Deb Cox and Fiona Eagger on location in Morocco.
Every Cloud Productions’ Miss Fisher movie and TV franchise will be spotlighted at the second Make It Monthly, a Melbourne-based program of free screen industry talks and networking next month.
The creative team led by Deb Cox and Fiona Eagger will discuss the evolution of Essie Davis’ sleuth Phryne Fisher from the TV series which began in 2012 to the feature Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears, which opens in cinemas on February 27.
Cox and Eagger will discuss what makes the audience so passionate that they contributed more than $800,000 in crowd-funding to the production budget.
Also speaking will be Every Cloud Productions’ commercial director Drew Grove and Roadshow Films Australian production executive Edwina Waddy.
Make It Monthly is a partnership between AFTRS, Media Mentors Australia and ACMI.
Media Mentors’ Denise Eriksen will moderate the session at the ACMI on March 5, which is free, but bookings are required through AFTRS website.
Essie Davis as Phryne.
Tony Tilse directed the movie starring Davis and Nathan Page as Inspector Jack Robinson, scripted by Cox and produced by Fiona Eagger, which had its world premiere in Palm Springs.
Shot in Morocco and Victoria by DOP Roger Lanser, it opens with Phryne rescuing Shirin Abbas, a young Bedouin girl (newcomer Izabella Yena) from prison in Jerusalem. Shirin is traumatised by childhood memories of her village being massacred during the Great War.
SPOILER ALERT
Phryne promises to help Shirin seek justice and they go to London to stay at a manor with Lord and Lady Lofthouse (Daniel Lapaine, Jacqueline McKenzie) and Lofthouse’s younger brother Jonathon (Rupert Penry-Jones).
When Phryne tries to discover the truth about Shirin’s village, the Lofhouse brothers, former soldiers, deny the massacre. However when Phryne and Robinson witness the murder of an army deserter who gives Phryne an ancient, encrypted pendent moments before his death, they are convinced there is more to the story.
END SPOILER
Also returning are Ashleigh Cummings as Dorothy ‘Dot’ Collins, Miriam Margolyes as Aunt Prudence Stanley and Hugo Johnstone-Burt as Constable Hugh Collins.
The supporting cast includes John Stanton, William Zappa, Ian Bliss and Los Angeles‐based Egyptian Kal Naga.
Event details:
When: Thursday March 5
Time: 6pm prompt. Networking and drinks from 7pm
Cost: Register to be on the mailing list or book here:
Where: ACMI X (not the main ACMI building), level 4 at the Australian Ballet Centre on Kavanagh Street Southbank