News

Exclusive: Jessica McNamee has signed with Hyperion for agency representation.

The Australian actress was most recently seen playing Sonya Blade in Warner Bros.’ Mortal Kombat, directed by Simon McQuoid, which rebooted the martial arts fantasy film series, based on the popular video game franchise of the same name.

She previously co-starred opposite Jason Statham in Warner Bros.’ sci-fi actioner The Meg, directed by Jon Turtletaub, also appearing in Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’ Searchlight pic Battle of the Sexes, opposite Emma Stone. That same year, she starred in Warner Bros. comedy Chips, alongside Dax Shepard, Michael Pena and Vincent D’Onofrio.

McNamee has also appeared, on the big screen, alongside Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams, in Michael Sucsy’s romantic drama, The Vow. Additional film credits include Heath Davis’ indie Locusts, and Andrew Traucki’s horror-thriller, Black Water: Abyss.

On the TV side, the actress is perhaps best...

‘Hotel Mumbai’.

Nick Matthews was named Australian cinematographer of the year for his work on director Anthony Maras’ Hotel Mumbai at the annual Australian Cinematographers Society (Acs) National Awards on Saturday night.

In addition, he collected the Gold Tripod for features budgeted above $2 million with Denson Baker receiving an award of distinction in that category for Claire McCarthy’s Ophelia.

In the awards presented online, Dion Beebe, Roger Lanser and John Wheeler were inducted into the Hall of Fame and the Ron Windon Award went to Robb Shaw-Velzen.

For features budgeted below $2 million Joshua Flavell received the Gold Tripod for David Barker’s Pimped and Chris Bland got the award of distinction for Heath Davis’ Locusts.

Among the other honorees, Zoe White won the drama series or telefeatures prize for The Handmaid’s Tale and Katie Milwright took the dramatised documentaries gong for Matthew Sleeth’s Guilty, which chronicles the final...

Blake Northfield and Heath Davis.

Writer-director Heath Davis and Bronte Pictures’ Blake Northfield are teaming up for Blood Red Sky, a feature inspired by the Australian bushfire crisis.

The pair intends to donate 25 per cent of the film’s profits to the rural fire services in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland.

Due to shoot in Nsw and Queensland late this year, the narrative will follow a motley crew of volunteer firefighters and courageous locals who must overcome their personal and political differences when a bushfire threatens their picturesque country town.

Northfield aims to raise the budget from government agencies and international partners. Greg Apps will come on board as casting director. “We have very high expectations on cast,” says the producer, whose credits include Storm Ashwood’s thrillers The School and Escape and Evasion.

Rejecting any suggestion that the public has witnessed more than enough devastation either in person or on television,...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today that 344 feature films are eligible for the 2019 Academy Awards.

To be eligible for the consideration, the films must open in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County by Dec. 31, and begin a minimum run of seven consecutive days. Academy rules also state that a feature-length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes and must have been exhibited theatrically on 35mm or 70mm film, or in a qualifying digital format.

Nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards will be announced on Monday, Jan. 13, 2020. The ceremony takes place on Sunday, Feb. 9, airing live from Hollywood on ABC.

“Abominable”

“Ad Astra”

“Adam”

“The Addams Family”

“The Aeronauts”

“After the Wedding”

“The Aftermath”

“Aga”

“Aladdin”

“Alita: Battle Angel”

“Always Be My Maybe”

“The Amazing Johnathan”

“American Factory”

“American Woman”

“Angel Has Fallen”

“The Angry Birds Movie 2”

“Anna”

“Annabelle Comes Home...

Locusts will screen at The Tivoli Theater (6350 Delmar) Thursday, Nov 14 at 9:30pm as part of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival.. Ticket information can be found Here

In “Locusts,” a dark thriller set in Australia’s Outback, estranged tech entrepreneur Ryan Black returns to his desert hometown — the ironically named Serenity Crossing — for his father’s funeral. Ryan is reluctantly reunited with his ex-con brother, and the pair soon becomes the target of an extortion scam at the hands of desperate criminal associates of their reprobate dad. The Aussie movie site FilmInk writes: “Boasting a tight and twisting script and stunning imagery, ‘Locusts’ is the kind of film that we don’t see nearly enough of in Australia: a classy crime B-movie in the style of John Dahl or (early) James Foley. It’s elevated even further, however, by the stellar performances. Ben Geurens is totally empathetic as the harried hero,...

Ben Geurens in ‘Locusts.’

Typifying the challenges facing the vast majority of Australian films, Heath Davis’ suspense-drama Locusts and Partho Sen-Gupta’s thriller Slam were released on a handful of screens last weekend.

Working with limited marketing budgets the distributors and producers relied primarily on reviews and publicity, and the weekend figures were commensurately modest.

Ben Geurens and Nathaniel Dean play estranged brothers who are the targets of an extortion racket in Locusts, which grossed $11,000 on 11 screens and $14,000 with previews.

Film Ink Presents is handling the theatrical release of the privately-financed film, which co-stars Jessica McNamee, Steve Le Marquand, Justin Rosniak, Andy McPhee, the late Damian Hill and Alan Dukes, while Jonathan Page’s Bonsai Films will sell the ancillary rights.

“It’s difficult for independent films to secure screens and marketing exposure,” Angus Watts, who produced and wrote Locusts, tells If. “We’re happy with the support from exhibitors...

‘Top End Wedding’, ‘Hearts and Bones’ and ‘The King’ are among the 34 longlisted films.

Some 34 feature films will compete for nominations for this year’s Aacta Awards, and the longlist covers a diverse range of titles, from box office earners like Top End Wedding and Storm Boy, through to critically lauded films like The Nightingale and micro budget indies such as Suburban Wildlife.

However, perhaps the most notable inclusion in the longlist is David Michôd’s Netflix Original The King, which premiered at Venice Film Festival last week to an eight-minute standing ovation.

Typically, to be eligible for Aacta Awards, a film – even when made for a streaming platform – must have paid cinema screenings in Australia or local festival play.

Aacta has made an exception for The King, which is not due to play in Australian cinemas or in festivals before its release on Netflix later this year, because of...

Cannes-based Fizz-e-Motion, headed by Yannick Rudynski and Luke Corradine, has picked up sales rights to Australian crime thriller “Locusts.”

Directed by Heath Davis, the film stars Ben Geurens (“Reign”) and Jessica McNamee, and is produced and written by Angus Watts.

The pic centers on tech entrepreneur Ryan Black, who returns to his remote hometown for his father’s funeral. Old family tensions are reignited as he’s reunited with his wise-cracking ex-con brother. When Ryan becomes the target of an extortion scam at the hands of desperate criminals, he is forced to resort to extreme measures.

The film, which is being distributed in Australia by Bonsai Films, won best film, cinematography, supporting actor (Justin Rosniak) and producer at the Cult Critic Magazine Awards. It screened at the Gold Coast Film Festival and Newport Beach Film Festival.

Fizz-e-Motion’s titles include Swiss drama/comedy “The Edelweiss Revolution,” directed by Frederic Baillif...

As you know, Dave Bautista has been been gunning for the role of Marcus Fenix in the Gears of War movie. He recently explained that he’s tried everything he possibly can to star in this movie, but there’s been no movement on any kind of casting.

Now Terry Crews wants in on the action! When a fan suggests that the two actors star in the movie together, Terry Crews, who would make a perfect Augustus Cole, said, “Damn. I like this. I like this very much. He then followed it up with a separate tweet that featured a photo of himself with Bautista together.

Damn. I like this. I like this very much. https://t.co/rMy6z3jQ9O

— terry crews (@terrycrews) July 25, 2019

I like it a lot.

⁦@DaveBautista⁩ #GearsofWarMovie pic.twitter.com/zOG2z5lcuE

— terry crews (@terrycrews) July 25, 2019

These actors would be great, but known Hollywood and how they work,...

Guardians of the Galaxy actor Dave Bautista has been pushing hard to be a part of the upcoming film adaptation of Gears of War. He is hoping to land the lead role of Marcus Fenix in the movie, he’s wanted this for years. He has said that this is a dream role for him, and now he’s saying that he has tried everything to make this happen.

They’re listening. And they could give Af!

‘Maybe Tomorrow’.

A comedy drama that depicts the juggle of filmmaking and parenthood, Maybe Tomorrow, took home the prize for best independent film at the Gold Coast Film Festival yesterday evening.

Judged by members of the Australian Film Critics Association, the Blackmagic Design Best Australian Independent Film Award gifts Melbourne directors Caitlin Farrugia and Michael Jones $10,000 worth of Blackmagic equipment and software.

Other films nominated in the category, which recognises features made without significant screen agency funding, were Heath Davis’ Locusts, Tony D’Aquino’s The Furies and Imogen Thomas’ Emu Runner.

Maybe Tomorrow, which stars Tegan Crowley and Vateresio Tuikaba as new parents making a self-funded feature film, makes its world premiere at Gold Coast Film Festival this evening.

Farrugia and Jones were presented the award at the Gcff’s inaugural Screen Industry Gala Awards, held at Movie World.

The night also saw actress Sigrid Thornton presented the Chauvel Award,...

‘Escape and Evasion’.

The Gold Coast Film Festival will open in early April with the Australian premiere of Damon Gameau’s 2040, and close with the world premiere of Storm Ashwood’s war film Escape and Evasion.

Good Thing Productions’ 2040 comes to the festival from its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival, where it screened as part of the Kplus section of the Generation program. Gameau will walk the red carpet, and the screening will be followed by a Q&A.

Escape and Evasion, produced by Blake Northfield for Bronte Pictures, was filmed on the Gold Coast in the Currumbin Valley. It explores the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder on a lone surviving soldier.

The Gold Coast Film Festival will this year screen some 107 films over 12 days, with three world premieres and 10 Australian premieres.

Among the other world premieres are Caitlin Farrugia and Michael Jones’ comedy drama Maybe Tomorrow,...

Heath Davis.

A newly formed indie filmmakers co-operative will meet monthly in Sydney and plans to expand to a Melbourne chapter.

Around 15 directors attended the inaugural meeting of the group which was convened by Heath Davis and is named Cinegar Bar in Sydney last Thursday.

Among the ideas canvassed were making films as a collective and staging festivals or other screenings of Australian films.

“Our main aim is to create and control our own content and to support each other’s films,” Davis tells If. “We all acknowledge there is a crisis point in Oz cinema and we all have the same war stories.

“We have to find ways to ensure directors are treated better financially. I know some who spent a year on a film and had to reinvest their fees so they were paid zero.”

Among the attendees at the The ArtHouse Hotel in Sydney’s Cbd were Dean Francis,...

Heath Davis (L) on the set of ‘Locusts.’

Seventy Australian filmmakers have joined a co-operative aimed at supporting each other’s work and fostering awareness of Aussie films.

The initiative is the brainchild of writer-director Heath Davis, who made his debut with Broke, followed by Book Week and, due to open later this year, suspense drama Locusts.

The group started coalescing before Christmas and rapidly gained members among established directors as well as those with one or two features under their belt. The working title is Cinegar Bar (a play on a cigar bar that Davis used to frequent in Vancouver).

He had the idea after talking to veteran cinematographer John Seale, who told him that when he started out, all the DPs knew and supported each other and formed lasting friendships.

Davis contrasted that camaraderie with the current environment for writers-directors, where it is largely a case of ‘every...

‘Book Week’ did not qualify for the Offset.

Eleven years since the introduction of the Producer Offset (Po), Screen Australia has expressed concern about an increase in applications for feature films that have unreasonably high fees.

A big proportion of those fees is being reinvested in the belief that will meet the criteria for qualifying Australian production expenditure (Qape).

The legislation limits the amount that can be claimed as Qape on above-the-line fees to 20 per cent of total film expenditure .

“Alarm bells are ringing at the growth in films that set out on this trajectory having unreasonably high fees,” the agency, which administers the concession via the Producer Offset and Co-production Unit (Pocu), warned this week.

“If the budget has been inflated because of the high level of fees due to re-investments the 20 per cent cap becomes less of a guide when assessing arm’s length.

“Reinvestments seem to be...

Damian Hill and Ty Perham in ‘West of Sunshine.’

Shooting of M4M began in Melbourne on Monday as the cast and crew regrouped following the death on September 22 of Damian Hill, who co-wrote the crime drama/romance with the director Paul Ireland.

Ireland has dedicated the film inspired by Shakespeare’s ‘Measure for Measure’ to Hill, his best mate who was to co-produce and play Angelo, a character the director described as a fallen angel.

“After Dame died we got together and decided the best thing to do is carry on and make this for Dame,” says Ireland, who first collaborated with the actor/producer/writer in Pawno in 2015.

“Everyone has been amazing and very stoic. Dame and I were like a married couple. We worked together every day. He was so humble, a beautiful person. I feel like I have lost a part of me, but I’m determined to get through this.