The Film
The Janeites
Our team have acquired rights to Rudyard Kipling's story 'The Janeites'.
The project has been two years in development, and a final amount of finance is required to get the project over the line, to enter production.
Synopsis
As they wait for a whistle to signal their charge into no-man’s land, a group of nervous soldiers find they all share something which helps them through the nightmarish experience: a love of Jane Austen.
Supporters
We are driven to include the Jane Austen community with the production of this film.
We thank our kind supporters of our project, who can see our passion to produce the film.
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Cast
McGregor Casting are onboard as our casting agency, with casting director Stevie Ray having previously worked on films including Lion, San Andreas, A Good Day to Die Hard, Top of the Lake and many more large-scale productions.
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Featuring;
Daniel Henshall
Daniel Edwin Henshall (born 9 August 1982) is an Australian actor. He is known for his roles in the films Snowtown (2011) aka The Snowtown Murders, The Babadook (2014), Ghost in the Shell (2017), Okja (2017), and Acute Misfortune (2019), as well as starring in the AMC TV series Turn: Washington's Spies. For Snowtown he won an AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
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Andre De Vanny
Andre stars in both major US and Australian productions, including the upcoming David Fields directed feature The Combination 2. Andre has worked extensively in the US, securing leading roles in the acclaimed mini series Hercules, Steven King's Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Salem's Lot, and the DreamWorks/HBO's miniseries The Pacific. Most recently, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and The Doctor Blake Mysteries.)
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Susan Prior
Susan Prior is an actress and writer, known for The Rover (2014), Puberty Blues (2012) and Muriel's Wedding (1994). She graduated from Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) with a degree in Performing Arts (Acting) in 1991.
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Edmund Lembke-Hogan
Since graduating from NIDA in 2011, Edmund Lembke-Hogan has performed across Australian theater, film and television. Selected television credits include Pulse, Wanted and The Killing Field. Film credits include Hacksaw Ridge and Ladies In Black, directed by Bruce Beresford. Theatre credits include Othello and Phedra (Bell Shakespeare), Young Tycoons (Darlinghurst Theatre Company), and All’s Well That Ends Well, Macbeth, Taming of the Shrew and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Sport for Jove).
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About the Project
The project is a labor of love. It has been in development for almost two years, and is a personal passion of mine. Both the crew and cast are forgoing their usual rates in order to create a brilliant project for a fraction of what it would ordinarily cost. The film is privately financed, which has been no small task. We're asking for your help to get us there.
What We Need
We are looking for investors / financiers for our film. We are seeking contributors that love the idea of contributing to a project that blends their passion of Jane Austen, Rudyard Kipling, and cinema. It's exciting contributing to a project that can be tangibly watched on screen, and even more so knowing that the film will travel around the world in international film festivals.
Our Work
The Director | Toby Morris
Toby’s award-winning films have been selected for festivals including the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival. He has twice been a finalist in Tropfest, the world’s largest short film festival, along with Academy Award- accredited Flickerfest and many more festivals both locally & internationally.
Toby’s music videos have accrued over 50million views online and been nominated for an ARIA Award. As a commercial director Toby has directed high-profile campaigns for clients including Coca-Cola, Qantas, The Sydney Opera House, Toyota and many more.
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A selection of Toby's International Festival acclaim
You can see more of Toby's work here - http://tobymorris.com.au/
The Producer | Sean O'Reilly
Sean is an award-winning film and advertising producer, with a wealth of entertainment production under his belt. Sean’s expertise is working in branded entertainment, developing compelling campaigns and ultimately delivering commercial success.
Sean has had his fair share of critical success too, including his film Mother, Child travelling to over 12 international top tier festivals, and picking up Best Film at ATOM industry awards. Sean is currently is pre-selling his unique travel format, a 10x 30min series titled Discoveries.
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Past Work
The Director Toby Morris' last film, Cooee
The Producer Sean O'Reilly's last film, Mother, Child
Director's Statement
I first read ‘The Janeites' many years ago. Like the best stories, Rudyard Kipling’s tale lodged itself in my mind and I haven’t been able to shake it since.
Growing up I’d always had the impression that Jane Austen wasn’t for me. I imagined stodgy period dramas for silver-haired Brits, and romances ‘for girls’. But on discovering these novels as an adult, I was shocked by how much I connected to Austen’s stories and characters.
The characters of Austen’s novels are looking to survive and find companionship within stifling social structures, revealing a rebellious spirit which directly contrasts the traditional image I had associated with “Jane Austen”.
This shattering of society’s expectations of what art we can connect to (because of our gender, or class, or background), gave me the foundation for re-imagining Kipling’s short story.
I believe that as humans our most basic desire is to feel connected to one another. For me making films is largely an exercise in revealing oneself and asking audiences “Do you feel this too?”. That’s what The Janeites is about. The message of the film isn’t that you should read Jane Austen, it’s that no matter what you love or what inspires you, you are not alone.
-Toby Morris