Press Release from asha holmes publicity
Matchbox Pictures’ Underground: The Julian Assange Story to screen in cinemas nationally from March 17 to launch Robert Connolly and Footprint Films’ new CinemaPlus initiative Underground screened at the Toronto and London International Film Festivals where it received rave reviews. Broadcast on Network Ten in October 2012 to critical acclaim, Underground drew over 1.3 million viewers nationwide.
Now the official Festival edition of the feature will hit the big screen in Australia, followed by question-and-answer events with director Robert Connolly and a roster of special guests including Christine Assange – Julian’s mother, portrayed in the film by Rachel Griffiths – and lead actor Alex Williams.
The tour will kick off in Melbourne with a week of special events at Cinema Nova and Palace Brighton Bay before travelling to SYDNEY, CANBERRRA, BYRON BAY, MURWILLUMBAH, BRISBANE, ADELAIDE and PERTH.
All attendees at CinemaPlus event screenings of Underground will receive a package containing a DVD-ROM with special features, including behind the scenes featurettes, screenplays, extracts from Suelette Dreyfus' eBook of “Underground”, music from the soundtrack and production photographs. The package will include a code to stream Robert Connolly’s director’s commentary – members of the audience are encouraged to bring headphones to listen to the commentary during the screenings.
Underground: The Julian Assange Story – in 1989, Julian Assange and two friends formed the 'International Subversives'. Using early home computers and calling themselves 'white hat hackers' – who look but don't steal – they broke into the world's most powerful organisations. Young, brilliant, and in the eyes of the FBI, a major threat to national security, they were chased through the electronic underground of Melbourne.
For a strictly limited season, Footprint Films is pleased to present the theatrical edition of Underground: The Julian Assange Story at Cinema Nova and Palace Brighton Bay in Melbourne and at the Chauvel Cinema in Sydney, with exclusive engagements to follow in Canberra, Brisbane, Byron Bay, Murwillumbah, Adelaide and Perth.
For more information visit www.undergroundthemovie.com.au
Or follow up at facebook.com/CinemaPlusEvents and on Twitter @CinemaPlusEvent
Listing information:
MELBOURNE – 17 – 22 March, 6.45pm at Cinema Nova, plus Sunday 24 March, 4.00pm, Palace Brighton Bay
SYDNEY – Wednesday 27 March , 7.00pm, Chauvel Cinema
CANBERRA – Thursday 4 April, 7.00pm, Palace Electric
BYRON BAY – Friday 5 April, 7.00pm, Palace Byron Bay
MURWILLUMBAH – Saturday 6 April, 6.00pm, Regent Cinema
BRISBANE – Sunday 7 April, 4.00pm, Palace Centro
ADELAIDE – Thursday 11 April, 7.00pm, Palace Nova Eastend
PERTH – Friday 12 April, 6.45pm, Luna Leederville
About Underground: The Julian Assange Story
Julian Assange is one of the most significant figures of the twenty first century. But before he was famous, before WikiLeaks, before the internet even existed, he was a teenage computer hacker in Melbourne. This is his story.
In 1989, known as ‘Mendax’, Assange and two friends formed a group called the ‘International Subversives’. Using early home computers and defining themselves as ‘white hat hackers’ – those who look but don’t steal – they broke into some of the world’s most powerful and secretive organisations. They were young, brilliant, and in the eyes of the US Government, a major threat to national security.
At the urging of the FBI, the Australian Federal Police set up a special taskforce to catch them. But at a time when most Australian police had never seen a computer, let alone used one, they had to figure out just where to begin.
Police ingenuity and old-fashioned detective work are pitted against nimble, highly skilled young men in this new crime frontier. What follows is a tense and gripping game of cat and mouse through the electronic underground of Melbourne.
Written and directed by Robert Connolly (Balibo, The Bank), produced by Helen Bowden and executive produced by Rick Maier and Tony Ayres, Underground stars Rachel Griffiths, Anthony LaPaglia, Alex Williams, Callan McAuliffe, Laura Wheelwright and Jordan Raskopoulos.