Here is the full list of Screen Australia’s production funding approvals for October 22, 2008:
FEATURES
Letter of Intent
BEING DEAD
See-Saw Films and Greenpoint Films
Executive Producer Iain Canning
Producers Emile Sherman, Patrick Cassavetti
Director Ray Lawrence
Writer Beatrix Christian. Based on the book by Jim Crace
Synopsis Being Dead is a poetic thriller. A married couple is savagely murdered; their bodies left to decay in the dunes. When their estranged daughter returns home to find them, she uncovers a dark secret history…
I LOVE YOU TOO
I Love You Too Pty Ltd
Executive Producer Greg Sitch
Producers Yael Bergman, Laura Waters
Writer/Co Producer Peter Hellier
Director Daina Reid
Synopsis When emotionally-stunted, commitment phobic Jim, doesn’t have the words to tell his girlfriend Alice that he loves her, they break up when she mentions the word ‘marriage’. Depressed, Jim meets Charlie, a dwarf, who is wise, funny, emotionally mature and an incredible love letter writer, and asks him to help him get Alice back. I Love You Too is a comedy with heart – a romantic buddy movie about the meaning of relationships, the importance of male friendship, and having the courage to pursue the one you love.
LOU
Big and Little Films Pty Ltd
Producers Helen Bowden, Michael McMahon, Tony Ayres
Producer/Writer/Director Belinda Chayko
Synopsis A young girl finds love through a dangerous game with her Alzheimic grandfather.
PANGS
BlueSeas Films
Producer Robert Raymond
Writer/Director Greg Woodland
Synopsis For Bob, a suburban vampire working as a Nightline crisis counsellor for the weak and sick, humans equal food. Compassion is just one of a vampire’s tools. Bob doesn’t get involved until he meets Bella, the 8-year-old daughter of dangerous new neighbours, and then Miriam, the beautiful blind counsellor who’s just started at Nightline…these two awaken in him a capacity for unselfish love so strong it threatens his whole way of life.
Production approvals
ANIMAL KINGDOM
Porchlight Films Pty Ltd
Producer Liz Watts
Writer/Director David Michôd
Sales and Distribution Madman, Maximum Sales, Showtime
Synopsis Animal Kingdom tells the story of 17-year-old Joshua ‘J’ Cody as he navigates his survival between an explosive criminal family and a cop who thinks he can save him.
DOCUMENTARIES
GOING VERTICAL (documentary feature)
BlueSeas Films
Producer Robert Raymond
Director David Bradbury
Synopsis For the last 40 years, surfers young and old the world over have been fed the one unwavering story about the birth of the shortboard: that it was the Americans who really were behind this revolution in design. But, was it, in fact, the brainchild of Australian surfing legend and surfboard designer Bob McTavish? Now, for the first time, a major new documentary feature film shot in Australia, Hawaii and California will tell both sides of this compelling story, transporting our audience to the world’s legendary surfing hangouts – from the famous beaches, bars and surf shops to the shaping rooms and workshops of those now-celebrated boardmakers.
THE GREAT ESCAPE – THE RECKONING
Electric Pictures Pty Ltd
Executive Producer/Producer Andrew Ogilvie
Executive Producer /Co-Writer Phil Craig
Producer Andrea Quesnelle
Director/Co-Writer Steve Westh
Sales and Distribution ABC Television, BBC, BBC Worldwide and DV1
SynopsisThe story of a heroic Australian pilot murdered by the Nazis and of the post-War manhunt to not only find his killer, but those responsible for executing 50 Allied airmen in the aftermath of the Great Escape of WWII.
Documentary Series
ARE YOU MY MOTHER?
Becker Group
Executive Producer Allison Black
ProducerSally Regan
DirectorsIli Bare, Ivan Mahoney, Daniella Ortega
Sales and Distribution SBS TV, SBS Content Sales
Synopsis Are You My Mother? follows three Australians who are determined to get to the bottom of their trans-racial identity. They will share their emotional journey with us as they make their way through red tape, run-down orphanages and foster homes in Romania, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.
CHOPPER RESCUE SERIES 2
Becker Group
Executive Producer Sue Clothier
Producer Andrew Saw
DirectorJan Cattoni
Sales and Distribution ABC Television, Discovery UK, ABC Commercial
Synopsis Chopper Rescue is an observational documentary series that follows the lives of the EMQ helicopter rescue crews in Far North Queensland as they rescue people in remote locations over land and sea.
THE MAKING OF MODERN AUSTRALIA
Essential Media and Entertainment
Executive Producer Chris Hilton
Series ProducerIan Collie
Producer Nial Fulton
DirectorsSteve Westh, Susan Lambert
Sales and Distribution ABC Television
Synopsis The Making of Modern Australia is a landmark cross-platform social history series that tells the big stories of post-war Australia through the family histories and personal archives of those that lived it – the people of Australia
THE MISSION
Roar Film
ProducersKath Symmons, Stephen Thomas
DirectorVarcha Sidwell
Sales and Distribution ABC Television
Synopsis The Mission is a four-part documentary series about three young Nigerian priests who journey from equatorial Africa to Australia’s island state, Tasmania, as modern day missionaries.
Commissioned Production
KOKODA
Screen Australia in association with Pericles Productions Pty Ltd
Executive Producer Mark Hamlyn
Producer and Co-Writer Andrew Wiseman
Director/Writer Don Featherstone
Sales and Distribution Screen Australia Promotions and Distribution
Synopsis This two-part series offers the first major re-evaluation of Australia’s most important military campaign after Gallipoli – the brutal battle for the Kokoda Track and the desperate campaign to keep New Guinea from falling to the Japanese during the darkest days of World War II.
NATIONAL TREASURES 3: HERITAGE
Screen Australia
Executive Producer Penny Robins
Series Producer Hugh Piper
Series Director Matthew Thomason
Writers Hugh Piper, Matthew Thomason
Sales and Distribution Screen Australia Promotions and Distribution
Synopsis History buff, commentator and member of ABC-TV’s Chaser team, Chris Taylor takes a revealing and upbeat look at some of the building blocks of the Australian identity as he works his way through the treasures on the Federal Government’s National Heritage List. Canvassing objects and sites as varied as the Sydney Opera House through to Ned Kelly’s armour, Chris shows how our environment and history have shaped today’s Australia.
TV DRAMA
UNDERBELLY 2
Screentime Pty Ltd
Executive Producers Jo Hosburgh, Des Monaghan
Writer/Producer Greg Haddrick
Producer Brenda Pam
Writers Peter Gawler, Felicity Packard, Kris Mrksa
Directors Ken Cameron, Shawn Seet, Tony Tilse, Grant Brown
Sales and Distribution Portman
Synopsis The action takes place between Melbourne and Sydney. Once again, it is based on true events; in this case events that happened in both cities between 1977 and 1987. In essence, the action and events of this series are all connected to the rise and fall of the murderous drug syndicate headed by Terry (Mr Asia) Clark and Robert (Aussie Bob) Trimbole.
INDIGENOUS
The projects approved from Screen Australia’s Indigenous Branch are part of the New Black initiative, which is developing and producing 10-minute dramas with emerging directors and producers.
AUNTIE MAGGIE AND THE WOMBA WAKGUN
Bungabura Productions
Producer Bain Stewart
Director Leah Purcell
Writer Angelina Hurley
Synopsis Aunty Maggie struggles to feed her three boys, and what she finds as an easy solution becomes a major problem – a problem that makes her famous.
BOURKE BOY
Scarlett Pictures
Producers Kath Shelper and Anusha Duray
Writer/Director Adrian Wills
Synopsis A true story about a father and son trying to find the words to say to each other before it’s too late.
THE FARM
Brown Cab Productions
Producer John Harvey
Writer/Director Romaine Moreton
Synopsis A young girl named Olivia longs to know the people who came before and the stories they left, uncovering a landscape imbued with history and wonder.
JACOB
Blackfella Films
Producers Darren Dale and Rhea Stephenson
Writer/Director Dena Curtis
Synopsis When George witnesses the deterioration of Gina and Max’s relationship, he must choose the right time to intervene.
THE PARTY SHOES
Producers Helen Panckhurst and Sarah Bond
Writer/Director Michelle Blanchard
Synopsis A little girl devises a logical plan to rid the world of sadness … well her own world at least.