News

Kneecap is leading the charge at this year’s Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA) awards, with 17 nominations across 12 categories.

Rich Peppiatt’s feature about the eponymous Irish-language Belfast hip hop act is on an awards season roll, having led the winners at the Bifas back in December with seven awards, as well as having been shortlisted at the Oscars in the international feature category, and being longlisted in seven categories at the Baftas (with nominations announced tomorrow).

Scroll down for the full list of film nominations

Tim Mielants’ Small Things Like These, an Ireland-Belgium co-production that opened the Berlin film festival last year,...

“Kneecap” — the Irish-language music biopic that became one of the buzziest indie films of 2024 and is now tipped for both Oscar and BAFTA recognition — has, perhaps unsurprisingly, emerged far ahead of the pack of nominees for the 2025 Irish Film & TV Academy (IFTA) awards.

Rich Peppiatt’s raucous comedy, about (and starring) the Belfast rap trio of the same name, has landed an astonishing 17 nominations for the awards, including best film, director, three of the six slots for lead actor, three of the six for supporting actress and one for Michael Fassbender in the supporting actor category.

“Small Things Like These,” the considerably quieter Irish drama fronted (and produced) by Cillian Murphy has nine nominations, including lead actor for Murphy, who won the award last year for “Oppenheimer.”

Having been co-produced by Irish company Tailored Films, Ali Abbasi’s Donald Trump biopic “The Apprentice” is also in the mix, with four nominations.

Nominations are out for the 2025 Irish Film & Television Awards with the Cillian Murphy drama Small Things Like These and the music comedy Kneecap among the tipped films. Scroll down for the full list of nominees.

Small Things Like These has nods in Best Screenplay, Lead Actor for Murphy, and Best Film. Other Best Film nominees include Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice, King Frankie, and Kneecap.

Kneecap has a strong showing across the noms, with nods in Best Director for Rich Peppiatt and all three of the film’s leads pop up in Best Actor. Paul Mescal also received a Best Actor nomination for his role in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II.

On the TV side, Sharon Horgan’s Bad Sisters is nominated for Best Drama while the Eddie Redmayne thriller The Day of the Jackal has multiple noms, including Best Director for a Drama Series.

The Irish Film & Television Academy...

Alison Lester’s 90s bestseller now has a big-screen adaptation from the director of The Dry, featuring 10 animated adventures by 10 different artists

Two and a half hours south-east of Melbourne, in Walkerville South, lies one of Australia’s most beloved beaches. For the last 35 years it has enchanted children as the setting of Alison Lester’s bestselling picture book, Magic Beach – so, when it came to a film adaptation, an on-location shoot was a no-brainer.

“It casts a spell over you down there,” says the film’s director, Robert Connolly. While he was filming a scene, he recalls, one of the producer, Kate Laurie, “tapped me on the shoulder and said ‘that way’. We spun the camera around … and a pod of dolphins passed.”...

Exclusive: In the wake of scoring a Golden Globe win for Demi Moore in its first big theatrical release The Substance, Mubi has hired former IFC Films president Arianna Bocco as its new SVP of Global Distribution.

Bocco will report directly to Jason Ropell, Mubi’s Chief Content Officer. U.S. Distribution will continue to be led by Mark Boxer; Bocco and Boxer had a long run together at IFC. Bocco will be at Sundance on behalf of Mubi where Amalia Ulman’s Magic Farm will receive its world premiere. Boxer will lead U.S. distribution under Bocco.

On deck for Mubi in the near future are such titles as Kelly Reichart’s The Mastermind and Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother.

The role is a new post, based in New York, that will enable the streaming and theatrical company to take a greater footing handling the foreign distribution of its titles.

Exclusive: Rising Australian star Sam Corlett, of Netflix’s Territory and Vikings: Valhalla, is the newest addition to the cast of Headhunters, the surf thriller co-written by and starring Kevin Costner, which also has actors Evan Mock, Chloe East and Daniel Zovatto in the mix.

Marking the feature directorial debut of veteran cinematographer Steven Holleran, Headhunters follows Lazer (Costner), a washed-up American ex-pat, convicted for smuggling ancient relics, who’s serving time in Bali’s infamous Kerobokan prison. After a daring escape, he recruits a group of thrill-seeking surfers led by Bima (Zovatto), a local photographer, and embarks on a journey to an uncharted island, believed to host the perfect wave. What they don’t know is that the island is home to an ancient tribe of headhunters who will guard their island and its treasure at all costs. What ensues is an adventure turned survival story of epic and...

After airing on Rte in Ireland last September, all six episodes of the darkly comedic crime drama Obituary made their way over to the Hulu streaming service in November. Now, Variety reports that Obituary season 2 has been given the greenlight and, like its predecessor, is expected to consist of six episodes.

Written by Ray Lawlor (Le Ceangal) and directed by John Hayes (Dublin Murders) and Oonagh Kearney (Vardy vs. Rooney), Obituary has the following synopsis: 24-year-old Elvira Clancy is feeling a little unfulfilled, although she adores her new job writing obituaries, but when her newspaper falls on hard times and her boss cuts her salary, she finds herself being paid per obituary overnight. When she “accidentally” kills a nasty piece of work in the town, she discovers she might have a previously untapped bloodlust!

She relishes using ever more crafty methods to kill off the town’s unpleasant residents while making them look like accidents.

Viaplay Results: Focus On Core Ops Working Slowly

Viaplay’s focus on doing what it does best willed out in its latest quarterly results, with total turnover down slightly but turnover in core operations increasing by a similar margin. Since the exit of former CEO Anders Jensen amidst financial turmoil last year, the Scandi outfit has been focused on making far less original content and supercharging sports rights. Today, Q2 turnover was shown to have declined a smidgeon to SEK4.49B ($424M), while core turnover rose by a similar amount to SEK4.29B. In further signs of green shoots a year on from Jensen’s departure, operating income, while still in the red, was only minus SEK70M, compared to minus SEK273M in Q2 2023. Jensen’s replacement as CEO, Jørgen Madsen Lindemann, said “our focused focused work to retransform Viaplay Group is progressing, with substantial changes being made across the business,...

Vikings: Valhalla is a sequel set over 100 years after Vikings, featuring new characters and exploring the final Viking Age. The series covers Canute becoming England's first Viking King, Harald's quest for Norway's throne, and Leif's journey to the Golden Land. Key characters include Leif Erikson, Freydis Eiriksdottir, Harald Sigurdsson, King Canute, and Queen Emma of Normandy.

Vikings: Valhalla is the sequel series to Vikings, but as its set many, many years later, it follows new characters, both fictional and based on real-life people. Set over 100 years after the events of Vikings season 6, Vikings: Valhalla explores the final years of the Viking Age and some of the most notable characters and stories from that time. Leading Vikings: Valhalla are Leif Erikson (Sam Corlett) and his sister Freydis (Frida Gustavsson), Harald Sigurdsson (Leo Suter), King Canute (Bradley Freegard), and Queen Emma of Normandy (Laura Berlin).

Throughout three seasons, and with...

Exclusive Update 4.17am Pt, July 2: We’ve got more details on Jodi Matterson’s new indie, Silent Firework.

The indie has developed partnerships with a pair of execs that Australian exec Matterson worked with at former company Made Up Stories, and another with a key exec behind kids series Bluey. Additionally, we hear Matterson has raised a capital fund on the financing side.

Matterson will work with Wolf Like Me writer, creator and director Abe Forsythe and Glendyn Ivin, who directed all seven episodes of Prime Video drama series The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart. It is also in development on projects with Libbie Doherty, who is an executive producer of Bluey and ex-Head of Children and Family at Australian pubcaster the ABC.

Forsythe is an actor, producer and director whose credits include 2019 horror comedy Little Monsters, which starred Lupita Nyong’o and Josh Gad. More recently, he created and...

Sam Neill is joining Eric Bana for Netflix‘s upcoming limited series Untamed. The limited series project hails from Warner Bros. Television and studio-based John Wells Productions, described by Deadline as a character-driven mystery-thriller.

Mark L. Smith and Elle Smith wrote Untamed, which “follows Kyle Turner (Bana), a special agent for the National Parks Service who works to enforce human law in nature’s vast wilderness. The investigation of a brutal death sends Inman on a collision course with the dark secrets within the park, and in his own past.”

Sam Neill walks onto Untamed for the part of Paul Souter, a chief park ranger in Yosemite who’s spent most of his life patrolling the treasured national park. Paul is a faithful husband, father, grandfather, and friend to Kyle Turner. He is fearless in getting his hands dirty when it comes to upholding the park’s integrity, whether the...

Veteran Australian film executive Joel Pearlman is to step down as CEO of Roadshow Films after 30 years with the Village Roadshow organisation.

During his tenure, the well-known executive oversaw the leading independent distributor in Australia and New Zealand as it built a diverse slate from local and global studios, licensors, and production companies including Warner Bros, Lionsgate, Village Roadshow Pictures, A24, FilmNation, Made Up Stories and Arenamedia. Highlights include launching the Harry Potter, Lord Of The Rings, Hunger Games and Dark Knight franchises in Anz.

Pearlman was also instrumental in securing strategic partnerships for Village Roadshow, such as its investment in independent production,...

Actors Eric Bana and Deborra-Lee Furness spoke about their experience in Australia while they filmed Force Of Nature: The Dry 2 in their new uInterview.

Force Of Nature: The Dry 2 is an Australian thriller, a sequel to the 2020 film The Dry, and based on Jane Harper’s 2017 novel Force of Nature. The movie follows five women who go on a hiking retreat where one disappears. A federal agent (Bana) arrives at the scene to help with the search leading to some explosive events.

Bana jumped in with his thoughts on what drew him to the story: “We loved the book’s premise. We thought it was a really exciting project. We have always loved the idea of these five women, so brilliantly written by Jane Harper, going on a corporate trip and getting lost. We just felt we hadn’t seen that before. We were really excited about that opportunity.

Canadian pubcaster CBC rolled out its 40-strong title 2024-25 slate today, with shows from the stars of Baroness Von Sketch and Idris Elba included in the notables.

Also among the highlights were further details on Netflix co-produced comedy North is North and the announcement of a sitcom about hip-hop duo Snotty Nose Rez Kids. The network also revealed its readying 14 local Fast channels, has its Olympic Games plans in place and is welcoming Marvel star Simu Liu to the latest season of Dragon’s Den.

On the programming front, North of North has been handed a winter 2025 premiere date. The series, which has been in the works for some time, follows Siaja (Anna Lambe) as a young Inuk mother who moves to a small Arctic town with her daughter. It comes from Red Marrow Media and Northwood Entertainment, and is for CBC, Netflix and Aptn.

Newly announced comedies are the...

Eric Bana has been a mainstay on the big screen for decades. The Australian comedian turned dramatic actor has been in everything from Ang Lee’s Hulk to Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down, J.J. Abrams’s Star Trek, and Judd Apatow’s Funny People. Getting his big break on the Australian shows Full Frontal and the eponymous The Eric Bana Show Live, the actor hit Hollywood’s radar with his role in Chopper as the infamous criminal Mark Chopper Read. After over twenty years in the industry, Bana returned to Australia for the 2021 mystery The Dry and has now reprised the role of Aaron Falk for the sequel, Force of Nature.

Based on the novel by Jane Harper, Force of Nature picks up a year after The Dry as Aaron Falk and his partner investigate a money laundering scheme with the aid of insider Alice Russell (Anna Torv). When...

Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. And sometimes if we’re lucky we talk to movie stars about their B-Sides!

Today we talk to the great Eric Bana about Eric Bana B-Sides on the occasion of the release of his new film, Force of Nature: The Dry 2, now available in theaters and on VOD.

Our B-Sides today include: Lucky You, Romulus, My Father, and The Secret Scripture. Bana discusses why Lucky You maybe didn’t connect with audiences in 2007, how Romulus, My Father is actually quite the A-Side in Australia, and the need to be malleable when working with somebody like director Jim Sheridan.

We also talk about Bana’s detective influences for the Aaron Falk character in The Dry films, why...

Force of Nature: The Dry 2 is a sequel to the 2020 Australian mystery thriller, following Federal Agent Aaron Falk searching for a missing woman. Deborra-Lee Furness plays Jill in the movie, a key antagonist with personal ties to the missing woman, adding intrigue to the plot. The movie features challenging on-location filming in Australian bush settings, showcasing unique landscapes and creating a gripping atmosphere.

Return to the world of Jane Harper's mysteries in Force of Nature: The Dry 2. Based on the 2017 novel of the same name, the movie serves as a sequel to the 2020 adaptation of The Dry, again following Australian Federal Agent Aaron Falk as he heads to the bush to investigate the disappearance of a woman from a corporate work retreat in the mountains. While also holding his own personal motivation for the search, the missing woman had also been an informer for Falk during his investigation into the company's fraud.

Eric Bana returns as Federal Agent Aaron Falk in Force of Nature: The Dry 2, investigating a missing woman. The sequel features a female-driven story with flashbacks, exploring Falk's character in dual timelines. Bana is open to a third movie adaptation if the right approach is found, with author Jane Harper's support.

Eric Bana is back as the troubled Australian Federal Agent Aaron Falk in Force of Nature: The Dry 2. The past few years have seen the actor, best known for his roles in the likes of 2003's Hulk, 2009's Star Trek and 2014's Deliver Us From Evil, return to his home country of Australia for a variety of projects, namely that of the 2020 adaptation of The Dry. Based on Jane Harper's novel of the same name, the first movie followed Falk as he headed to his childhood hometown to investigate the apparent murder-suicide of one of his old friends.

Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw Then TV Glow is looking at an estimated $195k+ on 21 screens, a great week-two expansion for the A24 film. The number is driven by a passionate fan base for the gender-bending supernatural thriller that’s been skewing very young, male and heavily LGBTQ+. Will continue a rollout in coming weeks. It’s not clear where the screen count will max out, but so far so good.

The director of We’re All Going To The World’s Fair was honored with a Breakthrough Artist award at the Coolidge Corner theater in Boston at a sold out screening with cast Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine, who play queer teens coming of age in the 1990s suburbs, obsessed with a late-night sci-fi television show.

Sideshow/Janus Films’ release of Evil Does Not Exist by Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car) grossed about $102.7k on 34 screens in week 2 for a come of $165k.

It’s an indie grab bag and a fun one this weekend with the widely pummeled TIFF-premiering Poolman, (the people will decide), Jamie Foxx in comedy Not Another Church Movie, and Eric Bana’s Force of Nature: The Dry 2 sequel. Mubi and Strand Releasing are testing the market with limited openings Gasoline Rainbow and A Prince. A24 begins a slow rollout of I Saw The TV Glow.

The widest release on 1,180+ screens is Briarcliff’s Not Another Church Movie directed by Johnny Mack, starring Jamie Foxx, Vivica A. Fox, Kevin Daniels and Mickey Rourke. Daniels is Taylor Pherry (silent p), an ambitious young man on a holy mission from God (Foxx) — to tell his family’s stories and inspire his community. But the Devil (Rourke) has plans of his own.

Vertical’s Poolman at 160+ locations is Pine’s directorial debut andhe also stars as Darren, a native Angeleno who...

The arid landscape of the fictional Australian town Kiewarra lends the 2020 mystery thriller “The Dry” its name and identity. It’s the type of place filled with interpersonal tension, which frequently reflects onto a barren, sun-scorched environment itching to go up in flames.

When federal agent Aaron Falk (Eric Bana) returns to his hometown to look into the double murder-suicide supposedly perpetrated by his childhood best friend, he’s thrust back into the town’s powder-keg energy. Everyone looks at him with suspicion because they suspect he was responsible for the drowning of his high school girlfriend twenty years prior, with their resentment exacerbated by his off-the-books investigation. Adapted from Jane Harper’s procedural mystery novel by the same name, “The Dry” marinates in buried backcountry secrets and childhood trauma, both of which unfortunately never transcend their generic function or presentation on screen.

Four years later, the awkwardly titled sequel...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

La Chimera (Alice Rohrwacher)

While Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny perhaps garnered more press out of Cannes, another selection involving archaeologists and tomb raiders will have a longer shelf life. Alice Rohrwacher’s latest feature La Chimera ranked quite highly on our top 50 films of 2023 list for good reason. It’s a dreamy, magical odyssey in which the Italian director whisks viewers away with the kind of transportive vision she’s exuded in all her features thus far.

Where to Stream: VOD

Eileen (William Oldroyd)

Considering how many jokesters online talk about supporting women’s wrongs, Eileen should have made a billion dollars. Alas, not everyone can have impeccable taste. William Oldroyd’s character study grabs you from the first scene,...

If there is any justice in this world, we’ll get an Aaron Falk mystery every few years in perpetuity. Force of Nature: The Dry 2, written and directed by Robert Connolly and based on the novel by Jane Harper, offers up a brand-new case for viewers and does not require that you’ve seen its engaging predecessor (The Dry). This time the setting is the Giralang Ranges, a fictional rainforest of labyrinthine density. Along with the drastic change in scenery from the first outing (which hewed closer to an outback aesthetic tourists would expect), there’s been an expansion of production value. As Falk closes in on the identity of the killer, a violent storm closes in. This time there are more characters, more plot, and more conflicting motivations.

The plot revolves around a corporate retreat gone bad. Five women went out on a team-building hiking-camping trip. Only four came back.

Boy, Bodkin is the type of series that revels in its own self-importance. The new Netflix mystery series has a great premise, considering how popular true crime podcasts are nowadays. However, the series is a cluttered mess with so many twists and turns that it begins to take so many times. Like McGruff the Crime Dog, the plot goes around in circles instead of wrapping up the case.

The story follows Dove (The Dry’s Siobhán Cullen), an investigative journalist on the lamb, so to speak. Her editor orders her to travel to the small Irish town of Bodkin to accompany a podcast team looking for a story. The excursion may be good for Dove since she is under investigation for illegally obtaining and publishing classified government information.

Siobhán Cullen in Bodkin (2024) | Image via Netflix

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After getting through the reopened old wounds and fresh corpses of “The Dry” in his dusty outback hometown, Eric Bana’s Federal Agent Aaron Falk certainly deserved a change of scenery. He gets one in woodsy “Force of Nature: The Dry 2,” though naturally the second feature adapted by director Robert Connolly from Jane Harper’s print mystery series soon finds him equally knee-deep in troublesome sleuthing. This sequel to one of Australia’s biggest homegrown hits reprises much of its page-turning plottiness — as well as a straining for emotional depth that proves elusive. IFC is releasing to U.S. theaters and home formats on May 10.

Once again, and perhaps a little too neatly, a case forces Falk to revisit the tragedies of his own past. In the prior film, a childhood friend’s funeral set him to investigating its cause, an effort which soon exposed disturbing links to his...

Bodkin, Netflix’s new darkly comic mystery series about true crime podcasting, is a slow burn, not to be confused with Slow Burn, the true crime podcast briefly adapted as an Epix series.

Created by Jez Scharf, boasting the Obamas’ Higher Ground among its producers and featuring Will Forte as its most prominent star, Bodkin is a show that I felt a reasonable amount of investment in by the end. But the cumulative effect belies the fact that it’s a series that does a bunch of little things well in a low-key way, rather than doing any one thing spectacularly well.

It’s a satire without any big laughs, a puzzle without many shocking twists and a character study, but of a very muted sort. If you go in looking for big reactions to anything, you’ll be disappointed. If you look for some minor insights into our instinctive love of voyeuristic storytelling,...

Plot: Five women participate in a hiking retreat but only four come out the other side. Federal agents Aaron Falk and Carmen Cooper head into the mountains hoping to find their informant still alive.

Review: We reviewed the Australian mystery drama The Dry a couple of years ago. We enjoyed Eric Bana’s first Australian film after moving to Hollywood and found director Robert Connolly’s adaptation of Jane Harper’s novel to be refreshing. That film told the story of a federal investigator who returns home to investigate the murder of a childhood friend, which bears a distinct connection to a crime he himself was accused of decades prior. Bana and Connolly have reunited for the second novel in the Aaron Falk trilogy, Force of Nature. Carrying the subtitle that indicates it as a sequel to The Dry, Force of Nature is a substantially different story. Shifting from a...

Australian writer-director Robert Connolly had a domestic hit in 2021 with The Dry, a slow-burn murder mystery built around Eric Bana’s somber performance as a pensive city cop drawn back to the remote town of his childhood in the middle of a prolonged drought. Bana returns as Aaron Falk in Force of Nature: The Dry 2, which is otherwise a sequel in name alone. The setting this time is a lush and very wet mountain rainforest, drenched by a massive thunderstorm at a key point in the narrative. That makes half the title a complete misnomer.

This is a handsomely produced, solidly acted thriller that’s certainly watchable, though the perplexing subtitle is not its only issue. Unlike its riveting predecessor, it’s absorbing but never quite gripping.

Connolly sticks to novelist Jane Harper’s template from the first book in her Aaron Falk trilogy, in which the Australian Federal Police...

TikToker-turned-actress Ruth Codd has joined the cast of Universal’s live-action adaptation of DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon.

Dean DeBlois, who co-wrote and directed the original and revered trilogy, is steering the new feature, returning as writer, director and executive producer. Dragon is currently shooting in Ireland.

Codd joins Mason Thames (The Black Phone) and Nico Parker (The Last of Us), who are starring as Hiccup and Astrid, the young Viking teens who befriend dragons.

Gerard Butler, who voiced Stoick the Vast, the leader of the Viking clan and Hiccup’s father, is reprising his role in the flesh. Nick Frost is playing Gobber the Belch.

The cast also includes Julian Dennison (Deadpool 2), Gabriel Howell (Nightsleeper), Bronwyn James (Masters of the Air) and Harry Trevaldwyn (Ten Percent) .

Codd has been cast a Phlegma, a member of the Viking village. In the original animated movie, the character was voiced by Ashley Jensen.

Based on Jane Harper’s bestseller, this twisty mystery follows Falk as he investigates a dodgy CEO (Richard Roxburgh) and his missing employee (Anna Torv)

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The first and perhaps most obvious point to make about Robert Connolly’s sequel to his popular and finely made mystery-thriller The Dry is that it’s not dry at all – it’s very, very wet. The director, again adapting a bestselling novel by Jane Harper, opens with shots of lush wilderness – the film is largely based in the Victorian mountain ranges – and rain-covered leaves.

The first time we see Eric Bana, back again as federal police agent Aaron Falk, he’s doing laps in a swimming pool. His fellow agent, Carmen Cooper (Jacqueline McKenzie), is anxious to solve their latest case – a missing person’s investigation – as flooding might soon hit the region. It is police informant...

After 'The Dry' made more than $20 million in 2021, it was perhaps inevitable the creative team would look to adapt the next book in Jane Harper’s Aaron Falk series, 'Force of Nature', for the big screen. Writer, director and producer Robert Connolly talks to If about the follow up – and hints there may be a third film yet.

The post Robert Connolly on returning to the world of Aaron Falk for ‘Force of Nature: The Dry 2’ and his continued belief in the big screen appeared first on If Magazine.

Exclusive: Superstore star Ben Feldman will lead Australian comedy crime caper Population 11.

Lionsgate, streamer Stan and Phil Lloyd and Trent O’Donnell from No Activity producer Jungle Entertainment have teamed for the 12-part series ahead of a March 14 launch in Australia.

The series, which Jungle produces Entertainment in association with Factor 30 Films, has been quietly shooting in Western Australia’s Kimberley Region. We’ve now got full cast details, a trailer (see below) and first-look images.

Based on true events, the series is based around a man, Hugo, who goes missing from a tiny outback town of only 12 residents. His son, Andy Pruden (Feldman), a suburban Ohio bank teller, has journeyed across the world to visit and is alarmed when he discovers he is missing. Andy teams with another outsider Cassie (Perry Mooney) on a quest to find his father, and the pair find themselves in increasing danger as they...

Hot Hosts Head For Hota

Australian actor Rebel Wilson has been named as the emcee of the 2024 edition of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta) awards. Wilson will take to the stage on Saturday, Feb. 10.

Two days earlier, on Feb. 8, singer and actor Harry Connick Jr. will be the host of the Aacta Industry Awards. Both hosts will be joined by some of the industry’s most dynamic stars presenting at the ceremonies. And both ceremonies, presented by Foxtel Group, will be held at the Home of the Arts (Hota) on the Gold Coast in Queensland.

Shorts To Features

Writer-director-actor Alice Englert, producer Jodi Matterson, director David Michôd, and producer Jamie Hilton, will be among the speakers at Flickerlab 2024 on Thursday. Pitched as a one-day journey from shorts to features, the Bondi, New South Wales-located event is backed by the Australian Film Television and Radio School (Aftrs...

Nicolas Cage is ready to show audiences he’s no Barney when it comes to joining the Dawn patrol for some heavy waves in The Surfer, a psychological thriller from Vivarium director Lorcan Finnegan. The project recently wrapped production in Western Australia, with Cage taking the lead as “a man who returns to Australia to buy back his family home after many years in the U.S. but is humiliated in front of his teenage son by a group of local surfers who claim ownership over the secluded beach of his childhood. Wounded, he defies them and remains at the beach, demanding acceptance. As the conflict escalates, he is brought to the edge of his sanity, and his identity is thrown into question.” (via Deadline)

Today’s image for The Surfer depicts Cage with a look of bewilderment as he stares at a bullet. With a wound across his forehead and wrinkled clothing,...

Exclusive: Teresa Palmer, Miranda Richardson and Danielle Macdonald and a host of other names have joined Nicole Kidman’s light-hearted Australian drama series The Last Anniversary.

The Foxtel drama for Aussie streamer Binge has gone into production in Sydney with Helen Thomson, Susan Prior, Claude Scott-Mitchell, Charlie Garber, Uli Latukefu and Jeremy Lindsay Taylor also attached to appear.

Based on Liane Moriarty’s bestselling novel, The Last Anniversary is billed as “a wickedly funny, heartfelt dramedy wrapped in a gripping mystery about family, motherhood and the women who define the generations that come after them.”

Set on the mysterious Scribbly Gum Island, where a young couple disappeared decades before,...

Eric Bana, known for his role as Nero in Star Trek (2009), has had a successful movie career with both leading and supporting roles. Since Star Trek (2009), Bana has starred in various films, including The Time Traveler's Wife, Hanna, The Finest Hours, and The Dry, showcasing his acting range and growth in the industry. Bana's portrayal of Nero in Star Trek established him as one of the franchise's most intense and vicious villains, with lasting effects on the universe.

Award-winning actor Eric Bana starred as Nero, the revenge-driven Romulan from the future in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (2009). At the time of casting, Bana was an already-recognizable actor and earned a range of award nominations for his revenging Romulan role. Bana began his career with comedy sketch shows on Australian television, making his 1997 movie debut in The Castle. Establishing his name with roles in Black Hawk Down, Hulk, Troy, Munich, Lucky You,...

All six episodes of the darkly comedic crime drama Obituary will be available to watch on the Hulu streaming service as of Tuesday, November 21st – and with that date just a week away, we have the trailer for the show for you to check out in the embed above.

Written by Ray Lawlor (Le Ceangal) and directed by John Hayes (Dublin Murders) and Oonagh Kearney (Vardy vs. Rooney), Obituary has the following synopsis: 24-year-old Elvira Clancy is feeling a little unfulfilled, although she adores her new job writing obituaries, but when her newspaper falls on hard times and her boss cuts her salary, she finds herself being paid per obituary overnight. When she “accidentally” kills a nasty piece of work in the town, she discovers she might have a previously untapped bloodlust!

She relishes using ever more crafty methods to kill off the town’s unpleasant residents while making them look like accidents.

Primetime Emmy winning producer Bruna Papandrea is looking to sell her production company Made Up Stories per sources.

This is very early in the works with no bidders as of yet, nor if the Big Little Lies EP will maintain a stake in the next phase of the company which she co-founded with her husband Steve Hutensky and Australian producer Jodi Matterson six years ago.

One thing is for certain and that’s Papandrea is on a roll following her exit from Pacific Standard, the banner she shared with Reese Witherspoon and under which their award-winning HBO series Big Little Lies was made as well as 2x Oscar nominated feature, Wild, and the David Fincher $369M-plus grossing blockbuster, Gone Girl.

Under Made Up Stories, Papandrea was recently behind the current Prime Video miniseries, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, starring Sigourney Weaver. In addition, she made HBO’s The Undoing,...

Whenever a producer in recent times has exited their partnership with a star, quite often said producer’s output is not as robust.

It’s a different situation for Bruna Papandrea, who after peeling off from Reese Witherspoon’s Pacific Standard Production Company has been on quite a roll with such TV hits as HBO’s The Undoing, Netflix’s Anatomy of a Scandal and Luckiest Girl Alive, Hulu’s Nine Perfect Strangers and now the Prime Video limited series The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart based on Holly Ringland’s novel. This is all under Papandrea’s six-year-old production banner Made Up Stories, which is devoted to female-centric stories.

On today’s Crew Call podcast, we talk with Papandrea about why she went solo with Made Up Stories, the genesis of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, and more.

Lost Flowers of Alice Hart follows the story of the title protagonist.

‘Force Of Nature: The Dry 2’ is understood to be a wholly Australian production, with no streamer or studio involvement.

Australian distributor Roadshow Films has postponed the August 24 local release of the highly anticipated Force Of Nature: The Dry 2 as star Eric Bana is “unable to do it justice by promoting it thoroughly” due to his membership of SAG-AFTRA and his support of its ongoing strike.

Melbourne-based Bana stars in the film and also produces through his Pick Up Truck Pictures, with writer-director Robert Connolly of Arenamedia and Bruna Papandrea, Jodi Matterson and Steve Hutensky of Made Up Stories,...

The scheduled Aug. 24 release of the Eric Bana-starring Australian thriller film “Force of Nature: The Dry 2” has been indefinitely postponed, due to the SAG-AFTRA actors’ strike.

The strike is also forcing adjustments at the Melbourne International Film Festival, which starts in early August.

“It is with some regret, but a large amount of conviction that we have decided to postpone the release of ‘Force of Nature: The Dry 2’,” said Bana, who both stars and produces through his Pick Up Truck Pictures.

“Force of Nature: The Dry 2” is based on the bestselling novel by Jane Harper with Bana reprising his character, Aaron Falk, as a follow-on to the 2021 hit. Robert Connolly returns to direct the movie. Production is by Bruna Papandrea, Jodi Matterson and Steve Hutensky of Made Up Stories, alongside Bana and Connolly through his Arenamedia.

“I’m incredibly proud of this much anticipated...

"None of you have been honest with me about what happened out there..." Roadshow Films in Australia has unveiled an official trailer for their crime thriller sequel Force of Nature: The Dry 2, a follow-up to the hit film The Dry from a few years ago. Both of these star Eric Bana as a Federal Agent named Aaron Falk; in the first film, he unwittingly gets wrapped up in a murder mystery when he goes to visit his hometown. In this next one, five women participate in a hiking retreat but only four come out on the other side. Federal agents Falk and Cooper head into the Victorian mountains hoping to find their informant still alive. Eric Bana returns with Anna Torv, Deborra-Lee Furness, Robin McLeavy, Sisi Stringer, Lucy Ansell, Jacqueline McKenzie, Jeremy Lindsay-Taylor, Richard Roxburgh, Tony Briggs, and Kenneth Radley. Another chilling crime movie / murder mystery to keep audiences hooked.

Exclusive: Longtime IFC Films and Cinetic Media PR colleagues Laura Sok and Kate McEdwards are launching new PR and strategy firm, Track Shot.

Track Shot will be based in New York City and work across independent, foreign and genre films as well as distribution strategy. The duo brings more than two decades in the publicity and communications field as well as a deep knowledge of the distribution landscape. Sok and McEdwards have built and led hundreds of film campaigns during their careers working in-house and alongside major distributors on the agency side. Previously, they led PR efforts for IFC Films, IFC Midnight, Sundance Selects, IFC Films Unlimited (streaming service) and most recently Shudder and Rlje.

Their final campaign for IFC Films was Matt Johnson’s chart-topping BlackBerry. This year they also launched Kyle Edward Ball’s breakthrough feature Skinamarink for Shudder/IFC Films.

Among their many successful campaigns at IFC...

Nicolas Cage has been set to lead the cast in the new psychological thriller ‘The Surfer.’

Cage takes on the role of a man who returns to his hometown in Australia and takes on a local gang of surfers.

The synopsis reads; When a man (Cage) returns to his beachside hometown in Australia, many years since building a life for himself in the U.S., he is humiliated in front of his teenage son by a local gang of surfers who claim strict ownership over the secluded beach of his childhood. Wounded, “The Surfer” decides to remain at the beach, declaring war against those in control of the bay. But as the conflict escalates, the stakes spin wildly out of control, taking “The Surfer” to the edge of his sanity.

Also in news – Aimee Lou Wood & Matt Dillon join cast of ‘The Gambler Wife’

Lorcan Finnegan is directing from a screenplay by Thomas Martin.

Cage is hitting the beach!

Having recently saddled up for his first Western, Nicolas Cage looks set to ride some waves for the first time on screen, having been cast to lead elevated psychological thriller The Surfer from director Lorcan Finnegan (Vivarium, Nocebo) and screenwriter Thomas Martin.

Mossbank, the partnership between Sculptor Media and Raven and headed by Michael Rothstein and Sam Hall, is handling international sales and introducing The Surfer to buyers at the Cannes Market. Domestic sales will be repped by WME Independent.

In The Surfer, when a man (Cage) returns to his beachside hometown in Australia, many years since building a life for himself in the U.S., he is humiliated in front of his teenage son by a local gang of surfers who claim strict ownership over the secluded beach of his childhood. Wounded, “The Surfer” decides to remain at the beach, declaring war against those in control of the bay.

Rlje Films, a business unit of AMC Networks, will release the horror film Children Of The Corn on DVD and BluRay on May 9, 2023. The DVD will be available for an Srp of $27.97 and the BluRay will be available for an Srp of $28.96.

Directed and written by Kurt Wimmer (Ultraviolet), Children Of The Corn stars Elena Kampouris (Before I Fall), Kate Moyer (“Station Eleven”), Callan Mulvey (Till Death) and Bruce Spence (The Dry).

In Children Of The Corn, twelve-year-old Eden, possessed by a spirit in a dying cornfield, recruits the other children in her small town to rise up and take control. Tired of having to pay the price for their parents’ mistakes, Eden leads the kids on a bloody rampage, killing the adults and anyone who opposes her. With all the adults jailed or dead, it comes down to one high schooler who won’t go along with the plan...

Paul Mescal and Sharon Horgan were among the winners at the Irish Film and Television Awards.

Despite Colin Farrell losing out the best actor award to Mescal, “The Banshees of Inisherin” beat out competitors to win best film. In the international category “All Quiet on the Western Front” took home the top award on Sunday night.

Read on for the full list of winners.

Film Categories

Best Film

“Aisha”

“The Banshees of Inisherin” – Winner

“God’s Creatures”

“Lakelands”

“Róise & Frank”

“The Wonder”

Director – Film

“Aisha” – Frank Berry – Winner

“The Banshees of Inisherin” – Martin McDonagh

“It Is In Us All” – Antonia Campbell Hughes

“Joyride” – Emer Reynolds

“Let the Wrong One In” – Conor McMahon

“Róise & Frank” – Rachael Moriarty & Peter Murphy

Script – Film

“Aisha” – Frank Berry – Winner

“The Banshees of Inisherin” – Martin McDonagh

“God’s Creatures” – Shane Crowley

“Joyride” – Ailbhe Keogan

“Let the Wrong One In” – Conor McMahon

“Róise & Frank” – Rachael Moriarty,...

Apple’s comedy series Bad Sisters and Martin McDonagh’s latest feature, The Banshees of Inisherin, took the top honors at this year’s Irish Film & TV Awards (IFTAs). Scroll down for the complete list of winners.

Sharon Horgan’s Bad Sisters was the biggest winner on the eve, taking four gongs, including Best Drama plus Best Director Drama for Dearbhla Walsh and Actress in a Supporting Role – Drama for Ann Marie Duff. Banshees clocked three wins: the coveted Best Film award alongside Actor in a Supporting Role – Film was awarded to Brendan Gleeson.

Elsewhere, Paul Mescal clocked his first IFTAs win in the Best Actor category for his leading performance in Charlotte Wells’ acclaimed debut Aftersun and filmmaker Frank Berry won two awards on the night, Best Director and Best Script Award for his refugee drama Aisha, starring Letitia Wright.

Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front...

In between developing Falk detective films with frequent collaborator Eric Bana, Australian director Robert Connolly crafted Blueback. Based on the 1997 Tim Winton novella of the same name, Blueback explores a bittersweet and complex mother-and-daughter dynamic over the course of several decades. The film's title derives from their nickname for a western blue groper, a creature that represents their shared passion for the ocean and lifelong goal of protecting it from humans.

Blueback soaks in the gorgeous landscapes of the Australian coastline and makes full use of underwater views certain to inspire any viewer to conserve the ocean. Beyond that, it also boasts a strong cast that includes Radha Mitchell as the fierce Dora (with Liz Alexander playing her older self) and Mia Wasikowska as the adult version of her daughter Abby. The timeline of Blueback can be traced through Abby, whose childhood (portrayed by Ariel Donoghue) and adolescence (Ilsa Fogg...

Ivan Sen’s transfixing detective story takes its title from a remote, fictional opal mining town in the South Australian desert, surrounded by a ravaged landscape of craters and dirt mounds that evokes some barren, faraway planet in the stunning drone shots that punctate the film. The bone-dry, pockmarked earth, where many locals live in underground dugouts to escape the extreme heat and dust clouds, provides a bracingly atmospheric setting for this distinctive cold-case procedural. Led by an almost unrecognizable Simon Baker as a jaded cop, Limbo weaves in themes of racial inequity, broken individuals and fractured families to build quiet potency.

Indigenous Australian filmmaker Sen used the genre tropes of the Western to reflect on Aboriginal identity and the uneasy relationship of First Nations people to the country’s justice system in Mystery Road and Goldstone. In Limbo, he veers closer to noir in a film that has similarities...