Press Kit 2017
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PRESS KIT 2017 PUBLICITY CONTACTS: Maxine Leonard Hilda Somarriba Maxine Leonard PR Maxine Leonard PR 7261 Beverly Blvd, #302 7261 Beverly Blvd, #302 Los Angeles, CA 90036 Los Angeles, CA 90036 O: +1 323 930 2345 M: +1 323 633 7079 E: [email protected] E: [email protected] INTERNATIONAL SALES: Films Distribution 5 rue Nicolas Flamel Paris 75004, France Ph: +33 1 53 10 33 99 FilmsDistribution.com ©Hypergiant Films Pty ltd, Killing Ground 2017 KILLING GROUND Writer/Director: Damien Power Producers: Joe Weatherstone & Lisa Shaunessy Main Cast: Aaron Pedersen, Ian Meadows, Harriet Dyer, Aaron Glenane Australian Distributor: Mushroom Pictures International Sales: Films Distribution Duration: 88 minutes Genre: survival thriller Synopsis Ian and Samantha head to a national park, hoping that nature will give them space for some quiet time together. They arrive at an isolated campsite to find an SUV and a tent – no sign of the occupants. As night falls and the campers fail to return, Ian and Sam grow increasingly uneasy. The discovery of a distressed child wandering in the woods unleashes a terrifying chain of events that test the young couple to breaking point. ©Hypergiant Films Pty ltd, Killing Ground 2017 KILLING GROUND writer/director’s statement KILLING GROUND is a lean, unorthodox genre film inspired by the classic character-driven survival thrillers of the 70s. It all began with the image of a deserted tent, which appeared to me so powerfully that it demanded a story. Thinking about what might have happened to the tent’s missing occupants reminded me of the scary stories we tell around a campfire. I believe the best films, including genre films, spring from something personal and deeply felt. KILLING GROUND was born out of my fears for my children and my anxieties as a parent. Life in the West today presents us with few tests of our ‘capital C’ courage: the life and death kind of physical or moral courage regularly examined in movies. Would I be able to protect my family if our lives were in danger? Would I fight or would I flee? KILLING GROUND is a violent story, but it’s also a story about violence – about what it does to its victims, perpetrators and viewers: How violence dehumanises its victims by robbing them of choice. The film is also the story about place. Violence and pain don’t disappear without leaving a trace, they are held by the land around us. KILLING GROUND is part of a long tradition of Australian cinema exploring our sense of unease in our own backyard. The structure interweaves three narrative threads – the protagonists in the present, the killers in the present, and the family (victims) in the past. The flashback / parallel narrative structure of the first two thirds of KILLING GROUND is akin to a detective story with a mystery to be solved: asking, ‘what happened?’ instead of ‘what will happen?’ Once the protagonists (and the viewer) learn what happened in the past and the flashbacks end, the story focuses on the consequences for Sam and Ian in the present. There’s a sense of things closing in, reducing to the essential. Tension builds as the narrative threads wind together, danger escalates and Sam and Ian’s options narrow drastically. The fractured flashback / parallel narrative structure brings the past back to life before our eyes. It is the story of what happened to the family – but in the present tense of cinema, it’s also the story of what is happening to the family. This – and the allusions to a past massacre – contribute to an atmosphere of timelessness and a feeling that what is happening is always happening, now and forever. Damien Power ©Hypergiant Films Pty ltd, Killing Ground 2017 CAST Aaron Pedersen – Scotty ‘German’ Shepard Aaron Pedersen’s filmography includes: GOLDSTONE by Ivan Sen, which opened the 2016 Sydney Film Festival, and THE FEAR OF DARKNESS by Chris Fitchett. Aaron transitioned into acting, after initially training as a journalist at the ABC. Through his work on WILDSIDE, WATER RATS, MDA, TERRITORIANS, GRASSROOTS, QUEEN OF HEARTS, BLACK JACK, EAST WEST 101 and THE SECRET LIFE OF US, Aaron has been able to champion the changing representation of Indigenous people in Australia. Aaron’s other television credits include IT’S A DATE and THE CODE on ABC, the SBS mini-series THE CIRCUIT, CITY HOMICIDE on the Seven Network, and JACK IRISH, the ABC miniseries and telemovies based on Peter Temple’s thriller novels. He starred in Ivan Sen’s feature MYSTERY ROAD, for which he was also an Associate Producer. Aaron received the Australian Film Critics Association, Film Critics Circle of Australia and Rolling Stone Australia Award for Best Actor for his role in the film. His other film credits include Stephen Pages’ SPEAR, Warwick Thornton’s THE DARKSIDE, Suri Krishnamma’s BAD KARMA with Ray Liotta and Dominic Purcell, DEAD HEART, SATURDAY NIGHT, GRANGE, UNFINISHED BUSINESS, MIMI, and MIRROR IMAGES. In 2007 and 2013, Aaron received a Deadly Award nomination for Male Actor of the Year and won the award in 2003 and 2011. He was the recipient of the Bob Maza Fellowship in 2007. Ian Meadows – Ian Smith Ian Meadows graduated from WAAPA in 2005. His TV acting credits include 8MMM, THE MOODYS, A MOODY CHRISTMAS, RAKE, EAST WEST 101, UNDERBELLY: THE MAN WHO GOT AWAY, PAPER GIANTS: THE BIRTH OF CLEO, RUSH and the HBO series THE PACIFIC. Ian has also appeared in the telemovies PARER’S WAR, THE SHARK NET and Rowan Woods’ 3 ACTS OF MURDER. He is currently shooting a lead role in the Network Ten series THE WRONG GIRL opposite Jessica Marais. Ian’s feature credits include Colin and Cameron Cairnes’ second feature SCARE CAMPAIGN. Ian co-wrote and acted in the AFI award nominated short Water, and co-wrote and directed the short film A Parachute Falling in Siberia, which won an Australian Writers Guild Award and received an AFI award nomination. Ian adapted and directed Defender, a segment of Tim Winton’s The Turning, which was produced by Robert Connolly and AACTA nominated for best direction. Ian’s TV writing credits include Foxtel’s SPIRITED, Channel 10’s OFFSPRING, the Fox 8 series SLIDE, ABC’s THE MOODYS and Nines HOUSE HUSBANDS. Ian has appeared on stage Downstairs at Company B in Ladybird, a production of his company Small Things Productions, and in 2008 performed in THE MODERN INTERNATIONAL DEAD, for which he won a Glug Award for Young Performer of the Year and was nominated for a Sydney Theatre Award. Ian appeared in NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH for Company B, THE COMING WORLD at the Darlinghurst Theatre and BLUE/ORANGE for the Ensemble. He wrote and co-directed the play FOUR DEATHS IN THE LIFE OF RONALDO ABOK at Riverside Theatre Parramatta and his play BETWEEN TWO WAVES closed out the Griffin Company season of 2012 and was awarded Belvoir Theatre Company’s 2014 Phillip Parsons Award. He was nominated for a Greenroom award for Best Actor for his role as “Trip” in OTHER DESERT CITIES at the MTC. ©Hypergiant Films Pty ltd, Killing Ground 2017 Harriet Dyer – Samantha ‘Sam’ Shaw Harriet Dyer starred in Brendan Cowell's feature film RUBEN GUTHRIE, the second season of the Nine Network’s drama series, LOVE CHILD and the Jungle series NO ACTIVITY, which screened on Stan. Her most recent credits include Abe Forsythe’s feature DOWN UNDER, the third series of LOVE CHILD on Channel Nine, the second series of BLACK COMEDY and the fourth series of RAKE. Harriet’s performance in LOVE CHILD earned her a 2016 Logie Award nomination for Most Outstanding Supporting Actress and two 2015 Logie Award nominations – the Graham Kennedy Award for Most Outstanding Newcomer and Most Popular New Talent. For the same performance, Harriet has also received an AACTA nomination for Best Guest or Supporting Actress in a Television Drama. Her other television credits include Screentime’s JANET KING, the ABC comedy A MOODY CHRISTMAS, Network Ten’s MICRO NATION, and PACKED TO THE RAFTERS. Harriet received the Sydney Theatre Award for Best Performance in a Leading Role in a Mainstage Production for her performance in MACHINAL with the Sydney Theatre Company, and was nominated for the same award for her role in THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES for the Bell Shakespeare Company. Aaron Glenane – Todd ‘Chook’ Fowler One of Australia's most promising young actors, Aaron Glenane recently appeared in the M4 Entertainment's MOLLY for the Seven Network, in the role of Mushroom Records founder, Michael Gudinski. Gaining national and international attention for his performance as Gus in DRIFT, Aaron starred alongside Academy Award winners Robert Redford and Cate Blanchett in James Vanderbilt's political drama TRUTH. His other film credits include Bucko in THE BLACK BALLOON starring Toni Colette, Luke Ford, Rhys Wakefield and Gemma Ward, Larry in CONCEALED, as well as a starring role in the 2013 Tropfest short film CASH COW. Aaron played a major supporting role in the World War I mini-series DEADLINE GALLIPOLI alongside Sam Worthington, Hugh Dancy and Charles Dance. Aaron's other television credits include OLD SCHOOL, PUBERTY BLUES, JANET KING, TRICKY BUSINESS, PACKED TO THE RAFTERS, RESCUE SPECIAL OPS and HOME AND AWAY. Aaron also appeared in the UKTV telemovie DRIPPING IN CHOCOLATE ALONGSIDE DAVID WENHAM. Originally from rural Victoria, Aaron is an accomplished stage actor and dancer, having performed in Dein Perry's TAP DOGS, THE BOY FROM OZ, JOURNEYS END and A CASE FOR GESTURE. More recently, Aaron appeared as Doug in The Kings Collective production of GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES and as Phillip in Red Line Productions ORPHANS at The Old Fitz Theatre.