The Sapphires (film)

The Sapphires
Four woman in sparkling blue dresses, a smiling mustached man wearing a red dinner jacket stands behind them.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byWayne Blair
Screenplay byKeith Thompson
Tony Briggs
Based onThe Sapphires
by Tony Briggs
Produced byRosemary Blight
Kylie Du Fresne
Starring
CinematographyWarwick Thornton
Edited byDany Cooper
Music byCezary Skubiszewski
Production
company
Distributed byHopscotch Films
Release dates
  • 19 May 2012 (2012-05-19) (Cannes)
  • 9 August 2012 (2012-08-09) (Australia)
  • 22 March 2013 (2013-03-22) (United States)
Running time
103 minutes[1]
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
Budget$8–10 million[2]
Box office$20.4 million[3]

The Sapphires is a 2012 Australian musical comedy-drama film based on the 2004 stage play The Sapphires by Tony Briggs, which is loosely based on a real-life 1960s girl group that included Briggs' mother and aunt.[4] The film is directed by Wayne Blair and written by Keith Thompson and Briggs.

The Sapphires is about four Yorta Yorta (Aboriginal Australian) women: Gail (Deborah Mailman), Julie (Jessica Mauboy), Kay (Shari Sebbens), and Cynthia (Miranda Tapsell); who are discovered by a talent scout (Chris O'Dowd), form a music group named The Sapphires, and travel to Vietnam in 1968 to sing for troops during the war.

Production began in 2010, with the casting of the four members of The Sapphires. Filming took place in and around Albury, Australia and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam during August and September 2011. The Sapphires made its world premiere at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival on 19 May 2012 during its out-of-competition screenings, was theatrically released in Australia on 9 August, and received a limited release in the United States on 22 March 2013.

  1. ^ "THE SAPPHIRES (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. 7 August 2012. Archived from the original on 27 March 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
  2. ^ Maddox, Gary (13 August 2012). "Sapphires proves an Aussie box office gem". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 16 August 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference mojo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Usher, Robin (15 November 2004), "Sparkle, in any colour", The Age. Archived from the original on 22 March 2013.