Tampa Crisis To Get Big Screen Treatment In Matthew Saville's DARK VICTORY
This rule stays true for the producers and director of Felony, who have announced a new feature together, but with the added impact of perfect timing as their next project directly relates one of the major issues being debated in the current Australian federal election campaign - and thus will doubtless receive heavy coverage as a result.
This next film is Dark Victory, based on the book of the same name by David Marr and Marian Wilkinson (although that had the added unsubtle subtitle, "How a Government Lied its Way to Political Triumph") about the Tampa affair in August 2001. Goalpost Pictures, which produced Felony -- which premieres at TIFF -- and recent hit The Sapphires, are once again on board to produce, while Felony helmer Matthew Saville will direct. From Variety:
A key part of the book deals with the Australian government's refusal in 2001 to allow the Norwegian freighter Tampa -- which was carrying 438 rescued refugees from a distressed fishing vessel -- to enter Australian waters.
In what escalated into an alarming series of events, the Prime Minister at the time ordered the vessel to be boarded by Australian special forces, a move which brought censure from the government of Norway and international condemnation on human rights grounds. The producers have described the story as "The Insider on the high seas".
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