Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) today announced that four more Australian films will now be showcased at the festival in September, bringing the total to five. Kill Me Three Times will have its world premiere at TIFF and Cut Snake will have its international premiere. They have both been selected for the Contemporary World Cinema program, which will also feature the North American premiere of award-winning film Charlie's Country. French Australian short film A Single Body will premiere internationally in the festival's Short Cuts International section. As previously announced, Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films will feature in Midnight Madness.Screen Australia's Head of Marketing, Kathleen Drumm, said, Selection for what is one of the world's most influential film festivals is an accolade for the incredible creative talent behind these new movies. We are thrilled that five Australian films have been invited to Toronto, which serves as a major platform into the North American marketplace. It is great to see established filmmakers being recognised along with emerging talent.
Kill Me Three Times, from director Kriv Stenders (Red Dog), is about a mercurial assassin, played by Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Paul), who discovers he isn't the only person trying to kill the siren of a sun-drenched surfing town, and quickly finds himself at the centre of three tales of murder, mayhem, blackmail and revenge. The ensemble cast features Sullivan Stapleton (300: Rise of an Empire, Animal Kingdom), Alice Braga (Elysium, I Am Legend), Teresa Palmer (Warm Bodies, I Am Number Four), Callan Mulvey (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Luke Hemsworth (Infini), and Bryan Brown (Australia). The dark comedic thriller was written by James McFarland, and produced by Laurence Malkin and Share Stallings (the team behind Death at a Funeral and A Few Best Men) and Western Australian producer Tania Chambers.
Tony Ayres' third feature, Cut Snake, also stars Sullivan Stapleton, alongside Jessica de Gouw (These Final Hours) and Alex Russell (Chronicle). The film is about a man who tries to leave his secret prison past behind, with a new fianc e and a new life, but discovers that his past is a door that is never closed, when his newly released cell mate turns up. The gritty true-crime thriller was written by Blake Ayshford and produced by Michael Mahon and Trevor Blainey.
Rolf de Heer wrote, directed and produced Charlie's Country, the third film in his longstanding collaboration with Aboriginal screen icon David Gulpilil, who won the Best Actor Award in Un Certain Regard in Cannes for his role in the film. The pair's unofficial trilogy began with The Tracker in 2002, followed by Ten Canoes in 2006. Charlie's Country centres on the character of Charlie, played by David Gulpilil, who decides to make a stand following the invasion of his Aboriginal community and finds he still has a long way to fall.
Screening as part of the inaugural global TIFF short film showcase Short Cuts International, A Single Body, from writer/director Sotiris Dounoukos, is about best friends and skilled abattoir workers David and Wani, who are saving to open their own butchery. Before they can realise their dream, the arrival of a new worker will test the bonds of their shared life. The drama was produced by Fran ois-Pierre Clavel and Alexandre Perrier.
From acclaimed cult film documentarian and award-winning filmmaker Mark Hartley (Not Quite Hollywood, Machete Maidens Unleashed!), Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films takes us on a hilarious thrill ride through the masterworks of the late Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus: two movie-obsessed immigrant cousins who gate-crashed Hollywood's party, ran an indie studio that became the by-word for schlock, and nearly took over the industry in the process. A one-of-a-kind story about two-of-a-kind men who (for better or worse) changed film forever. The documentary was written and directed by Mark Hartley and produced by Veronica Fury and Brett Ratner.
The Toronto International Film Festival will take place 4 14 September 2014.
http://tiff.net/thefestival
CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA
KILL ME THREE TIMES
World premiere screening
KM3T Pty Ltd
Genre Darkly comedic thriller
Director Kriv Stenders
Writer James McFarland
Producers Laurence Malkin, Tania Chambers, Share Stallings
Executive Producers Jed Weintrob, Jan Korbelin, Jack Drewe, Ian Gibbins, Joan Peters, Aaron L Gilbert, Bryce Menzies, Alan Simpson
Cast Simon Pegg, Sullivan Stapleton, Alice Braga, Teresa Palmer, Callan Mulvey, Luke Hemsworth, Bryan Brown
International Sales Cargo Entertainment
Australian Distributor Entertainment One
Synopsis A mercurial assassin (Simon Pegg) discovers he isnt the only person trying to kill the siren (Alice Braga) of a sun-drenched surfing town. In this darkly comedic thriller the hitman finds himself unravelling three tales of mayhem, murder, blackmail and revenge.
CUT SNAKE
International premiere screening
Matchbox Pictures
Genre Crime
Producers Michael McMahon, Trevor Blainey
Director Tony Ayres
Writer Blake Ayshford
Cast Sullivan Stapleton, Jessica de Gouw, Alex Russell
International Sales eOne Films International
Australian Distributor Entertainment One
Synopsis Sparra' Farrell has left his secret prison past behind, with a new fianc e and a new life. But he finds it's a door that is never closed when his newly released cell mate turns up with other ideas.
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CutSnakeTheMovie
CHARLIE'S COUNTRY
North American premiere screening
Vertigo Productions, Bulabula Arts Aboriginal Corporation
Genre Drama
Devised by David Gulpilil, Rolf de Heer
Producers Nils Erik Nielsen, Rolf de Heer, Peter Djigirr
Executive Producers Domenico Procacci, Bryce Menzi
