January 2008 Archives
Once again we cast our eyes over the TV guide to see what may be of interest to the television viewer and aspiring filmmaker.
SATURDAY
Monster
10:10pm Seven Feature
The true story of serial killer Aileen Wournos that won Charlize Theron her Best Actress Oscar.
Shorts on Screen
11:20pm SBS Short Films
The Banker - The Banker is efficient at his job - obsessively collecting, storing and delivering deposits at the sperm bank. Winner of the Short Film Category, British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) 2005. Mebollix - Despite dire warnings about botched surgery and divine retribution, Tony Doyle caves in to the demands of his wife Doreen and gets a vasectomy. It seems however, that the scare stories were right - as a post-op Doyle begins his nightmarish journey home and everything that can go wrong, does. Bit of Black Business: Kwatye - Who would have thought a glass of water could cause so much havoc? Filmed in Alice Springs, Kwatye is set on Aspen's third birthday. Her parents are silently feuding as Karen is preparing for the party while Gary sleeps off his hangover. But Aspen has innocent plans to help daddy get back on track. The Venus Project - Two sperms set out to conquer Venus. She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not - A man sits in a pub, soaked to the skin in Guinness. He reflects on the ups and downs of his turbulent relationship.
SUNDAY
Channel 10 ramps up it's reality TV for 2008 with the premiere of 'Australia's Biggest Loser' at 6:30pm followed by the new Australian version of 'So You Think You Can Dance' at 7:30pm.
Who Do You Think You Are?
7:30pm SBS Documentary / Factual
This week we follow Cathy Freeman as she climbs her family tree.
Dark Science
8:30pm SBS Documentary
In the early 1900s Swedish scientist, Eric Mjoberg set off to the Kimberley region of Western Australia in an attempt to prove his human evolution theory. What he didn't know was that his expedition would have dire repercussions for years to follow for the Indigenous people of Australia, and himself. Whilst in Western Australia, Mjoberg became obsessed with the Aboriginal people, and what started off as collecting native flora and fauna for research, soon lead to the desecration of sacred burial grounds and the smuggling of human remains back to Sweden.
Following on at 9:30 is the Indian Feature film 'Devdas' which is the most expensive Bollywood film ever.
The Usual Suspects
8:30 TV1 Feature Film, repeated at 10:30 on TV1+2
Bryan Singers breakout film, if you've never taken the time to watch it it's worth a look featuring some great acting from Kevin Spacey, Stephen Baldwin, Benicio Del Torro and Gabriel Byrne and Kevin Pollack.
MONDAY
A Year with the Royal Family
7:30pm Nine Documentary
You may remember this documentary cuased a bit of an uproar when a preview mis-represented the Queen. The Australian version has been narated by Cate Blanchett.
WEDNESDAY
Fraggle Rock
6:00pm ABC2 Childrens
This under appreciated classic Jim Henson series returns to television on ABC2.
The Chopping Block
7:30pm Nine Reality TV
Not sure about this one, each week two resteraunts will battle each other, who ever improves the most wins. Hosted by Catriona Rowntree. Tune in this week becasue this one may not last too long, unless they have some really mean Gordon Ramsay style Chef to scare each of the resteraunts.
Inside Australia: Inspring Teachers
8:00pm SBS Documentary
A new series on SBS, the first episode introduces an opera singer turned teacher.
SATURDAY
Monster
10:10pm Seven Feature
The true story of serial killer Aileen Wournos that won Charlize Theron her Best Actress Oscar.
Shorts on Screen
11:20pm SBS Short Films
The Banker - The Banker is efficient at his job - obsessively collecting, storing and delivering deposits at the sperm bank. Winner of the Short Film Category, British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) 2005. Mebollix - Despite dire warnings about botched surgery and divine retribution, Tony Doyle caves in to the demands of his wife Doreen and gets a vasectomy. It seems however, that the scare stories were right - as a post-op Doyle begins his nightmarish journey home and everything that can go wrong, does. Bit of Black Business: Kwatye - Who would have thought a glass of water could cause so much havoc? Filmed in Alice Springs, Kwatye is set on Aspen's third birthday. Her parents are silently feuding as Karen is preparing for the party while Gary sleeps off his hangover. But Aspen has innocent plans to help daddy get back on track. The Venus Project - Two sperms set out to conquer Venus. She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not - A man sits in a pub, soaked to the skin in Guinness. He reflects on the ups and downs of his turbulent relationship.
SUNDAY
Channel 10 ramps up it's reality TV for 2008 with the premiere of 'Australia's Biggest Loser' at 6:30pm followed by the new Australian version of 'So You Think You Can Dance' at 7:30pm.
Who Do You Think You Are?
7:30pm SBS Documentary / Factual
This week we follow Cathy Freeman as she climbs her family tree.
Dark Science
8:30pm SBS Documentary
In the early 1900s Swedish scientist, Eric Mjoberg set off to the Kimberley region of Western Australia in an attempt to prove his human evolution theory. What he didn't know was that his expedition would have dire repercussions for years to follow for the Indigenous people of Australia, and himself. Whilst in Western Australia, Mjoberg became obsessed with the Aboriginal people, and what started off as collecting native flora and fauna for research, soon lead to the desecration of sacred burial grounds and the smuggling of human remains back to Sweden.
Following on at 9:30 is the Indian Feature film 'Devdas' which is the most expensive Bollywood film ever.
The Usual Suspects
8:30 TV1 Feature Film, repeated at 10:30 on TV1+2
Bryan Singers breakout film, if you've never taken the time to watch it it's worth a look featuring some great acting from Kevin Spacey, Stephen Baldwin, Benicio Del Torro and Gabriel Byrne and Kevin Pollack.
MONDAY
A Year with the Royal Family
7:30pm Nine Documentary
You may remember this documentary cuased a bit of an uproar when a preview mis-represented the Queen. The Australian version has been narated by Cate Blanchett.
WEDNESDAY
Fraggle Rock
6:00pm ABC2 Childrens
This under appreciated classic Jim Henson series returns to television on ABC2.
The Chopping Block
7:30pm Nine Reality TV
Not sure about this one, each week two resteraunts will battle each other, who ever improves the most wins. Hosted by Catriona Rowntree. Tune in this week becasue this one may not last too long, unless they have some really mean Gordon Ramsay style Chef to scare each of the resteraunts.
Inside Australia: Inspring Teachers
8:00pm SBS Documentary
A new series on SBS, the first episode introduces an opera singer turned teacher.
Here's some news from the shorts film festival,
Online
entries now open.
There’s
a flurry of activity as SHORTS Film Festival gets ready for take off to London!
In a significant partnership with UK’s leading short film festival, a selection
of SHORTS Film Festival entries will be showcased for the first time at Rushes
Soho Shorts Festival in London in 2008. It’s a big win for SHORTS and our
filmmakers whose works will be seen by major international film sindustry
figures and backers.
For a
chance at this not-to-be-missed, extraordinary opportunity, filmmakers are
urged to get their entries in by the 14 March 2008 early submission deadline. Entries
are open to filmmakers across Australia with a short film entry of no longer
than 20 minutes in length, in any genre.
Attracting high quality short films from around Australia, SHORTS Film Festival champions cinematic storytelling at its best. The competitive national festival offers one of the richest prize pools in the country including a coveted first prize trip to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival as well as the opportunity to be selected for screening at the iconic Shorts Outback Festival in Parachilna and Rushes Soho Shorts
Festival in the UK, in the lead up to the 2008 SHORTS Film Festival
at the historic Queen’s Theatre in Adelaide.
So
download an entry form at www.shortsfilmfestival.com and get your entries in
by the 14 March 2008 early submission deadline or the final deadline of
1 August 2008.
News of another film competion, this one has some decent prizes too, the Hope Awards encourage filmmakers to make films that contain a meaage of hope for people with mental illnessm and their friends, families and carers.
Entries close Friday 28th March
Entries close Friday 28th March
From Here to Awesome is a new competition and festival for filmakers, the difference, it's all online. Get your new work out to a global audience now.
We're a little late this week at taking look at the TV guide, our goal with each of these weekly posts is to highlight some interesting things appearing on television that might be of interested to the up and coming filmmaker or content creator.
It makes sense that if you want to make television, you should have a good idea of what else is in the market place, what works and what doesn't. As we reach the end of January this is the time that television comes back to life, the cricket winds up, the tenis will be over and a whole load of new comedy and drama will hit the screens.
2008 will see that major networks spending a lot of time promoting their new shows, more agressively than ever before. The chanel 7 campaign for 'Dirty Sexy Money' is all over the place, billboards, bus stops and cinemas. 'The Sunday Times' today came with a free DVD with episodes of some of the new sitcoms that will premiere soon.
So what's worth a look this week,
MONDAY
Black and White
8:45pm ABC Feature Film (2002)
Robert Carlyle stars alongside David Ngoombujarra, Ben Mendleson, Kerry Fox and Charles Dance in this recreation of a 1958 landmark South Australian trial of an aboriginal man sentenced to hang for the murder of a young girl.
Citizen Kane
11:45pm ABC Feature Film (1941)
Lauded as one of the greatest films of all time, Orson Welles was Actor, Producer, Director and Writer for this film that took an epic 365 days to film. If you've never seen it, here's your chance.
TUESDAY
Das Boot
8:00pm Fox Classics Feature (1981)
This epic 3.5 hour fim tells the story of the German and British U-Boats battling in the Atlantic during World War II, told from a German perpective. The same battle has been the focus of many films including the more recent 'U571'. Following this film Director Wolfgang Peterson went on to have a successful Hollywood career making films such as 'The Never Ending Story', 'Enemy Mine', 'In the Line of Fire', 'Outbreak', 'Air Force One', 'Troy', 'Poseiden' and 'The Perfect Storm'.
Seven Dumpsters and a Corpse
10:00pm SBS Documentary
Two brothers have to sort through their mothers appartment after her death, they fill seven dumpsters with the materials she has hoarded but amongst the trash they find some true treasures that reveal a family history they were unaware of.
WEDNESDAY
Maria Full of Grace
10:00pm SBS Feature
Pregnant and down on her luck, Maria agrees to becomes a drug mule. This film earned actress Catalina Sandino Moreno a swag of awards, including an Academy Award nomination.
Budowski: Born Into This
11:45 SBS Documentary
Seven years in the making this documentary looks into the life of writer and poet Charles Budowski.
THURSDAY
Out of the Question
8:30pm Seven Chat Show
Glen Robbins jumps the fence to Chanel 7 after a long career spell on Chanel 10. This new show is part quiz, part chat show - one of the first new productions for 2008, wisely being put out a week before the big US content. Will it make the grade?
FRIDAY
A Conversation with Gregory Peck
8:30pm Biography Documentary
Movie stars doing questions and answer sessions are run of the mill nowadays, but to hear one of Hollywood's true greats discuss his career with a town hall audience is magic, this session was filmed just a few years before the actos death and he reminices on many of his great roles.
Last week we failed to notice the return of 'The West Wing' which has moved from Arena to W, it's on each night at 8pm and it's a great series. W are playing the show from the beginning.
It makes sense that if you want to make television, you should have a good idea of what else is in the market place, what works and what doesn't. As we reach the end of January this is the time that television comes back to life, the cricket winds up, the tenis will be over and a whole load of new comedy and drama will hit the screens.
2008 will see that major networks spending a lot of time promoting their new shows, more agressively than ever before. The chanel 7 campaign for 'Dirty Sexy Money' is all over the place, billboards, bus stops and cinemas. 'The Sunday Times' today came with a free DVD with episodes of some of the new sitcoms that will premiere soon.
So what's worth a look this week,
MONDAY
Black and White
8:45pm ABC Feature Film (2002)
Robert Carlyle stars alongside David Ngoombujarra, Ben Mendleson, Kerry Fox and Charles Dance in this recreation of a 1958 landmark South Australian trial of an aboriginal man sentenced to hang for the murder of a young girl.
Citizen Kane
11:45pm ABC Feature Film (1941)
Lauded as one of the greatest films of all time, Orson Welles was Actor, Producer, Director and Writer for this film that took an epic 365 days to film. If you've never seen it, here's your chance.
TUESDAY
Das Boot
8:00pm Fox Classics Feature (1981)
This epic 3.5 hour fim tells the story of the German and British U-Boats battling in the Atlantic during World War II, told from a German perpective. The same battle has been the focus of many films including the more recent 'U571'. Following this film Director Wolfgang Peterson went on to have a successful Hollywood career making films such as 'The Never Ending Story', 'Enemy Mine', 'In the Line of Fire', 'Outbreak', 'Air Force One', 'Troy', 'Poseiden' and 'The Perfect Storm'.
Seven Dumpsters and a Corpse
10:00pm SBS Documentary
Two brothers have to sort through their mothers appartment after her death, they fill seven dumpsters with the materials she has hoarded but amongst the trash they find some true treasures that reveal a family history they were unaware of.
WEDNESDAY
Maria Full of Grace
10:00pm SBS Feature
Pregnant and down on her luck, Maria agrees to becomes a drug mule. This film earned actress Catalina Sandino Moreno a swag of awards, including an Academy Award nomination.
Budowski: Born Into This
11:45 SBS Documentary
Seven years in the making this documentary looks into the life of writer and poet Charles Budowski.
THURSDAY
Out of the Question
8:30pm Seven Chat Show
Glen Robbins jumps the fence to Chanel 7 after a long career spell on Chanel 10. This new show is part quiz, part chat show - one of the first new productions for 2008, wisely being put out a week before the big US content. Will it make the grade?
FRIDAY
A Conversation with Gregory Peck
8:30pm Biography Documentary
Movie stars doing questions and answer sessions are run of the mill nowadays, but to hear one of Hollywood's true greats discuss his career with a town hall audience is magic, this session was filmed just a few years before the actos death and he reminices on many of his great roles.
Last week we failed to notice the return of 'The West Wing' which has moved from Arena to W, it's on each night at 8pm and it's a great series. W are playing the show from the beginning.
I was excited this week to be off to see the new Mike Nichols film 'Charlie Wilson's War'. I am a huge fan of the screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, I could watch his TV series 'The West Wing' endlessly and pray that Channel 9 will one day find the time to play his other series 'Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'. Nobody writes like Aaron Sorkin.
'Charlie Wilson's War' on paper, and in the trailer, looks liks a fim that has all the right ingedients. Great writer, based on a best selling novel that everyone praises, vetran Director Mike Nichols and leading actors Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
While the film is certainly enjoyable on many levels, all the actors are great, Hoffman and Hanks share some brilliant scenes. The dialogue, Sorkins trademark, is his classic cross conversation, walking and talking while talking and walking style, the film looks great, sounds great and the actors performances are top notch.
Then why is it so boring? The film lacks a story, it has a premise, a challenge and then it just sort of happens, life rolls along, they achieve what they set out to do. Without many obstacles or moments of tension. Nichols seems to have forgotten they prime direction of conflict equals drama.
The actresses in this film are intriguing, Roberts performance is fine, but is it the first time she has portrayed a women over 40 on screen? ..and will this be a watershed make or break moment in her career? This may be the film to mark the downturn in her career as Hollywood rarely favours the ageing leading lady.
Up and comming actress Amy Adams, who recent star performance in 'Enchanted' is lost in this film, her character is an after thought, who serves little purpose that to accompany Hanks on his global travels.
It's a total yawn-fest. Sadly disapointing. i should have gone and seen 'Sweeny Todd' instead.
'Charlie Wilson's War' on paper, and in the trailer, looks liks a fim that has all the right ingedients. Great writer, based on a best selling novel that everyone praises, vetran Director Mike Nichols and leading actors Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
While the film is certainly enjoyable on many levels, all the actors are great, Hoffman and Hanks share some brilliant scenes. The dialogue, Sorkins trademark, is his classic cross conversation, walking and talking while talking and walking style, the film looks great, sounds great and the actors performances are top notch.
Then why is it so boring? The film lacks a story, it has a premise, a challenge and then it just sort of happens, life rolls along, they achieve what they set out to do. Without many obstacles or moments of tension. Nichols seems to have forgotten they prime direction of conflict equals drama.
The actresses in this film are intriguing, Roberts performance is fine, but is it the first time she has portrayed a women over 40 on screen? ..and will this be a watershed make or break moment in her career? This may be the film to mark the downturn in her career as Hollywood rarely favours the ageing leading lady.
Up and comming actress Amy Adams, who recent star performance in 'Enchanted' is lost in this film, her character is an after thought, who serves little purpose that to accompany Hanks on his global travels.
It's a total yawn-fest. Sadly disapointing. i should have gone and seen 'Sweeny Todd' instead.
The 25th Warburton Film Festival is on from Friday 13th June to Sunday 15th June 2008.
The 'Show Us Your Shorts' film competition will form an important part of the Warburton Film Festival in 2008. It will see the fulfillment of a dream to allow young people to express themselves on film and ejoy exposure of their creativity to a large audience.
THEME: My Place - My Family, the inerpretation of the theme is up to you. Get creative and shoot your film.
ELIGIBILITY: This is a student filmmakers competion, open to all students currently living and studying in Australia.
PRIZES: Prizes will be awarded for Best Drama, Best Documentary, Best Animation. Prizes will include a VCA school of film abd television summer or winter school courses to students aged 16-18 years. $500 cash for students aged 19 years and over, plus many more encouragement prizes. The jusges decision is final.
CLOSING DATE: All entries must be reicived by 5pm, Thursday 10th April 2008. DVD's will not ve returned.
WHAT TO INCLUDE: Your short film on DVD, clearly labeled, completed entry form, entry fee of $10, 2 production stills, orints, PDF or JPG format. Maximum length of DVD is 5 minutes.
WHERE DO YOU SEND YOUR ENTRY: 'Show Us Your Shorts', P.O. Box 110, Warburton Victoria, 3799
SCREENING: A screening of all accepted films will occur at the Upper Yarra Arts Centre on Friday 13th June, 2008. Winning entries will be re-screened as part of the 25th Annual Warburton FIlm Festival.
Find out more: Yarra Ranges FIlm Society
The 'Show Us Your Shorts' film competition will form an important part of the Warburton Film Festival in 2008. It will see the fulfillment of a dream to allow young people to express themselves on film and ejoy exposure of their creativity to a large audience.
THEME: My Place - My Family, the inerpretation of the theme is up to you. Get creative and shoot your film.
ELIGIBILITY: This is a student filmmakers competion, open to all students currently living and studying in Australia.
PRIZES: Prizes will be awarded for Best Drama, Best Documentary, Best Animation. Prizes will include a VCA school of film abd television summer or winter school courses to students aged 16-18 years. $500 cash for students aged 19 years and over, plus many more encouragement prizes. The jusges decision is final.
CLOSING DATE: All entries must be reicived by 5pm, Thursday 10th April 2008. DVD's will not ve returned.
WHAT TO INCLUDE: Your short film on DVD, clearly labeled, completed entry form, entry fee of $10, 2 production stills, orints, PDF or JPG format. Maximum length of DVD is 5 minutes.
WHERE DO YOU SEND YOUR ENTRY: 'Show Us Your Shorts', P.O. Box 110, Warburton Victoria, 3799
SCREENING: A screening of all accepted films will occur at the Upper Yarra Arts Centre on Friday 13th June, 2008. Winning entries will be re-screened as part of the 25th Annual Warburton FIlm Festival.
Find out more: Yarra Ranges FIlm Society
February 18th is the deadline for entering the Dendy Short Film Awards at the 2008 Sydney International Film Festival.
If you have a film to enter into this years St Kilda Film Festival, time is running out, entries close on February 1st 2008.
The annual Bill Warnock New Feature Award for screenwriting is now open applications.
The Bill Warnock Award provides assistance to develop a promising, low-budget feature script, written by a less established writer who has not previously been funded by ScreenWest. This condition may be reviewed to include writers who have received funding on only one prior occasion, depending on the field of applications.
The Award recipient will receive a $6,000 support package comprising of a minimal writer’s fee plus professional feedback from a script editor/mentor. After the script-edit process, a further $6,000 can be provided to the Award recipient if it is deemed that the project has advanced to a satisfactory level where it can be developed to the next stage with a producer.
The 2008 Award recipient will be even better equipped –with script assessment to be provided by Europe’s leading script development organisation, Script Factory UK, upon delivery of a second draft.
Applications are sought that demonstrate dynamic writing, compelling characters and market appeal.
Bill Warnock, who passed away in 2001, devoted much of his life to the arts as advocate, novelist, playwright. He was a Board Member of the Festival of Perth, a former Chairman and life member of the Film and Television Institute.February 25th is the closing date for submissions to ScreenWest.
The Sundance film festival is in full swing, they have a dedicated YouTube Channel full of interviews with famous, new and odd filmmakers. Check out Issabella Rossellini talking about her new short films where she plays a variety of different bugs and insects.
We've been asked recently if we could add an extra workshop to our profesional development program. As the AIDC is rapidly appraching a few people would like to brush up on their pitching skills.
If you're interested in coming to a workshop, let us know and we'll see what we can do. What would you like covered? Let us know what you'd be interested at the training team will see what is possible.
Send us an email
If you're interested in coming to a workshop, let us know and we'll see what we can do. What would you like covered? Let us know what you'd be interested at the training team will see what is possible.
Send us an email
The International Student Film Festival has just sent us through a short note highlighting their 2008 competition. Find out more here
Also the International Student Short Film Festival of Cergy Pointoise is open for submissions until January 25th, check them out.
and there is just one month left to Pangeas Day
Also the International Student Short Film Festival of Cergy Pointoise is open for submissions until January 25th, check them out.
and there is just one month left to Pangeas Day
Once again we cast our eyes over the coming weeks viewing highlights and point out things that may inspire, educate or entertain us all.
SATURDAY
Parkinson
10:10pm ABC Chat Show
Talk show great Michael Parkinson retired last year and was duly knighted by the Queen, tonight the ABC plays a 90 minute mash up of his final ever two episodes. Guests include Billy Connolly, Judy Dench, David Attenborough, Dabvid Beckham and Michael Caine. A moment of history passing by.
Shorts on Screen
12:30pm SBS
Lullaby - Under the shroud of night we hear an old lullaby. Winner: Goya award, Spain 2006. African Middleweights - June 1960, The Congo is on the eve of Independence. A young Congolese boxer, Samwa and his older brother, Nourou, arrive in Brussels for the finale of the Afro-European Middleweight Championship. The Belgian organisers ask Samwa to lose the fight, but Samwa has other ideas... Bit of Black Business: Days Like These - Trying to find a job, Dan has to overcome social stereotypes. Set in Redfern and Sydney city, Dan starts the day with a boxing session and jogs home to his flat where he lives with his mum. She gives him a hard time about finding a job and he sets off into the city with determination, only to come up against many barriers. The Way We Played - A story of two boys' friendship destroyed by Bosnian ethnic conflict. Winner, BAFTA Scotland, Best First Time Director 2005. 10 Minutes - Are everyone's 10 minutes the same? Compare yours to those of people caught up in a war.
SUNDAY
Who Do You Think You Are?
This week the family tree of Australian singer Kate Ceberano is investigated, last week's episode with Jack Thompson broke the ratings records for SBS - the largest audience share for Australian content they have ever recieved. Made by local production house Artemis International this show is very entertaining.
Feature Films:
Million Dollar Baby' on Nine or
'Ray' on Ten, followed by 'Oh Brother Where at Thou'.
8:30pm
A choice of two great feature films if you haven't already seen them - a great film from the Coen Brothers is on later in the evening. ... and on Chanel 9 one of the worst films ever, 'Battlefied Earth'.
The Five Obstructions
11:45pm SBS Documentary
Director Lars Von Tier (Dogville, The Idots, Daner in the Dark) enters the documentary world under the guidance of expert documentary director Jorgen Leth.
21 Up
7:30pm The History Channel Documentary
Part three of the well known series, it's now 1978 and Michael Apted returns to the group for the third time.
MONDAY
Coup!
8:35 ABC Documentary
How hard is it to overthrow a government? This documentary looks into the story of Simon Mann, a Englishman , who with some mercanaries, guns and enthusiasm tried to overtake the small african nation of Equatorial Guinea.
WEDNESDAY
Rear Window
10:35pm ABC Feature Film
Here's a chance to see this Alfred Hitchock classic staring James Stewart. It's inspired hundreds of films since.
SATURDAY
Parkinson
10:10pm ABC Chat Show
Talk show great Michael Parkinson retired last year and was duly knighted by the Queen, tonight the ABC plays a 90 minute mash up of his final ever two episodes. Guests include Billy Connolly, Judy Dench, David Attenborough, Dabvid Beckham and Michael Caine. A moment of history passing by.
Shorts on Screen
12:30pm SBS
Lullaby - Under the shroud of night we hear an old lullaby. Winner: Goya award, Spain 2006. African Middleweights - June 1960, The Congo is on the eve of Independence. A young Congolese boxer, Samwa and his older brother, Nourou, arrive in Brussels for the finale of the Afro-European Middleweight Championship. The Belgian organisers ask Samwa to lose the fight, but Samwa has other ideas... Bit of Black Business: Days Like These - Trying to find a job, Dan has to overcome social stereotypes. Set in Redfern and Sydney city, Dan starts the day with a boxing session and jogs home to his flat where he lives with his mum. She gives him a hard time about finding a job and he sets off into the city with determination, only to come up against many barriers. The Way We Played - A story of two boys' friendship destroyed by Bosnian ethnic conflict. Winner, BAFTA Scotland, Best First Time Director 2005. 10 Minutes - Are everyone's 10 minutes the same? Compare yours to those of people caught up in a war.
SUNDAY
Who Do You Think You Are?
This week the family tree of Australian singer Kate Ceberano is investigated, last week's episode with Jack Thompson broke the ratings records for SBS - the largest audience share for Australian content they have ever recieved. Made by local production house Artemis International this show is very entertaining.
Feature Films:
Million Dollar Baby' on Nine or
'Ray' on Ten, followed by 'Oh Brother Where at Thou'.
8:30pm
A choice of two great feature films if you haven't already seen them - a great film from the Coen Brothers is on later in the evening. ... and on Chanel 9 one of the worst films ever, 'Battlefied Earth'.
The Five Obstructions
11:45pm SBS Documentary
Director Lars Von Tier (Dogville, The Idots, Daner in the Dark) enters the documentary world under the guidance of expert documentary director Jorgen Leth.
21 Up
7:30pm The History Channel Documentary
Part three of the well known series, it's now 1978 and Michael Apted returns to the group for the third time.
MONDAY
Coup!
8:35 ABC Documentary
How hard is it to overthrow a government? This documentary looks into the story of Simon Mann, a Englishman , who with some mercanaries, guns and enthusiasm tried to overtake the small african nation of Equatorial Guinea.
WEDNESDAY
Rear Window
10:35pm ABC Feature Film
Here's a chance to see this Alfred Hitchock classic staring James Stewart. It's inspired hundreds of films since.
From Portugal comes a new festival that has some interesting categories such as 'animation', 'documentary', 'drama', 'experimental', 'Made on a mobile phone' and 'Made in Second Life'. The Festival is on from October 1st to 5th and more information can be found here.
To enter you need to be a college or university student or have graduated within the last year..
Take a look at this Documentary that is raising money for continued production through it's website. More and more the internet is allowing the masses to become the investors of the fiom, and at the same time the process begins to build an interested niche audience before productions begins.
Here's another great 'What if' documentary, What if there were no more people on the earth?
If you've seen the recent feature film 'I Am Legend' the thought will have crossed your mind.
Now this new documentary from the History Channel explores what would happen if the influence of man was removed. To explore their theory they visit an abandoned town near the site of the Chernobyl disaster, untouched by man for 20 years, vegetation and animals have returned.
If you've seen the recent feature film 'I Am Legend' the thought will have crossed your mind.
Now this new documentary from the History Channel explores what would happen if the influence of man was removed. To explore their theory they visit an abandoned town near the site of the Chernobyl disaster, untouched by man for 20 years, vegetation and animals have returned.
Listen to JJ Abrams (Lost, Alias, Cloverfield) talk about mystery, how technology changes filmmaking and storytelling at the TED Conference and how he finds inspiration in a box of magic tricks that he bought and never opened decades ago.
Once again we cast our eyes of the week TV schedule and highlight some things of interest. The highlight of the week will be 'Who Do You Think You Are' from Artemis International.
FRIDAY
Murder Investigation Team
11:25pm ABC Drama Season 2 (Repeat)
The ABC are replaying the second season of this spin-off series from 'The Bill'. It's a fairly tight police drama, nothing special but good quality. You have to pay attention though, the stories move so fast, if you go off and make a cup of tea you;ll loose the plot in mere minutes.
SATURDAY
Shorts on Screen
12:20am (Sunday) Short Films
Fair Trade - A confronting drama about illegal baby adoption. A German woman goes to Morocco to pick up a baby she has "bought" for adoption, but remains unaware of the ensuing tragedy. Award for Best short film at Aspen Shortsfest 2007. Breathe - Damian and Angela are now Mum and Dad. Anxious about their newborn's fragile health and his uncertain future, their relationship and trust are put to the test. Audience Award at the St Kilda Film Festival 2006. Jellybaby - Jack and Jill have a baby who cries endlessly. One day at the park, an identical baby appears and Jack decides to do a switch... Clik Clak - A clever CG animation about logic and words in a robot universe. Les Crayons - Pencils are spectators at a cinema. They watch a "horror" movie...
SUNDAY
Beuna Vista Social Club
3:00 pm ABC Feature Documentary
In the late 1990s, American guitarist Ry Cooder formed the Buena Vista Social Club, composed of veteran Cuban musicians and singers. Two years after they cut a best-selling album, Wim Wenders recorded the group at work.
Who Do You Think You Are
7:30pm SBS Factual
To many, he is an iconic Australian; an actor who strides the international stage with a career spanning from Australian classics such as Breaker Morant and The Man from Snowy River, to global hits including Star Wars Episode II - Attack of the Clones. But how Australian is Jack Thompson? Thompson knew little of his genetic family's history when he agreed to take part in Who Do You Think You Are? By the end of the journey - which took him from Sydney to Ireland and then surprisingly near to where he now lives in northern NSW - he felt he had secured his place as "Australian royalty".
Created by Perth based Artemis International, this is not to be missed.
14 Up
7:30pm Bio Documentary
Now having reached the age of 14, the kids drawn from every strata of the British social class structure provide fascinating and at times, poignant insights as to how their dreams and ambitions had been altered during the intervening seven years.
The Assasination of Richard Nixon
9:30pm SBS Feature Film
Tells the story of Samuel Bicke, a pathetic real-life figure who, in 1974, attempted to hijack a plane and crash it into the White House, with the intention of killing President Richard Nixon. In a tremendous performance Jack Thompson plays Bicke's boss, a vulgar man whom Bicke believes is out to demean him. In planning to kill Nixon at Watergate time, Bicke thinks he's acting on behalf of the neglected, downtrodden folk the President has been deceiving. Bicke's every action is both plausible and so mortifyingly embarrassing that it is almost painful to watch him. The film resonates with echoes of current issues.
This is a nice piece of companion programming from SBS to match up with the launch of 'Who Do You Think You Are', The films features Jack Thompson alongside Sean Penn and Naomi Watts.
To the Ends of the Earth
9:30pm ABC Mini Series
This 3 part british mini series is based on a triology of books written by William Golding. Golding is best known for the novel 'Loed of the Flies'.
The Limey
11:40pm Seven Feature Film
Wilson, a tough English ex-con, travels to Los Angeles to avenge his daughter's death. On arrival, Wilson takes on Valentine and an army of LA's toughest criminals, hoping to find clues and piece together what happened. After surviving a beating, getting thrown from a building and being chased down a dangerous mountain road, the Englishman decides to inflict some bodily harm of his own. Before his trip ends all of Los Angeles will know that The Limey is in town.
This is one of the lesser known films of Director Stephen Soderberg who directed 'Sex Lies and Video Tapes', 'Ocean 11' and 'Erin Brokovich' and 'Out of Sight'. Terrance Stamp stars.
TUESDAY
Burn Notice
8:30pm Ten Drama
New US series 'Burn notice' starts on Channel 10, an ex spy who uses his skills to help others. Stars Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar and 'Cagney and Lacey's' Sharon Gless.
My Architect
10:00pm SBS Documentary
While he designed buildings all around the world, renowned architect Louis Kahn kept three families, living within miles of each other, until his death in the men's bathroom of New York's Penn Station. In "My Architect," Kahn's son Nathaniel attempts to trace his father's confounding life. The scarred child of Estonian immigrants who grew up poor in Philadelphia, Louis I. Kahn did not find his distinctive architectural style until he was in his 50s. Among his buildings, some of the most important and influential of the 20th century, are the Salk Institute in La Jolla, the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, and the capital of Bangladesh. Influenced by ancient ruins, Kahn's style tends to the monumental and monolithic, heavy buildings that neither hide their weight nor the way they're put together.
FRIDAY
Murder Investigation Team
11:25pm ABC Drama Season 2 (Repeat)
The ABC are replaying the second season of this spin-off series from 'The Bill'. It's a fairly tight police drama, nothing special but good quality. You have to pay attention though, the stories move so fast, if you go off and make a cup of tea you;ll loose the plot in mere minutes.
SATURDAY
Shorts on Screen
12:20am (Sunday) Short Films
Fair Trade - A confronting drama about illegal baby adoption. A German woman goes to Morocco to pick up a baby she has "bought" for adoption, but remains unaware of the ensuing tragedy. Award for Best short film at Aspen Shortsfest 2007. Breathe - Damian and Angela are now Mum and Dad. Anxious about their newborn's fragile health and his uncertain future, their relationship and trust are put to the test. Audience Award at the St Kilda Film Festival 2006. Jellybaby - Jack and Jill have a baby who cries endlessly. One day at the park, an identical baby appears and Jack decides to do a switch... Clik Clak - A clever CG animation about logic and words in a robot universe. Les Crayons - Pencils are spectators at a cinema. They watch a "horror" movie...
SUNDAY
Beuna Vista Social Club
3:00 pm ABC Feature Documentary
In the late 1990s, American guitarist Ry Cooder formed the Buena Vista Social Club, composed of veteran Cuban musicians and singers. Two years after they cut a best-selling album, Wim Wenders recorded the group at work.
Who Do You Think You Are
7:30pm SBS Factual
To many, he is an iconic Australian; an actor who strides the international stage with a career spanning from Australian classics such as Breaker Morant and The Man from Snowy River, to global hits including Star Wars Episode II - Attack of the Clones. But how Australian is Jack Thompson? Thompson knew little of his genetic family's history when he agreed to take part in Who Do You Think You Are? By the end of the journey - which took him from Sydney to Ireland and then surprisingly near to where he now lives in northern NSW - he felt he had secured his place as "Australian royalty".
Created by Perth based Artemis International, this is not to be missed.
14 Up
7:30pm Bio Documentary
Now having reached the age of 14, the kids drawn from every strata of the British social class structure provide fascinating and at times, poignant insights as to how their dreams and ambitions had been altered during the intervening seven years.
The Assasination of Richard Nixon
9:30pm SBS Feature Film
Tells the story of Samuel Bicke, a pathetic real-life figure who, in 1974, attempted to hijack a plane and crash it into the White House, with the intention of killing President Richard Nixon. In a tremendous performance Jack Thompson plays Bicke's boss, a vulgar man whom Bicke believes is out to demean him. In planning to kill Nixon at Watergate time, Bicke thinks he's acting on behalf of the neglected, downtrodden folk the President has been deceiving. Bicke's every action is both plausible and so mortifyingly embarrassing that it is almost painful to watch him. The film resonates with echoes of current issues.
This is a nice piece of companion programming from SBS to match up with the launch of 'Who Do You Think You Are', The films features Jack Thompson alongside Sean Penn and Naomi Watts.
To the Ends of the Earth
9:30pm ABC Mini Series
This 3 part british mini series is based on a triology of books written by William Golding. Golding is best known for the novel 'Loed of the Flies'.
The Limey
11:40pm Seven Feature Film
Wilson, a tough English ex-con, travels to Los Angeles to avenge his daughter's death. On arrival, Wilson takes on Valentine and an army of LA's toughest criminals, hoping to find clues and piece together what happened. After surviving a beating, getting thrown from a building and being chased down a dangerous mountain road, the Englishman decides to inflict some bodily harm of his own. Before his trip ends all of Los Angeles will know that The Limey is in town.
This is one of the lesser known films of Director Stephen Soderberg who directed 'Sex Lies and Video Tapes', 'Ocean 11' and 'Erin Brokovich' and 'Out of Sight'. Terrance Stamp stars.
TUESDAY
Burn Notice
8:30pm Ten Drama
New US series 'Burn notice' starts on Channel 10, an ex spy who uses his skills to help others. Stars Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar and 'Cagney and Lacey's' Sharon Gless.
My Architect
10:00pm SBS Documentary
While he designed buildings all around the world, renowned architect Louis Kahn kept three families, living within miles of each other, until his death in the men's bathroom of New York's Penn Station. In "My Architect," Kahn's son Nathaniel attempts to trace his father's confounding life. The scarred child of Estonian immigrants who grew up poor in Philadelphia, Louis I. Kahn did not find his distinctive architectural style until he was in his 50s. Among his buildings, some of the most important and influential of the 20th century, are the Salk Institute in La Jolla, the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, and the capital of Bangladesh. Influenced by ancient ruins, Kahn's style tends to the monumental and monolithic, heavy buildings that neither hide their weight nor the way they're put together.
This site has a mountain of documentary available to watch. Everything from politics, to subscultures, history, science. Hundreds of hours of viewing available.
Best Online Documentaries
Best Online Documentaries
Artists Lenka Clayton and James Price created this interesting and engrossing video, where people talk about their impressions of other people, the people they are describing are presented in a split screen. This looks incredibly simple, but a fair amount of work and though has gone into it's creation and construction.
Just shows there is nothing as interesting as other people.
It's no secret, I'm a huge Douglas Coupland fan, I'm the original 'Generation X' kid. I've read all his books, I'll admit it, I'm a huge fan.
So naturally, it's quite exciting that his recent lovel 'J-Pod' has been converted to a TV series that will premiere in North America tonight. The rights to many of Coupland's works have been snapped up over the year, but filmakers struggle on how to bring his rambling tales that are often multi layered stories with stories with stories to life.
Another challenge about Couplands work is it's all in the details, it's largely about brands and products and which kind of buttered popcorn is better for you, and other musings on cultural minutae.
Check out the show's promo trailer.
We need an Education Evolution
The call for an
education revolution has been heard loud and clear, but Australia's vocational
education system is already regarded to be one of the best in the world. So what exactly is the revolution calling
for? As we enter into a new era,
politically and socially, how is education going to transform and what does the
Film and Television Institute need to do to stay at the crest of the wave?
The latest
figures from the organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
shows several key things about Australia's education system, we are well below
the average in terms of investment and we are also underperforming in terms of
the number of graduates successfully completing a qualification. Australia also has too great a focus on low
level qualifications, lots of Certificate I, II, III and IV qualifications but
less success with Diplomas and Advanced Diplomas.
A desire for a
government to improve its benchmarking statistics however is not good
motivation for a revolution; there are more pressing drivers for change.
In the screen
industry there is a rapid trend for our graduates to be more skilled than
before. The effect of developments in
cross platform production, outsourcing of grunt work offshore and increasingly
more complex types of production and technology widen the skills gap between
current curriculums and entry level positions.
The warning
bell of skill shortages in other industries has been ringing for a long
time. The screen industry has had the
great advantage of attracting large number aspirants, and then allowing only
the best to climb up the ladder.
However recent rapid growth in the Western Australian screen industry
combined with the pull of the resources boom could soon see the bell toll for
us as well.
Trainees
increasingly are looking for training options that are faster, more flexible,
customizable, and personalised.
Australia’s national training system is built with all of these features
included. We have flexible learning
options, we have Recognised Prior Learning (RPL) a pathway for people to gain
qualifications for skills they have developed in the workplace, we have the
ability to make qualifications that are more customised, adapted to specific
workplaces and we can tailor delivery to individual client groups. The reality is that these elements of our
national system are rarely effectively combined.
In 2007 the
training team worked in collaboration with staff from Central
TAFE and AFTRS to strategise a methodology for RPL that will work for the
screen industry. This action learning
program has not only empowered trainers to bring about change in their own
organisations, it has also revealed some long held beliefs about attitudes in
the screen industry.
‘A
qualification gives you the right to start at the bottom’ proclaimed leading
Production Manager Tim Burns at the ‘Getting Your Foot in the Door’ seminar in
2006, and while everyone should earn their stripes, it begs the question – how
much is a qualification worth?
A recent survey
conducted by FTI revealed that we are more likely to appreciate a
recommendation from a colleague, a killer show-reel, a person’s reputation or
the fact they own their own equipment over any qualification they hold,
association memberships or seminars and workshops they have been to.
There is a
clear need for training providers to clearly demonstrate the benefits of
learning to successful career development.
Investment in people’s skills has been highlighted as a key economic
driver for the future; training providers need to be able to show businesses
how this investment is worthy. The
Catch-22 has to be broken, only when people who work in the industry understand
and give value to a qualification will the full benefits investment in people’s
skills be realised. Our commitment to
developing a successful RPL system will be a major focus of the year ahead.
Last year we continued the work that began in 2006 through our collaboration with
the ABC to investigate blogging and podcasting. Increasingly students at FTI are able to
access additional online materials that support their learning journey, this
year we also revealed the new FTI website that also provides a wide range of
support material to all our clients.
Our delivery of
training has also changed this year as we introduced new programs that are run
in the evenings and on weekends, a trend that is set to continue in 2008 making
FTI quite a lively building in the evenings.
Flexibility,
Different Learning Pathways, Commitment to High Level Qualifications, Industry
Focused, Responsive – all the elements are in place – the revolution is not
required. The evolution however needs
to be moving faster to meet the challenges ahead.
At FTI you’ll
see many changes in 2008. Less
individual events but overall greater outcomes in key focus areas; we will be
having more materials available online, more international and interstate
guests, a greater focus on new emerging production skills and greater linkages
to industry in our programs. Our
vocational programs are being delivered in more flexible formats and utilising
multiple learning pathways.
These are not
the only changes will be making, we’ve given up planning for change, constant
flux is what we aim for – continually changing to meet the needs of our
clients, members and industry. Bring on
the Evolution!
Graeme Watson represented FTI at the ‘New Ways of Working in VET Forum’ held in Brisbane in November and has coordinated an cross-institutional action learning program investigating change management throughout 2007.
This article originally appeared in FTI News the print newsletter for FTI members in December 2007.
Here's our weekly list of the good, the bad and the ugly that's available on your television screen this coming week. With TV largely still on a summer holiday, the picking remain slim, but there is a classic documentary, the most famous mocumentary, two films from the accliamed Director Wong Kar Wai and a controvertial British drama series on the menu.
SATURDAY
This is Spinal Tap
8:30pm Comedy Channel Feature Film
Get personal with one of music's greatest heavy metal bands! Go behind the scenes with a band whose time has come and gone and come again. Does for rock and roll what "The Sound of Music" did for hills. This is one of the best known mocumentaries and a cult classic. The directing debut of former actor Rob Reiner who went on to direct well known films including 'The Sure Thing', 'When Harry Met Sally', 'The Princess Bride', 'Ghosts of Missispi' and 'Stand by Me'.
Shorts on Screen
00:05 SBS Short Films
Comme James Dean - Robert is going to an important audition... with his mother, who knows what's best for him. Doron - A strange kind of audition is taking place in which a director is asking the candidate for some very unusual skills... Carlitopolis - Carlito, a small laboratory mouse, suffers all kinds of experiments... The Last Words of Dutch Schulz - Arthur Flegenheimer, alias "Dutch Schultz", was an infamous New York gangster in the 1920s and '30s. On October 24, 1935, as he lay on his deathbed in the Newark City Hospital, his statements were recorded by P. J. Long, a clerk-stenographer with the Newark Police Department. The FBI noted these words in the hope that Schultz would betray his gangster colleagues.
Wonderland
1:20am Channel Seven Feature Film
Follow three generations of a family through one wintry November weekend during the city's traditional Bonfire Night celebration. They are all looking for the same thing - how to find contentment in life.
From Director Michael Winterbottom, whose other films include 'Butterfly Kiss', 'Go Now', 'Welcome to Sarajevo', 'Jude', '24 Hour Party People', 'Tristam Shandy A Cock and Bull Story' and 'Nine Songs' plus the recently released 'A Mighty Heart'.
SUNDAY
7 Up
7:30pm Biography Channel
7 Up is in fact one of television's first experiments in recording real people living their real lives. How do people change over the years? Can the adult already be found in the child of seven? These are the questions that have been explored in the Up series.
This film from 1964 is the first in the series that returns to the subjects ever 7 years of their life, '14 Up', '21 Up'... and most recently '49 Up'. The first film was directed by Paul Almond for the BBC, the additional films have been directed by Michael Apted, who was a researcher on the original film.
MONDAY
Days of Heaven
8:00pm Fox Classics Feature Film
After a young millhand is forced to flee a company town for killing his foreman in a minor dispute, he and his girlfriend hop a freight and become involved in the lives of a Texas sharecropper family.
From Director Terrance Malick comes this 1978 film staring Richard Gere, Brooke Adams and Sam Shepard. In a career that has spanned over four decades Malick has only made four films, 'Badlands', 'Days of Heaven', 'The Thin red Line', and 'The New World'. His fifth film 'The Tree of Life' is due to commence filming in 2008 and will star Sean Penn and Brad Pitt.
Read about Sam Shepard's recollections of making the film here.
Sex and the City
9:00pm ARENA Comedy Series
At a "thirtysomething" birthday party for Miranda, Carrie and her friends vow to start having sex like men.
When this show first began in 1998 it was groundbreaking for it's no holds barred approach to the topics it covers. ARENA are playing the show each night right from the beginning.
Skins
10:00pm SBS Drama Series
An group of teenagers with attitude and humour make up the broad range of characters in this cutting-edge youth drama. This urban mix of personalities - from the highly charismatic and beautiful, yet obsessive Tony, to the hopelessly sexually promiscuous, victim-in-the-making Cassie, the classical musician Jal, who tries to rise above it all, and the black sheep of his Muslim family, Anwar, who does everything his strict father tells him he shouldn't - are all trying to maintain their cool as they face the realities of life in the city. In the first episode, we meet Tony as a smart seventeen-year-old, who undermines his dad daily and effortlessly covers up for his little sister's secret escapades.
When shown in Britain this controvertial series also featured interactive collaboration with the audience and mobi-sodes that were released each week as well.
Read more in our Cross Media Blog entry from July 2007.
TUESDAY
Days of Being Wild
11:25pm SBS Feature Film
Yuk, a handsome young man, meets So Lai-chun at a sports-club store. Lai-chun tries to resist Yuk's seduction, but fails. When a relationship develops, Lai-chun asks if Yuk would marry her, but Yuk plainly says no, and Lai-chun swears that she will never come back. After the break-up with Lai-chun, Yuk meets Mimi when he bashes his mother's young lover in Mimi's changing room. Mimi is a dancing girl working for a nightclub. Despite Mimi's wild and street-smart character, she is also conquered by Yuk's charm. Directed by Wong Kar Wai.
WEDNESDAY
In the Mood for Love
10:00pm SBS Feature Film
Set in Hong Kong, 1962, Chow Mo-Wan is a newspaper editor who moves into a new building with his wife. At approximately the same time, Su Li-zhen, a beautiful secretary and her executive husband also move in to the crowded building. With their spouses often away, Chow and Li-zhen spend most of their time together as friends. Received 30 awards and another 19 nominations including nomination for a BAFTA Award and received a British Independent Film Award and received Best Actor and Technical Grand Prize at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.
Staring Tony Leung and Maggie Chen, this film is directed by Wong Kar Wai.
THURSDAY
Drive In Movie Memories
8:30pm ABC Documentary
Drive-In Movie Memories is a film celebration of the drive-in movie, an ingenious marriage of cars and movies which became America's greatest icon of youth, freedom and the automobile. The drive-in movie began as an auto parts owner's business venture to make some easy money and accidentally became a magical place where romance, fun and a sense of community flourished.
Using photos and footage from the mid-1930s until today, a powerful original music score and lively interviews with movie actors and critics, Drive-In Movie Memories covers every aspect of the drive-in movie-going experience. The history of the drive-in wasn't smooth - owners struggled with early outdoor film projection and sound projection, and made virtually no profit from the films themselves.
To compensate they invented 'fast food' like popcorn, pizza and hamburgers to feed the audience and make an income. To attract the masses they built fun parks, play grounds and organised celebrity appearances, and when they lost their family audience to television they targeted teenagers with raunchy romance films.
Although drive-in movies originated in America, Australia soon picked up on the drive-in movie phenomenon and a burgeoning industry took off here as well. The drive-in movie almost died completely with the advent of the VCR, but a drive-in revival is taking place now that the novelty of staying home to watch movies has worn off. An Official Selection at both the Chicago International Film Festival and the Telluride Film Festival, and a Gold Award winner at the Houston World Fest, Drive-In Movie Memories is a fascinating snapshot of movie history.
Last Week's highlights
SATURDAY
This is Spinal Tap
8:30pm Comedy Channel Feature Film
Get personal with one of music's greatest heavy metal bands! Go behind the scenes with a band whose time has come and gone and come again. Does for rock and roll what "The Sound of Music" did for hills. This is one of the best known mocumentaries and a cult classic. The directing debut of former actor Rob Reiner who went on to direct well known films including 'The Sure Thing', 'When Harry Met Sally', 'The Princess Bride', 'Ghosts of Missispi' and 'Stand by Me'.
Shorts on Screen
00:05 SBS Short Films
Comme James Dean - Robert is going to an important audition... with his mother, who knows what's best for him. Doron - A strange kind of audition is taking place in which a director is asking the candidate for some very unusual skills... Carlitopolis - Carlito, a small laboratory mouse, suffers all kinds of experiments... The Last Words of Dutch Schulz - Arthur Flegenheimer, alias "Dutch Schultz", was an infamous New York gangster in the 1920s and '30s. On October 24, 1935, as he lay on his deathbed in the Newark City Hospital, his statements were recorded by P. J. Long, a clerk-stenographer with the Newark Police Department. The FBI noted these words in the hope that Schultz would betray his gangster colleagues.
Wonderland
1:20am Channel Seven Feature Film
Follow three generations of a family through one wintry November weekend during the city's traditional Bonfire Night celebration. They are all looking for the same thing - how to find contentment in life.
From Director Michael Winterbottom, whose other films include 'Butterfly Kiss', 'Go Now', 'Welcome to Sarajevo', 'Jude', '24 Hour Party People', 'Tristam Shandy A Cock and Bull Story' and 'Nine Songs' plus the recently released 'A Mighty Heart'.
SUNDAY
7 Up
7:30pm Biography Channel
7 Up is in fact one of television's first experiments in recording real people living their real lives. How do people change over the years? Can the adult already be found in the child of seven? These are the questions that have been explored in the Up series.
This film from 1964 is the first in the series that returns to the subjects ever 7 years of their life, '14 Up', '21 Up'... and most recently '49 Up'. The first film was directed by Paul Almond for the BBC, the additional films have been directed by Michael Apted, who was a researcher on the original film.
MONDAY
Days of Heaven
8:00pm Fox Classics Feature Film
After a young millhand is forced to flee a company town for killing his foreman in a minor dispute, he and his girlfriend hop a freight and become involved in the lives of a Texas sharecropper family.
From Director Terrance Malick comes this 1978 film staring Richard Gere, Brooke Adams and Sam Shepard. In a career that has spanned over four decades Malick has only made four films, 'Badlands', 'Days of Heaven', 'The Thin red Line', and 'The New World'. His fifth film 'The Tree of Life' is due to commence filming in 2008 and will star Sean Penn and Brad Pitt.
Read about Sam Shepard's recollections of making the film here.
Sex and the City
9:00pm ARENA Comedy Series
At a "thirtysomething" birthday party for Miranda, Carrie and her friends vow to start having sex like men.
When this show first began in 1998 it was groundbreaking for it's no holds barred approach to the topics it covers. ARENA are playing the show each night right from the beginning.
Skins
10:00pm SBS Drama Series
An group of teenagers with attitude and humour make up the broad range of characters in this cutting-edge youth drama. This urban mix of personalities - from the highly charismatic and beautiful, yet obsessive Tony, to the hopelessly sexually promiscuous, victim-in-the-making Cassie, the classical musician Jal, who tries to rise above it all, and the black sheep of his Muslim family, Anwar, who does everything his strict father tells him he shouldn't - are all trying to maintain their cool as they face the realities of life in the city. In the first episode, we meet Tony as a smart seventeen-year-old, who undermines his dad daily and effortlessly covers up for his little sister's secret escapades.
When shown in Britain this controvertial series also featured interactive collaboration with the audience and mobi-sodes that were released each week as well.
Read more in our Cross Media Blog entry from July 2007.
TUESDAY
Days of Being Wild
11:25pm SBS Feature Film
Yuk, a handsome young man, meets So Lai-chun at a sports-club store. Lai-chun tries to resist Yuk's seduction, but fails. When a relationship develops, Lai-chun asks if Yuk would marry her, but Yuk plainly says no, and Lai-chun swears that she will never come back. After the break-up with Lai-chun, Yuk meets Mimi when he bashes his mother's young lover in Mimi's changing room. Mimi is a dancing girl working for a nightclub. Despite Mimi's wild and street-smart character, she is also conquered by Yuk's charm. Directed by Wong Kar Wai.
WEDNESDAY
In the Mood for Love
10:00pm SBS Feature Film
Set in Hong Kong, 1962, Chow Mo-Wan is a newspaper editor who moves into a new building with his wife. At approximately the same time, Su Li-zhen, a beautiful secretary and her executive husband also move in to the crowded building. With their spouses often away, Chow and Li-zhen spend most of their time together as friends. Received 30 awards and another 19 nominations including nomination for a BAFTA Award and received a British Independent Film Award and received Best Actor and Technical Grand Prize at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.
Staring Tony Leung and Maggie Chen, this film is directed by Wong Kar Wai.
THURSDAY
Drive In Movie Memories
8:30pm ABC Documentary
Drive-In Movie Memories is a film celebration of the drive-in movie, an ingenious marriage of cars and movies which became America's greatest icon of youth, freedom and the automobile. The drive-in movie began as an auto parts owner's business venture to make some easy money and accidentally became a magical place where romance, fun and a sense of community flourished.
Using photos and footage from the mid-1930s until today, a powerful original music score and lively interviews with movie actors and critics, Drive-In Movie Memories covers every aspect of the drive-in movie-going experience. The history of the drive-in wasn't smooth - owners struggled with early outdoor film projection and sound projection, and made virtually no profit from the films themselves.
To compensate they invented 'fast food' like popcorn, pizza and hamburgers to feed the audience and make an income. To attract the masses they built fun parks, play grounds and organised celebrity appearances, and when they lost their family audience to television they targeted teenagers with raunchy romance films.
Although drive-in movies originated in America, Australia soon picked up on the drive-in movie phenomenon and a burgeoning industry took off here as well. The drive-in movie almost died completely with the advent of the VCR, but a drive-in revival is taking place now that the novelty of staying home to watch movies has worn off. An Official Selection at both the Chicago International Film Festival and the Telluride Film Festival, and a Gold Award winner at the Houston World Fest, Drive-In Movie Memories is a fascinating snapshot of movie history.
Last Week's highlights
Dick Wolf's 'Law and Order' is one of the longest running programs on television, the successful franchise includes 'Law and order' (Original Flavour), plus Law and order (Special Victim Unit), Law and Order (Criminal Intent) and the less successful Law and Order (Trial by Jury). The train seemed to be running out of steam when 'Trial by Jury' didn't take off but now comes the news that British based production company Kudos are looking towards 'Law and Order: London'.
Kudos are the company behind the successful 'Life on Mars' and 'Spooks'. If they go ahead they will have 17 years of existing scripts and ideas that can be recycled and repurposed for a british audience.
It's unusual to see an American show being remade in Britain, usually this journey is in the other direction. Sometimes the US version of British shows work, the classic 70's comedy 'Man about the House' became 'Three's Company' in the US and launched the careers of John Ritter and Suzanne Sommers. In the UK the Spin of show 'George and Mildred' was a success and the US even succeed spinning of two seasons of 'The Ropers'. The US version of 'Queer as Folk' ran for five years, the British version only has 9 episodes. 'The Office' has made the jump across the Atlantic but many others have been total failures.
The US version of the hit British comedy 'Coupling' is incredibly bad, and a US version of 'Footballer's Wives' failed to succeed, an american version of 'Red Dwarf' only made it to the pilot stage. Bill Cosby's 1996 return to TV as Hilton Lucas in 'Cosby' is based on 'One Foot in the Grave' and the character of Victor Meldrew but is not a patch on the original, 'the US 'Men Behaving Badly' sank without a trace, as did a US version of 'Birds of a Feather'.
This year their will be a US version of 'Life on Mars' and Australia's own 'Kath and Kim' is being developed for US TV by 30 Rock star Tina Fey.
It raises several interesting questions, is dram more transportable across borders than comedy? Will a UK version of 'Law and Order' work? Why don't more Australian shows get remade in other countries?
Kudos are the company behind the successful 'Life on Mars' and 'Spooks'. If they go ahead they will have 17 years of existing scripts and ideas that can be recycled and repurposed for a british audience.
It's unusual to see an American show being remade in Britain, usually this journey is in the other direction. Sometimes the US version of British shows work, the classic 70's comedy 'Man about the House' became 'Three's Company' in the US and launched the careers of John Ritter and Suzanne Sommers. In the UK the Spin of show 'George and Mildred' was a success and the US even succeed spinning of two seasons of 'The Ropers'. The US version of 'Queer as Folk' ran for five years, the British version only has 9 episodes. 'The Office' has made the jump across the Atlantic but many others have been total failures.
The US version of the hit British comedy 'Coupling' is incredibly bad, and a US version of 'Footballer's Wives' failed to succeed, an american version of 'Red Dwarf' only made it to the pilot stage. Bill Cosby's 1996 return to TV as Hilton Lucas in 'Cosby' is based on 'One Foot in the Grave' and the character of Victor Meldrew but is not a patch on the original, 'the US 'Men Behaving Badly' sank without a trace, as did a US version of 'Birds of a Feather'.
This year their will be a US version of 'Life on Mars' and Australia's own 'Kath and Kim' is being developed for US TV by 30 Rock star Tina Fey.
It raises several interesting questions, is dram more transportable across borders than comedy? Will a UK version of 'Law and Order' work? Why don't more Australian shows get remade in other countries?
Every now and again you see news of a forthcoming film and you get excited. It's been announced that Harry Potter star Daniel Ratcliffe is to play Dan Eldon is a bio-pic about the cult photographers life. Dan Eldon was a British born, amercian based photographer who became a photo journalist for Reuters at an early age and made these amazingly visual journals during his travels. He was stoned to death in Somalia in 1993.
See more of Dan Eldon's work here.
See more of Dan Eldon's work here.
