Screen Australia congratulates the producers and creative teams of Australian films Early Winter, Tanna and The Daughter, which have been selected for the prestigious Venice Days and Venice Critics' Week the independent parallel sections of the 72nd Venice International Film Festival 2015. Tanna will screen in competition in Venice Critics' Week, Early Winter will screen in competition and The Daughter will screen out of competition as the closing night film in Venice Days.
Richard Harris, Head of Business and Audience at Screen Australia, says: Venice is one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world, so to have such a great representation of Australian films across these competitions is a great result. The diversity of these films speaks volumes about the current depth of Australia's creative filmmaking talent.
Tanna is set in the South Pacific where Wawa, a young girl from one of the last traditional tribes, falls in love with her chief's grandson, Dain. When an inter-tribal war escalates, Wawa is unknowingly betrothed as part of a peace deal. The young lovers run away, but are pursued by enemy warriors intent on killing them. They must choose between their hearts and the future of the tribe, while the villagers must wrestle with preserving their traditional culture and adapting it to the increasing outside demands for individual freedom. Tanna is based on a true story and performed by the people of Yakel.
It stars Marie Wawa, Mungau Dain, Marceline Rofit, Albi Nangia and Chief Charlie Kahla.
Directors Bentley Dean and Martin Butler say: The tribe from Vanuatu who acted in Tanna had never seen a feature film before and we'd never made one. Walking the red carpet together for the world premiere at such a prestigious festival will be enormously exciting.
Tanna is supported by Contact Films, Screen Australia, Film Victoria and Screen NSW.
Early Winter (a Canadian/Australian co-production) tells the story of a man in quiet crisis, working long hours at a rest home to support his family, which he feels may be on the edge of collapse. 2010 Cannes Cam ra d'Or winning director Michael Rowe (Leap Year, The Well) is based in Mexico and has worked on only Spanish-language films until now.
Michael both wrote and directed Early Winter, drawing on real life insights from his family's and friends' experiences as health-workers in nursing homes in country Victoria in Australia. Reinterpreted for a Canadian setting, Early Winter draws on universal themes of loneliness, detachment and isolation within relationships.
It stars acclaimed Canadian actor Paul Doucet (Unit 9, Funkytown) and the 2012 Cannes Best Actress in Un Certain Regard, Suzanne Cl ment (Mommy, Laurence Anyways).
Director Michael Rowe says: I was interested in exploring a relationship breakdown or crisis point, that was intensified by the isolation that a winter brings on. And the broader themes of immigration and isolation experienced by people when they're out of context and trying to emotionally survive in environments that aren't their own. These are ongoing themes in my films.
Cinema has a way of putting up a mirror to people about their own lives and experiences. Hopefully, it can also open up possibilities for improving the way people live. At the end of the day, I feel that happiness and living well doesn't have a whole lot to do with circumstances. It has a lot more to do with knowing how to be happy and how to interact with people around you. I think we often get trapped in emotional cycles.
Early Winter is a Melbourne International Film Festival project, which will screen in an alternative version at Venice Days, as a world premiere. The film is supported by SODEC, Telefilm Canada, Screen Queensland, Screen Australia and the MIFF Premiere Fund.
The Daughter is renowned Australian theatre director Simon Stone's first foray into cinema, inspired by his stage interpretation of The Wild Duck by Henrik Ibsen. It's the story of a long-buried family secret that re-emerges when a man returns home, which threatens the lives and relationships of two families in a small Australian town.
The Daughter stars Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech, Pirates of the Caribbean), Ewen Leslie (Dead Europe, Jewboy), Paul Schneider (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Bright Star), Miranda Otto (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Reaching for the Moon), Anna Torv (Deadline Gallipoli, Fringe) and Sam Neill (The Piano, Jurassic Park) and introducing rising star, Odessa Young. It's produced by Jan Chapman (The Piano, Lantana) and Nicole O'Donohue (Griff the Invisible, The Last Impresario).
Producers Jan Chapman and Nicole O'Donohue say: We are honoured that The Daughter has been selected as part of Venice Days for Closing Night and pay tribute to our ensemble cast, dedicated Australian crew and our writer/director Simon Stone who has been acknowledged in this way for his first feature film.
Director Simon Stone says: I ve always loved the Venice Film Festival and Venice Days is such an exciting section to be invited to. I just can't wait to share our film with audiences there.
The Daughter is supported by Screen Australia, Screen NSW, The Gingerbread Man and Kazstar.
ABOUT THE FILM EVENTS
Venice Days
Venice Days began in 2004 as an independent event on the fringes of the Venice Film Festival, modelled on the prestigious Directors' Fortnight' of the Cannes Festival. Its aim is to draw attention to high-quality cinema, without any kind of restriction, with a focus on innovation, research, originality and independence. Since it began, the Days have come to represent a real alternative to the festival's official areas and a place for authors, producers, distributors and journalists to meet and discuss the
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the First Look for Land of Sin' - Premier...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
Screen Australia congratulates the producers and creative teams of Australian films Early Winter, Tanna and The Daughter, which have been selected for the prestigious Venice Days and Venice Critics' Week the independent parallel sections of the 72nd Venice International Film Festival 2015. Tanna will screen in competition in Venice Critics' Week, Early Winter will screen in competition and The Daughter will screen out of competition as the closing night film in Venice Days.
