Coming to Australian theatres in 2020, Babyteeth will have its world premiere in official competition at the prestigious Venice Film Festival on Wednesday 4th September.

Having previously directed television dramas including Offspring, Love Child and Sisters, director Shannon Murphy is one of only two female directors who have features in this year’s official competition.

A warm-hearted and bittersweet comedy about love, loss and family, BABYTEETH was shot on location in and around Sydney, and the film is an adaptation of the successful Belvoir Theatre play by Rita Kalnejais.

About Babyteeth
What might have been a disaster for the Finlay family leads to letting go and finding grace in the glorious chaos of life. When seriously ill teenager Milla (Eliza Scanlon – HBO’s Sharp Objects, the upcoming Little Women) falls madly in love with a smalltime drug dealer, Moses (Toby Wallace – Romper Stomper), it’s her protective parents’ (Ben Mendelsohn – Captain Marvel / Essie Davis – The Babadook) worst nightmare. Things get messy and morals go out the window as the lives of those around the family: a sensitive music teacher, a budding child violinist, a disarmingly honest pregnant neighbour become intertwined and Milla shows those in her orbit how to live like you have nothing to lose. In a story about life, grief and the chaos of family, Babyteeth joyously explores how far we will go for love and how good it is to be alive.

Babyteeth is coming to Australian cinemas in 2020!
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Clare (Aisling Franciosi) is a young Irish convict who chases Hawkins (Sam Claflin) a repugnant British Officer across the Tasmanian wilderness in an act of revenge. Hawkins and some of his men have perpetrated unthinkable horrors upon Clare and her young family.

Clare enlists the help of Billy (Baykali Ganambarr), an Aboriginal tracker to aid in her quest. During their journey they learn to respect each other as they witness horrible savagery foisted upon the native Aboriginals by the white settlers. This is accomplished in a very unflinching way.

Writer/director Jennifer Kent follows up her film The Babadook with an amazingly powerful work that is unafraid to take sides and show the atrocities carried out on both the Aboriginal and convict populations of that period. While it is at times incredibly challenging to watch, it provides a great reward for those that are up to the task.

Rob Hudson
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Starring an outstanding Australian cast including Travis Fimmel, Luke Bracey, Daniel Webber, Nicholas Hamilton, Stephen Peacock, and Richard Roxburgh, DANGER CLOSE: THE BATTLE OF LONG TAN is directed by Kriv Stenders (Red Dog), from a script by Stuart Beattie (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Australia), and is inspired by true events.

The dramatic new trailer follows Major Harry Smith (Fimmel) as he leads a dispersed company of 108 young and mostly inexperienced Australian and New Zealand soldiers as they fight for their lives, holding off an overwhelming enemy force of 2,500 battle hardened North Vietnamese soldiers. Finding strength in each other amid a furious battle, the trailer shows the heroism, mateship and sacrifice made by Delta Company at the Battle of Long Tan, one of the most savage and decisive ANZAC engagements in Australian military history.

“DANGER CLOSE: THE BATTLE OF LONG TAN is an Australian epic, inspired by an incredible ANZAC story. This trailer showcases the dedication of the filmmaking team to this story and we can’t wait for audiences to embrace the film when it’s released in cinemas,” said Transmission Films Joint Managing Directors Andrew Mackie and Richard Payten.

“After the overwhelming response to our first teaser trailer, we are very excited about releasing this new trailer and poster. Our cast and crew have put their hearts and souls into the making of this important film and we are all eagerly counting down the days until audiences can see and experience it for themselves,” said Producers Martin Walsh, John Schwarz and Michael Schwarz.

Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan is releasing in Australian cinemas August 8, 2019.
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Starring an A-list Australian cast including Travis Fimmel (Vikings), Luke Bracey (Point Break, Hacksaw Ridge), Daniel Webber (The Punisher, The Dirt), Nicholas Hamilton (IT), Stephen Peacocke (Hercules, Me Before You), and Richard Roxburgh (Breath, Rake), DANGER CLOSE: THE BATTLE OF LONG TAN is directed by Kriv Stenders (Red Dog), from a script by Stuart Beattie (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Australia).

One late afternoon in 1966, in the pouring rain, amid the mud and shattered trees of a Vietnamese rubber plantation called Long Tan, Major Harry Smith and his dispersed company of 108 young and mostly inexperienced Australian and New Zealand soldiers are fighting for their lives. They’re holding off an overwhelming enemy force of 2,500 battle-hardened Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers. This is their untold story.

DANGER CLOSE: THE BATTLE OF LONG TAN is a nail-biting and dramatic exploration of war illustrating heroism, mateship and the sacrifice of battle.

“The Battle of Long Tan is an incredible and inspiring ANZAC story. To see the battle portrayed on screen for the first time is a heart pounding and emotional experience for audiences. The passion and expertise of the filmmaking team has made this movie an instant Australian classic,” said Transmission Films Joint Managing Directors Andrew Mackie and Richard Payten.

“Making this film has been the greatest filmmaking challenge of my career so far and I am so proud and thrilled with the extraordinary work of my dedicated team both behind and in front of the cameras. It is truly an epic movie, made with the kind of ambition, scale and scope that is rarely possible in this country. I am honoured to have had the opportunity to tell this significant and remarkable Australian story and to be finally sharing it with audiences,” said Director Kriv Stenders.

“Making Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan was truly a once in lifetime experience. Every single person involved brought their absolute best work in service of this incredible story. From the heads of departments, actors to the background performers, there was a sense of purpose and satisfaction of knowing we were telling an Australian story that will be around for many years to come,” said Deeper Water Films Producers Michael Schwarz and John Schwarz.

“It has been a long journey for us to realise this film but it has been an even longer journey for audiences waiting to see a contemporary ANZAC story immortalised on screen. Sadly, it has been more than 30 years since our last epic Australian war films; GALLIPOLI in 1981 and THE LIGHTHORSEMEN in 1987. Through this film we wanted to help modernise our ANZAC narrative and create our new ANZAC myths and legends by honouring an entire generation of Vietnam Veterans,” said Producer Martin Walsh.

DANGER CLOSE: THE BATTLE OF LONG TAN was shot on location in South East Queensland, transforming paulownia plantations in Kingaroy and Nerang into the battle ground in South Vietnam.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she was proud of Queensland’s film industry but DANGER CLOSE: THE BATTLE OF LONG TAN is special. It created 120 jobs for crew and almost 1500 extras but is important for other reasons.

“The ultimate aim of a home-grown film industry is to tell our own stories. The Battle of Long Tan is one of those – a part of our history that deserves to be told,” said the Premier.

DANGER CLOSE: THE BATTLE OF LONG TAN is releasing in Australian cinemas on August 8, 2019.
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The remarkable early life of one of Australia’s most famed sons will captivate moviegoers when Umbrella Entertainment releases the adventure biopic, IN LIKE FLYNN across cinemas nationally on 11 October 2018.

Directed by Russell Mulcahy (Highlander 1 & 2, Resident Evil: Extinction, Teen Wolf) with rising star, Thomas Cocquerel (Kidnapping Mr. Heineken, Billionaire Boys Club, Red Dog: True Blue) in the titular role, IN LIKE FLYNN transports audiences to 1930, before Errol Flynn became a legendary matinee idol of Hollywood’s Golden Age.

Whilst serving as a guide for a Hollywood producer in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, young Flynn discovers a trail that will lead to a fortune in gold.  Back in Depression-era Sydney, he recruits a motley group of fellow opportunists with whom he sets sail in a yacht stolen from Chinese opium smugglers. What follows is a mythical and satirical coming-of-age story about four men on a journey to find hope, adventure and fortune at a time when the world was spiralling into despair.

Shot entirely on location in Queensland’s Gold Coast and co-starring Corey Large, William Mosely, Isabel Lucas, David Wenham, with Dan Fogler and Clive Standen, this is the story of a man whose real life exploits were arguably more colourful and outrageous than any he depicted on the silver screen.
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As the couple travel through the Top End including Darwin, Katherine, Kakadu and the Tiwi Islands they find fulfilment for their own personal journeys through the wild beauty of the NT’s landscapes and the unbeatable charm of the NT’s characters that they meet along the way.

The film is co-written by Joshua Tyler (Plonk), directed by Wayne Blair (The Sapphires, Cleverman) and produced by Goalpost Pictures’ Rosemary Blight and Kylie du Fresne and Kojo Entertainment’s Kate Croser.

It features a stellar ensemble cast including AACTA Award nominee Kerry Fox (Bright Star, Cloud Street), Ursula Yovich (The Code, Around The Block, Australia), Shari Sebbens (Thor: Ragnarok, The Sapphires, Redfern Now), Huw Higginson (Janet King, A Place To Call Home, The Bill) and Elaine Crombie (Top of The Lake, Redfern Now, Black Comedy).

TOP END WEDDING will release in cinemas in 2019.

The story is set in a small town in Western Australia and it mirrors small town life with a loving feel. The surrounds are idyllic and its inhabitants are not portrayed as yokels but as a community with compassion but one coloured by conservatism and some degree of racism. Into this mix we focus on Charlie Bucktin (Levi Miller), a soft spoken and sensitive 14 year-old boy who is about to get pulled into a world previously unknown to him.

The cast is peppered with well known Aussie thespians and both Hugo Weaving as a recluse and Toni Collette as Charle’s often times neurotic mother deliver outstanding performances. It’s a story told with subtle shades and understatement but one that has a punch when dark details are revealed.

Jasper Jones harkens back to the age when Australian cinema focused on the everyday life of its rural citizens and not just the extreme characters that inhabit the fringes of its society. It’s an engaging story well told with some darkness at its core that separates it from a being just a warm and fuzzy tale of small town life.

Rob Hudson
www.jasperjonesfilm.com

With his latest project, he has developed a film that feels nostalgic and very sentimental. It’s simplistic to the point of seeming more a wish of the present than an accurate assessment. It delivers very few surprises but instead relies on the innate charms of its cast.

Australian cast members Xavier Samuel, Morgan Griffin, Travis Jeffery and Lincoln Lewis do their best to bring life to a very predictable script. Their chemistry together adds a much needed charm and interest to the preceding.

Spin Out tries its best to entertain and does provide a decent diversion but could have benefitted from a more assertive script and a bit more dramatic tension.

Rob Hudson
www.spinoutmovie.com.au