News

BAD GIRL TO SCREEN AT THE 2017 MARDI GRAS FILM FESTIVAL

The 24^th Mardi Gras Film Festival runs from February 15th - March 2nd.
The festival will include Fin Edquist's exciting Australian thriller BAD GIRL.

Amy returns home to a house she doesn't know to adopted parents she doesn't care for in a country town where there's nothing to do following a stint in a juvenile corrections centre. She's done something terrible and she's capable of much worse. Despite the love and support her parents provide, Amy plans on escaping. To make matters worse local girl Chloe is everything she is not; in looks, manners and behaviour. Their attraction to each other is immediate and it will have dire consequences for all.

Variety describes the film as "a nerve-jangling thriller"

BAD GIRL screens on February 25th at Event Cinemas George Street
Ticketing info can be found here

CURIOUS ACQUIRE GOLDEN BEAR WINNER FIRE AT SEA

Fire at Sea the winner of the prestigious Golden Bear, the competition's top award at the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival has been acquired by Curious Film.

The provocative, lyrical documentary by director Gianfranco Rosi offers an incisive panorama of life on Lampedusa. The diminutive Mediterranean island is where thousands of asylum seekers forced from war-torn homes and areas devastated by violence and economic collapse in Africa and the Middle East have landed in the hope of reaching mainland Europe.

Berlinale Competition Jury president Meryl Streep said, "It's a daring hybrid of captured footage and deliberate storytelling that allows us to consider what documentary can do. It demands its place in front of our eyes, compels our engagement and action. It is urgent, imaginative and necessary filmmaking."

Through Samuele, the film's principal character, an 11 year old boy whose life in his fishing village changes with contact and increasing exposure to a wider world from which the scope of the crisis is gradually revealed. Fire at Sea contrasts the arduous journeys of several immigrants and through the cumulative impact of small, unforgettable details from their daily lives creates a compelling mosaic. IndieWIRE said the film is "sublimely made." Variety said it "leaves a haunting impression."

In his Sight and Sound review Geoff Andrew notes Fire at Sea "should be compulsory viewing" and describes film- maker Rosi as "the quicksilver master of present tense documentary cinema."

The Guardian hails Rosi, who was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival for his previous documentary Sacro GRA, as "a new significant force in European cinema."

To keep up to date on news, release dates and everything Curious like and follow us on  Facebook.

Curious acquire critically acclaimed Hitchcock/Truffaut

Hitchcock/Truffaut screened as part of the 2015 Cannes film festival where it was nominated for the Oeil d'Or (Golden Eye) award, the festivals first ever-documentary award.

In 1962 Hitchcock and Truffaut locked themselves away in Hollywood for a week to excavate the secrets behind the mise-en-scène in cinema. Based on the original recordings of this meeting-used to produce the mythical book Hitchcock/Truffaut-this film illustrates the greatest cinema lesson of all time and plummets us into the world of the creator of Psycho, The Birds, and Vertigo. Hitchcock's incredibly modern art is elucidated and explained by today's leading filmmakers: Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, Arnaud Desplechin, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Wes Anderson, James Gray, Olivier Assayas, Richard Linklater, Peter Bogdanovich and Paul Schrade

To keep up to date on news, release dates and everything Curious like and follow our Facebook page.

KIRIN KIKI WINS THE PRESTIGIOUS ASIA PACIFIC SCREEN AWARD FOR BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS

Kirin Kiki, the lead actress in Curious Film's upcoming release AN, has won the prestigious Asia Pacific Screen Award (APSA) for Best Performance by an Actress. The APSAs are held annually on the Gold Coast and recognise and promote the cinematic excellence and cultural diversity of the Asia Pacific region.

AN will be released in Australia and New Zealand early 2016. Directed by Naomi Kawase, AN was included in Un Certain Regard at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. Sentaro runs a small bakery that serves dorayakis - pastries filled with sweet red bean paste ("an"). When an old lady, Tokue, offers to help in the kitchen he reluctantly accepts. But Tokue proves to have magic in her hands when it comes to making "an". Thanks to her secret recipe, the little business soon flourishes... And with time, Sentaro and Tokue will open their hearts to reveal old wounds.

Kirin Kiki is an award winning actress best known in her home country for films such as Mom and me, and Sometimes Dad, Half a Confession and Kamikaze Girls. Naomi Kawase is one of Japan's most respected directors. In 1997 she became the youngest winner of the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival with her first feature Suzaku. Ten years later she came back with her 4th feature, Mogari (The Mourning Forest) and received the Grand Prix. She also received the Carrosse d'Or from the Directors' Fortnight in 2009. One of her many documentary works, Gennpin (2010), received the FIPRESCI Prize at the San Sebastian International Film Festival in 2010.

BELOVED SISTERS SET TO OPEN THE AUDI FESTIVAL OF GERMAN FILMS

The Audi Festival of German Films opens on May 13th and will play 8 cities across Australia.The festival will include Curious title BELOVED SISTERS from master director Dominik Graf.
Variety describes the film as "enthralling"
Beloved Sisters will open the festival in both Sydney and Melbourne and actor Florian Stetter who stars in the film will be here for Q&A's at select screenings.

Watch the trailer

2015 Audi Festival of German Films

Sydney          May 13th - May 28th
Melbourne     May 14th - May 31st
Brisbane        May 21st - May 28th
Canberra       May 20th - May 27th
Adelaide        May 27th - May 31st
Perth             May 28th - May 31st
Byron Bay     May 29th - May 30th
Hobart           May 29th - May 30th

Purchase Tickets

FINDING GASTON AT THE 2015 SPANISH FILM FESTIVAL

The Spanish Film Festival opens on April 21st and makes it way across Australia.The festival will feature Curious title FINDING GASTON, a documentary following the story of visionary Peruvian chef Gaston Acurio.
The Hollywood Reporter describes the film as "A mouth-watering documentary"
With Special events in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane, be sure not to miss it.

Watch the trailer

2015 Spanish Film Festival

Sydney              21 April - 10 May
Melbourne         22 April - 10 May
Brisbane            29 April - 13 May
Canberra           23 April - 6 May
Adelaide             6 May - 20 May
Perth                  23 April - 6 May
Byron Bay          30 April - 7 May
Hobart               7 May - 13 May

Purchase Tickets

GOOD VIBRATIONS to screen at the Inaugural Irish Film Festival in Sydney

The festival will take place at the Chauvel Cinema in Paddington from the 26th - 29th March.  With a focus on contemporary Ireland and specifically youth and music, the Irish Film Festival will showcase the latest in quality Irish Film.

Watch the trailer here

Purchase Tickets

Love At First Fight wins big at the 40th César Awards in Paris

Thomas Cailley's Cannes Directors Fortnight winner Love At First Fight has taken out three major awards at the 40th César's in Paris.

Actress Adèle Haenel won for Best Actress while her fellow cast member and exciting newcomer Kevin Azais took out the award for Best New Actor.   To top of a great night for the film Thomas Cailley was presented with the award for Best New Film.

Between his buddies and the family firm, Arnaud's summer is shaping up to be peaceful... Peaceful until his encounter with Madeleine, as beautiful as she is a pain, a block of tense muscles and catastrophic prophecies. He expects nothing; she's preparing for the worst. He lets himself be carried along, laughs a lot. She struggles, runs, swims, hones herself. Just how far will he follow her, when she's asked nothing of him? It's a love story. Or a story of survival. Or both.

You can catch Love At First Fight at The Alliance Francaise French Film Festival's in Australia and New Zealand.

Watch the trailer here.

Alliance Francaise French Film Festival New Zealand
19/2/15 - 29/4/15

Auckland: 19/2/15 - 8/3/15
Christchurch: 26/2/15 - 15/3/15
Nelson: 4/3/15 - 15/3/15
Timaru: 5/3/15 - 15/3/15
Wellington: 11/3/15 - 29/3/15
Tauranga: 12/3/15 - 22/3/15
Dunedin: 19/3/15 - 29/3/15
Havelock North: 19/3/15 - 29/3/15
Arrowtown: 26/3/15 - 5/4/15
Palmerston North: 9/4/15 - 19/4/15
Hamilton: 9/4/15 - 29/4/15
Purchase Tickets


Alliance Francaise French Film Festival Australia
3/3/15 - 21/4/15

Sydney: 3/3/15 - 22/3/15
Melbourne: 4/3/15 - 22/3/15
Adelaide: 5/3/15 - 24/3/15
Canberra: 6/3/15 - 25/3/15
Brisbane: 13/3/15 - 1/4/15
Perth: 19/3/15 - 7/4/15
Byron Bay: 9/4/15 - 14/4/15
Hobart: 16/4/15 - 21/4/15
Purchase Tickets

Curious acquisition "Ida" wins Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards

Ida, directed by Pawel Pawlikowski has won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film at this years Academy Awards.  Ida is the first Polish film to win the award.
Accepting the award Pawlikowski said: "We make a film about silence and withdrawing from the world and the need for contemplation - and here we are, at the epicenter of the world noise and attention.  Fantastic - life is full of surprises"
Congratulations to Pawel and the Ida team.

Watch the trailer for Ida here.

Ida is available to rent or buy on Itunes
Australia
New Zealand

4 STARS, DAVID STRATTON ON HANNAH ARENDT

LIKE George Clooney’s new film, The Monuments Men, Hannah Arendt explores a real story with a World War II background.

This German production, directed by veteran Margarethe von Trotta, is a reminder of a controversy that erupted in the early 1960s when Arendt, a Holocaust survivor, wrote a contentious article for The New Yorker, followed by a book, about the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Israel.

The film begins - a bit unnecessarily - with the 1960 kidnapping of Eichmann in Argentina by Mossad agents. Von Trotta, who has made several film biographies of celebrated women, including Rosa Luxemburg (1985), quickly establishes Arendt (Barbara Sukowa) as a New York-based intellectual, happily married to Heinrich Blucher (Axel Milberg). Her 1951 book, The Origins of Totalitarianism, is considered by many to be a masterpiece. New Yorker editor William Shawn (Nicholas Woodeson) proposes that Arendt cover the Eichmann trial from Israel, an idea encouraged by her friend Mary McCarthy (Janet McTeer), the author of The Group, and strongly discouraged by her Israeli friend Hans Jonas (Ulrich Noethen).

Despite reservations, Arendt goes to Israel and attends the trial, which is largely shown via original newsreel coverage), but her conclusions - that Eichmann believed he did no wrong but just followed orders ("the banality of evil") and that some Jewish leaders should have done more to stand up against the Nazis - proved to be furiously controversial, especially back in the US.

This is a film of ideas, and a reminder of some of the controversies still swirling around World War II and its aftermath. Sukowa's fine, intelligent performance as the chain-smoking protagonist provides a solid centre against which the pros and cons ebb and flow.

Von Trotta's latest biopic is a film of controversial ideas, and such things are rare enough in cinema these days for this German production to be warmly welcomed.

Hannah Arendt (PG)

4 stars

Recent Curious acquisition Ida wins Best Film at the London International Film Festival 2013

We're excited to announce that Pawel Pawlikowski's Ida has just won 'Best Film' at the 2013 London Film Festival. Ida stars newcomer Agata Trzebuchowska opposite Polish star Agata Kulesza in the story of a novice nun coming face to face with her family's past in 1960s Poland.

It marks the first Polish language film for Warsaw born British filmmaker Pawlikowski, best known for The Last Resort and BAFTA award winning My Summer of Love.
The film previously won the FIPRESCI International Critics' Award at the Toronto International Film Festival last month and the top prize at Poland's Gdynia Film Festival.

Watch the trailer for Ida here.

CURIOUS FILM AT THE MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2013

Curious Film are excited to announce five stunning new titles that will screen as part of this years Melbourne International Film Festival. Not to be missed is THE ROCKET, debut feature from writer/director Kim Mordaunt who will be in attendance at the festival. THE ROCKET recently picked up the Audience Award at the Sydney Film Festival.

From Austrian Auteur Ulrich Seidl, comes The PARADISE TRILOGY ( LOVE, FAITH and HOPE) which has been a huge hit at film festivals across the glove. Also showing is Cannes Best Screenplay winner A TOUCH OF SIN from chinese director Jia Zhang-Ke who will also be in attendance at the festival. The New Yorker has described Jia Zhang-Ke as "Simply one of the best and most important directors in the world."

For tickets head to the www.miff.com.au

CURIOUS FILM AT THE NEW ZEALAND FILM FESTIVAL

The New Zealand International Film Festival opens on July 18^th and makes it's way across NZ before wrapping up on November 6^th. Curious are proud to have six titles screening this year. Fresh from taking out the Audience Award at the Sydney Film Festival is, Kim Mourdant's THE ROCKET. Kim will be in attendance at the festival. Also Cannes Best Screenplay winner A TOUCH OF SIN from Chinese director Jia Zhang-Ke. The PARADISE TRILOGY (LOVE, FAITH and HOPE) from Austrian auteur Ulrich Seidl and from last years Toronto International Film Festival HANNAH ARENDT, directed by Margarethe von Trotta and starring Barbara Sukowa.

THE ROCKET WINS AGAIN!

The Rocket has wowed its hometown crowd, taking out the Audience Award at the 2013 Sydney Film Festival.

This follows the film's big wins at both the TriBeca and Berlin Film Festivals earlier this year where it also won an Audience Award, as well as other major prizes.

"After the successes at Berlin and TriBeca, it's a great feeling for the film to be embraced by our home town.  We make films for an audience, and seeing the Sydney audience so moved and excited by The Rocket as it screened at the State Theatre will live forever in my memory," said writer/director Kim Mordaunt.

Kim and producer Sylvia Wilczynski were joined at the Sydney Film Festival by several of the cast who travelled from Laos and Thailand to be at the Festival, as well as a large number of the Australian crew.

At the recent Tribeca Film Festival in New York, The Rocket took out the Audience Award, the Best Actor Award for its young lead actor, 10-year-old Sitthiphon Disamoe and the the Best Narrative Feature Award, which was presented to the filmmakers by the festival's co-found Robert de Niro. The Rocket will be released in cinemas around the US and Canada later this year.

At this year's Berlin Film Festival the film won the Crystal Bear for Best Feature  (Generation Kplus program), Best First Feature (across all sections of the Festival) and the Amnesty International Film Prize, also judged from all sections of the Festival.
Filmed on location in Laos and Thailand, The Rocket was written and directed by Kim Mordaunt and produced by Sylvia Wilczynski.

Sitthiphon Disamoe stars as Ahlo - a boy who enters a traditional rocket festival competition to help save his poverty-stricken family who have been uprooted for the construction of a dam.

The Rocket will be released natioanlly August 29

CURIOUS PICKS UP FIVE TITLES AT CANNES, INCLUDING BEST SCREENPLAY WINNER A TOUCH OF SIN

The Cannes Film Festival Best Screenplay winner, A TOUCH OF SIN by Jia Zhang-Ke, will be distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Curious.

Curious Distribution's Sarah Noonan said that the company had acquired four additional titles at Cannes, Michael Polish's Sundance Film Festival selection BIG SUR and Austrian director Ulrich Seidl's PARADISE TRILOGY.

"These titles build on Curious' slate of quality films for discerning cinema audiences.  Our recent cinema release successes with THE OTHER SON and BROKEN have confirmed that audiences have a strong appetite for films that challenge, invite discussion and entertain," Sarah said.

Jia Zhang-Ke is one of China's most acclaimed filmmakers.   A TOUCH OF SIN is his controversial and stunning account of modern China and its rampant corruption and exploitation.

Starring Kate Bosworth, Josh Lucas, Radha Mitchell and Jean-Marc Barr, Michael Polish's BIG SUR is based on Jack Kerouac's novel of the same name and recounts the iconic author's three sojourns to the cabin Big Sur owned by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Ulrich Seidl's THE PARADISE TRILOGY is an ambitious suite of three feature films. LOVE, in Official Competition at the 2012 Cannes International Film Festival, tells of three European women who go to Kenya's beaches to seek out African boys selling love to earn a living. In FAITH, which screened In Competition at the 2012 Venice International Film Festival and at the Toronto International Film Festival, the lead character's paradise lies with Jesus, not in the earthly love that her sister seeks in Kenya; while in HOPE, the 13-year-old daughter of one of the women who travels to Kenya, is sent to a strict diet camp for overweight teenagers in the Austrian countryside, where she discovers the thrill of illicit love with a doctor 40 years her senior.  HOPE was in Official  Competition at the Berlin Film Festival, 2013.

Curious Distribution's releases in the second half of 2013 include THE ROCKET, winner of three major awards a both the TriBeca and Berlin Festivals, and Italian director Matteo Garrone's REALITY, the follow up to his acclaimed GOMORRAH.

THE ROCKET WINS TOP HONOURS AT TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL

The Australian film The Rocket, to be released by Curious Distribution in cinemas nationally later this year, has won top honours at the TriBeca Film Festival in New York.

The Rocket won Best Narrative Feature at the Festival and took out the Audience Award.  The film's young lead actor, 10-year-old Sitthiphon Disamoe, also took out the Best Actor Award.

The success at TriBeca follows the three awards won by the film at this year's Berlin Film Festival - the Crystal Bear for Best Feature  (Generation Kplus program), Best First Feature (across all sections of the Festival) and the Amnesty International Film Prize, also judged from all sections of the Festival.

Filmed on location in Laos, The Rocket was written and directed by Kim Mordaunt and produced by Sylvia Wilczynski.

Sitthiphon stars as Aholo - a boy who enters a traditional rocket festival to help save his poverty-stricken family who have been uprooted for the construction of a dam.

http://www.therocket-movie.com

THE ROCKET SELECTED FOR TRIBECA’S WORLD NARRATIVE COMPETITION

The Australian film The Rocket, to be released by Curious Distribution mid-2013, has followed its recent success at the Berlin International Film Festival with news that it is one of only 12 films to be selected in the World Narrative Competition Section of the 2013 TriBeca Film Festival in New York.

The Rocket, written and directed by Kim Mordaunt, recently won three awards at the Berlin International Film Festival - Crystal Bear for Best Feature  (Generation Kplus program), Best First Feature (across all sections of the Festival) and the Amnesty International Film Prize, also judged from all sections of the Festival.
Filmed on location in Laos in the Lao language, it tells the story of a Lao boy who leads his family and a couple of ragged misfits across war-ravaged Laos to the dangerous Rocket Festival, in an attempt to prove that he doesn't carry a bad luck curse. The film will screen at TriBeca next month.

"The World Narrative Competition is the highest profile section of the festival and is a terrific way to launch the film into the American market so soon after the success of Berlin.  The film is touching audiences from all over the world, they laughed and cried and cheered at Berlin, and we're excited to see the response of American audiences.  And we look forward to showing it to Australian audiences later this year," said producer Sylvia Wilczynski.

The Rocket will be eligible for the following awards at TriBeca:
Best Narrative Feature (won last year by the Oscar-nominated "War Witch" (AKA Rebelle which Curious Distribution is releasing March 14)
Best New Narrative Feature Director
Best Actor in a Narrative Feature
Best Actress in a Narrative Feature
Best Cinematography in a Narrative Feature
Best Screenplay

http://www.therocket-movie.com

CURIOUS DISTRIBUTION’S ‘THE ROCKET” WINS TRIPLE HONOURS AT 63rd BERLIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

The Australian film The Rocket, written and directed by Kim Mordaunt, has won a stunning three awards at the Berlin International Film Festival over the weekend.

The Rocket, which was filmed on location in Laos in the Laotian-language, won Best Feature in the Generation Kplus program, Best First Feature (across all sections of the Festival) and the Amnesty International Award, also judged from all sections of the Festival. Curious Distribution will release The Rocket in cinemas nationally in the second half of 2013. The film tells the story of a Lao boy, who is thought to bring bad luck, who leads his family across war-torn Laos to the dangerous Rocket Festival.

Praise for the film at Berlin has been effusive with the chief film critic for industry trade publication Screen International describing it as "visually … enthralling and evocative".

"Curious Distribution is very proud to be the distributor of The Rocket in Australia and New Zealand. Kim Mordaunt and producer Sylvia Wilczynski have delivered an utterly charming film that takes audiences into a world rarely seen on our screens with a story that is warm and funny but that also tugs at our heartstrings.  Our congratulations to Sylvia and Kim for such a stunning result at Berlin," said Curious' Sarah Noonan.

"Curious is also proud to have been chosen to complete post-production work on The Rocket, which was a complex and rewarding creative challenge." Curious Distribution's Australian slate includes Miro Bilbrough's debut feature Being Venice, to be released mid-2013.

CURIOUS DIRECTOR ZIA MANDVIWALLA SELECTED FOR SUNDANCE

Curious Film writer/director Zia Mandviwalla's short film Night Shift will compete in the 'Shorts Competition' as part of the Sundance Film Festival, which runs from January 17th to 27th, 2013.

Selected to screen at Cannes last year, Night Shift also made headways in 2012 at the Melbourne International Film Festival, The New Zealand International Film Festival and The Sorta Unofficial New Zealand Film Awards (The Moas).

The film tells the story of airport cleaner Salote who tries to make it through another long shift. She does her job, does not draw attention to herself, and carves out her survival from what commuters leave behind.

"The news that we are selected to screen in competition at the Sundance Film Festival is fantastic," says Mandviwalla. "Night Shift wouldn't be the film that it is without the support and hard work of an exceptional cast and crew," she adds.

Produced by Curious Film founder and executive producer Matt Noonan along with Chelsea Winstanley (based in Auckland), Night Shift was funded through the New Zealand Film Commission's (NZFC) Premiere Shorts programme. Executive producers are Maile Daugherty and Michael Bennett from A Collective Intake of Breath.

Night Shift is award-winning director Mandviwalla's fourth short film. Over the past few years, Mandviwalla has been named SPADA's New Filmmaker of the Year in 2009, Best Director and Best Short Film at Fitzroy Shorts, Melbourne, and a Grand Jury nomination at the South Asian International Film Festival in New York. Her work has screened at global festivals in London, New Zealand and Pusan.

Since 1985, the Sundance Film Festival brings the most original storytellers together for its annual program. For more information on Night Shift screening times visit the Sundance Website.

CURIOUS ANNOUNCES AUSTRALIAN RELEASE OF ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINEE WAR WITCH

Curious Distribution is delighted to announce that it will release War
Witch (AKA Rebelle), which has been nominated for Best Foreign Film in
the Academy Awards®, in Australian cinemas early 2013.

Canada's official entry in the Awards, War Witch (AKA Rebelle) was
filmed on location in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Written and
directed by Kim Nguyen, the film screened at last year's Berlin Film
Festival where actress Rachel Mwanza won the Silver Bear for Best
Actress. She also won the Best Actress award at the 2012 Tribeca Film
Festival and the film won the Best Narrative Feature award at the same
Festival.

A powerful drama, War Witch (AKA Rebelle) tells the story of Komona
(Rachel Mwanza), a young girl whose life is anything but normal.
Kidnapped by African rebels at the age of 12, Komona is forced at
gunpoint to slaughter her own parents and fight as a child soldier
against the government in the jungles. But Komona is no ordinary
solider. Due to her ability to see gray ghosts in the trees that warn
her of approaching enemies, she is deemed a sorceress and bestowed the
title of War Witch by the supreme leader of the rebels.  Now pregnant,
she tells her unborn child of her story as she seeks redemption for her
actions in the past.

"Curious is very proud to be the Australian and New Zealand distributor
of War Witch (AKA Rebelle).  The film is profoundly affecting and
beautifully made and we look forward to presenting it to Australian
audiences soon. Our congratulations to Kim Nguyen and the entire
creative team for the Academy Award® nomination," said Curious' Sarah
Noonan.

Curious Distribution's slate for 2013 includes the release of the
French/Israeli film The Other Son, Miro Bilbrough's debut feature Being
Venice,Matteo Garrone's Cannes Film Festival Grand Jury prize winner
Reality, the French comedy Granny's Funeral and Kim Mordaunt's
Laotian-language feature The Rocket, which has been selected to screen
at Berlin next month.

CURIOUS FILM SELECTED FOR SIX NOMINATIONS AT THE NZ FILM AWARDS

Enjoying recent success at The Sorta Unofficial New Zealand Film Awards, Curious Film announces a total of six award category nominations for its short films I'm the One and Night Shift.

Organised by Ant Timpson and Hugh Sundae of nzherald.co.nz and more affectionately known as The Moas, the SUNZFA take in fully-fledged features, cinema-aimed documentaries, self-funded features and short films from New Zealand.

I'm The One is nominated under four categories including: Best Short, Best Script, StarNow Best Actress (for lead Maya Stange), and PLS Best Cinematography for DOP Bonnie Elliott's capturing of the story. Directed by Curious Film's Paola Morabito, the film tells the tale of a 17-year-old boy named Wolfe, who rejects his father's invitation for a boy's night out and is left to confront a forbidden lust for his father's new girlfriend.

From New Zealand Curious director Zia Mandviwalla, Night Shift has been recognised with nominations for PLS Best Cinematography (by Ari Wegner) and StarNow Best Actress for actor Anapela Polataivao's portrayal of the film's main character. The story unfolds around an airport worker and how she makes it through the lonely and transient night shifts.

Presented by the New Zealand Herald and Rialto Channel, The Moas will be awarded at the Wintergarden at the Civic Theatre, Auckland, on December 4, 2012.

For more details please visit: The Sorta Unofficial New Zealand Film Awards

REALITY AT THE 2012 ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL

We're proud to announce that Matteo Garrone's latest film REALITY will screen as part of the 2012 Italian Film Festival. REALITY follows the life of Luciano, a Neapolitan fishmonger who supplements his modest income by pulling off little scams together with his wife Maria. A likeable, entertaining guy, Luciano never misses an opportunity to perform for his customers and countless relatives. One day his family urge him to try out for Big Brother. In chasing this dream his perception of reality begins to change. REALITY took out the Gran Prix at Canne in 2012. Check below for all cinemas and session times.

BUY TICKETS

MELBOURNE
19 Sept - 9 Oct

Palace Cinema Como
Fri 21 Sept, 4.15pm

Thu 27 Sept, 9.15pm
Fri 5 Oct, 9.15pm

Mon 1 Oct, 6.45pm

Palace Balwyn

Wed 26 Sept, 9.00pm

Sun 30 Sept, 6.35pm

Tue 2 Oct, 1.30pm

Thu 4 Oct, 9.00pm

Palace Brighton Bay
Sat 22 Sept, 9.00pm

Fri 28 Sept, 9.00pm

Sun 7 Oct, 6.30pm

Kino Cinema

Sat 22 Sept, 1.00pm

Sat 29 Sept, 6.00pm
Wed 3 Oct, 8.15pm

Sat 6 Oct, 8.15pm

Palace Westgarth
Sat 22 Sept, 7.00pm

Sun 23 Sept, 4.30pm
Thu 27 Sept, 2.00pm
Sun 7 Oct, 4.30pm



SYDNEY
20 Sept - 10 Oct

Palace Norton St

Fri 21 Sept, 6.45pm

Sat 22 Sept, 1.30pm

Mon 24 Sept, 9.15pm

Thu 27 Sept, 1.45pm

Sat 29 Sept, 6.30pm

Wed 3 Oct, 9.00pm
Sat 6 Oct, 9.00pm
Sun 7 Oct, 4.15pm

Palace Verona

Fri 21 Sept, 4.15pm
Wed 26 Sept, 9.00pm

Thu 27 Sept, 9.15pm
Sun 30 Sept, 6.30pm
Mon 1 Oct, 6.45pm

Wed 3 Oct, 1.30pm
Thu 4 Oct, 9.00pm
Fri 5 Oct, 9.15pm

Chauvel Cinema

Sat 22 Sept, 8.15pm
Wed 26 Sept, 1.00pm
Fri 28 Sept, 8.15pm

Sun 7 Oct, 6.00pm

BRISBANE
3 - 21 Oct

Palace Barracks
Fri 5 Oct, 4.15pm

Tue 9 Oct, 4.00pm

Wed 10 Oct, 9.00pm

Thu 11 Oct, 9.15pm
Sun 14 Oct, 6.30pm
Mon 15 Oct, 6.45pm

Wed 17 Oct, 4.15pm
Fri 19 Oct, 9.15pm



Palace Centro

Sat 6 Oct, 8.30pm

Fri 12 Oct, 8.00pm

Sat 20 Oct, 8.30pm

ADELAIDE
11 - 28 Oct

Palance Nova Eastend
Fri 12 Oct, 6.15pm

Sat 13 Oct, 1.30pm
Mon 15 Oct, 8.45pm
Sat 20 Oct, 6.30pm

Wed 24 Oct, 9.00pm

Sat 27 Oct 9.00pm
Sun 28 Oct, 3.45pm

PERTH
11 - 24 Oct

Cinema Paradiso
Sat 13 Oct, 1.30pm

Thu 18 Oct, 9.00pm



Luna SX

Sun 14 Oct, 1.30pm
Sun 21 Oct, 9.00pm

CURIOUS FILM DIRECTOR PAOLA MORABITO'S 'I'M THE ONE' SELECTED FOR VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Curious Film director Paola Morabito's short film I'm The One has been selected into the official line-up of the 69th Venice International Film Festival under the Orizzonto category, which showcases new trends in world cinema.

Produced by Curious Film, the film tells the story of 17-year-old Wolfe who rejects his father's invitation for a boy's night out and is left to confront his overwhelming and forbidden lust for his father's new girlfriend.

In 2011, Morabito received funding for I'm the One from Screen NSW as part of the Emerging Filmmakers Fund. The characters and the situation came to Morabito in a dream so vivid that it woke her during the night. The following morning, she immediately put pen to paper to begin writing the script.

Says Morabito: "Wolfe's character was so compelling to me because he follows his pure impulses and doesn't hold back. I am interested in revealing the unusual psychological states of desire and lust. I want to expose the grit, the audacity of our human urges. My intention was to make it feverishly sexy."

Being invited to Venice Film Festival is a dream come true for the first generation Italian - Australian director.

Says Morabito: "Traveling to Italy to share my creativity with my people is a huge honour. I get chills just thinking about being there for this festival.

"The great Italian filmmakers are a big influence on me, the neo realists, Visconti, Passolini, Fellini and Antonini, who at the time, even in adverse economic conditions were able to make important films that reflected the spirit of everyday life, its hardship, its mystery and its moments of passion."

The 69th Venice International Film Festival, organised by La Biennale di Venezia, will run at Venice Lido from August 29th through to September 8th, 2012, and is directed by Alberto Barbera.

The aim of the festival is to raise awareness and promote international cinema in all its forms: as art, entertainment and as an industry, in a spirit of freedom and tolerance. The festival includes retrospectives and homage to major figures to raise awareness of the history of cinema.

MIFF

Curious celebrates 7 titles for the Melbourne International Film Festival

The Melbourne International Film Festival kicks off August 2nd. Curious are proud to announce seven titles for this years festival. Films include WAR WITCH (Kym Kguyen), BEING VENICE (Miro Bilbrough), ERRORS OF THE HUMAN BODY (Eron Sheenan), POLICEMAN (Nadav Lapid) and STEP UP TO THE PLATE. Short films by our own Directors include SONNY MY OLDER BROTHER (Tammy Davis) and NIGHT SHIFT (Zia Mandviwalla).