“I couldn’t do [these generic films]. A film takes two years of your life; you have to get out of bed and inspire a cast and crew. You must do it for the right reasons, and if the blueprint has problems it’s just doomed to failure. I would never do something just for the money, because it’s such a public medium that at the end of the day, everyone’s going to see it,” Byrne told Encore.

Byrne said that whether or not he stays in Australia depends on the material he is offered.

“I’d rather stay in Australia if the material is strong enough. The second film is so crucial to setting up a director’s career; if I deliver the stock standard horror film - the very thing that i was trying to subvert with The Loved Ones and the very reason I made it - I’ll probably end up as a straight-to-DVD director, so I really want to find something that’s interesting.

“That’s why i’m writing something myself and I’m also reading projects. I’m just keeping my options open; it’s all about the concept – even if the script needs a lot of work, if the idea is strong, it’s all worth it; otherwise you’ll get nowhere no matter how much work you put into it,” he said.

The writer/director is currently working on a home invasion thriller that he hopes will be “a new take on the genre”, and he’s also attached to direct a script by Rob Beamish, who wrote Byrne’s short film Advantage.

The Loved Ones will be released on September 30.

This opportunity is open to producers and independent cinema owners who wish to attend the event.

Encore will ask the winners to write 500-700 words about their experience at the AIMC, the week after the event. This chronicle will be published on our website.

To enter this competition, email miguel@focalattractions.com.au and tell us, what would you gain as a professional, from attending this event?

If you need inspiration, or perhaps more information about the AIMC, here is a quote from Richard Parton, president of The Motion Picture Exhibitors’ Association of Queensland – organisers of the AIMC:

The convention is a unique event in that it offers something for everyone who works in the film industry from production through to exhibition.  Each year our industry faces new challenges – the current major technical focus remains on Digital and 3D installations. There is no better place to be than the AIMC to see first hand how this revolution will affect our cinema business; what other advances are happening in our industry; how to benefit from these threats and opportunities; and to present a united voice that will ensure our industry will continue to prosper.  I urge you to participate in this year’s event so we can all work together to meet the challenges of the future.  

Please note that this promotion covers the event registration fee ONLY, and it does not include travel or accommodation expenses.

Full and day registrations include all convention activities covering meals, receptions, films, seminars and the trade show.   Evening Function registrations cover the evening meal and any other convention activities after 5pm for the day of registration only (this could include film, trade show, Awards ceremonies or seminars depending on the agenda).

 For more information about travel and accommodation, visit the AIMC website.

Eight years ago Barrett stayed at the first cast concrete lighthouse in Australia, Green Cape, in southern NSW – it now provides accommodation for visitors. She was there doing research for a film she had written, about whaling in the early 1900s. Eventually Barrett came to the conclusion that it was unlikely that the project would ever be made, due to its cost and the VFX it required.   Barrett then started reading copies of the lighthouse log book, which described local shipwrecks and how homing pigeons were so well fed and lovingly tended to that, when they were required to fly home, they simply refused to do it. Barrett had found a new idea for a film. 

 “A small group of people who have to live together in an isolated environment is interesting dramatically from a writer’s perspective, and I thought it would be fairly affordable to make,” said Barrett, who started researching life on Tasmanian  ighthouses such as Maatsuyker, Tasman and Deal Islands. She was particularly interested in the time before radio communications, when staff lived in very isolated conditions. 

 Barret conceived South Solitary as the story of an unmarried 35-year old woman, Meredith (Miranda Otto), who arrives at a remote lighthouse island to assist her strict uncle (Barry Otto), the recentlly-appointed keeper planning on bringing some discipline to the operation. An error of judgement leaves Meredith with a withdrawn assistant (Marton Csokas) as her only companion. 

 Barrett admits she was embarrassed about “how pedestrian” her first draft was, because the characters were not “right”, particularly the protagonist. When she finally gave Meredith her fighting spirit and had a script she was happy with, Barrett took it to producer Marian Macgowan. 

 “We started looking at locations the minute we acquired the option in late 2005. Before we could cast or budget we had to know where and how we were going to shoot it,” explained Macgowan. “Shirley was very keen to shoot it on the islands that she’d written about, at Maatsuyker, but I could tell already that there would be logistical problems.” 

 YOU CAN’T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT 

 The film was originally budgeted at $19m, which would allow them to shoot at Maatsuyker Island, a location only accessible by helicopter that would require cast and crew to be accommodated on a ship that would sit off the coast. The shoot would also be longer due to the poor weather conditions. At that stage, South Solitary was structured as a co-production. 

 “That higher budget was cast-dependent, and getting cast attached to films is extremely difficult. We had high profile actors [Maggie Gyllenhaal and Paul Bettany], and it’s not that they were better [than the final cast]; it would have simply been a different interpretation, a different film,” explained Macgowan. “In my time I’ve learned that, in a sense, it always works out for the best, or what you think will be impossible to deal with always has a solution. There’s always an outcome; all you can do is  make the best decisions at the time with the resources you have available.” 

 When Macgowan found they would not be able to raise $19m, she reduced the budget to $10m, but further adjustments were required. 

 “We restructured the financing in the middle of 2009, and we needed to cut $3-4m out of the budget. The cash budget was around $6.5m, but the actual budget was a bit higher,” she explained. The project was funded by Screen Australia, Film Victoria, Screen NSW, Omnilab Media, an advance from distributor Icon Film for Australasia, and private investment. 

 With a much more modest budget, Barrett had to make concessions and shoot on the mainland, not far from Portland, Victoria. 

 “I was pretty broken-hearted about that at first, but when I got to Cape Nelson and saw what it offered us, it became really exciting because it was down to our craft to get it to feel like an island,” admitted Barrett. 

 Barrett had lost her dream location, but the new one provided something she did not expect: an original haulage mechanism that was used to ship supplies up the cliff. It was intact and very close to the lighthouse. 

 “It was a gift from the gods. I can’t tell you how fortunate we were,” said Barrett. 

 The fact that it was a period film was not a crippling cost, because the production didn’t have to dress up streets or lots of extras due to the story’s isolated setting.  

 “There are no cars in our world; it’s a fairly straightforward process. The cottages were built in the 1800s, and they are the same now they were then,” said Macgowan. 

 The film was shot entirely on location, combining the Cape Nelson lighthouse cottage with the interior of the Cape Otway lighthouse. 

 “The only elements we built were the pigeon house and the outhouse, everything else was there. We just had to create the broken-down world around us,” explained Barrett. 

 According to the director, production designer Paul Heath and costume designer Edie Kurzer were able to create a low cost look which was authentic and rich in domestic detail. 

 “My main fear with the visuals was that it would start looking like a glossy 1920s pastiche, which I certainly didn’t want. I wanted it to feel real. I didn’t want everyone to have the latest couture; I wanted it to feel like Meredith sewed her own clothes. 

 “It was about conveying how difficult it was to live there and the interior of the cottages had to be like the most austere kind of rental locations, with only a kitchen table and a few other things. The challenge I love in period films, especially this one, is researching the details of domestic life and the lighthouse operation. I found that fascinating and luckily so did my team,” explained Barrett. 

 Barrett and DOP Anna Howard looked at the possibility of using the Red One camera, but ultimately felt that film possessed a “subtle quality” that lent itself to a story that’s set in another time. 

 “We shot on Super 16 and it’s been blown up to 35mm. It was the right decision, and it also gave us the chance to use small cameras, which was really helpful, being in such confined spaces. 

 “The film acquired its look without us deliberately going for it. Anna and I didn’t want it to look like it had been treated to get that old film feel, but because we shot on Super 16, we had to go through a process of reducing the grain before we blew it up to 35mm. That process in itself softened the tones a little more. It evolved on its own to look like that,” said Barrett. 

 There is a climatic violent storm in South Solitary; a combination of practical and CGI effects. That part of the shoot was frustrating for Barrett, not only due to the unseasonably good weather, but also because the area surrounding the lighthouse was so barren that there were no elements – such as trees – to visually show the strength of the wind. 

 “We didn’t have a big budget and we had to be sparing in our use of CGI. Most of the storm is conveyed with sound, and I believe the combination of real effects, CGI and sound has been really effective,” said Barrett. 

 The Lab’s VFX supervisor Soren Jensen led the team that created the CG elements of the storm, including debris and the hail that hits the lighthouse window, in addition to rough seas, a steam ship and antique lighthouse lamps. The Lab was also in charge of the grading, done by Al Hansen with help from Vincent Taylor. 

AN EXPERIENCED AUDIENCE 

 South Solitary opened this year’s Sydney Film Festival, an honour that was double-edged for Barrett. 

 “It’s not the paciest film in the world; it takes its time to unfold and that might be hard on an audience which has already sat down through a few speeches. I felt very honoured, but in some ways it was a tough opening,” admitted the director. 

 Macgowan says the film’s core audience is women over 35, “a demographic that responds very well to our cast.” When asked about its audience, Barrett hesitated for a moment. 

 “I always feel a little disappointed when a love story, which is all about longing and a slow burn is resolved too neatly and too completely. I wanted to torture the audience a little, but still give them a little hope. It’s a film that’s satisfying to a female audience, but there are a lot of men that responded well to it too. It is also a film that a slightly older audience would respond to, because you must have a few years on you and a few disappointments in life to get the full measure of the feeling of this film,” argued Barrett. 

 The film’s sales agent is E1 Entertainment, but Macgowan declined to comment on international sales. It will be released in Australia on July 29.

“Having things that cannot be solved with a bullet, that’s ‘dark’ for American executives. It is easier to solve things with a bullet; emotion cannot be solved, it sits there… It’s a kind of censorship; the idea that ‘commercial’ means a very specific kind of entertainment,” Granik told Encore.

The situation is not very different from what many Australian films have to face in terms of perception of their content.

“People call this [type of film] ‘heavy’ and ‘dark’, but when other [Hollywood] films have all this violence they are not considered ‘dark’, they are considered a thriller, which is confusing.”

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Winter’s Boneis Granik’s second feature. The film made its local debut at the Sydney Film Festival in June and was showcased at the Melbourne International Film Festival last week. It is scheduled for release on October 28, – it will be the first theatrical release by Michael Wrenn’s new distribution venture, Curious Distribution.

With the faulknerian Ozark Mountains as backdrop, the film tells the story of Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence, one of the front-runners for the Academy Award), a 17-year-old girl whose father goes missing. If she doesn’t find him, the family property will be taken away. She must then embark on a quest in which she confronts her extended kin and a community that might have something to do with her father’s disappearance. The independent film was shot on location in Missouri with the Red One camera (“a powerful weapon”, Granik says).

Embedded with the folklore of the region, Winter’s Bone shows a side of the United States that is rarely represented in film: its deep rural heart.

Granik describes the reaction from studio heads when confronted with this story: “Their fear was so palpable. They said: ‘Audiences will just wilt, they will not be able to handle it’.”

The director also reflected on the pros and cons of the festival system: “The pros are factual; if your film can make its way into the festival circuit, it has a life. A film can either be put in a shelf forever or have a life out in the world, internationally.

“The downside is that with American journalists there will also be a very intense, negative backlash for Sundance films. It is like: ‘Screw you, you self-righteous filmmaker’. For them, Sundance equals ‘self-righteous’. They say that Sundance will always support ‘the dreary and the grim’.”

What is the appeal that Winter’s Bone holds for Australian audiences?

“There is an interest in seeing other American life experiences, besides the propaganda one, that idea of a flagrantly excessive, trivial or very glossy life. Here’s Ree Dolly, who lives in a place of the United States that people don’t see photographed that often. People are curious once an image has been put down their throats for many years. That is why The Wire was of interest here. And also people here in Australia had to go to places that were not hospitable, the terrain was not easy: there must be some sort of identification. I’ve seen archival photographs and it doesn’t look so different from Ree Dolly’s house.”

-By Cesar Albarran Torres

The AFI emphasised the fact that eight out of the 19 films were directed by women: “In an international industry where women are still significantly under-represented, Australia is heading in the right direction,” said CEO Damian Trewhella.

The contenders are:

• Accidents Happen -Andrew Lancaster
• Animal Kingdom - David Michod
• Beneath Hill 60 - Jeremy Sims
• Blame - Michael Henry
• The Boys Are Back - Scott Hicks
• Bran Nue Dae – Rachel Perkins
• Bright Star - Jane Campion
• Daybreakers – Michael and Peter Spierig
• The Horseman - Steve Kastrissios
• I Love You Too – Dana Reid
• Lou - Belinda Chayko
• The Loved Ones - Sean Byrne
• Matching Jack – Nadia Tass
• Mother Fish (formerly Missing Water) - Khoa Do
• Subdivision - Sue Brooks
• Tomorrow When The War Began -Stuart Beattie
• The Tree  - Julie Bertuccelli
• The Tumbler - Marc Gracie
• The Waiting City  - Claire McCarthy

It is the first Australian film announced for TIFF, although Encore understands that at least one more title – a thriller starring a rising female actress- has already been selected for the festival.

According to TIFF, The King’s Speech“tells the story of the man who would become King George VI, the father of the current Queen, Elizabeth II. After his brother abdicates, George ‘Bertie’ VI (Colin Firth) reluctantly assumes the throne. Plagued by a dreaded nervous stammer and considered unfit to be King, Bertie engages the help of an unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Through a set of unexpected techniques, and as a result of an unlikely friendship, Bertie is able to find his voice and boldly lead the country into war.”

It stars Guy Pearce, Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter.

The Weinstein Co. has distribution rights for North America, Germany, France, Benelux, Scandinavia, China, Hong Kong and Latin America.

Transmission will release it in Australia/New Zealand on December 26.

For Nathan Mayfield, chief creative officer and co-founder of the award-winning company Hoodlum, “it’s an exciting time for producers to step up and really learn about multi-platform.”

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Lisa Gray, head of content at The Feds, has participated at these events in London and Sydney. “I get to spend some time with new creatives and hear about their ideas, and they can realise their digital opportunities,” she said.

Producer Andrea Buck said she learned about the value of engaging with the audience beyond traditional film marketing when she distributed the feature The Jammed. “This is an opportunity to get an understanding of the value and the power of cross media, and getting some guidance, ideas and expertise from people who actually know this area,” she said.

Simon Britton from Media Wave says it’s important for creatives to find ways to monetise their content online.

Screen Australia is supporting the event, partnering with MIFF. Development manager Mike Cowap says the objective is to communicate filmmakers and TV producers what cross-platform can do for them.

Encore would like to thank the producer of these vox pops, Viocorp.com.

The agency said the demands on this month’s round of the domestic documentary program were high, with ABC, SBS and pay TV “using close to their full allocation for the financial year”. Therefore, Screen Australia will pool its funds across the domestic and international programs for a total alloction of $7.5m.

The next two rounds in the 2010/11 year will be worth $1.8m each.

The approved projects are:

WIDE OPEN ROAD

• Bombora Films and Music
• Producer/Director Paul Clarke
• Broadcaster ABC TV
• Sales & Distribution ABC Commercial, Roadshow
• Synopsis An Australian social history of the 20th century – viewed through the windscreen of the cars that we so cherished.

ARTHOUSE

• Paalma Pty Ltd
• Producer/Writer Marian Bartsch
• Director Britt Arthur
• Broadcaster ABC
• Sales & Distribution ABC Content Sales
• Synopsis ArtHouse looks at the changing face of architecture, innovation and design in Australia through the eyes of Melbourne-based husband and wife team, architect Robert McBride and interior designer Debbie Ryan. Their outstanding architecture, which is changing the skyline of Melbourne, has achieved the highest accolade winning the recent 2009 World Architecture Festival Awards for best residential house in the world for The Klein Bottle House. A first for any Australian architectural team. This documentary follows a day-in-the-life of this stellar design team over a period of eight months, and the inspiration behind their iconic works. This documentary will also aim to explore the need for innovation in the Australian way of living as Robert and Debbie-Lyn build their own family home for their growing family.

BREAKING: DANGEROUS!

• No Roles For Sam Pty Ltd
• Producer Emma Smith
• Writers/Directors Daniel Mansour, Tim Ryan
• Broadcaster MTV
• Synopsis Follows the adventures of a band from Adelaide trying to get their big break. The band’s sights are firmly set on building legions of fans both in Australia and the USA, as well as scoring a record deal in the US: a dream virtually every young Aussie has had.

COOL SCHOOL

• Angels Television Pty Ltd
• Producers/Writers/Directors Gregory Miller and Liz Courtney
• Broadcaster Nickelodeon, Australian Television, NHK
• Sales & Distribution Off The Fence
• Synopsis Filmed almost entirely in Antarctica. It is a chance to explore sustainable development and climate change in one of the places being most affected, and it shows the transformative effect on a number of young people as they travel to the world’s largest and most isolated wilderness.

DICK SMITH’S POPULATION PUZZLE

• Mitra Films Pty Ltd
• Producer Anna Cater
• Producer/Director Simon Nasht
• Broadcaster ABC
• Sales & Distribution Ovation
• Synopsis The film follows Dick Smith’s public campaign against rapid population growth. The polemical film tests the propositions put forward in favour of a Big Australia. Can this popular entrepreneur persuade the nation to change its mind?

FOOTBALL UNITED

• North One TV Australia
• Producer Dan Goldberg
• Executive Producer/Director Adam Kay
• Broadcaster Bio Channel
• Sales & Distribution Fox, North One
• Synopsis Follows the inspirational story of one woman’s dream to use the world game to help refugee children who’ve recently arrived in Australia integrate into their new society.

HARDLINERS

• Cordell Jigsaw
• Executive Producers Nick Murray and Michael Cordell
• Producer Steve Bibb
• Broadcaster Fox 8
• Sales & Distribution DCD Rights, Cordell Jigsaw
• Synopsis Larger-than-life Australian long-line tuna fishermen risking it all on a daily basis are at the heart of the new documentary series, Hardliners.

I’M NOT DEAD YET

• iKandy Films
• Producer/Writer/Director Janine Hosking
• Broadcaster ABC
• Synopsis The ‘unplugged’ chronicle of 76-year-old country music legend Chad Morgan. “I’ll die on the stage or on the nest,” vows the controversial Chad as he packs his guitar, walking stick and his wife’s Zimmer frame in the back of the car for his latest tour. This observational documentary is an intimate portrait of a ‘one of a kind’ musician, playing out the final phase of his career. At the heart of the narrative is an enduring love story ­– littered with dirty lyrics!

KULKA

• Wonderland Film & Theatre Production Pty Ltd
• Producer Kingston Anderson
• Director Claire Haywood
• Broadcaster NITV
• Sales & Distribution Wonderland Productions
• Synopsis About the life and times of Dr Gordon Briscoe (AO). It is a celebration of his outstanding contribution as a campaigner for basic human rights for Indigenous Australians, an activist, a motivator, a thinker, a researcher, author, teacher and mentor. Narrated by Gordon’s son, Aaron Briscoe, it is the inspirational story of an institutionalised Aborigine, interned in an ‘alien’ camp during World War II with very little education, who struggled against the odds to achieve dignity and respect for himself and his people. The story of his life reflects the struggles still facing many Indigenous communities today.

THE LAST WALTZ

• Waterbyrd Filmz
• Producer/Co-director Nickolas Bird
• Co-director Eleanor Sharpe
• Broadcaster ABC
• Sales & Distribution Galloping Films
• Synopsis Anny Salerni, the charismatic owner of Melbourne’s only gay and lesbian ballroom dancing studio, has devoted the last 14 years of her life to creating her own fabulous world of same-sex dancesports. Her students are not the most talented of dancers but they are passionate about their sport and are driven by a dream of competing at the Gay Games in Germany. As they prepare for the biggest event of their lives, Anny and her students must battle injury, personal dramas and entrenched homophobia from the mainstream ballroom dancing community and the world in general.

MISS SOUTH SUDAN AUSTRALIA

• Matchbox Pictures Pty Ltd
• Executive Producer Tony Ayres
• Producers Polly Staniford and Michael McMahon
• Director Shannon Owen
• Broadcaster ABC
• Synopsis A joyful and exuberant half-hour documentary following the precarious and erratic journey to pull together the premiere event for Australia’s Sudanese community – the ‘Miss South Sudan Australia’ beauty pageant – and the lives of the organisers and the participants post event.

MT (working title)

• Evershine Pty Ltd
• Producer Helen Barrow
• Director Hugh Piper
• Broadcaster ABC
• Synopsis An observational documentary about print journalism, freedom of speech and publishing in South East Asia.

ON A WING AND A PRAYER

• Sea Dog TV International Pty Ltd
• Executive Producer Dione Gilmour
• Producers Jodie De Barros and Leighton De Barros
• Director Leighton De Barros
• Co-director Sam Smith
• Writers Leighton De Barros and Sam Smith
• Broadcaster ABC
• Sales & Distribution ABC Commercial
• Synopsis Follows the incredible life cycle of the endangered Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo through an engaging story of one small bird family as they fight for survival and the one man who will do whatever it takes to protect them.

SEX: AN UNNATURAL HISTORY

• Matchbox Pictures
• Executive Producer Penny Chapman
• Producer Michaela Perske
• Writer Mark O’Toole
• Broadcaster SBS
• Sales & Distribution SBS Content Sales
• Synopsis A six-part factual series hosted by Julia Zemiro that will explore the last 50 years of Australia’s sexual landscape. A lively series using a blend of experts, philosophers, academics and ordinary people that poses the big questions about sex in the modern day.

TWO IN THE GREAT DIVIDE

• Artemis International Pty Ltd
• Executive Producers Nick Murray and Michael Cordell
• Producer Toni Malone
• Director Michael Cordell
• Broadcaster ABC
• Sales & Distribution ABC Commercial
• Synopsis Tim Flannery and John Doyle undertake their third quixotic journey through the Australian landscape, this time exploring The Great Dividing Range. To the east of the Divide are abundant rivers, fertile land and ever-burgeoning population. To the west are uncertainty, drought and vast tracts of ‘emptiness’. As Tim and John follow the range northward they are undertaking more than a geographical journey, they are also exploring the ‘great divides’ in Australian life. Arguments over water, population and nuclear power will all feature, as well as more profound debates – like Holden vs Ford.

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE 4

• Artemis International Pty Ltd & Serendipity Productions Pty Ltd
• Executive Producer for Artemis Brian Beaton
• Executive Producer for Serendipity Margie Bryant
• Series Producer Celia Tait
• Broadcaster SBS
• Sales & Distribution SBS Content Sales
• Synopsis Well-known Australians play detective as they go in search of their family history, revealing secrets and surprises from the past.

THE GRAMMAR OF HAPPINESS

• Essential Media and Entertainment
• Producer Chris Hilton
• Director Randall Wood
• Broadcaster ABC, Arte France, Smithsonian
• Sales & Distribution Essential Media and Entertainment
• Synopsis Amongst perhaps the only truly happy people on earth, maverick linguist Daniel Everett sets out to discover if the language we speak defines the way we think. In fresh studies of the culture and language of the Amazonian Pirahã tribe he seeks evidence for groundbreaking concepts that, if proven, will end the ostracism and insults Everett has endured from his own savage tribe of academics and expand our idea of what it means to be human.

MACQUARIE THE FATHER OF AUSTRALIA

• Intomedia Pty Ltd
• Producers Stuart Scowcroft and Seona Robertson
• Director Les Wilson
• Broadcaster Foxtel, BBC Scotland
• Synopsis Lachlan Macquarie took the jail settlement of Sydney Cove from a penal outpost to a British colony in 10 short and tumultuous years. In doing so he paved the way to nationhood. This is his story.

ROCKET COMPULSION

• Firelight Productions Pty Ltd and Paper Bark Films Pty Ltd
• Producers Marcus Gillezeau and Ellenor Cox
• Director Gregory Read
• Writer Simon Nasht
• Broadcaster Discovery Networks Asia
• Sales & Distribution Off The Fence, ABC Enterprises
• Online Blink Digital
• Synopsis This is the story of a tenacious Australian jet pilot, David Mayman, as he strives to achieve his childhood dream of building and free-flying his very own Rocket Belt, only to discover he faces a nearly impossible task. Collaborating with the world’s leading Rocket Belt engineers David risks life and limb to become the world’s next Rocketman. Rocket Compulsion will take the audience on a ride that shows point blank why less people have flown Rocket Belts than have walked on the Moon.

THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

• Electric Pictures Pty Ltd
• Producers Andrew Ogilvie and Andrea Quesnelle
• Writer/Director Stephen Oliver
• Broadcaster SBS, Ch4, DR, NPS/VPRO, NRK, RTE, SVT, VRT, WDR, YLE
• Sales & Distribution BBC Worldwide
• Synopsis Some see it as an outdated, second-rate entertainment show. But as the contest enters its second half century in robust health, this is an opportunity to take it seriously (well, most of the time) in a documentary series that mixes politics and pop music, fun, gossip, and – sometimes – real international intrigue, to tell the behind-the-scenes stories of one of the great institutions of European broadcasting. A winning blend of humour and insight, the program will peer beyond the glitz and sparkle to examine the Eurovision Song Contest and how it has tracked – and at times even influenced – the changing social and political life of Europe.

The project is produced by FremantleMedia.