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The Straits on Sundance Channel

Press Release from Matchbox Pictures

AMC/Sundance Channel Global has acquired the rights to Matchbox Pictures acclaimed series’ The Straits and The Slap. This will see them air on the Sundance Channel across Eastern Europe, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, France and Benelux and select territories in Asia.

Producer of The Straits, Helen Panckhurst of Matchbox Pictures, said, "We're delighted to be receiving significant international interest in The Straits and that the ABC has given us the opportunity to develop such distinctive contemporary Australian drama series."

The Straits, a darkly humorous crime drama series set in the far North of Australia revolves around The Montebello Family whose business includes smuggling drugs, guns and exotic wildlife. When patriarch Harry (Brian Cox) starts to plan his succession, a power struggle is sparked between brother and brother, wife and daughter. Having recently aired on ABC1, the series now has a premiere window with the Sundance Channel in Eastern Europe, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, France and Benelux and select territories in Asia through an agreement with DCD Rights.

“Matchbox have produced such a bold, adventurous drama for ABC TV. We’re very happy to see The Straits embraced internationally by the prestigious Sundance Channel”, said Carole Sklan, Head ABC TV Fiction.

The award-winning series The Slap based on the bestselling book by Christos Tsiolkas, which also screened on ABC1, has been acquired by the Sundance Channel to air in Dutch Benelux through an agreement with DCD Rights. This agreement builds on the channel’s previously acquired rights for the program in Eastern Europe, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey and Asia.

Matchbox Pictures is currently in production with Underground, a television film about the early life of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Written and directed by AFI award-winning filmmaker Robert Connolly (Balibo, The Slap) the film stars Rachel Griffiths (Brothers and Sisters, Six Feet Under) and Anthony LaPaglia (Without a Trace, Balibo), while the young Julian Assange will be played by newcomer Alex Williams.

Underground commences a four-week shoot on April 16, 2012 in and around Melbourne and will be aired on Network Ten. The two-hour film is being sold internationally by NBCUniversal.

Matchbox Pictures, established in April 2008 by Tony Ayres, Helen Bowden, Penny Chapman, Michael McMahon and Helen Panckhurst, has quickly become a dynamic enterprise best known for exciting high end drama projects. In 2011, NBCUniversal International Television Production took an equity stake in Matchbox, complementing the company’s diverse TV production brands, which include Emmy and Golden Globe-winning, Carnival Film and Television. Underground is the first project developed and produced under the new partnership.