Press release from Limelight PR
The 24 Hour Window, The Curse of the Gothic Symphony and Dead Cool are latest feature film productions to receive co-financing offers from the Melbourne International Film Festival MIFF Premiere Fund and are the first MIFF Premiere Fund titles for MIFF 2011.
Directed by Nicholas Verso, from a script by Verso and Gareth Wills, and produced by Ann Darrouzet, The 24 Hour Window is a teen Brom-Rom-Com reminiscent of the seminal 1980s films of John Hughes celebrating the chaos of modern teen life.
Directed by Martin Wilson, from a script by Adam Isitt, and produced by John Tatoulis and Angie Smith, Dead Cool is a Zom-Rom-Com which will do for zombies what Twilight and True Blood have done for vampires.
The Curse of the Gothic Symphony, directed by Randall Wood and produced by Veronica Fury with associate producer Sara Edwards, is a feature documentary charting the struggle to overcome an 80-year curse and stage Havergal Brian’s never-before fully-performed “Gothic Symphony”.
The three new films will premiere at MIFF 2011. The MIFF 2010 Premiere Fund slate comprises:
> Kin:, a romantic comedy from director Amanda Jane and producer Nicole Minchin, starring Isabel Lucas (Transformers, Daybreakers), Kestie Morassi (Wolf Creek, Blame), Essie Davis (Australia), Steve Bisley, Adam Zwar, Geoff Paine, Nadine Garner, Josh Lawson and musicals veteran Rhonda Burchmore
> Blame: a psychological thriller from director Michael Henry and producers Michael Robinson, Ryan Hodgson and Melissa Kelly starring Kestie Morassi (Wolf Creek, Kin), Sophie Lowe (Beautiful Kate, Blessed), Damian de Montemas (Somersault), Simon Stone (Balibo) and Mark Leonard Winter (Balibo)
> Matching Jack: a romantic family drama from director Nadia Tass and producers David Parker and Richard Keddie, starring James Nesbitt, Richard Roxburgh, Kodi Smit McPhee and Jacinda Barrett
> Ben Lee: Catch My Disease: a feature documentary by Amiel Courtin-Wilson (2004 MIFF Accelerator alumni) about pop music, spirituality, fame, family and celebrity which profiles the 29 year-old star and includes interviews with Winona Ryder, Claire Danes, Jason Schwartzman and Michelle Williams.
> Machete Maidens Unleashed: from director Mark Hartley (Not Quite Hollywood) and producer Veronica Fury, this feature documentary is a fast-moving odyssey into the Filipino genre filmmaking – complete with miniature James Bonds, karate kicking soul sisters, and gun-toting nuns
> Mother of Rock: a feature documentary directed by Paul Clarke and produced by Robert de Young, which profiles pioneering Australian-born 1960s New York-based rock journalist Lillian Roxon and features interviews with Germaine Greer, Helen Reddy, Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop and David Malouf.
The three new investment offers bring to 20 the number of feature films supported by the MIFF Premiere Fund. MIFF 2009 included the world premieres of the following MIFF Premiere Fund titles: Balibo, Blessed, Bran Nue Dae and The Loved Ones (all of which went on to screen at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival) as well as feature documentary Indonesia Calling. The MIFF Premiere Fund, which commenced in September 2007, provides strategic minority financial supports to a range of local theatrical documentaries and narrative feature films that will have their premieres at MIFF.
The next round of the MIFF Premiere Fund opens in July 2010. See www.miffpremierefund.com for more information on the MIFF Premiere Fund. See www.melbournefilmfestival.com.au for MIFF 2010 details.