat. “He’s a choreographer and he was very larger than life.” Bartlett revealed that “the joy of it” was “being able to take a character that might seem larger than life and make them relatable … that’s what...

While The Road Warrior wouldn’t have worked without the Feral Kid, the Max Max franchise star didn’t remain an actor for long after the movie’s release. While some child stars stick with acting well into adulthood, a lot of young performers end up leaving the industry after their early fame subsides. In the case of Emil Minty, a pivotal role in the Mad Max franchise as the Feral Kid was one of the actor’s only parts before he moved on from show business.

The Feral Kid was a mute scavenger who befriended Max and proved to be a brave companion to the title character, with Max saving him from death in the climactic melee. The dénouement of The Road Warrior reveals that his grown-up self was the movie’s narrator, making Fury Road the only Mad Max movie that the character himself narrates. However, despite playing...

Ben Lawrence took home the main prize – Best Direction in a Feature Film (Budget $1M+) – at last night’s Australian Directors’ Guild (Adg) Awards, for his debut narrative feature Hearts and Bones.

Held virtually and hosted by Greta Lee Jackson and Nina Oyama, this year’s Adg Awards also saw female directors take home 10 of the 19 prizes – marking the first time ever that women have made up more than 50 per cent of winners.

Among them were Josephine Mackerras, who took home Best Direction of A Feature Film (Budget under $1M) for the French-language Alice; Maya Newell whose In My Blood It Runs saw her win Best Direction of a Documentary Feature, and Emma Freeman, who won Best Direction of a TV or SVOD Mini-Series for Stateless: Episode 3.

The guild suggests this reflects the push for gender parity in the industry. Traditionally, women have been extremely underrepresented in director roles, and last week,...

Nfsa CEO Jan Müller.

The Federal Government will give the National Film and Sound Archive (Nfsa) $5.5 million over the next four years to support its digitisation efforts, including the creation of a new hub where audiovisual artefacts will be preserved and shared with audiences.

The Nfsa has more than 3 million items in its collection. Around 400,000 items are in original analogue formats, such as magnetic tape, and are at risk of deterioration and permanent loss.

The institution has made digitisation its key priority for the last few years. In 2015, it published Deadline 2025: Collections at Risk, warning that cultural heritage held on magnetic tape will in most cases be lost forever unless it is digitised by 2025. The government’s funding designed to speed up efforts so that this date can be met.

The funding will also support the modernisation of the Nfsa’s existing digitisation technology and ongoing storage of the increasing volume of digitised material,...

(L-r) McGregor Casting’s Josh Algie, Lucky Gorka Creative’s Lucky Gorka, Stevie Ray, Kirsty McGregor, Gemma Brown and Will Pearce at the 2019 Casting Guild awards.

McGregor Casting founder Kirsty McGregor expresses her support for out of work creatives and discusses her current and recent projects and her bullish outlook for Australian cinema.

Q: Which film and TV projects were you casting when productions were shut down or delayed in late March and were you able to finish each job?

A: We were working on a big TV series which had to pause production in New Zealand. And we had Endemol Shine Australia’s Rfds just about to start shooting in Broken Hill so that was halted. Other than that, most of our work was still in pre-pre-production so whilst they’ve also pushed back they weren’t as close to shooting.

Q: Since then, which projects have hired you?...

Gary Conway.

One of Australia’s most respected and prolific TV directors who started his career at Crawford Productions in the 1960s, Gary Conway died on Friday in a hospice in Melbourne, aged 73.

Conway directed nearly 800 episodes of Neigbours, beginning in 1988, and worked on the Fremantle show until late last year when he was forced to stop after being diagnosed with esophageal cancer.

“Gary was a great mate to me and to many, many others,” his friend and long-time colleague, composer Garry (Sam) Hardman tells If.

“Gary started at Crawford’s a couple of years before I did. I met him when I started with the company in 1965. There were 45 people on staff back then and Gary was the company’s art department.

“He would make up the credit cards for Homicide and Hunter as well as the ‘fake signs” for filming that could turn an ordinary office building into a federal bank.

Justin Rosniak in ‘Les Norton’ (Photo: Tony Mott).

Justin Rosniak has been cast as crooks and other wayward types so often in his career he is relishing the opportunity to play more upstanding characters.

“There is not a lot of diversity in characters in Australia so once you get locked into something, some people only see you as one thing,” he tells If. “I often long to get to show my range a bit more, or a softer side.

“So it’s been good that in the last couple of years I have started to get roles that push me in other directions and allow me to add a few different layers.”

In the second season of Mr Inbetween, the comedy/drama created by and starring Scott Ryan as criminal-for-hire Ray Shoesmith, he gets the chance to show a different side to his character Gary, Ray’s best friend.

“Gary...

Richard Carter.

Australian film and television actor Richard Carter died last Saturday after a brief illness. He was 65.

Carter appeared in numerous TV series in the 1980s and 1990s including Wildside, Rafferty’s Rules, A Country Practice, Bangkok Hilton and Police Rescue.

His film credits included Bootmen, Gettin’ Square, The Man Who Sued God, voice roles in both editions of Happy Feet and The Great Gatsby.

Producer Trish Lake recalls Carter’s memorable line in Jonathan Teplitzky’s 2003 crime drama Gettin’ Square – “It’s un-Australian,” delivered in outraged tones to Timothy Spall when talking about the “super cops” and their coercive powers, observing, “He will be greatly missed and always remembered.”

He had regular roles as Mick Corella in Rake, Mick Deakin in East West 101 and Ted Hudson in White Collar Blue. In his final screen appearance he played the Bullet Farmer in Mad Max: Fury Road.

His agency...

Sue Maslin.

Producers Anita Jacoby and Sue Maslin, writers Ray Harding and Bevan Lee, and actor Magda Szubanski were among the screen professionals who received Australia Day honours on Saturday.

Jacoby, a former managing director of ITV Studios Australia and head of development and production at Zapruder’s Other Films, was named a Member of the Order of Australia (Am) for her significant service to the broadcast and print media, and to community mental health groups.

An authority member of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma) and a board director of AFI | Aacta, Jacoby has worked in the industry for more than 30 years. Her extensive list of credits include The Gruen Transfer, Enough Rope, Hungry Beast, Angels and Demons, 60 Minutes, and the Today Show. She is a member of Screen Producers Australia (Spa) and a supporter of the Documentary Australia Foundation. In 2013, she established the Jacoby Walkley Scholarship, which supports young journalists.

Claire van der Boom. (Photo: David Cook)..

The ABC.s new medical drama.Pulse.goes into production in Sydney today.

The series, from Clandestine Beyond, is inspired by a true story of a transplant patient who became a doctor, and is created by Kris Wyld, Michael Miller and Mel Hill..

Set in a western suburbs teaching hospital, Claire van der Boom (Sisters of War) stars as Frankie Bell, a second year practising doctor who, eight years after her own kidney transplant, is set to start on a renal rotation..

Pulse will also star Andrea Demetriades (Janet King), Owen Teale (Game of Thrones), Liam McIntyre (Spartacus: War of the Damned), Susie Porter (Puberty Blues), Arka Das (Top of The Lake), Penny Cook (A Country Practice), Blessing Mokgohloa (Hunters), Pallavi Sharda (Lion) and Renee Lim (Please Like Me).

The series is produced by Wyld and Antony I. Ginnane, with Beyond Entertainment.s...

Reg Cribb.

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Playwright and screenwriter Reg Cribb is set to share his career highlights and talk about his current projects at a Screenworks event in Byron Bay.

Cribb, who recently won the Aacta award for Best Adapted Screenplay for his film adaptation of Last Cab to Darwin, will spend an evening .In Conversation. with local screenwriter and script editor Charlie de Salis at Sae Creative Institute on April 14.

Cribb will also talk about two projects he is currently working on in the Northern Rivers. .

Screenworks general manager, Ken Crouch, said there were many people in the community that would benefit from an evening with Reg Cribb.

.His numerous box office hits on stage and screen are evidence of how much Australian audiences love his work and we are very fortunate to have this talented writer take the time to talk with us about his craft and his career,. he said.

Griffin's production of Emerald City (photo credit: Brett Boardman).

Australian National Theatre Live, a new venture that will produce filmed versions of popular Australian theatrical productions for distribution in cinemas, will launch in April.

Off the back of the success of the UK.s National Theatre Live in local cinemas, Australian National Theatre Live will launch with the Griffin Theatre Company.s production of David Williamson.s Emerald City.

The production from 2014 will receive its cinema premiere in Sydney and Melbourne, followed by screenings across the country.

Later this year, Ant Live will screen productions of Mary Rachel Brown.s multi-award winning The Dapto Chaser, Sydney Theatre Company.s Wharf Revue: Celebrating 15 Years and Geoffrey Atherden.s Liberty Equality Fraternity.

.Australia produces world-class theatre and Australian National Theatre Live will give audiences across Australia the opportunity to experience some of the best productions available — good theatre will no longer just...

NCIS: Los Angeles showrunner Shane Brennan on set with Miquel Ferrer, Daniela Ruah and Eric Christian Olsen..

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NCIS: Los Angeles showrunner Shane Brennan is returning to Australia in a bid to fundamentally change the way productions are funded and developed in his home country.

Brennan, one Australia.s most successful television exports, has told If he wants to kickstart a new era in Australia with a .unique system. and a .large amount of finance..

Dubbed the hardest working man in Hollywood, he was showrunner of both NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles for two years.

The 59-year-old Victorian, who left for the Us in 2003, has executive produced more than 300 episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS.

Brennan, whose Australian writing credits include A Country Practice, The Flying Doctors, Blue Heelers, Stingers and Mcleod.s Daughters, had more than 400 hours. worth of production credits when he left for the Us in 2003.

He...

Andrew Anastasios and Andrew Knight.s The Water Diviner won the top prize and the gong for best original feature at the 2015 Awgie Awards.

It was the first time a feature collected the Australian Writers' Guild's Major Award and the gong for original feature since 2012 when Tony Briggs and Keith Thompson won with The Sapphires.

The prize for feature film adaptation was shared by Brendan Cowell for Scarlett Productions'. Ruben Guthrie and Tommy Murphy for Matchbox Pictures' Holding the Man.

Matchbox and Full Clip.s Deadline Gallipoli was named best original TV miniseries, acknowledging the work of writers Jacquelin Perske (also script producer), Stuart Beattie, Shaun Grant and Cate Shortland.

FremantleMedia.s Wentworth Season 3, Episode 3 The Governor.s Pleasure by Stuart Page shared the TV series award with Endemol Australia.s Offspring Episode 511 by Michael Lucas. Jan Sardi and Mac Gudgeon took the award for best miniseries adaptation for...

Chris Thomson, one of the founding directors of the burgeoning New Zealand film and television industry in the 1960s, died in Sydney after a sudden stroke on July 1. He was 70.

Born in Wellington, Thomson directed the first ever drama to air on New Zealand television, A Game for 5 Players, followed by the series The Alpha Plan.

After relocating to the UK in the early 1970s, he worked as a director with the BBC before returning to Australia to direct acclaimed miniseries 1915, Waterfront and The Last Bastion and the feature films The Empty Beach, The Perfectionist and The Delinquents.

He also directed the first ever episode of A Country Practice in 1981. During his long career he worked closely with some of Australia.s finest performers and crew including Jack Thompson, Jacki Weaver, Bryan Brown, Greta Scacchi, Bill Hunter, Sigrid Thornton, Kylie Minogue, Ray Barrett, Andrew McFarlane, Bill Kerr, Lorraine Bayly, Noni Hazlehurst,...

It is with great sadness the Awg reports that Ted Roberts, the highly respected television writer and producer, died of cancer on Monday February 23.. He was 83..

In a career spanning more than 40 years he wrote more than 500 hours of television drama: Skippy, Homicide, Elephant Boy, Boney, Lindsay.s Boy, Rush, Patrol Boat, A Country Practice, Willing and Able, G.P., Mission: Impossible, Water Rats, and Blue Heelers. In addition, he was supervising producer on Water Rats.

He is survived by three children, five grandchildren, and the publisher Pat Woolley, who loved him for 16 years.

Close friends, industry colleagues and family are invited to the wake to mourn and praise him, on Saturday at 2pm in Ultimo, Sydney. Email your interest to books@fastbooks.com.au before Friday 6pm for further details.

Grateful thanks to everyone at Wolper Jewish Hospital, Woollahra, who cared for him so tenderly the last 6 weeks of his life,...

An Actors Equity national performers committee member has defended the union.s process of vetting imported actors in Australian taxpayer-funded film and TV productions.

Jonathan Mill argues the present policy enables actors to work with international performers while ensuring most lead roles go to Aussies.

Kevin Harrington, a former Npc member, supported Mill, stating, "From my experience on the Npc the committee is more flexible on policy than any other any union in Australia. If we had stuck to policy, Red Dog would not have been made."

Actor Roy Billing reignited the debate on the issue in his op Ed piece for If when he asked Equity to ease the restrictions on foreign actors. Subsequently he called for Equity and the Npc to be taken out of any of that decision-making. Denise Roberts, CEO and principal director of Screenwise Film & TV School for Actors, together with many producers agreed with...

Jessica Marais in Love Child..

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Sarah Lambert wasn.t around in the 1960s but Love Child, the drama series she created for the Nine Network, sets to capture that era of revolution, bohemia, youthful innocence and exuberance.

The eight-part series set in Kings Cross in 1969 evidently delivers on that promise, encouraging the network to commission a second season as announced by director of television Michael Healy at the launch of Nine's 2014 season this week..

As the writer-producer, Lambert was inspired to make the show when she learned that a close family friend of her mother was one of thousands of women who had been forced to live in an unwed mothers' home and give up her baby daughter for adoption 20 years earlier.

Produced by Playmaker Media, the series follows characters who live and work in a maternity hospital and home for unwed mothers, contrasted with those who inhabit the streets...

Actor Penne Hackforth-Jones, a pillar of Australian films and TV for more than 40 years, died in Melbourne on Friday from lung cancer, aged 63.

Her illness was diagnosed in 2012 but she wished to keep the diagnosis private while her father was still alive. She relocated to Melbourne in 2011 to be close to and care for her elderly parents both of whom died recently.

.Penne responded to her own terminal diagnosis with great courage and grace,. said her sisters Jos Hackforth-Jones, Simary Hackforth-Jones and Olivia McNally. .Her health deteriorated in April, but she was able to remain at home because of the wonderful support from her Gp, Mercy and Alfred Palliative care units and friends. Her last weeks were peaceful and happy. She died surrounded by flowers and cards from those closest to her and cared for by family and close friends. She was dearly loved by relations and friends and much...

An Australian director best known for working on Neighbours, Home and Away and A Country Practice has passed away.

Bob Meillon directed over 140 episodes of Neighbours through the 1990s and into 2001. He died peacefully early on Sunday 3 June. He was 69 years old.

Alan Fletcher, who plays Dr Karl Kennedy in Neighbours, told Encore: “Bob was a wonderful person to be in the company with, and share a red wine. One of the great characters of the TV industry. At Neighbours he was shooting three-camera studio television as well as on location. He had the ability to edit what he was shooting in his head. He’d only shoot what he knew he would use. He was a very efficient director stylistically.”

Fletcher continued: “As an actor you could go and move where you wanted and he would sit and calmly cover it, as if nothing was difficult for him.”

Meillon...

Television writer and script producer Denise Morgan passed away on Saturday 25 June. Denise’s funeral will be held today at the Palm Chapel of Macquarie Park Crematorium (corner of Delhi and Plassey Roads, Macquarie Park), from 2:15pm.

With a career spanning 30 years, Morgan wrote for many Australian dramas including; Blue Heelers, Stingers, Phoenix, Water Rats, Medivac, Murder Call, Flying Doctors, Home and Away, Embassy, A Country Practice, Prisoner and many others.

A member of the Australian Writers’ Guild, the Awg reflected on Morgan’s contribution to the industry in a statement by outgoing Awg President Tim Pye: “Those of us who worked with Denise over the years, and there are very many of us, will remember her as a talented writer and teacher with a hugely generous spirit, a quick wit and an infectious smile. She will endure in our memories for many years.

Vale Denise. You will be very sadly missed.

Jon Blake has passed away at the age of 52. The Australian actor, who was best known for his roles in The Slim Dusty Movie, Anzacs, The Restless Years and A Country Practice, died of complications from pneumonia. Blake was dubbed "the next Mel Gibson" after starring in The Lighthorsemen but his career ended after he had a serious car accident on the last day of filming in 1986. He was left with permanent brain damage. The star went through various court cases and was eventually awarded $$7.7 million (£5 million) in (more)...

Michele Fawdon’s management, Shanahan Management, has announced time and location of the actress’s funeral service.

“There will be a funeral service held for Michele next Monday 30 May 2011. The service will be at Lilydale Memorial Park, 126-128 Victoria Road Lilydale at 2pm, with a celebration of her life at our favourite restaurant in the valley Bella Verdere.”

As well as working on stage in productions such as Jesus Christ Superstar and Uncle Vanya, Fawdon worked on The Flying Doctors, A Country Practice, G.P and was most recently seen on our screens in 2010 in Killing Time.

Michele Fawdon, star of Australian stage and screen passed away this morning, losing her battle with cancer.

Born in Essex, Fawdon began acting age 12, and moved to Australia early in her career.

Fawdon won two AFIs; In 1979 she won Best Actress for her role in Cathy’s Child, and in 1987 for Best Actress for a Telefeature for The Fish Are Safe. She was also nominated in 1985 for Best Actress for Unfinished Business.

She also won Best Actress awards at the Australian Film & Television Awards (Sammy) in 1979 for Cathy’s Child, and in 1980 for The Silent Cry.

Fawdon worked on The Flying Doctors, A Country Practice, G.P and most recently seen on our screens in 2010 in Killing Time.

The year is 1880. In an outback town in Broken Hill, the people are falling ill. Fanny, a young aspiring writer, wants to escape. But when a new doctor with a new vision for the town arrives, she decides to stay. It seems like a good idea... until the zombies take over.   This is Quack, the latest production in the Griffin Theatre Company's 2010 season. Written by award winning Australian playwright, Ian Wilding (October) and directed by Chris Mead (The Modern International Dead), the play is described as a "mash-up of A Country Practice, Deadwood and Shaun of the Dead.