2013 – The year in film
In January, Aussie actors Hugh Jackman, Naomi Watts and Jacki Weaver receive Academy Award nominations.
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Four Australian short films are selected in the Berlin International Film Festival including The Amber Amulet, Summer Suit, Yardbird and You Like it, I Love It.
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ScreenWest and the ABC invest $250,000 into a new series of indigenous contemporary mini-documentaries produced by Joined Up Films. The WA film funding body also invests in children’s film Paper Planes, from director Robert Connolly and producer Liz Kearney.
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Yardbird is named best Australian short film at Flickerfest. The film is directed by Michael Spiccia and written by Julius Avery.
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Winner of Tropfest 2012, Alethea Jones joins Sydney-based production company Jungleboys’ stable of directors.
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Australian-French co-production 
Two Mothers, starring Naomi Watts and Robin Wright, is acquired by Exclusive Releasing to be distributed in the US following its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. The film’s title will change to Adoration before it is released in November.
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After lengthy delays caused by financing, Greg Mclean’s Wolf Creek 2 starts production in South Australia.
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The Sapphires dominates the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts awards taking out best film, best director (Wayne Blair), best actress (Deborah Mailman), best actor (Chris O’Dowd) and best supporting actress (Jessica Mauboy).
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In February, Australian feature documentary Night finds a US theatrical release five years after screening in Australian cinemas.
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See-Saw Films, with Sunstar Entertainment, secures the rights to the autobiography of Saroo Brierley, a lost Indian boy who is reunited with his birth mother after scouring Google Earth.
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Reports surface that big budget Hollywood production 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea: Captain Nemo could be made in Australia following discussions between the federal government and Disney. Later in the year the film will be put on the backburner by Disney when star Brad Pitt drops out of the project.
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Nicholas Clifford’s short film about kindness titled We’ve All Been There wins Australia’s Tropfest.
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Kim Mordaunt’s debut Australian feature film The Rocket wins three awards at the Berlin International Film Festival including best first feature while Cate Shortland’s Lore bags five awards at the Australian Film Critics Association writing and film awards.
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In March, Australian film Save Your Legs struggles at the box office on its opening weekend, taking $165,000 across an ambitious 176 screens for distributor Madman.
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Judy Potter is appointed chair of the South Australian Film Corporation.
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Hoyts Entertainment announces a partnership with video streaming company Viocorp ahead of plans to launch a film streaming service in the second half of 2013.
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Blinder, the second Australian sport-themed film of the year, has a disappointing opening weekend taking less than $50,000.
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Superannuation company Media Super announces an increased investment in local films. The company stumps up an extra $10m.
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In May, former Essential Media executive producer Julia Peters joins Screen Australia as the investment and development manager for documentaries.
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After more than two years in gestation and a delayed release, Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby opens the Cannes Film Festival.
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Australian production house Jungleboys signals aspirations to create a feature length film.
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In June, The Great Gatsby opens at the Australian box office. It makes $6,789,897 in its opening weekend and more than $7.2 million in its first few days; the opening is the strongest Australian release of the year.
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Australian drama Satellite Boy, which stars veteran indigenous actor David Gulpilil, takes a modest $32,695 at the weekend box office amidst the debut of World War Z, Monsters University and Despicable Me 2.
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Production house Kojo announces it will be the first in Australia to work on a film under a new Australian-South African co-production treaty. Kojo’s Adelaide office will complete post-production work on feature film One.
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Cinema event Tim Winton’s The Turning and documentary Red Obsession have their Australian premieres at the Melbourne International Film Festival.
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Media investor Deanne Weir, part owner of women’s website The Hoopla, becomes the new deputy chair of Screen Australia.
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Ruth Harley, boss of Screen Australia, announces she will depart the role in November and will be replaced by Graeme Mason who has been CEO of the New Zealand Film Commission since he succeeded Harley in 2009.
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Fox’s The Wolverine, starring Australia’s favourite celebrity Hugh Jackman, tops the local box office taking $6,112, 500 in its opening weekend.
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In August, Screen Australia’s head of development Martha Coleman announces that she will leave the organisation in December and start a new role at Goalpost Pictures.
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In October it is announced that Hollywood director and actress Angelina Jolie will direct her film Unbroken in New South Wales, shooting scenes in Sydney and regional areas.
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At the opening night of the Adelaide Film Festival in October, South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill unveils two new film projects commissioned by the HIVE Fund. The first is Spear, to be directed by Stephen Page, director of the Bangarra Dance Theatre. The second is Girl Asleep from writer and director team Matthew Whittet and Rosemary Myers.
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The See-Saw Films
produced Tracks is the last film shot on actual film to go through the lab at Deluxe Studios. It was shot on 35mm anamorphic film at the insistence of the film’s cinematographer Mandy Walker.
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Documentary All This Mayhem has its world premiere at the Adelaide Film Festival. The film, directed by Eddie Martin, is produced with the assistance of James Gay-Rees and editor Chris King whose credits include Senna and Exit Through The Gift Shop.
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Screen Australia reveals a report that shows feature production has declined by 16 per cent from last year’s high of $297m. The funding body then announces it will spend $5.4m on supporting six feature films, including a documentary, a 3D animation and a mystery which will see Nicole Kidman return home to Australia for filming.
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Producer Cecilia Ritchie announces that she will be joining the Sydney office of boutique film and television production company Aquarius Films.
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Screen Australia moves office from Sydney’s Kings Cross to Ultimo in what the body says is an initiative that will save more than $2m over 10 years.
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Feature film Saving Mr Banks, based on the story of P. L. Travers, the Australian woman who wrote Mary Poppins and produced by local production house Essential Media generates Oscar buzz ahead of its Australian release in 2014.
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