Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin to be honoured as Gold Coast Film Festival kicks off

Australian film royalty Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin have a special date on the Gold Coast on Thursday. See the details

THE Gold Coast is once again about to become the centre of the big screen universe.

The city’s Gold Coast Film Festival kicks off with the Queensland premiere of Police Society, heralding 12 days celebrating new movies, with 100 films, panel chats, parties and more. Police Society, direct from the Sundance film festival, is directed by British writer and director Nida Manzoor.

A Gold Coast festival highlight sees four-time Academy Award winner Catherine Martin receive the Chauvel Award on behalf of herself and famed director husband Baz Luhrmann in the Screen Industry Gala Awards.

Four-time Academy Award winner Catherine Martin will be shining a light on Australian film as she accepts a Chauvel Award at Warner Bros. Movie World on behalf of herself and husband, Baz Luhrmann as part of the Screen Industry Gala Awards. Picture: Supplied

The awards held on Thursday Warner Bros. Movie World is named in honour of two of Australia’s pioneering filmmakers, Charles and Elsa Chauvel, acknowledging their significant contribution to the Australian screen industry.

“It’s particularly meaningful to Baz and me to be honoured with the Chauvel Award at

the Gold Coast,” Mrs Martin said.

“We have based ourselves here in recent years making Elvis, the filmmaking community and the city has been incredibly welcoming and supportive and we hope we’ll continue to make our work here in the future.”

Mr Luhrmann said having lived and worked on the Gold Coast there was “no doubt” the city was uniquely suited to the film industry.

Baz Luhrmann ahead of the Chauvel Award at Warner Bros. Movie World as part of the Screen Industry Gala Awards.

“As the industry here grows beyond just shooting movies into developing projects here and finishing them – all the way through post-production, it’s an exciting place to be for filmmakers both emerging and established,” Mr Luhrmann said. After the filming of Elvis he settled in to post-produce it on the Gold Coast too.

“With that in mind, I am deeply honoured to receive the Chauvel Award, alongside my wife Catherine Martin.”

The celebration of world cinema will see the first screening of two episodes of Netflix’s Sweet Tooth, a post-apocalyptic fantasy drama co-produced by Robert Downey Jr and an array of film firsts. See www.gcfilmfestival.com for program details and tickets.