Screen Australia today announced over $350,000 to support 13 filmmaking teams
develop their feature film projects, taking them to the next level on the path towards
production readiness. Five new projects have been added to the development slate
while eight teams will receive continued support to develop their projects. Genres
include horror, comedy, romantic comedy, drama, adventure and children’s
animation.
Among the new projects to receive support for development is The Tunnel: Dead
End, the sequel to the successful crowd-funded online horror feature film The Tunnel
from producer/writers Enzo Tedeschi and Julian Harvey and director Carlo
Ledesma.
Harry Cripps will develop the romantic comedy script Addition, based on the novel of
the same name, with producers Bruna Papandrea and Cristina Pozzan, and writer
Jules Duncan will be supported to develop the comedy script Bogan Wedding.
Writer Pip Karmel and Porchlight Films’ producer Vincent Sheehan will receive
support to develop their new comedy drama script What Alice Forgot, and Out West
is a new comedy to be developed by writer/director Alister Grierson (Sanctum) and
producers Catriona Hughes, Leesa Kahn and Terry Jennings.
Projects to receive continued development support include writer Mark Herman and
producers Marian Macgowan and Sarah Radclyffe’s Julian Corkle Is a Filthy Liar,
and writer/director Jocelyn Moorhouse and producer Sue Maslin’s The Dressmaker.
The Outrageous Barry Rush is an adventure feature project in development by writer
Andy Cox with director Kriv Stenders (Red Dog) and producer Alan Harris, and
writer Shaun Grant (Snowtown) is continuing to develop his comedy script Bad
Angel about a New York hit man who is unwittingly embraced by a rural Australian
community. Nicholas Cole and Antonia Barnard are on board as producers.
Last Cab to Darwin is a drama in development about a Broken Hill cab driver who
learns that it’s never too late to change his life from writer/director/producer Jeremy
Sims, writer Reg Cribb, producer Greg Duffy and executive producer Ian Darling.
Plates Day is an animated black comedy in development from writer/director Bruce
Petty and producer Jenny Day about the certainties we search for and the fantasies
we can’t live without.
Black Echoes is a horror feature script in development by writers Shayne Armstrong
and Shane Krause with director Greg McLean (Wolf Creek) and producers Murray
Pope and Michael Robertson.
Producer Mary Minas will also be supported by Screen Australia with a six-month
professional internship, receiving bespoke training in development, production and
distribution from producer and distributor John Maynard (Balibo, An Angel at My
Table, Romulus, My Father, The Bank) at Felix Media and Footprint Films in
Melbourne.
SINGLE-PROJECT DEVELOPMENT: FEATURE DEVELOPMENT
ADDITION
Genre Romantic Comedy
Producers Bruna Papandrea, Cristina Pozzan
Writer Harry Cripps
Synopsis Grace cannot stop counting things. It has cost her her job as a teacher and
shut her off from the rest of the world. But meeting Seamus opens up the possibility
of a normal life. Unfortunately becoming normal is a lot harder than Grace thought.
Based on the novel by Toni Jordan.
BAD ANGEL
Genre Comedy
Producers Nicholas Cole, Antonia Barnard
Writer Shaun Grant
Synopsis The transformation of Angelo d’Angelo, a New York hit man who is
unwittingly embraced into the bosom of a simple, rural Australian community. For
the first time, Angelo learns that love and family are just as effective as any weapon
he’s ever known.
BLACK ECHOES
Genre Horror
Producers Murray Pope, Michael Robertson
Writers Shayne Armstrong, Shane Krause
Director Greg McLean
Synopsis A group of international tourists are taken off the beaten path to an isolated
village deep in the Vietnamese countryside where they experience a Viet Cong tunnel
crawl that makes the famous Cu Chi tunnels seem like a playground… tighter, more
claustrophobic, scarier. They get their money’s worth and then some!
BOGAN WEDDING
Genre Comedy
Writer Jules Duncan
THE DRESSMAKER
Genre Drama
Producer Sue Maslin
Writer/Director Jocelyn Moorhouse
Synopsis A bittersweet tragic-comedy about a glamorous young woman who returns,
after many years in Europe, to her small home town in rural Australia in order to
right some wrongs from the past. When Tilly comes home she not only heals her
ailing mother, but with her sewing machine, and haute couture style, transforms the
women of the town in such a way that she gets sweet revenge on those who did her
wrong. She also falls unexpectedly in love, which leads to her greatest loss and her
most destructive deed. Based on the acclaimed novel by Rosalie Ham.
JULIAN CORKLE IS A FILTHY LIAR
Genre Comedy
Producers Marian Macgowan, Sarah Radclyffe
Writer Mark Herman
Synopsis A romp through family life and black-sheepedness in small town Tasmania
in the 1980s. Based on the bestselling novel by DJ Connell.
LAST CAB TO DARWIN
Genre Drama
Producer/Writer/Director Jeremy Sims
Producer Greg Duffy
Executive Producer Ian Darling
Writer Reg Cribb
Synopsis Max, a taciturn Broken Hill cabbie, has never done anything with his life.
He’s in love with his neighbour Polly, but he’s never told anyone, not even himself.
He thinks he’ll live and die alone in Broken Hill. Then something happens that forces
Max to go on an extraordinary journey – a journey that shows him, and us, that it’s
never too late to change your life.
OUT WEST
Genre Comedy
Producers Catriona Hughes, Leesa Kahn, Terry Jennings
Writer/Director Alister Grierson
Synopsis Two corrupt ex-cops travel to Coober Pedy with a bag of cash and play
chicken with vengeful bikies, thieves, a yakuza wannabe, sociopathic rednecks and a
rather short-tempered, one-armed deaf guy.
THE OUTRAGEOUS BARRY RUSH
Genre Adventure
Producer Alan Harris
Writer Andy Cox
Director Kriv Stenders
PLATES DAY
Genre Black Comedy
Producer Jenny Day
Writer/Director Bruce Petty
Synopsis An animated feature film from Bruce Petty about the certainties we search
for and the fantasies we can’t live without.
SCARY GIRL
Genre Children’s Animation
Producer Sophie Byrne
Executive Producer Steven DeNure
Writer Polly Watkins
Creator Nathan Jurevicius
Synopsis Ten-year-old Arkie’s quest to find her friend Blister takes her into a strange
and beautiful world, in which she must overcome her darkest fears in order to save
him and fulfil her destiny. Based on the hugely popular graphic novel by Nathan
Jurevicius.
THE TUNNEL: DEAD END
Genre Horror
Producer/Writers Enzo Tedeschi, Julian Harvey
Executive Producers Jonathan Chissick, Peter Thompson
Director Carlo Ledesma
Synopsis In 2008, Lindsay watched her brother vanish in the dark tunnels beneath
Sydney. Now she’s looking for answers – but what happens if the answers find her
first?
WHAT ALICE FORGOT
Genre Comedy Drama
Producer Vincent Sheehan (Porchlight Films)
Writer Pip Karmel
INDUSTRY INTERNSHIPS
MARY MINAS INTERNSHIP
Producer Mary Minas will work closely with producer and distributor John Maynard
(Balibo, An Angel at My Table, Romulus, My Father, The Bank) at Felix Media and
Footprint Films in Melbourne for six months, receiving bespoke training in
development, financing and distribution.
Screen Australia Media Release – Thursday 1 March 2012