“It's time to stop blaming audiences for not watching Australian films and start giving them more reasons to do so.”

If Ruby really means giving people more reason for watching Australian films, and not giving them more reasons not to watch them as the above suggests, I agree.

I’m a patriotic Australian, but I think Australian films and television are bloody awful. From what I’ve read, the latest effort, ‘Australia” is another long, boring saga with emphasis on Australia’s ‘racism’ with a bit of Japanese (they don’t like them either) bombing Darwin thrown in.

Yeah. I know. I should see it for myself, but I’m not going to. I’ve been caught too many times doing my ‘duty to Australia’ and giving poor quality films, riddled with ‘morals’ and ‘messages’, a chance.

Oh, I did like Wolf Creek

Hear Hear! It's great to see an article by someone showing some confidence and good ideas. I didn't realise that the audience for foreign films was so big. I think the author is right, that's the market to concentrate on. 20% of the entire film market isn't a bad niche to be aiming at.

Yep, we can't make blockbusters on Australian budgets, but we CAN compete in this niche and engage with a chunk of the public.

The film "Australia" does not appeal to me at all, we have an Australian actor of sorts Nicole Kidman, who really cannot act, pretty face, that's all, also why do we have to use old has beens in a film, there is a lot of new talent out there who I am sure are far better than people that should have retired years ago, there have been some excellent films in the past, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Lantana, mainly because they were fresh and vibrant actors.
I prefer to watch foreign films.

“It's time to stop blaming audiences for not watching Australian films and start giving them more reasons to do so.”

A good line, but why the nationalistic line? A good film is a good film, not a good 'Australian' film or a good 'American' film, or a good 'French' film. In essence film - like literature and music - is universal.

Patriotism in the arts is vacuous nonsense. Do you think German when Mozart or Beethoven are on the radio? Or French when you see a Monet or a Guagin? Or Russian when you read Dostoevsky or Tolstoy? I don't think Australian when I read Patrick White or Peter Carey or see Brett Whitely or Russell Drysdale. Their place of birth is an accident over which they (and I) had no control.

It's somehow comforting to hear Leigh (Mr Never Wrong) say that he's not going to see the film 'Australia'. Confirms my faith in his innate bad judgment. Are Australian online forum posters any better or worse than posters from overseas? U don't have to answer that!

I think the author is over-simplifying the situation - or perhaps her original article has been cut for inclusion here?

The problems with the Aussie film industry start right down at grass-roots level with funding cuts chipping away at the Arts, lack of encouragement for those talented individuals who are needed to inject new blood into the industry, lack of support at all levels. From talented tekkies, camera people, script-writers to actors, there is very little incentive given to perservere in Australia.

The so-called Brain Drain to overseas countries (in the case of The Arts read America or England)perhaps functions most in this sector than any other. The credits for so many overseas movies feature talented Aussie stunt-people, camera-workers, make-up artists, writers: -they're everywhere...except in Australia.

There has always been resistance at home too, to home-grown products - a hangover from the days of Australian lack of confidence in the Fifties and Sixties when it was a given that Australian artists (think Rolf Harris, The Bee Gees, etc.)routinely went overseas to Make it Big.

The cultural cringe also works to our detriment - remember when Steve Irwin attended the Oscars in his bush-getup or the way people reacted when Crocodile Dundee became such a success? I've often seen people in video stores turning over a movie and saying dismissively "Ah, its an Aussie film" and putting it back on the shelf.

I brought an entire file of Australian movies to China with me and have shown them to literally hundreds of students - who unanimously love them. Maybe the Aussie film industry should be looking for Chinese backers to inject some money, impetus and enthusiasm into the into the industry to counteract the apathy at home?

Of the four films mentioned by Ruby as vying for top honours at the AIF awards I have seen only one – The Jammed. I thoroughly enjoyed this film – story well told. The other three I have not heard of. Perhaps I was too busy for films at the time they were released or perhaps the marketing was too limited.

Most Australian movies I see I enjoy:
loved Lantana and Crackerjack;
Somersault is one of the best movies I have seen;
Rabbit Proof Fence moved me to tears – another story well told;
laughed (with the rest of the audience) all the way through Gettin’ Square;
adored Ten Canoes – a celebration of storytelling.

I found Happy Feet one of the worst movies I have ever seen, long and boring and an insult to storytelling. A bad movie but clearly a big marketing budget that probably convinced people before they went to see it that it would be a good movie. I also found Japanese Story boring with far too much emphasis on landscape. The directors of these two movies did not make them with the story or storytelling as the top priority.

A film does not have to be overtly Australian (like Japanese Story) in order for Australians to want to see it. The fact that it is made in Australia with the majority of the actors being Australian is enough for it to have a ‘distinctive national flavour’ – a good story, (with strong characterisation) will do the rest.

I agree that it is important for movie directors not to lose sight of the basic elements of storytelling in order to make a successful movie. However, I also wonder if the lack of ‘million dollar’ marketing might be the reason why Australian movies do not snare a bigger slice of the audience pie.