Aussie Features selected for Toronto
Cate Shortland's 'Lore' and Wayne Blair's 'The Sapphires' are set to light up US interest with their international outings at this prestigious Canadian film festival.
Cate Shortland's long awaited follow-up to Somersault, Lore (pictured), has been selected to have its international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, along with Wayne Blair's The Sapphires, which received a very warm reception when it played at the Cannes Film Festival earlier in the year.
Both films will screen in the Special Presentations program, designed to showcase world-class films by established talent.
"Toronto represents a prestigious launch pad for these films into the North American market," said Screen Australia's Head of Marketing, Kathleen Drumm. "We were pleased to be able to host Toronto Programmer, Jane Schoettle, in Australia earlier this year who has a great passion for Australian films."
Based on the Rachel Seiffert's acclaimed novel, The Dark Room, Cate Shortland's Lore - an official co-production between Australia and Germany - tells the journey of five children who embark on a journey across war-torn Germany in 1945 after their Nazi parents are taken into Allied custody.
Of a completely different nature, Wayne Blair's The Sapphires is a big screen adaptation of Tony Briggs' hit stage-play of the same name, which follows an Aboriginal all-girl singing group (played by Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy, Shari Sebbens and Miranda Tapsell) who are discovered by an unlikely talent scout (Chris O'Dowd) and end up performing for the troops in sixties Vietnam.
The Toronto International Film Festival will take place 6-16 September 2012. Find out more here.
