A delighted Snoekstra, who is just 28, tells Short Cuts the film rights to the psychological thriller were sold from a single line in the Publishers Marketplace newsletter that described the novel: a 25-year-old fugitive caught shoplifting pretends to be a decade-long missing girl and moves in with her family.

"It's about growing up in Canberra but in America they just went crazy for it," she says. The film, The New Winter, is to be set in Arizona. Snoekstra, who studied creative writing and cinema at the University of Melbourne then screenwriting at RMIT, has also worked as a waitress, barista, nanny, film reviewer, receptionist and "cheesemonger". She started writing Only Daughter as a script then, finding it difficult to break into film, turned it into a novel. Having sold her second and third novels, Snoekstra is also writing a script with US-based Bronte Payne that they want to shoot in Australia. 

New hometown film for Ivan Sen

Ivan Sen is heading back to his home town for a new film

Director Ivan Sen's Goldstone has only just opened in cinemas – reaching $530,000 on its second weekend – but he is about to start shooting his next film. Called This Winter, it is about a single mother struggling to raise her two children after the suicide of her eldest son. Sen, who has also tackled Indigenous issues powerfully in Beneath Clouds, Toomelah and Mystery Road, tells Short Cuts he will shoot the film in Tamworth, the NSW country town in which he grew up, next month. "It's influenced by recent family events as well as my own experience growing up in Tamworth," he says. "It will be the first time to actually film on the streets of my childhood."

Seale wants to shoot next Mad Max movie

John Seale is keen to talk to George Miller about a planned prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road.

Cinematographer John Seale, who was nominated for an Oscar for Mad Max: Fury Road this year, delivered a highly entertaining masterclass for the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts this week. And as well as talking about shooting such movies as Witness, The English Patient, Rain Man and Cold Mountain, the veteran director of photography revealed he had read a script for what might be the next Mad Max movie but was yet to discuss shooting it with director George Miller. "George doesn't let much out," Seale said. "I do believe he's being pressured for another Mad Max. I have read one of them and it's very interesting as only Mad Max could be – a little different from Fury Road." That script – one of two planned instalments – is a prequel centring on Charlize Theron's warrior Furiosa. "I hope he keeps going on them," Seale says. "He might ring me. I'm hoping he does." Word from another source is that Warner Bros will be seeking a federal government top-up – similar to the deal that attracted Alien: Covenant and Thor: Ragnarok to Australia – to bring the so-called location offset to an internationally competitive rate. Seale also raised hopes there might be another film from another great Australian director, Peter Weir, whose brilliant career has only included Master and Commander and The Way Back since Green Card, Fearless and The Truman Show in the '90s. "We saw Peter a little while ago down in Tasmania and he's working on projects," Seale said. "Peter's certainly got things in the wind as well so I'm hoping that he'll surface shortly."

UnIndian goes to India

Tannishtha Chatterjee as Meera and Brett Lee as Will in UnIndian. Photo: Kate Ryan

Former star cricketer Brett Lee's debut as lead actor in a film, the romantic comedy UnIndian, did not get much love when it opened in Australia late last year. But it is about to get a big release in a country where its cast of Bollywood favourites will mean something – India. Director Anupam Sharma's film will open in 300 Indian cinemas on August 19. Lee plays a teacher who falls for an Indian woman (Tannishtha Chatterjee) living in Sydney with her daughter, with the cast also including Bollywood's Supriya Pathak, Gulshan Grover and Akash Khurana. UnIndian is also getting a cinema release in the Middle East with plans in the pipeline for North America, too.

Xavier Samuel, Jocelyn Moorhouse among Melbourne festival guests

Xavier Samuel in The Death and Life of Otto Bloom.

Melbourne International Film Festival, which kicks off next week, has announced an extensive line-up of filmmaker and actor guests. Accompanying the Australian film having its world premiere on opening night, The Death and Life of Otto Bloom, will be director Cris Jones and actors Xavier Samuel, Matilda Brown and Rachel Ward. Other prominent guests include director Jocelyn Moorhouse and Hugo Weaving – but sadly not Russell Crowe – attending a 25th anniversary screening of Proof, veteran English director Terence Davies for the screening of Sunset Song and, for the world premiere of the Helen Garner adaptation Joe Cinque's Consolation, director Sotiris Dounoukos will be joined by actors Gia Carides, Maggie Naouri, Tony Nikolakopoulos, Laura Gordon and Jerome Meyer.

Opening well is the best revenge for Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters ... Leslie Jones, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon.

Despite all the online hate, Ghostbusters scared up solid ticket sales in Australian cinemas on the weekend.The reboot with a female cast took $4.7 million with an average of $9500 a cinema, though it feels like word of mouth will not be strong enough to give it a long run. At least nothing like Finding Dory, which has become the year's biggest hit, reaching $45.1 million on its fifth weekend. That makes it the 15th highest-grossing movie in actual dollar terms – not adjusted for inflation – in this country.

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