Oct 29, 2009
Australian Film ‘Industry’
Early this week Matt gave me tickets to see a preview screening (with director Q&A afterward) of Into The Shadows; a doco about the closure of Australia’s art-house cinemas, and more broadly about the sickness that is the Australian Film Industry.
Overall, it was really comprehensive – almost like a school report. Initially it focused on the closing of art house cinemas around the country, which, whilst i think is kinda sad, you can’t argue with the lack of ‘bums on seats’; It’s a business, not a charity.
It then moved on to talk about how shoddy the Aussie film industry is, with something like 4% of box office takings being for aussie films, 12% being other and the rest being American.
This is despite the fact that we’re like the 5th or 6th biggest consumers of cinema, punching way above our population weight.
The good the thing about the doco is it mostly mtried to stay balanced about the reasons why the industry is so unhealthy. It pointed out the AFC/FFC panels are bullshit, and tend to cause the same safe & boring movies to be made. And it looked at the movies that have turned a profit (eg. Chopper), suggesting that the content was edgier and less politically correct. But it also said that you can’t always pick what will work (eg. Samson & Delilah).
The Q&A was exactly what I expect from Australia; whiny bollocks about how it’s ‘The Man’ trying to crush their creative expression and in turn our cultural identity. I really hate the way Australians make this fundamental assumption that all film needs to be funded by the government. Why is it that every australian filmmaker has to be an auteur? Why are most Aussie films unappealing and heavy? It’s no wonder no one goes to see them. Why can’t we make films like the shitload of Hollywood romcoms & dramas that we apparently flock to?
Surely the goal of the Aussie industry should be about making some commercially viable stuff (80%), and any government money should go to the cultural stuff (20%).
It’s not like the music industry expects handouts to keep it going.
