FURY ROAD FOLLOW-UP FURIOSA FIRES UP IN AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK

Principal photography is underway on Academy Award-winning filmmaker George Miller’s Furiosa, the much-anticipated return to the iconic dystopian world he created more than 30 years ago with the seminal Mad Max films. Anya Taylor-Joy stars in the title role, alongside Chris Hemsworth and Tom Burke.

An original new standalone action adventure will reveal the origins of the powerhouse character from the multiple Oscar-winning global smash Mad Max: Fury Road. The new feature is being produced by Miller’s own Australian-based Kennedy Miller Mitchell banner, together with the filmmaker’s Fury Road partners Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures. 

As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland they come across the Citadel presided over by The Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.

Taylor-Joy (pictured, right) is on a meteoiric career trajectory, coming off Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho and Robert Eggers’ The Northman and the Netflix blockbuster mini-series, The Queen's Gambit. She has also starred in the romantic comedy Emma, based on the Jane Austen novel, Split from M. Night Shyamalan, and his follow up Glass.

Hemsworth is right at home with high-octane action, having starred in the Avengers and Thor films as well as the recent Netflix films Extraction and Spiderhead. His other film credits include Bad Times at the El Royale, 12 Strong, In the Heart of the Sea, Rush, Snow White and the Huntsman and Star Trek, among many others. His social media post featuring the first clapperboard of the Furiosa shoot (pictured, top) went viral with fans of the Mad Max saga.

Burke (pictured, left), stepping into a key role vacated by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, is perhaps best-known for his award-nominated role in Joanna Hogg’s film The Souvenir, as well as playing the lead in the popular UK crime series C.B. Strike. He also starred as Athos in the BBC series The Musketeers, appeared in such feature films as Nicholas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives, and played famed filmmaker Orson Welles in David Fincher’s Oscar-winning Mank.

Miller penned the script with Mad Max: Fury Road co-writer Nico Lathouris and produces alongside his longtime partner, Oscar-nominated producer Doug Mitchell (Mad Max: Fury Road; Babe).  Miller’s behind-the-scenes creative team includes such longtime collaborators as production designer Colin Gibson, editor Margaret Sixel, sound mixer Ben Osmo, costume designer Jenny Beavan and makeup designer Lesley Vanderwalt, each of whom won an Oscar for their work on Mad Max: Fury Road, as well as first assistant director PJ Voeten and second unit director and stunt coordinator Guy Norris.  The director of photography is Simon Duggan (Hacksaw Ridge; The Great Gatsby).

STEPHANIE ALEXANDER AND MAGGIE BEER’S TUSCAN COOKBOOK HEADED FOR THE BIG SCREEN

Australian production and distribution studio Arcadia has optioned Stephanie Alexander and Maggie Beer’s bestseller Tuscan Cookbook and Stephanie’s Journal for adaptation to the big screen.

Akin to box office hits The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Under the Tuscan Sun and Julie & Julia, the feature film will be written by Australian film and television writer Katherine Thomson (Amazon TV’s A Place To Call Home; Women He’s Undressed; StudioCanal’s Helena!). “As most women know, to have a best friend is a great blessing and if they share your passion and inspire you, then you’ve really lucked out,” says Thomson (pictured, below). “Stephanie and Maggie first shared their friendship with the world through the books, now they’re allowing me to expand on the narrative and into a movie – a big leap for them, and how fortunate am I.”

Published by Penguin, Stephanie Alexander and Maggie Beer’s Tuscan Cookbook, transports readers to the sunlit hills of Tuscany, where in 1997 they left Australia to run a cooking school in a villa outside of Siena. The Tuscan Cookbook records in detail their time in Italy, the dishes cooked, the places visited, the people who made it all happen and the guests who joined for the ride.

Arcadia has also taken the option to Stephanie's Journal, her personal account of a year which saw the opening of the Richmond Hill Cafe & Larder, the closure of the celebrated restaurant, Stephanie's, the impact of The Cook's Companion, published a year earlier and the cooking schools in Tuscany with Maggie Beer.

Said Stephanie: “It was the adventure of our lives. It deepened our friendship as we supported each other and convinced us all over again of the value of being with others who shared our enthusiasm for ripe and real flavours, in a country that daily reinforced the importance of eating well as an essential part of living well.”

Maggie added: “There are times in your life that are so wonderfully significant that you have to pinch yourself that it was even possible. Our friendship and support for each other was so incredibly special and life affirming. Re-reading Stephanie’s journal of that year brings every moment back to life in cinematic detail, so to think of it coming to the big screen is both exciting and just a bit scary too.”

The film will be produced by Lisa Shaunessy for Arcadia, a company on a run of successes that have included the Kodi Smit-McPhee sci-fi hit 2067 and the SXSW Midnighters’ opener Sissy, starring Aisha Dee. From their base in the central NSW township of Orange, they are currently in production on the sci-fi thriller In Vitro starring Succession’s Ashley Zukerman.

Arcadia parrtner and executive producer on the film, Alexandra Burke (pictured, left; credit Jude Keogh), says “As beloved icons, Maggie Beer and Stephanie Alexander have made significant contributions to Australian life, in a similar way to how Julia Child revolutionised the home kitchen in America. The story behind the Tuscan Cookbook captured my imagination many years ago and now the timing felt right.”

BACK TO BACK THEATRE'S DEBUT FILM BOUND FOR SYDNEY FILM FEST PREMIERE

Australia’s acclaimed Back to Back Theatre, a professional theatre company with an ensemble of actors with disabilities at its core, will screen their debut feature Shadow at the 2022 Sydney Film Festival, where it will have its Australian Premiere on June 15. This follows the film's International Premiere at SXSW earlier this year, where it earned the Visions Audience Award.

Directed by Bruce Gladwin and produced by Alice Fleming and Meret Hassanen, Shadow was co-conceived and co-authored by Back to Back’s core group of performance artists -  Michael Chan, Mark Deans, Sarah Mainwaring, Scott Price, Simon Laherty and Sonia Teuben. The 56-minute story involves a trio of disability activists who hold a public meeting, desperate to save the world. As the meeting unravels, they discover the greatest threat to their future is already in the room.

“Shadow uses a combination of dramatic and documentary-style elements to tell the story of a group of activists who hold a public meeting only to discover their own prejudices are their biggest obstacles to saving the world,” says Bruce Gladwin (pictured, right), who has crafted globally recognised work with Back to Back for over two decades. “Thematically, we wanted to understand individual and collective responsibility and question how we come together to make decisions that are in the best interests of society.”

Created over two and a half years through conversation and improvisation with the performers, 95% of the people on screen are people with disabilities, and the majority of the crew roles are fulfilled by interns who identify as people with disabilities supported by professional mentors. Says Gladwin, “The narrative and the film’s philosophical approach to the process of creation are intrinsically linked. This is community filmmaking."

Filmed on location in Geelong in December 2020, Shadow ambitiously builds upon the success of the company’s debut short, Oddlands, creating a feature film that is provocative and challenging. It is based on the company’s theatrical production The Shadow Whose Prey The Hunter Becomes (2019), which was developed at the 2019 Sundance Theatre Lab and described by The New York Times as “an extraordinary play”. 

For co-producer Alice Fleming, the film’s SFF acceptance is indicative of broadening audience tastes. “It continues to provide evidence that audiences and programmers are looking for more inclusive storytelling teams,” she says. Actor and co-writer Scott Price (pictured, left) agrees, stating “The fact that it is premiering at festivals such as SXSW and now Sydney Film Festival shows that it is a beautiful piece of work, and the importance of telling stories from the perspective of people with disabilities.”

The Sydney Film Festival dates are:
Wednesday 15 June, 3:15pm at State Theatre | AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Friday 17 June, 6:00pm at Palace Central
Saturday 18 June, 4:30pm at Dendy Newtown

SHADOW is jointly funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services, the City of Greater Geelong Arts & Culture Department’s Arts Industry Commissions Program and supported by Screen Australia through the COVID-19 Budget Support Fund Program. (Photo credits: Jeff Busby)

OZ FILMMAKERS HONOURED WITH AUSPOST LEGENDS STAMP SERIES

Five of Australia’s most talented film directors are being honoured in the 26th annual Australia Post Legends Awards, celebrating their powerful contributions to Australian culture and the global film industry.

Baz Luhrmann, George Miller AO, Gillian Armstrong AM, Peter Weir AM, and Warwick Thornton will each have their portrait featured on new postage stamps as part of the 2022 Australian Legends of Filmmaking stamp issue.

Australia Post Group Philatelic Manager, Michael Zsolt said each of the directors had been recognised not only for their vision, talent and acclaim, but for their diverse and impactful storytelling on a national and international scale.

“Each year since 1997, we’ve celebrated living Australians who have made a unique contribution to the Australian way of life,” Mr Zsolt said. “The films created by our 2022 Legends all tell powerful stories that connect strongly with Australian audiences and help to shape our perception of not only ourselves but historical events and important socio-cultural themes.”

Gillian Armstrong AM, who amongst many accolades, received six AACTA awards and a Palme d’Or nomination for her debut film My Brilliant Career in 1979, said it was an honour to be a recipient of the 2022 Australia Post Legends Award alongside such a brilliant group of filmmakers.

“It’s wonderful that our film directors are being recognised for the powerfully unique and heartfelt Australian stories that we make, and it is a thrill to be named a Legend of an industry and artform that I’m so passionate about,” Ms Armstrong said.

“I used to collect stamps as a child, I liked those little pictures. So, it feels particularly full circle to be recognised for my big pictures!”

The annual Australia Post Legends Awards celebrate living Australians who have made a unique contribution to the nation through their field of endeavour, inspiring the community, and influencing the way Australians think about themselves. Past recipients include those who have excelled across a range of fields, including sport, the arts, entertainment, medical science and philanthropy, with Academy Award winners Cate Blanchett, Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman AC and Geoffrey Rush AC named as Legends in 2009.

The 2022 Australian Legends of Filmmaking stamp issue comprises five $1.10 stamps, a first day cover, stamp pack, maxicard set, minisheet, five booklets of ten $1.10 stamps, and a booklet collection pack.

The stamps and associated products are available at participating Post Offices, via mail order by phoning 1800 331 794, and online at auspost.com.au/legends from Tuesday 15 March 2022, while stocks last.

MINDEROO PICTURES LAUNCH PROMISES PROGRESSIVE PROJECT SLATE

Asia-Pacific’s largest philanthropic organisation, Minderoo Foundation, has announced the launch of a social impact film enterprise, to be overseen by executive producer Richard Harris. The initiative, Minderoo Pictures, will support screen projects that tackle the global challenges championed by the Perth-based philanthropic organisation.

“Minderoo Pictures will be a strategic and active collaborator seeking the best films, the best teams and the best ways to invest across the film value chain, from development through to production and release,” says Harris (pictured, above; l-r, Harris with Minderoo's Nicola and Andrew Forrest). “At its heart, Minderoo Foundation believes in the transformative power of the arts to change the world. Minderoo Pictures will work to cut through and inspire global change.”

The new enterprise has been established with an initial commitment of $10 million AUD, making Minderoo Pictures a leading global player in impact film production.

Harris will work with the best creative teams globally to develop, produce and assist in the release of ambitious screen projects that inspire change. Harris comes to Minderoo Pictures with more than 20 years’ experience in the film industry, having held leadership roles at Screen Australia and the South Australian Film Corporation. 

The first four projects in development will span themes of ocean conservation, plastics and human health and early childhood development in Indigenous communities, including a feature film collaboration between Academy Award® winner Louie Psihoyos (The Cove, The Game Changers; pictured, above) and Josh Murphy (Artifishal); Blueback, helmed by Robert Connolly (The Dry); Honey Ant Dreamers, directed by Michael Cordell (Year of the Dogs) and Emily-Anyupa Butcher; and, First Born (pictured, below), produced by Workshop TV.  

Psihoyos said: “Film is a powerful force for creating social change. We are excited to partner with Minderoo Pictures to create films that can change the world.”

Minderoo Foundation Chairman Andrew Forrest said: “Our initiatives are tackling some of the most significant global challenges, from plastic pollution to modern slavery and cancer research. Lasting change doesn’t just happen by itself. To have real impact we must motivate people, companies, and governments to act, to reassess their behaviours or start a movement.”

Minderoo Foundation Co-chair Nicola Forrest said: “The arts enrich our lives and nourish our souls, and they can also be a powerful communication tool. Long form storytelling through film speaks to us in a unique way. It has the capacity to cut through, it can create movements for change and even trigger cultural shifts. Minderoo Pictures is seeking projects that will reach new audiences and inspire them to work towards a better, fairer world.”

In addition to the films themselves, Minderoo Pictures is also working to produce high profile, cross-platform impact campaigns, to reach diverse audiences across policy makers, schools, and the business sector.

NEMO HEADS NORTH AS DISNEY+ SERIES NAUTILUS DOCKS IN QUEENSLAND

Screen Queensland has announced that studio streaming arm Disney+ will film its live-action sci-fi adventure original series Nautilus at Village Roadshow Studios and surrounding Gold Coast locations from early next year.

 
The ten-part series, based on Jules Verne’s classic novel 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, will chart the never-before-told origin story of Captain Nemo and his legendary submarine. The production will inject an estimated $96 million into Queensland’s economy and create approximately 240 jobs for our highly skilled local cast and crew, plus 350 extras. 

The Nautilus shoot continues a long-standing relationship between the ‘Sunshine State’ and The Walt Disney Company. Previously, the Mouse House filmed Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales in Queensland, as well as Thor: Ragnarök via their subsidiary Marvel Studios. 

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk noted that the appeal of the state as a production venue is a direct result of her government’s Production Attraction Strategy, a critical part of Queensland’s Economic Recovery Plan. 

“With the series set to release to a massive global audience via the enormously popular streaming platform Disney+, the potential for multiple seasons is a particularly exciting prospect for our local screen workforce,” said Premier Palaszczuk, “not to mention the huge flow-on benefits to Queensland’s economy as my Government continues to strategically invest in our post-COVID recovery.” 

Screen Queensland CEO Kylie Munnich (pictured, left) said, “Nautilus will be a complex production requiring the construction of large-scale sets, together with heavy visual effects and a highly technical set-up for computer-generated creatures and worlds – it’s an epic project on a large scale, scheduled to film in Queensland for many months.” In addition to its sound stages, Village Roadshow Studio’s three water tanks (pictured, above) will be critical to the shoot, alongside expert local crew who are particularly experienced with water work.  

Nautilus tells Verne’s story from Nemo’s point of view: an Indian Prince robbed of his birthright and family, a prisoner of the East India Company and a man bent on revenge against the forces which have taken everything from him. But once Nemo sets sail with his crew on board The Nautilus, he not only battles with his enemy, but he also discovers a magical underwater world, learns to take his place as leader of the crew, and goes on an unforgettable adventure beneath the sea. 

“Jules Verne’s story is a beloved classic all around the world,” said Johanna Devereaux, Disney’s Director of Scripted Original Content, The series reimagines Verne’s classic tale for new generations, building on the legacy in place from the studio’s original 1954 film, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (pictured, right). “It’s a huge privilege to bring The Nautilus and her crew to life again in such a bold, exciting way, with a diverse team of creative talent and on-screen characters. The series will be breath-taking, action-packed, and a huge amount of fun.”

VALE KATE FERGUSON

Kate Ferguson, a vibrant and adored industry presence who parlayed her experience as a gifted actress and musician into a second phase career mentoring young talent, passed away on July 2 after a determined battle with cancer. She was 66.

A combination of extraordinarily diverse skills were recognised early in a young Kate, who achieved acclaim as both a ballet student and a concert pianist protege. But, after fleetingly dabbling in academia (she attended Sydney’s Macquarie University for one year), it would be the stage and screen that became the natural fit for her compelling presence and ‘brunette bombshell’ beauty.

At 14, Kate convinced administrators that she was 17 and secured entry into the Independent Theatre Company’s acting school in North Sydney, leading to a featured role in their production of Adventures in Fol (1974). She aligned herself with The Actor’s Theatre Company in inner-city Ultimo, where she starred as a burlesque cabaret version of Ophelia in The Naked Hamlet (1977); other more mainstream roles included Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1977) and Romeo and Juliet (1978). 

Her stage work would include roles opposite John Bell in the Opera House Drama Theatre production of The Lower Depths (1977); Jon Ewing, Rory O’Donoghue and Grahame Bond at the Bondi Pavilion in Hamlet on Ice (1976); and, Trevor White and Christopher Pate in Mike Wade’s 1981 revival of Hair (pictured, below).

From her bit part as ‘Bikini Girl’ in the Jack Thompson vehicle Petersen (1974), Kate became an engaging fan favourite and striking presence on-screen. Her film work included Peter Shillingford’s sexually frank drama, Naughty Girls (1975); opposite Andrew McFarlane in Ken Hannam’s Break of Day (1976); and, as ‘Skipper’ in Norman J. Warren’s bawdy sci-fi romp, Spaced Out (aka, Outer Touch; 1979). Most endearingly, she played ‘Edith’, one of Kristy McNichol’s lady entourage, in Ken Annakin’s 1982 musical, The Pirate Movie, a role that cast her alongside heartthrob Christopher Atkins as well as local stars Bill Kerr, Garry McDonald, Magge Kirkpatrick and Rhonda Burchmore.

On the small screen, Kate vamped it up as ‘Fay’ for a two episode arc opposite Graeme Blundell in Alvin Purple (1976; pictured, left); acted with Belinda Giblin, Hugh Keays-Byrne and Robyn Nevin in Oliver Howes’ rape drama, Say You Want Me (1977); and, supported leads Nicole Kidman and Terence Donovan in John Duigan’s Room to Move (1987). She also secured parts in such popular series as Case for the Defense (1978), Sons and Daughters (1982) and A Country Practice (1982).

By the late 1980s, Kate had refocussed her talent into industry education. A long stint teaching music in various forms, voice coaching and talent mentoring meant less time in front of audiences, but a blossoming reputation behind-the-scenes among the sector’s young, gifted artists. From 1985 to 1987, Kate was Music Director of the Australian National Capital Theatre Company; by 2005, such was her status amongst the burgeoning performer’s pool, she was able to launch Kate Ferguson Management and oversee the career paths of 100s of talented hopefuls. In 2014 and having relocated to Coffs Harbour on New South Wales’ mid-north coast, Kate undertook a senior teaching role as Vocal Coach at the Coffs Harbour Conservatorium. (Pictured, right; Kate, far left, in The Pirate Movie)             

Kate was born into a family of animal lovers - her father worked in the field of animal research; her mother, a veterinary surgeon - and she would surround herself with four-legged friends for much of her life. In her teens, she became an accomplished horsewoman, as well as dedicating her time to the breeding of her beloved Cavalier King Charles spaniels. Later in life, she would fall under the spell of ‘Sunny’, the goat with whom she shared her mid north coast home, along with, at various times, ageing chickens, Blake the snake, possums, water dragons and blue tongue lizards, a goanna, peacock, gecko and occasional echidna. 

Kate Ferguson is survived by her children Bonnie, Leif and Adie, and their extended families. She remained close friends with many of her castmates, including LA-based Atkins, Spaced Out lead Ava Cadell Knecht (pictured, above) and Alvin Purple co-star Anna Simone Scott, and boasted a vast network of friends across the entertainment industries. She will be mourned by many in her adopted hometown, where her contributions to promoting regional talent and the local arts community was invaluable.

2021 ADG AWARDS FIND NEW HOME AT ACTORS CENTRE AUSTRALIA

The 2021 Australian Director’s Guild (ADG) Awards will unfurl at a Gala Luncheon in Sydney on October 22 at the Actors Centre Australia (ACA) in Leichhardt.

One of the local sector’s most prestigious annual gatherings will also be a virtual event, live streamed nationally and internationally. In 2020, the online-only ceremony scored solid traffic numbers and the ADG and ACA identified an opportunity to expand on that audience with a multi-tiered presentation in 2021.

“I warmly welcome ACA as our new venue partner,” said ADG Executive Director Alaric McAusland (pictured, right). “The 2021 Awards will be an important moment to celebrate all that has been achieved by our members over the past year, a year which has offered incredible challenges and opportunities to Australian screen directors, as well as the achievements of the ADG over its 40-year history.”

McAusland promises that the 2021 Awards will build on last year’s deep industry support and cross-industry engagement, which saw a record number of entries and the most diverse list of nominees in the Awards’ history. “[I want] to extend our sincere thanks to our award sponsors [for] supporting last year’s Covid-impacted event and their continued support for this year,” he said. These include principal partner Australian Screen Directors Authorship Collecting Society (ASDACS), major partner Media Super and  Government supporters Screen NSW and Screen Australia.

Securing the ADG Awards is a further coup for the ACA, which continues to establish itself as one of the Harbour City’s premium event venues. “Actors Centre Australia is thrilled to be partnering with the ADG Awards in 2021,” said ACA Chief Operating Officer Anthony Kierann (pictured, left). “This celebration of the outstanding contribution that screen directors bring to our industry aligns with ACA’s commitment to developing the finest Australian on-screen talent. We warmly welcome ADG members and nominees to the Centre, as together, the arts community steps its way out of the pandemic.”

The ADG Awards recognise excellence in the craft and art of directing, as well as honouring individual contributions by Australian screen directors to the screen industry. The Awards are the only opportunity for Australian directors and their work to be acknowledged by their directing peers. The Awards cover the breadth of screen directing with categories across feature film, documentary, television, subscription video on demand, commercial, short film, animation, online, music video and interactive media.

Submissions to the 2021 ADG Awards will open on 30th June.

THE BOY FROM OZ: THE BLOKE WHO CALLS STRAYA HOME

Anthony O’Connor has a way with words. Just ask any of the filmmakers who’ve felt his slings and arrows as one of the nation's leading film critics, most recently at FilmInk; or the actors (amongst them, Nicholas Hope and Jessica Napier) guided by his scripts Redd Inc. (2012) and Angst (2000), respectively. Now, O’Connor has turned to...let’s call it, ‘Down Under dystopia’, for his first novel, Straya, an anarchic and raucous ride through the bowels and other organs of a post-apocalyptic New Sydney.

O’Connor’s alter-ego is Franga, an affable young mutant providing for his mutie kids, who must defend his hometown of New Sydney when an ancient artifact unleashes an unspeakable horror that threatens all of Straya. Released May 8 (geddit?), O’Connor offers some keen insight into crafting the world of Straya and what it took to get his debut novel (available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook) out of his head and onto the page...

SCREEN-SPACE: Can we assume 'Franga' is Anthony O'Connor in a little mutie bundle?

O'CONNOR: Look, there’s this thing writers do sometimes, where they talk about how a character came to life and somehow wrote their own story, against the author’s will. And I always think, “You affected wanker, shut your lying noise hole.” But I swear a version of that happened to me writing Straya. Franga was originally a glib smart arse, aloof and cynical, and yet as I was writing he just kept being kind. Eventually, I just leaned into it, and embraced the fact his kindness was his strength. So, yeah, Franga is lovely and wonderful and I am definitely not him.

SCREEN-SPACE: From which dark corner of your psyche did Straya emerge?

I had the idea when I was twelve or thirteen. The concept was broadly speaking, the same. Ruined city, personality-absorbing monster, shenanigans ensue. It was called Body Chute and the premise was a cop from the Big End of Town and a cop from the Inasiddy would team up to try and take the monster down. I was obsessed with 2000AD comics, Judge Dredd, and Blade Runner, so I was doing my best to ape those influences. [But] I didn’t know, or much care, about cops and I certainly didn’t have any insights to offer about them. Around 2017, I started thinking about a troupe of teenage mutants who put on plays in the ruins of a city. Then, emerging like a beast from the Downlow, I remembered Body Chute and thought, “Hey, let’s smush those two together and see what happens!” (Pictured, above; O'Connor at a book read for the launch of Straya)

SCREEN-SPACE: Tell us about creating the language of Straya...

O'CONNOR: I’ve always been obsessed with Australian slang, accents and colloquialisms, so as soon as I worked out who Franga was, I knew he had to talk a certain way. The balancing act was finding a way to make it engaging but comprehensible. I used books like A Clockwork Orange and Trainspotting as guides, because they pretty much set the benchmark for made up languages and phonetic Scottish respectively.

SCREEN-SPACE: Some would say the developers paradise that is contemporary Sydney often looks like a wasteland. How easy was it to world-build a future Sydney from scratch?

O'CONNOR: [I did] lots of walking around Sydney, imagining how things could be used by a makeshift, devolved society. It’s been a lifelong obsession, imagining a post-apocalyptic society. I was a nipper during the 1980s, so I caught the full brunt of that Reagan-era nuclear war terror and never quite shook it. The specifics of the apocalypse in Straya are deliberately vague, but the notion of it comes from that decade when we all cowered in the shadow of the mushroom cloud that thankfully never arrived.

SCREEN-SPACE: Did novel writing feel like a natural progression for someone who has written both scripts and film reviews?

O'CONNOR: I’m a voracious reader and I’ve always wanted to write books. But there was an element of necessity too. The Aussie film industry, as it currently stands, doesn’t want to tell the Mad Max-style genre stories it used to in the 70s and 80s, or even the weirdo indie yarns from the 90s. And that’s fine, times change, but I wanted to tell an odd, ambitious, apocalyptic story that resists easy categorisation, and a book seemed the ideal medium. I’d be more than happy to knock out the screenplay, of course. Someone get George Miller on the phone!

SCREEN-SPACE: Straya advocates strongly for an arts sectors or, as Franga puts it, 'Yarts', particularly for the disenfranchised. Is that the book's social conscience?

O'CONNOR: Oh, absolutely. Look, the arts should be for everyone. This notion they’re a preoccupation of the idle rich is maddening and relatively new, historically speaking. I don’t know how you’d make them accessible across the board, but I do know that as long as you have to hock a kidney to be able to afford a trip to the Opera House, they never will be. The arts enrich us, and I reckon everyone deserves to be enriched. Except people who use their phones during plays. They can get stuffed.

SCREEN-SPACE: Apart from Franga, what character resonated the most with you?

O'CONNOR: It’s 100% the monster. One. Hundred. Percent. I’ve always empathised with the monster. When I was kid, I saw Clash of the Titans (1981) and I was absolutely inconsolable when the Kraken died, because to my young mind it wasn’t evil, just misused by one dickhead God or another. All monsters are tragic in a way; Straya’s monster certainly is. They’re usually victims of circumstance, or humanity’s hubris. It’s what makes them so interesting.

STRAYA is available at Amazon, Abbey's Bookshop and wherever all good books are sold.

NEXTWAVE HONOUREES ANNOUNCED AT SWIFF GALA CEREMONY

The culmination of a year-long search for Australia’s freshest filmmaking minds unfolded yesterday at the Screenwave International Film Festival (SWIFF), with the award ceremony for the Nextwave Youth Film Festival taking place in the heart of Coffs Harbour, hosted by actor and Toormina High alumni, Nick Hardcastle.

Drawn from over 60 short films submitted by regional student filmmakers aged 10-25, a final roster of 22 finalists were screened at the C.Ex Auditorium for the nominees and their families, as well as representatives from the primary, secondary and tertiary institutions in the running for the highly-coveted trophies. (Pictured, above; a still from Nextwave finalist What's Next, directed by Francoise Dik) 

In the 10-14 age bracket, Best Film honours went to The Beach, a eerie, monochromatic moodpiece directed by and starring Lachlan Beck and Michaela Forbes and produced at St Columba Anglican College, Port Macquarie. Honours in the 15-17 years category went to Brain Storm, a meta-rich take on the filmmaking process, which took out Best Film and Best Script trophies for creatives Ben Rosenberg and Lawson Booth of Toowoomba Grammar School. In the 18-25 groups, the home invasion thriller Come Downstairs (pictured, right), directed by Brayden Cureton of Toowoomba Christian College, earned the Best Film nod.

The People’s Choice award, voted for by those attending the screening ceremony, went to the joyous celebration of seaside teen life, The Perfect Day in Isolation, directed by Jonah Werner and Toby Hill out of Macksville High School. The coastal odyssey also earned a SWIFF Commendation, as did director Sophie Bagstar of Oxley High School for her dramatic supernatural thriller, Devour.   

In other key categories, the Matrix-like actioner Rural Quest (pictured, right), produced by the trio of William Butler, Jack Morgan and Dylan Mann of St Paul’s College Kempsey, scored Best Cinematography and Best Editing gongs; Kaelyn Ward won Best Director for her haunted-home mystery, The Switch; Best Actor honours went to Felix Kneebone for Willow Driver’s man-child comedy, I Don’t Want to Play Anymore; and, Aaron Bruggeman won Best Sound for his workplace fantasy, Day Dreamer.

The Young Regional Filmmaker Award is one of the most sought-after Nextwave honours, recognised throughout the film industry as a key stepping-stone towards sector acceptance. In 2020, that honour went to Rylee Parry, an 18-25 category nominee, for her directorial effort Remember The Waltzing, Matilda. Runner-up in the category was Jordan Frith, represented by the dreamlike drama, Feeling Lost.

In 2020, the Nextwave mentoring and training program shifted from in-person workshops to a dedicated online film education portal, hosted at nextwavefilm.com.au. The 2021 competition was officially opened by SWIFF Festival Directors Kate Howat and Dave Horsley, with the competition once again to be overseen by Program Director Saige Brown. Heads up, filmmakers - this year’s condition-of-entry component is ‘pineapple’, dictating the tropical fruit or some variation thereof must appear in your submission.

In a first for the Nextwave finalists, it was announced that 11 films, each exhibiting a key genre thematic element - sci-fi, horror, thriller or fantasy - would be granted automatic entry into the 2021 Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival. A full list of the films selected to screen November 4-13 in Sydney can be found at the festival's Facebook page here.