Watch This Film

There is a real buzz in the industry about director Cate Shortland's new film Lore. The flick was premiered at the Sydney Film Festival on Saturday night and it has been picked up by Music Box through French-based international sales agent Memento Films for distribution in the US.

Lore is a joint Australian, German and the UK production by Porchlight Films which had a huge success with the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. 

An adaptation by Cate (left) and Robin Mukherjee of Rachel Seiffert’s The Dark Room it's the story of Lore, a young German girl who must get her four younger siblings to her grandmother on the other side of the country after her Nazi parents are arrested by Allied Forces.

Lore fans Rachel Ward &Matilda Brown

Saskia Rosendahl

     

Underbelly Razor star Jeremy Lindsay Taylor & wife Marnie Pleffer at Lore

Lore is beautifully filmed and newcomer Saskia Rosendahl gives a superb performance as the main character. A name and a movie to watch.










Below: watch Cate talk about Lore on SBS:

Tropfest-Twenty Years On....

At least two of the movie superstars at last night's Tropfest were there at the beginning-Nicole Kidman and Toni Collette. Others like Geoffrey Rush and Cate Blanchett have come onboard in recent years.

Some who are about to be catapulted into superstar status like Joel Edgerton ( The Great Gatsby) even appeared in Tropfest entries before finding stardom. Any visiting actor makes their way to The Domain to join 150,000 Sydneysiders for the festival.
Sadly, Leo Di Caprio and Tobey McGuire were too busy bunkered down at Fox Studios putting the finishing touches to their roles in Gatsby. Russell Crowe also sent apologies as he flew out to Europe yesterday.

                                              

It's twenty years since director John Polson conceived of the idea of a short film festival and held it in the Tropicana coffee shop in Kings Cross. The Shuttle was there with about 40 others (we lent him 50 bucks for photocopying)

Now it's screened to huge gatherings in every capital city around Australia and there are Tropfests held in London, New York, Toronto, Bangkok and Beijing. Recently one was held in Abu Dhabi.
Last night's first prize went to to Alethea Jones for Lemonade Stand, a comedy about a man and his grandfather whose efforts to sell lemonade bring a clash with an officious council officer.

Keeping it in the family- film-maker Matilda Brown (below left) and her mum, actress Rachel Ward (right).