Media Man Australia Profiles
Financial News
Sunday, October 05, 2008
1974: Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells, by Jade Wright, Liverpool Echo - 4th October 2008
Originally rejected for being ‘unmarketable’, Tubular Bells gained international recognition when its opening theme was chosen for the 1973 film The Exorcist.
It was the first record released by the Virgin label, after being championed by Richard Branson.
Oldfield has already approached (and was rejected by) many other established record labels. But he played his demos to some of the engineers at Virgin and they, along with their boss Branson, decided to give him a chance.
Oldfield played most of the instruments on the album, recording them one at a time and layering the recordings to create the finished work. Many of his subsequent albums feature this technique. Though fairly common in the music industry now, at the time of the production of Tubular Bells not many musicians made use of it, preferring multi-musician "session" recordings.
The late Vivian Stanshall provided the voice of the Master of Ceremonies who reads off the list of instruments at the end of the first movement.
The cover design was by Trevor Key, who would go on to create the covers of many Oldfield albums.
The concept for the triangular bell came when Oldfield dented the set of bells used to record the album.
The piece was later orchestrated by David Bedford for The Orchestral Tubular Bells version and it had two sequels in the 1990s, Tubular Bells II and III.
1984: David Bowie – Tonight
CRITICS slammed this Bowie album as a lazy effort, dashed off to recapture Let's Dance's chart success.
Yet it features collaborations with Tina Turner and a cover of the Beach Boys' God Only Knows, and bore the top 10 hit Blue Jean.
It also featured the minor hit Loving The Alien, about religious conflict and one of the few songs from Tonight to later return to Bowie's stage repertoire.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Virgin
It was the first record released by the Virgin label, after being championed by Richard Branson.
Oldfield has already approached (and was rejected by) many other established record labels. But he played his demos to some of the engineers at Virgin and they, along with their boss Branson, decided to give him a chance.
Oldfield played most of the instruments on the album, recording them one at a time and layering the recordings to create the finished work. Many of his subsequent albums feature this technique. Though fairly common in the music industry now, at the time of the production of Tubular Bells not many musicians made use of it, preferring multi-musician "session" recordings.
The late Vivian Stanshall provided the voice of the Master of Ceremonies who reads off the list of instruments at the end of the first movement.
The cover design was by Trevor Key, who would go on to create the covers of many Oldfield albums.
The concept for the triangular bell came when Oldfield dented the set of bells used to record the album.
The piece was later orchestrated by David Bedford for The Orchestral Tubular Bells version and it had two sequels in the 1990s, Tubular Bells II and III.
1984: David Bowie – Tonight
CRITICS slammed this Bowie album as a lazy effort, dashed off to recapture Let's Dance's chart success.
Yet it features collaborations with Tina Turner and a cover of the Beach Boys' God Only Knows, and bore the top 10 hit Blue Jean.
It also featured the minor hit Loving The Alien, about religious conflict and one of the few songs from Tonight to later return to Bowie's stage repertoire.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Virgin
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Richard Branson and Kevin Spacey pick award winner
30th September 2008
Press Release
Winning Virgin Media Shorts 2008 film announced
Virgin Media has today announced the winner of the first ever Virgin Media Shorts Award. In association with FilmFlex, Virgin Media Shorts is a unique short film competition championing the best undiscovered film talent in the UK.
Winning film makers Phil Sansom and Olly Williams were awarded the grand prize by host Johnny Vaughan at the awards ceremony held at the British Film Institute. The Black Hole beat off stiff competition from more than 1,400 entries, and was chosen from a short-list of 12 by a prestigious panel of film industry experts including film and stage actor Kevin Spacey, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson and Bend it Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha.
The team behind The Black Hole receive up to £30,000 towards their next film, as well as nationwide exposure to millions of people across the country. Each of the 12 short-listed films are currently being shown at 212 cinemas across the UK for a whole year, until July 2009. The films will also be available to 3.5 million Virgin Media TV customers to watch for free through the FilmFlex Movies on Demand service, and the films can be watched on the website (www.virginmediashorts.co.uk). The winning film will also be shown nationwide on Virgin1 on 18th October. Virgin Mobile customers can download clips of the films through the Mobile Bites site.
Phil Sansom and Olly Williams met in 2001 at the Wimbledon School of Art and have worked together before, but The Black Hole is their first short film and was made specifically for Virgin Media Shorts. It was shot in just one day at an office in Twickenham, with the help of actor Napoleon Ryan, who the duo met whilst working on a music video for British indie band The Hoosiers. In the film, Napoleon plays bored office worker ‘Charlie’, who becomes consumed by greed after accidentally photocopying a black hole, ending with a compelling twist to the tale.
The winner of the People’s Choice Award, voted for by the British public, was also announced at the ceremony. This prize was awarded to Justin Waite for his film The Hobbyist, which secured a staggering 37 per cent of the public vote beating off the other 11 short-listed films. Justin, who is also known as Johnny Vaughan’s former sidekick ‘Welshy’ on his Capital Radio breakfast show, stars in his short film about an unusual hobby. The pair were reunited on stage at the Virgin Media Shorts awards ceremony.
Richard Branson said “Virgin Media Shorts is in keeping with Virgin beliefs in celebrating up and coming talent and I’m sure the exposure this competition gives the film makers will have a huge impact on their lives. The Black Hole is an original, engaging film which audiences will love, I’m sure I speak for all my fellow judges when I say we’re delighted to have been involved at such an early stage in their careers.”
Virgin Media’s chief executive of content, Malcolm Wall, said “The first ever Virgin Media Shorts competition has been a phenomenal success. We were delighted with the quality of the entries and the vast amount of undiscovered talent we’ve uncovered, which proves British film making is fresher and more creative than ever.”
What the rest of the Virgin Media Shorts judging panel thought
Kevin Spacey commented: “I was very impressed with the quality of the 12 short-listed films for Virgin Media Shorts. If these film makers can show the same skill when they move on to larger and more ambitious projects, we should be in for a real treat.”
Film director Gurinder Chadha, who directed Bend it Like Beckham and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, said of The Black Hole “Perfect storytelling within the limited time frame and with a great twist as well.”
Oscar nominated film director Daniel Barber commented on The Black Hole: “A terrific idea, beautifully crafted; the work of a future star director!”
Stephen Mangan, star of Green Wing and Confetti, raved about The Black Hole: “A great story that contains a lot of unexpected twists and turns and beautifully shot."
Film critic James King’s thoughts on The Black Hole: “Eerily simple yet powerfully effective. Excellent technical credits complete this near-perfect short film.”
Lenny Crooks, Head of the UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund said “The Black Hole is a deceptively simple idea, perfectly executed.”
Melanie Hussey, who won a competition to be Virgin Media’s Customer Judge, said “I believe a strong message is essential for a good short film. The Black Hole has a strong story and is well structured, with some interesting camera work, making for a great short film. It’s been a real honour to be part of such an impressive judging panel alongside the likes of Kevin Spacey and Richard Branson, and I’ve loved every minute.”
For more information about Virgin Media Shorts, visit www.virginmediashorts.co.uk.
Notes to editors
Media contacts
Verity Jukes
Brand PR Manager
Virgin Media
0207 909 2120 / 07730 897927
Verity.Jukes@virginmedia.co.uk
Virgin Media
Virgin Media is an innovative and pioneering UK entertainment and communications business. For the first time consumers can get everything they need from one company - the UK's only quad-play of TV, broadband, phone and mobile, plus the most advanced TV on demand service, all delivered through its unique fibre-optic cable network. Virgin Media launched the UK’s first high definition TV service, is the only TV platform to carry BBC iPlayer, and offers a high-specification, HD-ready V+ personal video recorder. Virgin Media is the UK’s largest residential broadband provider, the largest virtual mobile network operator and the second-largest provider of pay TV and home phone.
Virgin Media owns two content businesses - Virgin Media Television (VMTV) and sit-up. VMTV owns seven entertainment channels – Virgin1, Living, Living 2, Bravo, Bravo 2, Challenge and Trouble - and is a 50% partner in UKTV which consists of nine channels including Dave, UKTV Gold and UKTV History. sit-up runs retail TV channels bid tv, price-drop tv and speed auction tv.
Virgin Media has been voted the sixth Most Loved Brand in Britain in a Marketing magazine poll, as well as having been voted the Most Trusted ISP Brand 2008 by Reader’s Digest magazine. The Sunday Times also awarded Virgin Media its 2008 Best Buy awards for broadband and movies on demand.
Virgin Media is the largest Virgin company in the world and has almost 10 million customers. To find out more visit www.virginmedia.com/presscentre.
FilmFlex
FilmFlex is the UK’s leading on demand film service with over five hundred film titles available at all times, and the service is fully on demand. FilmFlex is available to all Virgin Media TV customers. FilmFlex is a joint venture initiative between Sony Pictures Television International (a Sony Pictures Entertainment company) and Walt Disney Television International.
The FilmFlex service allows Virgin Media TV customers to choose what to watch, when to watch it and to control the movie like a DVD. More than five hundred films are now instantly available on FilmFlex including new releases, which have never before been seen on TV in the UK as well as an extensive library catalogue. No extra equipment, installation or additional monthly subscription is required for Virgin Media TV customers.
Find out more at www.virginmedia.com/moviesondemand
Media Man Australia Profiles
Virgin Media
Richard Branson
Press Release
Winning Virgin Media Shorts 2008 film announced
Virgin Media has today announced the winner of the first ever Virgin Media Shorts Award. In association with FilmFlex, Virgin Media Shorts is a unique short film competition championing the best undiscovered film talent in the UK.
Winning film makers Phil Sansom and Olly Williams were awarded the grand prize by host Johnny Vaughan at the awards ceremony held at the British Film Institute. The Black Hole beat off stiff competition from more than 1,400 entries, and was chosen from a short-list of 12 by a prestigious panel of film industry experts including film and stage actor Kevin Spacey, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson and Bend it Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha.
The team behind The Black Hole receive up to £30,000 towards their next film, as well as nationwide exposure to millions of people across the country. Each of the 12 short-listed films are currently being shown at 212 cinemas across the UK for a whole year, until July 2009. The films will also be available to 3.5 million Virgin Media TV customers to watch for free through the FilmFlex Movies on Demand service, and the films can be watched on the website (www.virginmediashorts.co.uk). The winning film will also be shown nationwide on Virgin1 on 18th October. Virgin Mobile customers can download clips of the films through the Mobile Bites site.
Phil Sansom and Olly Williams met in 2001 at the Wimbledon School of Art and have worked together before, but The Black Hole is their first short film and was made specifically for Virgin Media Shorts. It was shot in just one day at an office in Twickenham, with the help of actor Napoleon Ryan, who the duo met whilst working on a music video for British indie band The Hoosiers. In the film, Napoleon plays bored office worker ‘Charlie’, who becomes consumed by greed after accidentally photocopying a black hole, ending with a compelling twist to the tale.
The winner of the People’s Choice Award, voted for by the British public, was also announced at the ceremony. This prize was awarded to Justin Waite for his film The Hobbyist, which secured a staggering 37 per cent of the public vote beating off the other 11 short-listed films. Justin, who is also known as Johnny Vaughan’s former sidekick ‘Welshy’ on his Capital Radio breakfast show, stars in his short film about an unusual hobby. The pair were reunited on stage at the Virgin Media Shorts awards ceremony.
Richard Branson said “Virgin Media Shorts is in keeping with Virgin beliefs in celebrating up and coming talent and I’m sure the exposure this competition gives the film makers will have a huge impact on their lives. The Black Hole is an original, engaging film which audiences will love, I’m sure I speak for all my fellow judges when I say we’re delighted to have been involved at such an early stage in their careers.”
Virgin Media’s chief executive of content, Malcolm Wall, said “The first ever Virgin Media Shorts competition has been a phenomenal success. We were delighted with the quality of the entries and the vast amount of undiscovered talent we’ve uncovered, which proves British film making is fresher and more creative than ever.”
What the rest of the Virgin Media Shorts judging panel thought
Kevin Spacey commented: “I was very impressed with the quality of the 12 short-listed films for Virgin Media Shorts. If these film makers can show the same skill when they move on to larger and more ambitious projects, we should be in for a real treat.”
Film director Gurinder Chadha, who directed Bend it Like Beckham and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, said of The Black Hole “Perfect storytelling within the limited time frame and with a great twist as well.”
Oscar nominated film director Daniel Barber commented on The Black Hole: “A terrific idea, beautifully crafted; the work of a future star director!”
Stephen Mangan, star of Green Wing and Confetti, raved about The Black Hole: “A great story that contains a lot of unexpected twists and turns and beautifully shot."
Film critic James King’s thoughts on The Black Hole: “Eerily simple yet powerfully effective. Excellent technical credits complete this near-perfect short film.”
Lenny Crooks, Head of the UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund said “The Black Hole is a deceptively simple idea, perfectly executed.”
Melanie Hussey, who won a competition to be Virgin Media’s Customer Judge, said “I believe a strong message is essential for a good short film. The Black Hole has a strong story and is well structured, with some interesting camera work, making for a great short film. It’s been a real honour to be part of such an impressive judging panel alongside the likes of Kevin Spacey and Richard Branson, and I’ve loved every minute.”
For more information about Virgin Media Shorts, visit www.virginmediashorts.co.uk.
Notes to editors
Media contacts
Verity Jukes
Brand PR Manager
Virgin Media
0207 909 2120 / 07730 897927
Verity.Jukes@virginmedia.co.uk
Virgin Media
Virgin Media is an innovative and pioneering UK entertainment and communications business. For the first time consumers can get everything they need from one company - the UK's only quad-play of TV, broadband, phone and mobile, plus the most advanced TV on demand service, all delivered through its unique fibre-optic cable network. Virgin Media launched the UK’s first high definition TV service, is the only TV platform to carry BBC iPlayer, and offers a high-specification, HD-ready V+ personal video recorder. Virgin Media is the UK’s largest residential broadband provider, the largest virtual mobile network operator and the second-largest provider of pay TV and home phone.
Virgin Media owns two content businesses - Virgin Media Television (VMTV) and sit-up. VMTV owns seven entertainment channels – Virgin1, Living, Living 2, Bravo, Bravo 2, Challenge and Trouble - and is a 50% partner in UKTV which consists of nine channels including Dave, UKTV Gold and UKTV History. sit-up runs retail TV channels bid tv, price-drop tv and speed auction tv.
Virgin Media has been voted the sixth Most Loved Brand in Britain in a Marketing magazine poll, as well as having been voted the Most Trusted ISP Brand 2008 by Reader’s Digest magazine. The Sunday Times also awarded Virgin Media its 2008 Best Buy awards for broadband and movies on demand.
Virgin Media is the largest Virgin company in the world and has almost 10 million customers. To find out more visit www.virginmedia.com/presscentre.
FilmFlex
FilmFlex is the UK’s leading on demand film service with over five hundred film titles available at all times, and the service is fully on demand. FilmFlex is available to all Virgin Media TV customers. FilmFlex is a joint venture initiative between Sony Pictures Television International (a Sony Pictures Entertainment company) and Walt Disney Television International.
The FilmFlex service allows Virgin Media TV customers to choose what to watch, when to watch it and to control the movie like a DVD. More than five hundred films are now instantly available on FilmFlex including new releases, which have never before been seen on TV in the UK as well as an extensive library catalogue. No extra equipment, installation or additional monthly subscription is required for Virgin Media TV customers.
Find out more at www.virginmedia.com/moviesondemand
Media Man Australia Profiles
Virgin Media
Richard Branson
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Profile on Kim Kindersley
Actor and award winning documentary film maker who communicates conservation and climate change on behalf of whales, dolphins and indigenous people, with his latest production “Whaledreamers” about to hit the screens.
Kim Kindersley has been making documentaries and working in environmental media for over 18 years. He has worked with PlanetArk, Global Green, Greenpeace, IFAW, Climate Friendly, Whaleman Foundation and many others. With Pierce Brosnan, he created many Global Campaigns for sustainability and Save the Whales.
Having known Julian Lennon (son of Beattle John Lennon) for thirty years, Kim says: “We have a mutual interest in the messages of the film. Julian is going to release a new album which reflects more and more his own commitment changing the world....and what a legacy to be bringing forward in this way. 20 percent of the films profit will flow into the indigenous cultural projects and whale related causes”.
Julian Lennon was originally inspired to do this film with me after seeing Baraka in a cinema and it was Gordon Bobbin who brought that film to Australian cinemas and to the Orpheum. Baraka is the longest running film in Australia.
In 1991 Kim completed his first full length Documentary called 'The Dolphin's Gift'. It tells the story of Fungie the friendly dolphin who lives in a bay off the west coast of Ireland.
'It was meeting this dolphin that profoundly changed my perspective on life. I was in the freezing water and he swam right up to me and stared right through me with this all seeing eye.
“I had no idea that there was such magic in the world…I had thought, that happiness came through success and career. From that moment on I determined, that to the best of my ability, I would follow my heart's desire…when the dolphin looked into my eyes I realized that Humanity is totally a part of nature, that we are one with all things and more or less everything that I had been taught was irrelevant without this understanding …".
'Dolphin's Gift' sold all over the world.
Two years later Kim completed his 2nd film "The Dolphin's Story". A tale about a young girl's dream to swim with a dolphin in the wild. The film was shot in Belize and earned Kim a finalist place in the Tele Awards USA."I spent over three weeks on my own with this dolphin in the wild…sometimes over 5 hours a day in the water.
“I built up a close bond with Peto as she was known to the islanders. We began to explore a more telepathic communication that I believe we are all capable of, if only we can quiet the mind. The dolphin became my friend and taught me so much about unconditional love."
Back in London, Kim collaborated with producer Adrian Mondsey to make a version of the film entitled 'Dolphin: a Magical Musical Mystery'.
Other film projects have included 'Sacred Fire', a collaboration with director Kia Miller and the 'The Julian Lennon Story' for Channel V Australia.
In 1995 Kim teamed up with producer TM to research and develop a project called 'Eyes Of The Soul'. As a result of this extensive collaboration relationships have been formed with many Indigenous groups around the world who have deep connections with the Dolphins and Whales.
It is slated to be made into a TV series, Imax film, Feature documentary and Feature film.
"I am consistently amazed and appalled at how little the media covers 'positive magical stories', it's as if the people in power want the world to be a violent, fearful place without hope. Yet we have already most of the solutions to most of the problems on our planet…if only people were allowed to see that there is a choice …that is our main goal here with the work at Heart Magic, to show people that they have a choice and that there is still a magical world out there that is worth preserving and fighting for in a nonviolent way. I believe that the future of our continued life on this planet hangs in the balance...if we do not wake up collectively now we could be condemning future generations to extinction."
“Whaledreamers” is the name on the lips of film watchers. Two reviews in Urban Cinefile www.urbancinefile.com.au – in advance of its release in Australia in September – give a clear picture of how it will be received:
REVIEW BY Louise Keller:
It is to Julian Lennon's infectious tune Saltwater that the closing credits roll to this passionate documentary that pleads for better understanding between all people. The film has already won acclaim at various festivals around the world and is sure to raise more interest in Australia, whose indigenous people are at its heart. English actor turned filmmaker Kim Kindersley makes his own personal journey through the film as he joins indigenous tribal leaders from around the world in a spiritual gathering with the Aboriginal Mirning tribe. The whale is their symbol of humanity and through rituals around a fire the indigenous elders make their sacred plea.
It's a thought provoking film that touches on issues of climate change as well as the killing of whales and includes compelling images of the great mammals themselves as they respond to the calling.
It all began for Kindersley 10 years ago in Ireland when researching his ancestral roots. It was swimming with a dolphin that inspired him to begin his research, followed by a promotional film and an invitation to a whale calling ceremony in South Australia by the Mirning tribe's song man Bunna Lawrie. 'People of the world need to reconnect,' says Lawrie, a sentiment with which few would disagree. How Julian Lennon became involved in the project is not made clear, but there is one intriguing fact that comes to light. After a Tribal Elder presents Lennon with a white feather, we are told according to an extract from Cynthia Lennon's book that John Lennon alerted his son to look for a white feather 'And you'll know I'm there looking out for you.'
Cinematic and often rousing, Whaledreamers will appeal to those who take the changing nature of our world seriously. For Kindersley, the indigenous people at the film's core are perhaps symbolic of the world at large, as they convey their message of love and peace. Actor Jack Thompson pledges his considerable support behind the project not only makes a moving statement at the Byron Bay Film Festival but adds gravitas with his distinctively voiced narration.
REVIEW BY Andrew L. Urban:
There is quite an echo of the mood of the 60s in Whaledreamers, in the best possible sense, with peace, love and harmony major themes. A yearning for the world to heal itself, to enjoy the connections between humans and nature - especially whales and dolphins, of course - and an insight into the core of dreaming as an indigenous life experience. Made with the passion of the committed and the sincerity of the believer, Whaledreamers is both an ecological and a spiritual film, urging us to consider the upside of harmony and the downside of ignorance and environmental carelessness. But it also confronts the whale killing tradition in some indigenous communities.
Whales and dolphins swim past the camera and their (usually) silent witness is message enough. Filmmaker Kim Kindersley has invested years of his time and layers of his being in the film, which is both insistent and sincere.
Jack Thompson narrates in his wonderful voice, and also lends his persona and his stature to the enterprise. He is not merely mouthing the words, but meaning them.
The film will no doubt preach to the converted, but that's no fault of the filmmakers and their supporters; that's the miserable reality of the way the world is. And it is exactly what the filmmakers intended.
Whaledreamers will be the only feature length film shown at Greenfest in Brisbane in October.
For more on Whaledreamers and Kim Kindersley visit these websites:
Source: www.heartmagic.net and www.whaledreamers.com
Media Man Australia Profiles
Whaledreamers
Kim Kindersley has been making documentaries and working in environmental media for over 18 years. He has worked with PlanetArk, Global Green, Greenpeace, IFAW, Climate Friendly, Whaleman Foundation and many others. With Pierce Brosnan, he created many Global Campaigns for sustainability and Save the Whales.
Having known Julian Lennon (son of Beattle John Lennon) for thirty years, Kim says: “We have a mutual interest in the messages of the film. Julian is going to release a new album which reflects more and more his own commitment changing the world....and what a legacy to be bringing forward in this way. 20 percent of the films profit will flow into the indigenous cultural projects and whale related causes”.
Julian Lennon was originally inspired to do this film with me after seeing Baraka in a cinema and it was Gordon Bobbin who brought that film to Australian cinemas and to the Orpheum. Baraka is the longest running film in Australia.
In 1991 Kim completed his first full length Documentary called 'The Dolphin's Gift'. It tells the story of Fungie the friendly dolphin who lives in a bay off the west coast of Ireland.
'It was meeting this dolphin that profoundly changed my perspective on life. I was in the freezing water and he swam right up to me and stared right through me with this all seeing eye.
“I had no idea that there was such magic in the world…I had thought, that happiness came through success and career. From that moment on I determined, that to the best of my ability, I would follow my heart's desire…when the dolphin looked into my eyes I realized that Humanity is totally a part of nature, that we are one with all things and more or less everything that I had been taught was irrelevant without this understanding …".
'Dolphin's Gift' sold all over the world.
Two years later Kim completed his 2nd film "The Dolphin's Story". A tale about a young girl's dream to swim with a dolphin in the wild. The film was shot in Belize and earned Kim a finalist place in the Tele Awards USA."I spent over three weeks on my own with this dolphin in the wild…sometimes over 5 hours a day in the water.
“I built up a close bond with Peto as she was known to the islanders. We began to explore a more telepathic communication that I believe we are all capable of, if only we can quiet the mind. The dolphin became my friend and taught me so much about unconditional love."
Back in London, Kim collaborated with producer Adrian Mondsey to make a version of the film entitled 'Dolphin: a Magical Musical Mystery'.
Other film projects have included 'Sacred Fire', a collaboration with director Kia Miller and the 'The Julian Lennon Story' for Channel V Australia.
In 1995 Kim teamed up with producer TM to research and develop a project called 'Eyes Of The Soul'. As a result of this extensive collaboration relationships have been formed with many Indigenous groups around the world who have deep connections with the Dolphins and Whales.
It is slated to be made into a TV series, Imax film, Feature documentary and Feature film.
"I am consistently amazed and appalled at how little the media covers 'positive magical stories', it's as if the people in power want the world to be a violent, fearful place without hope. Yet we have already most of the solutions to most of the problems on our planet…if only people were allowed to see that there is a choice …that is our main goal here with the work at Heart Magic, to show people that they have a choice and that there is still a magical world out there that is worth preserving and fighting for in a nonviolent way. I believe that the future of our continued life on this planet hangs in the balance...if we do not wake up collectively now we could be condemning future generations to extinction."
“Whaledreamers” is the name on the lips of film watchers. Two reviews in Urban Cinefile www.urbancinefile.com.au – in advance of its release in Australia in September – give a clear picture of how it will be received:
REVIEW BY Louise Keller:
It is to Julian Lennon's infectious tune Saltwater that the closing credits roll to this passionate documentary that pleads for better understanding between all people. The film has already won acclaim at various festivals around the world and is sure to raise more interest in Australia, whose indigenous people are at its heart. English actor turned filmmaker Kim Kindersley makes his own personal journey through the film as he joins indigenous tribal leaders from around the world in a spiritual gathering with the Aboriginal Mirning tribe. The whale is their symbol of humanity and through rituals around a fire the indigenous elders make their sacred plea.
It's a thought provoking film that touches on issues of climate change as well as the killing of whales and includes compelling images of the great mammals themselves as they respond to the calling.
It all began for Kindersley 10 years ago in Ireland when researching his ancestral roots. It was swimming with a dolphin that inspired him to begin his research, followed by a promotional film and an invitation to a whale calling ceremony in South Australia by the Mirning tribe's song man Bunna Lawrie. 'People of the world need to reconnect,' says Lawrie, a sentiment with which few would disagree. How Julian Lennon became involved in the project is not made clear, but there is one intriguing fact that comes to light. After a Tribal Elder presents Lennon with a white feather, we are told according to an extract from Cynthia Lennon's book that John Lennon alerted his son to look for a white feather 'And you'll know I'm there looking out for you.'
Cinematic and often rousing, Whaledreamers will appeal to those who take the changing nature of our world seriously. For Kindersley, the indigenous people at the film's core are perhaps symbolic of the world at large, as they convey their message of love and peace. Actor Jack Thompson pledges his considerable support behind the project not only makes a moving statement at the Byron Bay Film Festival but adds gravitas with his distinctively voiced narration.
REVIEW BY Andrew L. Urban:
There is quite an echo of the mood of the 60s in Whaledreamers, in the best possible sense, with peace, love and harmony major themes. A yearning for the world to heal itself, to enjoy the connections between humans and nature - especially whales and dolphins, of course - and an insight into the core of dreaming as an indigenous life experience. Made with the passion of the committed and the sincerity of the believer, Whaledreamers is both an ecological and a spiritual film, urging us to consider the upside of harmony and the downside of ignorance and environmental carelessness. But it also confronts the whale killing tradition in some indigenous communities.
Whales and dolphins swim past the camera and their (usually) silent witness is message enough. Filmmaker Kim Kindersley has invested years of his time and layers of his being in the film, which is both insistent and sincere.
Jack Thompson narrates in his wonderful voice, and also lends his persona and his stature to the enterprise. He is not merely mouthing the words, but meaning them.
The film will no doubt preach to the converted, but that's no fault of the filmmakers and their supporters; that's the miserable reality of the way the world is. And it is exactly what the filmmakers intended.
Whaledreamers will be the only feature length film shown at Greenfest in Brisbane in October.
For more on Whaledreamers and Kim Kindersley visit these websites:
Source: www.heartmagic.net and www.whaledreamers.com
Media Man Australia Profiles
Whaledreamers
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Media Man Australia Film Update
Media Man Australia has assisted in a media, publicity and / or capital raising capacity on the following:
Entrepreneurs - the Reality Show
Sum Of Existence
Sweet Cyanide
Joy's World
Australia's Greatest Entrepreneurs (interviewed and PR via Media Man Australia network)
Fight Of The Century
Brothers At War
Whaledreamers
Internet Movie Database
Greg Tingle
Website
Media Man Australia
Entrepreneurs - the Reality Show
Sum Of Existence
Sweet Cyanide
Joy's World
Australia's Greatest Entrepreneurs (interviewed and PR via Media Man Australia network)
Fight Of The Century
Brothers At War
Whaledreamers
Internet Movie Database
Greg Tingle
Website
Media Man Australia
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Projecting a new image, by Garry Maddox - The Sydney Morning Herald - 12th July 2008
As finance tightens, Australian filmmaking gets a chance to do it smarter, writes Garry Maddox.
A political thriller about the 1975 killing of five newsmen in East Timor has begun filming in Darwin. Baz Luhrmann is finishing the epic Australia, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, at Sydney's Fox Studios. And three locally produced films - Unfinished Sky, Children Of The Silk Road and Ten Empty - are screening in cinemas.
Four more Australian releases were well-received at the Sydney Film Festival - Three Blind Mice, The Square , Salute and Son Of A Lion. And a new study insists cinema audiences want to see the country's films, even if their share of box office was just 4 per cent last year.
But the biggest development in Australian film isn't on sets or in cinema queues. It is in the temporary headquarters of the new Federal Government agency, Screen Australia, which this month replaced three former agencies supporting different parts of the industry.
While it is early days - a board chaired by the IBM boss, Glenn Boreham, has been appointed and prospective chief executives have been interviewed - the new body promises a fresh start for an industry that for years has been stuttering, surging, then stalling again. It is shaping up as the biggest shake-up for Australian film in decades.
When its permanent home in Woolloomooloo is finished, Screen Australia will bring under one roof various stages of filmmaking - script development, production, marketing. It will finance culturally significant films, television programs, documentaries and shorts. But its biggest role will be overseeing the handsome incentives for production that were announced by the Howard government last year, including a 40 per cent producer offset for films.
"I think it's a genuine threshold moment for Australia's film industry," says the federal Arts Minister, Peter Garrett. "We have a remarkable history - a reservoir of talent, no shortage of infrastructure and capacity - but recently we haven't in any way realised our potential as a filmmaking cultural nation. The new agency provides a really, really good opportunity to chart a strong and a positive course for filmmaking and visual work generally."
In the 1980s, Australian films were backed by a controversial system of tax concessions that were eventually scrapped because of the cost to government and regular abuse. The replacement was the Film Finance Corporation, which tried various methods of funding that relied mostly on film distributors, sales agents, broadcasters and occasionally private investors determining what was made.
But the tightening of finance has meant the industry has been averaging just 23 films a year, with many having bare-bones budgets of less than $3 million.
Among the triumphs of the past five years, including the Hollywood-backed animation Happy Feet, the privately financed Kenny and such small gems as Ten Canoes and The Black Balloon, many dark and difficult films struggled to find an audience.
Among them were the impressively made but confronting Little Fish, Candy, Romulus, My Father, The Home Song Stories, The Jammed, Somersault, The Proposition and Jindabyne.
It has become rare for an Australian film to be released on more than 100 of the country's almost 2000 cinema screens, which means filmmakers are struggling to get their work into multiplexes. The country's share of annual box office reflects that: less than 5 per cent for six successive years.
Garrett believes the new system can boost the number of films and add some bigger budgets. "I'm hoping that we can get to 35 or so films or more being made in a year," he says. "They'll have varying budgets.
"[But] the competition for filmmaking project monies is certainly getting more intense, not less. It's not a walk in the park to come up with a strong mechanism that assists investment. I think we've got to work very, very hard both through the new agency and also across the community and across other agencies as well."
Already there are encouraging signs for larger and more varied films. The Sydney screenwriter John Collee, who co-wrote Master and Commander and Happy Feet, says producers have been seeking scripts for films budgeted at up to $60 million. He mentions adaptations of Robert Drewe's The Drowner, about an engineer who brings water to the West Australian desert, and John Bailey's The White Divers Of Broome, about the pearl industry.
"I've certainly noticed with the rebate there's been a sudden pick-up of activity at the level I work at," says Collee. "It seems to be genuinely encouraging people to take on big Australian projects in the way they wouldn't before."
Also expected to take advantage of the offset are the animations Guardians Of Ga'Hoole and Happy Feet 2. The leading Australian director Phil Noyce plans to use it for the long-awaited film version of Dirt Music and My Brother's Keeper, the Bra Boys film he is to co-produce and which Russell Crowe intends to direct.
"Time will tell but the promise of ownership that comes with the rebate could well attract gung-ho Australian business minds more interested in stocks and real estate over the last decade," Noyce says. "The market for non-studio, non-American films is rapidly shrinking and certainly Australia is no longer flavour of the month with American buyers or audiences."
Noyce believes it will be hard for Australian producers to raise the other 60 per cent of their budgets now that Hollywood studios are backing away from "indie" projects, with their profitability undermined by piracy, and the collapse of the pre-sale market for films.
"More than ever, Australia needs producers with strong entrepreneurial flair and international contacts to film finance," he says. "For our films to reconnect with local audiences, more emphasis needs to be placed on script and writer development and a huge redirection of resources needs to go to marketing, even at the cost of making fewer movies."
The first controversy of the new offset came when the Oscar-winning director George Miller, whose films include the Mad Max trilogy and Happy Feet, was knocked back for the Hollywood-backed Justice League Mortal. Once the looming actors' strike is resolved, he expects to shoot the movie overseas. Also working on Happy Feet 2 and a video game for a fourth Mad Max movie, Miller seems unsure how Screen Australia will fare.
"It really depends on the quality of the people manning the agency and just how rigorous they are in keeping up with the rapid changes happening in the film industry and media worldwide," he says. "It makes sense in some ways that they're rationalising resources, bringing a bunch of agencies under one roof, but that puts more pressure on the quality of the executives, the staff and the board."
Miller says the digital revolution is changing everything about filmmaking, including the types of stories being produced, the way they are being made and how they are screened for viewers. The gap between video games and films is closing, viewers are using a variety of small screens, and Hollywood is investing heavily in 3-D movies to boost cinema-going.
"A screen on a key chain or a mobile phone is just as legitimate as a big IMAX cinema showing stereo 3-D," says Miller. "Your stories get shown in so many different ways now."
Miller, who once compared the film industry to the Fijian and Samoan rugby teams for having some brilliant one-off talents but not enough support to match the world's best, says filmmakers will have to adapt quickly to these changes.
"It's no longer a game of football," he says. "It's a game of Quidditch. It's multi-dimensional."
The 40 per cent offset also seems less impressive than a year ago because of the rising dollar and competition from other countries. As Miller points out, it was recently matched by the buzzing New Zealand industry, which has attracted the leading Hollywood filmmakers James Cameron for Avatar and Steven Spielberg for Tintin.
The country's producers, however, seem cautiously optimistic about the boost from incentives.
"We've launched this new financial product in the most difficult circumstances, with financial markets in disarray, so that hasn't helped," says Geoff Brown, the executive director of the Screen Producers Association of Australia. "It's newness hasn't helped either. Some producers are managing by having had pre-existing relationships with investors but the vast majority are finding it very difficult to line up the finance."
Brown expects it will take one to two years for producers to operate successfully under the new system.
The Opposition arts spokeswoman, Sharman Stone, says the slowness in appointing a chief executive and fewer-than-expected staff at Screen Australia are problems for the industry. "You've got no fat at all in the system," she says.
"We don't want to spend 12 months with Screen Australia sorting itself out … We've cut away a lot of the red tape. This was the great Coalition dream to have this streamlined new organisation - a one-stop shop - where you had the promotion and the funding and the creative support all in the one organisation. Let's hope it heralds a great new era."
One prominent film executive questions the efficiency of an agency with a staff of about 180 and initial overheads of $30 million.
Then there is the big question of whether this new system can improve the quality of Australian films.
John Collee believes it's time to stop making so many dark and difficult films. "We have to get beyond self-flagellation because nobody wants to see that on a Saturday night," he says.
"I'm not saying you can't deal with difficult subjects but there needs to be a redemptive or slightly positive turn to it."
Garry Maddox is the Herald's film writer.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Actors, Directors and Producers
News
Film Reviews
A political thriller about the 1975 killing of five newsmen in East Timor has begun filming in Darwin. Baz Luhrmann is finishing the epic Australia, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, at Sydney's Fox Studios. And three locally produced films - Unfinished Sky, Children Of The Silk Road and Ten Empty - are screening in cinemas.
Four more Australian releases were well-received at the Sydney Film Festival - Three Blind Mice, The Square , Salute and Son Of A Lion. And a new study insists cinema audiences want to see the country's films, even if their share of box office was just 4 per cent last year.
But the biggest development in Australian film isn't on sets or in cinema queues. It is in the temporary headquarters of the new Federal Government agency, Screen Australia, which this month replaced three former agencies supporting different parts of the industry.
While it is early days - a board chaired by the IBM boss, Glenn Boreham, has been appointed and prospective chief executives have been interviewed - the new body promises a fresh start for an industry that for years has been stuttering, surging, then stalling again. It is shaping up as the biggest shake-up for Australian film in decades.
When its permanent home in Woolloomooloo is finished, Screen Australia will bring under one roof various stages of filmmaking - script development, production, marketing. It will finance culturally significant films, television programs, documentaries and shorts. But its biggest role will be overseeing the handsome incentives for production that were announced by the Howard government last year, including a 40 per cent producer offset for films.
"I think it's a genuine threshold moment for Australia's film industry," says the federal Arts Minister, Peter Garrett. "We have a remarkable history - a reservoir of talent, no shortage of infrastructure and capacity - but recently we haven't in any way realised our potential as a filmmaking cultural nation. The new agency provides a really, really good opportunity to chart a strong and a positive course for filmmaking and visual work generally."
In the 1980s, Australian films were backed by a controversial system of tax concessions that were eventually scrapped because of the cost to government and regular abuse. The replacement was the Film Finance Corporation, which tried various methods of funding that relied mostly on film distributors, sales agents, broadcasters and occasionally private investors determining what was made.
But the tightening of finance has meant the industry has been averaging just 23 films a year, with many having bare-bones budgets of less than $3 million.
Among the triumphs of the past five years, including the Hollywood-backed animation Happy Feet, the privately financed Kenny and such small gems as Ten Canoes and The Black Balloon, many dark and difficult films struggled to find an audience.
Among them were the impressively made but confronting Little Fish, Candy, Romulus, My Father, The Home Song Stories, The Jammed, Somersault, The Proposition and Jindabyne.
It has become rare for an Australian film to be released on more than 100 of the country's almost 2000 cinema screens, which means filmmakers are struggling to get their work into multiplexes. The country's share of annual box office reflects that: less than 5 per cent for six successive years.
Garrett believes the new system can boost the number of films and add some bigger budgets. "I'm hoping that we can get to 35 or so films or more being made in a year," he says. "They'll have varying budgets.
"[But] the competition for filmmaking project monies is certainly getting more intense, not less. It's not a walk in the park to come up with a strong mechanism that assists investment. I think we've got to work very, very hard both through the new agency and also across the community and across other agencies as well."
Already there are encouraging signs for larger and more varied films. The Sydney screenwriter John Collee, who co-wrote Master and Commander and Happy Feet, says producers have been seeking scripts for films budgeted at up to $60 million. He mentions adaptations of Robert Drewe's The Drowner, about an engineer who brings water to the West Australian desert, and John Bailey's The White Divers Of Broome, about the pearl industry.
"I've certainly noticed with the rebate there's been a sudden pick-up of activity at the level I work at," says Collee. "It seems to be genuinely encouraging people to take on big Australian projects in the way they wouldn't before."
Also expected to take advantage of the offset are the animations Guardians Of Ga'Hoole and Happy Feet 2. The leading Australian director Phil Noyce plans to use it for the long-awaited film version of Dirt Music and My Brother's Keeper, the Bra Boys film he is to co-produce and which Russell Crowe intends to direct.
"Time will tell but the promise of ownership that comes with the rebate could well attract gung-ho Australian business minds more interested in stocks and real estate over the last decade," Noyce says. "The market for non-studio, non-American films is rapidly shrinking and certainly Australia is no longer flavour of the month with American buyers or audiences."
Noyce believes it will be hard for Australian producers to raise the other 60 per cent of their budgets now that Hollywood studios are backing away from "indie" projects, with their profitability undermined by piracy, and the collapse of the pre-sale market for films.
"More than ever, Australia needs producers with strong entrepreneurial flair and international contacts to film finance," he says. "For our films to reconnect with local audiences, more emphasis needs to be placed on script and writer development and a huge redirection of resources needs to go to marketing, even at the cost of making fewer movies."
The first controversy of the new offset came when the Oscar-winning director George Miller, whose films include the Mad Max trilogy and Happy Feet, was knocked back for the Hollywood-backed Justice League Mortal. Once the looming actors' strike is resolved, he expects to shoot the movie overseas. Also working on Happy Feet 2 and a video game for a fourth Mad Max movie, Miller seems unsure how Screen Australia will fare.
"It really depends on the quality of the people manning the agency and just how rigorous they are in keeping up with the rapid changes happening in the film industry and media worldwide," he says. "It makes sense in some ways that they're rationalising resources, bringing a bunch of agencies under one roof, but that puts more pressure on the quality of the executives, the staff and the board."
Miller says the digital revolution is changing everything about filmmaking, including the types of stories being produced, the way they are being made and how they are screened for viewers. The gap between video games and films is closing, viewers are using a variety of small screens, and Hollywood is investing heavily in 3-D movies to boost cinema-going.
"A screen on a key chain or a mobile phone is just as legitimate as a big IMAX cinema showing stereo 3-D," says Miller. "Your stories get shown in so many different ways now."
Miller, who once compared the film industry to the Fijian and Samoan rugby teams for having some brilliant one-off talents but not enough support to match the world's best, says filmmakers will have to adapt quickly to these changes.
"It's no longer a game of football," he says. "It's a game of Quidditch. It's multi-dimensional."
The 40 per cent offset also seems less impressive than a year ago because of the rising dollar and competition from other countries. As Miller points out, it was recently matched by the buzzing New Zealand industry, which has attracted the leading Hollywood filmmakers James Cameron for Avatar and Steven Spielberg for Tintin.
The country's producers, however, seem cautiously optimistic about the boost from incentives.
"We've launched this new financial product in the most difficult circumstances, with financial markets in disarray, so that hasn't helped," says Geoff Brown, the executive director of the Screen Producers Association of Australia. "It's newness hasn't helped either. Some producers are managing by having had pre-existing relationships with investors but the vast majority are finding it very difficult to line up the finance."
Brown expects it will take one to two years for producers to operate successfully under the new system.
The Opposition arts spokeswoman, Sharman Stone, says the slowness in appointing a chief executive and fewer-than-expected staff at Screen Australia are problems for the industry. "You've got no fat at all in the system," she says.
"We don't want to spend 12 months with Screen Australia sorting itself out … We've cut away a lot of the red tape. This was the great Coalition dream to have this streamlined new organisation - a one-stop shop - where you had the promotion and the funding and the creative support all in the one organisation. Let's hope it heralds a great new era."
One prominent film executive questions the efficiency of an agency with a staff of about 180 and initial overheads of $30 million.
Then there is the big question of whether this new system can improve the quality of Australian films.
John Collee believes it's time to stop making so many dark and difficult films. "We have to get beyond self-flagellation because nobody wants to see that on a Saturday night," he says.
"I'm not saying you can't deal with difficult subjects but there needs to be a redemptive or slightly positive turn to it."
Garry Maddox is the Herald's film writer.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Actors, Directors and Producers
News
Film Reviews
Monday, January 07, 2008
Flickerfest Kicks of to a Swinging Start
Flickerfest kicked off to a swinging start on Friday night screening our International one programme of shorts in competition films from the best short filmmakers from around the globe including Australia’s own Paul McDermott with his latest film ‘The Girl Who Swallowed Bees’.
Our 400 strong opening night audience included Chris Haywood, Flickerfest Patron Gillian Armstrong, Joel and Nash Edgerton, Matt Newton and Gracie Barry and Sue Otto, Paul McDermott and Pia Miranda.
Now in the fourth day of our festival we still have a feast of exciting programmes and workshops to come. On Tuesday the 8th Jan at 2.15pm AFI award winning director Anna Broinowski (Forbidden Lies) will present a documentary workshop prior to the our two screenings of short Documentaries in competition.
With many fine films already shown in our international and Australian competitions we have two Australian and three International programmes still to screen. All these films will be competing for an array of excellent prizes including the Academy Accredited® prizes, The Coopers Award for Best Film and The Yoram Gross award for Best Animation. In addition the
inaugural SAE award for Best Use of Digital Technology in a Short Film and the JVC award for Best Australian Film are also up for grabs.
And finally we have two special programs yet to screen. Bad Girls, a collection of films which feature misbehaving chicks will screen on Wednesday the 9th Jan at 9pm and again on Friday 11th Jan at 6:45pm. And on Sat 12th Jan at 9pm and Sunday 13th at 6:45 pm we will be screening Cinema 16 , a wonderful collection of rare short films by famous filmmakers such as Gus Van Sant and Tim Burton made in the early days of their careers. This programme has been put together by Luke Morris from Warp Films UK and is must for true film lovers. Luke is in Australia as part of our jury to present these screenings.
The festival will conclude on Sunday January the 13th. So if you’re keen to check out the winners and frock up for our closing night party, be sure to get in early to book your tickets.
For further information on the programme and bookings please go to http://www.flickerfest.com.au or call MCA-TIX on 1300 306 776.
Look forward to seeing you at the festival!
Best wishes from
The Flickerfest Team
Media Man Australia Profiles
Flickerfest
Our 400 strong opening night audience included Chris Haywood, Flickerfest Patron Gillian Armstrong, Joel and Nash Edgerton, Matt Newton and Gracie Barry and Sue Otto, Paul McDermott and Pia Miranda.
Now in the fourth day of our festival we still have a feast of exciting programmes and workshops to come. On Tuesday the 8th Jan at 2.15pm AFI award winning director Anna Broinowski (Forbidden Lies) will present a documentary workshop prior to the our two screenings of short Documentaries in competition.
With many fine films already shown in our international and Australian competitions we have two Australian and three International programmes still to screen. All these films will be competing for an array of excellent prizes including the Academy Accredited® prizes, The Coopers Award for Best Film and The Yoram Gross award for Best Animation. In addition the
inaugural SAE award for Best Use of Digital Technology in a Short Film and the JVC award for Best Australian Film are also up for grabs.
And finally we have two special programs yet to screen. Bad Girls, a collection of films which feature misbehaving chicks will screen on Wednesday the 9th Jan at 9pm and again on Friday 11th Jan at 6:45pm. And on Sat 12th Jan at 9pm and Sunday 13th at 6:45 pm we will be screening Cinema 16 , a wonderful collection of rare short films by famous filmmakers such as Gus Van Sant and Tim Burton made in the early days of their careers. This programme has been put together by Luke Morris from Warp Films UK and is must for true film lovers. Luke is in Australia as part of our jury to present these screenings.
The festival will conclude on Sunday January the 13th. So if you’re keen to check out the winners and frock up for our closing night party, be sure to get in early to book your tickets.
For further information on the programme and bookings please go to http://www.flickerfest.com.au or call MCA-TIX on 1300 306 776.
Look forward to seeing you at the festival!
Best wishes from
The Flickerfest Team
Media Man Australia Profiles
Flickerfest
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Film festival has a buzz about it - The Sydney Morning Herald - 3rd March 2008
The amateur film festival Tropfest is just around the corner but first there is Flickerfest, the only Australian short film festival accredited in the United States with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - that's the Oscars to the laymen out there. Now in its 17th year, the festival opens tomorrow night at Bondi Pavilion until January 11, with 85 films chosen from a record 1300 entries. Opening night features the first group of international short films but the first film up for viewing is by the Australian comedian, broadcaster, writer and filmmaker Paul McDermott. McDermott's nine-minute animation The Girl Who Swallowed Bees, featuring actress Pia Miranda, won the jury award at the Seattle Film Festival, screened at the Berlin Film Festival and, most recently, won an Australian Film Institute award for best animation. Saturday night's selection of films from the international category of the festival also includes an Australian effort, the nine-minute Spider by stuntman-turned-director, Nash Edgerton (winner of the Tropfest competition in 1997.) The director of Flickerfest, Bronwyn Kidd, said films such as McDermott's and Edgerton's demonstrated the profile of Australian short films on the international stage. "It shows the high standard of shorts we are producing … [The Girl who Swallowed Bees] was impossible to ignore because it is such a visually stylish and creative film." Other nights during the festival will see screenings of Australian and international short films and documentaries - most of them Australian premieres - with subjects ranging from One Of The Lucky Ones, a documentary by Australian filmmaker Wendy Chandler about the night she was raped by an intruder in her home, to an Icelandic animation, Anna & The Moods, starring the voice of Bjork. Kidd has also compiled three short-film showcases including a selection of international short films entitled Bad Girls and The Bold, The Brave And The Best: 30 Years Of Australian Animation, curated by Oscar-nominated short film director Anthony Lucas from the animations that have inspired his career. The collection pays tribute to the achievements of Australian animators such as Sarah Watt, Adam Elliot and Bruce Petty alongside screenings of iconic television commercials including Louie The Fly, Mr Sheen and Aeroplane Jelly. Kidd describes the festival as "a bit like Cannes … both festivals are on the beach. Although Cannes has more red carpet and glitz, they are both showcases of high-quality films." For details visit www.flickerfest.com.au
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Media Man Australia Teams Up With Pisces All Media
Media Man Australia is assisting Pisces All Media.
Read about Jonathan Nolan's new films and projects
Media Man Australia
Profiles
Pisces All Media
Jonathan Nolan
Fortunate Sons
Sweet Cyanide
Profiles
Media Man Australia Actors, Producers & Directors
Read about Jonathan Nolan's new films and projects
Media Man Australia
Profiles
Pisces All Media
Jonathan Nolan
Fortunate Sons
Sweet Cyanide
Profiles
Media Man Australia Actors, Producers & Directors
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Interview - Richard Bradley - 2UE Radio 16th June 2007
Paul Makin: A few weeks ago we talked about the Milperra Bikie Massacre, that was on Father’s Day 1984, and I had heard that there was a movie of that massacre in the pipeline titled “Brothers at War”. And I was wondering if that movie was going to make it on the big screen. Well the man that was behind that project was a film maker by the name of Richard Bradley.
Richard is one of Australia’s most respected film producers; he has completed over 100 productions covering a 25 year career in film and television. He joins me right now, good evening Richard.
Richard Bradley: Good evening Paul how are you?
Paul Makin: I’m good thanks, well this movie “Brothers at War” on the Milperra Bikie Massacre, is it ever going to be made?
Richard Bradley: Well, it looks like it will be made, it’s been in hiatus for a number of years, I put it in hiatus because I was too busy with a lot of other big projects over the last 4-5 years. But an opportunity came along towards the end of last year, earlier this year. A new production team had been put together, and a new distributor has been put onto it. And we are now looking at it is a film ‘inspired by an actual event’ and we’ll see how things will progress along. And it could be a real possibility of being financed and made.
Paul Makin: It hasn’t been a case of the subject matter, such as bikies killing each other too hot to handle?
Richard Bradley: No, I found over the time, I’ve had very little trouble with that particular element. In fact I know a lot of the guys from both clubs, and we haven’t had that problem. Not as much as I was told I would have.
Paul Makin: So you got to know some of the bikies?
Richard Bradley: Yes I have, yes.
Paul Makin: What are they like?
Richard Bradley: Like bikies! (laughter) I met both Presidents, several years ago – both presidents of the Bandidos and Comancheros. I had lunch with them and there were a lot of emotional issues with these things. But this project has been in hiatus as I’ve said, for many other reasons, and my other workload, but the opportunity has come around again.
Paul Makin: Yes sure. Richard, you’ve also got another movie you’re working on at the moment and this is an amazing story.
Richard Bradley: Absolutely.Paul Makin: Tell the listeners a little bit about what you are going to do for this film and it is a real life event.
Richard Bradley: Yes right. This happened in 1908, and I went through a lot of the archives to find this story and found a vast array of characters. What actually happened, in 1907 the World Heavyweight Boxing Title Champion was a Canadian called Tommy Burns. And he was chased by a challenger, who was a black American who came from Texas by the name of Jack Johnson. A very colorful fellow and because of his controversy and also his color, it was very difficult to stage the event. He kept on saying he could beat Tommy Burns and he (Johnson) was really the proper world champion.
Paul Makin: So there was no way of staging this in Canada or America?
Richard Bradley: No, or Europe, it was very difficult. And what actually happened was that Tommy Burns took an invitation by a local promoter in Sydney called Hugh McIntosh.
Paul Makin: Hmmm
Richard Bradley: To come here and have a number of fights against Australians, Billy Squires and Billy Lang. Unbeknown to Hugh McIntosh, Jack Johnson had found out where Tommy Burns was. So Jack Johnson had gambled that he could come to Australia, as it was so far out of the way that he would be possibly allowed to fight Burns here. And low and behold when he lobbed up, he made an offer to Hugh McIntosh, and he in turn made the offer to Tommy Burns. And Tommy Burns attitude was, “Yes, I’ll fight this guy for six thousand pounds, win lose or draw.”
Paul Makin: Right, so it was on.
Richard Bradley: It was on, and nobody thought this could possibly happen, but the word started to spread around and arriving in Australia was Jack London, the great American novelist. He and his wife Charmian both had malaria as they were traveling the South Seas and eventually arrived and they were going to represent the Hearst Media Corporation covering the fight. And the fight could actually be staged! In fact Henry Lawson was there. Norman Lindsay, the great artist was there, he did the publicity pictorial for “The Lone Hand” which was run by Jules Archibald – hence the Archibald Art Prize. So this fight was put on and it got a crowd of 16,000 inside a makeshift stadium in Rushcutters Bay which was later to become the Sydney Stadium.
Paul Makin: 16,000 people!
Richard Bradley: Yes and 25,000 were locked out who couldn’t get in on Boxing Day 1908.
Paul Makin: That’s appropriate, Boxing Day!
Richard Bradley: Yes, and it was filmed. Hugh McIntosh had worked out how to film this fight. And the fight was filmed and Jack Johnson absolutely flogged Tommy Burns.
Paul Makin: So the black guy won!
Richard Bradley: He won, he won easily. The fight had to be stopped by the local police. They thought that Jack was not going to stop, and no-one was going to stop it.
Paul Makin: The champ was going to get really hurt.
Richard Bradley: Oh yes and Jack Johnson won easily and what that did, it showed to the world that Australia wasn’t a backwater. It could tolerate color and knew how to put on major sport. And Hugh McIntosh sold the film rights of the fight to Europe for eighty thousand pounds… (Makin whistles)…and it showed what big business sport would be. And this fight changed not only sporting history but social history as well, because the world at that time wasn’t prepared for a black man to be a champion of what was then considered to be a white dominated sport.
Paul Makin: So that bloke really led the way for all other black boxers including Muhammad Ali and all of the great ones?
Richard Bradley: Right. All of them got inspiration from Jack….And I found that to be a very fascinating story and I spent 5-6 years writing the script coming up with the drafts. That has now been done. And through a financial planner in Melbourne a number of people are requesting applications to invest in the film. (This film managed to keep the 10BA Provisional Certificate that offers investors generous tax deductions – in this case around 90%. This is important because with redrafted legislation for the film industry 10BA Certificates are no longer provided and only those films with existing 10BA can qualify to offer this generous deduction.)
Paul Makin: Okay if people want to get information on this where do they go? To a website?
Richard Bradley: Yes, www.immm.com .au (International Movie Makers Market)
Paul Makin: That sounds like an amazing story – I’m talking with Richard Bradley, a film maker. You were saying there was 16,000 in there and 25,000 were turned away from this old makeshift stadium – there was only one woman in the audience.
Richard Bradley: Yes, that’s right. It was Jack London’s wife Charmian.
Paul Makin: The correspondent’s wife was there?
Richard Bradley: Yes, he said that if she doesn’t come, he doesn’t come. It is an amazing story. A great Australian story with an international impact. I’ve never enjoyed writing a script in all my life. Even with the hard work that went into it. A wonderful document!
Paul Makin: What will the name of the movie be?
Richard Bradley: “Fight of the Century”
Paul Makin: “Fight of the Century”
Richard Bradley: That’s right! That’s what it was.
Paul Makin: Well Richard Bradley, we’ll keep an eye out for that and I thank you for you time this evening.
Richard Bradley: Thank you very much Paul.
Websites
International Movie Makers Market
Fight Of The Century
Brothers At War
Profiles
Richard Bradley
Boxing
Interview
Richard Bradley - 3rd June 2004
Richard is one of Australia’s most respected film producers; he has completed over 100 productions covering a 25 year career in film and television. He joins me right now, good evening Richard.
Richard Bradley: Good evening Paul how are you?
Paul Makin: I’m good thanks, well this movie “Brothers at War” on the Milperra Bikie Massacre, is it ever going to be made?
Richard Bradley: Well, it looks like it will be made, it’s been in hiatus for a number of years, I put it in hiatus because I was too busy with a lot of other big projects over the last 4-5 years. But an opportunity came along towards the end of last year, earlier this year. A new production team had been put together, and a new distributor has been put onto it. And we are now looking at it is a film ‘inspired by an actual event’ and we’ll see how things will progress along. And it could be a real possibility of being financed and made.
Paul Makin: It hasn’t been a case of the subject matter, such as bikies killing each other too hot to handle?
Richard Bradley: No, I found over the time, I’ve had very little trouble with that particular element. In fact I know a lot of the guys from both clubs, and we haven’t had that problem. Not as much as I was told I would have.
Paul Makin: So you got to know some of the bikies?
Richard Bradley: Yes I have, yes.
Paul Makin: What are they like?
Richard Bradley: Like bikies! (laughter) I met both Presidents, several years ago – both presidents of the Bandidos and Comancheros. I had lunch with them and there were a lot of emotional issues with these things. But this project has been in hiatus as I’ve said, for many other reasons, and my other workload, but the opportunity has come around again.
Paul Makin: Yes sure. Richard, you’ve also got another movie you’re working on at the moment and this is an amazing story.
Richard Bradley: Absolutely.Paul Makin: Tell the listeners a little bit about what you are going to do for this film and it is a real life event.
Richard Bradley: Yes right. This happened in 1908, and I went through a lot of the archives to find this story and found a vast array of characters. What actually happened, in 1907 the World Heavyweight Boxing Title Champion was a Canadian called Tommy Burns. And he was chased by a challenger, who was a black American who came from Texas by the name of Jack Johnson. A very colorful fellow and because of his controversy and also his color, it was very difficult to stage the event. He kept on saying he could beat Tommy Burns and he (Johnson) was really the proper world champion.
Paul Makin: So there was no way of staging this in Canada or America?
Richard Bradley: No, or Europe, it was very difficult. And what actually happened was that Tommy Burns took an invitation by a local promoter in Sydney called Hugh McIntosh.
Paul Makin: Hmmm
Richard Bradley: To come here and have a number of fights against Australians, Billy Squires and Billy Lang. Unbeknown to Hugh McIntosh, Jack Johnson had found out where Tommy Burns was. So Jack Johnson had gambled that he could come to Australia, as it was so far out of the way that he would be possibly allowed to fight Burns here. And low and behold when he lobbed up, he made an offer to Hugh McIntosh, and he in turn made the offer to Tommy Burns. And Tommy Burns attitude was, “Yes, I’ll fight this guy for six thousand pounds, win lose or draw.”
Paul Makin: Right, so it was on.
Richard Bradley: It was on, and nobody thought this could possibly happen, but the word started to spread around and arriving in Australia was Jack London, the great American novelist. He and his wife Charmian both had malaria as they were traveling the South Seas and eventually arrived and they were going to represent the Hearst Media Corporation covering the fight. And the fight could actually be staged! In fact Henry Lawson was there. Norman Lindsay, the great artist was there, he did the publicity pictorial for “The Lone Hand” which was run by Jules Archibald – hence the Archibald Art Prize. So this fight was put on and it got a crowd of 16,000 inside a makeshift stadium in Rushcutters Bay which was later to become the Sydney Stadium.
Paul Makin: 16,000 people!
Richard Bradley: Yes and 25,000 were locked out who couldn’t get in on Boxing Day 1908.
Paul Makin: That’s appropriate, Boxing Day!
Richard Bradley: Yes, and it was filmed. Hugh McIntosh had worked out how to film this fight. And the fight was filmed and Jack Johnson absolutely flogged Tommy Burns.
Paul Makin: So the black guy won!
Richard Bradley: He won, he won easily. The fight had to be stopped by the local police. They thought that Jack was not going to stop, and no-one was going to stop it.
Paul Makin: The champ was going to get really hurt.
Richard Bradley: Oh yes and Jack Johnson won easily and what that did, it showed to the world that Australia wasn’t a backwater. It could tolerate color and knew how to put on major sport. And Hugh McIntosh sold the film rights of the fight to Europe for eighty thousand pounds… (Makin whistles)…and it showed what big business sport would be. And this fight changed not only sporting history but social history as well, because the world at that time wasn’t prepared for a black man to be a champion of what was then considered to be a white dominated sport.
Paul Makin: So that bloke really led the way for all other black boxers including Muhammad Ali and all of the great ones?
Richard Bradley: Right. All of them got inspiration from Jack….And I found that to be a very fascinating story and I spent 5-6 years writing the script coming up with the drafts. That has now been done. And through a financial planner in Melbourne a number of people are requesting applications to invest in the film. (This film managed to keep the 10BA Provisional Certificate that offers investors generous tax deductions – in this case around 90%. This is important because with redrafted legislation for the film industry 10BA Certificates are no longer provided and only those films with existing 10BA can qualify to offer this generous deduction.)
Paul Makin: Okay if people want to get information on this where do they go? To a website?
Richard Bradley: Yes, www.immm.com .au (International Movie Makers Market)
Paul Makin: That sounds like an amazing story – I’m talking with Richard Bradley, a film maker. You were saying there was 16,000 in there and 25,000 were turned away from this old makeshift stadium – there was only one woman in the audience.
Richard Bradley: Yes, that’s right. It was Jack London’s wife Charmian.
Paul Makin: The correspondent’s wife was there?
Richard Bradley: Yes, he said that if she doesn’t come, he doesn’t come. It is an amazing story. A great Australian story with an international impact. I’ve never enjoyed writing a script in all my life. Even with the hard work that went into it. A wonderful document!
Paul Makin: What will the name of the movie be?
Richard Bradley: “Fight of the Century”
Paul Makin: “Fight of the Century”
Richard Bradley: That’s right! That’s what it was.
Paul Makin: Well Richard Bradley, we’ll keep an eye out for that and I thank you for you time this evening.
Richard Bradley: Thank you very much Paul.
Websites
International Movie Makers Market
Fight Of The Century
Brothers At War
Profiles
Richard Bradley
Boxing
Interview
Richard Bradley - 3rd June 2004
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Film Investment - The Fight Of The Century
At the dawn of the 20th Century, a sporting event literally shook the world. It was staged in Australia because it was banned in many other countries due to the contestants. It took place in Sydney on Boxing Day 1908. Beginning at 11am with little ceremony, it was over in time for lunch!
No Australian sports men or women were involved! TOMMY BURNS, a Canadian boxer who was the recognised World Champion and JACK JOHNSON an American boxer, slugged it out in front of 16,000 men, and one woman who happened to be the wife of the famous visiting American correspondent and author JACK LONDON. As well as the 16,000 inside, another 25,000 fans had to be turned away from the venue which was a makeshift stadium constructed on a disused market garden situated close to the harbour and east of the city centre in a Sydney suburb called Rushcutters Bay.
The fight had a lasting significance on world sporting, social and political history. Because the challenger, JACK JOHNSON was black - and he won.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Media Man Australia Internet Movie Databse Profile Updated
Greg Tingle Internet Movie Database profile
Sum Of Existence Internet Movie Database profile
Media Man Australia - entertainment news
Sum Of Existence Internet Movie Database profile
Media Man Australia - entertainment news
Monday, April 24, 2006
International Movie Makers Market - Brothers At War
For more information on International Movie Makers Market, 'Brothers At War' and Richard Bradley Productions, contact:
Greg Tingle
Publicist
International Movie Makers Market
Richard Bradley Productions
m: 0424 223 674
e: greg@mediaman.com.au
w: www.mediaman.com.au
Greg Tingle
Publicist
International Movie Makers Market
Richard Bradley Productions
m: 0424 223 674
e: greg@mediaman.com.au
w: www.mediaman.com.au
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Film makers to watch
Media Man Australia is in the position to deal with many talented film makers.
Here's a few film makers to watch that you may consider investing in
SMD Productions - Abner Zurd aka Lori Fontaines
Richard Bradley Productions - IMMM
Coherent Productions
Essan Laurent Productions
Entrepreneurs - The Reality Show (Reality TV programme)
Here's a few film makers to watch that you may consider investing in
SMD Productions - Abner Zurd aka Lori Fontaines
Richard Bradley Productions - IMMM
Coherent Productions
Essan Laurent Productions
Entrepreneurs - The Reality Show (Reality TV programme)
Saturday, July 09, 2005
Film Investor blog
Welcome to the Film Investor blog.
This is a creation of Media Man Australia, and acts as a portal to showcase some of our film investment opportunities and clients.
For more information examine the websites portfolio, and for further information please contact us for a confidential discussion.
Best Regards
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia (for International Movie Makers Market)
e: greg_tingle@hotmail.com
w: www.mediaman.com.au
w: www.immm.com.au
a: PO Box L55 Maroubra South NSW 2035 AUSTRALIA
This is a creation of Media Man Australia, and acts as a portal to showcase some of our film investment opportunities and clients.
For more information examine the websites portfolio, and for further information please contact us for a confidential discussion.
Best Regards
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia (for International Movie Makers Market)
e: greg_tingle@hotmail.com
w: www.mediaman.com.au
w: www.immm.com.au
a: PO Box L55 Maroubra South NSW 2035 AUSTRALIA
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