Screen Australia announces funding for new book-to-film adaptations

Films based on books by Malcolm Knox, Timothy Conigrave and Erin McKean are among the latest projects to receive funding from Screen Australia.

Screen Australia announced $424,000 in development funding for 15 feature film projects on 11 December. Funding will go towards a film adaptation of Knox’s Jamaica (A&U), which will be written by Melissa Bubnic. The film will be produced by Rachel Connors and directed by Robert Connolly.

Conigrave’s memoir Holding the Man (Penguin) will be adapted into a film by producer Kylie Du Fresne and director Neil Armfield. The screenplay will be written by Tommy Murphy, who previously adapted the book for the stage.

The Secret Lives of Dresses by US author Erin McKean (Hodder) will be developed by producer Leanne Tonkes, with Australian Stephen Lance to write and direct the film.

A film adaption of a short story by Nam Le will also receive development funding from Screen Australia. ‘Cartagena’, published in Le’s collection The Boat (Penguin), will be developed by producers Kristina Ceyton and Naomi Wenck, with the screenplay to be written by Le. 

As previously reported by Books+Publishing, Screen Australia recently announced investment funding for the ABC television adaptation of Kate Grenville’s The Secret River (Text).

To read more about the latest funding announcements, visit the Screen Australia website here.