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Sundance Now and AMC+ have released the official trailer for Black Snow, a new six-part series premiering on February 23, 2023. Described as part whodunit and part coming-of-age drama, Black Snow stars Travis Fimmel as a cold-case detective investigating a murder.

In addition to unveiling the official trailer, AMC+ and Sundance Now released a batch of photos ahead of the show’s two-episode premiere.

In an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, Fimmel described why Black Snow caught his interest.

“What intrigued me about him is that he’s a very flawed character. He’s got a lot of issues, childhood issues that he’s still dealing with, parental figures, and I think that’s the reason he became a cold-case detective,” said Fimmel. “There’s some stuff that unravels in the story that he went through that is very similar to the stuff that’s going on in the main storyline.

Exclusive: Vikings, Raised By Wolves and Warcraft star Travis Fimmel has been set to lead new mystery-drama series Black Snow, which is underway in Australia for streamer Stan.

The six-part series follows the mystery of a small-town murder that rocked North Queensland’s Australian South Sea Islander community. The show is financed and produced in association with All3Media International, which is handling international sales. Sundance Now is releasing in U.S.

Also starring are newcomers Talijah Blackman-Corowa and Jemmason Power with Brooke Satchwell, Alexander England, Rob Carlton, Erik Thomson, Kym Gyngell, and Australian singer Ziggy Ramo making his screen debut.

The Stan Original is part coming-of-age drama and part whodunit. In 1995, seventeen-year-old Isabel Baker was murdered. The crime shocked the small town of Ashford and devastated Isabel’s Australian South Sea Islander community. The case was never solved, the killer never found. In 2020, the opening of a time capsule unearths...

Australian streaming service Stan has struck a television development alliance with Hollywood mini-studio Lionsgate. The deal is in addition to the content supply agreement that the pair hatched last year.

Stan and Lionsgate announced the megachurch family drama series “Prosper,” drama series “The Geography of Friendship” and outback comedy crime series “Population: 11” as the first three titles to flow from their development deal.

Separately, Stan announced an expansion of its originals-production activity with other partners and suppliers in Australia. The company says that the new slates put it “on track to deliver 30% of its premium first-run slate from original productions.”

The local slate includes: drama series “Black Snow,” a cold case mystery series set in Far North Queensland; “Last Light,” starring Matthew Fox and Joanne Froggatt; and “The Jump,” a series about the power of friendship and the ways our sadness can unite us.

Also announced is the absurdist comedy feature film “Nude Tuesday,...

Producers Yolandi Franken and Michela Carattini have received further support for buddy comedy Carmen & Bolude, selected for the Ontario Creates International Financing Forum (Iff) at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

Loosely based on the friendship between Carattini and Bolude Watson, the film follows the titular characters on a journey from Harlem, New York to Sydney, where they have ten days to collect 100 ‘welcomes’ so that Bolude’s traditional Nigerian father will agree to let her marry an Australian.

Watson and Carattini co-wrote the script and are also set to star as the two leads, with Penelope Berkemeier to direct.

Carmen & Bolude is the only Australian project at this year’s market, which will be held vitually across September 12 and 13.

Now in its 16th year, the event brings global and Canadian producers together with international sales agents, US distributors, agents, equity financiers, and executive producers for brokered meetings and networking opportunities.

Outgoing Screen Australia head of First Nations Penny Smallacombe is set to join Bunya Media Group as a producer.

Smallacombe will produce a number of the company’s upcoming projects, including Sbs drama series Copping It Black, working with directors Erica Glynn and Steven McGregor, who both penned the script with Danielle Maclean.

While at Screen Australia, Smallacombe helped shepherd to screen several Bunya Productions projects, including ABC series Mystery Road, Warwick Thornton’s Sweet Country and Ivan Sen’s Goldstone, as well as helping to facilitate Bunya Talent Hub LA.

Smallacombe, a Maramanindji woman from the Northern Territory, tells If she has loved Bunya’s “big, bold” output over the past few years, and considers it a privilege to join the team. She is keen to use her new role to continue to bring authentic First Nations stories to screen, particularly from exciting new talent.

“They’re a trusted...

Ben Lawrence and Beatrix Christian’s Hearts and Bones was named best original feature film screenplay at the Australian Writers’ Guild’s annual Awgie Awards yesterday evening, while Shaun Grant and Harry Cripps took home the adaptation prize for Penguin Bloom.

Two of 2019’s top dramas, The Hunting, written by Niki Aken and Matthew Cormack, and Total Control (Episode 3), by Pip Karmel, were recognised in the television categories, while The Heights, lauded for its depiction of contemporary Australia, won Peter Mattessi the Awgie in the television serial category, ending a run of 16-straight years for Neighbours and Home and Away.

Playwright Suzie Miller’s critically acclaimed one-woman play Prima Facie took out the evening’s highest honours, winning the 2020 Major Award, the David Williamson Prize for Excellence in Writing for Australian Theatre, and in the stage category.

The one-woman play holds a mirror up to the Australian legal system, exposing...

Monica Zanetti’s screenplay of Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie’s Dead Aunt), Ben Lawrence and Beatrix Christian’s Hearts and Bones and Ally Burnham’s Unsound have been nominated for best original feature in the 53rd annual Awgie Awards.

The contenders for the feature film adaptation prize are Thomas M. Wright and Erik Jensen’s Acute Misfortune, Lisa Hoppe’s H is for Happiness, Shaun Grant and Harry Cripps’ Penguin Bloom and C.S. McMullen’s The Other Lamb.

The TV series prize promises to be a close race between episodes of Glen Dolman’s Bloom, Michael Petroni’s Messiah for Netflix, Belinda Chayko’s Stateless, Samantha Strauss’ The End and Pip Karmel’s Total Control.

Timothy Hobart, John Ridley, Jeremy Nguyen, Alan Nguyen and Michele Lee’s Hungry Ghosts will square off against Matthew Cormack and Niki Aken’s The Hunting for best miniseries.

In the TV serial category it must...

Meg O’Connell.

Thanks to Screen Queensland’s Enterprise Funding, Meg O’Connell is adding two execs at her banner Unless Pictures to help drive her slate and grow the business.

One new hire is her frequent collaborator, producer Jackson Lapsley Scott. The other, yet to be chosen, will be a development producer.

The producer/creator/writer is teaming up again with writer Anna Barnes on vertical murder mystery series Apollo under the Snapchat and Screen Australia joint initiative.

O’Connell and Barnes were among the creatives behind the Ludo Studio/ABC iview comedy Content and the ABC’s Retrograde.

Set at an exclusive boarding school for children of the elite, Apollo will be a co-production between Unless Pictures and Kurt Royan and Dan Lake’s Orange Entertainment.

The plot revolves around the murder of the class president, which leads to a spate of killings. A student turned private detective investigates...

‘Hearts and Bones’.

Director Ben Lawrence’s Hearts and Bones has sold to Gravitas Ventures for the Us via Visit Films.

Produced by Matt Reeder and written by Lawrence with Beatrix Christian, the film made its world premiere in competition at the 2019 Sydney Film Festival, before bowing internationally in Toronto.

The drama follows the relationship between a war photographer (Hugo Weaving) and a South Sudanese refugee (newcomer Andrew Luri), who later discover a photograph that threatens to destroy them both. Hayley McElhinney and Bolude Watson also star.

The Us deal was negotiated by Ryan Kampe and Lydia Rodman on behalf of Visit Films and Nick Royak and Brendan Gallagher at Gravitas Ventures.

Hearts and Bones is Lawrence’s narrative feature debut, following on from award-winning documentary Ghosthunter.

Lawrence said:, “I’m thrilled that Gravitas will present Hearts and Bones to a larger international audience. The response from our festival tour...

From the director of Ghosthunter, this slow rumination on the lingering effects of wartime trauma is consistent, if not cinematic

Film-makers like it when critics use the word “restrained” to describe their work because it implies an intellectual rigour mostly absent in the excessive spectacles of mainstream cinema. Audiences who are looking for something more substantial like it too, for the same reasons. So for what it’s worth, let me say this right off the bat: director Ben Lawrence’s Sydney-set drama Hearts and Bones, which revolves around the relationship between a war photographer and a South Sudanese refugee, is certainly restrained.

It is a human-oriented drama that builds a thoughtful and contemplative space, empathising with characters grappling with difficult circumstances outside the common experience. It is also the kind of drama you sometimes want to grab and shake to life. Get the lens a little dirty; knock the...

Meg O’Connell and Anna Barnes.

Writer Anna Barnes and director Meg O’Connell’s vertical murder mystery series Apollo has been selected for development under the Snapchat and Screen Australia initiative.

When the class president of an exclusive boarding school for the elite is is murdered, a former student turned private detective returns to investigate. Her only lead is that everyone at the school is obsessed with an astrology app called Apollo. Barnes and O’Connell are teaming up with producers Dan Lake and Jackson Scott, executive producers Justine Flynn (The Unlisted) and Kurt Royan (Slim & I), and story producer Beatrix Christian (Picnic at Hanging Rock).

Barnes and O’Connell are experienced in vertical production as two of creatives behind Ludo Studio/ABC iview comedy Content.

The team will receive $15,000 Aud of development funding and take part in workshops in May with the Snapchat development team based in Los Angeles.

Jo Dillon.

Screen Queensland is spending $1 million to help the state’s screen businesses diversify, build capability and develop new revenue streams during and beyond the pandemic.

In the program named Sq Enterprise, grants of up to $150,000 each will be available to businesses across a wide spectrum: production, production services, post-production, game development and distribution, as well as related media companies which are keen to move into the screen sector.

The funding can support a range of activities including the development of projects that can move into production in the next 12 months, hiring expertise and additional staff, diversifying talent, new partnerships and investments, marketing, infrastructure and innovation.

Applicants must furnish a compelling a 12-month business plan, financial strategy, market and competitor analysis and demonstrate the immediate and long-term benefits to the Queensland screen industry.

Sq Enterprise is the latest component of the $3.3 million support package announced in March to help...

‘Hearts and Bones.’

Madman Entertainment had dated Ben Lawrence’s debut feature Hearts and Bones for an April 30 premiere on 40 screens, the marketing campaign was ready and Hugo Weaving was set do a a publicity tour.

That was until the sky fell in – all cinemas closed due to the pandemic – so the distributor and producer Matt Reeder had to rethink their strategy.

The upshot: The drama which follows Weaving’s war photographer and a South Sudanese refugee (newcomer Andrew Luri), who discovers a photograph that threatens to destroy them both, will be available to buy on digital platforms for $19.95 from May 6.

“Matt and Ben are fully on board with the decision; this is a great time to experiment,” says Madman Entertainment MD Paul Wiegard.

Wiegard is confident the download-to-own offer will get significant take-up through iTunes, Google Play, YouTube, Sony PlayStation, Telstra and Fetch TV. That will be followed by...

Kylie Munnich.

Screen Queensland is providing $3.3 million in re-allocated funding to support the stricken Queensland screen industry through the Covid-19 crisis.

The primary aim is to ensure as many productions as possible are ready to resume or start filming as soon as it’s safe to do so.

The initiatives include an extra $250,000 for the existing Ideas Program and a new Creative Consultations Program to mentor up-and-coming writers and other creatives. More measures will be announced in coming weeks.

Screen Queensland CEO Kylie Munnich says the agency’s support will focus on five key areas: Continuity for productions, creativity for screen practitioners, skills, business development and screen culture.

““It’s vital that we focus on continuity and creativity now so we can support the creation of local jobs for crew through existing productions that can quickly ramp up again, as well as new projects that are poised to commence filming...

Entertainment One has signed a multi-year distribution deal with fledgling U.K. scripted indie Three Tables Productions.

Under the pact, Three Tables will develop and produce original scripted programming for eOne to distribute worldwide.

Three Tables was founded by former Leopard Pictures head of development David Chikwe, ex-u.K. Film Council executive Himesh Kar, and entrepreneur and investor J.T. Wong. The chairman of Three Tables is David Green, who founded September Films, and went on to become CEO and then chairman of Dcd Media.

Three Tables is developing drama projects aimed at the U.K. and international markets. These include projects being developed with France Télévisions’ france.tv studios and the BBC.

It is working with talent such as “Picnic at Hanging Rock” writer Beatrix Christian, “Windermere Children” and “The Eichmann Show” writer Simon Block, “Gone Too Far!” writer Bola Agbaje, and Veronica Gleeson, whose credits include “Sixteen.”

Noel Hedges,...

‘High Ground.’

For Madman Entertainment 2019 was the distributor’s most consistent year ever, with 14 films each grossing more than $500,000 at Australian cinemas – and the 2020 slate looks even stronger.

Stephen Johnson’s High Ground, Ben Lawrence’s Hearts and Bones, Christopher Nelius’ feature doc The Sideshow, Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 and the third edition of the 1990s Bill & Ted comedy franchise are among the stand-out titles.

“While it is fair to say that holistically, the independent or mid-range theatrical space is facing unique challenges our job is to seek out remarkable films which will start conversations, cut through the pack and connect with audiences to a level that seemingly defies these trends,” Madman MD Paul Wiegard tells If.

“When evaluating content for theatrical release, we are looking for titles that are specifically relevant for a theatrical audience. It needs to be content which demands a big screen experience,...

Picnic at Hanging Rock writer Beatrix Christian is to adapt Emily Bitto’s novel The Strays with Killing Eve director Shannon Murphy as a six-part TV series.

The pair are working on the adaptation with Jo Monk’s Apogee Pictures, the producer behind Diane Keaton-fronted feature Hampstead, and See Pictures, the company behind Simon Baker’s Breath.

Murphy is attached to direct, off the back of her debut feature film Babyteeth, starring Ben Mendelsohn, Essie Davis and Eliza Scanlen, which premiered in competition at the Venice International Film Festival earlier this year. She is currently working on the third season of Killing Eve.

See Pictures’ Sonia Borella will produce with Monk.

Inspired by the Australian artist collective Heide Circle, The Strays explores what happens when a violent act in the past of a subversive group of artists is linked to the death of a young woman in the present.

Beatrix Christian; Shannon Murphy (Photo: Rupert Reid).

Shannon Murphy is attached to direct and Beatrix Christian to write a series adaptation of the Emily Bitto novel The Strays for See Pictures and the UK-based Apogee Pictures.

Inspired by the Heide Circle, the novel, which won the 2015 Stella Prize, explores what happens when a violent act in the past of a subversive group of artists is linked to the death of a young woman in the present. One of those involved must decide whether to expose a now influential member of the establishment in order to prevent further tragedy.

The co-production will be produced by Sonia Borella for See Pictures and Jo Monk for Apogee Pictures. Both will attend Content London next week to meet with potential partners.

Christian will be the lead writer, with the series intended as a 6 x 1 hour. The attachment of Murphy as director comes after her...

“Babyteeth” director Shannon Murphy is to helm a television adaptation of prize-winning dramatic novel “The Strays.” The series is set up as an Australia-u.K. co-venture, involving See Pictures and Apogee Pictures.

Beatrix Christian is set as the lead writer of the six-part series. She describes the story as “an incendiary device beautifully disguised as a girl’s memoir and it is absolutely current. It explores a frightening blind spot in the worldview of people who are otherwise progressive.”

Inspired by the Heide Circle, and written by Emily Bitto, “The Strays” explores what happens when a violent act lost in the past of a subversive group of artists is linked to the death of a young woman in the present day. One of those involved must decide whether to expose a now-influential member of the establishment in order to prevent further tragedy.

“Babyteeth,” which competed at the Venice Film Festival,...

Exclusive: Nascent La/London drama producer Three Tables Productions has teamed with Fremantle to develop an adaptation of mystery thriller The Robber Baron’s Daughter.

The companies have set Picnic At Hanging Rock writer Beatrix Christian to adapt Jamila Gavin’s book.

The adaptation marks the first project unveiled by Three Tables, which was set up by group of UK drama producers and former September Films boss David Green last year.

The three London-based founders of the company are David Chikwe, who produced Cbbc’s Eve and BBC One drama Missing, Himesh Kar, exec producer of Benedict Cumberbatch-fronted doc Walk With Me and Jt Wong, producer of BBC kids’ show The Mysti Show. Green, who previously ran Dcd Media and directed a raft of film and TV including Phil Collins film Buster, is Chairman and based in La.

The Robber Baron’s Daughter, which was first published in 2008, is...

Fremantle, part of Bertelsmann's Rtl Group, will adapt Jamila Gavin's award-winning mystery thriller The Robber Baron’s Daughter as a TV series, the company said Tuesday. Beatrix Christian, a writer on Fremantle's limited series Picnic at Hanging Rock, will adapt Gavin's 2008 novel for the small screen. Fremantle’s creative director for global drama, Christian Vesper, will act as executive producer. The Robber Baron’s Daughter tells the story of a rich girl living a sheltered life of privilege who disobeys her powerful father to investigate the disappearance of her tutor, only to uncover a secret criminal ...

‘Hearts and Bones’ stars Andrew Luri, Bolude Watson, director Ben Lawrence and star Hugo Weaving.

For director Ben Lawrence, the reaction to his feature debut Hearts and Bones at the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) was both “emotional and overwhelming”.

Lawrence reports the standing ovations at every screening and the outpouring of praise for the cast, particularly for South Sudanese immigrant Andrew Luri in his acting debut, made a huge impact.

Of the film’s Canadian reception, Liane Cunje, Tiff Discovery and International programming associate said: “I’ve run the gamut of audiences reactions here at Tiff for films we programme from around the world, and I’ve never witnessed such an emotional celebration after a screening as the one I saw after Hearts and Bones.”

The film, which made its world premiere in competition at the Sydney Film Festival in June, screened as part of the Tiff Discovery program,...

We have a trailer for you to check out for the Australian drama Hearts and Bones, starring Hugo Weaving.

The film deals with a war photographer who goes home to Australia between tours and, while dealing with severe Ptsd, prepares for an exhibit in which he will show the photos from his career. A Sudanese refugee (played by Andrew Luri) now living in Australia has a lot to lose if one particular photo goes public, so he befriends Weaving’s character, and the two embark on a friendship, both riding the emotional waves of a life post-war.

Hearts and Bones was directed by newcomer Ben Lawrence, who co-wrote the screenplay with Beatrix Christian. The film also stars Hayley McElhinney and Bolude Watson.

This looks like a heavy film, but a powerful one with an important story to tell. Check out the trailer below, and let us know if you’re interested in this film.

After witnessing famed Australian war photographer Daniel Fisher (Hugo Weaving) endure a traumatic experience in Iran during the opening of Ben Lawrence’s Hearts and Bones, the sudden shift to a taxi driver (Andrew Luri’s Sebastian Ahmed) will seem abrupt. It’s not, however, a coincidence that the latter recognizes the former’s name on the radio since they have a shared history courtesy of a small Sudanese village. Dan was on assignment during a massacre fifteen years ago that claimed the lives of Sebastian’s family. One documented the nightmare to guarantee the world couldn’t ignore this atrocity while the other subsequently spent years trying to forget it. What should Dan do when the refugee asks him to exclude those sensitive, personal images from his new exhibit? Where do truth and decency diverge?

It’s a complex subject spanning the artistic merits of non-fiction work to the human cost documented within.

Owen Trevor’s Go!, John Sheedy’s H is for Happiness, Ben Lawrence’s Hearts and Bones, Mirrah Foulkes’ Judy & Punch and Paul Ireland’s Measure for Measure will compete for Australia’s biggest film prize.

Those are the finalists for the $100,000 prize at CinefestOZ, which will run from August 28 to September 1 in Bunbury, Busselton, Margaret River and surrounds.

CinefestOZ festival chair Helen Shervington said it had been another stellar year for the film prize entries and this year’s finalists are the cream of the crop.

The prize was established in 2014 to recognise excellence in Australian filmmaking and is awarded on the gala night by a five-member industry jury, this year chaired by director/writer Rachel Ward.

Scripted by Paper Planes‘ Steve Worland and produced by See Pictures’ Jamie Hilton and Sonia Borella, Go! stars William Lodder, Anastasia Bampos, Darius Amarfio-Jefferson, Dan Wyllie, Cooper Van Grootel, Damian De Montemas,...

Time spent in a modern war zone can be traumatic for participant and observer alike, yet across continents and cultures, the shared experiences of living and loving in the wake of such experiences can be startlingly similar. This is multi-faceted and overarching theme woven throughout Ben Lawrence’s sensitive and affecting new Australian drama “Hearts and Bones,” an impressive narrative feature debut from the winner of last year’s Sydney Film Festival documentary prize for “Ghosthunter.”

Lawrence’s thoughtful drama also casts an illuminating light on the current hot-button issue of immigrants to Australia and their place in the social fabric, specifically in the Western Sydney suburbs in which it is filmed. The film’s second-place finish in the narrative section of the fest’s audience award (behind Samuel Van Grinsven’s “Sequin in a Blue Room”) suggests it struck a chord with traditionally partisan Aussie audiences, and with proper handling,...

“Lord of the Rings” and “Matrix” star Hugo Weaving heads the cast of Australian feature film “Hearts and Bones.”

“Hearts and Bones” is a heart-wrenching but ultimately uplifting story of friendship between a war correspondent and a Sudanese refugee. They are connected by a photograph that threatens to destroy them both. It explores issues of personal identity, the ties of family, friendship, masculinity and fatherhood, all set against Sydney’s diverse and expanding cultural divide.

“Hearts and Bones” is written and directed by Ben Lawrence (“Ghosthunter”), co-written by Beatrix Christian (“Picnic at Hanging Rock”) and produced by Matt Reeder (“The Little Death,”) at Night Kitchen Productions.

Production has recently got under way in Sydney, Australia. Newcomer Andrew Luri stars as the Sudanese refugee.

“When work on this script began in 2002, the world had just witnessed 9/11 and Australia had embarked on a war in Afghanistan that continues to this day,” said Lawrence.

A first look at Hugo Weaving in ‘Hearts and Bones’. (Photo: Paul Suesse)

Hugo Weaving will star opposite newcomer Andrew Luri in Hearts and Bones, writer-director Ben Lawrence’s feature debut that’s just begun shooting in Sydney.

Hearts and Bones follows a war photographer Dan (Weaving) who has returned home to Sydney from assignment. Haunted by years at war, he struggles to conceal his fear of imminent fatherhood and immerses himself in preparations for an upcoming exhibition of his work. This grabs the attention of Sebastian Aman (Luri), a Sudanese refugee whose village Dan had photographed 20 years earlier. As the bond between the two men develops, a startling revelation comes to light that sets both on an unexpected path.

Lawrence (Ghosthunter) – the son of Ray Lawrence – penned the script with Beatrix Christian (Picnic at Hanging Rock), while Matt Reeder of Night Kitchen Productions is the producer.

Weaving also stars in M4M,...

Joan Lindsay’s novel “Picnic at Hanging Rock” was a mere 212 pages when first printed in 1967. Peter Weir’s 1975 movie of the same name clocked in under two hours (115 minutes). Both have been praised for their mysterious takes on the story of four women who disappear in the Australian bush — the novel for framing the events as a true story (it wasn’t) and the film for its challenging, open-ended conclusion, among other attributes for both.

The new TV adaptation builds on many of these same traits, but a funny thing happens when you try to elongate a surreal horror story by providing explicit details: It gets boring. In extending the length to a six-hour limited series, Amazon’s 2018 version loses much of the original works’ imaginative appeal even while providing added agency to its characters. Each of the key students at Mrs. Hester Appleyard’s (Natalie Dormer) school (as...

Peter Weir’s 1975 film “Picnic at Hanging Rock,” much like the geologic formation named in its title, casts a very long shadow. Based on the 1967 novel of the same name by Joan Lindsay, the movie adaptation tells the story of three young women and a teacher from Appleyard College, who go missing during a Valentine’s Day outing in 1900.

Considered a masterpiece of Australian filmmaking and an achievement in Weir’s early career, the movie created a haunting Victorian aesthetic that is still referenced in films, fashion, and other art forms to this day. Because of this impact, the movie looked as if it would be one of the few classics that would remain untouched by the latest wave of remakes and reboots. Then a group of women came along to change that.

Showrunner and director Larysa Kondracki and star Natalie Dormer spoke to IndieWire about why they dared to...

When writer Beatrix Christian and director Larysa Kondracki first set out to adapt Joan Lindsay’s 1967 novel “Picnic at Hanging Rock,” there was a sense of “Is it necessary to tell this story again?” In fact, Kondracki says, “the press protested me and were constantly saying, ‘Why do this?'”

After all, the story about four schoolgirls who disappear during a picnic in the 1900s was legendary among the Australian audience, and it had already been turned into a story for the screen by Peter Weir (in 1975) — a project both women say was “perfect on its own.”

But after reading the book again, both felt it was necessary to tell this story again — albeit this time for the smaller screen — because they had a chance to go deeper with characters and bring a quintessential Australian tale into the international world.

“The book is really ahead of its time. It’s kind of got true crime,...

Natalie Dormer knew “Picnic at Hanging Rock” was the perfect next project for her when she received a personal letter from director Larysa Kondracki.

“It said, ‘I need this woman not to be an archetype. I need her to be three-dimensional, psychological, littered with flaws and fears. And I need the humanity of her so that she’s not just a bitch,’” Dormer tells Variety of the note.

Kondracki also wrote, “nobody would be able to do that like Natalie Dormer.”

It was a “seductive” pitch for Dormer, who then hopped on a video chat to further talk through the vision for the six-episode limited series based on Joan Lindsay’s 1967 novel. (The story was previously adapted for the big screen in 1975.)

The plot centers on the mysterious disappearance of four young women from an Australian boarding college and the damage it does to the school, its staff and students,...

Joan Lindsay’s much-acclaimed 1967 Australian novel “Picnic At Hanging Rock” has already resulted in one stunning adaptation — Peter Weir’s 1975 film of the same name — so a second attempt, this time a television series, may already feel unnecessary. But it doesn’t take long for writers Beatrix Christian and Alice Addison to make the case for their own 2018 “Picnic,” a darker, more mysterious, and extended version that manages to feel updated for our time while still keeping the original 1900 setting.

In “Picnic At Hanging Rock,” the central mystery is laid out immediately: Four young women — three students and their teacher — suddenly vanish on Valentine’s Day, 1900, while on a school picnic at, well, Hanging Rock. The base premise is familiar to fans of crime series, but this is no ordinary drama; it’s eerie and haunting. It’s less dreamy (a quality frequently ascribed to the film) and more of...

Seven series selected for TV strand.

The Berlin Film Festival (Feb 15-25) has unveiled the seven titles set to be screened in this year’s Berlinale Series programme.

Source: Hulu

The Looming Tower

Opening the festival’s TV strand is Australian series Picnic At Hanging Rock, FremantleMedia’s Natalie Dormer-starring TV adaptation of Joan Lindsay’s 1967 novel, which previously spawned Peter Weir’s Bafta-winning 1975 feature.

The series tells the story of a strict headmistress at a boarding school whose dark past catches up with her after three pupils mysteriously disappear during a school outing.

Also in the selection is Legendary Television and broadcaster Hulu’s The Looming Tower, which is based on Lawrence Wright’s Pulitzer prize-winning book of the same name. Chronicling the lead-up to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the series stars Jeff Daniels as counter terrorism expert John O’Neill and is being exec produced by Alex Gibney.

Further series in the...

Natalie Dormer..

Game of Thrones star Natalie Dormer will play English headmistress Mrs. Hester Appleyard in Foxtel.s upcoming.Picnic at Hanging Rock miniseries..

FremantleMedia.s six-parter begins shooting later this month. Amanda Brotchie (Agony, This is Littleton, Lowdown).will direct alongside the previously announced Michael Rymer and Larysa Kondracki.

Brotchie joins after the Australian Directors' Guild criticised FremantleMedia over the import of Kondracki, a Canadian, to shoot the series.

In late December, following a protest staged by the Adg and Wift Nsw outside FremantleMedia.s Sydney office, the production company announced it would bring on an Aussie female director to shoot one episode.

Joining Dormer as the teachers of Appleyard College are.Yael Stone (Orange is the New Black), French actress Lola Bessis (Cassandra, Swim Little Fish Swim),.Anna McGahan (The Doctor Blake Mysteries, Anzac Girls) and Sibylla Budd (Tomorrow When The War Began, Winners & Losers).

Schoolgirls will be played by Lily Sullivan (Camp,...

Michael Rymer.

Australian director Michael Rymer started his career with 1995's Angel Baby, going on to direct features such as Queen of the Damned in 2002 and Face to Face in 2011.

Rymer has also become a prolific director of American television, with credits including Battlestar Galactica, American Horror Story, Longmire, The Killing, Hannibal, The Man in the High Castle and Jessica Jones, for which he recently received a Hugo Award.

The director has been in Los Angeles for most of 2016, pitching a TV show that he hopes to shoot in Melbourne next year: Tremula, based on a feature script written by Queensland writers Shayne Armstrong and Shane Krause.

"Their agent Jean sent me the screenplay of the movie and I liked it a lot," says Rymer. "I just thought it was a good elevated sci-fi piece; very conceptual, very character-driven.".

Rymer describes Tremula, in which a group of international astronauts go...

Louisa Mellor Sep 7, 2016

Peter Weir's ethereally strange Australian classic Picnic At Hanging Rock is being adapted into a TV series...

Atmospheric 1975 Australian film Picnic At Hanging Rock is the latest feature to inspire a television adaptation. Fremantle Australia and Foxtel are planning to produce a six-episode miniseries of the story.

The new series will be adapted from Joan Lindsay's 1967 book of the same name by screenwriters Beatrix Christian and Alice Addison. Casting is still underway on the adaptation, the film version of which notably featured a young Jacki Weaver and Vivean Gray.

The story tells of the unsolved mysterious disappearance of a group of schoolgirls and their teacher on a school outing on Valentine's Day, 1900. Ambiguous, eerie and captivating, Peter Weir's film adaptation is a modern Australian classic.

Australian viewers can expect to see the new series on pay-tv in 2017. We'll keep you posted of any international broadcast options picked up.

Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)

Foxtel has commissioned what it has called a .trailblazing re-imagining. of Picnic at Hanging Rock as a TV series.

Like Peter Weir's classic film, the six-part drama will be based on the 1967 novel by Joan Lindsay, following the mysterious disappearances of three schoolgirls and their governess on Valentine.s Day 1900 and the far-reaching aftermath.

FremantleMedia Australia is set to produce, with funding secured through Screen Australia.

Foxtel head of drama Penny Win said Foxtel was .very proud. to bring the series to viewers.

.Like many others, I am a fan of the 1975 Australian film which was pivotal in establishing the modern Australian film industry. This series, based on the classic novel, will take viewers on a new and in depth journey into this incredibly iconic Australian story.

.Our aim is to provide a rich and diverse slate of Australian drama for our...

The acclaimed theatre director is preparing to make his feature directorial debut on the David Harrower stage play adaptation Blackbird with Rooney Mara and Ben Mendelsohn attached to star.

Australian-born Andrews most recently directed Jean Genet’s The Maids starring Cate Blanchett and Isabelle Huppert at Sydney Theatre Company and the Lincoln Center Festival.

He directed a revival of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire starring Gillian Anderson and Ben Foster at London’s Young Vic Theatre and is currently directing a new production of La Boheme at Dutch National Opera, a co-production with English National Opera.

Benedict received the London Critics Circle best director award for his Young Vic production of Ibsen’s Three Sisters and his Stc production of Gross Und Klein won the 2011 Helpmann Best Director award.

Credits include marathon Shakespeare cycle The War Of The Roses starring Blanchett at the 2009 Sydney and Perth festivals and his production of Detlev Glanert’s Caligula.

Andrews...

Exclusive: Celsius takes rights to Ray Lawrence, Barrie M Osborne sweeping romance.

London-based sales company Celsius Entertainment has boarded sales to romantic drama Rosa [working tite], set to star Elena Anaya (The Skin I Live In) and Emily Browning (Sucker Punch, Sleeping Beauty).

Ray Lawrence (Jindabyne, Lantana) will direct Beatrix Christian’s (Jindabyne) script based on the book Here at the End of the World We Learn to Dance by Lloyd Jones.

The production team includes producers Barrie M Osborne (The Lord of the Rings), Andrew Mason (I, Frankenstein), Emma Slade (line producer, Tracker) and Dan Hennah (production designer, The Hobbit).

Rosa follows intertwining love stories across three generations and two continents as the eponymous young woman discovers a hidden bittersweet romance buried in her grandfather’s past in 1930’s Buenos Aires.

Simultaneously, Rosa struggles to find the balance between loving her down-to-earth husband Ivan and falling in love with a younger man.

Slated to shoot...

A chilling murder mystery directed by Ray Lawrence and a romantic comedy written by comedian and Rove stalwart Peter Hellier are two new features which will be backed by Screen Australia.   Being Dead is a chilling story about a couple who are savagely murdered and Screen Australia has announced that they're backing acclaimed director Ray Lawrence to direct the project. The film is to be adapted from Jim Crace's novel by Beatrix Christian who penned Ray Lawrence's drama Jindabyne. At the request of Lawrence, the action will be transferred from the UK to Newcastle in Nsw.   "Being Dead is classic Ray Lawrence relationship territory - an intelligent and deeply satisfying murder mystery in the same vein as Lantana.

• I might have been championing Lantana by lending out my DVD copy to anyone willing to give a chance to a great atmospheric piece of Aussie cinema and despite international kudos, the film’s director Ray Lawrence had the most difficult time financing his follow-up project. After showing to mixed reviews at last year’s Telluride & Toronto International Film Festival, finally Jindabyne makes it to theatres. Sony Pictures Classics releases the picture on April 27th in limited release. Written by Beatrix Christian, this is an adaptation of a Raymond Carver short story set in Australia. Stewart Kane, an Irishman living in the Australian town of Jindabyne, is on a fishing trip in isolated hill country with three other men when they discover the body of a murdered girl in the river. Rather than return to the town immediately, they continue fishing and report their gruesome find days later. Stewart's

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• Quick Links > Jindabyne > Ray Lawrence > Sony Pictures Classics > Lantana The enigmatic director Ray Lawrence will be returning to American screens next spring with the film Jindabyne . Sony Pictures Classics has picked up the rights to the film, which is already a box office hit in Australia. Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne star in the film, about a group of men who find a dead Aboriginal girl while on a fishing trip but continue their trip as scheduled. Byrne plays one of the fishermen, Linney plays his deservedly furious wife. Jindabyne will make its North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. Jindabyne will be only Lawrence’s third feature film in twenty years. He made his directorial debut with Bliss in 1985. That film was nominated for the Golden Palm at Cannes. He made his sophomore effort, Lantana , in 2001, sixteen years after Bliss. That film, which starred fellow native Australian Anthony Lapaglia,

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NEW YORK -- Sony Pictures Classics has nabbed all North American rights to Ray Lawrence's drama Jindabyne, starring Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne as a couple caught up in the aftermath of a girl's mysterious death. It will be released in the spring. The $9 million April Films production is only the third feature in more than 20 years from Lawrence (Bliss, Lantana) and was adapted by Beatrix Christian from the late Raymond Carver's short story, So Much Water So Close to Home. An Australian boxoffice hit, the film recently screened in Directors' Fortnight at the Festival de Cannes and will make its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival next month. The film follows a group of friends (Byrne, John Howard, Stelios Yiakmis and Simon Stone) on a fishing trip as they discover an Aboriginal girl's body. They continue their vacation as planned, reporting their find to the police in their Australian high country home, Jindabyne. When details of the incident begin to spread, the men face the consequences with their wives and the community.

NEW YORK -- Sony Pictures Classics has nabbed all North American rights to Ray Lawrence's drama jindabyne, starring Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne as a couple caught up in the aftermath of a girl's mysterious death. It will be released in the spring. The $9 million April Films production is only the third feature in more than 20 years from Lawrence (Bliss, Lantana) and was adapted by Beatrix Christian from the late Raymond Carver's short story, So Much Water So Close to Home. An Australian boxoffice hit, the film recently screened in Directors' Fortnight at the Festival de Cannes and will make its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival next month. The film follows a group of friends (Byrne, John Howard, Stelios Yiakmis and Simon Stone) on a fishing trip as they discover an Aboriginal girl's body. They continue their vacation as planned, reporting their find to the police in their Australian high country home, Jindabyne. When details of the incident begin to spread, the men face the consequences with their wives and the community.

This review was written for the festival screening of "Jindabyne".SYDNEY -- "Jindabyne" is a coiled and enigmatic psychodrama that cements Australian director Ray Lawrence's standing as a fine, if not prolific, filmmaker. With the considered care of a man who has turned out only three films in 20 years, Lawrence navigates the emotional eddies of a small community thrown into chaos after four fishing buddies discover a body.

The same organic characterizations that marked Lawrence's acclaimed 2001 film "Lantana" will attract fans of strong adult drama, and the film is boosted by a new preoccupation with landscape that leads to haunting visuals reminiscent of Peter Weir's "Picnic at Hanging Rock".

A pivotal moral dilemma with universal resonance, along with spiky performances from Hollywood imports Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne in the lead roles, should widen the appeal of this powerful Australian production beyond the local market. The film was well-received in Cannes and is included in the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival.

"Jindabyne" relocates Raymond Carver's short story "So Much Water So Close to Home" to the high bush country of Australia's Snowy Mountains in a rather radical adaptation by scriptwriter Beatrix Christian. The Carver narrative, also featured as a piece in the mosaic of Robert Altman's "Short Cuts", has been expanded to embrace a raft of new characters, a racial subtext and a mystical element tied to the heritage of the eponymous town and surrounds.

Lawrence tautens the mood immediately with an opening sequence involving a cat-and-mouse car chase on a lonely back road. But this is no murder mystery; we know from the outset that it is a local tradesman (Chris Haywood) who is responsible for killing the 19-year-old Aboriginal girl (Tatea Reilly) whose near-naked body will wind up floating face down in the river.

The drama comes from the ripple effect of a single decision made by four men - a practical choice that only becomes a question of morals when their actions are exposed to the fierce glare of a community's outrage.

On a much-anticipated weekend fishing trip, Stewart (Byrne), the owner of a local gas station, and his pals Carl John Howard), Rocco (Stelios Yiakmis) and Billy "the Kid" (Simon Stone) stumble upon the murdered girl, but because the sun is shining, the fish are biting and it's a long scramble back to civilization, they put off reporting the find. They tether the girl's ankle to a tree with a length of fishing line and carry on with another day's fishing.

Upon their return, Stewart's wife, Claire (Linney), recoils in horror at the callousness of the act and is forced to sugarcoat the story for the benefit of their young son Tom (Sean Rees-Wemyss) by telling him that his father wrapped the girl in a sleeping bag to keep her warm. The incident puts pressure on imperfectly mended fractures in the couple's marriage - there are oblique references to Claire suffering an 18-month bout of severe postnatal depression - and the gap in understanding between the genders is echoed in the other men's relationships with their wives and girlfriends.

Blame and guilt splinter the community, with the tension compounded by the fact that the victim was Aboriginal, as is Rocco's girlfriend, Carmel (Leah Purcell).

Lawrence expertly layers on small scenes of disquiet, hinting at emotions buried deep beneath the surface. Such is the legitimacy of the interplay between the characters that when tempers flare or composure short-circuits -- as in an itchy confrontation in a restaurant between Claire and her mother-in-law (Betty Lucas) - the drama feels uncomfortably close.

Linney's remarkable talent for folding strength and vulnerability into a single character makes Claire hugely sympathetic, even as she mulishly blunders about trying to make things right with the family of the dead girl. And Deborra-Lee Furness is outstanding in a supporting role as a matriarch bringing up the morbid child (Eva Lazzaro) of her dead daughter.

The socio-political argument eventually begins to weigh down the film, as does the soundtrack's over-reliance on the wordless vocals of Aussie troubadour Paul Kelly. Mood aplenty is conjured up by the watchful nature of the untamed terrain and far horizons, handsomely photographed by longtime Lawrence collaborator David Williamson, and by the director's measured pacing.

SYDNEY -- The Film Finance Corp. board on Thursday provided letters of intent to back two feature films under its new system of project evaluation, meaning funding will go ahead pending sign-off from the FFC board in September. The projects are Ana Kokkinos' The Book of Revelation and Ray Lawrence's Jindabyne, the latter employing a new financing model never before approved by the FFC. Jindabyne is an adult drama produced by Catherine Jarman and executive produced by Garry Charny and Phillipa Bateman through their April Films production shingle. Based on a Raymond Carver short story, "So Much Water, So Close to Home," the thriller, about the fallout within a community after three men who go fishing find a woman's body, was adapted for the screen by Beatrix Christian.