An above-average riff on the reliable “hunting humans for sport” scenario that’s been around at least as far as 1932’s Rko thriller “The Most Dangerous Game,” “The Furies” marks a solid feature debut for Aussie writer-director Tony D’Aquino. A pacy tale about kidnapped women being butchered by mutant monstrosities while sickos pay to watch online, this well-produced Ozploitation effort has the heavy-duty gore to excite horror hounds and packs enough of a girl-power punch to avoid dismissal as just another misogynist slasher movie. Debuting in Asia at BiFan after screenings in Brussels Fantastic Festival and Edinburgh, these “Furies” are certain to be let loose at many more genre-related events, and also have a shot at theatrical exposure in Australia and beyond. Local release details are pending.
Crucial to the film rising above the ranks of horror also-rans is the outstanding central performance of Airlie Dodds, who impressed as...
Crucial to the film rising above the ranks of horror also-rans is the outstanding central performance of Airlie Dodds, who impressed as...
- 7/3/2019
- by Richard Kuipers
- Variety Film + TV
Jessica McNamee stars in Heath Davis’ ‘Locusts’.
Far fewer directors in Australia get the chance to make their second feature, or more, than the global average.
According to a new, ground-breaking study of worldwide trends by UK analyst Stephen Follows, while 63.5 per cent of directors have one feature film credit, 36.5 per cent made a second feature.
Just 8.6 per cent directed more than five and only 0.1 per cent have more than 20 feature credits.
By comparison, Screen Australia’s most recent research found 62 per cent of directors had one credit in the five years to June 2017 and 44 of the 144 surveyed – 19 per cent – had made a second feature.
Broken down by gender, that equated to 42 male directors (22 per cent) and just two women (6 per cent). Some 8 per cent had three credits, 4 per cent had four and 7 per cent had 5-plus.
(Source: stephenfollows.com)
To be fair, Screen Australia’s research is a relatively...
Far fewer directors in Australia get the chance to make their second feature, or more, than the global average.
According to a new, ground-breaking study of worldwide trends by UK analyst Stephen Follows, while 63.5 per cent of directors have one feature film credit, 36.5 per cent made a second feature.
Just 8.6 per cent directed more than five and only 0.1 per cent have more than 20 feature credits.
By comparison, Screen Australia’s most recent research found 62 per cent of directors had one credit in the five years to June 2017 and 44 of the 144 surveyed – 19 per cent – had made a second feature.
Broken down by gender, that equated to 42 male directors (22 per cent) and just two women (6 per cent). Some 8 per cent had three credits, 4 per cent had four and 7 per cent had 5-plus.
(Source: stephenfollows.com)
To be fair, Screen Australia’s research is a relatively...
- 2/20/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Heath Davis.
A newly formed indie filmmakers co-operative will meet monthly in Sydney and plans to expand to a Melbourne chapter.
Around 15 directors attended the inaugural meeting of the group which was convened by Heath Davis and is named Cinegar Bar in Sydney last Thursday.
Among the ideas canvassed were making films as a collective and staging festivals or other screenings of Australian films.
“Our main aim is to create and control our own content and to support each other’s films,” Davis tells If. “We all acknowledge there is a crisis point in Oz cinema and we all have the same war stories.
“We have to find ways to ensure directors are treated better financially. I know some who spent a year on a film and had to reinvest their fees so they were paid zero.”
Among the attendees at the The ArtHouse Hotel in Sydney’s Cbd were Dean Francis,...
A newly formed indie filmmakers co-operative will meet monthly in Sydney and plans to expand to a Melbourne chapter.
Around 15 directors attended the inaugural meeting of the group which was convened by Heath Davis and is named Cinegar Bar in Sydney last Thursday.
Among the ideas canvassed were making films as a collective and staging festivals or other screenings of Australian films.
“Our main aim is to create and control our own content and to support each other’s films,” Davis tells If. “We all acknowledge there is a crisis point in Oz cinema and we all have the same war stories.
“We have to find ways to ensure directors are treated better financially. I know some who spent a year on a film and had to reinvest their fees so they were paid zero.”
Among the attendees at the The ArtHouse Hotel in Sydney’s Cbd were Dean Francis,...
- 2/4/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Heath Davis (L) on the set of ‘Locusts.’
Seventy Australian filmmakers have joined a co-operative aimed at supporting each other’s work and fostering awareness of Aussie films.
The initiative is the brainchild of writer-director Heath Davis, who made his debut with Broke, followed by Book Week and, due to open later this year, suspense drama Locusts.
The group started coalescing before Christmas and rapidly gained members among established directors as well as those with one or two features under their belt. The working title is Cinegar Bar (a play on a cigar bar that Davis used to frequent in Vancouver).
He had the idea after talking to veteran cinematographer John Seale, who told him that when he started out, all the DPs knew and supported each other and formed lasting friendships.
Davis contrasted that camaraderie with the current environment for writers-directors, where it is largely a case of ‘every...
Seventy Australian filmmakers have joined a co-operative aimed at supporting each other’s work and fostering awareness of Aussie films.
The initiative is the brainchild of writer-director Heath Davis, who made his debut with Broke, followed by Book Week and, due to open later this year, suspense drama Locusts.
The group started coalescing before Christmas and rapidly gained members among established directors as well as those with one or two features under their belt. The working title is Cinegar Bar (a play on a cigar bar that Davis used to frequent in Vancouver).
He had the idea after talking to veteran cinematographer John Seale, who told him that when he started out, all the DPs knew and supported each other and formed lasting friendships.
Davis contrasted that camaraderie with the current environment for writers-directors, where it is largely a case of ‘every...
- 1/6/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (Photo: Warner Bros).
Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts sequel worked its magic on moviegoers last weekend, ringing up $253.6 million worldwide as the Australian opening outshone the Us debut.
It was a buoyant frame in Oz, boosted by Trafalgar Releasing’s Burn the Stage: The Movie, while another alternate content release, Rialto’s Spitfire was less successful.
The Old Man & the Gun, which could be Robert Redford’s final screen role, is playing on limited screens in the Us but went out far wider here via eOne with modest results.
Bruce Beresford’s Ladies in Black reached $11.7 million after earning $74,000 in its ninth frame for Sony Pictures. Meanwhile Catherine Scott’s Backtrack Boys has generated $104,000 and Heath Davis’ comedy-drama Book Week has collected $34,000.
Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters, which won the Palme d’Or in Cannes, stole a respectable $52,000 on 15 screens and $161,000 including festival screenings and previews for Rialto.
Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts sequel worked its magic on moviegoers last weekend, ringing up $253.6 million worldwide as the Australian opening outshone the Us debut.
It was a buoyant frame in Oz, boosted by Trafalgar Releasing’s Burn the Stage: The Movie, while another alternate content release, Rialto’s Spitfire was less successful.
The Old Man & the Gun, which could be Robert Redford’s final screen role, is playing on limited screens in the Us but went out far wider here via eOne with modest results.
Bruce Beresford’s Ladies in Black reached $11.7 million after earning $74,000 in its ninth frame for Sony Pictures. Meanwhile Catherine Scott’s Backtrack Boys has generated $104,000 and Heath Davis’ comedy-drama Book Week has collected $34,000.
Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters, which won the Palme d’Or in Cannes, stole a respectable $52,000 on 15 screens and $161,000 including festival screenings and previews for Rialto.
- 11/19/2018
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
After support for his projects repeatedly fell through, Book Week director Heath Davis had to come back from a ‘dark place’
Heath Davis pulled over on Sunset Boulevard to sob about his failed film career. Then he flew back to Sydney to teach high school English.
“It’s hard to live life accepting your dream’s never gonna come true,” he says.
Heath Davis pulled over on Sunset Boulevard to sob about his failed film career. Then he flew back to Sydney to teach high school English.
“It’s hard to live life accepting your dream’s never gonna come true,” he says.
- 10/29/2018
- by Simon Miraudo
- The Guardian - Film News
‘Backtrack Boys.’
Russell Crowe last week urged his 2.73 million Twitter followers to see Backtrack Boys in cinemas, lauding Catherine Scott’s feature documentary as really special and a great story.
A reasonable number of Crowe’s followers did so as Umbrella Entertainment launched the film as an alternate content release, which means exhibitors have the flexibility to run limited sessions.
Meanwhile writer-director Heath Davis’ drama Book Week began its staggered roll-out on eight screens via Bonsai Films.
Backtrack Boys examines a youth program run by rule-breaking jackaroo Bernie Shakeshaft (hailed by Crowe as a “good fella and a bit of a genius”) on the outskirts of Armidale Nsw. Voted as the top feature documentary at the Melbourne International Film Festival, the film collected $24,000 from one session on Saturday and Sunday on 44 screens, and $56,000 including festival screenings.
This opens theatrically in Australia on Thursday.
It’s really special.
Go and see it.
Russell Crowe last week urged his 2.73 million Twitter followers to see Backtrack Boys in cinemas, lauding Catherine Scott’s feature documentary as really special and a great story.
A reasonable number of Crowe’s followers did so as Umbrella Entertainment launched the film as an alternate content release, which means exhibitors have the flexibility to run limited sessions.
Meanwhile writer-director Heath Davis’ drama Book Week began its staggered roll-out on eight screens via Bonsai Films.
Backtrack Boys examines a youth program run by rule-breaking jackaroo Bernie Shakeshaft (hailed by Crowe as a “good fella and a bit of a genius”) on the outskirts of Armidale Nsw. Voted as the top feature documentary at the Melbourne International Film Festival, the film collected $24,000 from one session on Saturday and Sunday on 44 screens, and $56,000 including festival screenings.
This opens theatrically in Australia on Thursday.
It’s really special.
Go and see it.
- 10/28/2018
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Joanne Samuel and Lauren Esposito.
After making her Hollywood debut in James Wan’s The Conjuring 2, Lauren Esposito will play one of five teenagers who encounter an ancient relic in Australian fantasy/adventure The Five: Earth.
Veteran actor Joanne Samuel, who launched her career in Mad Max, is making her feature directing debut on the film which starts shooting in the Blue Mountains on Monday, produced by Benjamin Jon Creative Media and Jah Media.
It’s also the first feature for screenwriter Peter McLeod, based on a concept by Samuel’s son Jesse A’Hern, alongside Amy Benjamin, who is also the production designer, and McLeod.
“We decided to self-create a film, we had five different ideas and this one felt right,” says Samuel, who is partnered with her husband Nick A’Hern in Jah Media.
The plot follows the misfit teens as they get caught up in a...
After making her Hollywood debut in James Wan’s The Conjuring 2, Lauren Esposito will play one of five teenagers who encounter an ancient relic in Australian fantasy/adventure The Five: Earth.
Veteran actor Joanne Samuel, who launched her career in Mad Max, is making her feature directing debut on the film which starts shooting in the Blue Mountains on Monday, produced by Benjamin Jon Creative Media and Jah Media.
It’s also the first feature for screenwriter Peter McLeod, based on a concept by Samuel’s son Jesse A’Hern, alongside Amy Benjamin, who is also the production designer, and McLeod.
“We decided to self-create a film, we had five different ideas and this one felt right,” says Samuel, who is partnered with her husband Nick A’Hern in Jah Media.
The plot follows the misfit teens as they get caught up in a...
- 9/27/2018
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
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