A dogged Aussie collective lands at the Oscars

The Australian filmmaking collective Blue-Tongue Films has been around since 1996, when a handful of friends made a short that turned out good enough to warrant persistence.

Next Sunday, they'll enjoy a moment in movies' biggest spotlight: the Academy Awards. Among the nominees of Hollywood veterans and glamorous movie stars is Jacki Weaver, whose supporting actress nod represents not just her fine, disarming performance in David Michod's crime film "Animal Kingdom," but the ascendance of Blue-Tongue films and its tenacious gang of mates.

"We'll all be watching it from wherever we are," says Nash Edgerton, one of the group's founders, speaking from Berlin. "It's a long shot, but awesome that it got that far."

It's been a remarkable year for the seven members of Blue-Tongue, which isn't a production company or a business arrangement of any kind, but a loose group of friends who look to each other for help and inspiration.

Edgerton, a 38-year-old seasoned stuntman of many blockbusters, formed Blue-Tongue with his actor brother, Joel, and Kieran Darcy-Smith — the two of whom had just finished drama school. Their ranks have grown to include Michod, Luke Doolan, Tony Lynch and Spencer Susser, the lone American among the Aussies.



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