Dr. Plonk | |
---|---|
Directed by | Rolf de Heer |
Written by | Rolf de Heer |
Produced by | Rolf de Heer Julie Ryan |
Starring | Nigel Martin |
Cinematography | Judd Overton |
Edited by | Tania Nehme |
Music by | Graham Tardif |
Production companies | Australian Film Finance Corporation Vertigo Productions Pty. Ltd. |
Distributed by | Fandango |
Release dates | 5 March 2007 (Adelaide Film Festival) 30 August 2007 (Australia) |
Running time | 85 minutes |
Country | Australia |
Language | English |
Dr. Plonk is a 2007 Australian silent sci-fi / comedy film written and directed by Rolf de Heer. It premiered in Australia at the 2007 Adelaide Film Festival and had live accompaniment by the Stiletto Sisters. The film was also screened at the launch of Australia's National Film and Sound Archive's new cinema, Arc, in August 2007. Its public cinema release was on 30 August 2007.
The film, set primarily in 1907, has been described as "a time-travelling satire". [1] The Adelaide Film Festival program described it as "a black and white, silent comedy shot with a hand-cranked camera and brimming with romance, action and especially, slapstick comedy". [2] Its score was composed by Graham Tardif. It is also notable for a cameo appearance by the South Australian Premier, Mike Rann, playing the 2007 Prime Minister.
The story focuses on Dr Plonk, a scientist and inventor who, in 1907, determines that the world will end in 101 years. However, he is ridiculed for his beliefs and so invents a time machine in order to collect evidence from the future to prove his case. But each visit he makes to 2007 only causes him more problems, and he eventually becomes a wanted man...
De Heer was inspired to make the film after discovering old raw film stock, which prompted him to make a silent movie. [3]
Dr. Plonk was distributed in Australia by Palace Films.
Dr. Plonk grossed $83,450 at the box office in Australia. [4]
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Urban Cinefile Critics gave a positive review; "Beyond its novelty value, Dr Plonk is fresh and funny, wacky and outlandish as it combines slapstick, situation comedy and an audacious premise."[ citation needed ]
Judd Overton won an award from the Australian Cinematographers Society as SA & WA Silver Award for Best Cinematography.[ citation needed ] Additionally, Graham Tardif was nominated for a FCCA Award for Best Music Score.[ citation needed ]
The cinema of Australia had its beginnings with the 1906 production of The Story of the Kelly Gang, arguably the world's first feature film. Since then, Australian crews have produced many films, a number of which have received international recognition. Many actors and filmmakers with international reputations started their careers in Australian films, and many of these have established lucrative careers in larger film-producing centres such as the United States.
Alexandra's Project is a 2003 Australian drama thriller film written and directed by Rolf de Heer and starring Gary Sweet and Helen Buday.
Bad Boy Bubby is a 1993 black comedy film written and directed by Rolf de Heer, and starring Nicholas Hope, Claire Benito, Ralph Cotterill, and Carmel Johnson.
The Adelaide Film Festival is a film festival usually held for two weeks in mid-October in cinemas in Adelaide, South Australia. Originally presented biennially in March from 2003, since 2013 AFF has been held in October. Subject to funding, the festival has staged full or briefer events in alternating years; some form of event has taken place every year since 2015. From 2022 it takes place annually. It has a strong focus on local South Australian and Australian produced content, with the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund (AFFIF) established to fund investment in Australian films.
Dingo is a 1991 Australian film directed by Rolf de Heer and written by Marc Rosenberg. It is notable for marking Miles Davis' first and only speaking role in a narrative feature film.
Ruby Myers, better known by her stage name Sulochana, was an Indian silent film actress of Jewish ancestry, from the community of Baghdadi Jews in India.
Paul Blackwell was an Australian actor, mainly known for his stage work. He played a major role was in Rolf De Heer's 1996 film The Quiet Room and other minor film roles, and was also co-creator and director on some stage productions.
Ten Canoes is a 2006 Australian drama film directed by Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr and starring Crusoe Kurddal. The title of the film arose from discussions between de Heer and David Gulpilil about a photograph of ten canoeists poling across the Arafura Swamp, taken by anthropologist Donald Thomson in 1936. It is the first ever movie entirely filmed in Australian Aboriginal languages. The film is partly in colour and partly in black and white, in docudrama style largely with a narrator explaining the story. The overall format is that of a moral tale.
Rolf de Heer is a Dutch Australian film director. De Heer was born in Heemskerk in the Netherlands but migrated to Sydney when he was eight years old. He attended the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in Sydney. His company is called Vertigo Productions and is based in Adelaide. De Heer primarily makes alternative or arthouse films. According to the jacket notes of the videotape, de Heer holds the honor of co-producing and directing the only motion picture, Dingo, in which the jazz legend Miles Davis appears as an actor. Miles Davis collaborated with Michel Legrand on the score.
The Tracker is a 2002 Australian drama film/meat pie Western directed and written by Rolf de Heer and starring David Gulpilil, Gary Sweet and Damon Gameau. It is set in 1922 in outback Australia where a colonial policeman (Sweet) uses the tracking ability of an Indigenous Australian tracker (Gulpilil) to find the alleged murderer of a white woman.
All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane is a 2007 Australian romantic comedy film directed by Louise Alston and written by Stephen Vagg. It follows Anthea, a 25-year-old girl who hates her job and has to sit back and watch as all her friends move away from her hometown, Brisbane, to make a better life. In 2013, The Guardian referred to it as a "cult film" inspired by "a typically Brisbane lament... the departure of people in their late 20s to Sydney, Melbourne, London or New York."
Plonk may refer to:
The Quiet Room is a 1996 Australian drama film directed by Rolf de Heer. It competed for the Palme d'Or at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.
Jucy is an Australian comedy feature film produced in 2010 about the womance between two best female friends. The film was written by Stephen Vagg, directed by Louise Alston and produced by Kelly Chapman. It is the second in a planned "quarter life crisis" trilogy from Vagg and Alston following the 2007 romantic comedy All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane.
The Dungog Film Festival was an annual event held in the Hunter Region town of Dungog. The Dungog Film Festival was a not-for-profit arts organization that was dedicated to celebrating and promoting the Australian screen industry. The festival provided education of the Australian film and TV industry through a range of initiatives. Some proceeds of the festival have gone towards preserving the James Theatre. The festival aimed to support the Australian Film and TV Industry in a non-competitive environment that exclusively showcased Australian screen content.
The Old Man Who Read Love Stories is a 2001 Australian adventure drama film directed by Rolf de Heer. It is based on the book of the same name by Luis Sepulveda.
Charlie's Country is a 2013 Australian drama film directed by Rolf de Heer. It was selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival where David Gulpilil won the award for Best Actor. It was also screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival and awarded the Best Fiction Prize and the Youth Jury Prize at the 2015 International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH) in Geneva.
The 3rd Adelaide Film Festival took place in Adelaide, South Australia, from 22 February to 4 March 2007. Katrina Sedgwick was again Festival Director. Rolf de Heer received the 2007 Don Dunstan Award for his contribution to the Australian film industry.
That's Not Me is an Australian independent comedy film directed by Gregory Erdstein. It was filmed between 2015 and 2016 in Melbourne, Australia, and Los Angeles, US. The screenplay was written by Gregory Erdstein and lead actress Alice Foulcher. That's Not Me had its World Premiere in February 2017 at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and its Australian Premiere in June 2017 at the Sydney Film Festival. It was released theatrically at selected cinemas across Australia in September 2017. In 2020 That's Not Me was nominated for the AACTA Byron Kennedy Award, as one of the top 12 indie feature films of the past decade.
Graham Tardif is an Australian screen music composer. He is the composer on ten feature films directed and written by Rolf de Heer. Their most acclaimed collaboration, The Tracker (2002), resulted in an APRA-AGSC Screen Music Award for "Far Away Home" as Best Original Song Composed for a Feature Film, Telemovie, TV Series or Mini-Series in 2002. The Tracker also provided wins at Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards and IF Awards for the pair.