13th January 2011

13-JAN-2011 - Gold Coast -- Iron Sky, the Finnish-Australian-German sci-fi movie about Nazis from the Dark Side of the Moon, has begun the Australian part of their shoot at Village Roadshow Studios in Queensland.

Iron Sky is breaking new ground with its wide ranging collaboration with the fans and the Internet community. This community has contributed ideas and creative talent for the film, as well as funds via purchasing merchandise and support kits, and by actually investing in the film. Iron Sky is aiming to gather one million euros from its fan community as contributions and investments.

Iron Sky has a budget of 6.8 million euros (AUD $9 million). The film is directed by Timo Vuorensola, and the Australian and New Zealander cast includes Peta Sergeant (Satisfaction), Christopher Kirby (The Matrix Reloaded & Revolutions, Daybreakers, Space: Above and Beyond) and Stephanie Paul (Separation City, Film School Confidential). German cast include Julia Dietze (1½ Ritter), Götz Otto (Schindler’s List, Downfall), Udo Kier (Dogville, Dancer in the Dark) and Tilo Prückner (The Neverending Story, Die Fälscher).

Iron Sky is a dark science fiction comedy where the Nazis, who fled to the Moon in 1945, return to claim the Earth in 2018. The screenplay is written by the acclaimed sci-fi writer Johanna Sinisalo (Nebula Award nominee 2009, Finlandia 2000) and Michael Kalesniko (Private Parts).

“Working with the audience, both with creative content and funding, is the future of genre film”, said the Finnish producer of Iron Sky Tero Kaukomaa (Blind Spot Pictures). “We are very happy with how both of our crowd-sourcing and crowd-funding ventures have progressed. We have a sizeable number of fan investors, and we have already collected over a third of our goal of one million euros.”

Iron Sky is a first for Australia, with regards to its international co-production partners… and its revolutionary financing structure.

”This has been and continues to be a great journey for us. It’s a film that we feel will punch well above its weight. The international creative team is a pleasure to work with.  And we have been privileged to be absorbed into the crowd culture that is so integral to the project,” said Australian producer Cathy Overett of New Holland Pictures.

Iron Sky gives its fans an unprecedented view of the film via the Iron Sky Sneak Peek web service (http://www.ironsky.net/sneakpeek/). The followers of the film can see how the first five minutes of the film are made, starting from the idea and progressing through the script, storyboards, animatics etc. to the actual finished scene, months before the film is actually published. The price of subscribing to Iron Sky Sneak Peek is just one euro, but those who want to support the film can pay more. All the proceeds of Iron Sky Sneak Peek go directly to making the film. New content is published every month: to celebrate the start of principal photography in Germany in November, the Iron Sky team published the idea and the script of the first scene. In January the fans can get a sneak peek at the storyboards.

PRESS CONTACTS

Mark Overett - Producer (Australia)

mark@newhollandpictures.com.au

Phone: +61 7 3348 8799

Fax: +61 7 3348 8051

Mobile: +61 488 710 966

Janos Honkonen - Publicist

janos@blindspot.fi

Australian mobile: +61 450 025 751

Mobile: +358-40-7475967

Tero Kaukomaa – Producer (Finland)

tero@blindspot.fi

Australian mobile: +61 424 677 559

Mobile: +41 79 2537638

IRON SKY PRESS MATERIALS

For press materials, such as photos and video, head over to http://www.ironsky.net/press/

All the press materials found there are free to use when reporting about Iron Sky.

IRON SKY IN SOCIAL MEDIA

Web: http://www.ironsky.net/

Blog: http://blog.ironsky.net/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/energia, http://twitter.com/ironskyfilm

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ironsky

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/ironskyfilm

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/energiaproductions

Wreckamovie: http://www.wreckamovie.com/iron-sky/

Store: http://store.ironsky.net/

BEHIND THE IRON SKY

Iron Sky is a dark science fiction comedy that takes place in the year 2018, when the Nazis, who fled the Earth to the dark side of the Moon in 1945, return to claim the Earth. The film is the first Finnish-German-Australian co-production with a budget of 6.8 million euros. It's directed by Timo Vuorensola and produced by Tero Kaukomaa (Blind Spot Pictures), Samuli Torssonen (visual effects producer, Energia), Oliver Damian (27 Films), Cathy Overett & Mark Overett (New Holland Pictures), with San Fu Maltha as the executive producer. The cast includes Julia Dietze (1½ Ritter), Götz Otto (Schindler's List, Tomorrow Never Dies, The Downfall), Christopher Kirby (The Matrix Reloaded & Revolutions, Daybreakers, Space: Above and Beyond), Udo Kier (Dogville, Dancer in the Dark), Peta Sergeant (Satisfaction), Stephanie Paul (Separation City, Film School Confidential), and Tilo Prückner (The Neverending Story, Die Fälscher). The screenplay is written by the acclaimed sci-fi writer Johanna Sinisalo (Nebula Award nominee 2009, Finlandia 2000) and Michael Kalesniko (Private Parts). The film will be completed in December 2011 and the world sales is handled by Stealth Media Group.

What makes Iron Sky special is the wide ranging collaboration with fans and community: the movie project fans join in creating ideas and content for the movie in a collaborative movie making platform called Wreckamovie, give the film publicity by sharing information online, even fund the movie by designing and buying merchandize and other means. One million euros of the budget comes from fan funding.

Information, photos and videos: http://www.ironsky.net/, http://www.ironsky.net/press

Vuorensola and Torssonen's first film was Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning - a fan-made sci-fi parody, which was published both as a free download and a commercial DVD. The film has reached over eight million viewers all around the world and gathered a strong international fan base.

Information and photos: http://www.starwreck.com/

The Star Wreck project gave birth to a collaborative filmmaking platform called Wreckamovie, which offers film creators a direct connection with their audience, and offers the fans a never-before-seen chance to interact with movie projects.

Information: http://www.wreckamovie.com/