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"He kissed you because his heart told him to. It's about time you start listening to yours..." Quiver has unveiled an official trailer for an Australian indie romantic comedy titled Rhapsody of Love, the second film made by filmmaker Joy Hopwood. The film follows an events planner named Jess, played by Kathy Luu, and a photographer named Justin, played by Damien Sato, who can't deny the sparks between them despite one small hitch – the photographer's girlfriend. The main cast also includes Joy Hopwood, Lily Stewart, Khan Chittenden, and Benjamin Hanly. This reminds me of Daniel Radcliffe's What If, which is also about falling for someone already in a relationship, and navigating that tricky situation. Looks good. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Joy Hopwood's Rhapsody of Love, direct from YouTube: Romance, work and life all collide when an events planner and wedding photographer meet and ignite sparks in this uplifting romantic comedy film.

Rhapsody of Love is independent through and through.

Independently funded, self-distributed, and with a diverse cast and crew, the film is determined to forge its own path.

Rhapsody of Love makes its theatrical debut June 24 in Dendy theatres and tells the story of four couples navigating different stages of their relationships.

The rom-com stars Kathy Luu and Damien Sato in headline roles with support from Ben Hanly, Lily Stewart, Jessica Niven, Tom Jackson, Joy Hopwood, and Khan Chittenden.

The central plot follows events planner Jess (Luu) who falls for photographer Justin (Sato) only to find he is already in a relationship.

For writer, director, producer and star Joy Hopwood, the film’s diversity was a key consideration, with the project dubbed the ‘1st Asian-Australian romantic comedy’.

“I think it’s important to have diversity because it reflects our society as it stands today, and it’s important for everyone to feel that they belong,...

‘Occupation: Rainfall’ Dop Wade Muller and Luke Sparke.

Aiming to cash in on the anticipated global success of Occupation: Rainfall, filmmaker Luke Sparke is developing a raft of features and TV series spanning horror, drama, time-travel and comedy.

The writer-producer-director is assembling a team of writers on these projects, all of which he intends to shoot in Australia.

“On Occupation: Rainfall I had an amazing team working with me and I’m excited to keep moving forward with them,” he tells If.

The sequel to his 2018 sci-fi thriller Occupation will have its world premiere at Monster Fest in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, followed by a cinema release via Monster Pictures.

The slate includes Blitzkrieg, a World War 2 thriller about a group of bomber pilots who crash land in Germany and must survive the horrors they find, and The 34th Battalion, which will follow four friends from Maitland in...

Damien Sato and Kathy Luu.

Actor, writer and producer Joy Hopwood is directing her second feature, Rhapsody of Love, a rom-com starring Asian-Australians Damien Sato and Kathy Luu.

Further reflecting the project’s diversity, producers Hopwood and Ana Tiwary have hired women in key creative roles.

Now shooting in Sydney, the plot follows four couples at different stages of their relationships and examines how love sometimes develops when it is least expected.

The ensemble cast includes Lily Stewart, Khan Chittenden, Benjamin Hanly, Jessica Niven, Tom Jackson, Hopwood, Amanda Benson, Sam Wang, Erica Long, Michael Giglio and Andrew Wang.

Among the heads of department are Aftrs graduate Goldie Soetianto as Dop, sound recordist Lara Cross, set designer Jessie Singh and editor Jon Cohen.

Asked on Facebook if Rhapsody of Love would be more relatable than Crazy Rich Asians, Luu, whose credits include The Good Place, Fighting Season and The Unlisted, said:...

‘Backtrack Boys.’

Russell Crowe last week urged his 2.73 million Twitter followers to see Backtrack Boys in cinemas, lauding Catherine Scott’s feature documentary as really special and a great story.

A reasonable number of Crowe’s followers did so as Umbrella Entertainment launched the film as an alternate content release, which means exhibitors have the flexibility to run limited sessions.

Meanwhile writer-director Heath Davis’ drama Book Week began its staggered roll-out on eight screens via Bonsai Films.

Backtrack Boys examines a youth program run by rule-breaking jackaroo Bernie Shakeshaft (hailed by Crowe as a “good fella and a bit of a genius”) on the outskirts of Armidale Nsw. Voted as the top feature documentary at the Melbourne International Film Festival, the film collected $24,000 from one session on Saturday and Sunday on 44 screens, and $56,000 including festival screenings.

This opens theatrically in Australia on Thursday.

It’s really special.

Go and see it.

Eva Orner's Chasing Asylum.

The Human Rights Arts and Film Festival has unveiled its full 2016 program, featuring 31 feature films and 25 shorts.

The festival will open with the Australian premiere of Eva Orner's offshore-detention documentary Chasing Asylum, fresh off its Hot Docs international premiere.

Also featured is Michael Graversen's Dreaming of Denmark, which follows a teenager who has spent his adolescent years in Denmark after fleeing his native country of Afghanistan..

The festival will close with the Australian premiere of Sundance award-winner The Bad Kids, an immersive dive into America.s most pressing education problem: poverty..

Another highlight is documentary They Will Have to Kill Us First: Malian Music in Exile, which follows various musicians in Mali in the wake of a jihadist takeover and subsequent banning of music in the region. The film features Damon Albarn (Blur), Brian Eno and Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and the band Songhoy Blues.

This is a golden era for Australian feature documentaries as typified by the five critically-acclaimed titles in contention for the best feature doc prize at the fifth Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards.

Maya Newell.s Gayby Baby, Michael Ware and Bill Guttentag.s Only the Dead, Jen Peedom.s Sherpa, Damon Gameau.s That Sugar Film and Gillian Armstrong.s Women He.s Undressed are the nominees.

The Aacta Awards will be presented in Sydney in December, with the Seven Network telecasting the major awards on December 9.

Also revealed today were the nominees for best short animation and best short fiction film. In the running for the former are Adam Elliot.s Ernie Biscuit, Joe Brumm.s The Meek, Mikey Hill.s The Orchestra and Janette Goodey and John Lewis. The Story of Percival Pilts.

The nominees for best short fiction are Matt Holcomb.s Flat Daddy,...

After platforming at four cinemas in New York and Los Angeles John Curran.s Tracks expanded to 28 screens in the Us last weekend.

The 3-day gross was $US70,951 for a per-screen average of $2,534, bringing the 10-day cume to $103,098.

That.s not a great result for the Weinstein Co., which originally intended to launch the Outback adventure starring Mia Wasikowska as .camel girl. Robyn Davidson in May.

Tracks underlines how tough it can be for Australian films to crack the mainstream Us market, while deals for a limited theatrical release or straight to DVD and VOD are becoming more common.

John V. Soto.s The Reckoning is taking the latter path with a simultaneous VOD and DVD launch in the Us and Canada on October 28 via Anchor Bay Entertainment.

.A theatrical release in North America would require a substantial P&A commitment that is better spent pushing the VOD release,. said Soto,...

Shot down over Singaporean rainforest during WWII, an Australian fighter pilot (Khan Chittenden) wakes up in a tree, swinging from his parachute in writer-director Aaron Wilson’s ambitiously immersive, thinly plotted debut -- a minimalist survival nightmare that more closely resembles All Is Lost’s near-wordless procedural than Gravity’s running-commentary panic attack. Add a little Hell in the Pacific, too: The lost Aussie eventually runs into a Chinese resistance fighter (Mo Tzu-Yi), and the frightened, unarmed duo reluctantly team up and communicate through pantomime. Without historical context or character backstories, the film atmospherically but aimlessly tracks the duo as they skulk around the muddy mangroves, evading a Japanese swe...

Writer-director Aaron Wilson heads to the Us next week to host Q&A screenings of his debut feature Canopy in New York, Los Angeles and several other cities. North American distributor Monterey Media has booked the Singapore-shot WW2 drama in more than 10 cities. Wilson will attend the August 29 premiere at the Lincoln Centre in New York and screenings at Laemmle.s Music Hall in Beverly Hills on September 10 and 12, with other dates to be confirmed.

Monterey has also booked cinemas in St Louis Missouri, Wilmington Delaware, Lake Park Florida, Amherst New York,. Seattle and Vancouver in. September, with other cities to follow. .Monterey is giving the film an opportunity to grow and reach a wide audience,. Wilson told If. .They are being very supportive.. Co-produced by Katrina Fleming.s Finer Films and Singapore.s Chuan Pictures, the film is set during the Japanese invasion of Singapore in 1942. The plot follows...

Aaron Wilson's survival drama, "Canopy," made its debut as part of the Discovery program at last year's Toronto International Film Festival. The film takes place in 1942 during the Battle of Singapore. Jim, an Australian fighter pilot played by Khan Chittenden, ends up stranded in the Singaporean jungle after his plane is shot down by invading Japanese forces. While traveling across the jungle in search of safety, Jim encounters Seng, a member of the Chinese resistance, also stranded in the jungle. With few provisions and Japanese soldiers lurking in almost every dark corner, Jim and Seng must join forces in order to survive. "Canopy" marks Wilson's feature directorial debut and is slated to open in the U.S. later this summer on August 29.

Writer-director Aaron Wilson.s debut feature Canopy, a thriller set during the Japanese invasion of Singapore in WW2, keeps racking up sales to key international territories,. Kaleidoscope Entertainment has bought the UK rights and Kinosmith secured the Canadian rights, and a theatrical release is guaranteed in both markets.

That follows last week.s deal with Us distributor Monterey Media. The deals were negotiated in Berlin by Odin.s Eye Entertainment, which plans to release the film in Australian cinemas in Q2 2014. Canopy had its world premiere in official selection at the Toronto International Film Festival and has played at festival in Busan; Abu Dhabi, Stockholm and Rotterdam.

Kaleidoscope founder Spencer Pollard said, "Canopy is a film that we have been tracking since its excellent reviews in Toronto. We believe it is a smart film that we can build a strong audience with in the UK later this year. . The plot...

Writer-director Aaron Wilson.s debut feature Canopy, a thriller set during the Japanese invasion of Singapore in WWII, has been sold to the Us.

Monterey Media will release the film in Us cinemas in the second quarter of 2014, folllowed by VOD and DVD.

The plot. follows an Australian fighter pilot (Khan Chittenden) who is shot down in combat and is forced to navigate through enemy territory in search of sanctuary. Taiwanese actor Mo Tzu-Yi plays a Singapore-Chinese resistance fighter who joins him in the struggle to survive.

Virtually dialogue-free, the film produced by Finer Films. Katrina Fleming got mostly rave reviews after its world premiere at last year.s Toronto International Film Festival.

Fleming tells If, "We chose Monterey because they have an impeccable reputation for managing art house films and working with filmmakers."

"In this time of turmoil in the world it is imperative that people can glimpse the...

This is the second of two dispatches from Michael Pattison on International Film Festival Rotterdam 2014.

The spectre of barbarism isn’t just haunting European Cinema. False radicalisms and tentative engagements with the world today are prevalent all over the seventh art. And while all-out bunk is as infrequent as what others might call ‘great cinema’, it’s the ever-widening middle ground—the one that pervades and defines many a film festival—that seems especially disappointing.

Just as the cinematic landscape as a whole is peppered too sporadically with outstanding works, so on a micro level, unremarkable films frustrate precisely because otherwise fine technical rendering is undone by an apparent unwillingness to confront prevailing political currents. Even if chewable nuggets intermittently emerge over the course of a single film, we are on the whole limited to thanking the Lord for small mercies.

Of course, it’s difficult enough to make a film to begin with.

Australian writer-director Aaron Wilson is shooting a follow-up to his debut feature Canopy, which focuses on one of the lead characters 30 years after the end of World War II.

In Canopy, Khan Chittenden plays Jim, an Australian fighter pilot who is shot down in combat during the Japanese invasion of Singapore.

Jim is forced to navigate through enemy territory in search of sanctuary. Taiwanese actor Mo Tzu-Yi plays Seng, a Singapore-Chinese resistance fighter who joins him in the struggle to survive.

The companion film, as yet untitled, follows Robert Menzies as Jim as he copes with civilian life in the 1970s. The producer, Finer Films. Katrina Fleming, tells If that Wilson is yet to shoot a coda which is set in the present day. It will be completed in time for next year.s festival season, she says.

Wilson has just signed with the Paradigm, the Us talent agency which...

Writer-director Aaron Wilson.s debut feature Canopy has been lavishly praised by reviewers after its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Set during the Japanese invasion of Singapore in WW11, the thriller follows an Australian fighter pilot (Khan Chittenden) who is shot down in combat and is forced to navigate through enemy territory in search of sanctuary. Taiwanese actor Mo Tzu-Yi plays a Singapore-Chinese resistance fighter who joins him in the struggle to survive.

Virtually dialogue-free, the film produced by Katrina Fleming won plaudits for the high level of suspense, the two lead.s performances, Stefan Duscio.s photography and sound design by Rodney Lowe and Nic Buchanan.

The international sales rep, Odin.s Eye Entertainment.s Michael Favelle, told If from Toronto, .We.ve had lots of interest and are fielding offers. We had to turn away people at the first press and industry screening as we were way over capacity.

Writer-director Aaron Wilson.s debut feature Canopy has been lavishly praised by reviewers after its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Set during the Japanese invasion of Singapore in WW11, the thriller follows an Australian fighter pilot (Khan Chittenden) who is shot down in combat and is forced to navigate through enemy territory in search of sanctuary. Taiwanese actor Mo Tzu-Yi plays a Singapore-Chinese resistance fighter who joins him in the struggle to survive.

Virtually dialogue-free, the film produced by Katrina Fleming won plaudits for the high level of suspense, the two lead.s performances, Stefan Duscio.s photography and sound design by Rodney Lowe and Nic Buchanan.

The international sales rep, Odin.s Eye Entertainment.s Michael Favelle, told If from Toronto, .We.ve had lots of interest and are fielding offers. We had to turn away people at the first press and industry screening as we were way over capacity.

Amidst big premieres and anticipated features from notable directors and actors, many film festivals have feature-length debuts from filmmakers, and the Toronto International Film Festival is no different. One such film at the 2013 incarnation of the festival is Canopy, the first full length feature from writer-director Aaron Wilson. Wilson is a 10-year veteran of the industry, having written and directed numerous short films before beginning work on an original screenplay set in Singapore during World War 2. The lead role is played by Khan Chittenden, who is joined onscreen by Robert Menzies, Edwina Wren, and Tzu-yi Mo. The first trailer for the film has now been released, and can be seen below.

(Source: Indiewire)

The post Tiff 2013: ‘Canopy’, the debut film from Aaron Wilson, releases a teaser appeared first on Sound On Sight.

Australian filmmaking is firing on all cylinders at the moment, with the country showing four films in Venice and six in Toronto. Most of them are high profile indies, but one of the unknown wild cards screening at Tiff is Canopy, the debut feature from Aaron Wilson. Singapore, February 9, 1942. The Japanese invasion is underway. Jim (Khan Chittenden), an Australian airman, wakes up dangling from a tree by his parachute strings, somewhere in the middle of a vast wilderness overrun by hostile forces. Jim must fend for himself -- until he literally runs into a Singapore-Chinese resistance fighter, Seng (Mo Tzu-Yi), who has also been injured and is also lost. The men realize that their only hope of surviving lies with each other.The poster art and...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

With Tiff getting ready to kick off in just over 24 hours, the final decisions on schedules are being made, and one that may be worth carving out some time for is Aaron Wilson's "Canopy." With a number of shorts and a documentary under his belt, this marks his feature debut, and it's an assured outing that takes a simple premise and turns it into a unique cinematic experience. It's 1942 Singapore, war is waging, and crashing into the thick, lush jungle is an Australian fighter pilot (played by Khan Chittenden) who finds himself fighting for his survival against the elements and Japanese soldiers. He doesn't have a gun, only a first aid kit, a compass and a small amount of provisions. And what follows is a journey, where night and day, dream and reality blend together in an environment that seemingly can't be tamed by the humans that have invaded it.

Six Australian films will screen at the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) next month following the overnight announcement that Around the Block and Canopy have been selected.

Both will have their world premieres as part of the festival.s Discovery program, which showcases works by ..directors to watch: The future of world cinema..

First-time writer/director Sarah Spillane.s Around the Block is the saga of an Aboriginal boy who is torn between his love of acting and the disintegration of his family. Hunter Page-Lochard, whose credits include The Sapphires and Bran Nue Dae, plays the lead alongside Christina Ricci as his unconventional, American-born drama teacher. Jack Thompson, Matt Nable, Damian Walshe-Howling and Daniel Henshall round out the key cast.

Produced by Brian Rosen and Su Armstrong, the film will open in Australia on November 7, distributed by Michael Wrenn's Greenlight Releasing. Rosen tells If it will debut on 30-...

A host of Australian talent have confirmed involvement in the upcoming World War One epic feature film The 34th Battalion. Actors Charles Mesure (Desperate Housewives, V), Luke Hemsworth (Bikie Wars) and Les Hill (Underbelly) are the latest actors to be attached to the project, along with Emilie de Ravin of Lost fame. They join other attached actors Nick Farnell, Clare Van Der Boom, Henry Nixon, Andrew Lees, Vince Colosimo, Ashley Zuckerman, Khan Chittenden, Jake Ryan and Damian de Montemas. Auditions were held across the country in July. Only two spots in the main cast remain unfilled, though producers have said they are .circling a number of high profile actors. to take on the roles. The production will then move to regional Nsw where locations have been scouted. Producers have described the spots as ...a real find.. Earlier this month, the film enjoyed a very successful time at the American Film Market.

Luke Hemsworth and "V" actor Charles Mesure are set to lead an impressive cast for the upcoming Wwi-set Australian film "The 34th Battalion".

The $20 million project follows The 34th Battalion, the Australian infantry group formed just after the disastrous Gallipoli campaign.

The film's story follows four friends from the town of Maitland in rural New South Wales who join the group and serve on the Western Front.

In their first engagement, they saved the French town of Villers-Bretonneux. They later played key roles in the battle of Amiens and the battle of St Quentin Canal, the first full breach of the Hindenburg Line.

Emilie de Ravin, Les Hill, Nick Farnell, Clare van der Boom, Henry Nixon, Andrew Lees, Vince Colosimo, Ashley Zuckerman, Tony Bonner and Khan Chittenden also star.

Luke Sparke will direct and co-wrote the script with his father Ian Sparke. Shooting kicks off early next year.

Source: Deadline...

Rachel Griffiths and Mandy McElhinney have been cast in the follow up to Paper Giants: the Birth of Cleo, Paper Giants: Magazine Wars.

Griffiths will play Dulcie Boling, editor of New Idea with McElhinney playing Nene King, Boling’s former deputy editor and the new editor of Packer’s Women’s Day.

The story follows the rivalry of the women as a battle between the magazines give rise to celebrities, gossip and chequebook journalism. As the press release reads: “It’s 1987. Hair is big. Shoulder pads are wide. The Royals are still a family.”

Produced by Southern Star’s Mimi Butler and John Edwards, the series will see the return of Rob Carlton as Kerry Packer. Carlton won a Logie for his portrayal of the late Acp boss in Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo.

Written by Justin Monjo and Keith Thompson, the series will be directed by Daina Reid,...

Australian horror film Needle has taken $US135,000 in 10 days on 62 screens ($2177 per screen) in Turkey.

Needle is about a killer who uses an 18th century machine with supernatural powers to terrorize students at a local college.

The strong box office performance keeps Needle in Turkey’s top 6 films for the second week behind just Harry Potter, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Smurfs, Tranformers and Larry Crowne.

“The continuing success of Needle overseas,” said the film’s director, John V. Soto, “now sold in over 65 countries, proves that our strategy is exactly right. If you make a film that has broad international appeal then you have a far greater chance of recouping the cost and going into profit, than if you make a film that maybe only plays in its homeland. The movie only needs to be a hit in one country and you’re halfway there.”

The film performed only modestly in Australia,...

Aussie director John V. Soto got in touch with us this evening to give us the lowdown on release plans for his horror feature Needle (we last spoke with him in October just prior to the flick’s Stateside debut at Screamfest La).

According to Soto, who previously co-directed the flick Crush with Jeff Gerritsen, North American rights for Needle (which was awarded the ‘Skully’ for Best Makeup at Screamfest La 2010) have been acquired by Grindstone Entertainment Group, LLC, who will release the feature through Lionsgate Home Entertainment, while Shochiku has picked up the distribution rights for Japan.

Says Soto, “Apart from wanting to make a cool horror film, it has always been a goal of mine to make a movie good enough to be released in North America through Lionsgate, who are genre specialists, so this is pretty exciting.”

Produced by Deidre Kitcher and starring Travis Fimmel, Trilby Glover,...

John V. Soto’s Needle has won Best Supporting Actress (Jessica Marais), Best Cinematography and Best Special Effects at the British Horror Film Festival.

“Our UK Premiere went really well. The crowd loved the film and I was excited for Needle to have so many nominations. To actually win an award, let alone three, against such tough competition, is very gratifying and testament to the long hours and hard work put in by our cast and crew,” said Soto.

The cinematography was in charge of Dop Stephen Windon, and the special effects were done by Cutting Edge and Meg.

Needle has also won a Golden Skull at Screamfest in Los Angeles. It was shot in Perth and features Marais, Michael Dorman, Trilby Glover, Tahyna Tozzi, Travis Fimmel, Ben Mendelsohn, Khan Chittenden, John Jarratt and Jane Badler.

The film is a murder mystery about a killer who uses an 18th century...

Los Angeles’ much-celebrated film festival Screamfest La is now up and running October 8-17 at the Mann’s 6 in Hollywood, CA, and we thought it appropriate to catch up with yet another of the filmmakers whose genre entries will be playing at Rachel Belofsky’s tenth annual cutting compendium of all things horrific.

Visit Screamfest online here for a full run-down of the films playing, as well as to purchase tickets. The highly anticipated Gierasch/Anderson Night of the Demons remake kicks off the fest Tonight.

With co-writer (with Anthony Egan) and director John V. Soto’s feature flick Needle celebrating its Los Angeles premiere at Screamfest this coming Saturday, October 9, at 7:30pm (tickets can be purchased here), filmmaker Soto sat down with Dread recently to discuss his film (which opens in April in Australia, with other territories soon to be announced). See a teaser trailer for Needle below.

NEW YORK -- Matthew Lillard will star in the Lighthouse Entertainment 1980s-set teen comedy Endless Bummer, playing a surf shop owner who helps a group of teens track down a prized stolen surfboard.

The actor joins rocker Joan Jett, Khan Chittenden (Introducing the Dwights) and Jane Leeves (Frasier) for the feature. He plays a veteran surfer who built the board and joins its current owner and friends on a road trip from Ventura, Calif., to the San Fernando Valley to get it back.

Bummer is based on the real-life experiences of screenwriter John 'J.D.' Drury. Lillard joins the production of director Sam Pillsbury's feature this week.

Lighthouse's Steven Siebert (The Darwin Awards, The Rookie) is producing the film with Drury, Todd Wiseman and John Sclimenti (Riding in Vans With Boys). Rosemary Marks ("thirteen") is co-producing.

Vans Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman will executive produce with Darren Quon. The Bummer soundtrack will include new covers of '80s songs from several Vans Warped Tour artists.

"This is a genuine story of a pivotal day for a group of young Ventura surfers in 1984," Siebert said.