AFI - Australian Film Institue

Image

Independence Days: Maverick filmmaking enters the AFI Awards


A new breed of feature films is competing in this year’s AFI Awards. Often self-funded, independently distributed and shot on digital formats, these films embody a new ethos. Can’t get government financing? Find other ways of raising funds. Can’t get a distributor? Do it yourself, one cinema at a time. It’s a hard road to travel, and certainly not one that’s paved with gold. But the results are often astonishing. Here we look at some of the emerging trends, revealing how filmmakers apply their creativity, not only to scripts, sound-scapes and camera angles, but to balance sheets, investment models and marketing campaigns. These are the new mavericks and we celebrate their innovation and determination. For a quick guide to the films, scroll to the end of this article. For the full story, read on.

Image

(Image: The Jammed)

 

Once upon a time…  


Once upon a time, if you wanted to enter your feature film in the AFI Awards, you needed to have a solid exhibition deal sewn up: a commercial cinema run of at least a week in three Australian capital cities – including Sydney and Melbourne. This narrowed the field of contenders considerably. Then, in 2007, along came a gritty little film called The Jammed.Shot on HDV for a total budget of $600,000, the film was unable to get theatrical distribution and was headed straight for DVD, making it ineligible to enter the 2007 AFI Awards. Then, all of a sudden, the urban thriller about human trafficking was picked up by a gutsy new distributor, Titan View’s John L. Simpson. He’d seen it at the Dungog Film Festival and was determined to put it on the big screen. The Nova cinema in Melbourne took on The Jammed, and, championed by a few vocal film critics, it started breaking box office records for Australian films – only Crocodile Dundee 1 & 2 and Lantana had higher screen averages in their first weeks. Very quickly, other cinemas around the country picked up on the vibe.


The Jammed was a small film that made it big in the headlines, but it was merely the tip of the iceberg, signifying a whole body of locally made films that didn’t necessarily fit in with previous patterns of production, distribution and exhibition – or with the previous rules regarding AFI Awards entry. Recognising this, the AFI modified its eligibility criteria for the 2008 Awards. Now films that had a DVD release (with a minimum distribution of 1000 copies) or low budget films (less than $1.5 million) that had a one-week run in a cinema in one capital city, could be part of the competition. And the entries flooded in. While last year’s feature film contenders numbered 15, this year there are a staggering 25, with a significant number of these qualifying under the new rules.

Image

(Image: Men's Group)

 

Self-distributing – getting bums on seats, one cinema at a time

Take, for example, a film like Men’s Group. Directed by Michael Joy and produced and co-written by John L. Simpson (also the distributor of The Jammed), this no-budget improvisational drama about a group of Aussie blokes learning to trust each other has wowed festival audiences around the world. It was voted highest scoring Australian film by the audience at this year’s Sydney Film Festival. Yet you won’t find the film at your local multiplex, or even at your local art-house cinema. Men’s Group has a one-week release planned at the Chauvel Cinema in Sydney’s Paddington (22-28 September), and will hopefully build to a platform of other independent cinemas after this. Simpson says that one of the reasons he became a distributor was his perception that little films like Men’s Group and The Jammed need to be “nurtured” and to be given “additional help” to find their audiences. With a background in theatre, Simpson is prepared to personally push hard to get “bums on seats” even if this means a slow start for a film, relying heavily on strong word-of-mouth and festival buzz.

Image

(Image: The Independent)

 

 
The Independent is another film that needed the careful attention (and dogged determination) of its directors, Andrew O’Keefe and John Studley, and its producer Jim Xgya, in order to make it to cinema screens. The naturalistic documentary-style comedy about an Independent politician exhibited on four screens in Melbourne for four weeks, but is now slowly making its way to other independent cinema screens around the country – many of them regional. The filmmakers try to attend as many screenings as possible, conducting Q&A sessions, often to tiny audiences. “You really need to make an event of it,” says O’Keefe, “and sometimes that means putting a brave face on, especially when you’re in a country town and you’re told ‘sorry guys, tonight it’s the 100 years of Rugby, and there are two 21st birthday parties on, and all at the same venue. Oh, and you might be able to hear the bass guitar through the wall!’”

 

The digital revolution – It’s still coming… 


The Independent continues to make an impact, not least because of its cutting edge use of new digital editing technology (an ‘up-res’ process that adds pixels to low resolution footage) and a delivery technology that allows cinema owners to easily download the film and its promotional materials. However, there are significant obstacles. Producer Jim Xyga raises an important point for digital filmmakers, when he notes that “there are about 1100 independent screens across Australia and New Zealand, and at this point 300 of them are set up for digital. The bigger chains don’t have that yet.”
 
Director Kate Gorman, whose low-budget drama Five Moments of Infidelity won DigiSPAA in 2005, agrees that the digital revolution is slow in arriving. While new digital technology makes it much cheaper and (arguably) easier to shoot and edit a film, exhibition remains a challenge. “When we were making our film at the end of 2004 we kept hearing that the digital revolution was coming. It’s still coming!” Gorman’s film picked up a three-week theatrical release in New Zealand where there are about 14 cinemas which have digital projecting capabilities, but is being released straight to DVD in Australia this month, where she hopes to find her local audience.

 

 

Problem: fragmented audiences.
Possible Solution: International sales and home box office success 


It’s never been simple to measure whether a local film is a ‘success’ or not. How to quantify it? Critical acclaim? Festival awards? Theatrical box office numbers? From a purely financial perspective, as Australian film-goers steadily refuse to buy cinema tickets to Australian films, it’s increasingly important for filmmakers to find other ways of reaching a global audience. A film like Andrew Traucki and David Nerlich’s crocodile thriller Black Water is a case in point. Cleverly targeted at a mainstream audience, the critically applauded genre film was hamstrung by the unfortunate release of another crocodile film (Rogue) in the same year; Black Water failed to pick up significant Australian exhibition, showing only in Darwin and a number of regional cinemas. The story doesn’t end there, however, as Black Water has been sold to 76 countries, mostly on DVD, but with theatrical releases in the UK, Mexico, Poland and Malaysia. Traucki sees the film starting to make a profit in the near future.
 

Louise Alston’s romantic comedy All My Friends are Leaving Brisbane is another film which managed to do extremely well in one Australian state (Queensland) but failed to gain much exhibition elsewhere. Yet it seems the film has many fans (13,500 on MySpace alone) and now that it’s available to rent on DVD, Alston says it has “five times the expected orders from video stores – and a very exciting pre-order for its retail release in September.

 

Knocked back for government funding… “we just didn’t fit the boxes on the forms”  


Going it alone, without any form of government funding, is still not a first choice for most Australian filmmakers. Instead it’s a necessity that comes about when they miss out on that IndiVision funding (the AFC’s low-budget film initiative), or they hear that they don’t qualify as a first filmmaker, or that they can’t get a distributor attached to trigger funding from the Film Finance Corporation. Many of the filmmakers interviewed here expressed the sentiment that they just couldn’t tick the right boxes on the funding application forms.
 
Young writer/director Christopher Weekes experienced almost every kind of rejection when he was trying to finance his multi-narrative drama, Bitter & Twisted. Now in New York, where he’s capitalising on his film’s outstanding critical success at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, Weekes says that he “tried every funding body on the planet, every avenue we could, and we just couldn’t get a break.” Eventually he made the film using a $200,000 insurance cheque that he’d received as an inheritance, and now looks set for a much anticipated small Australian release later this year.
 
The stylistically adventurous fantasy Gabriel was also completed without any government funding, though the film’s producers did approach the New South Wales Film and Television Office (NSWFTO) for post-production finance. “We thought we would take it to them and maybe get some money to finish it off, but we didn’t fit into any of the structures, so after that we figured we would never fit into anybody’s structure, so we went off on our own and tried to sell it,” says the film’s producer Kristy Vernon. The film went on to achieve a wide Australian release through Sony Australia, and has been sold to 60 territories on DVD.

 

 

 

 

Finding the money: The three ‘F’s – Friends, Family and other Fools!

For all of the films entered into the AFI Awards under the new eligibility criteria, production budgets were less than $1.5 million – often much much less. But the issue of financing even a modest $600,000 budget requires ingenuity and persistence. Private investors are the key, and finding them remains a challenge. The filmmakers responsible for The Independent found private investors by holding an information night where they presented themselves and pitched their project to about 80 people, using the government’s generous 10BA tax incentive scheme as a selling point. “We were very upfront with our potential investors that this wasn’t going to be Crocodile Dundee,” says co-director John Studley. “We wanted them behind us philosophically, and they were. Most of them don’t have any connection to the Australian film industry and this might possibly make a good dinner party story for them.”
 
Rats and Cats, a deadpan comedy from the team behind subversive short film and SBS series Wilfred, was also privately financed. Made for a budget of less than $400,000, the film’s finance was also raised from private investors using 10BA. The film’s producer Jason Byrne says that he’s “a strong believer that if your idea is good enough, there are people out there who will invest private capital in a feature film in Australia.” However, as many of the independent filmmakers interviewed for this story agreed, the recent elimination of 10BA is a serious worry for those wishing to raise finance for lower budget films. Without 10BA, it’s unclear how future low-budget will find private investment. But that’s a story for another day…
 
For now, we welcome these films into the L'Oréal Paris 2008 AFI Awards we wish them well, as you, the voters, make your decision and pick the winners. 

 

 

 

 

THE NEW BREED: THE FILMS AT A GLANCE

(Note: Some of these films qualify under the old AFI Awards eligibility criteria.)

 
 Image All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane
An initial budget of $42,000 was ramped up by IndiVision post-production funding, giving the film a “limousine finish” according to director/producer Louise Alston. The romantic comedy played well in Brisbane for 7 weeks, but failed to gain significant release in other cities. The film is currently on rental DVD (through Accent) with a promising retail pre-order for September.
 Image  Black Water
Made for a total budget of $1.2 million, Andrew Traucki and David Nerlich’s crocodile thriller was financed through IndiVision funding (50%) with the remainder coming from sweat equity and a private UK investor. Black Water’s Australian release was seriously hampered by the release of another croc picture (the big budget Rogue) in the same year. Black Water had a strong release in the Northern Territory, and was also theatrically released in the UK, with Mexico, Poland and Malaysia signed up. The film has been sold on DVD to 76 countries.
 Image  Bitter and Twisted
Shot in just 20 days, this drama about a grieving family was set in Sydney’s green outer suburbs for a budget of $200,000. The film screened to rave reviews when it was shown at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival and has been picked up by international sales agent Odin’s Eye. Bitter & Twisted is set for a limited local release later this year.
 Image  Gabriel
Shot on an initial budget of $200,000, this highly stylised fantasy film picked a theatrical release through Sony Australia and was exhibited on 98 screens nationally in November/December 2007. The film took an Australian box office of approximately $1.3 million, and has been sold on DVD to 60 territories. On the strength of the film, first-time director Shane Abbess was signed up to a 3-picture deal with Universal Studios.
 Image  Green Fire Envy
The film was shot in 27 days for a budget of $250,000, and was made entirely by the young students at Sydney’s independent Participate Film Academy. The dramatic coming-of-age story had a limited release in Hoyts cinemas in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. 
 Image  Five Moments of Infidelity
Kate Gorman’s drama about the intersecting lives of couples in a city won the 2005 DigiSPAA prize in its uncompleted state. Shot on DV CAM, the private/self-funded film had a three-week theatrical release in New Zealand, but as of 23 August has gone straight to DVD here in Australia (through Accent).
 Image Men’s Group
This improvisational drama about Australian men in crisis was voted highest scoring Australian film at this year’s Sydney Film Festival. A collaboration between director Michael Joy and creative producer John L. Simpson (who also distributed The Jammed), the film has a one-week release planned at the Chauvel Cinema in Sydney’s Paddington.
 Image  Punishment
This privately financed film about a man on a mission of revenge will screen for one week at the Eldorado Cinema in Brisbane’s Indooroopilly in September.
 Image  Salvation
Paul Cox’s latest film, and his first to be shot entirely on digital, Salvation takes on televangelism and stars Wendy Hughes, Kim Gyngell and Bruce Myles. The film will be distributed by Hopscotch in at least three cities later this year.
 Image  Rats and Cats
Privately financed and made for less than $400,000, Rats and Cats was self-distributed and had a limited release in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and is now moving onto a regional release. The deadpan comedy comes from the team behind subversive SBS comedy series Wilfred. Rats and Cats has picked up Odin’s Eye as its international sales agency.
 Image  The Independent
Privately financed, with a fully-paid cast and crew, this $600,000 naturalistic comedy about an independent politician was shot on HDV and has been self-distributed to about 30 cinemas, many of them in Melbourne and regional Victoria.
 Image  The Jammed
Made by experienced director/producer team Dee McLachlan and Andrea Buck, this $600,000 thriller was picked up for distribution at the last minute by Titan View’s John L. Simpson and played at Melbourne’s Cinema Nova to record-breaking first weeks, before taking off at other cinemas around the country. The Jammed now qualifies under the old eligibility criteria of exhibition in 3 capital cities, but missed out at the time of AFI Award entry deadline last year.
 Image  The Plex
Made with a deferred budget of $1.3 million, this slapstick comedy about cinema ushers has a limited national release at Greater Union cinemas from 25 September.
 Image  The Tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark
Shot on HDV at night in Melbourne’s streets, this grimy urban adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy was shot on a shoestring budget. A sellout at the Melbourne International Film Festival, the film was assisted through MIFF’s 37 South producer’s initiative, and gained a 10-day release at Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre.
 Image  Three Blind Mice
Mathew Newton’s directorial debut follows three young Navy officers as they hit Sydney for one last night before being sent over to the Gulf. Privately financed, and edited at home on Newton’s dining table, Three Blind Mice will be shown for one week at Sydney’s Hoyts, The Entertainment Quarter, in September. 
   For full cast and crew details of all the feature film contenders in this year’s AFI Awards,  click here.
Member Login
Lost your password?

subscribe button

 

Image

 

Afi TV
Samsung Mobile
Victoria

 

Follow us on Twitter

 

Contact Us Terms of Use Privacy Policy Site Map

image