Australian-made: interview with courtney dawson on aussie films
Courtney Dawson’s new film Advance Australia Film is about reinvigorating the Australian film industry. Lip Mag sits down with the independent filmmaker to talk about what’s happening in Aussie cinema today.
What is the state of the Australian film industry today?
It’s cyclical – we go through peaks of success and also experience somewhat dismal periods. The Australian industry was quite strong in the early days of cinema; we were responsible for producing the world’s first feature film, The Story of the Ned Kelly Gang. Then the American studios came into the picture and introduced a “block booking” system which kept our films out of the cinemas.
The post-war era also saw a steady decline in the number of films being made, partly due to the lack of government support. In the 1970s/80s, the industry was reviliatised – the government intervened and started funding our films. This is the time when the popular ozploitation style kicked off and, Crocodile Dundee was also released.
The 1990s was also strong, with crowd-pleasing comedies such as The Castle, Muriel’s Wedding, Strictly Ballroom and Priscilla Queen of the Desert. However, in the 2000s, there was a big push towards darker, gritter stories. While many of these were critically acclaimed, some of them didn’t resonate with wide audiences.
In recent years, things have picked up with success stories such as Red Dog and The Sapphires – feel-good movies which embraced an ‘Australian-ness’. But these cases are still rare. Big budget co-productions such as The Great Gatsby and Wolverine are also helping re-fuel the industry.
It’s so expensive to go to the cinema these days, so generally, audiences want ‘bang for their buck’ – they want an experience and star power – and a lot of Australian films don’t necessarily fit that mould.
But as I mentioned, co-productions are popping up, which is hopeful. We also need to support our talent and inspire them to continue to make films in our country, as one of the issues is losing our talent to Hollywood. We need to be able to nurture our creatives and offer a more sustainable industry to work within.
We have a rich culture and a lot of talented filmmakers. We have made some great films over the years, and a lot of these haven’t reached audiences due to lack of marketing. We need to find a better balance between art and commerce.
The way people are consuming content is changing – many of the people I’ve interviewed have refereed to the box office as an outdated way to determine a film’s success. Video-on-Demand is the way of the future, and if Australian films are made more readily available, both at the theatres and online, that could help.
Crowdfunding has meant filmmakers can make a film quicker than ever before – without having to go through all of the beaurocratic processes. We can pitch projects directly to our audiences and start building that network early on; anyone can make a film today! With that said, inspiring people to donate to your project is a lot of work, and we still need to find ways to get private investors and Screen Australia to fund a diverse range of projects. That is really important.
You ask the opinions of some celebrities in the discussion in Advance Australian Film. Tell us about that.
I sat down with nearly 20 industry professionals, from different fields, to get a wide range of responses and opinions. I also caught some celebrities at red carpet premieres and events, including: Russell Crowe, Richard Roxburgh, Jessica Mauboy, Baz Luhrmann, Joel Edgerton, Carey Mulligan and Matt Damon.
Advance Australia Films will be premiering this weekend at Byron Bay Film Festival, and screening as part of the World of Women Festival. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.
Image credit: Dimitri Zaunders
