SAMSON & DELILAH, the low-budget feature film debut from Australian director-writer-cinematographer, Warwick Thornton has stunned the film world by taking out the Camera d’Or at the Cannes International Film Festival.

The prize – one of the most coveted in film – was awarded by an independent jury to the best first feature film presented in any of the three Cannes selections – Official Selection, Director’s Fortnight or International Critics Week.

French actress Isabelle Adjani awarded the prize to what the jury described as “the best love film we’ve seen for many a year.”

Read Interview with Director Warwick Thornton here and also read the film review by Ryan Nance

Closed Zone by Yoni Goodman
“I want people in the West to see it, to see that there are people in Israel who are against war, who want peace,”

Did you miss the excellent “Artscape: Paper Cuts: The Art Of Ghostpatrol And Miso”?
Well you can catch it on ABC2 this sunday

It’s not often you get to see how Australian films are put together. So it was exciting to see how The Combination progressed – from looking for people in a local newspaper, to early rehearsals in a small office space in the middle of Rydalmere (surrounded by industrial sites), and then finally to garnering screenings in some of the biggest cinemas across the country.

Australian films with violent Middle Eastern themes generally don’t have the government rushing to support them, and you would be right in recalling the old adage It’s not what you know. This rings true in most cases and that’s why we see so much rubbish on screen. In any case, it’s no surprise that while HoWARd was in power, funding to the arts diminished at a rate not seen since the great depression.

The Combination was put together with private funding and filmed mainly in Granville, which is why it’s great to see a movie like this finally make its way to the big screen.

The Combination is a story written by and starring George Basha, who grew up in Guildford and who, between stints as a tradesman, has had minor acting roles in other Australian films including Blackrock.

Directed by one of Australia’s most respected actors, David Field, The Combination will be his directorial debut. The film is produced by the lovable screenwriter John Pirrie of See Thru Films.

Filming was completed by none other than Toby Oliver of Looking For Alibrandi fame and was filmed on RED (you can read about it on his blog). The film was edited by Ken Sallows whose work includes the brilliant Australian film Chopper (Hi Chop!).
So whatever you might think, you know it will look fantastic.

Will The Combination be anything like Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s Café Lumière?

No, It will be more like a Takeshi Kitano Flick, say Sonantine.
Excitement, violence, and a few kicks!

The Combination

The Combination is in Cinemas Feb 26th.

Gaza (Palestine) and Sderot (Israel): Report on the life of men, women and children in two cities on the Israeli Palestinian border. Tell about the reality on both sides. Despite of many dangers, air bombings and rocket attacks, those people never stop working, loving, and dreaming. Life despite of everything.
On the Gaza Sderot website, you can find short videos (minutes each) on Gaza and Sderot. Every day, one video from Palestine, the other one from Israel. One without the other only would show part of the reality.

Thanks to Suzi for the heads up on this fantastic initiative

Gamers starved for novel new frontiers, rejoice! The countdown has begun for the launch of PlayStation 3’s Flower, “the video game version of a poem” that defies description.

Read more about Flower for PS3 ►

Perfect for families and kids aged 2 to 18, Little Big Shots is Australia’s major annual and traveling children’s film festival. An inspiring, meaningful and fun-filled festival, Little Big Shots features the best in local and international children’s shorts, animations, documentaries and, amazingly, child-produced films. Read more About Little Big Shots ►

A movie poster for the new Australian film Dying Breed will not be appearing on bus shelters after being deemed too gruesome by Adshell (the company that specialises in bus shelter advertising).

“Dying Breed is an Australian film fighting to be noticed in a crowded marketplace and we wanted to stand out from the crowd.” says the film’s writer producer, Michael Boughe.

The poster was created by The LaB Sydney.

Read more here.

Thanks to Ian for this news tidbit!

An interesting looking ‘animated documentary’ by Ari Folman is being released here in Australia on September 11. The animation style is very nice.

One night at a bar, an old friend tells director Ari Folman about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. Every night, the same number of beasts. The two men conclude that there’s a connection to their Israeli Army mission in the first Lebanon War of the early eighties.

Ari is surprised that he can’t remember a thing anymore about that period of his life. Intrigued by this riddle, he decides to meet and interview old friends and comrades around the world. He needs to discover the truth about that time and about himself. As Ari delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, his memory begins to creep up in surreal images.

Check out the trailer at the Waltz With Bashir website.