Brian Brooks is a Deadline contributor. Sundance Selects scored in the specialty arena this weekend, opening Gimme The Loot at its IFC Center in Greenwich Village with a solid $23,400. The movie, which IFC Films’ Sundance Selects label picked up last year out of the SXSW Film Festival, reported sold-out screenings…

Brian Brooks is a Deadline contributor. Only a handful of new specialty movies opened during the early part of 2013, but spring has brought an onslaught of indies and foreign titles. The Weinstein Company opens the Cannes debut The Sapphires this weekend, while two titles from last year’s SXSW, Hunky Dory starring…

Don Groves is a Deadline contributor based in Sydney Nominated for 12 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, The Sapphires won six gongs at a ceremony hosted by Russell Crowe in Sydney on Wednesday night. The musical drama about four Aboriginal girls who formed a singing group in the 1960s won best…

Don Groves is a Deadline contributor based in Sydney. The Sapphires nabbed five Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards in craft categories presented Monday in Sydney local time. The drama, which TWC opens March 22 in the U.S., was prized for cinematography, editing, production design, costume design…

Don Groves is a Deadline contributor based in Sydney. The Weinstein Co. has confirmed The Sapphires will open March 22 in the U.S. TWC bought multi-territory rights for the musical drama at last year’s Cannes festival. Director Wayne Blair’s film based on the real-life story of an Aboriginal singing group that shot to…

Australia’s The Sapphires directed by Wayne Blair was named best narrative feature today as the 24th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival winds down. The movie that also screened in Cannes last year is based on the real-life story of an all-female Aboriginal singing group that transitioned from folk to soul…

Wayne Blair’s Cannes crowd pleaser The Sapphires leads the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts feature film nominations for 2012 with 12 nods including picture, director, actor and actress. A close second is Jonathan Teplitzky’s Burning Man with 10, followed by PJ Hogan’s Mental, Kieran Darcy-Smith’s Wish…

EXCLUSIVE: UTA has just signed Wayne Blair, who made his feature directorial debut with The Sapphires. It’s the first U.S. representation for the Australian filmmaker whose musical premiered at Cannes. The Weinstein Company bought U.S. distribution and select worldwide rights from the producers, Goalpost Pictures, <a href="http://www.deadline.com/2012/09/toronto-godigital-nabs-doc-sons-of-the-clouds-the-last-colony/tiff2012_badge/" rel="attachment wp-att-329926"…

Here’s the Toronto International Film Festival trailer for The Weinstein Company’s Cannes pickup The Sapphires. The movie about an Aboriginal girl group stars Chris O’Dowd as an unlikely talent scout, Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy, Shari Sebbens and Miranda Tapsell. Screenplay is by playwright Tony Briggs, whose…

Don Groves is a Deadline contributor based in Sydney. Australian musical The Sapphires rang up $A2.3M ($2.4M) in its debut Down Under this weekend, ranking 2nd behind the The Dark Knight Rises in its 4th frame and ahead of the opening of The Campaign. The film’s four-day tally bodes well for the feel-good pic which The…

Freelance journalist Don Groves is a Deadline contributor based in Sydney Continuing a mini-boom in Australian films tackling indigenous themes, Around the Block starts shooting in Sydney on Monday. Christina Ricci stars as an American drama teacher who reaches out to a troubled Aboriginal teenager. In the vein of Dang…

Despite reports to the contrary Harvey Weinstein told me he doesn’t believe the Australian musical The Sapphires is going to become another The Artist. Weinstein claims he was taken out of context in a Los Angeles newspaper report after the out-of-competition film premiered to an enthusiastic response and prolonged…