Author: Matthew Arcari

It will help if you read this introductory par in the voice of a 1930’s movie serial announcer. Greetings fellow adventurers, and welcome to Strange Brigade, the new cooperative shooter from developer Rebellion. Right out the gate, Strange Brigade prides itself on blending Indiana Jones with Brendan Fraser’s The Mummy franchise in order to create…

Two-time Oscar nominated actress Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook) will lead an all-star cast in the upcoming Stan Original series Bloom. The six-part drama series from Playmaker will be distributed by Sony with principal funding from Screen Australia. The all-star cast will also include Bryan Brown (The Light Between Oceans, Red Dog True Blue), Phoebe Tonkin…

Streaming service Amazon Prime Video have just shown off the first footage from the anticipated third season of their critically acclaimed series The Man in the High Castle. Based on author Phillip K. Dick’s award-winning alternate history novel, The Man in the High Castle paints a daunting picture, placing the axis powers in a state of…

After its world premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival, the new feature Jimmy Barnes: Working Class Boy was released on 220 Australian cinema screens last week, making it the biggest documentary release since Michael Jackson’s This Is It back in 2009, and the biggest ever release for an Australian documentary. From acclaimed director Mark Joffe (Jack…

Production has officially begun on Disney’s live-action adaptation of the 1998 animated classic coming of age story, Mulan. This marks yet another live-action adaptation for Disney, which found massive success in the recently adapted Beauty and the Beast. The film will shoot in various locations in New Zealand and China and will open in cinemas…

ABC and Screen Australia have announced four short-form documentary projects have received funding through ABC and Screen Australia’s Art Bites Initiative. This initiative is currently in its third year, encouraging filmmakers to produce a total of 6 x 5-minute documentary series for ABC’s online viewing platform ABC iView, based around art. Each team will receive…

With the list of new and available smartphones increasing daily, the Huawei Nova 3e, known elsewhere as the Nova P20 lite, is admittedly a surprising entry promising high tech, for the low RRP of $399 AUD. While it seems like a lot to live up to, don’t let the price tag fool you. This is…

Screen Australia has announced that celebrated Australian actor Hugo Weaving (Lord of the Rings, The Matrix) will star in M4M, a contemporary take on Shakespeare’s play Measure for Measure. Set within Melbourne’s commission flats, M4M tells the unlikely love story of a Muslim woman Jaiwara and a local loner musician Claudio. While their relationship develops, local…

Screen Producers Australia (SPA) has announced they are now partnering with airline Virgin Australia in order to create a new offers and opportunities for Associate Members, now allowing a whopping 64kg of checked baggage per member, when traveling domestically within Australia. This partnership hopes to address the ongoing issues that crew members and productions alike…

Three films have been selected as part of the 75th Venice International Film Festival program, which will run from 29 August to 8 September, 2018. The three films selected include Jennifer Kent’s (The Babadook) highly anticipated second feature film The Nightingale, alongside two virtual reality films The Unknown Patient and Awaneva. Director Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale is…

Transmission Film has announced that actress Jane Fonda (Grace and Frankie, Barbarella) will attend the Australian premiere of her upcoming comedy Book Club. Starring alongside Diane Keaton (The Godfather), Mary Steenburgen  (Step Brothers) and Candice Bergen (Murphy Brown), Book Club centres around Diane, played by Keaton, widowed after 40 years of marriage. On the contrary, Vivian, played by…

Screen Australia have announced they will be investing a whopping $17 million across 23 projects comprised of six films, ten television series and seven online productions. Highlights include a movie adaptation of Jane Harper’s international hit novel The Dry, to be directed by veteran filmmaker Robert Connolly. Graeme Mason, CEO of Screen Australia commented on the…

Famous Australian actor Joel Edgerton (Warrior), takes his talents to the directing chair, as the first trailer for his film Boy Erased is released. Edgerton will also write, produce and co-star. The film will focus on the trails and tribulations of homosexuality, as Jared, the son of a Baptist pastor in a small American town, comes…

ABC, Screen Australia and Film Victoria have announced that filming has begun on the second season of the comedy series Get Krack!n, created, written, produced by and starring Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan. As the follow-up to ‘The Kates’ classic first series hailed by critics as “the finest satire ever put to air on Australian…

Attention filmmakers! Film submissions for the 2019 SXSW (South by Southwest) Film Festival are now open, providing both established and aspiring filmmakers alike to jump on board! Once again held in Austin, Texas, the 2019 Festival is set to take place from 8-17 March. The SXSW offers filmmakers a life changing opportunity, ranging from feature…

With San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) wrapped up for this year, there’s no doubt each year’s conference rules the entertainment universe with its mind blowing announcements from films, TV shows and the latest and upcoming games. So without further ado, let’s recap some of the biggest announcements you may have missed this year. FILMS First off,…

The newest web series created by sisters Hannah and Eliza Reilly (Growing Up Graceful) will be known as Sheilas, and is set to premiere later next month and the 21st of August. The four-part series has been funded under Screen Australia’s Gender Matters, a celebration of brilliant and innovative storytelling celebrating the growth of female…

Screen Australia has announced it will be funding a total $2.9 million towards 10 Documentary Producer and Documentary Commissioned Programs. This announcement includes funding for a Black Saturday ABC feature, alongside a feature behind now retired AFL legend Adam Goodes. Liz Stevens, Senior Manager of Documentary at Screen Australia commented on the news, stating, “Documentary is…

The Korean Film Festival in Australia (KOFFIA) will be returning to Australia for its 2018 program with a whopping 22 Korean films across all genres. The Festival will take place in Sydney (9-18 August), Brisbane (15-16 August), Melbourne (6-13 September) and Canberra (21-23 September). Presented by the Korean Cultural Centre Australia, KOFFIA aims to showcase…

Still hot from it’s box office success in New Zealand, the Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok) executive produced comedy The Breaker Upperers is set to tour down under, with directors Jackie Van Beek (What We Do in the Shadows) and Madeleine Sami (Slow West) leading the charge of upcoming Q&A screenings across the country. The Breaker Upperers follows Mel and Jen,…

KinoKozert. Live! looks to shake up the movie -going experience with a unique series, blending film and music, while featuring some of the most talented musicians from Australia and Germany. Presented by the Goethe-Institut Australia, KinoKonzert. Live! will start 14 July with Crossroads, a modern silent film written and directed by Berlin underground legends “Alexander Hacke and…

Screen Australia has announced that new development guidelines have been finalised and are now in effect, following two months of industry consultation. These guidelines will look to make funding more accessible, while supporting talent with a strong idea and concise target audience. Senior Development Executive at Screen Australia Nerida Moore commented on this change, saying “Industry support…

In an Australian first, five stars from the hit series Twin Peaks will be touring Australia for an exclusive ‘Conversation with the Stars’ evening from 25 August to 2 September, 2018. The event will take place in Melbourne at the Palais Theatre 25 August, Brisbane’s Eatons Hill 26 August, Adelaide’s Thebarton Theatre 29 August, Sydney’s…

ACMI and Film Victoria have officially announced the full lineup for Series Mania 2018, packed with a program of 23 series set to launch in Melbourne at ACMI in Melbourne’s Federation Square later this month. The program consists of 20 TV series and 3 web series, including highlights in the form of 5 world premieres,…

The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) will include a whopping 43 feature films and special shorts hand picked from this year’s Cannes Film Festival. For many of these films, this will be their first screening outside of Cannes. Ahead of the full program announcement on 10 July, the Cannes line-up will feature festival award winners…

The Crew 2 immediately presents itself as a different kind of racer, drawing on its arcade-like mechanics of the past, while infusing they with new mechanics encouraging transformation and an even bigger variety of vehicles to choose from, across the land, sea and sky. Seems like an improvement right? Well, not exactly. While The Crew…

The Queensland Film Festival (QFF) returns this year with one of the largest celebrations of film and art to date. From July 19 to 29, the Brisbane-based festival will boast 59 features and shorts, inluding 39 Australian premieres and an exhibition at Gallery of Modern Art, that will also run the course of the festival….

Let’s get one thing straight. Paladins does little to hide its Overwatch inspirations. Team-based multiplayer action tied together with an expansive and varied roster of heroes, it may come down to poor timing that Paladins lacks the originality it arguably deserves. But it doesn’t end there, as the Switch version gives users an experience so far…

The Screen Makers Conference and Marketplace has announced its full program for 2018, with Every Cloud Productions’ Fiona Eagger (Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries) to speak on relevant issues in the industry. The event will take place from Friday the 27th to Saturday the 28th of July at Adelaide’s Mercury Cinema. Other notable sessions include Casting…

Images for the upcoming Australian film Palm Beach directed by Rachel Ward (The Thorn Birds) have been revealed, with the project currently shooting on Sydney’s northern beaches. Palm Beach is a drama-comedy based around a group of lifelong friends reuniting to celebrate a special birthday, with Palm Beach acting as a gorgeous backdrop for the dramatic…