Adaptation of John Birmingham’s Tasmanian Babes Fiasco wins BIFF’s Chauvel Award

Producer Bec Dakin, scriptwriter Karl Mather and direct Zenon Kohler have won the Chauvel Award script adaptation as part of the Brisbane International Film Festival.

The competition, worth $40,000, aims to encourage the work of producers and writers at an early stage in a project’s life.

Dakin, Mather and Kohler have won for the adaptation of the John Birmingham novel, the Tasmanian Babes Fiasco.

The support will also see the team work closely with Screen Queensland.

Tasmanian Babes Fiasco is about a house full of misfits and a catastrophic week of adventure. It is the sequel to He Died with a Felafel in his Hand which was adapted in 2001 by Richard Lowenstein and starred Noah Taylor and Sophie Lee.

Receiving $25,000 is Brisbane scriptwriter Vicki Englund as development support of the adaptation of Painted Love Letters, based on the young adult fiction by Catherine Bateson.

Stephen Lance, Mairi Cameron and Leanne Tonkes of Head Pictures will receive $10,000 development support to option and adapt romantic comedy, The Secret Lives of Dresses, based on international bestseller by Erin McKean.