January 13

Congratulations to Hugh

Congratulations to Hugh Jackman on his Golden Globe win for Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical for Les Miserables.

Hugh is also nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role and a BAFTA for Leading Actor in a Motion Picture.

Australian Line-Up for 2013 Berlinale

Two Australian features will screen at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival (7–17 February) in the Generation Kplus competition: the world premiere of The Rocket and Indigenous feature Satellite Boy.

Four Australian shorts have also been selected for the Berlinale. The world premiere of The Amber Amulet and Summer Suit will screen in Generation Kplus. You Like It, I Love It (w/d: James Vaughan) and Screen Australia–funded Yardbird will be featured in Generation 14plus.

Mini-series Top of the Lake will screen as part of the Berlinale Special program, following its international premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

Arrival of two industry recruits marks a new era for SPAA

Screen Producers Association of Australia has appointed Matthew Hancock as Manager, Strategy and Insights and Rachelle Gibson as Manager, Marketing and Communications. Both will report to Executive Director, Matthew Deaner, and along with Owen Johnston, Manager, Commercial Affairs, will play a vital role in re-energising the association’s advocacy and stakeholder relations.

Hancock joins SPAA from Screen Australia where he worked closely with Deaner in steering
many initiatives relating to production support and audience behaviour. Prior to this he
worked at the Australian Film Commission and at Mediascape, a consultancy that measures
community perception of public policy through the analysis of print and broadcast media for
a range of government and not-for-profit clients.

Rachelle Gibson has recently been a freelance marketing executive at Screen Australia, as part of her portfolio as communications and marketing executive. She was marketing and communications manager at Omnilab for nearly three years, after almost eight years as marketing & development Executive at Ausfilm.

Top 5 Australian films of 2012

In 2012, Australian films at the box office took $47.9 million at local cinemas, accounting for a 4.3 per cent domestic share. Audiences clearly wanted to laugh this year with comedies performing particularly well.

The Sapphires was the top grossing Australian feature film at the local box office in 2012, taking $14.5 million.

Happy Feet Two followed with $8.2 million, taking its total box office to $10.7 million when including its earnings from 2011. Kath & Kimderella ($6.1 million), A Few Best Men ($5.3 million) and Mental ($4.1 million) rounded out the top five.

2nd annual ACCTA Awards

Release date for I'Frankenstein

The release of Australian action-thriller I, Frankenstein has been set for September 26th.  Written/Directed by Stuart Beattie, the film stars Aaron Eckhart, Bill Nighy, Yvonne Strahovski and Miranda Otto.

Filming was based at Docklands Studios in Melbourne over a period of ten weeks. The film created over 500 jobs for Australian cast and crew.

SCREEN NSW IS MOVING!

From 25 January 2013, the new address for Screen NSW will be:

Level 5, 323 Castlereagh Street, Sydney NSW 2000

GPO Box 7060, Sydney NSW 2001
Telephone: 02 9995 0555

New Head of Screen Culture to deliver 2013 Brisbane International Film Festival.

Screen Queensland CEO Bryan Lowe has announced the appointment of industry stalwart, Jennie Hughes to the role of - Head of Screen Culture.

Ms Hughes will oversee the screen culture program, including the Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF), Cinesparks Festival for Young People, BIFF in the Burbs and the World Cinema Club as well as offering support to a wide range of regional screen culture events.

Jennie has over 20 years’ experience working in the Australian film, television, new media and music industries.  She has held positions with Virgin, Southern Star Group as well as with Macquarie Bank as their Executive Vice-President of the screen finance division.

Stage & Screen Travel

Planning to travel to LA? Contact Stage and Screen Travel Services on 1800 73 73 83 to book your trip. We have a number of airline deals and preferred hotel partners in LA.

We're regularly travelling there to scout out the best accommodation options for our clients, plus we have our own Stage and Screen Travel office there.

Contact a Travel Manager today for a quote!

Robert Connolly and WA producer Liz Kearney to produce children’s film in Western Australia

Liz Kearney (These Final Hours) will team up with Robert Connolly (The Bank, Three Dollars, Balibo and Underground - The Julian Assange Story) to produce Paper Planes, an imaginative children’s film about a young Australian boy’s passion for flight and his challenge to compete in the World Paper Plane Championships in Japan.

Paper Planes will be the fifth feature film scheduled to shoot in WA in 2013.

Update from Rising Sun Pictures

Rising Sun Pictures welcomes 2013 with ongoing work on a number of high profile projects, including The Wolverine, The Great Gatsby,The Incredible Burt Wonderstone and The Seventh Son.

The team is building on past successes in digital environments, creature and effects work, by contributing key sequences to some of the biggest releases of 2013.

More information at http://www.rsp.com.au/