Four Australian films to screen at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam

The 44th Rotterdam International film festival commences today with 435 films from around the world scheduled to screen over the next 12 days. The festival program features four Australian films - Charlie's Country, Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films, Sam Klemke's Time Machine and The Search for Weng Weng.

Screen Australia's Head of Production, Sally Caplan, said, It is excellent to see these brilliant Australian films continuing their successful festival run. These original stories have appealed to audiences worldwide and will no doubt delight the crowds at this highly regarded festival.

Charlie's Country by renowned Australian filmmaker Rolf de Heer will have its Dutch premiere at the festival, following its celebrated screening at the Cannes Film Festival where David Gulpilil won the Un Certain Regard Best Actor Award. It is the third film in Rolf's unofficial trilogy and longstanding collaboration with Aboriginal Australian screen icon David Gulpilil, beginning with The Tracker in 2002 and 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. The film was developed, written, produced and directed by Rolf de Heer, with lead actor and co-developer David Gulpilil, actor/producer Peter Djigirr and producer Nils Erik Nielsen.

Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films from acclaimed cult film documentarian and award-winning filmmaker Mark Hartley (Not Quite Hollywood, Machete Maidens Unleashed!) will screen at the festival. The film takes audiences 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. The documentary was written and directed by Mark Hartley and produced by Veronica Fury and Brett Ratner.

Sam Klemke's Time Machine will have its European premiere at the festival. The film is about an obsessive filmmaker, Sam Klemke, who in 1977, aged 17, set out to record himself every year until his death. Sam filmed and narrated 50 years of his life, creating a strange and intimate portrait of what it means to be human. The film was written and directed by Matthew Bate, previously invited to the Sundance Film Festival for his feature documentary Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure, and produced by Rebecca Summerton. The film will have its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this week.

Documentary The Search for Weng Weng has screened 55 times in 14 countries across five continents since its premiere in November 2013 and will have its Dutch premiere at the festival. The film is about the bizarre history of Filipino B-films, as told through writer/director/producer Andrew Leavold's personal quest to find the truth behind its two-foot, nine-inch James Bond, Weng Weng. The film was also written and produced by Daniel Palisa.

Following on from her unique documentary Aim High in Creation!, a film within a film about North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's 1987 Manifesto The Cinema and Directing, Australian filmmaker Anna Broinowski will lead a workshop about making propaganda cinema in the Everyday Propaganda section.

CHARLIE'S COUNTRY

Dutch premiere

Vertigo Productions, Bula'bula Arts Aboriginal Corporation

Producers Nils Erik Nielsen, Rolf de Heer, Peter Djigirr

Executive Producers Domenico Procacci, Bryce Menzies, Sue Murray, Troy Lum, Peter McMahon

Devised by David Gulpilil, Rolf de Heer

Director Rolf de Heer

Writer Rolf de Heer

Cast David Gulpilil, Peter Djigirr, Luke Ford, Jennifer Budukpuduk, Peter Minygululu, Bojana Novakovic

International Sales Visit Films Ryan Kampe

Australian Distributor Entertainment One

Synopsis With the new invasion of his Aboriginal community in full swing, Charlie decides to make a stand... and finds he still has a long way to fall.

ELECTRIC BOOGALOO: THE WILD UNTOLD STORY OF CANNON FILMS

Dutch premiere

Bionic Boy Productions Pty Ltd

Producers Veronica Fury, Brett Ratner

Writer/Director Mark Hartley

International Sales Celluloid Dreams, RatPac Documentary

Australian Distributor Umbrella Entertainment

Cast Dolph Lundgren, Molly Ringwald, Elliot Gould, Bo Derek, Richard Chamberlain, Just Jaeckin, Franco Nero

Synopsis A one-of-a-kind story about two-of-a-kind men who (for better or worse) changed film forever.

SAM KLEMKE'S TIME MACHINE

European premiere

Closer Productions

Producer Rebecca Summerton

Writer/Director Matthew Bate

International Sales Visit Films

US Sales Visit Films

Australian Distributor Closer Screens

Synopsis In 1977, teenager Sam Klemke began a project to obsessively film and narrate every year of his life in an attempt to understand himself. Also in 1977, NASA sent into space the Golden Record: an audiovisual self-portrait of humanity that would allow extraterrestrials to understand who we are. Although travelling parallel through time, these two self-portraits tell very different sides of the human story. Sam Klemke's Time Machine moves us from the infinity of space to the raw intimacy of the life of an extraordinary nobody to look at what it means to be human.

THE SEARCH FOR WENG WENG

Dutch premiere

Death Rides a Red Horse

Producers Andrew Leavold, Daniel Palisa

Director Andrew Leavold

Writers Andrew Leavold, Daniel Palisa

International Sales Monster Pictures

Australian Distributor Monster Pictures

Synopsis The bizarre history of Filipino B-films, as told through filmmaker Andrew Leavold's personal quest to find the truth behind its two-foot, nine-inch James Bond, Weng Weng.

Media enquiries Annalie

LINK:	http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/news_and_events/2015/mr_150121_rotte...
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