The gift that keeps on giving… nightmares
This sounds like an offer too good to be ignored … or maybe too bad to be taken up. Either way, it sounds like one for the (very brave) collectors. The pop-up book that features in Jennifer Kent's super-scary thriller The Babadook could be yours to own, if enough people indicate they want one. Writer-director Kent and illustrator Alex Juhasz have launched an unusual crowdfunding campaign in which they seek 2000 pre-orders for a hardback edition of the book at $80 each; if they hit the target, they'll publish. If they don't, they won't. What's different about this is that everyone knows exactly what they'll be getting if the campaign succeeds, because it's right there in the film. "You will become the proud owner of a book that will scare the bejesus out of you every time you read it," they promise. "Or make you feel traumatised whenever you walk past your bookshelf and see it. It also makes a perfect gift for the children of people you hate!" Don't say you haven't been warned. thebabadook.com
MIFF premiere film fund rides again
The Victorian government of Liberal Premier Denis Napthine has committed to another four years of funding for the Melbourne International Film Festival's Premiere Fund, which supports new Australian narrative features and feature-length documentaries. The announcement, made last week, is worth $3.8 million, and guarantees "a pipeline of world premieres for MIFF", said MIFF chair Claire Dobbin. The fund has backed the likes of Balibo, Bran Nue Dae, The Turning and These Final Hours, with Robert Connolly's kids' film Paper Planes the next recipient set for a general release (it opens next January). The Labor Party has not yet announced its position on the fund.
Screen Australia backs Joe Cinque, Wayne Blair, Greg McLean
Screen Australia's latest round of investment support, announced Wednesday, has allocated nearly $10.7 million to a raft of high-profile film and TV projects, including a second season of The Code – a rare moment of good news for the ABC in an otherwise bleak week. On the big screen, six features have received backing, including Ali's Wedding, a Muslim comedy to be directed by Wayne Blair (The Sapphires) and co-written by Andrew Knight and Osamah Sami (The Cup). Also in the mix is an adaptation of Helen Garner's book Joe Cinque's Consolation, from feature debutant Sotiris Dounoukos. Meanwhile, Greg McLean (Wolf Creek) returns from LA to make Jungle, based on the true story of best-selling author Yossi Ghinsberg (to be played by Kevin Bacon), who, after losing his friends in the Amazon, is stranded in the jungle with no tools or skills to survive.
Are you in the mood for Love is Now?
The producers of the $2 million Hunter Valley-shot romantic drama Love Is Now are happy to draw attention to the fact they raised much of their finance privately through three key deals with sponsors, but are quick to emphasise this is no product-placement love-in. "It is supported by commercial partners, but we're not under any obligation for product placement," says producer Behren Schultz, a 37-year-old Maitland native with a background in advertising production. The film stars Claire van der Boom and Eamon Farren as young lovers cycling along the NSW Harvest Trail and happily snapping away; the sponsors include a camera manufacturer and a bicycle company but, says Schulz, both came on board because they liked the script, rather than the script being tailored to their needs. "Nikon is a partner but the camera we use is actually about 60 years old, an old film camera," he says. The film opens in 23 Hoyts cinemas nationally on December 4, in what Schulz hopes is a key between-blockbusters window. "We're not going to compete against them," Schultz says, "but we're hoping for a two-to-three-week run."
Back in a JIFF
Melbourne audiences have a fleeting final chance to catch some of the highlights of the Jewish International Film Festival over the next few days, with encore screenings running until Sunday. One of the hottest tickets is likely to be Gett, The Trial of Vivian Amsalem, an exploration of divorce under the structures of rabbinical law, and a portrait of a woman who refuses to be bowed by it. Its encore screening, on Thursday November 27, is selling fast. Other films getting a last fling include Brave Miss World, Shititsel, The Last Mensch and King of the Jews. Details: jiff.com.au
On twitter: @karlkwin
