Archibald Award Winners’ Renderings of Cast Member Brandon Walters

This past weekend saw the opening of the Archibald Prize exhibition at the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery (BRAG).

What’s the Archibald Prize? In accordance with the bequest of Jules F. Archibald the Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales are to award an annual prize for the best portrait of a man or woman distinguished in Art, Letters, Science or Politics.

In 2008, ‘Heath’, a portrait of the late actor Heath Ledger, not only stole the show but also achieved the People’s Choice Award. Vincent Fantauzzo is the artist responsible for this attention drawing piece, and of interest to Australia fans, whilst in Bathurst over the weekend he drew and donated a portrait of Brandon Walters (as seen right, click for larger) to the Bathurst Gallery.

With thanks to Fantauzzo & BRAG, australiamovie.net has obtained an image of the portrait currently on display. We’re also pleased to learn that three more paintings are in the works, and we hope to share them with you upon completion.

In the meantime if you’re looking to see more of Vincent Fantauzzo’s striking works you can visit his website or check out the real deal at the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery.

The exhibition runs from August 29 to October 12. Entry is free. Gallery opening hours are Tuesday to Fridays from 10am to 5pm, Saturdays 10am to 5pm and Sundays 11am to 2pm.

September 3rd, 2008

Sydney World Premiere and Film Festivals Announced

Hugh Jackman has just given those at the Australian International Movie Convention on the Gold Coast a sneak preview of Australia. Following the previously unseen footage he then delivered a passionate speech about the film, calling the film “the role of a lifetime” and saying that pulling off such an epic would be “the holy grail, the Mount Everest, of filmmaking”.

The head of 20th Century Fox in Australia, Marcos Oliveira, revealed that Australia will have its world premiere in Sydney in “mid-November” before opening on November 26. “We expect to be the biggest [film] of all time,” he said. The distributor has marketing deals with the likes of Qantas, the Nine and Ten networks, R.M. Williams, News Corporation newspapers and Australian winemakers, raising the stakes for a film which already has huge expectations to fulfil.

Additionally, the first film festival to be announced for Australia is Sweden’s Stockholm Film Festival. The festival runs from November 20-30 and Australia is said to be the festival’s closer. The full program will be announced Oct 22.

sources: stockholm film festival, sydney morning herald

September 3rd, 2008