Too hot for Tropfest

In 2013 we wrote "has Tropfest peaked?" after attending the first festival in it's new location at Centennial Park in December. Whispers had a feeling it's days were numbered and now founder John Polson has conformed that Tropfest is kaput and in serious financial difficulties.
Why the organisers moved to a hollow in a park away from the harbour in hot December is a mystery. The crowds seem to evaporate in the sweltering heat. If there was an international star in town they were only to eager to support Polson but they just aren't here in December. The Domain with it's cooling harbour breezes was a blessing in the evening of the festival.
Here are a few highlights with some of the local and international stars Poulson invited and who attended.

Baz Luhrmann honoured in New York City

2015 Fiesta! Honorees Veronique and Bob Pittman, Board Chair Jacqueline Weld Drake, and honorees John Bernbach and Baz Luhrmann photo by Patrick McMullan (c)

The Casita Maria Center for Arts & Education based in New York states it's mission is to empower youth and their families by creating a culture of learning through high quality social, cultural, and educational .opportunities. Each year they honour individuals who have done just that. Honorees have included Margot Fonteyn, Oscar de la Renta, Audrey Hepburn, Oscar de la Hoya and Julio Ingelsias. This year Baz Luhrmann, described by the Centre as "film director extraordinaire" was a recipient.
And the Casita Maria Centre comes with some powerful chairperson names, amongst them Nicole Kidman, John Leguizamo, Sting and Trudie Styler, Roberto Cavalli and Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia. So the answer to that question you're asking yourself "was Baz's move to New York a positive one"..is, you betcha life!.

Young professionals love the Black & White Ball

 They were there in force. Young professional thirty somethings who have discovered the famous Black & White Charity Ball which was held this year in the Intercontinental Double Bay's ballroom. Amongst a smattering of familiar social faces including a couple of High Court judges, social mavens and self made business folk were celebrity dentist David Carr (he does the gnashers of Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig) hairdressing boss Marylin Koch and arriving by humble taxi, the former Speaker of The House Bronwyn Bishop ( a waiter had whipped away the toy helicopter one wag had placed at her table setting). Now in it's 79th year the ball raised a tidy fortune which goes to aid Vision Australia.
 left : B&W president Susan Diver and Bronwyn Bishop MP

David Carr - always accompanied by a leggy blonde takes to the dance floor

The traditional Derby was run : young ladies compete by winding in a  wooden horse to win a prize and entertainment was from a Rat Pack  tribute act who while not looking like the originals, sang up a storm

Tropfest time

 December 7th is the date for the 2014 Tropfest short film contest where budding film-makers present their efforts. All the Hollywood stars in the above photo have been supporters from day one and been judges at Tropfest so you are in good company. Take a picnic rug, chairs and umbrella to Centennial Park and settle in for the day- it's free !. There will be as usual plenty of food and drink outlets available and a chance to hobnob with movie celebrities. It's a fun day out!

Gum Leaf Mafia step out in New York

Big name Aussies were amongst those at the gala Louis Vuitton Monogram party at New York's Museum of Modern Art including Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban with Miranda Kerr ( the model who is not having an affair with billionaire James Packer) and actress Melissa George.

What do you wear in bed?

It was a question posed To Marilyn Monroe who famously responded "Chanel No 5".
Ten years ago, director Baz Luhrmann made a mini–romance film in the form of a commercial for the perfume starring his pal Nicole Kidman  with Nicole being the kind of woman who would wear Chanel No. 5. Now he has produced another film-commercial starring supermodel Gisele Bündchen (in our pic with Baz) and actor Michiel Huisman from the HBO series Game of Thrones. 

 Titled The One That I Want it's about the 21st-century woman who has it all but draws the line on her career when her marriage is in trouble. But you have to see it for yourself. We were lucky to have New York's top social snapper Patrick McMullan supply a us a few pics from the gala A-list premiere of the film hosted by Karl Largerfield in New York.

LattéLife's New Power Base

Nicole & Keith               Matt Handbury           Reg Grundy               Miriam Margolyes                 James Fairfax

It's like a roll call of Australia's most powerful citizens : businessmen like billionaire poker machine king Len Ainsworth, properly mogul Theo Onosforou, show biz giants Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban, Miriam Margolyes and Reg Grundy, publishing family scions James Fairfax and Matt Handbury, horse trainer Gae Waterhouse and artists John Olsen and Tim Storrier.

Bill Ranken                John Olsen                          Theo Onosforuw                         Len Ainsworth                    Tim Storrier

All have two things in common- they live in beautiful homes in the surrounds of NSW's gorgeous Southern Highlands just an hour's drive from Sydney and all will be amongst the readers of LattéLife's new Highland's edition of the popular Eastern suburb's newspaper.
In a few short years LatteLife has grown to a circulation of 50,000 in Sydney with the new edition boosting that to 80,000 to an audience that now contains a concentration of the most powerful Australians in politics, business and the arts.
Two experienced editors have been appointed- Monique Butterworth will oversee the Sydney edition while Bowral local Alex Speed will take on local newspapers. Both will continue the current lively mix of news, interviews with locals , colourful offerings from social snapper Bill Ranken (who fortunately lives in both places- Elizabeth Bay and on a splendid property near Goulborn) motoring tips from Aaron Zerefos and the newsy snippets that have drawn advertisers flocking to the pages, making rivals look decidedly dull by comparison.

New editors: Monique Butterworth and Alex Speed :  below -local scenery

Tom, Nicole, Keith,Swiss Pills & Prada

One guest at the Tom Keneally celebration was top show biz publicist Wendy Day (pictured with  husband publisher Mark Day.)
Wendy was having a cultural respite after collecting her most famous and steadfastly loyal client, superstar Nicole Kidman (in Prada) who arrived in Sydney that morning before heading to Melbourne to attend the Suisse Celebrate Life Ball with hubby Keith Urban to aid the Monash Children’s Hospital and Sydney’s Children’s Hospital. And doesn't she look fab!

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

Has Tropfest Peaked?

It seemed appropriate : a Mars Rover rolled around the grounds of Centennial Park, the new home for John Polson's Tropfest. At first the venue looked little different than The Domain where the event has been hosted for the past 12 years but after an hour in the unrelenting hot December sun without the pleasant and cooling harbour breezes many in the audience were soon dozing off.

Tropfest founder John Polson and Legally Blonde director Robert Luketic

Noticeably lacking were sponsors. They were few and far between food & drink concessions with their exorbitantly priced produce, a 20c bottle of Supermarket water going for $5. And the main sponsor nearly caused a riot.  
SBS TV raised the hackles of a dozen photographers who had arrived a good three hours early to score a precious media spot which meant waiting in that hot sun without promised refreshments. Just as the event began suddenly two SBS film crews of about 20 positioned themselves directly in front of the angry snappers. Talk about frayed nerves.

Spot The Star

And where were the stars ?. John Polson has performed miracles in getting every Hollywood actor in town to the event but this year there were none. The only LA name of note was film director Robert Luketic of Legally Blonde & Paranoia fame. At the very first Tropfest in the Tropicana Cafe in Kings Cross 22 years ago the Shuttle was amongst the 40 guests that included Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise. This year it seemed to be television stars, mainly from Foxtel.
The jury is out- should Tropfest, a great idea in it's time, be put to bed ?

Foodie News

In the 1960s in Sydney, Windsor Street in Paddington was the place to be. The Windsor Castle pub was packed nightly with it's many bars and live music in the beer garden. Gays & lesbians, heterosexuals, the legendary Push (Germaine Greer etc) all made their way there. Paddington was a working class suburb with a mix of immigrants who flocked to the cheap housing.

Lucio (right) celebrates with pals.

These days those once affordable terrace houses with their exotic French lace ironwork sell for over a million dollars. The Windsor Castle has become a vast private home and each house seems to boast a BMW or Mercedes.

Maria Venuti partied with Mickey Robbins

One establishment opposite the Castle that has lasted : Lucio's Restaurant serving classic Italian food. It stared life as the Hungry Horse art gallery before being taken over by Lucio in 1983. In it's early days it was a hangout for artists like John Olsen and Tim Storrier who sometimes paid their bills with works of art. Lucio probably has a small fortune hanging on his walls. These days Lucio Galletto OAM hosts all manner of guests from movie stars like Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig with celebs like Ricky Martin and Giorgio Armani dining there. And thirty successful years was a good enough excuse to hold a party.
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One guest at Lucio's party was Leon Fink who owns the world famous Quay Restaurant , seen her in our snap deep in conversation with News Ltd honcho Piers Ackermann (left).

Leon is behind the push to takeover the most visable dining spot in Sydney- Bennelong at the Sydney Opera House.
With the lease up on the top restaurant and chef Guillaume Brahimi throwing in the dish cloth, Fink has a plan to instal top chef Bill Granger who is cutting up a storm in the UK.

Paparazzi Wars

Things are not well in the world of the paparazzi.

 We've had Kayne West being arrested over an alleged assault an LA snapper while Russell Brand and Mike Tyson have both had their collars felt over scuffles with snappers . 30Rock star Alex Baldwin is renowned for his biffo bouts with New York photographers while and our National Treasure, actress Nicole Kidman was recently bowled over by an excited pap on a push bike in New York.

Now come a tale of a bust up in Kings Cross between Kidman's bête noire, the paparazzo Jamie Fawcett and another snapper named Max.  Apparently Fawcett was also placed under a  citizen's arrest by a former business partner Ben McDonald and there are claims of broken car mirrors and snaps appeared of Fawcett sporting a black eye before the local constabulary intervened. Fawcett has been the subject of attempted AVO orders in the past from Kidman and Mel B.  Nicole also appeared in court as a witness against him in a libel case against Fairfax Media which Fawcett won but was ordered to pay costs of $1M.

Now a new law has been enacted in California  that prohibits photographers from shooting pics of children without their parents permission. It's mainly aimed at the children of celebrities as swarms of snappers were hanging around school gates to get pics of celebs arriving to pick up their kids. Will such laws spread here?
Sadly gone are the days when the Shuttle and the late gentleman photographer Dave Morgan would be stopped by Tom Cruise , then living in Sydney with Kidman, who would politely ask us if we could leave him alone for a few days. Naturally being very well mannered, we obliged . Once we were rewarded with an invitation to join Tom for lunch and at a game of pool in the local pub.
Meanwhile former high flyer and now bust agency boss Darryn Lyons was last scene riding in a polo event at the Warwick Farm Polo two weeks ago. Rumours that he is reluctant to return to the UK because of the Leveson Inquiry are of course, malicious.

Nicole Kidman is In Style with Jimmy Choo

Our Nic has picked up a few more gongs. She was inducted into In Style Magazine's inaugural Women of Style Hall of Fame Award last night whilst being named as the new 'Face' ( surely feet?) of Jimmy Choo shoes.
A glittering dinner was thrown at the Carriageworks in deepest darkest Redfern and attended by 400 of the countries top ladies including Daniele Spencer, Gillian Armstrong and assorted TV personalities.

Nicole was awarded for her charity works that include raising money for the Sydney Children's Hospital in Randwick.

Kidman is in Cannes (pictured right) to support her pal Baz Luhrmann for the launch of The Great Gatsby (she's also a Cannes' Film judge) and rumours are she will be in Sydney later this month for the Australian premiere.

Daniele Spencer                   Sarah Jane Clark                  Alice Burdue                               Sarah Birdsill

Kate Ritchie                            Melissa Doyle                                  Carla Zampatti

Bushells Tea, Murdochs, China & Ewan Mcgregor

Altona                                              Carthona                                                    Iona

The only news that really matters in this town is property prices. One week they are up, the next down according to our scribes on the tabloids totally uninfluenced by the massive amount of advertising dollars that stream in to the dead tree press.
Naturally news today that Sydney's "most expensive house" Altona has sold for a whopping $50M plus has pulses racing. It's been snapped up by a Chinese mega millionaire 75 year old Xiuzhen Ding who also owns a splendid bay side manor in  Melbourne.

As the Shuttle has reported before, Altona in Point Piper was once owned by Rupert Murdoch's nephew Matt Handbury and his then wife Fiona. They held superb parties attended by the likes of yours truly. Fiona copped Altona in a divorce settlement, promptly sold it for a reputed $29M to publisher Deke Miskin, and then nipped off to the UK  to join the British aristocracy as Lady Dartmouth when she married William Legge the grandson of legendary romance novelist Barbara Cartland and stepbrother to the late Princess Diana.

         The Handburys                            Chris & Tracey-Ann Oxley

Just around the corner from Altona in Darling Point is a complex of 3 houses owned by one family, the Oxleys who inherited the Bushells Tea fortune. Carthona sits in the middle, a magnificent Gothic pile which Tom Cruise once tried to buy for Nicole Kidman.  On one side is Beach House and on the other is the superb new modern abode built for Christopher Oxley with, as the other two houses have, the most commanding views of Sydney Harbour that sweep from the Opera House to The Heads.

It was an appropriate location for the launch of a new LG $16K television set  launched at great expense today by LG's "ambassador", movie star Ewan McGregor. Ewan reckons this TV makes him look sensational , or as he puts it more simply :"just say that they're fucking good tellys". The tellys go on sale around the world later this year. Ewan also had some nice words to say about Baz Luhrmann who directed him in Moulin Rouge, describing his  1996 flick Romeo & Juliet as one of the "great movies of all time". Luhrmann's own house Iona, the 1880's mansion in Darlinghurst is also on the market for $15M.

Think Of The Children

A fleet of golf carts ferried guests up the winding Barford driveway

Hundreds did just that last night in the pouring rain. The Silver Committee threw one of it's legendary bashes at Barford, the magnificent hill-top home of Maggie and Ian Joye which seems to stretch over several acres of one of Australia's most exclusive suburbs, Bellevue Hill.

Camila Franks has the Serengeti look

The theme was Serengeti at Dusk and the decor and outfits reflected that but , well it is Sydney after all and at this time of year, when it rains it pours.

Did that dampen guest's enthusiasm ?. Not one bit as they dashed from one marquee to another under a sea of umbrellas with most deciding to settle in at the Moet & Chandon tent and sip champers out of silver goblets.

It was all in a good cause with funds raised going to the Sydney Children's Hospital in Randwick (patron : Nicole Kidman) and while the Shuttle only stayed for one hour, as we sauntered down the driveway we could hear an announcement proclaiming that over $375,000 had been raised so far. And the night was only young.

 Horns of the dilemna:
     political power broker
Michael Photios and wife Kristina

Gail Eliott, Anthony Minichiello &Terry Biviano

John Symond

Christian Lomas

Out Of Africa and at the Silver Party

                                           

Indigenous Wins at ACCTA Awards

It was what the world was screaming out for-another set of film awards !

Miranda Tapsell,Deborah Mailman,Jessica Mauboy                           & the original Sapphires

Host Russell Crowe and Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) President, Geoffrey Rush, were joined on stage by  Cate Blanchett and Nicole Kidman to honour the year's best achievements in Australian film and television at the 2nd AACTA Awards Ceremony, held at the new The Star Event Centre in Sydney.
 
Since premiering in Cannes in May 2012, the toe-tapping musical drama The Saphirres, about four Aboriginal girls who formed a singing group in the 1960s has picked up awards all over the world and has become box office gold.
 Tonight saw The Sapphires take home six AACTA Awards - Best Film, Best Director (Wayne Blair), Best Lead Actress (Deborah Mailman), Best Lead Actor (Chris O'Dowd), Best Supporting Actress (Jessica Mauboy) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Keith Thompson, Tony Briggs)
 
 The thriller Wish You Were Here won the award for Best Original Screenplay for husband and wife creative team writer/director Kieran Darcy-Smith and writer/actress Felicity Price. Antony Starr also won Best Supporting Actor for his enigmatic performance in Wish You Were Here.

Young German actress, Saskia Rosendahl, received Best Young Actor for her lead performance in the Australian made German language film Lore, directed by Cate Shortland.
A special highlight of tonight's AACTA Awards Ceremony was the presentation of the Byron Kennedy Award to the late filmmaker, animator and artist Sarah Watt (1958 – 2011), accepted on her behalf by her son, Clem McInnes .

Jessica McNamee,          Megan Gale,          Essie Davis     Gemma Arteton,         Brooke Satchwell,    Lucy Durack & 'Taxi'

It was that sort of night !

Russell compared

Hugo was there

Joel Edgerton and new love Lexi Blake

 

Jack Thompson : confirmed luvvie