Distributors ‘failing world cinema fans’
Ford: "white bread"
Australian film audiences are being fed a “white bread menu” by Australia’s over cautious cinema distributors, film researcher Hamish Ford has warned.
Writing in today’s Sydney Morning Herald, Ford – lecturer in film, media and cultural studies at the University of Newcastle -said:
“There are two distinctly different contemporary cinemas. The first is defined by the paltry selection of usually very conservative films on offer at our cities’ theatres – titles that are almost invariably European when they’re not from the US, with the occasional Chinese martial arts or period drama thrown in for colour. The second is a vibrant, incredibly diverse, and genuinely global cinema: an embarrassment of riches almost exclusively available via film festivals and digital format (DVD, Blu-ray, online).”
Ford said: “For some time now local cinemas have denied us what can rightfully be called ‘cutting-edge’, important, or simply wonderful films from all corners of the planet. No one walks into a bookshop and only selects from titles starting with A. But such is the absurd denuding of choice if viewers conflate contemporary cinema with the white-bread menu offered by ever more cautious Australian distributors.”
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He loses all credibility when he dismisses The King’s Speech in the second paragraph. What a snob.
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I agree Miguel, this guy is a film-snob.
Forget about being entertained, he wants everyone to be bored to death with slow and usually boring sub-titled, self indulgent arthouse fare that IS better off released on DVD.
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It’s an interesting thing though…we now have the technology for digital cinema. What I cannot understand is why these films are not being shown here in digital format. It’s such a low cost alternative, I don’t understand why there are not dozens of digital cinemas offering an alternative to what’s going on the more traditional cinemas. Australia’s lack of capitalising on the recent developments in digital technology really stuns me. Are we really such an unmotivated nation?
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I wonder if Hamish Ford knows that to show any film outside of a festival environment in Australia involves having it officially censored – at not inconsiderable expense.The current OFLC charge for rating a 2hr feature = $2760.
Also the Australian arthouse distribution sector is highly competitive – and if there was such a captive audience for specialty titles, you can bet that anything with the whiff of a dollar would have them fighting to acquire it.
Hamish Ford is very welcome to set up his own distribution outfit and prove the industry wrong.
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Not sure the burden should be on distributors quite so much as government to direct more funding to the exhibition of art cinema, e.g. incentives for exhibitors (not just arthouse venues but multiplexes as well) to take the risk of screening films that have limited commercial prospects but valid aesthetic, educational, cultural and other benefits.
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I agree that there are incredible films being shown at Film festivals that would have a broad appeal in Australia but which do not make it to the cinema very often. Take a look at what is on offer in Australia for kids as an example of formulaic homogeneity if you doubt it. This type of film is entertaining of course but without diversity it is as limiting as feeding your kids MacDonalds every night. This is not a snobby view either, surely everyone advocates a varied diet which may include a few fast food delights. In Australia it is difficult to find anything in theatres other than Hollywood pap! Come on distributors, give Australians a chance to develop our palates!!!
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Or somebody get there act together and create an art house world cinema VOD channel!
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Doug, like MUBI?
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More dross from clueless film academics spouting BS while suckling on the government teat. Yawn…
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Yeah..like MUBI..
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>>>I wonder if Hamish Ford knows that to show any film outside of a festival environment in Australia involves having it officially censored
‘Censored’ is not the same as classified.
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What a t*sser.
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The cost to set up and release, and most crucially, to market an arthouse film in Australia is between $50k – $70k. After paying the MG (deposit) to secure the rights, the investment before release will be $100k+.
If the film doesn’t pack screens opening w/e, the good sessions (if you had any to start) are dropped, and the cinema will most likely not even talk to you cause they’re looking (fairly) for the next big thing to pack their house out. Many smaller distributors now mine the very rich vein of festivals across Oz/NZ, and actually make some money to enable the next purchase.
And yes, check MUBI for an excellent, though limited range of high quality streaming options. I expect a couple of Oz arthouse distributors are hard at work on their own VOD platforms. It’s all about adaptation to the conditions.
“What a t*sser” was a really useful contribution by the way.
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Is that $100k estimate based on traditional distribution or digital cinema? I assume with digital cinema, you don’t need a release print, the master can be stored on a hard drive at a fraction of the cost.
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Fair question Adrian.
Digitisation does reduce costs slightly, but the MG, the press adverts, the publicity costs, the transport, censorship, poster design and printing, flier design, and printing, and distribution, the cinema hire for advance screenings, the extra staff for social media, the admin costs for accounting all remain the same.
So for a national – all states, 2 – 3 screens in major caps release – let’s say $90,000 rather than $100,000.
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