LATEST FILM & TV PRODUCTIONS SUPPORTED BY SCREEN NSW

NSW continues to lead Australia’s screen industry with the State Government investing in film and television productions, creating jobs and promoting NSW.

Minister for the Arts Troy Grant said the NSW Government will invest $625,000 in two new feature films, a children’s series, a feature documentary and three factual programs.

A feature film from the producers of The Sapphires, and a television series from the producers of Underbelly are among the projects to receive funding.

“These seven projects have a combined production spend of more than $17 million and will create an estimated 424 jobs in NSW,” Mr Grant said.

“Nearly 60 per cent of all people employed nationally in production and post-production are based in NSW, generating $1.58 billion dollars annually.

“The three factual programs will be produced in regional NSW, so the economic benefit of the substantial production spend will be experienced across the State.”
The two feature films to receive production investment from the NSW Government are Holding The Man and INFINI.

Holding the Man is the new film from The Sapphires producers, Goalpost Pictures Australia, and will be directed by Neil Armfield, the highly regarded former artistic director of Belvoir Street Theatre and director of the film, Candy, which starred Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish.

Director Shane Abbess will follow up his debut film Gabriel, which received more than $25 million at the international box office, with INFINI, another science fiction thriller, set in a hostile environment in space.

Mr Grant said the productions highlight the diverse strengths of the NSW screen industry, representing a range of new work from some of the State’s most experienced film and television creatives, as well as emerging new talent.

“In 2013-14, the NSW Government, through Screen NSW, has invested more than $4 million in local film and television projects, with additional Regional Filming Fund grants of $395,000.

“This funding will leverage more than $80 million in production expenditure in NSW and create more than 3,500 jobs in our screen industry.

“The funding underpins the screen industry in NSW, ensuring ongoing professional opportunities in this highly skilled and innovative sector, and contributes substantially to the economic and cultural life of NSW,” Mr Grant said.

For more information on the NSW Government’s support, visit www.screen.nsw.gov.au

Media: Tess Salmon 0467 740 017

Media Note: List of productions below

Feature Films

Title: INFINI
Company: INFINI Movie Pty Ltd
Locations: Post Production in Sydney
Screen NSW support: $70,000 from Production Finance Fund
Jobs and production investment: 135 NSW jobs and NSW production spend of $4,330,500.
Production dates: October to December 2013
Synopsis: A futuristic search and rescue team, using slipstream technology, must transport through space to a hostile environment – mining station INFINI – where even space and time itself are a threat. Their mission is to save one man, Whit Carmichael, the lone survivor of a freak accident, before quarantining a contaminated payload – a lethal biological weapon – set to arrive back on Earth. Once on Infini, their skills and humanity are tested against an unseen enemy, desperate to find its way back to Earth. The ensemble cast includes Daniel MacPherson, Grace Huang and Luke Hemsworth.

Title: Holding the Man
Company: Goalpost Pictures Australia Pty Ltd
Locations: Post Production in Sydney
Screen NSW support: $270,000 from Production Finance Fund
Jobs and production investment: 65 NSW jobs and NSW production spend of $3,210,471.
Production dates: TBC
Synopsis: The course of teenage love rarely runs smooth, but when you are secretly gay in an Aussie all-male school in the 1970s and entranced by the captain of the football team, life’s a thrill ride. Based on Timothy Conigrave’s memoir and the award-winning stage play by Tommy Murphy, Holding The Man is the true-life love story of Conigrave and John Caleo. Their 15-year long romance endured discrimination, temptation, jealousy and family recriminations, only to end when the AIDS virus took both their lives. Directed by Neil Armfield.

Feature Documentary

Title: The Last Impresario
Company: Wildflower Films Pty Ltd & Ralf Films
Locations: Post Production in Sydney
Screen NSW support: $25,000 from Production Finance Fund
Jobs and production investment: 42 NSW jobs and NSW production spend of $534,696.
Production dates: TBC
Synopsis: The notorious London theatre and film impresario, Michael White, produced more than 300 shows and movies over 50 dynamic years. On stage, Oh! Calcutta! and The Rocky Horror Show, and for the screen, Monty Python’s The Holy Grail, were just some of the revolutionary projects that received White’s push to make them happen. Featuring interviews with 50 of his friends including Anna Wintour, Kate Moss, John Waters, Barry Humphries, Jim Sharman and Naomi Watts, as well as White himself, the film is a vibrant tribute to a fascinating mover and shaker with a special link to a generation of Australian identities who made London their cultural mecca.

Children’s TV series

Title: Tashi
Company: Tashi Production Pty Ltd
Locations: Sydney
Screen NSW support: $200,000 grant from Production Finance Fund
Jobs and production investment: 92 NSW jobs and NSW production spend of $5,141,392.
Production dates: TBC
Synopsis: Animated series. When Jack’s parents bundle him off to stay with his distant cousin, Tashi, the two boys become swept up in a series of wild adventures exploring a fantastical land far, far away, and banding together to protect Tashi’s village from a host of creatures and villains. Tashi is based on a series of highly successful Australian books (over 1 million sold) that has developed a strong following in Australia, the UK and Canada, and 18 other countries where the books have been published.

Factual Series

Title: Inside the Inferno
Company: Smith&Nasht for Wildfire Films Pty Ltd
Locations: Yarralumla, Minimbah, Mogo, Winmalee, Wollondilly, Wollemi,
Wagga Wagga
Screen NSW support: $30,000 grant from the Regional Filming Fund
Jobs and production investment: 42 NSW jobs and NSW production spend of $1,304,134.
Production dates: January to August 2014
Synopsis: Inside The Inferno takes us into the terrifying heart of a major fire event, unfolding the science that explains how fires start, grow, change, and how we predict, prevent, fight and, hopefully, survive these violent natural disasters. This is the most comprehensive examination of the science of big fires ever attempted, and it will be filmed using ground-breaking techniques that reveal the awesome power of fires and the immense effort that goes into fighting them.

Title: Village Vets Australia
Company: VTV Pty Ltd
Locations: Southern Highlands NSW
Screen NSW support: $25,000 grant from the Regional Filming Fund
Jobs and production investment: 22 NSW jobs and NSW production spend of $1,794,844.
Production dates: TBC
Synopsis: Village Vets Australia is a series about the bonds between humans and animals, the bonds between people in a small community and, most importantly, the bond between two ‘bloody good mates’, as we follow university friends Anthony Bennett and James Carroll at work in their mixed veterinary practice in country NSW.