Madman has announced their Australia release slate for the rest of the year, and there are some highly anticipated titles in there. Along with Big Mamma’s Boy, out late this month, and the previously announced POM Wonderful Presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold and Submarine (now moved back to September 8), The Hunter, based on Julia Leigh’s (Sleeping Beauty) novel will be out 6 October. In addition to this, the long-awaited festival favourite Bill Cunningham New York and Miranda July’s The Future will hit cinemas in November.
It is great to see Bill Cunningham New York finally get a release after debuting at the Sydney Film Festival in 2010, a film that we called “nothing short of inspirational” back in June last year and assumed would go straight to DVD. Kudos to Madman that they are giving it the theatrical release it deserves. The full details of the releases are below.
BIG MAMMA’S BOY
RELEASE DATE: JULY 28, 2011
Director: Franco di Chiera
Starring: Holly Valance, Frank Lotito, Carmelina di Guglielmo, Natalie Gauci, Pia Miller, George Kapiniaris, Maria Venuti, Jim Russell and Costas Kilias
A comedy about Life, Love and Lasagna.
BIG MAMMA’S BOY follows the story of Rocco (Frank Lotito) as he struggles to choose between the love of his life, Katie (Holly Valance), and his doting, over protective Italian mother (Carmelina Di Guglielmo).
Produced by Valarc Films, written by Frank Lotito and directed by AFI award winner Franco di Chiera (UNDER THE SKIN, THE JOYS OF THE WOMEN). BIG MAMMA’S BOY combines some of Australia’s best comedic talent (George Kapiniaris, Maria Venuti, Costas Kilias, Steve Mousakis, Jim Russell) with sincere storytelling, it features
Pia Miller in her first film role plus an appearance and exclusive song from Australian Idol star Natalie Gauci.
Fun, heart-warming and poignant, this spirited romantic comedy explores Australia’s multicultural nuances with hilarious results and goes to show that being a big mamma’s boy is a lot tougher than it sounds.
THE HUNTER
RELEASE DATE • October 6, 2011
Director: Daniel Nettheim
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Frances O’Connor, Sam Neill, Morgana Davies, Jacek Koman, Dan Wyllie, Sullivan Stapleton, John Brumpton, Callan Mulvey and newcomer Finn Woodlock
THE HUNTER is a psychological drama/thriller set against the daunting majesty of the Tasmanian wilderness starring twice Oscar nominated actor Willem Dafoe (SPIDER-MAN, THE ENGLISH PATIENT, PLATOON), Frances O’Connor (BLESSED, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: AI, MANSFIELD PARK), Sam Neill (LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS: THE OWLS OF GA’HOOLE, JURASSIC PARK, THE PIANO) and an outstanding ensemble cast.
THE HUNTER is the story of Martin, a mercenary sent from Europe by an anonymous biotech company to the Tasmanian wilderness on a dramatic hunt for the last Tasmanian tiger. Based on the novel of the same name by acclaimed author Julia Leigh, it has been regarded as a bold and distinctive piece of Australian literature, striking a chord around the world that continues to resonate.
Directed by Daniel Nettheim and produced by Vincent Sheehan, a founding partner of Porchlight Films, one of Australia’s leading production companies with a catalogue of award winning feature films. Sheehan produced the independent Australian box office hit MULLET and the acclaimed LITTLE FISH starring Cate Blanchett. Porchlight’s most recent feature ANIMAL KINGDOM, starring Guy Pearce, Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton and Jacki Weaver, won the World Cinema Jury Prize at Sundance 2010.
POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD
RELEASE DATE • August 11, 2011
Director: Morgan Spurlock
Starring: Morgan Spurlock
Boundary-pushing Oscar®-nominated filmmaker Morgan Spurlock explores the world of product placement, marketing and advertising in POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD, a film that was fully financed through product placement from various brands, all of which are integrated transparently into the film.
With humor, POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD unmasks the marketing process to bring audiences behind closed doors directly into the pitch meetings and marketing presentations which ultimately inform our everyday entertainment decisions. Sponsors were provided with brand category exclusivity. The brands that agreed to sponsor the film placed Spurlock front and center in their brand campaigns and advertisements, both on and off-
line. Partners have the unique right to promote themselves in association with Spurlock and the film as “The Greatest”. The agreements also stipulate that Spurlock maintains creative control of the film’s content and final edit.
SUBMARINE
RELEASE DATE • September 8, 2011
Director: Richard Ayoade
Starring: Craig Roberts, Sally Hawkins, Noah Taylor, Paddy Considine and Yasmin Paige
Based on the successful and hilarious debut novel by Joe Dunthorne and directed by THE IT CROWD’s Richard Ayoade, SUBMARINE is the comic-coming-of-age story of 15 year-old Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts). In his head he’s a cool, literary genius. In reality, he’s socially inept and unpopular.
He has set himself two tasks for the summer – to lose his virginity (before it becomes legal) to Jordana (Yasmin Paige), a pyromanic bully; and to stop his mother (Sally Hawkins) leaving his father (Noah Taylor) for her capoeira teacher (Paddy Considine)…
Featuring original songs by frontman for the Arctic Monkey’s Alex Turner, SUBMARINE is executive produced by Ben Stiller.
BILL CUNNINGHAM NEW YORK
RELEASE DATE • 3 November 2011
Director: Richard Press
Starring: Bill Cunningham, Anna Wintour, Tom Wolfe and Michael Kors
“We all get dressed for Bill,” says Vogue editrix Anna Wintour.
The “Bill” in question is 80+ New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham. For decades, this Schwinn-riding cultural anthropologist has been obsessively and inventively chronicling fashion trends and high society charity soirées for the Times Style section in his columns “On the Street” and “Evening Hours.”
Documenting uptown fixtures (Wintour, Tom Wolfe, Brooke Astor, David Rockefeller—who all appear in the film out of their love for Bill), downtown eccentrics and everyone in between, Cunningham’s enormous body of work is more reliable than any catwalk as an expression of time, place and individual flair.
THE FUTURE
RELEASE DATE • November 2011
Director: Miranda July
Starring: Miranda July and Hamish Linklater
Sophie and Jason are strange the way all couples are strange when they’re alone. They live in a small LA apartment, have jobs they hate, and in one month they’ll adopt a stray cat named Paw Paw. Like a newborn baby, he’ll need around-the-clock care – he may die in six months, or it may take five years.
Despite their good intentions, Sophie and Jason are terrified of their looming loss of freedom. So with just one month left, they quit their jobs, and the internet, to pursue their dreams – Sophie wants to create a dance, Jason wants simply to be guided by fate.
But as the month slips away, Sophie becomes increasingly, humiliatingly paralyzed. In a moment of desperation, she calls a stranger, Marshall – a square, fifty-year-old man who lives in the Valley. In his suburban world she doesn’t have to be herself; as long she stays there, she’ll never have to try (and fail) again.
Living in two terrifyingly vacant and different realities, Sophie and Jason must reunite with time, space and their own souls in order to come home.
The Reel Bits is the cinema arm of DVD Bits. Richard can be found on Twitter @DVDBits and Sarah @swardplay. The Reel Bits is also @The_ReelBits.
