Machination Release Date Set, Trailer Released

We're super excited to announce that our latest feature film, psychological horror/drama Machination, will launch worldwide on May 20th!

Early this week we had the trailer released as an exclusive through ComingSoon.

Machination will stream first on our Vimeo On Demand page, before expanding to additional platforms. Pre-Orders are now available.

Click the link above to watch the trailer, another exclusive, plus place a pre-order today to be one of the first to watch Machination on May 20th.

A dark film exploring the affect the pandemic has had on mental health, Machination is claustrophobic, intense, and led by a gripping performance by Steffi Thake. It is a sharp, spiralling thriller about the consequences of breathing in constant fear.

It's reassuring to know that the hardworking team from October Coast PR, who we worked closely with on In Corpore, are again onboard to send the word out about Machination. This is a different film for us regarding genre, so we can't wait to see what transpires.

Stream Machination first on our Vimeo On Demand page. Pre-Orders are now available.

New Art Department Masterclass Live Across Skillshare & Ribbon

How to Become An Art Department Dynamo, presented by Sarah Jayne is a masterclass that was in the works early this year as we travelled through Portugal. Finally, we can say that we have launched the class.

You can take part in the masterclass across the following educational sites - Skillshare, Ribbon Experiences, and really soon, Udemy.

Remember that we also run other masterclasses, and they can be found in our SHOP under Masterclasses. We hope you learn something new (we guarantee you will) and that you find these classes as enjoyable as we found them to create for you!

Air Dates Announced across America for Educational Film Tackling Violence Against Women starring Katherine Langford

An air date for Daughter in the US has just been announced by ShortsTV.

A little while back we announced that our educational short film Daughter was sold to ShortsTV in the US. Now we have a date for the first time it will air. If you are in the US you can watch Daughter on the 29th of April 2021, 20.00 ET. After its television premiere, Daughter will rotate through the program schedule throughout the year. ShortsTV is available in the US on the following services:

DirecTV – Channel 573 
AT&T U-Verse – Channel 1789 
Google Fiber – Channel 603 
Frontier Communications – Ch 789 
Hotwire – Channel 560 

Educational Short Film Tackling Violence Against Women Lands on TV Platform

Daughter, our 2016 educational film about violence against women and victim-blaming (starring Katherine Langford), was purchased by ShortsTV, a cable and satellite television channel dedicated to short film. Daughter will be soon screening across television screens in North America and Europe, and we couldn't be happier. So to our friends and readers who live in the States and Europe, look out for it and let us know when you spot it.

World Premiere Date Set for Sensual Drama Feature Film

In Corpore is the second ambitious feature film to be co-produced and co-directed by Ivan Malekin and Sarah Jayne Portelli and will be available throughout Australia on the Lido At Home streaming service from November 26th, with pre-sales opening on November 19th.

Entirely improvised, sensual, contemporary, and anchored by powerful performances by new talent from Berlin, Malta, Australia and New York In Corpore tells the stories of four separate relationships, each varied in their labels, each unfolding in different parts of the world. 

In Melbourne the polyamorous Julia strays from her monogamous marriage; in Malta Anna hides a secret from her husband Manny; in Berlin sugar baby Milana alienates her real life lover Rosalie, and in New York Julia faces the consequences of her affair.

The film explores the nature of commitment and the idea of sacrificing personal desires at the altar of love – is it selfish to follow the desires of the body and the soul or is this the only path to fulfilment? 

Even if it means hurting the one you love? 

View the trailer for In Corpore go to the films official page. 

If you would like to review the film, or to interview the cast and crew, contact Ivan Malekin and Sarah Jayne directly though this website.

Daughter Deluxe Edition

We are excited to share that we are taking control of our film products and are now selling directly through the new Vimeo associated site, Vimeo OTT.

There are now two new Daughter products launched with rent or buy options through our Vimeo OTT catalogue, so you can now purchase or rent the short educational film though the platform.

What this means is that the audience purchases directly from us, no middle person - it’s a win-win situation really and each purchase supports us, the indie filmmakers.

We have released the film in the regular format as well as an exclusive Daughter Deluxe Edition, which includes the film, director's commentary, never before seen deleted scenes, behind the scenes videos, audition videos, 14 film posters and more. The choice is yours.

To be directed to our VIMEO OTT page so you can view and buy this new product please click here.

Psychological Drama Wraps after Second Week of Production

If week one of filming Machination was a whirlwind, then week two was a hurricane with over 2kgs of worms, blood, moody neon lights, night shoots, early mornings finales and some wicked acting. But damn straight we had the best sleep deprived time of our lives in the process and came out the other end with a treasured film experience to add to our already unforgettable 2020.

Machination took four months of our lives to get from the outline writing to the wrap and we did it all with a minimal crew of no more than six on larger days and just a key cast of four people and had Maltese actor Steffi Thake featuring in 99% of the full-length feature. For those interested in our filmmaking process read how Ivan’s article From Writing to Wrap: Making a Feature in Four Months here.

After 10 days of filming Machination, we wrapped at Selmun Bay around 7am! Picture: Creative Creep Brand

Steffi may have had most of the screen time since the film is about her character Maria and her downward spiral as she deals with mental illness and her past demons during a global pandemic, but Steffi handled it like a champion. The lead actors performance was moving and sad to watch, at times her situation and reaction to what was happening around her was relatable, other times the absurdity of the situation bordered on dark humour.

So now Machination is now in the ‘to edit’ bucket, a task that Ivan Malekin will start taking on in the coming week, while also editing our documentary Cats of Malta simultaneously.

If you want to know more about Machination go to the films official page here and join our Creatively Connected Newsletter for news about the film exclusively here.

EUROPEAN IMPROVISED LESBIAN FEATURE FILM MALTESE EXCLUSIVE →

It was very fitting that To Hold the Moon, a film about two Aussie women who travel to Malta for two very different reasons should end up being the feature for an article on Guide Me Malta. Not only that, the local news and travel site also shared a link to the exclusive teaser trailer of the European Improvised lesbian feature film, along with the poster. Click here to read the article.

We would love to share more news with you about this film, so subscribe to our NPG newsletter for updates, plus audition news, here.

Improvised Micro Budget Indie Feature Film available on Blu-ray format →

Happy New Year! We hope you had a safe and memorable NYE and are ready to tackle 2020.

We are pleased to announce that our improvised micro budget feature film Friends, Foes & Fireworks is now available worldwide on Blu-ray via Amazon. Grab your own collector’s copy and watch with your friends, champagne in hand.

Featuring behind the scenes as well as deleted scenes, all in glorious HD, Friends, Foes & Fireworks is the ultimate New Year’s Eve film, filmed completely in a single night on New Year’s Eve without a script. How many films can say that?

Purchase your copy here now!

This was a lot of fun. For those based in Malta who have not made the trip across to the sister island of Gozo for the festival, we say do it!

On Saturday 24th after a late afternoon swim at Ramla Bay, followed by cave exploring in Nadur and an alfresco seafood dinner on a clifftop, we headed off to the Cittadella, where we enjoyed watching locally produced feature film Limestone Cowboy. It was past midnight when we returned to our AirBnb to rest so that we could wake early to prep for our Sunday morning Improvised Filmmaking Workshop for Teenagers, held at the same venue.

This is our third year in attendance and each year we are very happy that we made the trip down from Malta to watch films and be welcomed by really passionate and enthusiastic people who love film as much as we do.

And to teach improvised filmmaking, the niche style we love so much, to young students intrigued by the 'no script' process we developed was an absolute blessing. We played games, filmed scenes, and went over everything from different improvisation styles to developing ideas to filming without a script and more. A big thank you to Gozo Film Festival, its volunteers, and festival director Federico Chini.

We'll be back next year. But we'll be teaching another improvised workshop very, very soon.

Ladinkino Cast & Crew Screening

When the cast and crew that had worked on the Berlin chapter of In Corpore stepped out of the Ladenkino cinema room there was one word to describe what they had just seen – intense. All round we had a wonderful night, not only catching up with everyone who attended, but also sharing all our hard work we had put into the film so far.

Although the film was still in a rough stage with more sound design and colour grading work to do, it was good to see In Corpore on the big screen with one of the four teams that made it possible.

Only two people were not in attendance due to having filming projects in other countries (so jealous) and they were greatly missed.

While it poured rain outside, inside we shared laughs and stories from on the set and it was a cosy cast and crew screening in gritty and artistic Berlin.

Hello from Berlin

Written by Director Sarah Jayne

What a fabulous time I am having in this wonderful city, Berlin. I am currently enjoying a mix of work and play and have found that it is a huge city with so much to see and do. My Airbnb is in Neukölln, which gives me easy access to not only a lot of wonderful middle-eastern foods, hipster cafes, but a very reliable train line to anywhere I need to go.

Riding through Berlin on Monday

The Grrl Haus official first meet-up took place last night and everyone is so lovely and creative, it is great to be in that space with likeminded identifying females. The other women all seem to be from America, mostly New York, which is really cool as New York is a city I also adored and felt connected with during my travels a couple of years back. I know have Grrl Haus merch that I will be parading around Berlin, a tote, some postcards, a few posters a brochure with my profile and picture in it and soon, I will receive my t-shirt.

For those in Berlin, the first screening of my work (and NPG’s) is on at the 15th May at Loophole, where we will screen the Berlin section of In Corpore. The second takes place at Il-Kino on the 21st May, where we will screen Daughter.

The Grrl Haus social media event banner for the first screening at Loophole.

There will be much to announce on our Instagram page as things progress, which is where I am uploading a video of the day as part of my 20 Days in Berlin series, which gets stored in Highlights afterwards. Plus I also post one picture a day of my Berlin adventure for that day, This is the best way to keep up-to date on the adventure.

Oblomov Kreuzkoelin Bar where the Grrl Haus first meeting took place.

Ivan joins me tomorrow, Wednesday 15th, just in time to come and show his support and work with me in Berlin for 11 days. On the 16th we also have a private cast and crew screening with our In Corpore Berlin people and on the 25th we will shoot our next Life Improvised story, reprising the complex characters of Milana and Rosalie from In Corpore Berlin section.

Skype meeting with Savo and Sarah for Malta to Berlin regarding Life Improvised

So many good things for NPG happening in Berlin. Please follow our progress on social media and if you want exclusive BTS photographs of the Life Improvised shoot, you will have to sign up to our newsletter.

Grrl Haus chosen for social media promotion of our film In Corpore (Berlin section only)

London Lifestyle

We were blown away when we were informed that London based high fashion and lifestyle publication The Bite Magazine not only reviewed two of our films - Friends, Foes & Fireworks and Daughter, but they also spotlighted the company. The article also discusses our move from narrative screenplays to improvised ones.

Check out our feature under the magazines The Film Review Directors Spotlight on page 128 of Issue 24 2019.

Mediterranean Love

Our director Sarah Jayne, who is of Maltese heritage made it into the Maltese press yet again, it was not the national TV station that broadcast us this year, but local online pop-culture news site Lovin’ Malta.

The press comes as the lead up to Friends, Foes & Fireworks screening at Spazju Kreattiv edges closer, and we are thrilled that our work got a mention, highlighting SJ’s roles within Nexus Production Group.

With the imminent release of In Corpore, which was partly shot on the Maltese islands, we are excited to show our work to a part Maltese audience in the hope to gauge their interest in Nexus Production Group’s work overall. Obviously being based in Malta, we would love a local fan-base who anticipate our films and that truly shows in the numbers.

Nexus Production Group look forward to the May 9th event at their favorite Art House cinema. There will be a talk on improvised filmmaking run by the directors, with an open to audience Q&A session, where the mystery of how to shoot a feature in one night will be answered, and much more. If you are in Malta, come join us by booking your tickets now!

GONE WEST

One of our favourite short films, El Western, is finally available to watch completely for FREE thanks to the all Australian streaming platform Ozflix.

Screening at multiple festivals around the world and winning Best Western Short at the Genre Celebration Film Festival as well as Bronze at Worldfest Houston, El Western is a silly send-up of spaghetti westerns from yesteryear featuring mismatched love, outrageous characters, guns, quips, whips, and, naturally, a high noon showdown.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH. …And while you are browsing the growing OzFlix library, take a look what is still selling on the main page - our improvised, single night feature Friends, Foes & Fireworks.

Sign up to www.Ozflix.tv today and enjoy a great range of Australian film.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS MICRO SHORT

Late October saw NPG dive into a second Life Improvised shoot, this one titled First Impressions. The story for this improvised micro short shows an out of touch man who is doing through a divorce attend a first date with a younger arts student. Both he and his date make a lasting first impression on each-other, but not in a positive way.

Like all of NPG’s micro shorts under the Life Improvised banner, the film explores relationships, everyday interactions between humans, awkward moments and times of disappointment.

Just like it’s predecessor Our Lady, First Impressions was set in Malta. The Lower Barrakka Gardens (Il-Barrakka t'Isfel) in Valletta, with its eye catching views of the Grand Harbour sets the backdrop for this story and stars local talent.

Expect to see this film up on NPG’s YouTube Channel in January.