Australian films stand on their own merit
The argument that Australian audiences only embrace local films once they’ve picked up a gong at an international festival is inherently flawed says Lee Zachariah in a piece that first appeared in Encore.
As much as we like to pretend that we collectively fulfil the world’s need for a country comprised entirely of laid-back, mellow beach dwellers, we do seem to get disproportionately excited when someone else mentions us. Our cool exterior drops away as our local news bulletins breathlessly report that CNN or the BBC or really anyone in one of the ‘real countries’ acknowledged our existence.
We feel detached from the world, and therefore crave its validation.
So when a director or producer complains, as they so often do, that Australian critics will only embrace a film once it’s been given the seal of approval overseas, it’s difficult to argue with them.
Nice Re-calibration Lee!
I agree with you somewhat Lee – I think the advantage that Australian films have in winning awards at overseas film festivals is that it puts the film on the map early so that by the time the film is released, people are actually aware of the film.
My issue with the way a lot of Australian films are released is that the distributor holds off all PR/Marketing until about 2-3 weeks prior to release date. More often than not, Australians have never heard of the film until then. So the PR/Marketing department have only a couple of weeks to raise awareness and get audiences interested – while most overseas films start their campaigns several months prior.
Having large budgets to promote films absolutely helps raise awareness, but it’s not the only factor – time is just as important. Of course more people are going to know about a film if promotion starts months in advance as opposed to a couple of weeks.
The beauty with Animal Kingdom and Samson and Delilah is that word got out about this films several months prior to their release date – everyone knew about these films. Had this not happen and the campaign only started a couple of weeks out of release, I wonder if they would have done as well. No reflection on the quality of the film, but if no one has heard of it, then no one is going to see it.