Encore Magazine articles from December 2005

Encore Magazine archives from December 2005

Editor's note.(Editorial)
December 1, 2005... The AFI Awards went off without a hitch last month and the consensus was that Renaissance man Russell Crowe made a good host. The Nine Network's 11pm timeslot was disappointing but on the other hand, perhaps it was a canny form of industry...

Tropfest goes full length.(NEWS)
December 1, 2005... ENTRANTS in the popular Tropfest short film festival will have the opportunity to compete for $1 million in feature film funding under a new program designed to help filmmakers take the next step in their careers. The new innovation,...

SBS launches call for scripts.(News)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... SBS Independent has issued a call for scripts for Marx and Venus, a series of five-minute interstitials developed with Western Australia's film funding and development agency Screen West. Marx and Venus is based around two characters...

Armstrong doco has designs on Sundance.(NEWS)
December 1, 2005... GILLIAN Armstrong's documentary about the life of design pioneer Florence Broadhurst, Unfolding Florence: The Many Lives of Florence Broadhurst, has been selected to screen in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the upcoming Sundance...

Club doco to shoot live in Melbourne.(PRODUCTION)
December 1, 2005... Melbourne-based production company Surface Tension Films has commenced work on the documentary project Magic Made Real. Supported by Melbourne club Honkytonks and Tiger Beer, the project consists of monologues recorded live in a purpose-built...

'Rogue' shoot begins.(resignation)(Stacey Testro International)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Stacey Testro International literary manager, Ayisha Davies, has resigned from her position with the talent and literary management company to work with her former client, producer David Lightfoot. The move came as Lightfoot's latest project,...

Jigsaw deals another hand of 'Blackjack'.(product development)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Jigsaw Entertainment has commenced production on a series of telemovies in the Network Ten Blackjack franchise, with At the Gates and Dead Memory shooting in Sydney from November 21. Another telemovie, Ghosts will shoot in January, bringing to...

Molloy limbers up for 'BoyTown' shoot.(PRODUCTION)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Shooting commenced on November 14 on the Australian feature BoyTown. Mick Molloy and Richard Molloy wrote the film, which is directed by Kevin Carlin and produced by Molloy Boy Productions. The film was shot throughout Melbourne and its...

Blink to turn kid's world 'Upside Down'.(The Upside Down Show product development)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Blink Films has started filming on its new children's program, The Upside Down Show, The show, which stars comedic duo, The Umbilical Brothers, otherwise known as Shane Dundas and David Collins, is being distributed by USA company, Sesame...

Yoram Gross 'Dives' into submarine series.(PRODUCTION)
December 1, 2005... Yoram Gross EM.TV will co-produce the 52 x 11-minute 3D CGI animated series Dive! Olly! Dive!, scheduled to screen on the Seven Network in 2006. Created by UK based Ian and Andrew Ross, the series is structured as a co-production between Yoram...

Film Vic increases funding.(PRODUCTION)
December 1, 2005... The Film Victoria Board has reacted to an increase in production applications over the past six months by allocating an additional $1 million to this year's production investment program. The additional funds will boost the total budget...

Clarifications.(Correction Notice)
December 1, 2005... Comments attributed to Audio Loc's John Dennison in Encore's October issue (page 18) about Gilliam Armstrong's latest film A Colourful Life were in fact made in relation to the Margot Nash-directed feature Call Me Mum. Encore apologies to Audio...

'Wildlifeman' gets amongst it.(PRODUCTION)
December 1, 2005... Documentary filmmaker David Ireland on location with an olive jungle python at a natural spring on Pungalina Station, NT. Ireland was filming 'Outback Serpents', an episode in his new wildlife series The Wildlifeman. Photo by Abe Joffe.

AFI awards get back on track.(THE Australian Film Institute's 2005 awards)
December 1, 2005... THE Australian Film Institute's (AFI) gamble seems to have paid off, with widespread praise for the AFI's staging of consecutive events over the weekend of November 25-26. However, industry guilds have said the craft/creative split...

'Ra Choi' takes surprise film gong at AWGIES.(Australian Writer's Guild's annual awards)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... INDEPENDENT feature Ra Choi was the surprise winner of the 2005 feature film AWGIE at the Australian Writer's Guild's annual awards held on November 25, with the Michael Frank-directed film beating off competition from Little Fish, Look Both...

Co-pro thriller treads path to 'Nowhere': working-title's Middle of Nowhere wrapped production in November, after a gruelling shoot along Australia's east coast. David Hull spoke to the film's director and producer about their experiences of the seven week shoot of the 37-day shoot.(PRODUCTION)
December 1, 2005... During production of the psychological thriller Middle of Nowhere, cast and crew replicated the journey experienced by the film's protagonists. They traced the well-worn backpacker path from urban Sydney to coastal Byron Bay in northern New...

Murder and Mayhem in the burbs: the filmmakers didn't hold back when shooting the edgy black comedy Suburban Mayhem. David Hull reports.(ON LOCATION)
December 1, 2005... To what extent can you empathise with a patently unlikeable character? This is a question explored in Suburban Mayhem, the $4.2 million black comedy that finished filming in New South Wales' Hunter region in October 2005. Indeed, amidst a...

New 'Pride' is a faithful chick-lit adaptation.(ROUGH CUT)(Movie review)
December 1, 2005... Keira Knightley's long-necked, elfin beauty, much like that of Audrey Hepburn or Winona Ryder (and made more beguiling by a single cheeky crooked tooth) more suits the 1960s than the 1790s but under her frisky chortlings Pride and Prejudice...

Keeping it real in Kenya: Australian-based but American-born filmmaker Miles Roston discusses his latest project make it real (to me), which examines the AIDS epidemic.(DOCUMENTARY)
December 1, 2005... Miles Roston has directed documentaries, commercials, drama and animation for broadcasters such as PBS (USA), Channel Five (UK) and the ABC. His latest documentary, Make It Real (To Me), follows 17 year-old HIV/AIDS orphan Kevin Sumba, who...

La gears up for Australia Week 2006.(Los Angeles)
December 1, 2005... Australia Week Los Angeles, otherwise known as 'G'Day LA', reaches its third year in January 2006 and organisers are expecting the largest turnout to date. The high profile event is an ambitious program held over a week which includes a...

Independent drama.
December 1, 2005... I repeat here an op/ed piece I wrote for the Australian Financial Review following a report on the ACCC's position on proposed changes to media ownership rules. If Encore readers agree with my point of view I urge you to write to your local...

Games the icing to OB summer cake: the March 2006 Commonwealth Games will provide welcome revenues for outside broadcast firms on the back of the demanding summer season.(FEATURE: OUTSIDE BROADCAST)
December 1, 2005... Melbourne's staging of the 2006 Commonwealth Games looms as a nice little bonus for a range of providers of outside broadcasting services, scheduled as it is at the tail end of the traditionally busy summer period for the sector. Sports...

Fox feasts on live football: subscription television channel Fox Sports sought to take coverage of domestic football up a notch for the inaugural A-League season. Will Sinclair reports.
December 1, 2005... When Australia's newest football competition, the A-League, was launched at a glittering ceremony in Sydney earlier this year, it was immediately labelled by organisers as the last chance for domestic football to establish a foothold as a...

Perth races into Asia: Perth Racing has turned to in-house production to meet growing international demand. David Hull reports.(FEATURE: OUTSIDE BROADCAST)
December 1, 2005... Western Australian track organisation Perth Racing recently commissioned its own OB facility to meet the demands of a South East Asian contract that commenced in early November. Under the agreement, the Singapore Turf Club will simulcast around...

DI fix for drought 'Water Diary': the digital intermediate process saved the day in post production for writer/director Jane Campion's 15-minute short film The Water Diary. David Hull reports.(FEATURE: POST)
December 1, 2005... The dry landscape and its inhabitants were crying out for it but rainfall was exactly what filmmaker Jane Campion did not need at the start of production on her drought-themed short film The Water Diary. Fortunately the difficulties posed by...

Production report.
December 1, 2005... ENCORE's production report includes all known features and television drama and non-drama television programs which have a network presale. Projects in the planning stage appear once only and the listing ends when a project goes into post...

NZ on film: if ever a country was made for the big screen ...(Book review)
December 1, 2005... The spectacular and varied landscape with which our trans-Tasman neighbour is blessed has supplied a myriad of breathtaking backdrops to feature films down the years. From 1913's The Hinemoa Tale through to 2005 offerings such as River Queen...

More than simply red.
December 1, 2005... According to author Patti Bellantoni, the inspiration for if it's Purple, Someone's Gonna Die came from her experiences teaching at the School of Visual Arts in New York. In a class exercise designed to illustrate the conceptual possibilities...

Salute to new wave larrikin.(The Barry McKenzie Movies)(Book review)
December 1, 2005... Tony Moore explores the legacy of Barry Humphries' caricature of the obnoxious Aussie traveller: the brash but naive, rough-diamond-with-a-heart-of-gold, Barry McKenzie (played by Barry Crocker). The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972) and...

Kemp launches Pacific Stories.(Rod Kemp)(Brief article)
December 1, 2005... FEDERAL ARTS MNISTER ROD KEMP LAUNCHED THE FIRST CROSS-PLATFORM CO-PRODUCTION PACIFIC STORIES ON NOVEMBER 17. Launched at Melbourne's Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Pacific Stories is a co-production between ABC New Media and...

Tresscox turns silver at Sydney mint.(PEOPLE)
December 1, 2005... SPECIALIST ENTERTAINMENT LAW FIRM TRESSCOX CELEBRATED ITS 25TH ANNIVERSAY ON NOVEMBER 3, WITH A PARTY AT THE SYDNEY MINT. 1. Disney Theatrical Australia's Fiona Thomas, with Foxtel head of digital Patrick Delany (centre) and Tress Cox...

ABC opens new WA premises.(Australian Broadcasting Corp.)
December 1, 2005... PRIME MINISTER JOHN HOWARD WAS ON HAND TO OPEN THE ABC'S NEW SITE IN EAST PERTH ON SEPTEMBER 29 The new site, which replaces the ABC's former 50 year-old premises, features a Content Distribution Centre that merges the functions of...

Melbourne hosts screen music Awards.(PEOPLE)
December 1, 2005... THE 2005 SCREEN MUSIC AWARDS WERE HELD AT THE BMW EDGE THEATRE IN MELBOURNE'S FEDERATION SQUARES ON NOVEMBER 9. The annual Awards are a joint venture of the Australian Performing Rights Association (APRA) and Australian Guild of Screen...

Networks rush to stuff their stockings: well connected industry columnist Harvey Shore keeps his ear close to the ground for the latest gossip doing the rounds at the major broadcasters.(HARVEY'S HEARSAY)
December 1, 2005... Most commercial TV channels go to sleep over Christmas. Few waste top rating programs on non-rating season. But with the battle for top dog growing ever trickier, that old trick of running top-raters through summer to snare viewers for the new...