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Opinion
Cameron in Queensland
I have been aware of the Gold Coast studios for many years and I have been budgeting for films here for many years.
Blue-Tongue times
Blue-Tongue, a loose-jointed Australian moviemaking collective, is now flooding American festivals, the awards circuit and those who look for Hollywood’s next big thing with its rough-and-tumble fare, and can now add an Oscar nomination to its résumé.
3D blindness
All of this is rolling forward without any thought to the potential health hazards of continuous, long-term exposure to 3D. None of the television manufacturers have done any health & safety testing around this.
Nice to meet you, Ms. Streep
It is total name drop city.
Oscar nominee Luke Doolan on the Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon.
Bob Ellis: Rough Cut
Bob Ellis on In The Loop and Invictus.Anyone who’s hung round political backrooms (like me) will recognise the terrifying truth of In The Loop, Read more »
Tomorrow captures Australian beauty
“The added colour depth offered by 35mm film helped to accurately capture the beauty of the Australian landscape … an important story point.”
Ben Nott on his Daybreakers digital shoot vs. Tomorrow, When the War Began in 35mm.
Smaller screen, bigger ideas
Television is an avenue we really wanted to explore.
The Spierig brothers may revisit Daybreakers in a new medium.
Billing against piracy
If you illegally download a movie that I am in from the internet, or buy a pirated DVD of Underbelly Two you are stealing from me and everyone who put their investment, talent and effort into that production.
It’s a steal
Australian internet users are facing enormous and ongoing restrictions to their legitimate access to popular content, in terms of both timeliness and price [...] If content providers want to thrive, they will have to start responding to user demands for reasonable, timely and fairly priced content.
The SMH wonders why Gossip Girl costs A$34.99 on iTunes US vs. A$74.75 here.
Unique appeal
What [...] you won’t see in another film: a snake used to replace a broken engine belt, Geoffrey Rush shitting on the side of a road, a condom tree and a hot Aboriginal girl singing ” Stand By Your Man”.
Influential US site Ain’t It Cool news reviews Bran Nue Dae.
Melbourne exhibition opens new audience for Mary & Max
The behind-the-scenes exhibition at Melbourne’s Australian Centre for the Moving Image is connecting young audiences with the characters from Adam Elliot’s claymation film Mary & Max.
“Many schools have taken up programs to allow their students to explore stop-motion animation, and the exhibition gives them an insight into how it’s done on a large scale. While the film is not aimed at children, kids relate to the film on a different level,” ACMI curator Fiona Trigg told Encore. Read more »
Live Oscar coverage on Monday
Encore will blog the Oscars live on March 8, from 12pm. Will Miracle Fish prove to be as miraculous as its title? Will there be any Australian Oscars?
Our promise: there will be no ‘battle of the exes’ talk here, no Cameron vs. Bigalow!
Indonesian journalists protest Balibo censorship
The Jakarta chapter of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) has filed a lawsuit against the Indonesian Censorship Institute (LSF) for banning Robert Connolly’s film Balibo.
The LSF banned the film – about Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor and the Australian journalists who died covering the events – when it was scheduled to screen at the Jakarta International Film Festival last December. Private screenings were organised after the film was censored. Read more »
Antipodean films reflect Australian/NZ strengths
According to Separation City director, Paul Middleditch, projects like his unofficial co-production show the synergy between the Australian and New Zealand film industries.
“Although it is very much a New Zealand story, with a multinational feel to it, it was always viewed as a trans-Tasman piece and we wanted to reflect aspects of both AUS/NZ industries,” Middeditch told Encore. Read more »
First look: Legend of the Guardians
The first images from Animal Logic/Warner Bros./Village Roadshow’s Legend of the Guardians have been released, revealing the look of the characters played by Deborra-Lee Furness, Hugo Weaving, Ryan Kwanten and Ricard Roxburgh.
Directed by Zack Snyder, Legend of the Guardians is currently in production at Animal Logic in Sydney, and scheduled for a September release in the US and a late 2010 release in Australia. Read more »
Irish critics name Samson & Delilah best film of the year.
Warwick Thornton’s Samson & Delilah has been named Best Film of the year at the Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards.
The awards are part of the Dublin International Film Festival, which has just concluded. Other winners include Ivan Kavanagh’s The Fading Light as Best Irish Film, and His & Hers as Best Documentary. Read more »
Technicolor launches new 3D projection system
Technicolor has reached its first agreement with an exhibitor to install its new 3D system for 35mm projectors.
Their technology will enable cinemas to offer 3D screenings without the need of a digital projection system, using a new lens that splits the left and right eye images as the film runs through the projector, delivering a 3D image onto a silver screen. It works with polarised glasses. Read more »
Theatre directors can make great filmmakers
According to A Heartbeat Away Director Gale Edwards, theatre directors can make a “wonderful” transition into film if they learn about the collaboration process it requires.
“Sam Mendes had a wonderful transition, and so did Stephen Daldry, so we’re following a course which is not uncommon anymore. Theatre directors are directing more and more films around the world,” she said. Read more »
France-Australia co-prod MoU, under-utilised
The cultural attaché at the French Consulate in Sydney, Jean –Jacques Garnier, believes the Memorandum of Understanding for co-production between France and Australia is currently not being used at 100 percent capacity.
The Consulate has also arranged meetings between visiting director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Australia’s George Miller and Adam Elliott, during the opening week of the French Film Festival. Read more »
Guardians of Ga’Hoole retitled
Animal Logic’s 3D animated film Guardians of Ga’Hoole will now be called Legend of the Guardians.
The film, directed by Zack Snyder and produced in conjuction with Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow, will avoid refering to the fictional island of Ga’Hoole in its new title, a name which only fans of the Kathryn Lasky books would be able to recognise. Read more »