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feature film Development funding approval details

2011 features summary

October - December 2011

SINGLE-PROJECT DEVELOPMENT: FEATURE DEVELOPMENT

THE BUNYIP OF BERKELEY’S CREEK
Genre Family
Producer Melanie Coombs
Writer/Director Sofya Gollan
Indigenous Consultant Walter Saunders
Script Editor Stephen Cleary
Synopsis Bunyip emerges from a waterhole not knowing who he is, what he is or how he came to be. “Who am I?” he asks the Platypus, Kangaroo and Emu. Only little Spinifex Hopping Mouse Poppy is brave enough to journey with him to find out. Based on the classic children’s book.

THE DOCKS
Genre Crime
Producer Emile Sherman
Writers Jamie Browne, Kris Mrksa
Director Clayton Jacobson

THE DRESSMAKER
Genre Black Comedy
Producer Sue Maslin
Writer/Director Jocelyn Moorhouse
Script Editor PJ Hogan
Synopsis A bittersweet tragic-comedy about a glamorous young woman who returns, after many years in Europe, to her small home town in rural Australia in order to right some wrongs from the past. When Tilly comes home she not only heals her ailing mother, but with her sewing machine, and haute couture style, transforms the women of the town in such a way that she gets sweet revenge on those who did her wrong. She also falls unexpectedly in love, which leads to her greatest loss and her most destructive deed.

F*****! A ROMANCE
Genre Comic Romance
Writer Andy Cox
Director Kriv Stenders
Synopsis When two teenagers decide to elope and set up a normal life away from their freakish families they never expect to find that love is just as freakish as everything else in life.

FORCE OF DESTINY
Genre Drama
Producers Paul Cox, Maggie Miles
Executive Producer Shaun Miller
Writer/Director Paul Cox
Synopsis Established artist Robert is told he has cancer of the liver and limited time to live. This unexpected message leaves him feeling utterly alone and with no alternative but to confront his own mortality. In this process of physical decline and mental confusion he falls in love with Maya, a visiting Chinese marine biologist. Force of Destiny is their journey of love, hope and despair and Robert’s miraculous salvation through a life-saving liver transplant. Based on Paul Cox’s harrowing and poetic memoir Tales from the Cancer Ward.

GALORE
Genre Drama
Producer Philippa Campey
Executive Producers Victoria Treole, Sue Murray
Writer/Director Rhys Graham
Synopsis Billie and Laura, two reckless teenage best friends, share everything, except for Billie’s biggest secret: she’s crazy in love with Laura’s boyfriend.

THE GREAT
Genre Drama Comedy
Producer Marian Macgowan
Writer Tony McNamara
Director Gillian Armstrong
Synopsis Catherine is idealistic, naive and an utter romantic. When she is chosen to be married to Peter, Emperor of Russia, she is thrilled and dreams of a great love and a beautiful life. But instead she must choose between her own personal happiness and the future of Russia. In doing so she brings the Enlightenment to her people. A historical fantasy based on Tony McNamara’s own standout play.

THE HOUSEHOLD GUIDE TO DYING
Genre Drama Comedy
Producers Leesa Kahn, Catriona Hughes
Writer/Director Emma-Kate Croghan
Synopsis Delia, mother, acerbic household advice columnist and author of wildly popular household guides, is dying of cancer and decides to write one last work for her fans... They won’t be disappointed. Based on the acclaimed novel by Debra Adelaide.

THE LINE
Genre Drama
Writer Sarah Walker
Synopsis When an investigative journalist is assigned against his wishes to interview an Australian Hollywood star for a magazine cover story, his dismissal of the subject turns serious after his probing uncovers an old crime and he becomes obsessed with getting the story told.

MAKE-UP GIRL
Genre Romantic Comedy
Producer Su Armstrong
Writer Eleanor Smagarinsky
Synopsis Faith is a single make-up girl and beauty blogger whose wonderful fake boyfriend keeps her mum off her back. When her perfect sister returns home to get married, Faith has to find a real version of Mr Right, fast. Based on the novel by Andrea Semple.

NOW ADD HONEY
Genre Comedy
Producer Louisa Kors
Writer Robyn Butler
Director Wayne Hope
Script Editor Sarina Rowell
Synopsis Normal life implodes for a suburban family when their pop star cousin comes to stay, until everyone realises that before she came life wasn’t normal anyway.

PICCOLO – THE DOLPHIN PRINCE
Genre Family
Producers Greg McLean, Alan Lindsay
Writer/Director Greg McLean
Script Editor Regina Lee
Synopsis Piccolo, the smallest dolphin of his tribe, is given the daunting task of leading a disparate group of friends across the ocean to find a legendary place where dolphin and man live in harmony.

SANTA: LOST DOWN UNDER
Genre Comedy
Producers Ben Cunningham, Diana Giorgiutti
Executive Producer Bryce Menzies
Writer Gregory Johnson
Director Rob Nunn
Synopsis Four days before Christmas, Santa and Rudy are stranded in the outback, exiled by a scheming elf intent on taking over the North Pole. Santa’s only hope of saving the family business and rescuing his teenage rock-star daughter is in the hands of a pint-sized bush hero named Billy.

SCRATCH THE SURFACE
Genre Thriller
Producer Jannine Barnes
Writer/Director Grant Scicluna
Script Editor Jonathan Rawlinson
Synopsis A story of a teenage murderer searching for a body and the truth.

SILENT DISCO
Genre Drama
Producer Tom M Jeffrey
Writer Lachlan Philpott
Synopsis Teens Tamara and Squid are in love, but their fragile relationship is broken by a devastating betrayal of trust that puts their futures at risk.

STRANGERLAND
Genre Drama
Producer Naomi Wenck
Writer Fiona Seres
Director Kim Farrant
Synopsis An unnerving mystery drama about a couple whose lives unravel when their two teenagers go missing in the harsh Australian desert.

TIDE OF SOULS
Genre Drama
Producers Ryan Hodgson, Melissa Kelly, Robyn Kershaw, Amy Hobby
Writer Wain Fimeri
Script Editor Louise Gough

TRACKS
Genre Drama
Producer Emile Sherman
Writer Marion Nelson
Director John Curran
Synopsis Based on the true story of Robyn Davidson’s epic journey through the Australian desert. A quintessentially Australian film telling a universal story of discovery and survival.

THE TUNNEL: DEAD END
Genre Horror
Producer/Writers Enzo Tedeschi, Julian Harvey
Executive Producers Jonathan Chissick, Peter Thompson
Director Carlo Ledesma
Synopsis In 2008, Lindsay watched her brother vanish in the dark tunnels beneath Sydney. Now she’s looking for answers – but what happens if the answers find her first?