“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.

While you make a good point, you are missing something about the film industry as a whole. I wanted to see The Black Balloon when it released but it was only on at a few cinemas, and not at appropriate times. There is a reason for this though and without an essay of my own, here is the bullet point version of the story.

- Session times are controlled by marketing budgets
- Marketing funds are controlled by the big 6 movie studios (MPAA for lack of an appropriate acronym)
- Funding allocation is vastly disproportionate to the quality of the film
- By marketing their own, sometimes rubbish films, the big 6 can effectively prevent any other studio/publisher from ever gaining traction in the cinema by starving them of audiences.

The big 6 will make disastrously bad films for a couple of million dollars and hold them off release until there are gaps they need to fill in cinema schedules, or when other non-MPAA films they need to 'bully' are released. They then immediately release these stinkers followed by the spending a few million more dollars marketing them in order to flood the market and cinemas with MPAA films and starve any independents of movie goers.

It's not a monopoly, but it is a self interest group making sure that the only profit making interest in the industry is their own.

Ground Zero was interesting with Jack Thompson and Colin Friels and that unusual Brit guy Donald Pleasance.

Would it really be so difficult to produce a good romantic comedy / spy thriller / [insert genre here] that just happened to be set in Australia? Nothing is more offputting than the 'Australian' label for the simple reason that people no longer expect Australian films to be entertaining. Your average punter does not want to sit through a worthy but deadly dull history lesson (Ten Canoes, Rabbit Proof Fence) or a searing indictment of the bourgeoisie (Somersault, Jindabyne). Muriel's Wedding and Strictly Ballroom weren't box-office hits because they were 'quirky' and 'Australian' - they were hits because people left the cinema with smiles on their faces.

The Shiralee with Peter Finch I always find to be classic Australian more than others.

I usually prefer non-American films and my very favourite of all films are Australian. There was an earlier comment about the difficulty of access to some Australian films. When it was first released I had intended to see 'Last Train to Freo' but it closed before I had the chance. I hired a DVD from my local library to be totally gobsmacked with a superbly directed, acted, filmed and edited suspense story. I am amazed that 'Last Train to Freo' has not had more success although I do think there were weaknesses in the script which should have been addressed.
That is where I feel the Australian films which have not interested me ('Unfinished Sky', 'Japanese Story') failed. And it is also evident that the good ones ('Lantana', 'Getting Square', 'The Bank', 'The Castle') are very good stories concerning very interesting people which are very well written.
In the end, as in the beginning, it's still The Word.

Diana,

You are spot on to say that the best Australian films are very good stories concerning very interesting people which are very well written.

Exactly my sentiments. But why does it matter whether they are made in Australia or France or Korea?

Very interesting stats Ruby - i didn't realise that foreign (non-American) film was more successful in Australia than our own films.

I think many film-makers back themselves into a corner when they aim their films exclusively at Australian viewers. Australians find it condescending, and it has no broad world appeal. Writers sometimes try too hard to capture the in-jokes and shortened speech that makes up our culture, and it often misses the mark.

I also think there are issues with marketing and distribution. You often dont even hear of Australian films until years after they are released, and the vast majority dont play at suburban or regional cinemas.

Spikey, we're warbling from the same hymn sheet. As I was writing my first comment I was thinking about that delightful little unexpected blockbuster (well, in Perth, anyway) 'As It Is In Heaven' which could have been made anywhere. It was the story that made it such a delight. So it still comes back to the writers, doesn't it?

I also have the opinion that Australian films are very awful! I just saw a few and i won't see more, because everytime i saw a film i was very disappointed! I gave to many films a chance...

daltong2005,

When you say: "I also have the opinion that Australian films are very awful! I just saw a few and i won't see more, because everytime i saw a film i was very disappointed! I gave to many films a chance...", are you not denying yourself the possibility of seeing some outstanding films?

I have been very disappointed with a succession of films made in Britain, but I would never say I'd stop going to see all British films because of that bad run.

Diana is right to point out that good films are those with very good stories, well written and concerning interesting people. That combination could come from any nation's film-makers. There have been some splendid films made in Australia in the past and I'm sure there will be many in the future.

I would hope that you would judge the quality of any film on its merits, not on a stereotype.