Jan Sharp honoured at Telluride Film Festival
Australian film-maker Jan Sharp was honoured at the Telluride Film Festival. The festival was dedicated to both Sharp and US producer Bingham Ray. Sharp’s film credits include Wide Sargasso Sea and Echoes of Paradise.
Accompanying The Sapphires and documentary On Borrowed Time by David Bradbury about film-maker Paul Cox and his life on a liver transplant waiting list were short films Rain by Tom and Sam McKeith, Barn Owl by Anna Spencer and Boo! by Rupert Reid.
The announcement:
Colorado’s Telluride Film Festival ending today was dedicated to the late Australian writer/producer/director Jan Sharp, as well as to the late US producer Bingham Ray.
Jan’s long career began at Film Australia and included credits Wild Sargasso Sea and The Good Wife.
Bingham was a co-founder of October Films, a leading independent distribution company of the 1990s, and a former president of United Artists.
Australian films have been well represented at the festival. The Sapphires had its North American premiere screening in the main program to a reportedly very enthusiastic response.
David Bradbury’s documentary On Borrowed Time, about filmmaker Paul Cox’s journey with cancer as he awaits a liver transplant, screened in The Backlot, a section dedicated to behind-the-scenes movies and portraits of artists, musicians and filmmakers.
In SHOWcase for Shorts Anna Spencer’s Barn Owl and Rupert Reid’s Boo! screened before feature films; and short film Rain, by brothers Tom and Sam McKeith, had its international premiere in Filmmakers of Tomorrow.
The Telluride Film Festival ran 31 August – 3 September 2012.
www.telluridefilmfestival.orgFEATURES
ON BORROWED TIME
Production Company Frontline Films
Director/Producer David Bradbury
Executive Producer Jeni McMahon
Writer Mike Rubbo
International Sales Frontline Films
treena@frontlinefilms.com.au
Synopsis Auteur filmmaker Paul Cox contemplates his own mortality and his life’s work as he waits for a life-saving liver transplant.THE SAPPHIRES
Production Company Goalpost Pictures Australia
Producers Rosemary Blight, Kylie du Fresne
Executive Producers Ben Grant, Tristan Whalley, Harvey Weinstein
Writers Tony Briggs, Keith Thompson
Director Wayne Blair
International Sales Goalpost Film
tristan@goalpostfilm.com
Synopsis Gail, Cynthia, Julie and Kay are sexy, black, young and talented – and they’ve never set foot outside Australia. Until, in the chaos of 1968, they’re plucked from the obscurity of a remote Aboriginal mission, branded as Australia’s answer to The Supremes, and – grasping the chance of a lifetime – dropped into the jungles of Vietnam to entertain the troops. Inspired by the hit stage-play of the same name.SHORTS
BARN OWL
Producer Deborah Szapiro
Writer Gwen Harwood
Director Anna Spencer
Synopsis An animated adaptation of the poem by the late Gwen Harwood. Set in 1930s Australia, it is a coming-of-age story about a child making a decision that will affect her for the rest of her life.BOO!
Producer Matthew Reeder
Writer/Director Rupert Reid
Sales Night Kitchen Productions
Synopsis Ma and Pa have been married forever and they keep the magic alive by staying one step ahead of each other, but how many steps are too many?RAIN
Writer/Director/Producers Tom McKeith, Sam McKeith
Synopsis A girl carrying a piano keyboard finds herself on the edge of town with a storm on the way and no shelter.
Source: Press release
