About Mushroom Pictures MUSHROOM PICTURES Mushroom Pictures is part of Michael Gudinski's Mushroom Group of Companies. The Mushroom Group includes Mushroom Music Publishing, the record company Liberation Music, ATM Merchandising and Frontier Touring. The Company CEO is Martin Fabinyi, who also produces or executive produces the Company's film and television projects with Chairman Michael Gudinski. Mushroom Pictures has developed and produced a wide range of film, television and multi-media projects, and is also involved in film distribution. Television projects include the documentary on the indigenous Australian band Yothu Yindi, Tribal Voice, which screened on the Discovery Channel and ABC-TV, the television specials Next To Nothing and Nothing To Hide which screened on the National Geographic Channel and the Nine Network, and the music specials Kate Ceberano & Friends, The Singer & The Swinger and Counting The Beat and The National Karaoke Challenge with SBS. In 2000 Mushroom released and distributed its first feature film, Cut, a teen horror spoof. directed by Kimble Rendall, the movie starred Molly Ringwald and featured Kylie Minogue. Cut was sold to every country in the world and was number #1 in France and Hong Kong. Mushroom Pictures co-produced with Cherub Pictures the feature film Chopper. Based on the best-selling books by standover man, Mark 'Chopper' Read, the film was the first starring role for Eric Bana. The film was released in 2000, and became the highest-grossing R-rated film ever released in Australia, reaching the No 1 box office position and earning in excess of $6 million locally. The film played a range of international festivals including Sundance, Telluride, Toronto and Cognac, where it won Best Film and the Critic's Prize. Dominik won Best Director and Bana won Best Actor at all Australian awards events for the film. It opened in the United States through First Look Pictures in April 2001. In 2002 Chopper was nominated the greatest Australian film ever in a national survey by Empire Magazine. Mushroom Pictures released Gettin' Square in 2003 starring Sam Worthington Timothy Spall and David Wenham, and was directed by Jonathan Teplitzky (Better Than Sex), written by Christopher Nyst and co-produced with Tim White from Working Title, Trish Lake and Christopher Nyst. It has screened at film festivals such as Cannes 2004, St Tropez Australian Film Festival 2004, where Sam Worthington won the Award for Best Antipodes Revelation Actor and The Hawaii Film Festival, where it won Best Audience Award. 2005 saw the release of one of the most eagerly-awaited Australian films, Greg Maclean's thriller/horror feature Wolf Creek. Wolf Creek screened at the Sundance Film Festival and Director's Fortnight in Cannes, and was picked up for worldwide distribution by the Weinstein Brothers’ Dimension Films. Released in Australia in November 2005, Wolf Creek became the Number 1 film in the country grossing over $5million to date, and was released throughout the United States on over 2000 screens in January 2006. Both Michael Gudinski and Martin Fabinyi are executive producers after initially picking up local rights for distribution with partner Darclight Films. In 2006, Mushroom Pictures again teamed up with Darclight to co-distribute the thriller Storm Warning, directed by Urban Legends director Jamie Blanks. Dimension Films has picked up North American, Australian and New Zealand distribution rights. In 2006 Macbeth, a modern day version of Shakespeare's Macbeth directed by Geoffrey Wright (Romper Stomper) and starring Sam Worthington was nominated for 5 AFI Awards, winning two for Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction. Mushrooms current project Cedar Boys is an authentic, adrenaline charged ride into the lives of young men of Middle Eastern descent today in Sydney, Australia. Real and raw, coming directly from an insider’s perspective, fueled by hot cars, music, racial tension, and sex drive, Cedar Boys is a poignant look at young men of Middle Eastern descent under pressure, seeking acceptance by a society they believe excludes them. Currently in post production Cedar Boys stars Rachel Taylor, Les Chantery and Martin Henderson, written and directed by directed by Serhat Caradee and produced by Jeff Purser, Ranko Markovic and Matthew Dabner. Cedar Boys is due for release 2009 Also to be released is in 2009 is director Brendan Fletcher’s debut Feature Film Mad Bastards. Mad Bastards is being made in collaboration with the Oombulgurri community in the Kimberly’s and local musical legends’ the Pigram Brothers. Mushroom Pictures continues to actively develop a wide range of film and television projects, including a scheme with the Queensland Government (PFTC) to develop a series of horror genre films specifically with the potential for an electronic game spin-off. Mushroom Pictures are also executive producing the feature film Dirt Music, based on Tim Winton's award winning novel, with Phillip Noyce's production company Rumbalara Films. Mushroom Pictures latest project is the second series of Great Australian Albums, with SBS. Following on from the success of series one, which looked at albums Diorama by Silverchair, Woodface by Crowded House, Born Sandy Devotional by The Triffids and The Saints' (I'm) Stranded, Great Australian Albums Series Two examines a further four of the all-time classic Australian albums: Human Frailty by the Hunters and Collectors, 16 Lovers Lane by the Go-Betweens, Murder Ballads by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Odyssey Number Five by Powderfinger. Great Australian Albums screened on SBS in September.