Local films, like wandering into the unknown: Roadshow

Releasing a local film can be the most fulfilling experience for a distributor, according to Joel Pearlman, managing director of Roadshow Films… but it can also be like wandering into the unknown, with no track record of success and no guarantees.

Will the performance of recent local hits increase distributors’ interest in local product? Is the slate more diverse than before?

All of our Australian films tend to be across a wide spectrum. In the last 12 months we’ve had Mao’s Last Dancer and Bran Nue Day, which are completely different films, and we finished off with I Love You Too, a modern romantic comedy. Beautiful Kate was for a limited audience, so the releases couldn’t’ be more diverse.

In the next 12 months we have Red Dog, which is a broad comedic family film, and The Cup, based on a true story, so those films couldn’t be more different in terms of genre or tone. But at the end of the day, we don’t go seeking out that difference as a reason for supporting their films.