The 44th Rotterdam International film festival commences today with 435 films including Australia's Charlie’s Country, Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films, Sam Klemke’s Time Machine and The Search for Weng Weng to screen over 12 days.
Screen Australia’s Head of Production, Sally Caplan, said, “It is excellent to see these brilliant Australian films continuing their successful festival run. These original stories have appealed to audiences worldwide and will no doubt delight the crowds at this highly regarded festival.”
Charlie’s Country by renowned Australian filmmaker Rolf de Heer will have its Dutch premiere at the festival, following its celebrated screening at the Cannes Film Festival where David Gulpilil won the Un Certain Regard Best Actor Award. It is the third film in Rolf’s unofficial trilogy and longstanding collaboration with Aboriginal Australian screen icon David Gulpilil, beginning with The Tracker in 2002 and followed by Ten Canoes in 2006. Charlie’s Country centres on the character of Charlie, played by David Gulpilil, who decides to make a stand following the invasion of his Aboriginal community… and finds he still has a long way to fall. The film was developed, written, produced and directed by Rolf de Heer, with lead actor and co-developer David Gulpilil, actor/producer Peter Djigirr and producer Nils Erik Nielsen.
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films from acclaimed cult film documentarian and award-winning filmmaker Mark Hartley (Not Quite Hollywood, Machete Maidens Unleashed!) will screen at the festival. The film takes audiences on a hilarious thrill ride through the masterworks of the late Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus: two movie-obsessed immigrant cousins who gate-crashed Hollywood’s party, ran an indie studio that became the by-word for schlock, and nearly took over the industry in the process. The documentary was written and directed by Mark Hartley and produced by Veronica Fury and Brett Ratner.
Sam Klemke’s Time Machine will have its European premiere at the festival. The film is about an obsessive filmmaker, Sam Klemke, who in 1977, aged 17, set out to record himself every year until his death. Sam filmed and narrated 50 years of his life, creating a strange and intimate portrait of what it means to be human. The film was written and directed by Matthew Bate, previously invited to the Sundance Film Festival for his feature documentary Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure, and produced by Rebecca Summerton. The film will have its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this week.
Documentary The Search for Weng Weng has screened 55 times in 14 countries across five continents since its premiere in November 2013 and will have its Dutch premiere at the festival. The film is about the bizarre history of Filipino B-films, as told through writer/director/producer Andrew Leavold’s personal quest to find the truth behind its two-foot, nine-inch James Bond, Weng Weng. The film was also written and produced by Daniel Palisa.
Following on from her unique documentary Aim High in Creation!, a film within a film about North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s 1987 Manifesto The Cinema and Directing, Australian filmmaker Anna Broinowski will lead a workshop about making propaganda cinema in the Everyday Propaganda section.
CHARLIE’S COUNTRY
Dutch premiere
Vertigo Productions, Bula’bula Arts Aboriginal Corporation
Producers Nils Erik Nielsen, Rolf de Heer, Peter Djigirr
Executive Producers Domenico Procacci, Bryce Menzies, Sue Murray, Troy Lum, Peter McMahon
Devised by David Gulpilil, Rolf de Heer
Director Rolf de Heer
Writer Rolf de Heer
Cast David Gulpilil, Peter Djigirr, Luke Ford, Jennifer Budukpuduk, Peter Minygululu, Bojana Novakovic
International Sales Visit Films Ryan Kampe
Australian Distributor Entertainment One
Synopsis With the new invasion of his Aboriginal community in full swing, Charlie decides to make a stand… and finds he still has a long way to fall.
ELECTRIC BOOGALOO: THE WILD UNTOLD STORY OF CANNON FILMS
Dutch premiere
Bionic Boy Productions Pty Ltd
Producers Veronica Fury, Brett Ratner
Writer/Director Mark Hartley
International Sales Celluloid Dreams, RatPac Documentary
Australian Distributor Umbrella Entertainment
Cast Dolph Lundgren, Molly Ringwald, Elliot Gould, Bo Derek, Richard Chamberlain, Just Jaeckin, Franco Nero
Synopsis A one-of-a-kind story about two-of-a-kind men who (for better or worse) changed film forever.
SAM KLEMKE’S TIME MACHINE
European premiere
Closer Productions
Producer Rebecca Summerton
Writer/Director Matthew Bate
International Sales Visit Films
US Sales Visit Films
Australian Distributor Closer Screens
Synopsis In 1977, teenager Sam Klemke began a project to obsessively film and narrate every year of his life in an attempt to understand himself. Also in 1977, NASA sent into space the Golden Record: an audiovisual self-portrait of humanity that would allow extraterrestrials to understand who we are. Although travelling parallel through time, these two self-portraits tell very different sides of the human story. Sam Klemke’s Time Machine moves us from the infinity of space to the raw intimacy of the life of an extraordinary nobody to look at what it means to be human.
THE SEARCH FOR WENG WENG
Dutch premiere
Death Rides a Red Horse
Producers Andrew Leavold, Daniel Palisa
Director Andrew Leavold
Writers Andrew Leavold, Daniel Palisa
International Sales Monster Pictures
Australian Distributor Monster Pictures
Synopsis The bizarre history of Filipino B-films, as told through filmmaker Andrew Leavold’s personal quest to find the truth behind its two-foot, nine-inch James Bond, Weng Weng.