Screen Australia would like to see more projects that appeal to the "underserved" audience of 14-35-year-olds and have the potential to resonate internationally, head of content Grainne Brunsdon says.
Two feature films, one from Robert Connolly and the other a Kiwi-Aussie co-pro penned by 'The Breaker Upperers'' Jackie van Beek; a ABC TV comedy from Closer Productions; and two online projects are the latest recipients of $3.5 million worth of production funding from Screen Australia.
'Avatar: The Way of Water' has proved the bumper summer hit exhibitors hoped it would be. Some four weekends in, the James Cameron sequel - with a cume of $66.7 million - is already the the sixth highest grossing film to ever be released in Australia.
In Robert Connolly’s 'Blueback', young Abby befriends a magnificent wild blue groper while diving, beginning her life-long journey to save the world’s coral reefs.
"One of the beauties about the conversations we've been having was recognising that they were not just going to put money into individual films in an investment sense and then say goodbye."
Disney's 'Avatar: The Way of Water' absolutely dominated cinemas in its opening weekend, capturing an 87 per cent market share.
Writer/directors have dominated the feature film categories for this year's AWGIE Awards, which will be presented in Sydney next month.
Robert Connolly believes he's found the sweet spot at Arenamedia: a slate that balances large-scale, commercial feature films like 'The Dry' and 'Blueback' with features from exciting emerging voices.