Toni Collette will star in Fred Schepisi’s ‘Andorra’ (Photo: Eva Rinaldi).
Seventeen film, TV, online and documentary projects will share in over $2.4 million in funding, thanks to the latest round of Film Victoria’s Assigned Production Investment program and the Victorian Content Initiative.
The combined projects will inject $23 million into the Victorian economy, according to a statement from Film Vic.
Film Victoria CEO Jenni Tosi said the latest projects to be supported capped off a terrific year of screen production in Victoria, with “2017 set to be bumper year with this diverse range of projects joining others already scheduled to go into production.”
Projects supported through the Assigned Production Investment program include:
• Essential Media will partner with Carver Films to produce Sunshine for SBS. The mini-series is a crime drama that explores the world of South Sudanese refugees in Melbourne, and a young basketball star forced to fight for his innocence after being accused of an assault.
• Jump Street Films’ Jamie Bialkower has partnered with Lizzette Atkins to produce the feature Andorra – a romantic thriller directed by Fred Schepisi, starring Guy Pearce, Toni Collette, Gillian Anderson, Clive Owen and Vanessa Redgrave, which will shoot in Italy and be post produced in Victoria.
• Genepool Productions will produce feature length documentary Vitamania – the Sense and Nonsense of Vitamins and Supplements. The project sees the return of host Dr. Derek Mulle,r who starred in Uranium – Twisting the Dragon’s Tail.
• A feature length documentary, From Under the Rubble, by Sensible Films, examines the personal, emotional and psychological toll of armed conflict on defenceless civilian populations.
• The world of fan obsession will be explored in the feature documentary I Used to be Normal – A Boyband Fangirl Story from Rita Walsh and Jessica Leski.
• Nicole Minchin from Cabbage Films and Angela Pippos from Counterpunch Productions will produce a one-off television special titled League of Her Own which explores the journey of three inspiring female football players as they make the leap into the AFL’s Women’s League. The program will be broadcast in the preseason lead-up to the AFL season in 2017.
• Deadlock, an online series from Fiona Eagger and Deb Cox’s Every Cloud Productions, tells a story about the joy, heartbreak, camaraderie, laughs and bittersweet sorrow of being a teenager, and will see early-career director and writer Billie Pleffer at the helm.
• All for One: The Story of Australia’s First Professional World Tour Cycling Team (Madman Productions) – the story of Orica Bike Exchange as they fought to earn the respect of the cycling world.
• Sacred Song (Brindle Films) – the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir and their historic tour to Germany.
• Shalom Bollywood: The Untold Story of Indian Cinema (Identity Films) – the untold story of the Indian Jewish community’s major impact on the world’s largest film industry.
• The Donydji Story (Rogue productions) – chronicles the evolution of an East Arnhem Land community
A further six projects have been supported through the Victorian Content Initiative – a Film Victoria partnership with the ABC announced earlier this year. Supported projects include:
• You See Monsters (Chemical Media, one-off) – Australia’s Muslim artists smash preconceptions by creating provocative art that question some of the nation’s most cherished myths.
• My Year 7 Life (Princess Pictures, 18×30 episodes) – personal video diaries chart the school lives and minds of 16 Australian kids as they navigate the transition from childhood to adolescence.
• Ronny Chieng (Sticky Pictures, 6×27 episodes) – a hilarious story of a Malaysian student in Australia to study law.
• The Ex PM 2 (Cordell Jigsaw, 6×30 episodes) – Australia’s longest serving caretaker Prime Minister is back where he belongs: on the hustings, in the press, under the radar and all over the issues of the day. All he has to do is turn up.
• Housemates Series 2 (Mashup Pictures, 2×30 episodes) – uncovers the unique, unusual, and sometimes crazy ways Australians have made share-housing work.
• Get Krack!n (Guesswork Television, 8×27 episodes) – Katering‘s Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan return as they unleash their mix of social awkwardness and unprofessionalism onto the bright chirpy world of Morning TV.
“The projects supported though the Victorian Content Initiative and our production investment and incentives programs should generate in excess of $79 million in production expenditure in Victoria in 2017, providing valuable employment and business opportunities for Victorian companies,” said Tosi.