Press release from Wingman Pictures
Matt Norman, CEO of Wingman Pictures (Formally The Actors Café Pty Ltd) has again taken out a top prize for his multi-award winning film Salute which is about to screen across America in February 2010 and being launched as a Directors cut at the Winter Olympics as well as Black America Month in the U.S.
In the last few months Norman has been incredibly busy pushing his debut feature documentary Salute which last month took out the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the Santa Cruz Film Festival. Last week it won it’s third American Documentary film award by winning “Best Social Documentary” at Docufest Atlanta. It’s been an obvious favourite at the American film festival circuit also taking Audience choice Best Documentary at Rhode Island Film Festival.
Festival programmers from all around the World are also very excited to invite the film to their festival with several interesting opportunities for a film with such an anti-racial message. Thus far it has been invited to screen in London, Croatia, Russia, Korea and Israel. With so many non English speaking countries inviting the un-subtitled film to their festivals gives me a great pleasure to know that the films message is so universal.
Behind the Scenes Matt Norman has been in contact with President O’Bama in relation to a private screening he is setting up at the Whitehouse for the President and his family. Norman has also just approached Hollywood’s most respected Civil/Human rights activists Martin Sheen to re-voice the film for the American release. Obviously with someone as high profile as Mr Sheen involved, I feel I can give more power to the message behind racial equality around the World and help by discussing Civil and Human rights injustices to school and University students across America when I tour the film early 2010 across the United States.
We are also currently reaching out to Oprah Winfrey and Ellen to have Salute be part of Black America Month activities during February. We’ll also try our best to stamp out the naïve reports of racism caused by the infamous “Hey, Hey Black face skit” with Norman already doing American radio interviews who have been in contact to ask his thoughts on the controversy. “American’s actually believe that the skit was on an American Idol style show” Norman said recently on a Los Angeles late night radio show.
With the much needed digital projection opportunities in the United States compared to Australia (who’s Cinema’s don’t see the benefit in forking out the tiny amount needed from the Millions profit they make from filmmakers), we expect a massive improvement from the Australian release of the film which made it to 17 screens across the country and didn’t even get a run in New Zealand but instead hit a dozen or so New Zealand video shops through Paramount Pictures. Even though Salute became the number one Aussie doco at the Australian box office for 2008 it hasn’t been supported by the industry, especially Screen Australia who helped fund the film but not even include it in ANY Australian film catalogue they have presented to overseas distributors. I suppose you can’t expect to get such a great reaction from Audiences around Australia and then get the same response from Australian Award shows when Screen Australia is also the major sponsor of those events… We’ll just have to prove to the Australian industry that the rest of the World thinks the film shines and just put it down to ruffled feathers.
With such a huge international response to interview requests and the American tour next year to speak about Civil and Human rights injustices, Norman has started Pre-Production on his next film called “Stillborn Bastards”. A controversial title that has a story even worse. Matt Norman has been working on this film for several years, researching the Genocide in Bosnia which seems to go unnoticed through-out the rest of the World since the War in the 1990’s. I have been speaking with some different leaders in the field of the Bosnian conflict over the years and am still shocked with some of the stories I get back. It’s important to tell the World about such atrocities so that it can be completely stamped out by all nations.
With Salute doing so well in the U.S and soon U.K as well as the upcoming shoot for Stillborn Bastards starting, Norman will be in the U.S during Feb where he has already started talking to Hollywood producers about his Feature length Drama based on his film Salute called “1968”. One Hollywood heavy hitter is really keen to work with me on my first feature Drama so between now and then I want to keep myself busy during the time that the Australian industry shut down for a few months!!
Note: Wingman Pictures is currently wanting to speak to anyone who has lived through or have had family who have been involved in the Bosnian Death/Rape camps to contact Matt Norman on info@wingmanpictures.com
For more information on Wingman Pictures or any of the films currently on our project slate, please go to www.wingmanpictures.com or follow us on Twitter @WingmanPictures