Funding Approvals
in the archive
2009-2010 Production funding

A FEW BEST MEN
A Few Best Men Pty Ltd
Producers Todd Fellman, Gary Hamilton, Share Stallings, Laurence Malkin
Writer Dean Craig
Director Stephan Elliott
Sales & Distribution Arclight, Icon
Synopsis When an English groom travels to the outback to marry his Australian bride, the combination of his three outrageous best men and his fiancée’s bourgeois family make for a wedding that is as funny as it is disastrous.

BAIT
Paradise Production Services Pty Ltd
Producers Peter Barber, Gary Hamilton, Todd Fellman
Director Russell Mulcahy
Writer Shaun Krause
Australian Distributor Paramount Pictures
International Sales Arclight Films International
Synopsis Sharks threaten supermarket shoppers following a brutal and unexpected tsunami.

BURNING MAN
Meercat Films Pty Ltd
Producer Andy Paterson
Writer/director Jonathan Teplitzsky
Australian Distributor Transmission Films
International Sales Filmbox
Synopsis The shocking, irreverent, romantic and ultimately tear-jerkingly beautiful story of a father and son's struggle to deal with the unimaginable.

THE CUP
The Cup Pty Ltd
Executive Producers Greg Sitch, Lance Hool
Producers Simon Wincer, Jan Bladier and David Lee
Writers Eric O’Keefe and Simon Wincer
Director Simon Wincer
Sales and Distribution Roadshow, Myriad
Synopsis Probably no race had a more extraordinary effect on a nation than the running of Australia’s 2002 Melbourne Cup. At the heart of this true story is a young jockey who loses his only brother in a tragic racing accident just days before the race, suffers through a series of discouraging defeats only to triumph in one of the most thrilling finales in all sport.

GODDESS (formerly Goddess.com)
Wildheart Films Pty Ltd
Producer Richard Keddie
Executive producers Al Clark, James M. Vernon
Director Mark Lamprell
Writers Mark Lamprell, Joanna Weinberg
Australian Distributor Village Roadshow Pictures
International Sales Ealing Studios
Synopsis Elspeth Dickens dreams of finding her "voice" despite being stuck in an isolated farmhouse with her twin toddlers. A web - cam becomes her pathway to fame and fortune, but at a price.

GRIFF THE INVISIBLE
Green Park Pictures Pty Ltd
Producer Nicole O'Donohue
Executive producers Scott Meek, Jan Chapman
Writer/director Leon Ford
Australian Distributor Transmission Films
International Sales Fortissimo Film Sales
Synopsis Griff is one of the countless white-collar workers who populate our cities. He answers phones everyday at his mundane shipping company job. His only real friend is his older brother Tim who visits every Thursday night to check in on Griff but mainly to talk about himself. Griff would rather be on his own. Invisible.

THE HORSEMAN
Kastle Films Pty Ltd
Producers Rebecca Dakin, Steven Kastrissios
Writer/director Steven Kastrissios
Australian Distributor Umbrella Entertainment
Synopsis An action-packed, powerhouse Australian revenge-thriller that tears open an unflincing exploration of grief & retribution.

LITTLE DEATHS
The Difference Engine
Executive Producer Jason Byrne
Producers Marni Holuigue, Nina Hutchinson, Lacey Fitzgerald, Chris Kamen, Nina Hutchison, Helene Nicol, Jonathan Finney, Kate Hagar and Darran McFarlane
Writer Guila Sandler   
Directors Geoff Hitchens, Sian Davies, Toby Angwin, Chris Benz, Ben Chessell, Genevieve Bailey, James Teh, Jarrah Gurrie, Fin Edquist, Giula Sandler and Melanie Brunt
Sales and Distribution Odin’s Eye and Madman
Synopsis Eleven stories about love, loss, music and sex.

ORANGES AND SUNSHINE
See-Saw Films Pty Ltd and Sixteen Films
Producers Camilla Bray, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning
Writer Rona Munro
Director Jim Loach
Sales and Distribution Icon Film Distribution (Australia, UK and International)
Tells the story of Margaret Humphreys, a social worker from Nottingham, who uncovered one of the most significant social scandals in recent times: the organised deportation of children in care to Australia from the United Kingdom. Almost single-handedly, against overwhelming odds and with little regard for her own wellbeing, Margaret reunited thousands of families, brought authorities to account and worldwide attention to an extraordinary miscarriage of justice.

RED DOG
Woss Group Film Productions Pty Ltd
Executive Producers Graham Burke, Joel Pearlman, Aaron Ryder, Su Armstrong
Producers Nelson Woss, Julie Ryan
Writer Daniel Taplitz
Director Kriv Stenders
Sales and Distribution Essential Entertainment, Roadshow
Synopsis Set in Western Australian's Pilbara, Red Dog is based on the Louis de Bernières novel about a dog who brings together a community.

RED HILL
Red Hill Films Pty Ltd
Producer Al Clark
Executive producers Greg Maclean, Rob Galluzzo, Craig McMahon
Writer/director Patrick Hughes
Australian Distributor Transmission Films
International Sales Arclight FIlms International
Synopsis When a young Melbourne police officer, Constable Shane Cooper, relocates to the small high-country town of `Red Hill¿ with his pregnant wife, he does so in the expectation of starting a family. But when news of a prison break in Melbourne sends the local law enforcement officers into a panic, Shane¿s first day on duty quickly goes from bad to worse. Enter Jimmy Conway, a convicted murderer serving life behind bars. He returns to the isolated outpost seeking revenge and will stop at nothing. Now caught in the middle of what quickly becomes a horrifying blood bath, Shane will be forced to take the law into his own hands if he is to survive.

THE REEF
Prodigy Movies
Producer Michael Robertson
Writer/Director Andrew Traucki
Australia and NZ Distribution Polyphony Entertainment
International Sales Lightning Entertainment
Synopsis When their boat capsizes on the Great Barrier Reef, four friends swim for land, stalked by a Great White Shark.

SLEEPING BEAUTY
Magic Films Pty Ltd
Producer Jessica Brentnall
Executive Producer Tim White
Writer/Director Julia Leigh
Australian Distribution Transmission
International Sales E1 Films and UTA
Synopsis Lucy, a disenchanted and financially strapped university student, accepts work as a sleeper in a ‘Sleeping Beauty’ chamber:  “You will go to sleep, you will wake up. It will be as if the hours never existed.” The first man to visit Lucy venerates her youth and beauty. The second is sadistic. Nonetheless she returns ...

SNOWTOWN
Warp Films Australia
Producers Anna McLeish, Sarah Shaw
Writer Shaun Grant
Director Justin Kurzel
Australian Distribution Madman Entertainment
International Sales Protagonist
Synopsis When 15-year-old Jamie Vlassakis meets a man who pledges to protect him, a friendship begins. As the relationship grows so do Jamie's suspicions, until he finds his world threatened by both his loyalty for, and fear of, his newfound father figure, John Bunting, Australia's most notorious serial killer.

THE TREE
Arbre Films Pty Ltd
Producers Yael Fogel, Sue Taylor
Director Julie Bertuccelli
Writers Julie Bertuccelli, Elizabeth Mars
Australian Distributor Kojo Pictures
International Sales Momentum Film House
Synopsis After the sudden loss of her beloved father, ten year old Simone shares a secret belief with her mother, Dawn.  She's convinced his spirit lives amongst the high branches of their Moreton Bay Fig and he¿s come back from the dead to protect them.  But the new bond between mother and daughter, forged through mutual grief,  quickly turns to jealousy when Dawn starts a relationship with George, the plumber, brought in to remove the tree's troublesome roots.

WASTED ON THE YOUNG
Party Upstairs Pty Ltd
Producers Janelle Landers, Aidan O’Bryan
Writer/Director Ben C Lucas
Sales & Distribution Fortissimo
Synopsis An incident at a high school party sets off a chain of events and two brothers must place their lives at the mercy of popular opinion.

WOG BOY 2: KINGS OF MYKONOS
See-Saw Films Pty Ltd and G.O. Films Pty Ltd
Producers Emile Sherman, Nick Giannopoulos
Executive producers Iain Canning, Andrew Penney
Co-producer Sally Ayre Smith
Director Peter Andrikidris
Writers Chris Anastassiades and Nick Giannopoulos
Australian Distributor Transmission Films, Paramount Pictures
International Sales Arclight Films International
Synopsis Steve ‘The Wog Boy’ Karamitsis inherits a beach on the resort island of Mykonos from an uncle he’s never met.

X
Circe Films
Executive Producer Peter Castaldi
Producer Lizzette Atkins
Co-producer/Director/Writer Jon Hewitt
Writer Belinda McClory
Synopsis A jaded callgirl and a fledgling streetwalker are thrown together on the night from hell.