New indigenous movie Goldstone boasts stellar cast

Ivan Sen has begun filming new indigenous movie Goldstone, with a cracking cast, in Queensland.

Ivan Sen has started filming Goldstone in Queensland.

Ivan Sen has begun filming new indigenous movie Goldstone, with a cracking cast, in the increasingly film-focused Winton Shire region of Queensland. The town of Winton and area near Longreach has also hosted John Hillcoat’s Aussie western The Proposition and elements of The Tree. Sen, who most recently directed Mystery Road, will co-produce with David Jowsey (Satellite Boy, Toomelah). The contemporary western thriller stars Aaron Pedersen, Jacki Weaver, Alex Russell, David Gulpilil, David Wenham and The Chant of ­Jimmie Blacksmith’s Jimmie, Tom E. (Tommy) Lewis.

The Railway Man’s Garry Phillips has won the Gold Tripod for best feature and the Milli Award for best cinematographer across all categories at the Australian Cinematographers Society awards in Hobart. The event, which was dedicated to the memory of Academy Award winner Andrew Lesnie, gave Ben Nott an award of distinction in the feature category for the time-travel film Predestination. Adam Arkapaw’s work on the US drama True Detective won him the prize for best telefeature, miniseries, TV drama or comedy, while Andrew Commis won the award of distinction for Devil’s Playground. Arkapaw’s work on the HBO series was exemplary but episode four, for which he won the prize, featured an extraordinary six-minute single shot, following Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey’s characters through a drug bust. He also won an Emmy for the episode. Other prizewinners included Jim Frater for The War That Changed Us (best dramatised documentary) and Joel Lawrence,whowon the best inter­national news award for his coverage of the Boxing Day tsunami anniversary.

The Independent Cinema Association of Australia has launched a new My Cinema Premiere initi­ative, bringing the “glamour and excitement” of film premieres to regional and rural audiences. ­Jeremy Sims’s adaptation of the play Last Cab to Darwin, starring Michael Caton and Jacki Weaver, will be the first film to premiere in the program of branded events and preview screenings, July 30 to August 5, ahead of the film’s broader national release on Aug­ust 6. The events will include a dedicated package of additional content, point of sale materials, competitions, exclusive interview footage and Q&As with the stars and crew of the film.

Avengers: Age of Ultron has become the second most popular film of the year in Australia so far in two weeks. In the Marvel movie’s second weekend of release the film starring Chris Hemsworth and Robert Downey Jr earned $7.8 million to bring its total to $28.7m. This year’s box office leader, Fast and Furious 7, added another $1m to bring its box office to $41.8m, becoming 17th on the all-time list. Horror film Unfriended opened with $1.265m and Hot Tub Time Machine 2 opened on 20 screens with a measly $6515.

The Water Diviner dropped a little in the US at the weekend, adding $US660,000 ($835,000) to its box office there, totalling $US2.3m. Avengers: Age of UItron had the second biggest opening of all time in North America, earning $US191m in its first weekend on 4276 screens. Within five days it became the second biggest film of the year there so far.

The Hunger Games’ Australian star Liam Hemsworth has started work this week on Independence Day 2. He joins Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum, who starred in the 1996 hit film, as angry aliens invade Earth again. Roland Emmerich returns to direct. Animal Kingdo m’s Sullivan Stapleton continues his strong run internationally, beginning work this week on the Navy SEAL film produced by Luc Besson, The Lake. He stars opposite recent Oscar winner JK Simmons in the film directed by Steven Quale. And Melbourne model and star of Mad Max: Fury RoadAbbey Lee (Kershaw) wrapped production on Nicolas Winding Refn’s new one, The Neon Demon, this week. Refn, who directed Drive and Bronson, also cast Elle Fanning, Keanu Reeves and Christina Hendricks.

The Sydney Film Festival announces its program for the June 3-14 event today. It appears to be a broad, accessible line-up led by Australian feature Ruben Guthrie on opening night and another anticipated feature on closing night. Indeed, the calibre of Australian films this year is rather high, and there’s a whisper that two features and a documentary will be in the official competi­tion for the Sydney Film Prize. The program includes Asif Kapadia’s look at the demise of Amy Winehouse, Amy, straight from Cannes; Abel Ferrara’s biopic Pasolini; and ­Michael Winterbottom’s collaboration with Russell Brand, The Emperor’s New Clothes.