Only two days into filming the comic romance Ali's Wedding in Melbourne, two troubled bystanders approached the cast this week.

"A couple of Muslims stopped us and asked, 'Is this bringing a bad name to Muslims again?'," says writer and star Osamah Sami. "That just shows how much they are fed up with the negative stereotype that we consume in the media."

Sami pointed out the film showed a much more positive side of Muslim-Australian life.

What's described as an "affectionate and poignant story of love" is based on the actor and comic's own experience of having an arranged marriage that lasted just one hour and 40 minutes. It became a film after director Tony Ayres overheard Sami telling the story to Claudia Karvan while they were shooting the telemovie Saved in 2009.

Don Hany plays a Muslim cleric who has migrated from Iraq to Australia. To live up to his father's expectations, Ali (Sami) pretends to be a medical student then falls in love while promised to another woman.

With a script by Andrew Knight and Sami, the cast includes Ryan Corr, Robert Rabiah, Frances Duca and Rodney Afif.

The film is part of a surprising trend in comic stories about Muslim-Australians that includes the romance Alex and Eve and the new Channel Nine sitcom Here Come the Habibs.

"It's great that those stories are now finally being told," Sami says. "They've been part of the Australian landscape for a long, long time so it's really refreshing to see these stories come to the screen."

While Wayne Blair (The Sapphires) was once attached, Ali's Wedding is being directed by Jeffrey Walker, the Jack Irish director who has returned to Australia after working on Modern Family. Veteran Don McAlpine, up for an AACTA award for The Dressmaker next month, is shooting it.

Berlin story for Shortland

Teresa Palmer plays Clare in Cate Shortland's film based on Melanie Joosten's book Berlin Syndrome.

There must be something about Germany that appeals to Australian director Cate Shortland.

The director of Somersault shot her last film, the wartime drama Lore, in that country.

Now she is making a psychological thriller set in Berlin. After three weeks filming in that German city, Shortland started shooting interior scenes for the as-yet-untitled film at Melbourne's Docklands Studios this week.

Based on Melanie Joosten's book Berlin Syndrome, it has Teresa Palmer playing a photojournalist who falls for a charismatic local (Max Riemelt) in Berlin. After a night of romance, she discovers he has no intention of letting her leave the apartment.

Producer Polly Staniford approached Shortland to direct what she calls a very dark love story that explores the complexities of a dangerous relationship.

"I'm a big fan of her work and I felt she could bring something really beautiful to the thriller genre," she says. "The fact that it was set in Germany was kind of a coincidence.

"But the fact that she's been there and has shot there means she does have an affinity with the land, the people and the language."

Staniford thoroughly enjoyed filming in Berlin.

"We were able to utilise all these great locations getting all our exterior shots over there," she says. "Now we've built this incredible set at the Docklands Studios. I'd say almost 50 per cent of the film takes place inside an apartment so we've built that apartment."

Sequel for A Few Best Men

The boys from a A Few Best Men - well, most of them - have returned to shoot the sequel, A Few Less Men.

Outside the international hits Mad Max, Crocodile Dundee and Happy Feet, it's comparatively rare for successful Australian films to generate sequels.

But it's happened twice this year. First Red Dog spawned Blue Dog. Now a sequel to Stephan Elliott's 2011 comedy A Few Best Men, about a groom and his three best friends travelling from England to Australia for a wedding, has started shooting around Perth.

A Few Less Men centres on three best friends who are stranded in the outback with their mate's coffin after a flight back to London is forced to land.

Mark Lamprell (My Mother Frank, Goddess) is directing a returning cast that includes Xavier Samuel and English actors Kris Marshall (Love Actually) and Kevin Bishop (Super Fun Night).

The solid supporting cast includes Shane Jacobson, Ryan Corr, Deborah Mailman, Jeremy Sims and Sacha Horler.

Like the original, A Few Less Men was written by Dean Craig, who had a hit with the English comedy Death at a Funeral.

Even before it started shooting this week, the film had pre-sales to Italy, Eastern Europe, four South American territories, the Middle East and Vietnam.

"I am delighted with the cast we've put together," says Lamprell. "It's a great dynamic between Xavier, Kris and Kevin and I'm excited about working with such talented and respected actors."

Lively film shoots

Blake Lively has arrived in Queensland to shoot shark thriller The Shallows.

Just as well they are so laid-back in Queensland.

Having hosted Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem and Orlando Bloom for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, another Hollywood star is shooting a movie in the Sunshine State.

Blake LivelyGossip Girl, The Age of Adaline plays a woman trapped on a buoy while a great white shark circles in the thriller The Shallows. It is being directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, who is best-known for the Liam Neeson movies Non-Stop and Run All Night.

Egyptian gods sell to China

Alex Proyas' fantasy action movie Gods of Egypt, shot in Sydney, is starting to attract attention.

It was scheduled for American release in February but has moved to April, reportedly to avoid a clash with the Deadpool and Zoolander 2. Variety now reports that Le Vision Pictures has acquired Chinese rights.

The $US140 million movie centres on a young thief (Brenton Thwaites) who enlists the help of the ancient gods to bring his beloved (Courtney Eaton) back to life. Playing gods are Gerard Butler, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Geoffrey Rush and Rufus Sewell.

Before the shoot, Proyas (Knowing, I Robot, The Crow) told Short Cuts that being born in Egypt, he had long wanted to make a movie set in ancient Egypt.

Film-themed art

Adelaide Film Festival is auctioning off artworks inspired by films that were created on what it calls its Reactive Wall.

Among them is a striking portrait of Anthony LaPaglia, who played a troubled real estate agent in the comic drama A Month of Sundays, painted by Yvonne East.

Other artworks on eBay centre on Scott Hicks' music documentary Highly Strung, Rosemary Myer's coming-of-age drama Girl Asleep, which won the festival's audience prize for most popular feature film, and Stephen Page's dance film Spear.

Dressmaker stays on top

Hugo Weaving and Kate Winslet have topped the box office for the second weekend in a row with The Dressmaker.

Until this year, the record take for Australian films at the local box office was $63.4 million in 2001. But with The Dressmaker powering to a strong second weekend in cinemas, it is now expected to top $80 million this year.

With word of mouth clearly strong, director Jocelyn Moorhouse's comic drama stayed on top of the box office with another $3.06 million.

With just a 3 per cent drop in ticket sales, it has reach $8.26 million to add even more lustre to Australian film's impressive year.

There has never before been a year when more than two Australian films have cracked $10 million at the box office.

This year, there will be four – Mad Max: Fury Road ($21.65 million), The Water Diviner ($10.18 million this year plus $5.65 million late last year), Oddball (which reached $10.59 million on the weekend) and The Dressmaker (which should reach it soon even with Spectre expected to dominate cinemas from this weekend).

Even with the comedy Now Add Honey opening weakly – just $80,000 in 64 cinemas – the Australian film take has reached $76.5 million.

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