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MARTIN SIMPSON - Writer Director Producer
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Enthusiastic about film from an early age and bitten seriously by the movie bug while crew doctor on the classic movie THE BLUE LAGOON , starring Brooke Shields, Dr Martin Simpson Head of Production at Ompyx Communications, has since written and directed many short films, a couple of features, and co-produced a series of documentaries on modern Australian aboriginal personalities for French television, THE NEW FACES OF ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIA . He has script edited features including VISITORS, starring Radha Mitchell, and in 2006 wrote, produced, and directed the feature film GENE-X, a sci-fi hospital thriller screened at the Cannes Marche du Film in 2006 and at the London - Australian Film Festival in 2007. His novel, the thriller BRAINS has just been made available on AMAZON.com. He is presently in post production on his latest feature film, the classic horror chiller, P.H.O.B.O.S. - Fear Kills. His latest creative outburst is the iPhone App. BABE ON A BEAM, now available through the Apple App store. He studied writing for the stage under the mentorship of the playwright Timothy Daly, whose play KAFKA DANCES, launched the career of Cate Blanchett. His recent novel, THE TATTOOED ARM, has received rave reviews and is available on Amazon. His latest feature project, the thriller INDIGO LAKE, shot around Sydney has completed in Feb 2017. A new feature project, NIGHTFALL, is in development.
SHORT FILMS
FEATURES
NIGHTFALL
(in development)
An actor seeking fame makes a Faustian pact with a big producer. When it comes to murder, will he be up to the role of hit-man or will his stage fright be fatal?
NOVEL
THE TATTOOED ARM
It's 1935. Emma discovers her church-going husband is dealing cocaine. In her attempt to stop him, she falls in love with a very bad man.
A young girl meets the man of her dreams - or is he?
Just turned seventeen, Ellie is driving flat out down lovers' lane on a tank of dreams. But at the filling station, things are set to change.
Starring
Tamika Wood and Matt Deane
15 mins
https://www.amazon.com.au/Tattooed-Arm-M-Simpson/dp/B0115KNR8U/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1488510634&sr=1-1&keywords=the+tattooed+arm
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iPHONE APP
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INDIGO LAKE
(completed)
Invited to the
St Kilda Film Festival
Melbourne
The Beijing FirstFilmFestival
Beijing
China
The World Independent Short Film Awards
Warsaw
Poland
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Babe on a beam 1.1
Babe on a Beam is a balancing act that lets non-gamers join in the fun. I developed this for kids. You don't need to be an expert to play with this babe. Balance the little cutey on the beam and unlock new powers. But go easy with those controls... it's a long way down! Your purchases allow us to keep updating this title so spread the word. New levels are always FREE.
- Purchase; iTunes account required $1.99 to buy
For more information on our games and to have your say on new features, visit our blog.http://napkingames.wordpress.co
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PLAY
BONDI HASSLE
Artist Jack Zeffa , pressured into painting the portrait of a nightclub owner's beautiful young wife, falls in love with his subject. Her violent husband finds out their affair and plans their death. The lovers react by drugging him and driving his car into Indigo lake. But murder is not so easy as it's painted.
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(In release)
Written and Directed by Martin Simpson
When lonely Elliot takes in a stray cat, he wishes she were the girl of his dreams. But when you wish upon a star, who knows what might happen...
Directed
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FEATURE FILM SCREENPLAYS
HARRY AND ME
A doctor on holiday in China, the narrator Mickey Compton, catches a passing glimpse of a very old European man whom he is sure is the ex - Prime Minister of Australia, Harold Holt, whose whereabouts remain a mystery decades after his disappearance.
Mickey's search for this man takes us through a post-modernist exploration of truth, lies, love, and infidelity set against the myths and conspiracy theories surrounding Harold Holt's disappearance - in particular the strange story that Prime Minister Holt had been a communist spy about to be unmasked, and was smuggled away by submarine to safety in China.
FALLOUT
When Rick accuses Estelle of making out with the pool guy, he's about to pull the trigger on a big mistake. (Winner of Best Picture, Best Cinematography, and Best Score, at NAFA ActionFest)
Leanne's husband has taken out a life insurance policy. He's also hired a hit man. So who's going to collect?
Gene-X is a love story about two people caught up in a medical research nightmare.
In this tense hospital thriller, socially inept young research Doctor Tom Grey (Patrick Magee) is on the brink of a genetic cure for cancer. Nurse Casey Gordon, (Ayse Tezel) desperate to save the life of a child in her care, seduces Tom into testing his therapy. Early success brings romance into Tom’s life for the first time, but when Tom finds his cure has a dark side, and Casey reveals she has a secret lover whose jealous anger will put their lives in danger, how many deaths will the cover up cost? View Trailer
Photo - Helmer Martin Simpson with Gene-X leading lady Ayse Tezel on the croisette at the Cannes Film Festival.
Gene-X had three screenings at the Cannes Marché du Film and was invited to the 2006 London-Australian Film Festival at the Barbican.
Critical attention has been polarised, with critics engrossed by the romance and action, some are unhappy that the film is not straight horror, still others applaud the genre bending sensitivities and referential homage to masters of the thriller form. All agree the film is a roller coaster of romance and thrills.
Check out the full story and another trailer at www.gene-x-movie.com
International sales agent: Carlos Alperin www.gallopingfilms.com
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starring: Radha Mitchell
directed by: Richard Franklin
written by: Everett DeRoche
script editor/additional dialogue: Martin Simpson
Radha Mitchell, in a tour de force performance, plays solo round-the -world yachtswoman, Georgia Perry, plagued by eerie hallucinations and a bad case of cabin fever.
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THE BLUE LAGOON
Mild mannered Cleveland accountant, Ryan Freed, on a flight to Australia, is alarmed when the man sitting next to him chokes to death on a sandwich. Trying to save the man's life, Ryan inadvertently comes into possession of a computer flash drive that will propel him into the world of international espionage and terror. To save the love of his life, he will have to save an entire city from a nuclear bomb.
PAVING PARADISE
Starring Graham Kelleher and Kay Armstrong
A fire eating double act gets burned up by jealousy.
Two children shipwrecked on a deserted Pacific Island grow up alone in an idyllic paradise, untainted by civilization. They come of age, fall in love, and have a child, in the most romantic setting on earth. The Blue Lagoon was one of the top ten films of 1980.
A deaf and dumb child, Curly, discovers a rare medicinal orchid growing in the overgrown gully next to his orphanage. But the bureaucrats have plans to build a parking lot. Curly's struggle to prevent the miracle flower's destruction and to save the children from a killer virus take him to the brink of death, but find him love. (Shortlisted in the Becker Screenplay competition)
AFTER IMAGE
A prostitute awakes not remembering the night before, and sees herself portrayed on television as the prime suspect in a businessman's murder. She must find out who the real murderer is, even if the truth may kill her.
THE OPAL TREE
Deep in the earth miner discovers the find of his dreams, a massive tree trunk completely turned to opal. His aboriginal wife reveals to him that it is a sacred image of the rainbow serpent and must not be harmed. But greed is a hard master and the choice between riches and poverty seem so much easier than the choice between life and death.
On the Home Psychiatry Channel, we feel your pain. Krystal thinks she's an alien; our host thinks she's deluded. Who's right?
Mockumentary - directed by Irene Walls and written by Chris Piper. Additional footage, editing, and special effects by Martin Simpson.
Chris is so scared of going to the dentist, that he decides to take out his own teeth in a bizarre DIY act involving home carpentry tools. (Winner of the award for 'Most Disturbing Film' at the Honolulu underground film festival.)
Three months on a desert island north of Fiji, with Brooke Shields, a parrot named Koko, and a mostly Australian film crew, gave Simpson his first real movie production education, and an appreciation of the the huge amount of work that goes into putting an hour and a half of fantasy on the screen. The logistics of housing and feeding the forty odd people directly involved in the making of this movie were daunting, but Aussies love a challenge, and in spite of difficulties including food and water shortages, the movie was made on time and on budget and went on to become a much loved classic, still as fresh and romantic today as when it was made.
Degrees of difficulty filming. Tracks and crane on the beach.
Co-producer Richard Franklin fronts a panorama of the crew village built to house the Blue Lagoon team.
Pushed far enough, even a cockroach will turn. Plagued by humans in his kitchen, a domestic cockroach calls in the exterminator.
A classic tale of revenge.
(Runner up in Metfest)
SPLINTERS of the PAST
Martin Simpson on Soma Soma beach, Nanua Levu (Big Turtle Island), Yasawa group, north of Fiji, during filming of The Blue Lagoon. It was a lot less crowded than Bondi. Now an exclusive resort, it's also a lot more expensive.
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DOCUMENTARIES
(In Development)
Splinters is a poem written with a movie camera. This fifteen minute film without words explores the darkness and light that mesh within the feminine psyche. Set to a soundscape of heightened atmospheres and minimalist music, this tale of a scarred beauty prowling through her haunted past in search of revenge leads us to a poignant realization that the wrongs of the past cannot be erased, only absorbed and forgiven.
Produced in Australia by Martin Simpson for French television, and shown in prime time on France 3, this documentary explores the lives of modern aboriginal Australians. A writer, a lawyer, a filmmaker, a chef and an actor show their experience of the country their people once owned. Television Chef Mark Olive and renowned actor David Gulpilil go back to their roots in this fascinating look at Australia from a unique French perspective.
Written and Directed by Martin Simpson
On the Cambodian border of Vietnam stands the huge wedding cake temple of a strange sect Cao Dai whose patron saints include the writers Graham Greene and Victor Hugo. Backing the wrong side in the American War led to many believers fleeing Vietnam, some to Australia, where a smaller replica of their cathedral now stands in the multicultural suburb of Lakemba.
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In Dr Martin Simpson's other career, he has spent many years in general practice medicine, a decade in hip and knee rehabilitation, and worked with an order of nuns, 'The Little Sisters of the Poor', providing care for the elderly.
As a medical writer, Martin has edited a widely circulated self help booklet series entitled 'What should I do', and is presently co-authoring and editing a book for working parents about coping with the sleep difficulties of infants, entitled: 'The Baby Sleep Secret'.
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