Samson & Delilah

Samson & Delilah won a range of awards at the Australian Film Institute Awards last night. The film, which took home the Camera d'Or in Cannes earlier in the year, took home the Best Film, Best Director, and Best Cinematography awards.

Samson And Delilah

Many folks around the world spent a few hours during 2008 suffering through Australia, an attempt to elevate the stature of Australia (both as a continent and as a film-making nation). Depending upon whom you ask, that film accomplished neither goal. However, Australia is no stranger to quality films, they just tend to be of the low-budget, but substantive variety. At Cannes over the weekend, a young upstart director, Warwick Thorton, earned recognition for his debut film, Samson and Delilah. No doubt, the film will be limited to the world's art house cinemas, but it's a good testament to the fact that good things can come in small packages. Perhaps more importantly, it shows the lives of Australia's indigenous people with brutal honesty.

Australia: The Motion Picture

A trailer for the epic film, Australia, has been released. It would seem there are hopes in some circles that this will become Australia's Gone with the Wind - a legendary tale of the coming of age of a nation (although this seems unlikely to displace classics such as Gallipoli or The Lighthorsemen). Most troubling for me is the fact that this is one of those trailers that communicates themes (e.g., love, war, hardship, sweat, dirt, landscapes, etc.) but no plot. For the life of me, I've got no clue what this film is actually about, so despite the big names (e.g., Jackman and Kidman)I'm predicting a flop. Not to mention, any film that appears to take itself this seriously is markedly un-Australian.

Spielberg and Hanks Stop Traffic

Sydney was locked down for APEC, but in Melbourne it takes something a bit more artsy to bring the city to a stand still. Enter Spielberg and Hanks, who have received permission to shut down the busiest intersection in central Melbourne for an entire weekend while they shoot their Pacific edition of Band of Brothers, which begain production in Melbourne last month.