HOT HOSTS HEAD FOR HOTA
Australian actor Rebel Wilson has been named as the emcee of the 2024 edition of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) awards. Wilson will take to the stage on Saturday, Feb. 10.
Two days earlier, on Feb. 8, singer and actor Harry Connick Jr. will be the host of the AACTA Industry Awards. Both hosts will be joined by some of the industry’s most dynamic stars presenting at the ceremonies. And both ceremonies, presented by Foxtel Group, will be held at the Home of the Arts (HOTA) on the Gold Coast in Queensland.
SHORTS TO FEATURES
Writer-director-actor Alice Englert (“Bad Behaviour,” “Beautiful Creatures”), producer Jodi Matterson (“The Dry,” “Wolf Like Me”), director David Michôd (“The King,” “Animal Kingdom”), and producer Jamie Hilton (“Runt,” “Sleeping Beauty”), will be among the speakers at Flickerlab 2024 on Thursday. Pitched as a one-day journey from shorts to features, the Bondi, New South Wales-located event is backed by the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) and the Flickerfest 33rdInternational Film Festival.
Other speakers include director Darlene Johnson (“Bluey,” “Following the Rabbit Proof Fence”), writer-director Samuel Van Grinsven (“Sequin in a Blue Room”), producer Mahveen Shahraki (“The Rooster”), and Peter Skinner, writer and director of the AFTRS’ Award-winning short film“Lost Boy.” They will be joined by journalists and distribution, screen agency and broadcast executives.
PAGEANT
The Miss World Organization has appointed EndemolShine India as the producers for the upcoming 71st Miss World Festival that will be streamed and broadcast across the globe. The event returns to India after 28 years. Scheduled to take place Feb. 18 – March 9, the festival will be hosted across several venues, including the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi and the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai.
PRODUCTION
Filming has commenced on four-part psychological thriller, “Dead and Buried,” written by Colin Bateman. Commissioned by BBC Northern Ireland and Virgin Media Television in association with All3Media International, the series follows Cathy and her young son who encounter Michael, the man convicted of the brutal murder of her brother, 20 years earlier. Ignoring the advice of her best friend, Cathy takes to social media, uncovering the successful career and family life Michael has forged for himself since early release from prison, while she grieved for her brother.
The cast includes Annabel Scholey (“The Split”), Colin Morgan (“Humans”), Kerri Quinn (“Hope Street”), Waj Ali (“Carnival Row”), Owen Roe (“Vikings”) and Niamh Walsh (“The Sandman”). The series is produced by Three River Fiction and Vico Films with support from Screen Ireland, Northern Ireland Screen and Coimisiún na Meán. It will film in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland over the coming months.
COMMISSION
BBC Children has commissioned “Crongton” from New Pictures (an All3Media Company), in association with All3Media International. The 10-part returning series, aimed at a 10-12-year-old audience, is written by Archie Maddocks and based on the bestselling novels by Alex Wheatle. The series will chronicle the lives and journeys of a group of young people living in a multicultural community in a fictional urban housing estate, as they navigate the complexities of social politics, peer pressure and identity while trying to forge a place for themselves within a world full of possibility and littered with danger.
PITCH FILM FUND WINNERS
Anatole Sloan, of mixed British-Chinese descent, is the winner of the drama award at the U.K.’s 2024Pitch Film Fundawardsfor “Our Child,” a story set in Hong Kong about how a young surrogate mother searches for recognition. Maddie Dai won the comedy award for“Jael Drives the Nail,” a cinematic exploration of the gruesome death of General Sisera at the hands of a woman. The winners will share £60,000 (£76,360) funding plus production support.
The Lucy Scher Award for the best female filmmaker went to Olga Thompson for “Stavros & Demetra,” a slapstick reimagining of Samson and Delilah told from the female perspective; Alice Johannessen won the outstanding pitch award for drama for ecological drama “Running Water”; and British comedy duo The RomCom Guys – David Ajayi and Phil Ossai – received the outstanding pitch award for comedy for “The Graveyard Shift.”
Now in its 15th year, the Pitch Film Fund aims to see adaptations of stories from the Bible brought to the big screen.
