Nadia Tass and David Parker will start shooting romantic comedy Tying the Knot in Melbourne and Shanghai in the first half of 2015, the first of three co-productions with a Chinese partner.
Tass and Parker’s Cascade Films and Mario Andreacchio’s AMPCO Studios are joining forces with China’s HCXM (Beijing) Film & Culture Co Ltd.
HCXM has replaced the originally announced partner Shanghai Film and Video Technology Company. The Shanghai studio “wanted to shoot later in 2015, but we wanted to get going earlier," Parker tells IF.
Inspired by a true incident in the 1970s, scripted by Parker and directed by Tass, Tying the Knot is the tale of an Australian boy and a Chinese girl whose plans to get hitched are thrown into jeopardy three days before the wedding when the groom is jailed after being wrongly accused of robbing a bank.
Andreacchio will produce with Tass, Parker and Qi Lin, the president of HCXM. Lin says, “I have worked with Canada, New Zealand and Europe; this is my first time with Australia. I am confident it will be a real success so we are already planning our next two movies.”
Film Victoria is supporting the three Cascade/AMPCO Studios co-pros to be shot in Melbourne.
Andreacchio made the first official co-production between China and Australia, The Dragon Pearl, with Hengdian World Studios in 2009. He is working on two Chinese co-productions with other companies to commence production in early 2015.