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(L-r) Carolyn Johnson, Eve Spence and Amin Palangi.

Intrigued by people who choose to live off the grid in shacks, Eve Spence had the idea of writing a feature centred around one such community, overlaid with the arrival of asylum seekers from Iran.

Recognising she needed help with the Iranian angle, she reached out to filmmaker Amin Palangi, whose debut feature documentary, Love Marriage in Kabul, won the Audience Award at Sydney Film Festival, initially as a consultant.

That progressed to the duo collaborating on the screenplay of Common Ground and they decided take that a step further and co-direct. They brought in experienced producer Carolyn Johnson, whose credits include Bentley Dean and Martin Butler’s Tanna and Benjamin Gilmour’s Son of a Lion.

The saga of Kayla, a young surfer whose life in a coastal hideaway is disrupted by the arrival of Omid and Babak, asylum seekers who...

(L-r) John Sheedy, Daisy Axon, Julie Ryan, Lisa Hoppe and Tenille Kennedy (Photo credit: Court McAllister).

John Sheedy’s feature debut H is for Happiness, an adaptation of Barry Jonsberg’s young adult novel My Life as an Alphabet, has won this year’s $100,000 CinefestOZ Film Prize.

Announcing the award at the Saturday night gala, jury chair Rachel Ward said: “If we have the power as jurors to change the world to be a better place, then voting for H is for Happiness to win the CinefestOZ 2019 is our contribution. As juror Alex Dimitriades added, H is also for Hope.”

The other finalists were Owen Trevor’s Go!, Ben Lawrence’s Hearts and Bones, Mirrah Foulkes’ Judy & Punch and Paul Ireland’s Measure for Measure.

Sheedy said: “The competition was so tough. There were five amazing films, I saw all of them. To be chosen in such good company...

John Collee (l) with Anthony Maras.

John Collee is not only among Australia’s most successful screenwriters, his strike rate of scripts-to-screen is the envy of most of his peers.

The co-creator of Happy Feet, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Tanna and Hotel Mumbai, Collee estimates that one in every three or four feature scripts he’s written has been produced.

He’s not boasting but his batting average compares well to that of Guillermo del Toro. The writer-director of The Shape of Water, Pan’s Labyrinth and The Hobbit trilogy recently revealed on social media he had spent years developing 10 films which did not get made.

“Sometimes projects can be taken off you and written by someone else and your name is taken off then, but to have involvement in one of three films I’ve written is a pretty good record,” Collee tells If.

Visit Films also launching sales on Slamdance selection Lost Holiday.

Visit Films has added a handful of new titles in time for Efm and arrives in Berlin to launch sales on Sundance winner The Sharks and Rotterdam and Slamdance selection Lost Holiday.

Ryan Kampe and his team will screen neo-noir State Like Sleep starring Katherine Waterston and Michael Shannon, Toronto selections Jirga and Helmet Heads, La Film Festival selections This Teacher and Spell, and Merce Cunningham documentary If the Dancer Dances.

The Sharks earned Lucía Garibaldi the best director prize in World Cinema Dramatic Competition at Sundance and stars newcomer...

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,...

(L-r) Andrew Goldsmith, Lucy Hayes and Bradley Slabe.

Bradley Slabe, the co-director with Andrew Goldsmith of the Academy Award-shortlisted animated short Lost & Found, looks set for a major career boost after securing representation in the Us.

The writer-director signed with Los Angeles-based Verve after being introduced to the talent and literary agency by Jonathan Hludzinski, Animal Logic’s senior VP, production.

On the same trip to La he met with four management companies and is yet to decide which one to take on. “My dream is to create my own content but Verve has showed me the IP properties on their roster and asked me which ones I’d like to pitch for,” he tells If.

Slabe, Goldsmith and producer Lucy Hayes are keen to develop a TV series spin-off of Lost & Found, which would look at the community of knitted creatures before their ranks were thinned to two.

Kenneth Branagh’s Shakespeare tale All Is True has been selected to open the Palm Springs Film Festival, which Friday unveiled its full lineup of films for the 30th edition that runs January 3-14. The fest also said that Bruce Bereford’s Ladies in Black will be the closing-night film, with the director and cast members expected to be in attendance.

In all, the fest will screen 223 films from 78 countries, and as usual will screen a slew of Oscar Foreign Language Film entries, this year numbering 43 of the 87 official submissions. Also on the docket: a 30-film retrospective of past fest selections, dubbed the Palm Springs Canon; special focuses on cinema from France, India and Mexico, and Jewish and queer cinema; and the new Ricky Jay Magic of Cinema Award, named for actor and magician Ricky Jay who died last month.

In addition to the film lineup, the opening awards gala...

The Palm Springs International Film Festival has announced its 2019 lineup, and it’s prodigious: 223 films from 78 countries, four of them world premieres. Though well known for celebrating future Oscar nominees (and winners) each year, the festival also boasts a deceptively robust world-cinema slate; among the upcoming offerings are Jia Zhangke’s “Ash Is Purest White,” Sergey Loznitsa’s “Donbass,” Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra’s “Birds of Passage,” and Ryūsuke Hamaguchi’s “Asako I & II,” to name just a few.

A number of post-screening Q&As will also be held, including with “Black Klansman” author Ron Stallworth and “Support the Girls” star Regina Hall, in addition to a new section celebrating the best films to screen at Psiff throughout its first three decades.

World premieres:

Buck Run (USA), Director Nick Frangione

Carlos Almaraz Playing With Fire (USA), Directors Elsa Flores Almaraz, Richard Montoya (Schlesinger Documentary Competition)

The Last Color...

Buried within the closing crawl of writer, director, cinematographer and co-producer Benjamin Gilmour’s unfortunately cryptic but nonetheless fascinating debut film “Jirga” are shout-outs for security, political and cultural liaisons, as well as an Afghan film advisor. These credits speak, however quietly, to the no-doubt-delicate and clearly arduous making of a film that finds a guilt-ridden Australian soldier returning to Afghanistan three years after mistakenly killing a married father during a village raid to make monetary amends to his widow and orphaned sons, only to be waylaid by a small, cave-dwelling Taliban squad along the barren route.

Warmly received on the festival circuit — almost certainly as much for its spectacular scenery as the frustrating wisp of a plot — “Jirga” (which means “a tribal council” in the film’s predominant Pashto language) has emerged as Australia’s official entry for the Oscar foreign language race as well as the winner of...

Late at night in a little motel in eastern Afghanistan, Australian actor Sam Smith nervously stared at his door with a knife under his pillow and passport in his pocket. Smith was waiting for someone to barge in as gunshots rang outside.

This wasn’t for a scene. This was the reality of shooting “Jirga.”

“The film is a very mellow version of what actually happened in real life,” Smith told TheWrap’s Sharon Waxman at a Q&A on Monday following a screening of the movie. “Jirga,” Australia’s entry into the Oscar foreign film race, was directed by Benjamin Gilmour, and both he and Smith were in attendance for the screening.

“Jirga” is a drama that traverses the country of Afghanistan on location behind former soldier Mike Wheeler (Smith). Without knowledge of the language or culture, Wheeler enlists a local taxi driver (Sher Alam Miskeen Ustad) to take...

‘Jirga’ won the Aacta for Best Indie Film.

Director Benjamin Gilmour’s Jirga took home the inaugural Aacta Award for Best Indie Film – designed to honour films made under $2 million – at the Aacta Industry Luncheon in Sydney yesterday.

The film, produced by John Maynard, beat out Strange Colours, Brothers’ Nest, West of Sunshine and The Second. Starring Sam Smith as a former Australian soldier who returns to Afghanistan seeking forgiveness, Jirga is also Australia’s submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the upcoming Academy Awards.

Some 35 awards were given away at yesterday’s Aacta event, hosted by actress Kat Stewart and comedian Nazeem Hussain. Other key feature film winners were Sweet Country and Ladies in Black, which each took home three gongs.

David Tranter and Steven McGregor won Best Original Screenplay for Sweet Country, while film’s director and Dop Warwick Thornton was honoured with the award for Best...

Indie distributor Lightyear Entertainment has acquired U.S. rights to Jirga, Australia’s submission for Oscar consideration in the foreign-language film category, from Visit Films.

Written and directed by Benjamin Gilmour (Son of a Lion), the pic stars Sam Smith as a former Australian soldier who returns to Afghanistan to seek redemption for killing a civilian man during the war. Shot on the fly in Afghanistan after Pakistan withdrew permission to film there, Jirga is the winner of the Cinefest Oz Film Prize.

Lightyear plans to release the film, produced by John Maynard, theatrically in the spring.

“...

Indie distributor Lightyear Entertainment has acquired U.S. rights to Jirga, Australia’s submission for Oscar consideration in the foreign-language film category, from Visit Films.

Written and directed by Benjamin Gilmour (Son of a Lion), the pic stars Sam Smith as a former Australian soldier who returns to Afghanistan to seek redemption for killing a civilian man during the war. Shot on the fly in Afghanistan after Pakistan withdrew permission to film there, Jirga is the winner of the Cinefest Oz Film Prize.

Lightyear plans to release the film, produced by John Maynard, theatrically in the spring.

“...

‘Jirga.’

The Us distributor which released Tanna, Australia’s first nominee for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, has acquired Benjamin Gilmour’s Jirga.

Lightyear Entertainment will launch the Afghanistan-set drama produced by John Maynard, which is Australia’s submission for that Academy Award, in cinemas next spring.

The deal was negotiated by Brooklyn, NY-based Visit Films, which also handled Bentley Dean and Martin Butler’s Tanna. Nominations for the 91st Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday January 22. The Oscars will be held on Sunday February 24 Us time.

“I was struck by the way the Afghan people are shown in a revealing light that’s quite different from what you see on the evening news and the courage that the protagonist displays is extraordinary,” said Lightyear CEO Arnie Holland.

“When you add the stark beauty of the Afghan mountains and the stunning cinematography, it’s no wonder this was...

Pashtun-language drama contains some English dialogue and shot guerrilla-style in Afghanistan.

Lightyear Entertainment has acquired Us rights from Visit Films to Australia’s 2019 Oscar submission Jirga, two years after it distributed the country’s Oscar-nominated drama, Tanna.

Jirga stars Sam Smith as former Australian soldier Mike Wheeler, who returns to Afghanistan seeking redemption from the family of a civilian he killed during the war. Hoping for forgiveness, the veteran puts his life in the hands of the village justice system, the Jirga.

Writer-director Benjamin Gilmour shot the film guerrilla-style with former Taliban members under dangerous conditions in what remains one...

For countries in the English-speaking world, entries into the foreign-language Oscar race offer a chance to reflect on the complexity of their own cultures or examine their place in the wider world.

After digging into its colonial past last year in Francois Girard’s Quebec-set “Hochelaga, Land of Souls,” Canada enters the Oscar race with Sophie Dupuis’ “Family First.” Set in a gritty working-class neighborhood, Dupuis’ low-budget feature debut is about a Montreal family bound together by a life of crime. Canada, which took home the foreign-language Oscar in 2003 with Denys Arcand’s “The Barbarian Invasions,” has scored four nominations and three shortlist spots in the past 12 years.

Australia landed its first nomination in 2016 with “Tanna,” a Nauvhal-language romance about two young lovers defying local mores that was the first film ever shot on the island of Vanuatu. This year’s submission for the foreign-language race, “Jirga,” follows a former...

Among the 87 entries this year, down five from 2017’s whopping 92, there are more documentaries than ever, plus two African countries submitting for the first time: Malawi and Niger. Here’s a guide to the films, including logline, sales, and production contact.

Afghanistan

“Rona, Azim’s Mother”

Director: Jamshid Mahmoudi

Logline: A touching drama set in the milieu of Afghan immigrants in Iran who lack full citizens’ rights, with laborer Azim struggling to care for his mother.

Key Cast: Mohsen Tanabandeh, Fatemeh Hosseini

Intl. Sales: Noori Pictures

Algeria

“Until the End of Time”

Director: Yasmine Chouikh

Logline: An elderly grave digger and a 60-something widow meet in the cemetery of Sidi Boulekbour and develop feelings for one another.

Key Cast: Djillali Boudjemaa, Djamila Arres

Intl. Sales: MakingOf Film

Argentina

“El Ángel”

Director: Luis Ortega

Logline: A portrait of the infamous teenage serial killer “The Angel of Death,” who took Argentina by...

Nicole Kidman and Joel Edgerton on the set of ‘Boy Erased.’

Joel Edgerton and Simon Baker have scored nominations in the feature film direction and acting categories for Boy Erased and Breath, the first time that’s happened in the same year in AFI | Aacta history.

Edgerton and Baker will compete for four prizes at this year’s awards which will be handed out at an industry luncheon on December 3 and at the ceremony on December 5. Both titles have been nominated for best film and Edgerton and Baker are also in the running for best supporting actor and adapted screenplay.

In total 19 features received nominations, with five vying for best film: Boy Erased, Breath, Yolanda Ramke and Ben Howling’s Cargo, Bruce Beresford’s Ladies in Black and Warwick Thornton’s Sweet Country.

The five titles competing for the new category of best indie film budgeted under $2 million are the Jacobson brothers’ Sibling Rivalry,...

Yesterday afternoon, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced which movies will be competing to win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Feature. This first long list marks an important benchmark in the season. Yes, we can actually begin narrowing things down. To be fair, this is a category that doesn’t get the attention of Best Picture or Best Actor/Best Actress, but it’s still a big deal. The Academy has narrowed things down to 87 films, just shy of the record set last year. That many countries submitting movies for Oscar consideration is wonderful, especially since I’ve seen a handful of these and they’re largely excellent. The only notable exclusion was that Italy did not choose Happy as Lazarro to be their selection, despite the backing of Martin Scorsese and Netflix. That country opted for Dogman from Matteo Garrone, instead. Aside from that, it...

First-time submissions come from Malawi and Niger as Austrlia and New Zealand join the list.

Eighty-seven countries have submitted films for this year’s foreign language film Oscar, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has revealed - a drop from the record 92 that submitted last year.

Countries submitting films in the category for the first time include Malawi - which has entered Shemu Joyah’s The Road to Sunrise - and Niger, whose submission is Rahmatou Keïta’s The Wedding Ring.

Submissions that had not previously been confirmed include Australian entry Jirga, from director Benjamin Gilmour, and New Zealand contender Yellow Is Forbidden,...

‘Jirga’

Benjamin Gilmour’s Afghanistan-set drama Jirga will carry Australia’s hopes of being nominated for this year’s Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

The international recognition as Australia’s official submission follows the film’s international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and winning the $100,000 best film prize, Australia’s richest, at CinfestOZ.

Produced and distributed by John Maynard, the film stars Sam Smith as a former Australian soldier who returns to Afghanistan seeking forgiveness and puts his life in the hands of the village justice system – the Jirga.

There are 87 countries vying for the prize, including first-time entrants Malawi and Niger and high-profile contenders such as Mexico’s Roma and Poland’s Cold War, both of which are hoping to break out of the foreign race and earn nominations for best picture, best director and more.

Gilmour said: “We are thrilled about the honour of representing Australia.

First-time submissions come from Malawi and Niger as Austrlia and New Zealand join the list.

Eighty-seven countries have submitted films for this year’s foreign language film Oscar, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has revealed, a drop from the record 92 that submitted last year.

Countries submitting films in the category for the first time include Malawi, which has entered Shemu Joyah’s The Road to Sunrise, and Niger, whose submission is Rahmatou Keïta’s The Wedding Ring.

Submissions that had not previously been confirmed include Australian entry Jirga, from director Benjamin Gilmour, and New Zealand contender Yellow Is Forbidden,...

First-time submissions come from Malawi and Niger as Austrlia and New Zealand join the list.

Eighty-seven countries have submitted films for this year’s foreign language film Oscar, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has revealed, a drop from the record 92 that submitted last year.

Countries submitting films in the category for the first time include Malawi, which has entered Shemu Joyah’s The Road to Sunrise, and Niger, whose submission is Rahmatou Keïta’s The Wedding Ring.

Submissions that had not previously been confirmed include Australian entry Jirga, from director Benjamin Gilmour, and New Zealand contender Yellow Is Forbidden,...

Eighty-seven countries have submitted films for consideration in the foreign language category for the 91st Academy Awards.

Oscar nominations will be announced on Jan. 22 and the ceremony will be held on Feb. 24 at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre. Malawi and Niger are first-time entrants. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made the announcement on Monday.

High-profile titles include Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma,” the Mexican entry; Denmark’s “The Guilty”; Germany’s “Never Look Away,” from previous Oscar winner Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck; Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Shoplifters,” the Japanese entry that won the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival; Nadine Labaki’s “Capernaum,” the Cannes jury prize winner from Lebanon; and Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Cold War,” the Cannes best director prize winner from Poland.

The 2018 submissions are:

Afghanistan, “Rona Azim’s Mother,” Jamshid Mahmoudi, director;

Algeria, “Until the End of Time,” Yasmine Chouikh, director;

Argentina, “El Ángel,...

A whopping 87 countries submitted entries in the Foreign-Language Film race at the 2019 Oscars. That is down by five from last year’s record 92 submissions but up by two from 2017, which had broken the benchmark of 83 set in 2015. The nations represented ranged from A (Afghanistan) to Y (Yemen). Among the contenders is the Mexican entry “Roma” by Oscar winner Alfonso Cuaron (“Gravity”). This Venice Film Festival winner is a strong contender in both this and the Best Picture race at the Oscars.

Predicting the eventual five Oscar nominees for Best Foreign-Language Film is made difficult by the two-step process.

First, the several hundred academy members of the Foreign-Language Film screening committee are required to watch a number of the submissions (upwards of a dozen) over a two-month period that ends in mid December. They will rate them from 6 to 10 and their top six vote-getters make it to the next round, as...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the official list of submissions for the 2019 Oscar for best foreign language film. There are 87 countries vying for the prize this awards season, including first-time entrants Malawi and Niger. Included among the titles are high-profile contenders such as Mexico’s “Roma” and Poland’s “Cold War,” both of which are vying to break out of the foreign race and earn nominations for best picture, best director, and more.

Nominations for the 91st Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, January 22, 2019. The 91st Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 24, 2019. Click here to view predictions for the foreign language Oscar race from IndieWire’s awards editor Anne Thompson.

2018 Foreign Oscar Submissions

Afghanistan, “Rona Azim’s Mother,” Jamshid Mahmoudi, director

Algeria, “Until the End of Time,” Yasmine Chouikh, director

Argentina, “El Ángel,” Luis Ortega, director

Armenia, “Spitak,” Alexander Kott, director

Australia, “Jirga,...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced today that 87 countries have qualified for this year’s Foreign Language Film competition. With some of the

strongest entries in recent years this is shaping up as one of the richest fields of contenders in memory. Of course one of the Netflix titles, Mexico’s Roma from director Alfonso Cuaron has been widely acclaimed at numerous festivals and already won top prize at Venice which makes it the front runner here. It is also expected to be in contention for a Best Picture nomination as well as other categories and that could enhance its chances. However could an upset be in the offing? I would say there are a number of equally fine movies in the mix here including Japan’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner, Shoplifters; Denmark’s riveting The Guilty; Germany’s epic Never Look Away from previous Oscar winner...

Eighty-seven films have qualified in the 2018 Oscars race for Best Foreign Language Film, the Academy announced on Monday.

The number is five less than last year’s record of 92 entries, but significantly larger than the 60-odd qualifying films that were the norm only a few years ago. The 2018 race is also expected to be one of the most competitive in years, with a number of esteemed international directors and award-winning films competing for only nine spots on the shortlist and five nominations.

Los Angeles-based volunteers from all branches of the Academy will now watch all the eligible films at AMPAS screenings at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills and the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. This year, the Academy has made it easier to qualify to vote, dropping the number of films each voter must see from 17 or 18 down to 12 and eliminating the color-coded groups that made each voter...

‘Venom’ (Photo credit: Ctmg)

The critics hated Venom, blasted by Rolling Stone’s Pete Travers as a “puddle of simplistic, sanitized PG-13 drivel” and the worst Marvel film of the year, and by The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw as clumsy, monolithic and fantastically boring.

Audiences must be watching a different movie as the Sony Pictures/Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man spin-off starring Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams and Riz Ahmed smashed October opening weekend records worldwide last weekend.

Bruce Beresford’s Ladies in Black clearly is benefiting from repeat business in its third weekend while Benjamin Gilmour’s Jirga advanced to $128,000 including festival screenings after taking $16,000 in its second weekend on 10 screens.

Paramount released Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups direct to home entertainment in the Us but gave it a theatrical run here as an alternate content release.

Transmission’s The Seagull didn’t fly while of the limited releases Madman Entertainment’s American Animals...

‘Ladies in Black.’

The Australian titles released in cinemas this year including holdovers will overtake the calendar 2017 total in the next week or so, boosted by Bruce Beresford’s Ladies in Black.

Through the end of September the Oz films and feature docs had grossed $47.8 million, according to the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia (Mpdaa), within spitting distance of last year’s $49.4 million.

After a second weekend drop of just 10 per cent Ladies in Black’s takings have increased by nearly $800,000 to $5.97 million, including $361,000 on Tuesday, so the 1950s-set comedy-drama distributed by Sony is on course to surpass $12 million.

Distributed by Universal Pictures as an alternate content release, Mark Joffe’s biopic Jimmy Barnes: Working Class Boy rang up $823,000, ranking as the year’s second biggest feature doc behind Paul Damian Williams’ Gurrumul, which made $984,000.

Among the other September debutantes, Mark Grentell’s The Merger collected $405,000 and Benjamin Gilmour...

‘Ladies in Black.’

While children’s and family titles understandably are dominating ticket sales during the school vacation, Bruce Beresford’s Ladies in Black looked smart in its second weekend.

Universal’s comedy Night School opened reasonably well considering the African-American cast led by Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish aren’t big stars here, while Sony’s Ice Age adventure Alpha was frozen out by the competition despite glowing reviews.

Palace’s French drama Custody fared best among the limited releases while Transmission’s Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot and Icon’s feature doc McKellen: Playing the Part had modest debuts.

Benjamin Gilmour’s Jirga began a platform release at nine screens, posting solid figures at the Cinema Nova, Hayden Orpheum and Luna Leederville. (See separate story).

The top 20 titles raked in $15.8 million from Thursday through Monday, up 16 per cent on the same frame last week,...

‘Jirga.’

Benjamin Gilmour’s Afghanistan-set drama Jirga posted solid figures at three key art house locations last weekend, the start of an old-fashioned platform release.

The writer-director and producer-distributor John Maynard are confident that momentum will build for the saga starring Sam Smith as a former Australian soldier who returns to Afghanistan seeking redemption from the family of a civilian man he accidentally killed.

“It’s encouraging that many who have seen the film already have signed up to become advocates for its message and importance,” Gilmour tells If. “All weekend I’ve been fielding comments, with complete strangers emailing to tell us how Jirga moved them and to thank us for making this film.

“Many have told me they feel Jirga is a pro-peace film that resonated with them in the context of the current hateful and divisive political and human rhetoric. I’ve had quite a few people...

Discovery selection screens to press and industry on Saturday.

Visit Films has come on board to represent worldwide rights excluding Australia and New Zealand to the Pashto- and English-language drama Jirga ahead of its North American premiere in Tiff next week.

The Discovery selection screens to press and industry on Saturday (September 8) and won the top award at CinefestOZ 2018 following the world premiere at Sydney Film festival in June. The North American premiere is on Tuesday (11).

Sam Smith stars as a former Australian soldier who returns to Afghanistan to make peace with the family of a civilian he killed accidentally during combat,...

The Toronto International Film Festival has added Brady Corbet’s drama “Vox Lux,” starring Natalie Portman and Jude Law, and Neil Jordan’s “Greta,” with Chloe Grace Moretz and Isabelle Huppert.

The festival also announced Tuesday a total of 46 titles in its Discovery program, which is devoted to up-and-coming filmmakers. The festival will screen 255 features and 88 shorts with 138 being world premieres, including “Greta.” The 43rd Toronto International Film Festival will begin on Sept. 6.

“Vox Lux” and “Greta” have been added to the Special Presentations program. “Vox Lux,” which will premiere at the Venice Film Festival, is a musical drama about a woman who achieves success after a tragic childhood. The film also stars Jennifer Ehle, Stacy Martin and Raffey Cassidy. “Greta” stars Moretz as a young woman in New York who befriends a widow, played by Huppert, who has sinister intentions.

The Discovery program includes Belgian director Lukas Dhont’s ‘Girl,...

Brady Corbet’s “Vox Lux,” with Natalie Portman and Jude Law, and Neil Jordan’s “Greta,” with Chloe Grace Moretz and Isabelle Huppert, are among almost 50 films that have been added to the lineup of the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, Tiff organizers announced on Tuesday.

The two films have been added to the Special Presentations program, with “Greta” having its world premiere at Tiff and “Vox Lux” its Canadian premiere.

“Greta” features Moretz as a young woman in New York who befriends a widow who turns out to have sinister intentions; “Vox Lux” is a musical drama that encompasses the life of a woman who achieves success after a tragic childhood.

Also Read: Natalie Portman Is an Aspiring Pop Star in First-Look at Brady Corbet's 'Vox Lux' (Photo)

Toronto also announced its Discovery program, which is devoted to up-and-coming filmmakers. The 46 films in the lineup come from 37 different countries,...

Neil Jordan’s Greta, Brady Corbet’s Vox Lux added to Special Presentations.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s 1980’s set skinhead drama Farming and Rosanne Pel’s Poland-set relationship drama Light As Feathers are among a Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) Discovery selection that comprises 48% of films directed by women.

Tiff chiefs have also added Neil Jordan’s Greta and Brady Corbet’s Vox Lux to Special Presentations, and announced the International Rising Stars, details of the fifth annual Festival Street, and Speaker Series participants. In addition, Mira Nair has joined the Platform jury.

This year’s festival will present 343 films in total,...

Benjamin Gilmour’s latest film, shot in dangerous conditions, is filled with calibrated rawness and contemplative restraint

There are pared-down war films, opting for slow-burn over spectacle, and then there are wars films like Jirga, which are buoyed by a tremendous sense of restraint: so rich and contemplative; so reluctant to sensationalise or speculate.

The story behind the production is perhaps more dramatic: originally to be filmed in Pakistan, the Pakistan secret service blocked production after reading the script, leading the financier to withdraw support.

Storm Boy.

Screen Australia has unveiled the recipients of its last production investment funding round of 2016. $15 million is shared between seven films and eight television projects, including anticipated titles such as Fred Schepisi.s Andorra and the Shawn Seet remake of Storm Boy..

.We are delighted to be supporting TV projects from so many of the major players all in one round including Foxtel, Channel Seven, Network Ten, the ABC and Sbs," CEO Graeme Mason said. "And in film we look forward to seeing the latest from acclaimed talents Fred Schepisi, Jonathan Teplitzky and John Maynard."

The successful feature film projects are:.

– A contemporary re-imagining of 1976 classic Storm Boy from writer Justin Monjo (The Secret Daughter, Spear), director Shawn Seet (Deep Water, The Code) and Ambience Entertainment producers Michael Boughen and Matthew Street (Tomorrow When the War Began). This time around we meet Mike .Storm Boy. Kingley as a grandfather...

Vr project Buried.

Screen Australia has announced its latest funding round, with $3 million in production and development funding split between two Indigenous TV projects, eight multiplatform projects, eight feature films, and two individuals and two companies.

The two Indigenous television projects to have received production investment are:

–... ABC TV.s previously announced Indigenous comedy drama series The Warriors. From Robert Connolly's Arenamedia, the show is set in the competitive world of Australian Rules Football, and has major production investment from Screen Australia and funding support from Film Victoria;

–... Nitv documentary Carry The Flag,.which delves into the story behind the Torres Strait Island flag designed by Bernard Namok, from Tamarind Tree Pictures with Screen Queensland and Screen Territory support.

The eight multiplatform projects to have received production investment are:

–... Vr project The Buried, a 3D experience that plunges the viewer into a magical Dreamtime world, from Indigenous writer/director Tyson Mowarin,...

A selection of articles from the Guardian newspaper and online made available in audio.

Ghaith Abdul-Ahad writes on Syrian rebels sidetracked by the scramble for the spoils of war.

Edward Helmore on Ilion - the gunmaking town in crisis after the Newtown massacre.

Beijing spends a billion to get China rocking - Jonathan Kaiman reports.

Ian Sample interviews physicist Fabiola Gianotti on the culmination of decades of work on the elusive Higgs particle.

John Patterson writes on Werner Herzog. From dragging a streamship across a mountain to eating his own shoes, the auteur has always traded in the unexpected. Now he is co-starring in a Tom Cruise film.

In our book review we bring you the debut novel from a writer of comics who converted to Islam with G Willow Wilson's Alif the Unseen. Plus, a globetrotting journey in Benjamin Gilmour's Paramédico.

The Guardian Audio Edition is supported by Audible.

Two Australian films will feature in competition at the Sydney Film Festival, while five local features will get their world premieres.

Dead Europe, directed by Tony Krawitz, and Lore directed by Cate Shortland will compete In Competition, which carries a $60,000 prize.

For both films the festival will be their world premiere, along with other local features Not Suitable For Children, Mabo and Being Venice.

Krawitz’s Dead Europe is written by Louise Fox, adapted from a Christos Tsiolkas novel of the same name. It is produced by Liz Watts of Porchlight Films and Oscar-winner Emile Sherman of See Saw Films. The film is about an Australian photographer who visits his ancestral homeland of Greece after his father’s death. It will be Dead Europe’s world premiere.

Also in competition is Lore, Cate Shortland’s first film since debut Somersault. Again produced by Liz Watts, the film is an adaptation...

Cate Shortland and Tony Krawitz, who are married to each other, both have films among the 12 titles in competition at next month.s Sydney Film Festival.

Lore, a drama set during World War II and based on the novel The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert, is Shortland.s feature film follow-up to Somersault, while Dead Europe, also set in Europe but a contemporary story adapted from a novel by Christos Tsiolkas, is Krawitz.s first dramatic feature film after his acclaimed short Jewboy and the recent documentary The Tall Man. Tsiolkas also wrote The Slap, on which the acclaimed television series was based.

The other debuts in the competition line-up include Korean filmmaker Yuen Sang-Ho.s The King Of Pigs, Us director Benh Zeitlin.s Beasts of the Southern Wild and Brazilian Kleber Mendonca Filho.s Neighbouring Sounds.

The veterans in the program include Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, with their...

Crowd-funding is the new buzzword of indie cinema. Whether it's The Tunnel or Senses of Cinema -- or even the 1,000 pound crowd-funding gorilla that is Iron Sky -- new movie-related projects seeking funding from fans are being unearthed every day. The latest to have come across my desk is Paramedico, a documentary filmed by Benjamin Gilmour while he was researching and writing a book of the same name. Gilmour first came on my radar with his excellent drama Son of a Lion, which he secretly filmed in Pakistan's remote tribal region bordering Afghanistan, in a town famous for manufacturing guns and weapons. Now he's returned with Paramedico, which follows paramedics in Mexico, Pakistan, Hawaii and Venice, doing their daily job saving lives.Paramedico seems to come from the same place...

Sydney nurse Benjamin Gilmour had to win the trust of local tribesmen to make his film, Son of a Lion, about Pashtun identity

If one of the plethora of film award ceremonies had a category for the most insane attempt to make a movie, then those behind Son of a Lion would be the hot favourite to win. The subject matter is difficult enough; a story set in the so-called crucible of terror, on the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan, focusing on the Pashtun community, requiring the trust of that community to make the film.

On top of that, it was made for less money than some films spend on catering in a day, and by a nurse from Sydney, Benjamin Gilmour, who had never made a movie before. The film has just started a limited run in Britain, at a time when the country is agonising over its...

Guns, guns, and more guns are on ­display in this simple but effective story, says Andrew Pulver

Guns, guns, and more guns are on ­display in this simple but effective story filmed in a village in the Pakistan/Afghanistan border-country devoted to firearm manufacture. Enfields, Ak-47s, 9mm pistols – they all get a workout in the scrubby foothills around Darra Adam Khel, where a small Pashtun boy called Niaz wants to go to school in ­defiance of his former mujahadeen ­father's wishes.

Australian first-timer Benjamin Gilmour is the unlikely deviser of this story, in which it's readily apparent that people are basically playing themselves. ­Gilmour's main ambition is to shine a light onto an ethnic niche he sees as all too readily demonised both in the west and the subcontinent; he gets wonderfully fresh performances, even if his film is tad too careful not to upset anyone.

DramaWorld cinemaAndrew Pulver

guardian.