Screen Daily
8 August 2022
By Sandy George

An Australian comedy about a time-travelling bottle of tequila has been named best project at Melbourne International Film Festival’s 37º South Market and will be pitched in the UK later this year.

One More Shot was selected by 18 international financiers at the film co-financing market, which ran August 4-7 and saw a record 139 producers pitch upcoming projects.

Producers Jim Wright and Elise Trenorden of Melbourne-based Truce Films pitched the project, which is scripted by Alice Foulcher and Gregory Erdstein, with Nick Clifford set to direct.

Trenorden previously produced Charles Williams’ All These Creatures, which won the Palme d’Or for best short film at Cannes in 2018. Truce Films will make One More Shot with GoodThing Productions, which produced Justin Kurzel’s Cannes 2021 Competition title Nitram.

Wright told Screen that casting and financing is underway on the upcoming comedy, which is set around a New Year’s Eve party and asks “does a woman literally have to tear the fabric of time and space to have it all?”.

Further projects selected by financiers at the market included an adaptation of Zana Fraillon’s refugee novel The Bone Sparrow, pitched by producer Anna McLeish, and dark comedy drama A Good Librarian’s Guide To Vengeance from producer Melanie Ansley.

Their selection means that all three titles will be pitched at the UK’s Production Finance Market (PFM), which takes place during the BFI London Film Festival in October.

Producers Aidan O’Bryan and Gillian Crosby, who drew attention at the 37º South Market for her feature School Camp, each won a trip to Mipcom for their pitching prowess at the market.

There were a record 3,917 meetings held across the four-day industry programme as well as 33 panel discussions and one-on-one talks.