Renowned Filmmaker Baz Luhrmann to Direct New Australia Commercial

Australia's tourism community is excited about the announcement that internationally renowned writer, producer and director Baz Luhrmann will conceive and produce a special international campaign for Tourism Australia. Luhrmann is probably most familiar to those in the U.S. as the director of Moulin Rouge. The campaign, which will run for several months beginning October 2008 in Tourism Australia's key international markets, will coincide with the world-wide marketing and release of Luhrmann's major motion picture Australia– a sweeping romantic epic starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman that is already being compared to Gone With the Wind. The film is set for a December release.

Michelle Gysberts, vice president of Tourism Australia Americas, notes that the combined elements of the campaign will educate North American travelers about Australia and expose them to little known aspects about a country they think they know. “The film's central themes of romance, adventure, transformation, Aboriginal magic and the love of the land can be applied to many Australian experiences– from the chic sophistication of its urban centers to some of the most remote, untouched landscapes in the world,” says Gysberts.