There’s an international focus in the new slate of features backed by the Film Finance Corporation (FFC) at its September meeting. Stories about Australians and Australians-to-be take place in China, East Timor, Mexico and the United States.
The wide reach is unusual given that none of the films are co-productions with other countries. Each story is generated by Australian filmmakers who, collectively, are showing a new interest in the global picture.
* Features financed
The high-budget epic Mao’s Last Dancer is one of four feature films approved for finance at the September meeting. Producer Jane Scott and Oscar-nominated writer Jan Sardi (the team behind Shine and Love’s Brother) will join with two-time Oscar nominee, director Bruce Beresford (Double Jeopardy, Driving Miss Daisy, Breaker Morant), to film the inspirational memoirs of Chinese dancer Li Cunxin, who now lives in Australia.
The story begins in 1972, during Mao’s cultural revolution, when 11-year-old Li is taken from his family to study dance at the Bejing Academy. At age 18 he is sent to train with the Houston Ballet in the US, where he falls in love with, and secretly marries, an American dancer. Despite pressure to return to China, Li eventually wins the right to stay and becomes the company’s principal dancer.
‘From the moment it was published, Li Cunxin’s amazing true story of courage and triumph captured the hearts and imaginations of everyone who read it,’ says Scott. ‘I’ve no doubt the film of his amazing journey – to be directed by Bruce Beresford from a screenplay by Jan Sardi – will move and inspire people the world over. ‘
A tense political thriller titled Balibo will recreate events surrounding the shooting of five Australian journalists during Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor in 1975. Balibo is told through the eyes of a sixth Australian, Roger East, who is lured to East Timor to investigate the truth behind the death of the five men, who were supposedly ‘caught in cross-fire’ during the invasion. East discovers to his own detriment that the quest to uncover the truth is highly dangerous.
Anthony La Paglia will take a break from work in the US to play the lead role of East. It will be his first appearance in an Australian film since his outstanding performance in the box office hit Lantana.
The screenplay for Balibo was co-written by celebrated playwright David Williamson (The Year of Living Dangerously, Don’s Party) and Robert Connolly (producer, The Boys, Romulus My Father; director, The Bank, Three Dollars). Connolly will direct Balibo, with John Maynard producing (Romulus, The Boys, Sweetie).
‘I’m looking forward to returning home to work again,’ says La Paglia. ‘It’s such an inspiring team and an important story for Australia and the region.’
The theatrical documentary Salute tells the story of Australian athlete Peter Norman’s involvement in the famous Black Power salute at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico. For the first time, this film documents the role that an unknown white Australian played in a defining moment of the American Civil Rights movement, and the consequences he faced back in Australia, where he was met with hostility and criticism.
The film is written, directed and co-produced by Matt Norman, nephew of Salute’s main protagonist. Norman is working with producer David Redman (Strange Bedfellows, Muggers) and esteemed composer David Hirschfelder (Shine, Elizabeth, Strictly Ballroom).
My Year Without Sex is the new film from the team behind the multi-award winning Look Both Ways: writer/director Sarah Watt and producer Bridget Ikin (Floating Life, An Angel At My Table).
It is a family tale recounted with the distinctive blend of humour and drama that has marked Watt out as one of Australia’s most original filmmakers. As in the American hit Little Miss Sunshine, My Year Without Sex will take the viewer on a journey through the messy, and often hilarious, situations that domestic life throws up. It suggests that a keen sense of irony is the best way to survive the journey.
* Letters of Intent
In addition to the four features financed, four other projects received an FFC Letter of Intent at the September meeting. [Films chosen through the FFC’s evaluation program receive a Letter of Intent containing the terms and conditions of proposed FFC funding. The FFC board makes a formal commitment to fund evaluation projects only when the producers have satisfied the terms and conditions set out in the Letter.]
Continuing the international focus, Accidents Happen is based on the childhood memories of screenwriter Brian Carbee, who migrated to Australia from the US. Set in suburban America – and to be filmed in Australia – Accidents Happen is the darkly comic and subversive story of a young boy who believes he is the cause of tragic accidents to his neighbours and family. It will be directed by Andrew Lancaster, embarking on his first feature film, and produced by Anthony Anderson (Somersault).
The Hunter is a powerful psychological drama about a ruthless mercenary sent into the Tasmanian wilderness on a dramatic hunt for what is believed to be the last Tasmanian Tiger. Based on the internationally acclaimed Australian novel by Julia Leigh, The Hunter is produced by Vincent Sheehan (Little Fish, Mullet), directed by Daniel Nettheim (The Secret Life of Us) and written by Alice Addison (The Silence, RAN) and Wain Fimeri (Love Letters From a War, Pozieres). Oscar award-winning cinematographer Andrew Lesnie (Lord of the Rings, King Kong) will return to Australia to work on the film.
Miracle At Virgin’s End is a sophisticated comedy of manners set in the Australian outback, written and directed by Peter Duncan (Children of the Revolution, Unfinished Sky) and produced by Andrew Mason (executive producer, The Matrix 1 & 2). The heavens themselves seem to be conspiring to complicate the lives of the mere mortals in this fast-paced, romantic comedy.
In the mysterious Strangerland, two teenage children go missing in a remote Queensland town, triggering a desperate search in the desert and some dramatic revelations about the family and the town. Screenwriter Fiona Seres, celebrated for her work on the landmark series Love My Way, is working with director Kim Farrant, whose feature-length documentary Naked on the Inside recently screened on the Sundance Channel in the US and the CBC in Canada. The producer is Mark Overett (Unfinished Sky).
* Children’s TV drama
Two children’s programs were financed through the FFC’s Distinctively Australian Children’s Drama Fund at the September meeting:
Snake Tales is a live action ‘tween comedy series (13 x half hours). Two very different teenage girls from opposite ends of the world are forced to live together in a run-down snake park in outback Australia – with only their very strange families for company. Producer/creator is Ann Darrouzet; writers are Brendan Luno, Alix Beane and Anthony Watt.
The Adventures of Charlotte & Henry: based on the books by Australian author Bob Graham, this telemovie is aimed at 4-8 year olds. It charts a day in the life of two best friends – the shortest day of the year – during which they squeeze in a lifetime of adventures. Producer is Paige Livingston (Race Around the World, executive producer ABC2 Original Content); writers are Jan Stradling (ex Walt Disney Television Aust/NZ) and Lisa Kitching.
* Documentaries – International Door
The Governor of California, a Sumatran farmer, the President of Starbucks, the Governor of Aceh and a Tibetan refugee – all in a race to broker a carbon trading deal that could save the planet. The Burning Season is the latest film from director/writer/co-producer Cathy Henkel (I Told You I Was Ill – the Life and Legacy of Spike Milligan) and co-producing partner, Jeff Canin. International co-finance comes from BBC (UK), CBC (Canada) and National Geographic.
I, Psychopath will take us on a road trip into the life and mind of a psychopath. Former white-collar criminal, Sam Vaknin, goes in search of a diagnosis that proves beyond doubt that he doesn’t have a conscience and he can’t be cured. From director/writer Ian Walker (Over My Dead Body) and producer Sally Regan (Forbidden Lie$). International co-finance is from Arte/ZDF (Germany) and CBC (Canada).
Gallipoli’s Submarine combines a hazardous underwater expedition to Australia’s greatest surviving relic of Gallipoli, with the spine-tingling tale of one of the most audacious missions ever undertaken by a submarine. From director/writer Steve Westh (Bom Bali) and producers Andrew Ogilvie (Superflu, The World of Colours) and Crispin Sadler (War Wrecks of the Coral Seas). The project has attracted international investment from ITV (UK), ZDF (Germany) and Alliance Atlantis (Canada).
The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce is a dramatised recreation of events of the early 19th century involving the notorious Irish convict Alexander Pearce. After being sentenced to prison in Van Diemens’ Land, Pearce and a band of men escape into the Tasmanian wilderness. When Pearce is eventually caught, he is sentenced to death for murder and cannibalism. Producer/writer is Nial Fulton (Ten Pound Poms) and executive producer is Chris Hilton (Songlines of the Seine). International co-finance comes from the History Channel (UK), RTE (Ireland) and RDF (UK).
* Documentaries – Domestic Door
Navy Divers is a four x 30 minute documentary series from executive producers Ed Punchard and Julia Redwood (Eco House), and directors Steve Westh (Bom Bali) and Russell Vines (The Two of Us). At a time of heightened tension and increasing security risks throughout the world, Navy Divers explores life at the front line of national defence, with unprecedented access to the Navy’s most extreme training course. Writer is John McCourt (Constructing Australia: Pipe Dream)
Writer/producer Toby Creswell (Nightshift), director Larry Meltzer (Mr Lucky), producer Danielle Kelly (Great Australian Albums, series one) and executive producer Martin Fabinyi (Tribal Voice) have backing for a second series of Great Australian Albums. The four x 1hour series explores the development of Australian popular music through close examination of masterpiece records. Each of the albums chosen has made a mark on the charts in Europe, the US or both.
Michaela Perske (Footy Chicks) is executive producer on the three-part series Embedded for SBS:
– Embedded with Black Fellas follows a young white girl who steps across the urban divide to find out what it is like to live black (producer Beth Frey, director-writers Sara Jane Woulahan, Polly Watkins);
– Embedded with Jihad poses the question ‘does Islam pose a threat to the Australian way of life?’ (producer Michaela Perske);
– Embedded with Nationalism is a Bengali migrant’s journey into the heartland of Australian nationalism (director Nicola O’Callaghan, producer Michaela Perske).
The series Two In The Top End has Australian icons John Doyle and Tim Flannery exploring one of the last frontiers – the top end from Cairns to Broome. As climate change shifts the national focus northward, the two men examine the colourful past, present and future of the deep north in their inimitable style. Executive producer and co-director is Michael Cordell (Two Men in a Tinnie), co-director Ashley Smith (Two Men in a Tinnie), supervising producer is Toni Malone (Sleek Geeks) and executive producer is Nick Murray (Blackjack Trilogy).
For a full list of new backed projects, visit http://www.ffc.gov.au/
[release from The Lantern Group]