Aurora projects announced
Screen NSW has announced the 2011 participants for the script development workshop Aurora: Dust, Dog Eat Dog, On the Jellicoe Road, Falls Creek and One Hundred and Fifteen.
The selected filmmakers include a new project from Melena Marchetta (writer, Looking for Alibrandi), Michael Robertson (producer, Black Water/Road Train/The Reef) and the debut of editor Veronika Jenet as a producer.
The 2011 edition of Aurora includes a project from South Australia. The advisors will be US producer Anne Carey (The American, Towelhead and The Savages); writer Andrew Bovell ( Lantana, Blessed, Head On and Edge of Darkness; producer/director/writer Jocelyn Moorhouse (How to Make an American Quilt, Peter Pan, A Thousand Acres, Proof and Muriel’s Wedding); and British producer Olivia Stewart (Brassed Off and Velvet Goldmine).
Former Aurora projects include Animal Kingdom, Somersault, Little Fish, Black Balloon, Prime Mover and Accidents Happen, and the upcoming Burning Man and Say Nothing.
“Eight out of 41 projects to have gone through Aurora have entered into production or are financed and in pre-production, a strike rate considered high by international standards, with another four in various stages of financing. The NSW Government is proud of its commitment to developing the screen talent of this State with targeted funding and initiatives such as Aurora. These eight successfully produced Aurora projects have all been produced or post produced in NSW, contributing to the State’s economy and creating highly skilled film industry jobs,” said Screen NSW CEO Tania Chambers.
The five projects are:
- Dust: Writer Patricia Cornelius, Director Ray Quint, Producers Veronika Jenet & Suzanne Brown.
Synopsis: Danny Clarke’s best friend, Nile, is back in town. Having him around was a wild ride – the one thing worth living for in their vindictive, small-minded town. But after what Nile did, nothing can be the same. Now that everyone in town wants Nile to disappear, Danny will need to choose sides. But which side is worse? And when he’s pushed to the edge, what is Danny capable of? What are any of us capable of?”
- Dog Eat Dog: Writer/Director Simon Portus; Producer David Curzon.
When Sam Pearson and his family moves to an isolated valley on Australia’s East Coast, their ideals are torn apart when a volatile local man becomes set on retribution. With the police providing little relief, Sam is forced to take the law into his own hands. This is the story of a man who only has 115 minutes to live. Only … he doesn’t know it yet.
- On The Jellicoe Road: Writer Melena Marchetta; Director Cathy Randall
Synopsis: Taylor is the reluctant heir to the Underground Community, one of the three battling school factions in the town of Jellicoe. For a generation the Boarders, Townies and Cadets have fought “the territory wars” a serious negotiation of land rife with surprise attacks, diplomatic immunities, and hand to hand combat. Only this year Taylor has a history with cadet leader, Jonah Griggs and the “enemy” may just have information Taylor needs to unlock the reason her mother abandoned her on the Jellicoe Road.
- Falls Creek: Writer/Director James Breen; Producers Natalie Palomo & Michael Robertson.
Synopsis: A high tension thriller that investigates paranoia’s crippling effect on us all. Exploding with entrapment and catch-22 dilemmas, its Cape Fear meets Insomnia topped with an ice cold “western style” shootout.
- One Hundred and Fifteen: Writer/Director Steve Callen, Producer Kristian Moliere
Synopsis: Holden Chase works in a video store and uses his job to meet tragically romantic women that hire RomComs. Typically Gen Y, Holden thinks that women that are attracted to that genre of films could possibly be shallow enough to date him. But one day he notices that parts of his life are missing and he becomes convinced that his life is being edited and played out like a movie. When Holden discovers that he is in his least desired genre of movies, the RomCom, he knows that he has to add some depth to his character to experience true love or risk his whole life being over in a very unsatisfying 115 minutes.
