Red Dune Films Projects

Long Tan
(Feature Film)

Script complete

Writer / Director - Bruce Beresford
Writer - Justin Monjo,
Executive Producers - Meyer Shwarzstein, Peter Wetherell
Producers - Martin Walsh, Charles Hannah

A true story of 108 ordinary young Australian and New Zealand soldiers and their extraordinary courage, heroism and triumph against an overwhelming enemy force of 2,500 soldiers.

The film will be a watershed for the Australian film industry.

With a large budget, an internationally appealing ensemble cast featuring three generations of Australia's best onscreen talent and the best creative team offscreen, Long Tan will be remembered for its visceral scenes of combat, its deep and broad range of characters, and the extraordinary drama of a true story.

Red Dune Films has optioned the story and films rights from the seven Long Tan commanders whose book is titled, "The Battle of Long Tan as told by the Commanders to Bob Grandin" .

Action / War / Drama

(104 mins)

Super 16

Completed

Executive Producers - Damien Lay, Martin Walsh
Director - Damien Lay
Director of Photography - Steve Williams
Writer - Keith Thompson and Damien Lay
Producers - Martin Walsh, Damien Lay
Production Manager - Sam Bateman
Stills Photographer - Robert Gray & Lorrie Graham
Publicity - Graham Cassidy
Publicity/Events - Launch Group

The Battle of Long Tan documentary is the ASTRA Award winning and Logie Award nominated joint production between Red Dune Films and Animax Films which was financed and broadcast by FOXTEL in Australia and New Zealand.

Filming commenced in mid June 2006 and wrapped in early July 2006. Filming took place in QLD, NSW, ACT, New Zealand and Vietnam.

The world premiere of The Battle of Long Tan was on Wednesday 16th August 2006 at 8.30pm EST / 10.30pm NZ on The History Channel in time for the 40th Anniversary of the battle which was 18 August 2006.

The Battle of Long Tan became the highest rating program ever screened on The History Channel in Australia and New Zealand.

Director Damien Lay produced and directed the critically acclaimed and LOGIE and ASTRA award winning documentary specials, "He's Coming South" and "M24: The Last Sunrise" for FOXTEL. These documentaries told the story of the Japanese Midget Submarine attack in Sydney Harbour during WWII and it was first broadcast on The History Channel and FOX8 in November 2005.

Script

Producer - Martin Walsh

A true story of the enchantment of music and the miracle of love.

Based upon the now largely forgotten true story of Australian born Marjorie Lawrence who became one of the world's great Opera singers and Prima Donna's.

Lawrence was born at Deans Marsh, south of Winchelsea, Victoria on 17 February 1907. She won a number of vocal competitions when aged in her teens. In 1927, the Australian baritone John Brownlee introduced her to a famous opera teacher, Cécile Gilly, in Paris. In 1932 she made her operatic debut in Monte Carlo as Elisabeth in Wagner's Tannhäuser. On 25 February 1933, she made her first appearance at the Opera Garnier in Paris, playing Ortrud in Lohengrin, and in the same year she sang in the world premiere of Joseph Canteloube's Vercingétorix.

On 18 December 1935, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City playing Brünnhilde in Die Walküre, and the following year played the immolation scene in Götterdämmerung by riding her horse into the flames as Wagner had intended, making her one of the few, possibly the only, soprano to do this. (She had been an athletic child and had learned to ride in Australia.)

Lawrence's physicality and beauty made her popular with audiences and she danced the Dance of the Seven Veils in Richard Strauss's Salome more convincingly than most other sopranos. Just as Larence's great compatriot Florence Austral had been able to alternate the role of Brünnhilde with Frida Leider, she herself was good enough to alternate the role with Kirsten Flagstad at the Metropolitan in 1937.

On 29 March 1941, at New York City's City Hall, she married Dr. Thomas King, an osteopath and Christian Scientist.

During a performance in 1941 in Mexico, Lawrence found herself unable to stand. She discovered that she had polio, and was left in a wheelchair as a result. She attempted to make a return to the stage, but was hampered by her lack of mobility. During World War II, she performed in charity concerts in seated in a chair. A performance as Amneris in Giuseppe Verdi's Aida in Paris in 1946 was well received, but Lawrence retreated from the stage, and instead began to work as a teacher. She retired to her ranch, Harmony Hills, in Hot Springs, Arkansas where she taught international students until her death in 1979.

Optioned Property

Producer - Martin Walsh

The Pillars of Nosgoth is a sweeping epic based upon the critically acclaimed and hugely popular game series "Legacy of Kain" first published in 1996.

The fragile balance of the Pillers of Nosgoth is in danger. Disputes within the Circle of Nine, the guardians of the Pillars of Nosgoth, have caused strife across the land. Ariel, the Guardian of Balance, has given a young vampire, Kain, the opportunity to save his own soul and free Nosgoth from its fate. Kain alone must face the other Guardians in order to heal the land and remove his vampiric curse.

Imagine The Pillars of Nosgoth as Bram Stokers Dracula crossed with Lord of The Rings. It features a rich fantasy world with memorable characters such as the ancient Vampire Vorador, the time streamer Moebius, the nemesis William the Just, the Necromancer Mortaneous and much more, as well as medieval backdrops, sorcery and time travel.

Treatment / Outline

Producer - Martin Walsh

My Island Home is the inspiring true story of one man's extraordinary journey through poverty, adversity and discrimination to become Australia's first indigenous political leader.

My Island Home is the amazing story of Aboriginal Senator Neville Bonner. Born on a government issued blanket under a lantana tree on a small island between NSW and Queensland, Neville went on to serve 12 years as a government Senator championing the rights of Aborigines and trying to improve their way of life.

This biopic will be a film like no other. Neville Bonner's life story represents the entire gammit of an indigenous persons life in Australia from early white settlement battling against discrimintation and poverty through the period of Aborigines finally achieving the right to vote and the indigenous persons struggle to find a place in a modern society. Magical representations of Aboriginal culture and mythology will be uniquely woven throughout the story..