Paul Sonkkila

Daybreakers

In the year 2019, a plague has transformed almost every human into a vampire. Faced with a dwindling blood supply, the fractured dominant race plots their survival; meanwhile, a researcher works with a covert band of vampires on a way to save humankind.

Gallipoli

Two Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

Like Minds

A forensic psychologist must determine if a minor should be charged with murder.

Mail Order Bride

A woman from Manilla moves to a NSW country town to marry a typical Australian man, we then experience culture shock from both sides.

The Year of Living Dangerously

A young Australian reporter tries to navigate the political turmoil of Indonesia during the rule of President Sukarno with the help of a diminutive photographer.

The Hard Word

Three fraternal bank robbers, languishing in jail, discover a profitable (if not dodgy) way to spend their time. Crime can most certainly pay, if you "know wot I mean?" However when sex and greed rear-up between the good crims and the bad cops, the consequences are both bizarre and fatal.

Gross Misconduct

Justin Thorne is a liberal arts professor. One of his college students is Jennifer Carter. She seduces Justin, then accuses him of rape. But it turns out that she has an unusual relationship with her father.

The Survivor

When a 747 crashes shortly after take-off, the sole survivor is the pilot. Virtually unhurt, he and the investigators look for the answers to the disaster. Meanwhile mysterious deaths occur in the community and only a psychic, in touch with the supernatural, can help the pilot unravel the mystery surrounding the doomed plane.

Daybreakers

In the year 2019, a plague has transformed almost every human into a vampire. Faced with a dwindling blood supply, the fractured dominant race plots their survival; meanwhile, a researcher works with a covert band of vampires on a way to save humankind.

Gallipoli

Two Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

Like Minds

A forensic psychologist must determine if a minor should be charged with murder.

Mail Order Bride

A woman from Manilla moves to a NSW country town to marry a typical Australian man, we then experience culture shock from both sides.

The Year of Living Dangerously

A young Australian reporter tries to navigate the political turmoil of Indonesia during the rule of President Sukarno with the help of a diminutive photographer.

The Hard Word

Three fraternal bank robbers, languishing in jail, discover a profitable (if not dodgy) way to spend their time. Crime can most certainly pay, if you "know wot I mean?" However when sex and greed rear-up between the good crims and the bad cops, the consequences are both bizarre and fatal.

Gross Misconduct

Justin Thorne is a liberal arts professor. One of his college students is Jennifer Carter. She seduces Justin, then accuses him of rape. But it turns out that she has an unusual relationship with her father.

The Survivor

When a 747 crashes shortly after take-off, the sole survivor is the pilot. Virtually unhurt, he and the investigators look for the answers to the disaster. Meanwhile mysterious deaths occur in the community and only a psychic, in touch with the supernatural, can help the pilot unravel the mystery surrounding the doomed plane.

Black and White

Australia, 1958. When a nine year old white girl is found murdered, police are quick to arrest illiterate Aborigine, Max Stuart. Under interrogation Max admits to the killing. With a legal system compromised by intimidation tactics, the skills of his two gifted but naïve defense lawyers are put to the test.

Mr. Reliable

All Wally Mellish, an ex-convict in 1960s Australia, wants to do is live a quiet life with his girlfriend Beryl. Unfortunately when two police officers come around to disturb this, a misunderstanding quickly becomes out of control, resulting Wally, Beryl and her child being trapped in their house, surrounded by armed police under the impression that Wally is holding everyone hostage. Events quickly spiral into a media circus as, through the siege, Wally - inadvertently - manages to become a symbol for the anti-war movement.

The Interview

A duel between a suspected murderer and a detective pressed by people who want results. But whose skin is really wanted?

The Plumber

A young couple, living in a campus apartment complex, are repeatedly harassed by an eccentric plumber, who subjects them to a series of bizarre mind games while making unnecessary repairs to their bathroom.

Hoodwink

Hoodwink is based on the true story of an Australian con artist who briefly won the hearts of the media (if not the authorities). John Hargreaves stars as a criminal serving time in a New South Wales prison. He's not partial to the physical labor required of the convicts, so he hits upon a labor-saving plan. Hargreaves pretends to be totally blind, thus lightening his work load....and carries off the hoax for years.

The Last of the Ryans

Ron Ryan is accused of a murder he did not commit. As his family races to prove his innocence, he and a priest aim for redemption.

Chase Through the Night

A group of hardened criminals on the lam take refuge in the badlands of the Australian outback. When they come across a small settlement, they take hostages in case the law shows up, but are outwitted by a supernatural force, a powerful shaman.

Stir

Filmed in the Clare Valley, Gladstone and the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, this prison movie was inspired by the true life prison riot at Bathurst Jail in 1974 and its subsequent Royal Commission into New South Wales Prisons.

The Illustrated Family Doctor

Gary Kelp (Samuel Johnson) is losing the plot. As he edits a medical journal called The Illustrated Family Doctor, his life and his body seem to be falling apart. A black comedy about coping with the modern world, based on the novel by David Snell.

Police Rescue

Police Rescue was an Australian television series The series dealt with the New South Wales Police Rescue Squad based in Sydney and their work attending to various incidents from road accidents to train crashes.

The Lost World

Early 20th-century adventurers find themselves fighting for survival after their hot-air balloon crashes into a remote part of the Amazon, stranding them on a prehistoric plateau.

Pacific Drive

Pacific Drive is an Australian television series The series was conceived as a flamboyant, melodramatic soap opera and dealt with the lives of wealthy Australians living on the Gold Coast. Although criticised for being an Australian copy of the American soap opera Melrose Place, its outrageous storylines - including corporate scheming, various affairs, serial killers and a lesbian love triangle - saw the series gain a cult reputation.

The Man from Snowy River

The Man from Snowy River is an Australian television series based on Banjo Paterson's poem "The Man from Snowy River". Released in Australia as Banjo Paterson's The Man from Snowy River, the series was subsequently released in both the United States and the United Kingdom as Snowy River: The McGregor Saga. The television series has no relationship to the 1982 film The Man from Snowy River or the 1988 sequel The Man from Snowy River II. Instead, the series follows the adventures of Matt McGregor, a successful squatter, and his family. Matt is the hero immortalized in Banjo Paterson's poem "The Man from Snowy River", and the series is set 25 years after his famous ride.

Halifax f.p.

Halifax f.p. is an Australian television crime series produced by Nine Network from 1994 to 2002. The series stars Rebecca Gibney as Doctor Jane Halifax, a forensic psychiatrist investigating cases involving the mental state of suspects or victims. The series is set in Melbourne. The producers of the film were Beyond Simpson Le Mesurier; Australian Film Finance Corporation and aired on the Nine Network Australia Pty Ltd 21 Episodes of 90 and 102 minutes each were produced, and the series has screened in more than 60 countries. The budget for each episode was an average of $1.3 million. Funding came in part from the Australian Film Finance Corporation and Film Victoria.

Return to Eden

Rich but insecure heiress Stephanie Harper believes she's found true love with tennis pro Greg Marsden, but after the nuptials, Greg promptly begins an affair with Stephanie’s best friend, Jilly Stewart. Whilst on their honeymoon, Greg pushes Stephanie into a crocodile-infested swamp, and he and Jilly watch as she is apparently mauled to death. However, Stephanie miraculously survives and travels to an island clinic where she undergoes extensive plastic surgery. Using her new identity, Tara Welles, and fortune, she plots revenge on Greg and Jilly, aiming to take back what's rightfully hers.

Blue Murder

Set in the 1970s and 1980s in Sydney, the miniseries concerns the relationship between controversial former Detective Roger "the Dodger" Rogerson and notorious criminal Arthur "Neddy" Smith. Rogerson and his colleagues were accused of giving Smith a "green light" to commit crimes without Police interference, with the relationship fraying when Rogerson orders hitman Christopher "Mr. Rent-a-Kill" Flannery to murder Police Officer Michael Drury.

Phoenix

Phoenix is an Australian police drama television series. Phoenix screened as two thirteen-part series on Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1992 and 1993. The first series of Phoenix in 1992 recounted the investigation of the bombing of the Victorian state police headquarters, loosely based on a real case in the mid-1980s, the Russell Street Bombing. It was aided by extensive research into police techniques and was lauded as one of the most realistic depictions of police investigation techniques, including both surveillance and forensics, as well as having an involving storyline. The series was notable for its dark visual tone and for its no-holds-barred attitude to violence and language. It spawned a second thirteen-part series, Phoenix II, in 1993 as well as a spin-off series, Janus, in 1994 devoted to the machinations of court cases. The series was created and produced by Tony McDonald and Alison Nisselle and screened by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The ABC have released Series 1 and 2 on DVD as a 4 DVD box set.

Sara Dane

Sara Dane is a 1982 Australian television miniseries about a woman transported from England to Australia for a crime she did not commit.

The Girl from Tomorrow

Alana, a girl from the year 3000, is kidnapped by Silverthorn, a criminal from the year 2500, and brought back in time to the year 1992. While in the past, Alana befriends Jenny, who helps her adapt to life in a time unfamiliar to her, and to find a way back to her own time.

Sky Trackers

Sky Trackers was a television series created by Jeff Peck and Tony Morphett, and produced by Patricia Edgar and Margot McDonald for the Australian Children's Television Foundation. The series was a winner of various Television Awards. The pilot was produced by Anthony Buckley.

The True Believers

The True Believers is a 1988 Australian mini series which looks at the history of the Australian Labor Party from the end of World War Two up to the Australian Labor Party split of 1955. It was co-written by Bob Ellis who focused on three characters "Chifley, the unlettered man of great dignity; Menzies, who used to stand for something but eventually stood only for Menzies; and Evatt, the grand idealist... It's almost like Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1. It's a chunk of national history during Australia's great era of change after the war."

A Fortunate Life

At eight years old, an impoverished Bert Facey was forced to start the backbreaking, dawn-to-dusk life of a farm labourer. Unschooled, his father dead, abandoned by his mother, by the age of twenty he had survived the rigours of pioneering the harsh Australian bush and the slaughter of the bloody WWI campaign at Gallipoli.

Misery Guts

Misery Guts was an Australian children's television series on the Nine Network Australia that first screened in 1998. Keith is the only son of Vin and Marge Shipley. They live above a fish 'n' chips shop in South London and things are tough. Keith's parents are misery gutses and he is convinced that the only way for the family to regain its former happiness is for him to make his parents smile again. Keith embarks on a mission to cheer his parents up. He buys a brilliantly coloured tropical fish from Australia, where the sun shines all the time, the sea is full of fish and coconuts just fall into your hands. When all his efforts to cheer his parents up fail spectacularly, Keith decides he must somehow get his parents to Australia. People couldn't be unhappy in a paradise where fish sparkle like rainbows and it's sunny and warm all the time. Or could they? Based on Morris Gleitzman's books 'Misery Guts', 'Worry Warts', and 'Puppy Fat'.

Through My Eyes

The true life story of Lindy Chamberlain and her recount of a dingo taking her baby

The Great Bookie Robbery

On 21st April 1976, gunmen held up more than 50 members of Melbourne’s venerable Victorian club, escaping with several million dollars in untraceable cash. The robbery had been so brilliantly planned and executed that police were left without a single clue–and so strict was the robbers’ code of silence that not even the underworld was aware of their identities.