Over 8,400 short films were submitted for the 2nd annual Sony Future Filmmaker Awards in Los Angeles, but only six filmmakers walked away with a win Thursday night.
148 countries were represented at the event held at the Cary Grant Theatre on the Sony Pictures Studios lot, with films competing in six categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Environment, Animation, Student and Future Format.
Created by Creo and sponsored by Sony, the black tie affair hosted by “Entertainment Tonight” correspondent Denny Directo was preceded by a week-long industry immersion program and workshops with established Hollywood executives.
Winners were selected by a group of industry experts — including Sony Pictures Classics cofounders/co-presidents Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, and cinematographers Rob Hardy and Kate Reid, with Unjoo Moon and Robert
Primes selecting the initial longlist. Director Justin Chadwick chaired both selection processes.
2nd Annual Sony Future Filmmaker Awards, winners
Ultimately, the winners were Katie Blair, Olawunmi Hassan & Adaobi Samson,...
148 countries were represented at the event held at the Cary Grant Theatre on the Sony Pictures Studios lot, with films competing in six categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Environment, Animation, Student and Future Format.
Created by Creo and sponsored by Sony, the black tie affair hosted by “Entertainment Tonight” correspondent Denny Directo was preceded by a week-long industry immersion program and workshops with established Hollywood executives.
Winners were selected by a group of industry experts — including Sony Pictures Classics cofounders/co-presidents Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, and cinematographers Rob Hardy and Kate Reid, with Unjoo Moon and Robert
Primes selecting the initial longlist. Director Justin Chadwick chaired both selection processes.
2nd Annual Sony Future Filmmaker Awards, winners
Ultimately, the winners were Katie Blair, Olawunmi Hassan & Adaobi Samson,...
- 5/31/2024
- by JD Knapp
- The Wrap
Creo has announced the jury for the 2024 Sony Future Filmmaker Awards.
Director Justin Chadwick serves as chair for the second year in a row. He is joined on the jury by Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, co-founders and co-presidents of Sony Pictures Classics; cinematographer Rob Hardy ASC, Bsc; cinematographer Kate Reid Bsc; cinematographer Robert Primes ASC; and Australian filmmaker Unjoo Moon.
Chadwick said, “It is such a pleasure to return as Chair of this new prestigious panel of decorated creatives. Last year, we brought to the forefront 30 exceptionally talented filmmakers from across the world, each of whom had the unique chance to access the inner workings of the industry in Los Angeles, opening doors to career-launching opportunities. From my own experience, the art of the short film is by no means one to be underestimated, and I look forward to discovering more brilliant, talented individuals through this upcoming selection.”
In...
Director Justin Chadwick serves as chair for the second year in a row. He is joined on the jury by Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, co-founders and co-presidents of Sony Pictures Classics; cinematographer Rob Hardy ASC, Bsc; cinematographer Kate Reid Bsc; cinematographer Robert Primes ASC; and Australian filmmaker Unjoo Moon.
Chadwick said, “It is such a pleasure to return as Chair of this new prestigious panel of decorated creatives. Last year, we brought to the forefront 30 exceptionally talented filmmakers from across the world, each of whom had the unique chance to access the inner workings of the industry in Los Angeles, opening doors to career-launching opportunities. From my own experience, the art of the short film is by no means one to be underestimated, and I look forward to discovering more brilliant, talented individuals through this upcoming selection.”
In...
- 3/13/2024
- by Jazz Tangcay and Diego Ramos Bechara
- Variety Film + TV
Nicole Kidman is providing $50,000 of her own money for a TV industry award named in honor of an Australian executive who died earlier this year.
The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta) is to present the newly-created Brian Walsh Award for Emerging Talent at its annual award ceremony in February. The award aims to discover and nurture the next generation of Australian actors.
The award pays homage to the late Brian Walsh, one of Australia’s most admired screen creatives, who left a lasting impact on the entertainment industry, both in Australia and internationally. He died suddenly in March at the age of 67.
Walsh began his career in radio and later took up leadership roles at Ten in Australia and Sky in the U.K. He spent some 28 years at Australian pay-tv leader Foxtel, during which time he commissioned iconic series such as “Wentworth,” “The Twelve,” “Colin From Accounts...
The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta) is to present the newly-created Brian Walsh Award for Emerging Talent at its annual award ceremony in February. The award aims to discover and nurture the next generation of Australian actors.
The award pays homage to the late Brian Walsh, one of Australia’s most admired screen creatives, who left a lasting impact on the entertainment industry, both in Australia and internationally. He died suddenly in March at the age of 67.
Walsh began his career in radio and later took up leadership roles at Ten in Australia and Sky in the U.K. He spent some 28 years at Australian pay-tv leader Foxtel, during which time he commissioned iconic series such as “Wentworth,” “The Twelve,” “Colin From Accounts...
- 11/16/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
We’ve gathered all videos/short films made using the recently announced Sony CineAlta Burano. Watch those videos to get the most accurate impression regarding this new and fascinating piece of motion picture camera, or should we say— CineAltaB (the promotion name of Burano used in China).
BTS of ‘Original’. The Sony CineAlta Burano. Picture: Sony Sony Burano: Venice imagery in a ‘FX9 package’
The Sony CineAlta Burnao was introduced yesterday. Y.M.Cinema was invited to Sony’s facility at the famous Pinewood Studios to try and test the camera. From the first minute, we saw that the Burano is a unique piece of motion picture camera, that was meticulously engineered to grant solo shooters the privilege of using a high-end cinema camera. You can think of it as a hybridization between FX9 to Venice 2. It owns all the features professional indie filmmakers seek, without compromising on image quality...
BTS of ‘Original’. The Sony CineAlta Burano. Picture: Sony Sony Burano: Venice imagery in a ‘FX9 package’
The Sony CineAlta Burnao was introduced yesterday. Y.M.Cinema was invited to Sony’s facility at the famous Pinewood Studios to try and test the camera. From the first minute, we saw that the Burano is a unique piece of motion picture camera, that was meticulously engineered to grant solo shooters the privilege of using a high-end cinema camera. You can think of it as a hybridization between FX9 to Venice 2. It owns all the features professional indie filmmakers seek, without compromising on image quality...
- 9/14/2023
- by Yossy Mendelovich
- YMCinema
The Australian Consulate-General of Los Angeles celebrated Australian women’s success in film and television on Thursday with a panel and networking reception featuring vetted and rising Aussie talent. The event, held in partnership with Variety, spotlighted the increase in international production in Australia and the historic number of Australian women who have been recognized by international award bodies for their contributions to the industry.
Diverse representation in film, pushing boundaries on and off set, and becoming one’s own agent of change were featured topics during a panel held at the official residence of Consul General Jane Duke in Brentwood. Director Unjoo Moon (“I Am Woman”) served as moderator with the panel featuring actor and producer Rose Byrne (“Physical”), actors Charmaine Bingwa (“The Good Fight”) and Danielle Macdonald (“Dumplin’”), as well as cinematographer Ari Wegner (“The Power of the Dog”).
Moon began the conversation by asking Byrne how the...
Diverse representation in film, pushing boundaries on and off set, and becoming one’s own agent of change were featured topics during a panel held at the official residence of Consul General Jane Duke in Brentwood. Director Unjoo Moon (“I Am Woman”) served as moderator with the panel featuring actor and producer Rose Byrne (“Physical”), actors Charmaine Bingwa (“The Good Fight”) and Danielle Macdonald (“Dumplin’”), as well as cinematographer Ari Wegner (“The Power of the Dog”).
Moon began the conversation by asking Byrne how the...
- 3/11/2022
- by Sharareh Drury
- Variety Film + TV
The Australian Consulate-General of Los Angeles is celebrating International Women’s Day this year with a special event focused on the work of Australian women in film and television — with the goals of both drawing attention to international production success in Australia and building stronger connections in the industry.
On March 10, around 80 guests are expected to attend a panel discussion and networking opportunity in an outdoor garden at the official residence of Consul General Jane Duke in Brentwood. Duke will host four female Australian filmmakers to participate in the panel: director Unjoo Moon (“I Am Woman”) serving as moderator, actor and producer Rose Byrne (“Physical”), actor Charmaine Bingwa (“The Good Fight”) and cinematographer Ari Wegner (“The Power of the Dog”) — who recently became only the second woman in the history of the Academy Awards to be nominated for a cinematography Oscar.
Duke says she is “looking forward to hosting this...
On March 10, around 80 guests are expected to attend a panel discussion and networking opportunity in an outdoor garden at the official residence of Consul General Jane Duke in Brentwood. Duke will host four female Australian filmmakers to participate in the panel: director Unjoo Moon (“I Am Woman”) serving as moderator, actor and producer Rose Byrne (“Physical”), actor Charmaine Bingwa (“The Good Fight”) and cinematographer Ari Wegner (“The Power of the Dog”) — who recently became only the second woman in the history of the Academy Awards to be nominated for a cinematography Oscar.
Duke says she is “looking forward to hosting this...
- 3/2/2022
- by Wyatte Grantham-Philips
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: In a competitive situation, Alloy Entertainment has secured the rights to How Ted Bundy’s Killing Spree Launched a Legion of Feminist Karate Masters, a story about The Feminist Karate Union by Ivana Rihter, which was published on the Narratively media platform in October 2020. Alloy Entertainment president and CEO Leslie Morgenstein and EVP of Television Gina Girolamo will shepherd the development of the the IP into a TV series.
The article follows the creation of The Feminist Karate Union. Founded in Seattle in 1971, the group took off in what they called “the Bundy Bump,” after Ted Bundy’s killing spree in the area. Women urgently looking to find a safe space to learn self-defense techniques flocked to the dojo, kindling a revolution in the previously male-dominated karate space. In the decades that followed, the organization would develop into a diverse, intergenerational community of women who all found strength, solace,...
The article follows the creation of The Feminist Karate Union. Founded in Seattle in 1971, the group took off in what they called “the Bundy Bump,” after Ted Bundy’s killing spree in the area. Women urgently looking to find a safe space to learn self-defense techniques flocked to the dojo, kindling a revolution in the previously male-dominated karate space. In the decades that followed, the organization would develop into a diverse, intergenerational community of women who all found strength, solace,...
- 12/3/2021
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
Nominations for this year’s Australian Directors’ Guild (Adg) Awards are shared amongst the likes of Wayne Blair, Shannon Murphy, Daniel Nettheim, Tennika Smith, and Jonathan Brough, who have all scored two nods each.
Murphy is one of two women included in the category for Best Direction in a Feature Film for Babyteeth, joining Unjoo Moon (I Am Woman) in a field that also includes Seth Larney (2067), Maziar Lahooti (Below), and Robert Connolly (The Dry).
She also gets the nod for Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Drama Series episode for Killing Eve, where she will compete against fellow double nominee Nettheim, who features for Halifax: Retribution (Series 1 Episode 7), and is also up for Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Miniseries Episode for Line of Duty (Series 6 Episode 1).
Blair is up for Best Direction in a Feature Documentary with co-director Nel Minchin for Firestarter: The Story of Bangarra,...
Murphy is one of two women included in the category for Best Direction in a Feature Film for Babyteeth, joining Unjoo Moon (I Am Woman) in a field that also includes Seth Larney (2067), Maziar Lahooti (Below), and Robert Connolly (The Dry).
She also gets the nod for Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Drama Series episode for Killing Eve, where she will compete against fellow double nominee Nettheim, who features for Halifax: Retribution (Series 1 Episode 7), and is also up for Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Miniseries Episode for Line of Duty (Series 6 Episode 1).
Blair is up for Best Direction in a Feature Documentary with co-director Nel Minchin for Firestarter: The Story of Bangarra,...
- 11/5/2021
- by Sean Slatter
- IF.com.au
Exclusive: Filmmaker Unjoo Moon has signed on to direct the Alloy Entertainment book adaptation Frankly in Love for Paramount Players, Deadline has learned.
The movie project is inspired by the same-name novel from David Yoon, which Time magazine called one of the best YA books of all time.
The book follows high school senior Frank Li, who in an attempt to get the girl of his dreams without upsetting his traditional Korean-American parents, concocts a plan to pretend to date his parent-approved friend Joy, but ultimately is left wondering if he ever really understood love—or himself—at all.
Allison Lee (Jawbone) and Evan Dodson (Lee Daniels’ Terms of Endearment) adapted the screenplay. Leslie Morgenstein and Elysa Koplovitz Dutton will produce through Alloy. Taylor Tang will oversee the project for Paramount Players.
Moon’s credits include I Am Woman, the story of legendary, award-winning singer-songwriter Helen Reddy, and The Zen of Bennett,...
The movie project is inspired by the same-name novel from David Yoon, which Time magazine called one of the best YA books of all time.
The book follows high school senior Frank Li, who in an attempt to get the girl of his dreams without upsetting his traditional Korean-American parents, concocts a plan to pretend to date his parent-approved friend Joy, but ultimately is left wondering if he ever really understood love—or himself—at all.
Allison Lee (Jawbone) and Evan Dodson (Lee Daniels’ Terms of Endearment) adapted the screenplay. Leslie Morgenstein and Elysa Koplovitz Dutton will produce through Alloy. Taylor Tang will oversee the project for Paramount Players.
Moon’s credits include I Am Woman, the story of legendary, award-winning singer-songwriter Helen Reddy, and The Zen of Bennett,...
- 10/6/2021
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Denson Baker was named Australian cinematographer of the year for his work on Tvnz/BBC mini-series The Luminaries at the national Australian Cinematographers Society (Acs) Awards in Canberra this evening.
In addition to the Milli Award, Baker also won a Gold Tripod for his work on episode 2 of the series, ‘The Place You Return’.
On winning the award Baker said: “I am indebted to my fellow Australian cinematographers for this incredible honour. Milli recipients are some of the world’s most influential and inspiring cinematographers.
“It is beyond a privilege to be included alongside these very people who define great cinema – both in Australia, and on the world stage. Thank you to each and every member of the Australia Cinematographer’s Society. Your artistry and leadership is deeply appreciated.”
Dion Beebe snared the Gold Tripod for Feature Films – Budget $2 million and over for his work on wife Unjoo Moon’s I Am Woman,...
In addition to the Milli Award, Baker also won a Gold Tripod for his work on episode 2 of the series, ‘The Place You Return’.
On winning the award Baker said: “I am indebted to my fellow Australian cinematographers for this incredible honour. Milli recipients are some of the world’s most influential and inspiring cinematographers.
“It is beyond a privilege to be included alongside these very people who define great cinema – both in Australia, and on the world stage. Thank you to each and every member of the Australia Cinematographer’s Society. Your artistry and leadership is deeply appreciated.”
Dion Beebe snared the Gold Tripod for Feature Films – Budget $2 million and over for his work on wife Unjoo Moon’s I Am Woman,...
- 5/1/2021
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
Australians in Film (AiF) has welcomed several new board members as it works to provide professional development opportunities for its members and industry partners during the pandemic.
The recent additions include Toby Borg, head of the global client strategy division at CAA; director Unjoo Moon (I Am Woman); Penny Smallacombe, head of Indigenous, Screen Australia; Bec Smith, partner at UTA; and Richard Weinberg, CEO Terrace Tower Group and a partner in Material Pictures, Iconic Images, 8 Angel (part of the 8Vc group) and KarlinBerg Entertainment.
They join AiF chair Simonne Overend, Eq Media’s vice president of scripted television for the US; deputy chair Emma Cooper, producer of Penguin Bloom; Rob Marsala, talent manager at Atlas Artists; Eden Gaha, CEO of content production company Mother Media Group; and Karen Robson, partner in the US law firm of Pryor Cashman Llp.
Overend says the AiF Board will navigate the organisation to the...
The recent additions include Toby Borg, head of the global client strategy division at CAA; director Unjoo Moon (I Am Woman); Penny Smallacombe, head of Indigenous, Screen Australia; Bec Smith, partner at UTA; and Richard Weinberg, CEO Terrace Tower Group and a partner in Material Pictures, Iconic Images, 8 Angel (part of the 8Vc group) and KarlinBerg Entertainment.
They join AiF chair Simonne Overend, Eq Media’s vice president of scripted television for the US; deputy chair Emma Cooper, producer of Penguin Bloom; Rob Marsala, talent manager at Atlas Artists; Eden Gaha, CEO of content production company Mother Media Group; and Karen Robson, partner in the US law firm of Pryor Cashman Llp.
Overend says the AiF Board will navigate the organisation to the...
- 2/11/2021
- by Sean Slatter
- IF.com.au
In this year of disruptions, cancellations and virtual events, it’s hard to fathom that the prestigious 11-day Adelaide Film Festival, held biennially in October in South Australia, has proceeded as in pre-pandemic times: no masks, actual red carpets, in-person interviews on stage with filmmakers and talent, afterparties (where social distancing is more a suggestion than a mandate) and free-flowing drinks and shared party plates.
“Party like it’s 2020,” the festival’s newly minted CEO and creative director, the effervescent Mat Kesting, announced to the champagne-swigging opening night crowd of around 850 people gathered at the trendy east end of Adelaide. But at this festival, it’s like being in a frothy bubble of freedom amid the fear and lockdowns that most of the rest of the world is currently enduring.
While the Sydney and Melbourne Film Festivals held earlier in the year were forced to take their events online amid city-wide lockdowns,...
“Party like it’s 2020,” the festival’s newly minted CEO and creative director, the effervescent Mat Kesting, announced to the champagne-swigging opening night crowd of around 850 people gathered at the trendy east end of Adelaide. But at this festival, it’s like being in a frothy bubble of freedom amid the fear and lockdowns that most of the rest of the world is currently enduring.
While the Sydney and Melbourne Film Festivals held earlier in the year were forced to take their events online amid city-wide lockdowns,...
- 10/22/2020
- by Katherine Tulich
- Variety Film + TV
Actor Tilda Cobham-Hervey and director Unjoo Moon on the set of ‘I Am Woman’.
While Screen Australia reports that 57 per cent of all key creatives to receive production and development funding last year were women or female-identifying people, new industry-wide data suggests bolstering women’s participation more broadly is a slow road.
In 2015, a set of stats sent a shockwave through the industry: For all Australian films released between 1970-71 and 2013-14, only 16 per cent of directors, 21 per cent of writers and 30 per cent of producers were female.
The Screen Australia research data, published in Aftrs’ Lumina magazine, was widely regarded as a wake-up call. It led to a chain reaction of initiatives from various organisations to bolster women’s participation in the screen industry, not least of which was Screen Australia’s own $5 million Gender Matters program and set of KPIs for its funded projects.
Yet, updated industry-wide data,...
While Screen Australia reports that 57 per cent of all key creatives to receive production and development funding last year were women or female-identifying people, new industry-wide data suggests bolstering women’s participation more broadly is a slow road.
In 2015, a set of stats sent a shockwave through the industry: For all Australian films released between 1970-71 and 2013-14, only 16 per cent of directors, 21 per cent of writers and 30 per cent of producers were female.
The Screen Australia research data, published in Aftrs’ Lumina magazine, was widely regarded as a wake-up call. It led to a chain reaction of initiatives from various organisations to bolster women’s participation in the screen industry, not least of which was Screen Australia’s own $5 million Gender Matters program and set of KPIs for its funded projects.
Yet, updated industry-wide data,...
- 10/15/2020
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
Actor Tilda Cobham-Hervey and director Unjoo Moon on the set of ‘I Am Woman’.
While Screen Australia reports that 57 per cent of all key creatives to receive production and development funding last year were women or female-identifying people, new industry-wide data suggests bolstering women’s participation more broadly is a slow road.
In 2015, a set of stats sent a shockwave through the industry: For all Australian films released between 1970-71 and 2013-14, only 16 per cent of directors, 21 per cent of writers and 30 per cent of producers were female.
The Screen Australia research data, published in Aftrs’ Lumina magazine, was widely regarded as a wake-up call. It led to a chain reaction of initiatives from various organisations to bolster women’s participation in the screen industry, not least of which was Screen Australia’s own $5 million Gender Matters program and set of KPIs for its funded projects.
Yet, updated industry-wide data,...
While Screen Australia reports that 57 per cent of all key creatives to receive production and development funding last year were women or female-identifying people, new industry-wide data suggests bolstering women’s participation more broadly is a slow road.
In 2015, a set of stats sent a shockwave through the industry: For all Australian films released between 1970-71 and 2013-14, only 16 per cent of directors, 21 per cent of writers and 30 per cent of producers were female.
The Screen Australia research data, published in Aftrs’ Lumina magazine, was widely regarded as a wake-up call. It led to a chain reaction of initiatives from various organisations to bolster women’s participation in the screen industry, not least of which was Screen Australia’s own $5 million Gender Matters program and set of KPIs for its funded projects.
Yet, updated industry-wide data,...
- 10/15/2020
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Having sadly passed away last week, iconic musician Helen Reddy – who performed the powerful feminist anthem ‘I Am Woman’ – it feels somewhat timely that such an empowering biopic of her life is to be released today. Starring Tilda Cobham-Hervey in the leading role, we had the pleasure of speaking to the Aussie actress to discuss the role, and the legacy that Reddy leaves behind.
We also spoke to supporting cast-member Danielle MacDonald, as well as director Unjoo Moon – covering a range of topics of discussion, from MacDonald drinking with Joanna Lumley, to Cobham-Hervey’s time growing up in the circus – to Moon talking about the friendship she developed with Reddy during the course of this movie. All three interviews are available to watch in their entirety below.
Tilda Cobham-Hervey
Danielle MacDonald
Unjoo Moon
Synopsis
1966. Helen Reddy arrives in New York with her three-year-old daughter, a suitcase and $230 in her pocket.
We also spoke to supporting cast-member Danielle MacDonald, as well as director Unjoo Moon – covering a range of topics of discussion, from MacDonald drinking with Joanna Lumley, to Cobham-Hervey’s time growing up in the circus – to Moon talking about the friendship she developed with Reddy during the course of this movie. All three interviews are available to watch in their entirety below.
Tilda Cobham-Hervey
Danielle MacDonald
Unjoo Moon
Synopsis
1966. Helen Reddy arrives in New York with her three-year-old daughter, a suitcase and $230 in her pocket.
- 10/9/2020
- by Stefan Pape
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Helen Reddy, the Australian singer whose global hit “I Am Woman” became a feminist anthem and who was the subject of a 2019 biopic of the same title, died today in Los Angeles. She was 78.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved mother, Helen Reddy, on the afternoon of September 29th 2020 in Los Angeles,” her children Traci Donat and Jordan Sommers said in a statement. “She was a wonderful Mother, Grandmother and a truly formidable woman. Our hearts are broken. But we take comfort in the knowledge that her voice will live on forever.”
Born on October 25, 1941, in Melbourne; Reddy came from a showbiz family and made her debut onstage at age 4. She first hit the U.S. charts in 1971 with “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” Mary Magdalene’s big song from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. About...
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved mother, Helen Reddy, on the afternoon of September 29th 2020 in Los Angeles,” her children Traci Donat and Jordan Sommers said in a statement. “She was a wonderful Mother, Grandmother and a truly formidable woman. Our hearts are broken. But we take comfort in the knowledge that her voice will live on forever.”
Born on October 25, 1941, in Melbourne; Reddy came from a showbiz family and made her debut onstage at age 4. She first hit the U.S. charts in 1971 with “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” Mary Magdalene’s big song from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. About...
- 9/30/2020
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
It is to the credit of Helen Reddy and her chart topping 1972 breakout hit “I Am Woman”, that I went in completely blind to director Unjoo Moon’s movie, but despite knowing nothing about it, was able to gather precisely what I may be in for from its title. Almost 50 years on, this song and its artist still have that power and still resonate and I think this biopic, about Reddy’s rise to stardom and her life, might mange to do that too. If not even educate some fresher generations on this moment in music history.
As the 24-year-old aspiring singer Helen Reddy (a sensational Tilda-Cobham-Hervey) saves all she has and travels to the USA from Australia with her young daughter in 1966, I Am Woman follows her defiant battle against the sexism of the industry, as well as her attempts to get her music out there and speak to...
As the 24-year-old aspiring singer Helen Reddy (a sensational Tilda-Cobham-Hervey) saves all she has and travels to the USA from Australia with her young daughter in 1966, I Am Woman follows her defiant battle against the sexism of the industry, as well as her attempts to get her music out there and speak to...
- 9/27/2020
- by Jack Bottomley
- The Cultural Post
Unjoo Moon’s (“The Zen of Bennett”) latest film, “I Am Woman” charts Helen Reddy’s journey and career as she arrives in New York during the ’60s as a single mother follows her struggle ahead.
Tilda Cobham-Hervey plays the singer, who faces rejection and sexism from record company execs but overcomes the odds to career success. Oscar-winning cinematographer Dion Beebe worked with Moon to establish the film’s tone, following Reddy’s road to success and recreating touchstone moments from her career, including her performance of the feminist anthem, “I Am Woman” at a rally on the Mall in D.C.
Below, Beebe breaks down his lighting choices for the film, which is now available on demand, and how he recreated that D.C moment on a shoestring budget.
Before coming onto this project, what was your relationship with Helen Reddy?
I knew her music, but the first time...
Tilda Cobham-Hervey plays the singer, who faces rejection and sexism from record company execs but overcomes the odds to career success. Oscar-winning cinematographer Dion Beebe worked with Moon to establish the film’s tone, following Reddy’s road to success and recreating touchstone moments from her career, including her performance of the feminist anthem, “I Am Woman” at a rally on the Mall in D.C.
Below, Beebe breaks down his lighting choices for the film, which is now available on demand, and how he recreated that D.C moment on a shoestring budget.
Before coming onto this project, what was your relationship with Helen Reddy?
I knew her music, but the first time...
- 9/16/2020
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Chicago – “I Am Woman” is a song, which hit number one in 1972, and it’s the title of the newly released biopic of the song’s singer, the chanteuse Helen Reddy. The director of the film is Unjoo Moon, an Australian by way of South Korea. Since Reddy was a fellow Aussie, Moon understood the quirky dynamics of the singer’s life, and uniquely generated it in the film.
Although the film is about Reddy, it also is a journey to her “I Am Woman” power, and its prominence as a feminist anthem. Australian actress Tilda Cobham-Hervey distinctly portrays Reddy, who won a contest to record a record in the U.S. in the 1960s … only to travel there with her daughter and find out the prize didn’t exist. She stayed and eventually met agent and future husband Jeff Wald (Evan Peters) who took her on a rocky path...
Although the film is about Reddy, it also is a journey to her “I Am Woman” power, and its prominence as a feminist anthem. Australian actress Tilda Cobham-Hervey distinctly portrays Reddy, who won a contest to record a record in the U.S. in the 1960s … only to travel there with her daughter and find out the prize didn’t exist. She stayed and eventually met agent and future husband Jeff Wald (Evan Peters) who took her on a rocky path...
- 9/12/2020
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on Wbgr-fm on September 10th, 2020, reviewing the new films “I Am Woman” (VOD and theaters) and “Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President” (virtual and actual theaters).
Rating: 3.5/5.0
I Am Woman As you would guess, this film is about Helen Reddy, and the journey to her signature song. Fellow Australian Tilda Cobham-Hervey distinctly portrays Reddy, who won a contest to record a record in the U.S. in the 1960s … only to travel here with her daughter and find out the prize didn’t exist. She stayed and eventually met agent and future husband Jeff Wald (Evan Peters) who took her on a rocky path to her 1970s hit making period. 3.5/5 stars.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President The improbable rise of a peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia, to the White House is told through the filter...
Rating: 3.5/5.0
I Am Woman As you would guess, this film is about Helen Reddy, and the journey to her signature song. Fellow Australian Tilda Cobham-Hervey distinctly portrays Reddy, who won a contest to record a record in the U.S. in the 1960s … only to travel here with her daughter and find out the prize didn’t exist. She stayed and eventually met agent and future husband Jeff Wald (Evan Peters) who took her on a rocky path to her 1970s hit making period. 3.5/5 stars.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President The improbable rise of a peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia, to the White House is told through the filter...
- 9/12/2020
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Audiences’ choices are limited as movie theaters in additional markets reopen this weekend, with only one new studio release, “The Broken Hearts Gallery,” joining high-profile holdovers “Tenet,” “The New Mutants” and “Unhinged” on megaplex marquees.
Meanwhile, limited releases are getting better exposure than usual, as indies and docs (such as “All In: The Fight for Democracy” about voter disenfranchisement and Stacey Abrams’ recent non-election) grab screens that might normally be crowded by blockbusters.
Streaming services HBO Max and Netflix are keeping subscribers flush with options, including “Unpregnant,” a comic look at a serious subject (minors traveling out of state to terminate a pregnancy) also addressed in indie breakout “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” earlier this year. For those worried about what all that screen time is doing to their heads, Netflix serves up eye-opening doc “The Social Dilemma,” one of the better-reviewed films out of Sundance.
Here’s a rundown of...
Meanwhile, limited releases are getting better exposure than usual, as indies and docs (such as “All In: The Fight for Democracy” about voter disenfranchisement and Stacey Abrams’ recent non-election) grab screens that might normally be crowded by blockbusters.
Streaming services HBO Max and Netflix are keeping subscribers flush with options, including “Unpregnant,” a comic look at a serious subject (minors traveling out of state to terminate a pregnancy) also addressed in indie breakout “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” earlier this year. For those worried about what all that screen time is doing to their heads, Netflix serves up eye-opening doc “The Social Dilemma,” one of the better-reviewed films out of Sundance.
Here’s a rundown of...
- 9/11/2020
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Vertigo Releasing has dropped a new trailer for Unjoo Moon’s ‘I Am Woman’ starring Tilda Cobham-Hervey and Evan Peters.
1966. Helen Reddy arrives in New York with her three-year-old daughter, a suitcase and $230 in her pocket. Helen had been told she had won a recording contract, but the record company promptly dashes her hopes by telling her it has enough female stars and suggests she has fun in New York before returning home to Australia.
Helen, without a visa, decides to stay in New York anyway and pursue a singing career, struggling to make ends meet and provide for her daughter. There she befriends legendary rock journalist Lillian Roxon, who becomes her closest confidant, and inspires her to write and sing the iconic song “I Am Woman” which becomes the anthem for the second wave feminist movement and galvanises a generation of women to fight for change.
She also meets Jeff Wald,...
1966. Helen Reddy arrives in New York with her three-year-old daughter, a suitcase and $230 in her pocket. Helen had been told she had won a recording contract, but the record company promptly dashes her hopes by telling her it has enough female stars and suggests she has fun in New York before returning home to Australia.
Helen, without a visa, decides to stay in New York anyway and pursue a singing career, struggling to make ends meet and provide for her daughter. There she befriends legendary rock journalist Lillian Roxon, who becomes her closest confidant, and inspires her to write and sing the iconic song “I Am Woman” which becomes the anthem for the second wave feminist movement and galvanises a generation of women to fight for change.
She also meets Jeff Wald,...
- 9/9/2020
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
This might not be the most judicious or diplomatic question with which to begin a review, but can you make an interesting musical biopic of an artist who didn’t make very interesting music? In many ways, that’s the question that faced director Unjoo Moon when she tackled the life and career of Helen Reddy in “I Am Woman,” and the answer is inconclusive at best.
The Australian singer Reddy, after all, was a middle-of-the-road performer whose albums were often assembled by taking recent pop, rock and country songs and making them blander with smooth arrangements that largely sanded down the bit of sharpness that was the most distinctive thing about her voice. Her career wouldn’t be the stuff of biopics if not for one of the few songs that Reddy co-wrote herself, her 1971 composition and 1972 hit “I Am Woman,” which came along at exactly the right time...
The Australian singer Reddy, after all, was a middle-of-the-road performer whose albums were often assembled by taking recent pop, rock and country songs and making them blander with smooth arrangements that largely sanded down the bit of sharpness that was the most distinctive thing about her voice. Her career wouldn’t be the stuff of biopics if not for one of the few songs that Reddy co-wrote herself, her 1971 composition and 1972 hit “I Am Woman,” which came along at exactly the right time...
- 9/8/2020
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Australian-American singer Helen Reddy, known for her feminist empowerment anthems and activism during the Seventies, is getting her own biopic, I Am Woman. The first full-length trailer was released on Wednesday, and the movie will be out in theaters and on-demand on September 11th.
Tilda Cobham-Hervey portrays Reddy, who starts out as a struggling artist in New York during the mid-Sixties, balancing her career with her own family life. Despite finding a friend and confidante in rock journalist Lillian Roxon (Danielle Macdonald), Reddy struggles to impress the male executives at major labels,...
Tilda Cobham-Hervey portrays Reddy, who starts out as a struggling artist in New York during the mid-Sixties, balancing her career with her own family life. Despite finding a friend and confidante in rock journalist Lillian Roxon (Danielle Macdonald), Reddy struggles to impress the male executives at major labels,...
- 8/5/2020
- by Claire Shaffer
- Rollingstone.com
I Am Woman stars Tilda Cobham-Hervey (Hotel Mumbai), Danielle Macdonald and Evan Peters and is being released in theaters and on demand September 11th.. Check out the trailer:
From up-and-coming female filmmaker, Unjoo Moon (The Zen of Bennett), the biopic tells the story of Helen Reddy (Tilda Cobham-Hervey), the fiercely ambitious Australian singer behind the 1971 megahit “I Am Woman” that became an anthem for the women’s liberation movement. Helen finds an encouraging friend in legendary rock journalist Lillian Roxon (Danielle Macdonald) while ambitious aspiring talent manager Jeff Wald (Evan Peters) becomes both Helen’s husband and manager and, with a strong push from Helen herself, secures her a recording contract.
This is really an inspiring story of a woman who smashed through the patriarchal norms of her time to become an international singing superstar. The film premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival along with a performance...
From up-and-coming female filmmaker, Unjoo Moon (The Zen of Bennett), the biopic tells the story of Helen Reddy (Tilda Cobham-Hervey), the fiercely ambitious Australian singer behind the 1971 megahit “I Am Woman” that became an anthem for the women’s liberation movement. Helen finds an encouraging friend in legendary rock journalist Lillian Roxon (Danielle Macdonald) while ambitious aspiring talent manager Jeff Wald (Evan Peters) becomes both Helen’s husband and manager and, with a strong push from Helen herself, secures her a recording contract.
This is really an inspiring story of a woman who smashed through the patriarchal norms of her time to become an international singing superstar. The film premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival along with a performance...
- 8/5/2020
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The biopic “I Am Woman” tells the story of Australian singer Helen Reddy and the song that served as a feminist anthem for the women’s liberation movement, and the inspiring trailer for the film will make you roar.
Tilda Cobham-Hervey stars in “I Am Woman” as Reddy, which follows her journey from being a single mom in the late ’60s who comes to New York and works to smash through the patriarchy to become a platinum recording artist. The first trailer shows Reddy getting paid less than the men in her own band and being turned away by male record executives, only for her to push back and prove she’s a star.
“Did it ever occur to you men to ask women what they want to listen to,” Reddy poses to one male gatekeeper who asks if she’s heard of The Beatles. “This is more than just a song to me.
Tilda Cobham-Hervey stars in “I Am Woman” as Reddy, which follows her journey from being a single mom in the late ’60s who comes to New York and works to smash through the patriarchy to become a platinum recording artist. The first trailer shows Reddy getting paid less than the men in her own band and being turned away by male record executives, only for her to push back and prove she’s a star.
“Did it ever occur to you men to ask women what they want to listen to,” Reddy poses to one male gatekeeper who asks if she’s heard of The Beatles. “This is more than just a song to me.
- 8/4/2020
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
‘The Invisible Man.’
In this unprecedented, fractured year for Australian cinemas, finally enough Aussie films have been released to compile the top 10 titles.
In the chart from the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia, the contrast between the pre-covid-19 releases and those that entered the market after cinemas re-opened, could not be starker.
Arguably the $15.03 million total would have been somewhat higher had Natalie Erika James’ Relic , Unjoo Moon’s I Am Woman and Dean Murphy’s The Very Excellent Mr Dundee not gone straight to Stan or Amazon Prime.
In addition, early digital releases including Ben Lawrence’s Hearts and Bones, Maziar Lahooti’s Below and Kriv Stenders’ Brock: Over the Top deprived audiences of the chance to see them in the optimum way.
The closure of Victorian cinemas, the lack of major new releases and limits on sessions and seating capacity could mean a grim outlook for cinemas,...
In this unprecedented, fractured year for Australian cinemas, finally enough Aussie films have been released to compile the top 10 titles.
In the chart from the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia, the contrast between the pre-covid-19 releases and those that entered the market after cinemas re-opened, could not be starker.
Arguably the $15.03 million total would have been somewhat higher had Natalie Erika James’ Relic , Unjoo Moon’s I Am Woman and Dean Murphy’s The Very Excellent Mr Dundee not gone straight to Stan or Amazon Prime.
In addition, early digital releases including Ben Lawrence’s Hearts and Bones, Maziar Lahooti’s Below and Kriv Stenders’ Brock: Over the Top deprived audiences of the chance to see them in the optimum way.
The closure of Victorian cinemas, the lack of major new releases and limits on sessions and seating capacity could mean a grim outlook for cinemas,...
- 8/4/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
‘I Am Woman.’
Unjoo Moon’s debut feature I Am Woman will premiere on Stan as a Stan Original on August 28 – the latest in a growing list of Australian films to bypass cinemas as the pandemic continues to depress the theatrical market.
This follows the straight-to-streaming deals for Dean Murphy’s comedy The Very Excellent Mr Dundee,, Natalie Erika James’ Relic and digital releases Maziar Lahooti’s Below (July 8), Ben Lawrence’s Hearts and Bones (May 6) and Alexs Stadermann’s animated feature 100% Wolf.
Cinemagoers may well feel aggrieved about missing the opportunity to see these films in cinemas, although Hearts and Bones and 100% Wolf did play on a handful of screens, as did Kriv Stenders’ Brock: Over the Top.
But distributors can hardly be blamed for opting not to spend up to a million dollars on marketing while ticket sales remain at historically low levels. Transmission Films had planned cinema...
Unjoo Moon’s debut feature I Am Woman will premiere on Stan as a Stan Original on August 28 – the latest in a growing list of Australian films to bypass cinemas as the pandemic continues to depress the theatrical market.
This follows the straight-to-streaming deals for Dean Murphy’s comedy The Very Excellent Mr Dundee,, Natalie Erika James’ Relic and digital releases Maziar Lahooti’s Below (July 8), Ben Lawrence’s Hearts and Bones (May 6) and Alexs Stadermann’s animated feature 100% Wolf.
Cinemagoers may well feel aggrieved about missing the opportunity to see these films in cinemas, although Hearts and Bones and 100% Wolf did play on a handful of screens, as did Kriv Stenders’ Brock: Over the Top.
But distributors can hardly be blamed for opting not to spend up to a million dollars on marketing while ticket sales remain at historically low levels. Transmission Films had planned cinema...
- 7/12/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
London-based sales agent WestEnd Films has closed a North American deal with Jeff Sackman and Berry Meyerowitz’s company Aqute Media for “I Am Woman,” the biopic about Australian singer Helen Reddy.
The film had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival as the opening film of the Special Presentations section. The film also recently opened the Athena Film Festival, where director Unjoo Moon received the Athena Breakthrough Award, a prize sponsored by Netflix designed to elevate first- or second-time female filmmakers.
In addition to North America, rights have gone to Metropolitan (France), Nos (Portugal), Inopia (Spain), Videovision (South Africa), Front Row (Middle East), Bliss Media (China), Scene & Sound (South Korea), Ale Kino+ (Poland), Vti (Ex-Yugoslavia), Cineplex (Taiwan), Golden A Entertainment (Thailand) and Cinesky (airlines).
Transmission Films will release the film in Australia and New Zealand later this year on around 200 prints.
Milan Records, an imprint of Sony Music Masterworks,...
The film had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival as the opening film of the Special Presentations section. The film also recently opened the Athena Film Festival, where director Unjoo Moon received the Athena Breakthrough Award, a prize sponsored by Netflix designed to elevate first- or second-time female filmmakers.
In addition to North America, rights have gone to Metropolitan (France), Nos (Portugal), Inopia (Spain), Videovision (South Africa), Front Row (Middle East), Bliss Media (China), Scene & Sound (South Korea), Ale Kino+ (Poland), Vti (Ex-Yugoslavia), Cineplex (Taiwan), Golden A Entertainment (Thailand) and Cinesky (airlines).
Transmission Films will release the film in Australia and New Zealand later this year on around 200 prints.
Milan Records, an imprint of Sony Music Masterworks,...
- 3/31/2020
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
I Am Woman, the biopic of iconic Australian vocalist Helen Reddy, has landed a number of key distribution deals, including for North America with Jeff Sackman and Berry Meyerowitz's Aqute Media.
Directed by Unjoo Moon (The Zen of Bennett) and being sold by WestEnd Films, the film – which first bowed in Toronto as the opening of the Special Presentations selection – has also been picked up by Metropolitan (France), Nos (Portugal), Inopia (Spain), Videovision (South Africa), Front Row (Middle East), Bliss Media (China), Scene & Sound (South Korea), Ale Kino+ (Poland), Vti (former Yugoslavia), Cineplex (Taiwan), Golden A ...
Directed by Unjoo Moon (The Zen of Bennett) and being sold by WestEnd Films, the film – which first bowed in Toronto as the opening of the Special Presentations selection – has also been picked up by Metropolitan (France), Nos (Portugal), Inopia (Spain), Videovision (South Africa), Front Row (Middle East), Bliss Media (China), Scene & Sound (South Korea), Ale Kino+ (Poland), Vti (former Yugoslavia), Cineplex (Taiwan), Golden A ...
- 3/31/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
I Am Woman, the biopic of iconic Australian vocalist Helen Reddy, has landed a number of key distribution deals, including for North America with Jeff Sackman and Berry Meyerowitz's Aqute Media.
Directed by Unjoo Moon (The Zen of Bennett) and being sold by WestEnd Films, the film – which first bowed in Toronto as the opening of the Special Presentations selection – has also been picked up by Metropolitan (France), Nos (Portugal), Inopia (Spain), Videovision (South Africa), Front Row (Middle East), Bliss Media (China), Scene & Sound (South Korea), Ale Kino+ (Poland), Vti (former Yugoslavia), Cineplex (Taiwan), Golden A ...
Directed by Unjoo Moon (The Zen of Bennett) and being sold by WestEnd Films, the film – which first bowed in Toronto as the opening of the Special Presentations selection – has also been picked up by Metropolitan (France), Nos (Portugal), Inopia (Spain), Videovision (South Africa), Front Row (Middle East), Bliss Media (China), Scene & Sound (South Korea), Ale Kino+ (Poland), Vti (former Yugoslavia), Cineplex (Taiwan), Golden A ...
- 3/31/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
‘Onward’ (Photo credit: Disney).
In his 63 years as a film programmer, Bob Parr had never experienced anything like the current crisis as ticket sales flatlined across the country over the past few weeks.
“All exhibitors and distributors are losing a lot of money,” the Wallis Cinemas consultant told If on Sunday. “Many cinemas have closed because there are no patrons.
“Many small exhibitors make their living in school holidays and barely break even except for blockbusters during the remaining time. They are in the business because they love it.”
Later that day the Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced all cinemas and entertainment venues, registered and licensed clubs, hotels, pubs, casinos and nightclubs will close today.
Exhibitors and distributors had been steeling themselves for that decision after cinemas were shuttered in the Us, the UK and myriad other markets.
Now facing zero cash flow, they have to lay off permanent and casual staff,...
In his 63 years as a film programmer, Bob Parr had never experienced anything like the current crisis as ticket sales flatlined across the country over the past few weeks.
“All exhibitors and distributors are losing a lot of money,” the Wallis Cinemas consultant told If on Sunday. “Many cinemas have closed because there are no patrons.
“Many small exhibitors make their living in school holidays and barely break even except for blockbusters during the remaining time. They are in the business because they love it.”
Later that day the Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced all cinemas and entertainment venues, registered and licensed clubs, hotels, pubs, casinos and nightclubs will close today.
Exhibitors and distributors had been steeling themselves for that decision after cinemas were shuttered in the Us, the UK and myriad other markets.
Now facing zero cash flow, they have to lay off permanent and casual staff,...
- 3/23/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
‘I Am Woman’.
This year’s Gold Coast Film Festival will be bookended by two Aussie features, opening with Unjoo Moon’s Helen Reddy biopic I Am Woman, and closing with the locally shot comedic thriller Bloody Hell, directed by Alister Grierson.
The April festival dropped its full program today, announcing more than 100 films, including four world premieres: Kriv Stenders’ documentary on Silm Dusty’s wife Joy McKean, Slim & I; Hayley MacFarlane’s Swimming for Gold; Josh Hale’s House of Inequity and Serhat Caradee’s A Lion Returns.
Other local films to screen include Never Too Late, Smoke Between Trees, Disclosure, Hearts and Bones, Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks, Tommy Emmanuel: The Endless Road, Dark Whispers Vol 1, The Show Must Go On, Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie’s Dead Aunt), Morgana, and Love Opera.
Ahead of its premiere on the ABC April 19, the festival will also screen...
This year’s Gold Coast Film Festival will be bookended by two Aussie features, opening with Unjoo Moon’s Helen Reddy biopic I Am Woman, and closing with the locally shot comedic thriller Bloody Hell, directed by Alister Grierson.
The April festival dropped its full program today, announcing more than 100 films, including four world premieres: Kriv Stenders’ documentary on Silm Dusty’s wife Joy McKean, Slim & I; Hayley MacFarlane’s Swimming for Gold; Josh Hale’s House of Inequity and Serhat Caradee’s A Lion Returns.
Other local films to screen include Never Too Late, Smoke Between Trees, Disclosure, Hearts and Bones, Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks, Tommy Emmanuel: The Endless Road, Dark Whispers Vol 1, The Show Must Go On, Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie’s Dead Aunt), Morgana, and Love Opera.
Ahead of its premiere on the ABC April 19, the festival will also screen...
- 3/10/2020
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Fiona Press and Kelton Pell in ‘The Heights’ (Photo credit: Ashleigh Nicolau).
Something remarkable happened to Fiona Press when she played Hazel Murphy in the first and second seasons of the ABC serial The Heights.
For the first time in the actress’ 37-year career after graduating from Nida, Press felt she wasn’t just a “survivor,” despite more than 50 screen credits and dozens of plays.
“Hazel is the role of my life. Until she turned up, I don’t think I realised I had a career,” she tells If. “As a female of my type in the Australian industry, to survive is actually a career. I’m a jobbing actor.”
Matchbox Pictures’ Warren Clarke, the showrunner who co-created The Heights with Que Minh Luu, tells If: “The choice to cast Fiona really came from how grounded her audition was. We knew this character would be a foundation stone for the...
Something remarkable happened to Fiona Press when she played Hazel Murphy in the first and second seasons of the ABC serial The Heights.
For the first time in the actress’ 37-year career after graduating from Nida, Press felt she wasn’t just a “survivor,” despite more than 50 screen credits and dozens of plays.
“Hazel is the role of my life. Until she turned up, I don’t think I realised I had a career,” she tells If. “As a female of my type in the Australian industry, to survive is actually a career. I’m a jobbing actor.”
Matchbox Pictures’ Warren Clarke, the showrunner who co-created The Heights with Que Minh Luu, tells If: “The choice to cast Fiona really came from how grounded her audition was. We knew this character would be a foundation stone for the...
- 3/8/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
As the Athena Film Festival gears up for its latest edition later this month, the female-centric event has unveiled the winners and finalists of its annual script competition, The Athena List. The competition aims to select “exceptional scripts with women leaders at the heart of the story” and its “goal is to raise the profile of the scripts and the writers within the industry with the purpose of getting these movies made and elevating their careers to the next level.” “The introduction of the Athena List has made women-driven narratives about female leaders a priority, and we are pleased to present this year’s list of dynamic scripts,” said Athena Film Festival co-founder Melissa Silverstein in an official statement.
The program has already enjoyed big successes over a few short years, and previous winners include Chinonye Chukwu’s “Clemency” (which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival...
The program has already enjoyed big successes over a few short years, and previous winners include Chinonye Chukwu’s “Clemency” (which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival...
- 2/12/2020
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
"This is more than just a song to me!" West End Films in the UK has unveiled the first teaser trailer for a feature film titled I Am Woman, telling the inspiring story of Australian singer and activist Helen Reddy. This premiered at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this fall, and also stopped by the Busan Film Festival in Korea because it's directed by a Korean woman named Unjoo Moon. Australian actress Tilda Cobham-Hervey stars as Helen, with a full cast including Danielle Macdonald (from Patti Cake$), Evan Peters (from X-Men), Matty Cardarople, Dusty Sorg, Toks James, Gus Murray, and also Rita Rani Ahuja. Reddy's most famous song is one called "I Am Woman", which quickly became the anthem for the women's movement in the 70s. The film is a story of fearless ambition and passion, of a woman who smashed through the patriarchal norms of her time to become...
- 12/4/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Exclusive: Julianne Nicholson (Monos), Jean Smart (Life Itself), Angourie Rice (Black Mirror), Evan Peters (I Am Woman), Cailee Spaeny (On the Basis of Sex) and David Denman (The Replacements) have been cast opposite Kate Winslet in HBO’s Mare of Easttown, a limited series from Brad Inglesby and Paul Lee’s Wiip. The series is a co-production of HBO and Wiip. Gavin O’Connor directs and executive produces.
Written and executive produced by Inglesby, who also serves as showrunner, Mare Of Easttown stars Winslet as a small-town Pennsylvania detective whose life crumbles around her as she investigates a local murder.
Nicholson will play Lori Ross. She and Mare have been best friends since they were 4. Lori knows how mercurial and cutting Mare can be at times, but loves and accepts her exactly as she is.
Smart portrays Helen, Mare’s mother. Opinionated, stubborn, a devout Catholic, Helen never holds back on her opinions,...
Written and executive produced by Inglesby, who also serves as showrunner, Mare Of Easttown stars Winslet as a small-town Pennsylvania detective whose life crumbles around her as she investigates a local murder.
Nicholson will play Lori Ross. She and Mare have been best friends since they were 4. Lori knows how mercurial and cutting Mare can be at times, but loves and accepts her exactly as she is.
Smart portrays Helen, Mare’s mother. Opinionated, stubborn, a devout Catholic, Helen never holds back on her opinions,...
- 9/27/2019
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
The fall festivals have been awash in female biopics — Jean Seberg, Judy Garland, Harriet Tubman, Marie Curie — most of them with their respective merits but also to various degrees hampered by the inherent conventionality of the genre. I Am Woman, which charts the life and career of 1970s superstar Australian vocalist Helen Reddy, is built around a script that labors from the outset to position its subject as a feminist trailblazer, taking the title song as its cue. But the movie's considerable appeal is more unassuming, derived from the respect and affection of director Unjoo Moon's treatment ...
- 9/12/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
The fall festivals have been awash in female biopics — Jean Seberg, Judy Garland, Harriet Tubman, Marie Curie — most of them with their respective merits but also to various degrees hampered by the inherent conventionality of the genre. I Am Woman, which charts the life and career of 1970s superstar Australian vocalist Helen Reddy, is built around a script that labors from the outset to position its subject as a feminist trailblazer, taking the title song as its cue. But the movie's considerable appeal is more unassuming, derived from the respect and affection of director Unjoo Moon's treatment ...
- 9/12/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Everyone wanted to hug Marielle Heller and tell her how much her “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” made them cry. Sarah Gavron was eager to share the spotlight with her “Rocks” writer Theresa Ikoko, reminding everyone it was their film, not just Gavron’s.
“American Woman” filmmaker Semi Chellas and “Abominable” director Jill Culton made fast friends, bonding during cocktail hour and happily moving their conversation to the dinner table. The same went for punctual arrivers Unjoo Moon (whose “I Am Woman” served as the opening night pick for the special presentations section) and “The Perfect Candidate” filmmaker Haifaa Al-Mansour, who started talking to each other upon arrival and didn’t stop until the night concluded.
After all that, time to toast the end to a whirlwind first weekend at the Toronto International Film Festival. But then there’s the next hot ticket to try to snag: Kasi Lemmons’ “Harriet,...
“American Woman” filmmaker Semi Chellas and “Abominable” director Jill Culton made fast friends, bonding during cocktail hour and happily moving their conversation to the dinner table. The same went for punctual arrivers Unjoo Moon (whose “I Am Woman” served as the opening night pick for the special presentations section) and “The Perfect Candidate” filmmaker Haifaa Al-Mansour, who started talking to each other upon arrival and didn’t stop until the night concluded.
After all that, time to toast the end to a whirlwind first weekend at the Toronto International Film Festival. But then there’s the next hot ticket to try to snag: Kasi Lemmons’ “Harriet,...
- 9/9/2019
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
On the night of September 8, IndieWire’s female filmmaker dinner at the Toronto International Film Festival, presented by Canada Goose, celebrated women directors, such as Marielle Heller, Kasi Lemmons, Julie Delpy, Unjoo Moon, Haifaa Al-Mansour, Lauren Greenfield, and Alma Har’el.
From documentaries to animated outings, narrative debuts and even a tear-jerking biopic about the beloved Mr. Rogers, the female filmmakers at this year’s Tiff have bowed some of the buzziest films of the festival. On Sunday night, they bonded over their shared experience and talked about what it’s like to experience this world through their own lens.
The event took place at Toronto’s own The Purman, an event space located in the city’s downtown heart. Check out some of the evening’s many attendees below.
More from IndieWire'Bad Education' Review: Hugh Jackman Is Brilliant in Diabolically Smart American Crime Story'Dirt Music' Review: Kelly Macdonald and...
From documentaries to animated outings, narrative debuts and even a tear-jerking biopic about the beloved Mr. Rogers, the female filmmakers at this year’s Tiff have bowed some of the buzziest films of the festival. On Sunday night, they bonded over their shared experience and talked about what it’s like to experience this world through their own lens.
The event took place at Toronto’s own The Purman, an event space located in the city’s downtown heart. Check out some of the evening’s many attendees below.
More from IndieWire'Bad Education' Review: Hugh Jackman Is Brilliant in Diabolically Smart American Crime Story'Dirt Music' Review: Kelly Macdonald and...
- 9/9/2019
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
‘True History of the Kelly Gang’ (Photo credit: Memento Films International/Ben King).
IFC Films’ acquisition of North American rights to Justin Kurzel’s True History of the Kelly Gang before the world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival now seems savvy in light of the rave reviews.
Meanwhile Unjoo Moon’s debut narrative feature I Am Woman was lauded by some critics for Tilda Cobham-Hervey’s breakout performance as Helen Reddy after it opened the festival’s special presentations section.
IFC Films distributed Kurzel’s debut Snowtown, also penned by Shaun Grant, and currently is handling Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale, which is playing on 79 screens in its sixth weekend in the Us and has grossed $US383,000.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with the assured IFC Films in North America and very excited to see the film go out in the world now,” says Porclight’s Liz Watts,...
IFC Films’ acquisition of North American rights to Justin Kurzel’s True History of the Kelly Gang before the world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival now seems savvy in light of the rave reviews.
Meanwhile Unjoo Moon’s debut narrative feature I Am Woman was lauded by some critics for Tilda Cobham-Hervey’s breakout performance as Helen Reddy after it opened the festival’s special presentations section.
IFC Films distributed Kurzel’s debut Snowtown, also penned by Shaun Grant, and currently is handling Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale, which is playing on 79 screens in its sixth weekend in the Us and has grossed $US383,000.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with the assured IFC Films in North America and very excited to see the film go out in the world now,” says Porclight’s Liz Watts,...
- 9/8/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
A press conference for I Am Woman — the Helen Reddy biopic that recalls the 1971 megahit anthem for the women’s liberation movement — lost little time Friday before the film's cast and creative addressed the Time's Up movement.
"I feel like that Pandora's box has been opened now and we can't back away," Tilda Cobham-Hervey, who plays the Australian singing legend in director Unjoo Moon's movie, told the Toronto media about Time's Up. "I find it a really exciting time to be a woman in this industry. Doors have ...
"I feel like that Pandora's box has been opened now and we can't back away," Tilda Cobham-Hervey, who plays the Australian singing legend in director Unjoo Moon's movie, told the Toronto media about Time's Up. "I find it a really exciting time to be a woman in this industry. Doors have ...
A press conference for I Am Woman — the Helen Reddy biopic that recalls the 1971 megahit anthem for the women’s liberation movement — lost little time Friday before the film's cast and creative addressed the Time's Up movement.
"I feel like that Pandora's box has been opened now and we can't back away," Tilda Cobham-Hervey, who plays the Australian singing legend in director Unjoo Moon's movie, told the Toronto media about Time's Up. "I find it a really exciting time to be a woman in this industry. Doors have ...
"I feel like that Pandora's box has been opened now and we can't back away," Tilda Cobham-Hervey, who plays the Australian singing legend in director Unjoo Moon's movie, told the Toronto media about Time's Up. "I find it a really exciting time to be a woman in this industry. Doors have ...
Helen Reddy was very far from a one-hit-wonder. Indeed, she had more chart hits than practically any other solo female act of the 1970s. Yet in a way, the song most associated with her feels like it came from an artist who was never heard from before or since. “I Am Woman” arrived exactly as the Women’s Liberation Movement was at its initial peak of popular consciousness, and it was the perfect unofficial anthem, as coolly upbeat and authoritative as the singular voice delivering. The smash single invariably rattled some male observers who called it “angry” or even “man-hating.” That simply underlined the many things women needed liberating from — nobody called Sinatra a menace when he sang “My Way,” a no less straightforward hymn to self-determination.
But those who expected Reddy to be any kind of feminist spokesperson were disappointed, particularly when her later hits veered almost exclusively into...
But those who expected Reddy to be any kind of feminist spokesperson were disappointed, particularly when her later hits veered almost exclusively into...
- 9/6/2019
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
Variety has been given the first-look image of Tilda Cobham-Hervey and Evan Peters in “I Am Woman,” which open the Special Presentations section in Toronto Film Festival next week. The film tells the inspiring story of Helen Reddy, the writer and singer of the song “I Am Woman,” which became the anthem for the women’s movement in the 1970s.
Cobham-Hervey plays Reddy, a women of fearless ambition and passion, who overcomes male prejudice to become the international singing star she always dreamed of being. Peters is Helen’s manager and husband Jeff Wald. Danielle Macdonald features as the rock journalist Lilian Roxon and Helen’s friend.
“I Am Woman” is directed by Unjoo Moon (“The Zen of Bennett”), and produced by Goalpost Pictures’ Rosemary Blight, and is written by Emma Jensen (“Mary Shelley”). WestEnd is handling world sales.
Cobham-Hervey plays Reddy, a women of fearless ambition and passion, who overcomes male prejudice to become the international singing star she always dreamed of being. Peters is Helen’s manager and husband Jeff Wald. Danielle Macdonald features as the rock journalist Lilian Roxon and Helen’s friend.
“I Am Woman” is directed by Unjoo Moon (“The Zen of Bennett”), and produced by Goalpost Pictures’ Rosemary Blight, and is written by Emma Jensen (“Mary Shelley”). WestEnd is handling world sales.
- 8/29/2019
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Production is under way on Israel’s biggest-budget TV drama series, Valley Of Tears, we can reveal.
The ambitious, under-the-radar project set against the 1973 Yom Kippur War, stars Israeli mega-star Lior Ashkenazi (Foxtrot) and comes from in-demand Israeli writers Ron Leshem (Euphoria) and Amit Cohen (False Flag).
Directed and co-created by Yaron Zilberman (A Late Quartet), and based on true events, the Hebrew-language, eight-part miniseries shepherded by WestEnd Films depicts the 1973 Yom Kippur War through the eyes of young combatants. It will follow the stories of three individuals swept away by the ravages of war, and culminates in a climactic battle. We understand each episode will cost in the region of $1M.
Valley of Tears stars Footnote and Big Bad Wolves actor Ashkenazi, Aviv Alush (The Shack), Lee Biran, Shahar Tavoch, Joy Rieger and Ofer Hayoun (Euphoria). A handful of Israel’s most prominent novelists reportedly took part in...
The ambitious, under-the-radar project set against the 1973 Yom Kippur War, stars Israeli mega-star Lior Ashkenazi (Foxtrot) and comes from in-demand Israeli writers Ron Leshem (Euphoria) and Amit Cohen (False Flag).
Directed and co-created by Yaron Zilberman (A Late Quartet), and based on true events, the Hebrew-language, eight-part miniseries shepherded by WestEnd Films depicts the 1973 Yom Kippur War through the eyes of young combatants. It will follow the stories of three individuals swept away by the ravages of war, and culminates in a climactic battle. We understand each episode will cost in the region of $1M.
Valley of Tears stars Footnote and Big Bad Wolves actor Ashkenazi, Aviv Alush (The Shack), Lee Biran, Shahar Tavoch, Joy Rieger and Ofer Hayoun (Euphoria). A handful of Israel’s most prominent novelists reportedly took part in...
- 7/25/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
‘True History of the Kelly Gang.’ (Photo: Ben King)
Justin Kurzel’s True History of the Kelly Gang and Unjoo Moon’s I Am Woman will have their world premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival, which runs from September 5-15.
Scripted by Shaun Grant and starring George Mackay, Russell Crowe, Charlie Hunnam, Nicholas Hoult, Essie Davis and Harry Greenwood, the saga of the Australian bush-ranger and his gang as they flee from authorities during the 1870s will be among the gala premieres.
Moon’s biopic of the fiercely ambitious Australian singer Helen Reddy whose 1971 hit became the rallying cry of the women’s liberation movement, starring Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Evan Peters, Matty Cardarople and Danielle Macdonald, will open the special presentations section.
In addition, The Other Lamb, the first English-language feature by Polish director Małgorzata Szumowska, scripted by Australian Catherine Smyth-McMullen, will screen in special presentations.
The Belgian-Irish co-production is...
Justin Kurzel’s True History of the Kelly Gang and Unjoo Moon’s I Am Woman will have their world premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival, which runs from September 5-15.
Scripted by Shaun Grant and starring George Mackay, Russell Crowe, Charlie Hunnam, Nicholas Hoult, Essie Davis and Harry Greenwood, the saga of the Australian bush-ranger and his gang as they flee from authorities during the 1870s will be among the gala premieres.
Moon’s biopic of the fiercely ambitious Australian singer Helen Reddy whose 1971 hit became the rallying cry of the women’s liberation movement, starring Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Evan Peters, Matty Cardarople and Danielle Macdonald, will open the special presentations section.
In addition, The Other Lamb, the first English-language feature by Polish director Małgorzata Szumowska, scripted by Australian Catherine Smyth-McMullen, will screen in special presentations.
The Belgian-Irish co-production is...
- 7/23/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
With the box office and awards season success of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” music biopics are roaring back. “Rocketman,” based on the life of Elton John, just released this past weekend, and several others are currently in the works, including films about Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Bob Marley, John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
Amy Winehouse
Monumental Pictures’ Alison Owen and Debra Hayward are producing a film on the life of the late Amy Winehouse. They’ll be working in coordination with Winehouse’s father Mitch, who previously said in a statement that he felt finally the “time was right.” Although no one has been cast yet as the soul singer, Owen tells TheWrap the project is in development and the plan is to shoot next year.
“Respect” – Aretha Franklin
Before her death in 2018, Aretha Franklin chose Jennifer Hudson to portray her on film. The biopic follows the Queen of Soul from her...
Amy Winehouse
Monumental Pictures’ Alison Owen and Debra Hayward are producing a film on the life of the late Amy Winehouse. They’ll be working in coordination with Winehouse’s father Mitch, who previously said in a statement that he felt finally the “time was right.” Although no one has been cast yet as the soul singer, Owen tells TheWrap the project is in development and the plan is to shoot next year.
“Respect” – Aretha Franklin
Before her death in 2018, Aretha Franklin chose Jennifer Hudson to portray her on film. The biopic follows the Queen of Soul from her...
- 6/4/2019
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
London-based sales agency WestEnd Films has released the first-look photo for “I Am Woman,” which Variety has exclusively. The movie follows the rise of singer-songwriter Helen Reddy, whose song “I Am Woman” became the anthem for the women’s movement in the 1970s. The shot features Tilda Cobham-Hervey, who plays Reddy.
“A film for our times, this is a story of fearless ambition and passion, about a woman who led the way for other women seeking equality by smashing through the patriarchal norms to become the international singing superstar she always dreamed of being,” according to WestEnd.
The film is directed by Unjoo Moon (“The Zen of Bennett”), and also stars Evan Peters as Helen’s manager and husband Jeff Wald, and Danielle Macdonald as the rock journalist Lilian Roxon.
The film is produced by Goalpost Pictures’ Rosemary Blight, and is written by Emma Jensen (“Mary Shelley”). The cinematographer is Dion Beebe,...
“A film for our times, this is a story of fearless ambition and passion, about a woman who led the way for other women seeking equality by smashing through the patriarchal norms to become the international singing superstar she always dreamed of being,” according to WestEnd.
The film is directed by Unjoo Moon (“The Zen of Bennett”), and also stars Evan Peters as Helen’s manager and husband Jeff Wald, and Danielle Macdonald as the rock journalist Lilian Roxon.
The film is produced by Goalpost Pictures’ Rosemary Blight, and is written by Emma Jensen (“Mary Shelley”). The cinematographer is Dion Beebe,...
- 2/7/2019
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
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