MOVIE FEST TREATED TO CUP PREVIEW

THE brother and sister whose life has inspired one of the most anticipated films of 2019 rode into the Gold Coast yesterday to address delegates at the 73rd Australian International Movie Convention (AIMC).

The Australian film Ride Like a Girl is the inspirational true story of Michelle Payne, the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup.

Payne and her brother Stevie Payne joined the film’s first-time director Rachel Griffiths and producer Richard Keddie for a Q & A session as part of the Transmission Films presentation at the convention at Event Cinemas Pacific Fair.

Delegates were treated to world-first footage of the film, which has just finished shooting in Victoria.

It stars Teresa Palmer (Hacksaw Ridge) as Payne and Sam Neill (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Jurassic Park, The Piano) as her father.

Ride Like a Girl is slated to open in cinemas across Australia late next year.

Last night, delegates dressed to impress for the convention’s annual awards event, held thisyear at Movie World, the first time it has been hosted there.

Oscar-winning cinematographer John Seale (The English Patient) received the Murray Forrest Award for excellence in film craft.

Two industry veterans received lifetime achievement awards — Melbourne film editor Jill Bilcock (Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge! Driving Miss Daisy, Road to Perdition) and revered Aussie actor Bryan Brown, who has appeared in more than 80 film and television projects since the late 1970s.

Picture: MIKE BATTERHAM Michelle Payne and Teresa Palmer on the Ride Like A Girl set, and below, cinematographer John Seale and wife Louise Seale with actors Rachel Ward and Bryan Brown on their way to the awards last night. Seale and Brown were both honoured.