Rachael Turk

Friday On My Mind is delighted with the official news that Bright Star (dir. Jane Campion, prod. Jan Chapman) and Samson & Delilah (dir. Warwick Thornton, prod. Kath Shelper) have been selected to screen at the 2009 Cannes International Film Festival.

Bright Star will screen in Official Competition while Samson & Delilah has been selected for the Festival’s Un Certain Regard section.

Samson and Delilah screened to a full house tonight at Friday On My MInd after the news came through late yesterday. Jan Chapman also had the theatre full to overflowing when she joined us on April 3.

Friday On My Mind is AFTRS‘ weekly event bringing you face to face with the industry’s brightest thinkers.

My latest story for Screen Hub:

FTO hangs out Green Lantern

After a tough four years that saw the state’s production levels flag, it’s all systems go for New South Wales film industry after yesterday’s announcement that big-budget Hollywood film Green Lantern will be shot in the state, creating around 500 jobs and providing a major boost for the state’s film industry…

To read in full (and subscription-free!), click here.

(feature film adaptation)

I have recently completed a feature treatment at the request of TokyoPop U.S. for a series of books by Australian manga artist Queenie Chan. My aim was to give the thriller/horror genre a brooding, female twist along the lines of The Virgin Suicides, Twilight, The Orphanage and Australian classic Picnic at Hanging Rock. And – by using the webcam device – a distinct teen audience hook.

Being Frank Miller
Spirit and 300

Just as DC comic Green Lantern announces it will film in NSW, we look at various local approaches to visually interpreting Frank Miller: Fuel on its 310 shots for The Spirit, and Animal Logic on Zac Snyder’s interpretation of the graphic book novelist’s 300.

Special guests:
• Dave Morely – VFX Supervisor, Fuel
• Kurtis Richmond – Art Director, Fuel
• Grant Freckelton – Concept Artist, Animal Logic

Venue: AFTRS Theatrette, Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park
Date: Friday, April 17
Time: 5-6pm
Entry: Free (2-hr free parking)

Friday On My Mind is AFTRS‘ weekly event bringing you face to face with the industry’s brightest thinkers.

My latest story for Screen Hub:

NBCal flies high (if solo) in Aust

Independent American community bank the National Bank of California (NBCal) is taking its “remote services” to a new level with a lend offering to the Australian film industry.

A much needed source of lending capability in this country, NBCal is offering film and television production loans (including discounting pre-sales, cash flow of domestic and international tax incentives, and gap financing), corporate lines of credit and acquisition financing…

To read in full (and subscription-free!), click here.

Creative Producing
Jan Chapman

One of Australia’s most endearing and enduring producers, Jan Chapman talks about her personal style and the importance of a producer’s authorial hand, even when working with auteurs such as Jane Campion, from The Piano to the upcoming Bright Star.

Venue: AFTRS Theatrette, Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park
Date: Friday, April 3
Time: 5-6pm
Entry: Free (2-hr free parking)

Friday On My Mind is AFTRS‘ weekly event bringing you face to face with the industry’s brightest thinkers.

Writer/Director: Adam Elliot
Producer: Melanie Coombs

[in Australian cinemas April 9 through Icon]

With his self-effacing homage to “difference” and evolution of a medium, Adam Elliot has created something wonderful with his first feature-length claymation.

Mary & Max unfolds through the cross-Pacific correspondence between two unlikely pen pals. Though both outsiders for different reasons, 8-y-o Mary Daisy Dinkle and 300 lb New Yorker Max Horowitz share loneliness and a love of chocolate.

The tone and structure are reminiscent of Leunig’s book The Curly Pyjama Letters, and the characters are defined by a Benjamin Button innocence and Forrest Gump goodness. But most of all, Mary & Max references Elliot’s body of work so far: his early shorts Uncle, Cousin and Brother, and his Oscar winning short with producer Melanie Coombs, Harvie Krumpet. His animation, like life, has fingerprints on it – and that’s what makes it real.

Despite themes ranging from cerebral palsy to Asperger’s Syndrome, depression and suicide, Elliot finds the light side of life as characterised by a distinct sense of compassion and good humour. Filled with the quirky minutiae of life, his work stands as an affirmation of humanity on the grandest scale.

The film opened this year’s Sundance Film Festival and, in its first Sydney screening at AFTRS Friday night, the theatre was full house and overflowing with praise.

Forget ‘1000 Films to See Before You Die’ – Mary & Max should be in your Top 10.

If work drinks weren’t unruly enough, all hell breaks loose when God is picking up the tab.

Look out for this riotous short written and directed by Angus Sampson and shot by the supremely talented Adam Arkapaw.

I haven’t seen it yet but I have read the script and, knowing those concerned, am laughing already.

With cast & crew screening happening March 31 in Melbs, it won’t be too long before we see it on the international circuit.

Miss it at your own peril.

Just in from seeing Bertie Blackman and Neal Sutherland (bass/keys) play at the Wharf Sessions. Totally blew my mind.

I’ve seen these guys perform over the years and even worked with them, so I know how they can raise the roof with complex tunes and the biggest little voice you’ve ever heard. But even I was unprepared for how much they have evolved with this new album.

Goldfrapp producer Lee Groves has served them well: from the palpable ‘Heart’ (watch out for clip produced by Diana Ward and shot by Bonnie Elliott) to more contempletive ‘Sky is Falling’, this album has not only guts but gravitas and is truly cinematic.

No longer Sydney’s best kept secret, these guys have been featured on the soundtracks to Puppy, Feed, Feeling_Lonely? and Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueberger.

Secrets & Lies will be released in stores in May.

Mary & Max*
Melanie Coombs and Adam Elliot

Releasing on April 9 and five years in the making, Mary & Max is the tale of the international friendship between two unlikely pen pals. It also signals the culmination of many years collaboration between this producer and director duo, from the Oscar winning short Harvie Krumpet to this long awaited feature claymation that opened the Sundance Film Festival.
*special advance screening

Venue: AFTRS Theatrette, Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park
Date: Friday, March 20
Time: 5-6pm
Entry: Free (2-hr free parking)

Friday On My Mind is AFTRS‘ weekly event bringing you face to face with the industry’s brightest thinkers.