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form y separately published work icon Picnic at Hanging Rock single work   film/TV   mystery   horror  
Adaptation of Picnic at Hanging Rock Joan Lindsay , 1967 single work novel
Issue Details: First known date: 1975... 1975 Picnic at Hanging Rock
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Film Details - McElroy and McElroy , 1975

Producers:

Hal McElroy
Jim McElroy
Patricia Lovell
A. John Graves (South Australian Film Corporation)

Production Companies:

McElroy and McElroy
Picnic Productions

Finance Organisations:

South Australian Film Corporation

Director of Photography:

Russell Boyd

Editors:

Max Lemon

Production Designers:

David Copping

Composer:

Bruce Smeaton

Cast:

Incl. Rachel Roberts (Mrs Appleyard), Vivean Gray (Miss McCraw), Helen Morse (Mlle de Poitiers), Kirsty Child (Miss Lumley), Tony Llewellyn-Jones (Tom - as Anthony Llewellyn-Jones), Jacki Weaver (Minnie), Frank Gunnell (Mr Whitehead), Anne-Louise Lambert (Miranda - as Anne Lambert), Karen Robson (Irma), Jane Vallis (Marion), Christine Schuler (Edith), Margaret Nelson (Sara), Ingrid Mason (Rosamund), Jenny Lovell (Blanche), Janet Murray (Juliana), Wyn Roberts (Sgt Bumpher), Kay Taylor (Mrs Bumpher), Garry McDonald (Const. Jones), Martin Vaughan (Ben Hussey), John Fegan (Doc. McKenzie - as Jack Fegan), Peter Collingwood (Col. Fitzhubert), Olga Dickie (Mrs Fitzhubert), Dominic Guard (Michael Fitzhubert), John Jarratt (Albert Crundall - as John Jarrett), Vivienne Graves, Angela Bencini, Melinda Cardwell, Annabel Powrie, Amanda White, Lindy O'Connell, Verity Smith, Deborah Mullins, Sue Jamieson, Bernadette Bencini, Barbara Lloyd.

Release Dates:

1. 8 August 1975 (Adelaide - premiere). Released in the USA (1 October 1976); Sweden (2 March 1977); France (30 March 1977); West Germany (24 July 1977 - TV premiere); Finland (9 January 1981); Japan (April 1986); Greece (12 June 2008 - re-issue version). The film was also released in cinemas in the USA, beginning 26 June 1998, and in Australia on 2 December 1999.
2. Screened at the 1976 Taormina Festival of Nations (Italy); 1976 Montréal World Film Festival (Canada); 1976 Chicago International Film Festival (USA); 1979 International Film Festival of India (India); 1979 Academy of Science Fiction Film Awards Festival (USA) ; and 1980 Cleveland International Film Festival (USA).
3. Released on videocassette format in Australia in 1975 by McElroy and McElroy. Re-released on videocassette in 1989 by Picnic Productions. 'Director's Cut' released in Australia in 1998 on DVD format by Umbrella Entertainment and in the USA by Janus Films and Home Vision Cinema.

Location:

  • Filmed on location in South Australia, including Adelaide Hills, Clare Valley, Mount Diogenes (Hanging Rock Reserve), Aldgate, Stirling (Marbury School), Strathalbyn (Albyn Terrace), and Mintaro. Also filmed at Mount Macedon and Woodend (Victoria).

Awards:

  • British Society of Cinematographers (1976), Best Cinematography Award - Russell Boyd (nomination)
  • British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards (BAFTA) Awards (1977), Best Cinematography - Russell Boyd (winner)
  • British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards (1977), Best Costume Design - Judith Dorsman (nomination)
  • British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards (1977), Best Sound Track - Greg Bell and Don Connolly (nomination)
  • Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, USA (1979), Saturn Award Best Cinematography - Russell Boyd (nomination)

Notes:

1. Also known as El Enigma en Las Rocas Colgantes (Chile), Huviretki Hirttopaikalle (Finland), Picknick am Valentinstag (West Germany), Picnic a Hanging Rock (Italy) Picnic en Hanging Rock (Spain), Picnic na Montanha Misteriosa (Brazil), Piknik pod Wiszaca Skala (Poland), Pique-nique à Hanging Rock (France), To Mystiko tou Vrahou ton Kremasmenon (Greece), Utflykt i det Gröna (Sweden - TV title), and Utflykt i det Okända (Sweden).
2. Further reference: Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper. Australian Film 1900-1977, A Guide to Feature Film Production (1980, q.v.), pp.367-368

Settings:
  • Mount Macedon, Gisborne - Woodend area, Sunbury - Kyneton area, Melbourne, Victoria,
  • Gisborne - Woodend area, Sunbury - Kyneton area, Melbourne, Victoria,
  • 1900
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