A CD of themes from fourteen of his films was produced in 2008 by Philip Powers and released by 1M1 Records.[4]
Biography
Early career
Ginnane studied law at Melbourne University where he was involved in the Film Society, and published a film magazine, Film Chronicle. He wrote, produced and directed a low-budget feature, Sympathy in Summer (1971).
In 1970 he established a small distribution company, Studio Films, in Melbourne which imported several art house and exploitation films, and began attending Cannes Film Festival regularly. Among the films he distributed in Australia were Wind from the East and The Vampire Happening.[5]
Producing - Australian International Film Corp
In the mid 1970s Ginnane decided to enter the production field. He attempted to set up a Roger Corman type "nurses" film which he would produce and direct, and then a crime drama set against the background of the massage parlour business called Sexy Little Me , but was unable to find the money. However he could raise $50,000 for a sex film. For director he hired Richard Franklin, with whom Ginnane had worked with on the overseas marketing for The True Story of Eskimo Nell; Ross Dimsey wrote the script. The result, Fantasm (1976) was shot mostly in the US with a number of American actors with experience in pornographic films.[6][7]
Ginnane went into thrillers with Patrick (1978), directed by Franklin from a script by Everett De Roche, starring an imported Susan Penhaligon. It was not that popular at the Australian box office but sold extremely well internationally.[6][9][10]
Ginnane stayed in the thriller genre with Snapshot (1979), written by de Roche, the first feature directed by Simon Wincer and first leading role for Sigrid Thornton. He went into vampire films with Thirst (1979), the directorial debut of Rod Hardy, and featuring an imported Henry Silva and David Hemmings in the cast.
Ginnane was reunited with de Roche and Winder on Harlequin (1980) a modern-day retelling of the Rasputin story featuring Robert Powell, Hemmings, and Broderick Crawford. The film was seemingly designed so as to appear it was not shot in Australian, which, along with the three imported actors, led to Ginnane receiving much criticism, especially as the film was partly financed with money from the Australian tax payer. The movie was very successful internationally.[11][12]
Ginnane imported three foreign actors, Powell, Jenny Agutter and Joseph Cotten, for The Survivor (1981), directed by Hemmings, which was a commercial disappointment.
In the late 1980s Ginnane worked mostly as an executive producer, being more involved in raising finance than organising physical production.
In 1987 his company, International Film Management Limited, combined with Hemdale to produce a number of movies to form a joint venture Hemdale Ginnane Australia.[16][17] Hemdale later encountered a series of financial difficulties[18] as did Goldfarb, another company Ginnane was associated with.[19]
He produced two remakes of his earlier films, Patrick (2013) and Turkey Shoot (2014). He helped produce the TV series Pulse (2017) and the film Bad Blood (2017).
^Rod Bishop & Peter Beilby, "How Are Things on the Gaza Strip? Independent Distribution: An Interview with Tony Ginnane", Cinema Papers, January 1974 p38-43
^ abBeilby, Peter; Murray, Scott (January/February 1979). "Antony I. Ginnane". Cinema Papers: 175.
^"Waiting for the Word". Filmnews. Vol. 18, no. 4. New South Wales, Australia. 1 May 1988. p. 3. Retrieved 17 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.