To coincide with its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, Hopscotch have released the official trailer to Australia’s The Sapphires, directed by Wayne Blair and starring Jessica Mauboy, Deborah Mailman, Chris O’Dowd, Shari Sebbens and Miranda Tapsell.
The Sapphires is set in the heady days of the late ’60s when four young, talented singers from a remote Aboriginal mission, are discovered by an unlikely talent scout. Plucked from obscurity and branded as Australia’s answer to The Supremes, The Sapphires grasp the chance of a lifetime when they’re offered their first real gig – entertaining the troops in Vietnam. For the girls, a whole new world of friendship, love, war and soul opens before them.
The Sapphires is an adaptation of the hugely successful Australian stage musical of the same name, and is inspired by the remarkable true story of writer Tony Briggs’ mother and her family. It stars AFI Award winner Deborah Mailman and Australian singer Jessica Mauboy alongside Bridesmaids actor Chris O’Dowd, and features an unbeatable soul music soundtrack. Destined to be a smash Australian hit, The Sapphires boasts a great story full of love, laughter and tears, set against the backdrop of the social upheaval of the 1960s, with wonderful performances from the entire cast.
The Sapphires will have its Australian debut at the Melbourne International Film Festival on 2 August 2012, and is released a week later on 9 August 2012 from Hopscotch. The Weinstein Company has picked the film up for wide international distribution.
