International projects chosen for Aurora
Five feature projects have been chosen for the script development workshop Aurora, including entries from Liz Watts, Tony Ayres, Rachel Perkins and Trish Lake, with four projects set overseas – and two of them in South Africa.
“It reflects a trend amongst Australian producers to be genuinely engaged in the international market place and they are therefore developing projects more likely to engage both Australian and international audiences and leverage international finance, sales and distribution,” NSW Minister for the Arts Virginia Judge told Encore.
According to Judge, Screen NSW did not set out to find projects with international elements, but four of the best five just happened to be partly set overseas. Judge said while the South African setting of two of the projects is coincidental, the international focus is a result of producers becoming “increasingly financially savvy and more sophisticated in their approach”.
“It isn’t unusual for Australian projects to be partly or fully set overseas (The Waiting City, Mao’s Last Dancer, Bright Star) and sometimes even if they are set overseas, they can be shot here (Accidents Happen),” added Judge.
The Minister said that although Australia does not have a co-production treaty/Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with any of the countries featured in the Aurora 2010 films, that should not limit the development of the projects.
“We do not have official co-production treaties/MoUs with South Africa, Mexico or the US, but there are still opportunities for entrepreneurial producers to seek unofficial co-production partnerships and funding in those territories. There is no doubt that if a project is appealing to another country then it increases the potential for raising finance in that region,” she explained.
Aurora has seen critically acclaimed films such as Animal Kingdom, Somersault and Little Fish go through its doors. The workshop will take place in Sydney in late April, with advisors such as screenwriter and script consultant Syd Field; independent US producer Christine Vachon; script editor and former president of Jodie Foster’s Egg Productions Meg LeFauve; and Sydney-based script editor and writer Joan Sauers.
This year’s participants are:
Amnesia
Writer/Director Tony Krawitz (short, Jewboy); Producer Liz Watts (Animal Kingdom, The Home Song Stories)
Set in contemporary Johannesburg and tells the story of a white Jewish family and the people who work for them grasping for clarity in a society of confused morals, uncertain emotions and violence.
Geography
Writer Emily Ballou; Director Tony Ayres (The Home Song Stories); Producer Helen Bowden (Lou)
Adapted from Sophie Cunningham’s novel Geography, it tells the story of the relationship between Catherine, a young Australian woman, and Michael, an older ex-pat Australian living in Los Angeles. It is a contemporary love story of desire, romance, obsession and addiction.
Sentido
Writer/Director Andrew Lawrence; Producer Monique de Groot
When a mother takes a new lover, a young Australian follows his estranged father’s culture into the world of bullfighting in Mexico to re-instate his position as the man of his mother’s house. This is the first feature film for Andrew Lawrence and Monique de Groot.
The Comet
Writer Louis Nowra; Director Rachel Perkins, Producer Darren Dale
From the creative team behind the First Australians series, and the director of Bran Nue Dae, this is a love story set in Sydney in 1788, based on true events, between William Dawes, a British marine and Patyegarang, an Aboriginal young woman. The relationship bridging two cultures dramatically changed both their lives and the course of Australian history.
Dance For Me
Writer Roger Monk (Walking on Water, East of Everything); Producer Cathy Henkel; Producer Trish Lake (Subdivision, Gettin’ Square)
On a hot December night Judith, a white South African woman is brutally attacked in her home in suburban Johannesburg. Her estranged daughter, Miriam, reluctantly returns from Australia and is forced to confront her troubled relationship with her mother. Miriam discovers post apartheid South Africa is grappling with a legal system fractured yet still dominated by entrenched Afrikaans patriarchal society. Miriam is prepared to go to any lengths to beat the corruption and seek justice for her mother, but the lines are blurred when she entraps the predator. Should she choose revenge if there is no justice? Or is she really seeking the mother love she craved but never had.
Well those five projects look like a real barrel of laughs…
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Gee what a surprise to see these names here. They have already made films that no one wanted to see.
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It’s hard to judge a script from its synopsis, but from the project summaries here it could be argued that producers in this country aren’t just ignoring audience tastes, but actually don’t care. (though Sentido and The Comet do actually look like stories we haven’t seen before). Why oh why are we so obsessed with dramas about violence and addiction? Please list for me the previous Australian films of this nature which have been embraced by audiences?
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Chopper
Wolf Creek
Mad Max
The Boys
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