Film Finance Corp. coin for 5 films

'How to' among pics getting funds

By PAUL CHAI

SYDNEY -- Sydney Lumet-produced pic "How to Change in 9 Weeks" is one of five new features that benefited in the final round as the Film Finance Corp. handed out coin.

"How to" stars Guy Pearce, Miranda Otto and Sam Neill in the true-crime tale of a 15-year-old Australian girl who went missing and was found to have been murdered by her babysitter.

Pic is produced by Lumet, former Universal Pictures topper Thom Mount and TV-writer producer team Tony Cavanaugh and Simon North; North will act as tyro helmer and scribe on the project.

Other pics backed:

• "Dying Breed," a frightener about a group of adventurers who come into contact with cannibals in the Tasmanian wilderness; pic will star Nathan Phillips ("Wolf Creek," "Snakes on a Plane");

• "Prime Mover," an outback love story set in the world of road trains (long transport trucks) starring Emily Barclay "Suburban Mayhem"); pic will be helmed by David Caesar and produced by Vincent Sheehan ("Little Fish");

• "Elise," the feature bow of Aussie thrush Natalie Imbruglia, who'll play a woman haunted by the disappearance of her sister; pic will be produced by Ben Grant and Rosemary Blight, the team behind Sundance hit "Clubland" and written and directed by James Bogle.

• "Not Quite Hollywood," a docu about Aussie helmers in the 1970s who produced genre fare like "Mad Max"; pic will feature an appearance by Quentin Tarantino and will be produced by Craig Griffin and Michael Lynch.

Current round of funding has also attracted the FFC's highest-ever market investment, which topper Brian Rosen said "demonstrates that the market sees strong audience potential in the slate of projects we are backing."

New slate reps A$213 million ($172 million) in funding, with 37% coming from the FFC and the other 63% from other financing partners; ratio is the best in the org's 18-year history. The FFC has now backed 15 features for the 2006-07 financial year.

On the television front, drama "Bed of Roses" follows a city high-flyer forced to return to her small-town roots. Six-parter is from the scribes behind hit "McLeod's Daughters" and will screen on pubcaster the ABC.

The FFC also greenlit a range of docus including "Family Footsteps," "The Attack of the Baby Boomers" and "The Plague," about the first Australian to be diagnosed with AIDS.