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Documentarian Vittorio De Seta’s first narrative feature, Bandits of Orgosolo, builds upon several of the director’s shorts about the Sardinian region where the film is set. Featuring a cast of non-professionals, the film follows the shepherd Michele (Michele Cossu) as he and his young son, Peppeddu (Peppeddu Cuccu), end up fleeing deeper into the mountainous countryside when the father is wrongly suspected of livestock rustling and murder. With carabiners on his trail, Michele leads his child and his sheep into higher and rockier ground, and as vegetation and water become increasingly scarce, starvation rips through the flock. Eventually, and in a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, circumstances force Michele into the sort of crimes of which he was initially innocent.

This overarching narrative recalls Vittorio De Sica’s seminal Bicycle Thieves. But where De Sica’s neorealist drama took a snapshot of postwar Italy’s shattered economic and moral torpor,...

Indie film sales agents from mainland China remain notably scarce for a market of such immense size. The reasons behind this reality are many: The still-developing state of China’s industry, a markedly domestic focus among most local studios, and a censorship and regulatory regime that adds risk to an already commercially challenging sector of the movie business.

Beijing-based sales and production company Rediance has made an outsized impact despite the odds. The company was founded in 2017 by former film curator Meng Xing with a mission to serve the growing international needs of a cohort of young, accomplished Chinese arthouse filmmakers. The outfit found its stride with impressive speed, representing European festival award winners like Cai Chengjie’s The Widow Witch (2017), Hu Bo’s Elephant Sitting Still (2018) and Li Cheng’s José (2018). The company also has expanded into financing arthouse titles from both emerging and established arthouse names from China and afar,...

Screen investigates which films from around the world could launch on the Croisette, including on opening night.

With just over a month to go before the line-up for this year’s Cannes Film Festival is unveiled in Paris, Croisette predictions and wish lists are hitting the web thick and fast.

Screen’s network of correspondents and contributors around the world have been putting out feelers to get a sense of what might or might not make it to the Palais du Cinéma or one of the parallel sections.

Just like the Oscars, this year’s festival is likely to unfold amid a politically-charged atmosphere. Beyond Trump and the rise of populism across the globe, France will be digesting the result of its own presidential election on May 7. Against this background, the festival will be feting its 70th edition.

Below, Screen reveals which titles might - and might not - be in the running for a place at the...

Toni Collette has joined Levi Miller, Aaron McGrath and Angourie Rice on the cast of Rachel Perkins' Australian feature film Jasper Jones..

Jasper Jones is the film adaptation of the award winning coming of age mystery novel by Craig Silvey.

Collette will play the role of Ruth Bucktin, mother to Charlie Bucktin (Miller)..

The film is set over one eventful summer in 1965 when Charlie, lured by adventure and mystery, experiences the trials of teenage love and discovers what it means to be truly courageous..

Aaaron McGrath has been cast as the titular character Jasper Jones and Rice as the intelligent and mysterious Eliza Wishart, who is also the object of Charlie.s affections.

Producer, Vincent Sheehan said Toni Collette was, quite simply, one of the greatest actors of her generation.

"The depth and insight she will bring to the unique role of Ruth Bucktin and having her work alongside...

Porchlight Films and Bunya Productions have revealed the cast for feature film Jasper Jones, which is set to start filming in Western Australia on October 26.

The cast will include Levi Miller (Terra Nova, upcoming Pan, Blue Dog), Angourie Rice (These Final Hours, upcoming The Nice Guys) and Aaron McGrath (Glitch)..

The film is an adaption of the award winning coming of age mystery novel by Craig Silvey..

Principal photography is set to commence in October in the south west of Western Australia.

Jasper Jones will be directed by Rachel Perkins (Bran Nue Dae, Radiance, One Night the Moon).

Miller will play bookish 14-year-old, Charlie Bucktin, who over one eventful summer in 1965 navigates small-town racism, hypocrisy and the trials of teenage love.

McGrath has been cast as the titular character, Jasper Jones, while will play the intelligent and mysterious Eliza Wishart, who is also the object of Charlie.s affections.

.Perkins...

Porchlight Films and Bunya Productions have revealed the cast for feature film Jasper Jones, which is set to start filming in Western Australia on October 26.

The cast will include Levi Miller (Terra Nova, upcoming Pan, Blue Dog), Angourie Rice (These Final Hours, upcoming The Nice Guys) and Aaron McGrath (Glitch)..

The film is an adaption of the award winning coming of age mystery novel by Craig Silvey..

Principal photography is set to commence in October in the south west of Western Australia.

Jasper Jones will be directed by Rachel Perkins (Bran Nue Dae, Radiance, One Night the Moon).

Miller will play bookish 14-year-old, Charlie Bucktin, who over one eventful summer in 1965 navigates small-town racism, hypocrisy and the trials of teenage love.

McGrath has been cast as the titular character, Jasper Jones, while will play the intelligent and mysterious Eliza Wishart, who is also the object of Charlie.s affections.

.Perkins...

Direct from its world-premiere screening at the Cannes Film Festival, Sff and Vivid Ideas are proud to present the Australian Premiere of the highly anticipated futuristic thriller The Rover and host director David Michôd, actors Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson and producer Liz Watts at the State Theatre on Saturday 7 June. The Rover screens as part of Sff’s Official Competition. Michôd, Pearce, Pattinson and Watts will also give a talk as part of Vivid Ideas at Town Hall on Sunday 8 June.

Actor Cate Blanchett will attend the Festival to introduce a special screening of DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon 2 the second chapter of the epic trilogy in which Blanchett is the voice of the character Valka. The screening is held at 2pm on Public Holiday Monday, 9 June, at Event Cinemas George Street.

UK visual artists and film directors Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard introduce Sff’s Opening Night Film,...

The Weinstein Company announced today that they have acquired from Goalpost Film worldwide rights, with the exception of the UK & Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, France, Canada, Israel, Portugal and airlines, to The Sapphires. The film, directed by acclaimed Aboriginal actor and theater director Wayne Blair, stars funnyman Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids, Friends With Kids), Deborah Mailman (Radiance, Offspring), who was the first Aboriginal actress to win the AFI Award for Best Actress, Jessica Mauboy (Bran Nue Dae), an Australian pop artist who was the runner-up on Australian Idol in 2006 and breakout stars Shari Sebbensand Miranda Tapsell. The screenplay was written by Aboriginal playwright Tony Briggs, whose mother and family members were part of The Sapphires group, and Keith Thompson. Warwick Thornton, previous winner of the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for Samson And Delilah, is the film’s Director of Photography. The announcement was made today by TWC Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein,...

The Weinstein Company announced today that the studio has acquired The Sapphires , directed by Wayne Blair and starring Chris O'Dowd, Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy, Shari Sebbens and Miranda Tapsell. Here's the release: The Weinstein Company (TWC) announced today that they have acquired from Goalpost Film worldwide rights, with the exception of the UK & Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, France, Canada, Israel, Portugal and airlines, to The Sapphires. The film, directed by acclaimed Aboriginal actor and theater director Wayne Blair, stars funnyman Chris O'Dowd (Bridesmaids, Friends With Kids), Deborah Mailman (Radiance, Offspring), who was the first Aboriginal actress to win the AFI Award for Best Actress, Jessica Mauboy (Bran Nue Dae), an Australian pop artist who was the...

Production begins on ABC telemovie Dangerous Remedy in Melbourne this week.

Produced by Ned Lander for Eclipse Films, producer of Radiance and Who Do You Think You Are?, Dangerous Remedy is directed by Ken Cameron, who helmed Underbelly, Wildside and Brides of Christ and written by Kris Wyld, who wrote East West 101 and Wildside.

A true story based on events beginning in 1969, Dangerous Remedy is the story of a doctor, Bert Wainer, who uncovers an illegal abortion racket protected by corrupt homicide detectives and organised by the medical establishment.

The cast is led by Jeremy Sims, with Willam McInnes, Susie Porter, Maeve Dermody and Mark Leonard Winter as well as Gary Sweet and Caroline Craig. The project is executive produced by Andrew Myer.

Lander said: “This is a story of the remarkable Dr Bertram Wainer – a passionate and flawed man whose campaign challenged and changed our society.”

Carole Sklan,...

ABC’s new series The Straits has had a slow ratings start to its ten episode run.

Produced by Matchbox Pictures, producers of last year’s success The Slap, The Straits movie length premiere averaged 599,000, peaking at 696,000 viewers last night, according to preliminary ratings by Oztam.

Matchbox Pictures’ creative director Penny Chapman spoke to Encore in January: “It’s the violence and the black humour that is going to make this pretty special. I’ve not made a show like this – maybe blue murder but the Straits’ humour is quite enjoyable. Young men respond to it strongly. It’s a real blokes show. And for the ABC that’s great because young men don’t watch the ABC.”

The Straits is based on an idea by Aaron Fa’aoso which has been developed by a team of writers, including: AFI winning Louis Nowra (Cosi, K-19: The Widowmaker, Radiance); Blake Ayshford (Crownies,...

ABC1′s new 10 hour drama, The Straits, produced by Matchbox Films’ Penny Chapman and Helen Panckhurst begins shooting today. Scottish actor Brian Cox (The Bourne Supremacy, Troy, Braveheart) joins the troupe of Australian actors assembling in Cairns and Torres Strait Islands.

The Montebello family are Far North Queensland’s Corleones, running drugs into Australia and guns and exotic animals out with ambitious bikies in Australia and Papau New Guinean raskols across the Strait also wanting a piece of the action. Cox plays Patriach Harry Montebello, with actress Rena Owen playing his part Torres Strait Island, part Maori wife, Kitty.

Joining Cox and Owen in the cast will be AFI Nominated Aaron Fa’aoso (East West 101, Ran), Logie winner Firass Dirani (Underbelly, Pitch Black) as well as new Australian talent; Jimi Bani (Ran, The Sapphires) and Suzannah Bayes-Morton (All Saints, The Tumbler), who together play the Montebello’s children.

In a statement,...

Encore spoke with the prolific Rachel Perkins about a career that started by chance and evolved into an everlasting passion.

Rachel Perkins is part of the Arrernte people from central Australia, east of Alice Springs. The daughter of Indigenous activist Charlie Perkins, she grew up in Canberra but didn’t necessarily dream of becoming a filmmaker. She just happened to be in the right place at the right time, when there was a lot enthusiasm for Indigenous people to be made a part of the screen industry.

After finishing high school in 1988 she knew she didn’t want to go to university. “It was the arrogance of youth,” she says. Perkins wanted to do something related to Aboriginal studies, and go to Alice Springs to learn more about the strong traditional culture of the area.

The method she chose to get there would change her life; Perkins found out about...

Rachel Perkins is the recipient of the Australian International Documentary Conference Stanley Hawes Award, for her contributions to the development of Indigenous filmmakers and the Australian film industry.

“Rachel’s films reach out to audiences with compelling Australian stories told from the heart. She combines her skills as a writer, director with a remarkable tenacity as a producer,” said the co-chair of the Aidc Board, Trevor Graham.

Perkins will receive the award during the opening ceremony of Aidc in Adelaide, on March 1.

The writer/director/producer began her career making documentaries at the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association. She then worked at Sbs, ABC and as a consultant to the Australian Film Commission. Perkins has created projects from Blood Brothers to the acclaimed First Australians. She has also directed the features Radiance, One Night the Moon and Bran Nue Dae.

Glenn Dunks was at the AFI Awards 2010, and although his favourite film didn’t win any, he will always remember the night Animal Kingdom ruled the world.

And with that the 2010 Samsung Mobile AFI Awards are over and done with for another year. David Michôd’s Animal Kingdom dominated the ceremony as everybody expected, but the refreshingly diverse roster of Australian films from 2010 brought about winners from period romances to action adventures, musicals to vampire horror films. Of the six projects nominated for Best Film only one – Julie Bertuccelli’s poetic The Tree, my personal favourite Australian film of 2010 – left empty handed.

Host Shane Jacobson, of Kenny fame, began the proceedings with a musical sequence that referenced Australian films past and present before what can politely be called “the Animal Kingdom show” commenced, quickly winning several awards.

The crowd, and fellow recipients, were high on Ben Mendelsohn’s win, his...

Margaret Pomeranz delivered a powerful keynote speech at the opening of the Spaa Conference yesterday in Sydney, and Encore has the full transcript of her meditation on the state of Australian film and television – and why Government and audiences should appreciate the arts a little more.

I’m extremely grateful to Spaa for inviting me to give this keynote speech today. It is the Hector Crawford Memorial Lecture and I want to honour the man today. Hector put Australian television on the map, he made Australian accents acceptable in the media. Do you remember when we could only stomach New Zealanders reading our news because they sounded more English than us? Brian Henderson was a prime example. But more than that Hector validated Australian writers, Australian actors, directors, designers, a whole Australian infrastructure, Some of those people are still working today. In a very significant way Hector created an industry,...

Aboriginal feelgood musical Bran Nue Dae, based on the stage play of the same name, is the latest Australian film to score a U.S. distribution deal, with Freestyle Releasing picking it up and planning a theatrical release in September.

Directed by Rachel Perkins (Radiance, One Night the Moon) and starring Geoffrey Rush, Jessica Mauboy, Rockie McKenzie and Ernie Dingo, the film has already had a successful release in its home country after premiering at the Melbourne International Film Festival and played other big name festivals like Berlin and Toronto over the past year.

Bran Nue Dae is the latest in a string of Australian movies to score U.S. cinema releases this year. In April Apparition released Nash Edgerton's The Square, while David Michôd's Animal Kingdom and the latest melodrama from Bruce Beresford, Mao's Last Dancer, will hit U.S. cinemas in August. Sony Pictures also has...

The eleventh and last part (W-z) of my extensive 2010 preview guide I'm still at work on and should be hitting the site either Tuesday or Wednesday. Before that though it is time to plug a few holes.

With release dates always in flux, there is no true definitive list of films opening this year as the number of titles change day-by-day and many aren't really locked in yet. As a result, there's definitely been some guesswork assembling this list, albeit carefully considered and researched to try and fit in what will come out, what's important enough, and what can be reasonably done.

However, there are always titles that slip through the cracks. Thankfully some ever vigilant readers have been keeping an eye out and sent in some suggestions of key projects I've missed. Not everything can be included of course, otherwise this list would take forever, but there are fourteen...

Cities around Australia have well and truly been swept up in the excitement of Film Festival season and there's more to come with the 2009 Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival ready to tour the country in July.   In its 10th anniversary, the Festival will tour both metropolitan and rural cities around the country exhibiting films from the next wave of Indigenous filmmakers. This year's Festival will be headlined by Warwick Thornton's Samson & Delilah which was the recipient of the coveted Camera d'Or at Cannes this year.   Highlights of the Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival include the premiere of seven short films including directorial debuts from actresses Deborah Mailman (Radiance, Rabbit-Proof Fence, Secret Life Of Us) and Leah Purcell (Jindabyne, The Proposition).

Sydney -- Geoffrey Rush will add the role of missionary priest to his repertoire, after signing to join the cast of indigenous musical "Bran Nue Dae," producers said Monday.

Rush will co-star with aboriginal actor Ernie Dingo and Australian musicians Missy Higgins and Dan Sultan in what he calls a "kick arse road movie."

The film, set in Broome in tropical northwest Australia, is a coming-of-age musical comedy that celebrates family, forgiveness and aboriginal reconciliation.

Rachel Perkins adapted for the screen and its creator Jimmy Chi. Perkins will direct and will have cinematographer Andrew Lesnie behind the camera.

Perkins, whose previous films include "Radiance" and "One Night the Moon" has her landmark documentary series "First Australians" is screening here on Sbs.

Producers are Robyn Kershaw and Graeme Isaac; Stephen Page, artistic director of the indigenous dance company, Bangarra Dance Theatre is the films choreographer and Omnilab Media's Christopher Mapp, Matthew Street,...