Ben Lawrence's feature documentary 'Ithaka' follows Julian Assange's father, John Shipton, as he fights to free his son.
A French comedy following an oddball duo on an unconventional road trip and an Australian documentary about four refugees that compete in the World Wine Blind Tasting Championships have topped the audience awards at this year's Sydney Film Festival.
When producer Gabriel Shipton went to visit his brother, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, at the UK's Belmarsh prison in August 2019, he walked away not knowing if it would be the final time they would see each other.
For Playground Films owner and director David Barker, there are many industry opportunities to discuss the business of filmmaking - less so the art of filmmaking. To help redress this, Playground has launched Helm, a program of monthly film screenings 'for directors, by directors'.
The Australian Director's Guild has revealed the program for its conference Director's Cut later this month, with the theme 'Cutting Through the Noise'.
Six films will contend this year's AACTA Award for Best Documentary.
'Blaze', 'How To Please A Woman', 'Sissy' and 'Sweet As' will contend for the best original feature prize at this year’s AWGIE Awards, while 'Mrs Harris Goes to Paris', 'The Stranger' and 'The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson' are up for the adapted gong. 'The Newsreader' leads in television with two nominations alongside 'Total Control', 'Firebite', 'Bump' and 'Heartbreak High'.
Female directors have taken the lion's share of nominations for this year's Australian Directors' Guild awards, with Sian Davies and Stef Smith each securing three nods and their counterparts dominating the feature film categories.