Four Australian films selected for Venice including Warwick Thornton's Sweet Country
28/07/2017
Sweet Country Natassia Gorey-Furber and Hamilton Morris / Photo: Mark Rogers
The Venice International Film Festival today announced their 2017 program confirming the selection of four Australian films, including Warwick Thornton's Sweet Country which will make its world premiere in official competition. West of Sunshine will also make its world premiere competing in the Orizzonti section and The Knife Salesman will screen in competition in Orizzonti Short Films. In a first for an Australian film, Strange Colours will screen as part of the Biennale College.
Penny Smallacombe, Head of Screen Australia's Indigenous Department said it was a landmark moment in Australian screen history with Sweet Country being the first Australian Indigenous feature to be selected in official competition in Venice.
Sweet Country is an outstanding Indigenous collaboration, from the incredibly talented writers Steven McGregor and David Tranter and the extraordinary vision of director Warwick Thornton. This is a vital and rich Indigenous perspective of how Aboriginal people have been treated historically and we're proud the film will premiere at one of the world's most prestigious film festivals, said Ms Smallacombe.
Warwick Thornton, who was awarded the Cannes Film Festival Cam ra d Or for his debut feature Samson and Delilah, returns to the director's chair for Sweet Country, a period western set in the late 1920s on the Northern Territory frontier, where justice itself is put on trial. The film features an impressive cast including Sam Neill, Bryan Brown, Hamilton Morris, Gibson John, Natassia Gorey-Furber, Thomas M. Wright, Ewen Leslie, Matt Day, Anni Finsterer and introducing Tremayne and Trevon Doolan.
Sweet Country is produced by David Jowsey (Mystery Road, Goldstone), Greer Simpkin (Goldstone, Jasper Jones) and David Tranter (Nganampa Anwernekenhe). The film received major production investment and development support from Screen Australia's Indigenous Department in association with Create NSW, Screen Territory, South Australian Film Corporation and the Adelaide Film Festival. International sales are handled by Memento and the Australian release by Transmission Films.
Director Warwick Thornton said: "That landscape around Alice Springs is sacred. The MacDonnell Ranges are always in my mind from growing up there with my family. So, Sweet Country is a film about the land and our family and what happened when the missionaries and pastoralists arrived."
Producers Greer Simpkin and David Jowsey said: We are deeply honoured that Sweet Country has been selected in official competition in Venice, and that it will have its Australian premiere at the Adelaide Film Festival in October.
To represent Australia on the cinematic world stage with such an important story is both humbling and thrilling. To our stellar cast and crew we thank you; to our inspiring director we salute you, and to our funding partners who believed in this production from the start we are sincerely grateful.
In competition in the Orizzonti section and also one of the debut films competing for the Lion of the Future award, West of Sunshine is the feature film debut from writer/director Jason Raftopoulos, whose short films have screened at festivals around the world, and is produced by Alexandros Ouzas (Plague) for Exile Entertainment. The film was shot in Melbourne and tells the story of a father who has less than a day to pay back a debt to a loan shark, while at the same time trying to look after his young son. West of Sunshine received production investment funding from Screen Australia.
The Knife Salesman will screen in competition in Orizzonti Short Films and is written, directed and produced by Michael Leonard, with Jamie Helmer also directing. In the short film, tensions build when a travelling knife salesman visits a frustrated house wife in a heat-drenched coastal Australian town.
Strange Colours was co-written/directed by Alena Lodkina, co-written/produced by Isaac Wall and produced by Kate Laurie, with development and production investment support from Venice's Biennale College Cinema, which provides advanced training dedicated to the production of micro-budget films. Strange Colours is the first Australian film to screen at the festival as part of the 2016/2017 Biennale College Cinema selection. The film follows a woman who travels to a remote opal mining community to see her estranged, ill father to try and mend their fractured bond.
Director Alena Lodkina said: It s been a whirlwind making this film happen in nine months - an exhilarating experience. And it s so exciting to have the premiere at the festival! It's surreal.
Graeme Mason, Screen Australia's CEO said: The range of Australian stories and talent that Venice have chosen to showcase is astounding. From visionary Warwick Thornton to emerging artist Alena Lodkina, to get this kind of attention from one of the world's most prestigious festivals is significant. A warm congratulations to all the creatives, cast and crew who have been honoured by these selections.
Earlier in the week it was revealed veteran critic David Stratton will be on the competition jury.
The 74th Venice International Film Festival runs from 30 August to 9 September 2017.
The Adelaide Film Festival runs from 5 to 15 October 2017.
Media release updated 28 July 2017 with the addition of The Knife Salesman which was announced separately from the 27 July 2017 media call in Venice.
Media enquiries Jane Alexander | Senior Publicist
61 2 8113 5833 | 61 400 940 682 | jane.alexander@screenaustralia.gov.au
Clio Anne Ellis | Publicity and Events Coordinator
61 2 8113 1091 | 61 450 492 745 | clio.ellis@screenaustral
LINK: | https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/media-centre/news/2017/07-27-ven... |
See more stories from screenaustralia |
Asia, Australia & Oceanic Stories
18/04/2024
Alone Australia goes from strength to strength
Alone Australia goes from strength to strength 18 April, 2024 Media releases The program again delivers for SBS with significant uplifts in digital BVOD vi...
18/04/2024
Screen Australia and Dynamic Television announce new Scripted Initiative
18 04 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and Dynamic Television announce new Scripted Initiative Savage River Screen Australia and Los Angeles-based telev...
16/04/2024
ABS Agility Beyond Space announces Appointment of Mark Rigolle as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
ABS Agility Beyond Space announces Appointment of Mark Rigolle as its Chief Ex...
11/04/2024
Alone Australia Ep 2 reaches over 1m Australians
Alone Australia Ep 2 reaches over 1m Australians 11 April, 2024 Media releases The program continues to consistently grow week-on-week in linear audience w...
11/04/2024
Screen Australia and Meta launch fourth year of First Nations Creators Program for Instagram
11 04 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and Meta launch fourth year of First...
10/04/2024
Screen Australia announces over $2.3 million for nine documentaries
10 04 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces over $2.3 million for nine documentaries Guardians of the River Screen Australia has announced nine doc...
09/04/2024
Groundbreaking NITV documentary series Our Law expands across Australia from Thursday 9 May
Groundbreaking NITV documentary series Our Law expands across Australia from Thu...
09/04/2024
Psst; inflo transcribes with Whisper
Techtel, the creators of inflo, today announced that a new speech to text transcription engine from openai called Whisper, is available to inflo customers who a...
04/04/2024
Manu Feildel, Miranda Otto and Pat Rafter join life-changing new season of Who Do You Think You Are?
Manu Feildel, Miranda Otto and Pat Rafter join life-changing new season of Who D...
04/04/2024
Alone Australia season 2 continues to redefine Australian TV viewing through on-demand digital consumption
Alone Australia season 2 continues to redefine Australian TV viewing through on-...
27/03/2024
Living Black, the longest-running Indigenous current affairs television program in Australia, returns for its 21st year with new guests
Living Black, the longest-running Indigenous current affairs television program ...
26/03/2024
Crime is relative in SBS's new Canneseries nominated crime-family dramawith a difference
Crime is relative in SBS's new Canneseries nominated crime-family drama with...
25/03/2024
SBS gears up for Season 2 of Alone Australia with the creation of Alone Cologne'
SBS gears up for Season 2 of Alone Australia with the creation of Alone Cologne...
22/03/2024
SBS Learn partners with the Islamic Museum of Australia to support classrooms in understanding Ramadan and Eid with new teacher resource
SBS Learn partners with the Islamic Museum of Australia to support classrooms in...
21/03/2024
Screen Australia announces over $1.6 million in support of the games industry
21 03 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces over $1.6 million in support of the games industry Which Way Up: Galaxy Games Screen Australia has anno...
18/03/2024
Screen Australia and VicScreen launch new Screen Careers initiative
18 03 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and VicScreen launch new Screen Careers initiative LTR Denise Eriksen, Esther Coleman Hawkins, Caroline Pitcher, K...
15/03/2024
The Creators 2024 Participants Announced
15 03 2024 - Media release The Creators 2024 Participants Announced The Creators program recipients. L-R Thomas Duncan-Watt, Vanessa Gazy, Sarah Lambert, Lea...
14/03/2024
SBS to mark Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr with all Australians
SBS to mark Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr with all Australians 14 March, 2024 Media releases Content in 22 languages*, a collection of movies to stream free on d...
14/03/2024
Notice of Nominees for Directors (Resolution planned, June 19, 2024)
March 14,2024 -- KDDI Corporation KDDI Corporation resolved at a meeting of the Board of Directors held today to change (newly appointed, retire) a director ...
13/03/2024
Screen Australia announces dramas Critical Incident and Sunny Nights for Stan
13 03 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces dramas Critical Incident and Sunny Nights for Stan Critical Incident: Akshay Khanna and Zoe Boe. Photo c...
07/03/2024
Explore the afterlife with SBS podcast Grave Matters'
Explore the afterlife with SBS podcast Grave Matters' 6 March, 2024 Media releases Most of us are woefully unprepared for one of life's few certai...
06/03/2024
Multi-award winning electronic music duo to represent Australia at this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Malm, Sweden
Multi-award winning electronic music duo to represent Australia at this year'...
06/03/2024
GITAI and KDDI Successfully Demonstrates Robotics Construction Capabilities for Lunar Communications Towers
Developing Lunar 3GPP Mobile Network Technologies for Moon Exploration GITA...
04/03/2024
SBS announces new development fund to discover Australia's biggest and riskiest new factual hit
SBS announces new development fund to discover Australia's biggest and riski...
28/02/2024
Yumi Stynes returns for season two of SBS podcast SEEN'
Yumi Stynes returns for season two of SBS podcast SEEN' 26 February, 2024 Media releases Eight new trailblazers join feminist Australian icon Yumi Sty...
28/02/2024
Screen Australia announces over $810,000 in development funding for 29 projects
28 02 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces over $810,000 in development funding for 29 projects Willy Screen Australia has announced 23 feature fi...
27/02/2024
Michael Ebeid AM appointed as new Screen Australia Chair
27 02 2024 - Media release Michael Ebeid AM appointed as new Screen Australia Chair Michael Ebeid AM and Megan Brownlow The Hon. Minister for the Arts, Tony...
26/02/2024
KDDI, Sony Honda Mobility Start Collaboration to Drive Connected Businesses Globally
Supporting AFEELAs entertainment experience and global launch with a communicati...
21/02/2024
Screen Australia and Australians in Film Announce Applications Open for UNTAPPED 2024
21 02 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and Australians in Film Announce App...
21/02/2024
Sony and KDDI Accelerate Efforts to Promote Digital Transformation in the Broadcasting and Media Industries
Aiming to deliver new video-related solutions utilizing 5G SA this year Son...
21/02/2024
KDDI Teams Up with Kyoto Sanga F.C. to Start Demonstration Test for Fan Engagement Services with Smartphone Game
Support the team with gifts while enjoying AR games in the stadium KDDI COR...
21/02/2024
U and Google's Gemini model to Provide Generative AI Services for Everyday Use
KDDI CORPORATION February 21,2024 -- Tokyo, February 21, 2024 From February 2...
20/02/2024
The Approval of SORACOM's Listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market
KDDI CORPORATION February 20,2024 -- KDDI announces that its consolidated subsidiary, SORACOM, INC. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, CEO: Ken Tamagawa, herei...
15/02/2024
Alone Australia Season 2 Returns 27 March | Meet the Cast
Alone Australia Season 2 Returns 27 March | Meet the Cast 15 February, 2024 Media releases Smash hit series Alone Australia returns Wednesday 27 March on S...
15/02/2024
NITV's flagship footy show Over the Black Dot returns Tuesday 5 March, live and in high definition
NITV's flagship footy show Over the Black Dot returns Tuesday 5 March, live ...
15/02/2024
Screen Australia announces over $560,000 for crew and gamemaker skills programs
15 02 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces over $560,000 for crew and gamemaker skills programs Liz Keogh Palmer (Australian Production Design Guil...
13/02/2024
2024 is a landmark year for SBS's award-winning current affairs line-up, covering the most impactful local and global stories
2024 is a landmark year for SBS's award-winning current affairs line-up, cov...
13/02/2024
Six Australian projects bound for South by Southwest Festival in the US
22 01 2024 - Media release Six Australian projects bound for South by Southwest Festival in the US Audrey, Birdeater, The Moogai Six Australian screen projec...
12/02/2024
Screen Australia and YouTube Australia Launch Skip Ahead 9
12 02 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and YouTube Australia Launch Skip Ahead 9 Uncovering Street Dance: Australia from Skip Ahead 8. Photographed by Ry...
08/02/2024
Screen Australia and ABC announce Bay of Fires is back for season two
08 02 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and ABC announce Bay of Fires is back for season two Marta Dusseldorp as Stella in Bay of Fires ABC, Screen Austr...
07/02/2024
4 in 10 Australians battling sleep issues as nation's sleep crisis grows
4 in 10 Australians battling sleep issues as nation's sleep crisis grows 7 February, 2024 Media releases Dr Michael Mosley and the sleep scientists fro...
06/02/2024
Six screen creatives selected for the 2024 SBS Emerging Writers' Incubator initiative
Six screen creatives selected for the 2024 SBS Emerging Writers' Incubator i...
02/02/2024
SBS Scripted TV Lunch sessions return for another year of connecting with creatives
SBS Scripted TV Lunch sessions return for another year of connecting with creati...
02/02/2024
Financial Results for the Third Quarter of the Fiscal Year Ending March 2024
February 2,2024 -- KDDI Corporation KDDI announced the financial results for the third quarter of the fiscal year ending March 2024. Summary In the third q...
31/01/2024
Filming Begins on SBS' Romantic Original Drama Four Years Later' in India
Filming Begins on SBS' Romantic Original Drama Four Years Later' in Ind...
30/01/2024
A stellar 2024 for SBS podcasts kicks off with The SBS Book Club' and Humans of the Australian Deaf Community'
A stellar 2024 for SBS podcasts kicks off with The SBS Book Club' and Huma...
29/01/2024
The host with the most, Adam Liaw, is back with an all new inviting season of The Cook Up
The host with the most, Adam Liaw, is back with an all new inviting season of Th...
22/01/2024
Eddie's Lil' Homies premieres on NITV and Netflix on Friday 16 February
Eddie's Lil' Homies premieres on NITV and Netflix on Friday 16 February 22 January, 2024 Media releases Animated comedy series inspired by AFL grea...
22/01/2024
Five Australian projects bound for South by Southwest Festival in the US
22 01 2024 - Media release Five Australian projects bound for South by Southwest Festival in the US Audrey, Birdeater, The Moogai Five Australian screen proj...