Lucky Miles

Last updated

Lucky Miles
Directed by Michael James Rowland
Produced by Jo Dyer
Lesley Dyer
Starring Kenneth Moraleda
Rodney Afif
Release date
  • 2007 (2007)
Running time
105 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

Lucky Miles is a 2007 Australian drama feature film based on several true stories involving people entering Western Australia by boat in order to seek asylum. Its director was Michael James Rowland and its producers were Jo Dyer and Lesley Dyer.

Contents

Synopsis

An Indonesian fishing boat abandons a group of Iraqi and Cambodian men on a remote part of the Western Australian coast in 1990. Told there is a bus over the dunes, the men are abandoned to a desert the size of Poland. While most are quickly rounded up, three men with little in common but their history of misfortune elude capture and begin an epic but confused journey drawn on by their hopes amplified by the empty desert. Pursued by an army reservist unit more concerned with playing ball sports and music, the three protagonists wander deeper into trouble, searching desperately among the harsh beauty of the Pilbara for evidence of a Western, liberal democracy or the promised bus, which only one of them finds.

Cast

Production

Shot on location in South Australia and Cambodia Lucky Miles is the feature debut from Adelaide-born Michael James Rowland. With a script developed by Rowland's company Puncture, Lucky Miles is produced by Jo Dyer and Lesley Dyer, co-written by Helen Barnes, shot by cinematographer Geoff Burton, edited by Henry Dangar, music supervision by WOMAD's Artistic Director Thomas Brooman, scored by percussionist Trilok Gurtu and executive produced by Michael Bourchier. Lucky Miles is presented by Film Finance Corporation Australia, Short of Easy, The South Australian Film Corporation and the 2007 Adelaide Film Festival.[ citation needed ]

Release

Lucky Miles premiered on opening night of the 2007 Adelaide Film Festival. [1]

Lucky Miles also screened at world cinema festivals, including Jerusalem, Womad, Pusan, Chicago, AFI (USA) and the Amazonas Film Festival in Manaus. Lucky Miles opened in Australia mid-July and was released internationally during 2007. CineClick Asia is the film's global releasing company and Lucky Miles is distributed on DVD (Region Four) by Madman, released on 7 December 2007. Lucky Miles was shown in the 10th 2008 Philippines Cinemanila International Film Festival at Malacañan Palace's Kalayaan Hall. Kenneth Moraleda won the Vic Silayan Award for best actor. [2] [3] [4]

Reception

Reviews of the film were featured in Variety , [5] The Age [6] and The Advertiser . [7]

Box office

Lucky Miles grossed $678,110 at the box office in Australia. [8]

Accolades

The film won the following awards: [1]

It was nominated for the following awards: [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adelaide Film Festival</span> Film festival in Adelaide, South Australia

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santosh Sivan</span> Indian cinematographer

Santosh Sivan is an Indian cinematographer, film director, producer and actor known for his works in Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi cinema. Santosh graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India and has to date completed 55 feature films and 50 documentaries. He is regarded as one of India's finest and best cinematographers. He Has Won Twelve National Film Awards, Six Filmfare Awards, Four Kerala State Film Awards and Three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Hicks (director)</span> Australian film director, producer and screenwriter

Robert Scott Hicks, known as Scott, is an Australian film director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known as the screenwriter and director of Shine, the biopic of pianist David Helfgott. For this, Hicks was nominated for two Academy Awards. Other movies he has directed include the film adaptations of Stephen King's Hearts in Atlantis and Nicholas Sparks' The Lucky One.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Im Sang-soo</span> South Korean film director

Im Sang-soo is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. He has twice been invited to compete for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, with The Housemaid in 2010 and The Taste of Money in 2012.

The Inside Film Awards is an annual awards ceremony and broadcast platform for the Australian film industry, developed by the creators of Inside Film Magazine, Stephen Jenner and David Barda, and originally produced for television by Australian Producer Andrew Dillon. The awards are determined by a national audience poll, which differentiates it from the Australian AACTA Awards, which are judged by industry professionals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rolf de Heer</span> Dutch-Australian film director, writer, producer

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. He is the subject of the book Dutch Tilt, Aussie Auteur: The Films of Rolf de Heer by Dr D. Bruno Starrs. A comprehensive study of his films to date, Dancing to His Song: the Singular Cinema of Rolf de Heer by film critic Jane Freebury, is published in ebook and print.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prasanna Vithanage</span> Sri Lankan filmmaker (born 1962)

Udaya Prasanna Vithanage is a Sri Lankan filmmaker. He is considered one of the pioneers of the third generation of the Sri Lankan cinema. He has directed eight feature films including Death on a Full Moon Day (1997), August Sun (2003), Flowers of the Sky (2008) & With You, Without You (2012) and won many prestigious national and international awards and have also been commercially successful in Sri Lanka. In his early theatre work, he translated and produced plays by international writers, adapted works of world literature to film. He has battled against the censorship in Sri Lanka and worked as an educator of cinema who has conducted many Master classes in the subcontinent for young filmmakers and enthusiasts.

The Asian Festival of First Films (AFFF) was an annual film festival held in Singapore from 2005 to 2009 to celebrate and provide a platform for emerging filmmakers. It was also part of the Asian Film Market.

Kenneth Moraleda is an actor.

Michael James Rowland is an Australian film director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lav Diaz</span> Filipino filmmaker, film critic (born 1958)

Lavrente Indico Diaz is a Filipino independent filmmaker and former film critic. He is frequently known as one of the key members of the slow cinema movement, and has made several of the longest narrative films on record. Diaz is one of the most critically acclaimed contemporary Filipino filmmakers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">42nd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival</span>

The 42nd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival from June 29th to July 7th 2007. The Crystal Globe was won by Jar City, an Icelandic police detective film directed by Baltasar Kormákur. The second prize, the Special Jury Prize was won by Lucky Miles, an Australian drama directed by Michael James Rowland. Bård Breien was named Best Director. The Best Actress title went to Elvira Mínguez, and Best Actor to Sergey Puskepalis.

<i>The Home Song Stories</i> 2007 Australian film

The Home Song Stories is a 2007 Australian drama film written and directed by Tony Ayres, loosely based on aspects of his life. It stars Joan Chen, Joel Lok, Qi Yuwu, Irene Chen, Steven Vidler and Kerry Walker.

The Cinemanila International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Manila, Philippines. It was founded by Filipino filmmaker Amable "Tikoy" Aguiluz in 1999. The focus of the festival is on the cinema of the Philippines as well as Southeast Asian cinema.

<i>The Bands Visit</i> 2007 Israeli film

The Band's Visit is a 2007 comedy-drama film, directed and written by Eran Kolirin, and starring Saleh Bakri, Ronit Elkabetz, Sasson Gabai and Uri Gavriel. It is an international co-production between Israel, France and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pete Lacaba</span> Filipino writer

Jose Maria Flores Lacaba, popularly known as Pete Lacaba, is a Filipino screenwriter, editor, poet, journalist, activist and translator.

The Palace is a 2011 Cypriot–Australian short film co-production, written and directed by Anthony Maras, that had its international premiere at the 2011 Telluride Film Festival and won Best Short Fiction Film and Best Screenplay in a Short Film in the 2012 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards.

<i>Juvenile Offender</i> 2012 South Korean film

Juvenile Offender is a 2012 South Korean film about a teenage criminal who reunites with his mother, who gave him up at birth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2007 Adelaide Film Festival</span>

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.

Jo Dyer is an Australian theatre and film producer, and director of Adelaide Writers' Week from 2019 to 2022. She is known for the films Lucky Miles (2007) and Girl Asleep (2015).

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Lucky Miles". Soft Tread. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  2. www.screendaily.com, The Band's Visit takes top prize at Cinemanila fest
  3. abs-cbnnews.com, Cinema One Originals movies dominate 10th Cinemanila award rites
  4. bworldonline.com, Arroyo awards winners in 10th Cinemanila festival [ permanent dead link ]
  5. Kuipers, Richard (1 March 2007). "Lucky Miles". Variety . Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  6. Hawker, Philippa (27 February 2007). "Voices out of silence head first weekend". The Age . Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  7. James, Stan (21 February 2007). "A treasure of screen gems". The Advertiser. Adelaide.
  8. "Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 February 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2010.