Cinema Papers no. 100 August 1994 (2025)

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Dominic Case

60 AUSTRALIA’S FIRST FILMS: ‘SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS’
Part 9 of a continuing historical featur[...]ive Sowry

67 FILM REVIEWS Fearless Scott Murray; The Hudsucker Proxy John Conomos;
Lex and Rory Anna Dzenis; Shotgun Wedding Raymond Younis; The Sum of Us Alissa Tanskaya

74 BOOK REVIEWS
Phantasms: The Dreams and Desires at the Heart of Our Popular Cinema Reviewed by Ross Gibson;
The Case of Shame: identification, Gender and Genre in Film Reviewed by Stuart Cunningham;
Long Shots to Favourites: Australian Cinema Successes in the '90s Reviewed by Raffaele Caputo;
War Cameraman: The Story of Damien Parer Reviewed by Deane Williams[...]ture technical consultant;

JOHN CONOMOS lectures at the College of Fine Arts, University of NSW, Sydney; STUART CUNNINGHAM is Senior Lecturer in
Communications at Queensland University of Technology; SUSAN DERMODY is the director of Breathing Under Water, and author of
several books; ANNA DZENIS is a tutor in Cinema Studies at LaTrobe University; JAN EPSTEIN is the film reporter for The Melbournian;
ROSS GIBSON is a filmmaker and write[...]a freelance writer on film and a camera
assistant to Geoffrey Burton; IVAN HUTCHINSON is film critic for thehe Herald—Sun and a presenter on the Seven Network;

CHRIS LONG is a Melbourne film historian; ADRIAN MARTIN reviews video releases for The Australian; GRAHAM SHIRLEY is a freelance
documen[...], researcher, and co-author of Australian Cinema: The First Eighty Years; CLIVE SOWRY is a New Zealand[...]bourne filmmaker; DEANE WILLIAMS is a lecturer in the Department of Visual Arts,
Monash University; RAYMOND YOUNIS is a lecturer at the University of Sydney and a passionate lover of fi[...]ted A.C.N. 006 258 699. Signed articles represent the views of the authors and not necessarily that of
the editor and publisher. While every care is taken with manuscripts and materials supplied to the magazine, neither the editor nor the publisher can accept
liability for any loss or da[...]ne may not be reproduced in whole or part without the express permission of the copyright
owners. Cinema Papers is published appr[...]apers is published with financial assistance from the Australian Film Commission and Film Victor[...]

Victorian Film Industry
hits all-time high!

The Victorian film and television industry is enjoy-[...]ks, Executive Director of Film Vic-
toria, said:

The industry is seeing a resurgence for a variety of[...]ne presents a unique urban en-
vironment in which to work and the films originat-
ing from here have a distinctive[...]rst-
class crews and post-production facilities.

The confidence in the state of the industry is
evident in the Victorian government's recent allo-
cation of $2.5 million to Film Victoria fora Commit-
ted Funding Facility,[...]s and attract interstate and overseas pro-
ducers to Victoria.

A one—off grant of $500,000 will assist in the
establishment of The Melbourne Film Office, a
new film industry market[...]ions advi-
sory service offered by Film Victoria. The MFO
provides locations advice to producers interested
in shooting in Melbourne and Victoria, and mar-
kets the film industry and its services within Aus-
tralia, and abroad.

The MFO represents Melbourne's interests on
Export Fi[...]federal body set
up in conjunction with Austrade to increase Aus-
tralian film service exports. The MFO will also
facilitate production by familiariz[...]h film and television production procedures.

See the next issue of Cinema Papers for a
special Victori[...]ootage on
Harold Blair

Harold Blair emerged from the vicious repression
of the Queensland Reserve system in 1945 to
become the last great Australian tenor of the
concert hall era. He was touted by the media as
“the first Aborigine” to sing opera, visit America
and appear on television.

Harold starred in the 1951 ABC Jubilee Con-
cert Tour, and sang at the opening of the 1956
Olympics and alongside Paul Robeson on the
construction site of the Sydney Opera House.

Flying Carpet Films is produ[...]rial please contact Steve Thomas or Marion
Crooke at 13 Victoria Street, Fitzroy 3065. Tel-
ephone (03[...]imile (03) 419 1404.

New Budget Analyst for FFC

The Chief Executive of the Australian Film Finance
Corporation, John Morris, has announced that
Brenda Pam is the FFC’s new Budget Analyst.

A well-known production manager, Pam has
more than 20 years experience in the film and
television industry.

In the late 1970s, Pam was unit production man-
ager for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in

2 . CINEMA PAPERS 100

Toronto. On returning to Australia, she was produc-
tion manager on such projects as Through Australian
Eyesand The Maestro‘s Companyin the early 1980s.

In recent years, Pam has worked on[...]der & Rose, Gross Misconduct, Shotgun Wed-
ding, The Tasmania Story, Luigis Ladies and David
Williamson’s Emerald City.

Pam joined the FFC on May 18. She replaces
Dennis Kiely, who has left to resume work in inde-
pendent production. He is currently associate pro-
ducer on the Film Australia children’s series Spell-
binder,[...]Society for students

It is many peop|e’s dream to make a film. But how
do you go about it if you’ve never made one
before? For students at the University of New
South Wales, help is at hand.

A film group, KINO NSW Film Society, has
recently been formed by a group of students who
want to see a greater and more active film culture
developing at the University. They hope to achieve
this by encouraging students to make their own
films, as well as screening films and inviting ped-
ple in the film industry to deliver seminars and hold
workshops for the students.

Madrid Experimenta

The Festival of Experimental Cinema in Madrid this
year gave over a big proportion of its screen time to
Australian films. Fifty-one short films from 1962 to
the present were screened in the Festival's Austral-
ian Focus, the most extensive survey of Australian
experimental[...].

Curated by Melbourne filmmaker Marie Cra-
ven, the programme surveyed a wide range of
work in a numb[...]onal cinema, experimental narrative and
comedy in the avant garde. Critic Adrian Martin
was also in Madrid as a member of the Jury for the
Festival’s International Competition.

The Australian Focus in Madrid was a tribute to
the renaissance and artistic vigour of experimen-
tal film in this country over the 30 years since its
first appearance. The films screened were:

Programme 1: The 1960s and '70s

Home Movie: A Day in the Bush (Arthur & Corinne
Cantrill, 1969), Adam and[...], Dance Deluxe
(John Dunkley-Smith, 1975), We Aim to Please
(Margot Nash and Robin Laurie, 1976), Bark[...]Knight, 1992), Eat(Kathy Drayton, 1988), Knife in
the Head, Spooky (Catherine Lowing, 1985),
Arnold Wes[...]Higson, 1993), Elevation (Stephen Cummins,
1989), The Lead Dress (Virginia Murray, 1985),
The Occupant(Ettore Siracusa and Peter Lyssiotis,
198[...]us
Undertakings (Helen Grace, 1983)

Programme 6: The Strange and the Comic

Caramba (Nick Meyers, 1985), Passionless M[...]indmill, 1985), Treas-
ure(Melanie El Mir, 1993), The RationalLife Films
1-5 (Debbie Lee, 1989), The Germ of an Idea
(John E. Hughes, 1986), Concertin[...]is Nota Car(Margaret
Dodd, 1982)

Corrigenda

In the 1994 Cinema Papers Film Calendar featur-
ing Aust[...]ha Ansara
was incorrectly credited as director of the docu-
mentary Munda Nyuringu(1984).Ansara only pho-
tographed the documentary; the director is Jane
Roberts. Also, the photograph of Martha Ansara
was incorrectly credited to Ponch Hawkes. The
photograph was actually taken by Sandy Edwards.
Cinema Papers apologizes to Ansara, Edwards
and the maker of It/lunda Nyuringu for these unfor-
tunate errors.

The Australian distributor credit accompany-
ing Lorr[...]Tinieblas in issue No. 99 was incor-
rectly given to the Valhalla. All three films are
distributed by Pote[...]distributed on 16mm, not 35mm.

Gremlins attacked the Eidetic Eight during the
hectic pre-Cannes post-production stage and vari-
ous errors resulted. Most notable was the direc-
tors credit on Rapa Nui being transmogrified from
the correct Kevin Reynolds to the unfortunate
Kevin Costner, who, while involved as a producer,
should not shoulder more responsibility for the
result than that.

Giuseppe Tornatore was incorrectly given as
the sole director of La Domenica Specialmente,[...]

ccugnising the cultural significance cf film by supporting cruan[...]INSTITUTE

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

I
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I
1
I A
MODERN IMAGE MAKERS ASSOCIATION
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ll - CINEMA PAPERS 100

i1ird consecutive feature of Bertolucci’s search for
and life in the Orient; Made principally for children,

lo[...]

Yes. It’s strange the way this title, which is 32 years old, comes
back. It would be perfect also for Little Buddha.

In fact, in the period I wrote that book — it contains all the
poems from when I was 13 to the age of 21 — Elsa Morante, who
was a great writer, gave me a book she had just published called
The Life of Milarepa. It was my first close encounter with
Buddhism and is the story of a picturesque Tibetan, who first
destroy[...]repentance and becomes a great saint, a hermit.

I was very impressed by this book, but I completely missed the
point. I saw only the aesthetic beauty, the poetic values. Many
years were to pass before I came to approach the substance of
Buddhism and, therefore, the mystery.

In a sense, my movies are like a spaces[...]h are big question marks for me. A movie helps me to
understand the reality of something in particular, always and
every time. But with Buddhism, I am still an amateur. It’s not
enough to have made a film, or to have studied for a few years,
to be able to declare yourself a Buddhist.

What happened that made Little Buddha finally come together?

If you want to find a date and a specific moment, it was the first
meeting with the Dalai Lama. I went with Jeremy Thomas, my
producer, to meet him in Vienna in the summer of 1991.. Here
was the government of Tibet in exile, reunited in a hotel.

We were taken to meet his holiness. I told him first of all that
I wanted to do a movie about Buddhism, but that I wasn’t a
Buddhist. He was very pleased about it: “Much better, because
you will have the detachment a Buddhist rarely can have”. Then
I told him that it will be a movie children will be allowed to see,
which is new for me because I’d never done movies for children.

At the end ofthis meeting, I came out with a great feeling, which
was because I understood something new. The Dalai Lama was
talking all the time about compassion and I started to put myself
in touch with this word. It is a word I have always underestimated.

6 - CINEMA PAPERS 100

Not only that, but my generation was never sensitive to it. We were
sensitive to the words “transgression ” and “revolution”.[...]word in my time. So, coming out of that meeting,
I felt I had had a sudden revelation.

In the Dalai Lama, there is what I would call the intelligence
of compassion. I understood that compassion is a very deep and
profound understanding of theI understood that Buddhism is all analyzing, and a way
oftrying to understand. Buddhists never talk about a soul, wh[...]alk about mind. Mind is something we
need; it’s the brain in a word. That is understanding.

In this sense, I find there is a continuity with what have been
my interests in political ideology. Now I have gone towards this
distant, but in some ways[...], precisely because of
this spotlight on man with the quality of intelligent being. I
noticed this very much.

So what did you want to say with Little Buddha?

I wanted to tell a story I liked, and, at the same time, open a
window for the first time on a cultural landscape that is unknown
in our country, in the West. I wanted to open that window for
everybody, including childre[...]ng time, for one
reason or another. But this time I thought it was a really good
occasion.

A few years ago, I saw a video called The Reincarnation of
Kerzsur Rinpoche, mad.e by a Tib[...]gland with his
wife. It is very, very beautiful.

The click for the story was the relationship between the Lama,
who searches for the reincarnation, and the child, who is the
reincarnation. It is the story of someone we can call a tutor and
the child.

Often you have old men who become for these children the
father, the mother, the playmate. The men feel a great affection
for them. They stay with the children, feed them, play with them,
wash them and do what a family, the mother in general, does.

enormous respect for the children because they are none other than
the reincarnation of the men’s masters, their teachers. The men
respect these children because their teachers[...]of affection and respect conquered me
completely. I thought: “Isn’t that the way all children should be
treated by us: affecti[...]” Often there is affec-
tion, but not respect.

Why respect? It is the Buddhist idea of the continuum. In fact,
these children are bringing b[...]ther physical containers. They’re bringing back the mind of
somebody great. They are Boddhisatva in g[...]having fun. This is a simplis-
tic but funny way to consider it.

In Nirvana, you are a particle in the harmony of the universe;
you interrupted the Samsara, and you are not condemned to come
back and suffer again.

The Boddhisatva does not take advantage of this disappearing
into Nirvana in total harmony. The Boddhisatva decides to come
back to life, to give up Nirvana, in order to help people. These
Boddhisatva are not necessarily, but they are often, Lamas, great
meditators. That’s why I think, when the searchers find the child
and decide he is the reincarnation of the Lama, they have found
the Boddhisatva. These children are all Boddhisatva.[...]IVERSES WHICH ARE BIG QUESTION
MARKS FOR ME [...] I KNOW BUDDHISM IS COMMONLY CONSIDERED TO BE A RELIGION. BUT PERHAFS WE
HAVE TO GET IT INTO OUR HEADS THAT, MORE THAN A RELIGION. BUD[...]OSOPHY."
BERNADO BEHT()LUCC|'$ LITTLE BUDDHA.

Is the fact that one of the children is American accepted by
traditional Budd[...]accepted, but there are various cases like this. I wanted
to do a film about this culture being transmitted to the West.

There is a famous case of a Spanish boy, Lama Osel, who was
found two years ago, and is the reincarnation of Lama Yeshe,
whom I met. Then there are at least seven or eight cases ofTulku.
Tulkus are the children found in the United States. I met one in
Katmandu just after I started shooting the movie. A sweet boy,
22—years—old, who had bee[...]lifax; he was very blond, very
much like Jesse in the film. He lived with his mother from nine
until the age of 20 or 21. He said, “I worked hard in a pizza
parlour and put some money aside and I came to Katmandu to
spend six months here to decide what I want to do, whether I
want to enter the monastery or whether I want to go back.” I’m
not sure, but I think his decision was more on the side of going
back to the States because he thought he could be more useful[...]ding time in a monastery. But
anyway, he said, “I feel more useful.” It’s a way of showing that
Buddhism is cunning; Buddhism can help us.

In fact, in the film the boy’s father [Dean] is the one who is the
most sceptical about the adventure. He is a certain way at the
beginning of the film, and at the end he’s changed. You can see
the change on his face; he has understood something. I don’t
know how much he has changed, but this adventure has had some
effect on him.

What he sees at the end ofthe film, when the Lama dies, is a sort
of rapprochement between him and the Lama after the Lama
recognizes the three children, the three reincarnations. Then there
is moment between the Lama and the father and they communi-
cate. I think he is very moved by the Lama and then goes to see him.
While the Lama’s meditating, he slips into death. You don[...]s like that without being in some way changed and I
think Dean is changed.

CINEMA PAPERS 100 - 7

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What is your position on reincarnation?

I cannot say I share the Tibetan vision of reincarnation. As a
character in the film, the father, says, “I can’t believe that a
reincarnation can be found with a name, an address and a
telephone number.” At the same time, I respect the old Tibetan
rituals regarding reincarnation for v[...]or. Reincarnation is a way of finding and keeping the
continuity of a person’s thought.

Western soci[...]ed amnesia.
Once goods have been bought, you have to forget them so as to buy
new goods. The consumeristic model of life doesn’t like the idea of
continuity, because by deleting continuit[...]more “new” stuff. We’re always looking for the “new”.

In our society, there is a need for c[...]by others and elabo-
rated on.

Having said this, I am fascinated by the idea of reincarnation.
It is a kind of sentence in Buddhist culture and is called the chain
of Samsara. Samsara means the chain of deaths and births and
deaths and births[...]tion is considered a
punishment, because you have to come back and experience
suffering twice.

For Westerners, however, the idea ofreincarnation is a kind of
treat, because our idea ofdeath is very different to that in the East.

Iremember being in New Jersey for a children’s preview. They
were all excited by the idea of reincarnation. Why? Children of
today, poor little things, are unfortunately obsessed by the idea
of death, because they continually see dead[...]ed:
what they see on television could also happen to them.

The children at the preview were very intelligent. I asked them,
“But aren’t you sad that the Lama, who is so nice and kind, dies
at the end?” “Oh no, he’s coming back”, they said. “Is he really
coming back? ”, I asked. “Oh yes, he’s in the belly of the mother.”
They immediately thought the Lama was being reincarnated
because ]esse’s mother is pregnant. It’s a very direct, simple way
to continue thinking, in life and for the future of the characters
in the film.

Does Little Buddha represent the need for religiosity?

I know Buddhism is commonly considered to be a religion. But
perhaps we have to get it into our heads that, more than a
religion, Bud[...]of Gods. Through his elaborations, Buddha decided
to repudiate all these Gods, so that man was at the centre of his
observation.

I found a very strong link between the importance to man that
Buddha’s thought gives, and the fact that I have always been
involved with particular schools of thought — political ideologies
— where man is at the centre. If you think of Marxism, ifyou think
ofFr[...]omebody asks
me, “How can you pass from Marxism to Buddhism?”, I say it’s
very, very natural.

What did it feel like to have the Dalai Lama at the premiere in
Paris? It’s not exactly the same thing, but the Pope didn’t go to
the premiere of Franco Zeffirelli’s jesus ofNazaretl7.

Maybe it was shown to the Pope in that auditorium they have at
the Vatican, designed by Nervi, the architect.

It was at the beginning of the project that I wanted the Dalai
Lama to be one of the first people to see the project realized. So
we invited him and he came to this big, big theatre with a huge
screen and a copy of the film in 70mm.

Before the screening, the Dalai Lama thanked the guests and
talked a bit about the problems of Tibet. He was very sweet,
because he said, “This is the first time that I have actually set foot
in a movie theatre.” This was a kind of revelation for me. Then
he sat down next to me. I looked at him and thought, “My God,
here I am witnessing the initiation, the cinema initiation, ofa man
who is the great initiator.” Every year, or every two years, he
initiates thousands of monks. ’Now I was seeing him being
initiated into cinema and it[...]cted, he was moved, he took my hand a few times.

At the end, he said, “Wonderful, wonderful”, before[...]ds. Then he wrote something very
flattering about the film for a French magazine. He said that he
had been a bit scared, nervous, at the idea of a movie about
Buddha. How can you visualize the Buddha? Then he saw in his
hotel a piece of a mov[...]st on television. He said
it was so effective, so why not on Buddha?

Perhaps it was Zeffirelli’s film he saw?
Or maybe it was Pasolini’s.

Now that the film has been released in Italy and France, are many
children going to see it?

Yes. In the morning, the cinemas are doing matinees for schools.

The film was done thinking of this, trying not to give a heavy
philosophical lesson about Buddhism, trying instead to smuggle
in the basic idea of Buddhism, the most important and basic
teachings, in the form of a fairytale or fable, to make it possible
for children to understand.

Of course, when you talk about Buddhism, grown—ups in the
West are like children, because we know nothing. So, the film is
for children of all ages.

VOYAGE OUT OF ITALY

How did your “flight to the Orient” begin? It coincides with the

period after La Tragedia di un Uomo Ridicolo [Tr[...]ia is about a country which is my country, Italy. I worked
with Carlo De Palma, the director of photography, and I wanted
the photography of the film to be very sharp because it is a movie
about a country which is blurred. I wanted very sharp photogra-
phy because what is going on in the story is so blurred, so
incomprehensible and mysterious.

In the two or three years which followed — which was the
beginning of the big economic boom, the beginning of the 19805
—I started to very strongly feel the incredible corruption every-
where. Corrup[...]

hen Quentin Tarantino, the wmzderlaind

of comic splatter, won the Palme d’Or at

the 47th Cannes Film Festival for Pulp

Fiction, roars of acclaim erupted from

sections of the press, who assembled to watch the telecast of the

awards ceremony in a nearby auditorium. Hosted b[...]splendent in white, presented
Cannes’ top prize to his elated countryman.

Despite the roars, however, the decision wasn’t universally
popular. 1 994 is the year that saw the Cannes Festival return to
its European roots. Two years previously, the American presence
at Cannes had reached a peak. The U.S. majors were flooding the
film market with blockbusters; the year before Madonna stripped
to her underwear on La Croisette for the world media; and in
1992 a record six out of 21 films in competition for the Palme
d’Or were American.

This year, in contrast, the American majors were conspicuous
by their absence[...]Pulp Fiction
was fully financed by Miramax Films, the largest U.S. mini—major
and a force to be reckoned with at Cannes and elsewhere. For the
Europeans, with a strong showing of quality films[...]y in particular, this was good news, and a chance
to recoup cultural clout and lost stature.

Hollywoo[...]re than a decade,
just as American films dominate the European box office, com-
manding between 80% and[...]hat European film production has
declined 35 °/o to 45 % in the past five years, and one result of this
sense of crisis in the European film industry is the successful
attempt by the French at the recent GATT negotiations to
maintain tariffs under the banner of “cultural exception”.

Last year’s so—called ‘dearth’ of American studio films at
Cannes was explained away by both the Americans and the
French as the result of the summer release programme of the U.S.
film industry, which targets the release of its summer blockbust-
ers at least six weeks before Cannes, and sometimes longer,

Tarantino himself explained the lack of American presence
this year as due simply to the absence of quality in American
filmmaking. This may be true in part. But a stand-off of sorts
exists between the Americans and the French, which has more to
do with the perceived threat of Hollywood to French film culture
and European film production than talk about standards and the
summer timetabling of American films.

While a nu[...]Shaz/en (Lodge
Kerrigan), Fresh (Boaz Yakin), and the new_, Hal Hartley, Ama-
teur, were shown at Cannes side—bar sections La Semaine de la
Criti[...]zaine des
Réalisateurs (Directors’ Fortnight), the films which created the
most “buzz” at Cannes this year (Croisette-speak for hot titles
that were snapped up by the mini—majors either before Cannes or
by riding rough—shod over the independents through sheer force

OUENTIN TARANT|NO'S PULP FICTION, WINNER DF THE PALME D'0R. LEFT TO RIGHT: VINCENT
VARGA [JOHN TRAVOLTA) AND MIA (UMA[...]purchasing—power) were from Australia, Asia and the
European masters.

Hence, it was with a sense of quiet outrage that the Europeans
witnessed the hijacking of their Festival at the last moment by an
American, after all.

Like Tara[...]eservoir Dogs, which received
a special screening at Cannes in 1992, Pulp Fiction is awash with
blood[...]d -directed, and boasts bravura performances from the all—star
cast, in particularjohn Travolta and S[...]mpy thieves.

Pulp Fiction draws inspiration from the cheap crime novels
and pulp magazines of the 19305 and ’40s, but little of the genre’s
conventions survive. Instead, Tarantino takes two clichés — the
gangster told to take his boss’ wife out for the evening and the
boxer told to “throw a fight” —and uses them as the starting point
for an anthology of startli[...]

Tarantino has a gift for characterization and at eye for the
incongruous, and in many respects his audacious blockbuster,
which takes nearly three hours to unspool, deserved the coveted
Palme d’Or. But the bloody mayhem which it flaunts, which is so
central to its entertainment value, is difficult not to feel ambiva-
lent about it.

Pulp Fiction is less[...]r-room
jocularity which makes it not so different to the Rambo films,
save that Tarantino masks his bloodletting with sophistication
and intelligent handling. In the end, it is disappointing that such
intelligence and talent is used to support what is at heart an ugly
entertainment: the ‘blowing away’ on screen of human life for the
aesthetic excitement of exploring the pyrotechnics of murder.

The worry is that giving the Palme d’Or to Pulp Fiction
Iegitimates our interest and pleasure in watching violence. This
is not to make an argument for censorship. Rather, it is a[...]preoccupation. Catharsis for women rarely extends to
the excesses ofpornography and violence that have characterized
the more egregious works of male filmmakers, includin[...]Magnificat and Peter Greenaway’s Baby of Macon at
Cannes in 1993, the Belgian film C’est Arrivé Pres de Chez Vous
(M[...]European filmmakers.

Tarantino’s indulgence in the playfulness of amorality, with
its attendant devaluing within the film ofthe worth of human life,

12 - CINEMA PAPERS 100

was in sharp contrast to the political and moral concerns of
Nikita Mikhalkov’s splendid Outomlionnye Solntsem (Burnt by
the Sun), a searing, gentle film set in Russia in 1936, about how
the organism of the totalitarian state seeks to make the value of
individual lives irrelevant.

It is disappointing that a film such as Pulp Fiction, which
panders to violence, should be valued by the judges above such
estimable films as Zhang Yimou’s Huozhel (To Live!), and
Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Trois Couleu[...]stically. Not surprisingly, there were murmurings at
the press conference after the announcement ofthe awards about
“compromise” and “sops” to the Americans in the wake of
GATT.

Burnt by the Sun and To Live! were jointly awarded the Grand
Prix dujury, traditionally the runner-up prize. Nikita Mikhalkov,
who not only directed Burnt by the Sun but also stars movingly
in it with his six—year—old daughter, Nadia, was clearly disap-
pointed at not winning the Palme d’Or. “Be ready to receive the
best, but don’t be surprised if you receive the worst”, he com-
mented wryly.

According to the critics’ polls published in the daily trades, the
most applauded film in the Festival was Three Colours: Red. This
final part[...]mance as a retired judge who listens in
illegally to his neighbours’ telephone conversations, and Irene
Jacob as the young model who uncovers her fate through him.
Superior to Bleu (Blue) which won the top prize at Venice last
year, and Blanc ( White) which garnered the Golden Bear at Berlin
this February, Red is masterly, warm and satisfying on all levels.
To the disappointment Qfmany, however, Red was ignored in the
awards, and Kieslowski was deprived of his triple crown.

This year more than most, the Cannes Festival brought into
sharp focus the dichotomy of values represented by the new

LEFT: ONDFF (GERARD DEPARDIEU) AND INSPECTOR[...]ND RIGHT: JENNIFER JASON LEIGH AS
DOROTHY PARKER. THE ALGUNHUIN ROUND TABLE CIRCLE MEETS.
ALAN RUDDLPH'S MRS. PARKER AND THE VICIOUS CIRCLE.

world and the old. We associate Europe with films of high
artis[...]ur
cognisance that Europe has been, and still is, the seed bed of
wars of global consequence, and that, while it is home to
Beethoven’s ninth, Europe has twice this centur[...]as transformed cinema into entertainment. This
is why an estimated 80% ofEuropean box office goes to the U5.
The resentment of many at the success of American movies is
partly justified because of that country’s seeming disregard for
the great moral questions which were born in Europe,[...]t is
also fuelled by jealousy, that by abandoning the very concerns
which lie at the heart of Europe, Americans can dominate
filmmakin[...]wo films in Competition came out fighting against the
American stranglehold on European filmgoing prefe[...]ue (Dead Tired), a finely—executed
comedy about the perils of fame, concludes with a witty swipe
at the GATT negotiations that had the French at Cannes
applauding wildly. It also opened strongly in French cinemas
the same week. Blanc, who plays ‘himself’ in the film (as do

Cannes Awards

P A I. M E D ’ 0 R
Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino)

GRAND PRIX DU JURY

Outomlionnye Solntsem (Burnt by the Sun, Nikita
Mikhalkov, Russia—France)
and Huozhe! (To Live!, Zhang Yimou, China)

PRIX D’INTERPRETATI[...]ce)

PRIX D’INTERPRETATION MASCULINE
Ge You for To Live!

PRIX DE LA MISE-EN-SCENE
Nanni Moretti for[...]ECHNIQUE DE [A COMMISSION
SUPERIEURE TECHNIQUE DE I.’IMAGE ET DU SON
Pitof, special effects directo[...]D’OR
Petits Arrangements avec les Morts (Coming to
Terms with the Dead, Pascale Ferran, France)

MENTION SPECIALE
Les Silences du Palais (The Silences of the Palace,
Moufida Tlati, Tunisia—France)

Non-Off[...]eria-Germany-Switzerland)

ECUMENICAI. JURY PRIZE
To Live and Burnt by the Sun

SPECIAL MENTION
Neak Sre (Rice People[...]

Phillip Noiret and other French actors), wrote the script from an
idea by Bertrand Blier, and the film won Best Screenplay.

Italian actor—direct[...](Dear Diary) is a more self-conscious critique
of the world. This charming, rambling discourse which so[...]ps into real time, includes a hilarious attack on the hold over the
Italian psyche ofAmerican television soaps, and a witty rebuke to
a film critic for tolerating the violence in Henry: Portrait ofa Serial
Killer (John McNaughton), which involves the critic being read his
own review until he is weep[...]ed that this year there was a depth of
quality in the films in Competition. Zhang Yimou’s deeply-
humanist To Live! is a further example of what this greatest of
Chinese directors is able to achieve in a film within the con-
straints of Communism. His film follows the lives of a small
family in China from the 19505 to the ’70s, reflecting their will
and optimism as that country moves through great change. Gong
Li accepted the joint Prix du]ury on behalf of Zhang Yimou, who
was forced by Chinese authorities to remain in China. The prize
for Best Actor was awarded to Ge jou, who plays the father.

Giuseppe Tornatore’s Una Pura Formalita (A Pure Formality),
which screened tothe exoticism of their own experience
which has the Canadian director moving beyond the purely
dysfunctional into warmer clirnes.

Most d[...]spite a superb performance by Virna
Lisi, who won the Best Actress awardgjoel Coen’s The Hudsuc/zer

14 - CINEMA PAPERS 100

Proxy, a past[...]0s Hollywood films
which looks good, but is never the sum of
its parts; and Alan Rudolph’s Mrs Parker
and the Vicious Circle, which fails, surpris-
ingly, to take advantage of Dorothy Park-
er’s razor—sharp Wit.

Amongst the best of the rest were Hal
Hartley’s Amateur (Directors’ F[...]n emotionally-laden com-
edy of modern manners in the mould of Sex,
Lies, and Videotape (Steven Soderbe[...]eg Tilley (with
Quentin Tarantino in a cameo role at a party,
deconstructing Top Gun); and scriptwrite[...]ld black

‘ boy who uses his knowledge of chess to
survive life in the neighbourhood.

Also worth noting were Iranian master
Abbas Kiarostami’s Ziré Darfzkhtcin Zeyton
(Under the Olive Trees, in Competition), a

touching film ab[...]ted Northern Iran in which
Kiarostami again blurs the distinction between fiction and docu-
mentary, an[...]of his
daughter, which uses a complex soundtrack to recreate the
characte-r’s auditory hallucinations and tormented inner life.
Since the revival of Australia’s fortune at Cannes, Australian
films have won a reputation for originality and style. This year,
following in the footsteps of Strictly Ballroom in 1992, both
Stephan Elliott’s The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the
Desert (Uri Certain Regard), and Muriel’5 Weddi[...]ght), directed by P. Hogan, provided Cannes with the
much—needed pizzazz that the Festival lacked in the first week.

In grand fashion, Priscilla arrived and became the talk of the
town before its much—heralded premiere in the midnight—screen—
ing slot reserved for high-profile fun movies, which are calculated
to turn the evening into an event. No one was disappointed,
either critics or attendees, of whom close to 2,000 were turned
away. So popular was the film, and the three drag queens who
accompanied Priscilla to Cannes, that La Croisctte was promptly
dubbed a “drag strip” by the press.

Muriel’s Wedding, too, lived up to expectations, with Hogan
receiving a 15-minute ovation at its premiere. Both Priscilla and
Muriel's Wedding are quirky, individual, small-budget films, the
kind of ‘product’ the world is increasingly coming to expect from
Australian directors, and for which t[...]s and a bright,
striking style that counterpoints the seriousness ofits theme, which
is about the effect on his family of a bullying, abusive fathe[...]but
mousey girlfriend in Spotsu/ood, put on kilos to become Muriel,
the gauche, overweight Gold Coast ‘loser’ who becomes a
‘winner’ when she finds a friend and begins to live out her
fantasies, particularly that of being a bride. It is to Hogan’s credit
as scriptwriter and director tha[...]style (Aus-
tralian grotesque) rarely overwhelms the reality ofhis characters.
The welcome exception is Muriel’s trio of bitchy gi[...]ld Coast politician (included is a
delicious joke at Bob Hawke’s expense). Newcomer Rachel
Griffiths[...]Muriel’s Wedding is carefully crafted, and has the polish one
expects from producers Lynda House and Jocelyn Moorhouse
(Hogan’s wife, and the director of Proof).

After Stephan Elliott’s drubbing at Cannes last year over
Frauds, revenge must have been sweet. Priscilla confirmed the
faith shown in the young director by Festival director Gilles
Jacob, and it is evidence, if it were needed, that the Cannes Film
Festival not only sticks by its own, but has the power to persuade
others. Priscilla’s success is due to both its audacity and good
nature, which has the power to disarm even the most militant in
the Festival of Light.

About two drag queens and a transsexual who set off on a cabaret
tour of the outback in a bus, Priscilla exploits the carnivalesque,

turning the world topsy—turvy. Performances
are spirited with Terence Stamp excelling as the
transsexual Bernadette who strives for dignity.
H[...]e with his ex-wife (Sarah
Chadwick) and young son at a resort hotel in
Alice Springs. Guy Pearce (from television’s
Neighbours and Home and Away) plays the
screaming queen “Felicia”, while Bill Hunter
plays Bob, the ordinary bloke who finds
Bernadette special.

Just as Priscilla and Muriel were feted at the Festival, so
Australian films did well in the market generally, aided no doubt
by the shortage of American ‘sleepers’. Altogether, 16 Australian
films went to Cannes this year. Best received was The Sum of Us,
Kevin Dowling and Geoff Burton’s daring take on David Stevens’
play about the relationship between a gay son and his surprising[...]Sydney. Starring Russell Crowe
and Jack Thompson, the distribution rights for The Sum of Us in
North America were picked up by the Samuel Goldwyn Co.

Country Life, Michael Blakemo[...]ell
and Max Cullen, and Bill Young’s curiosity, The Roly Poly Man,
an oddball film noir for Roger Corman die—hards only.

Australia wasn’t the only Antipodean country to do well at
the Cannes market this year. Creating a sensation was[...]stic violence amongst urban Maori, which captures the
toughness and reality of Maori culture as well as its physical
and spiritual beauty. Genuinely moving, the emotional impact
of Warriors comes from the raw power of the actors’ perform-
ances, in particular Rena Owen as Beth, the abused wife, and
Temuera Morrison as Jake, the husband who tragically can’t
keep his fists to himself. I

CINEMA PAPERS 100 - 15

One of the richest mini—traditions in Australian cinema is[...]and Nirvana Street Murder
(Aleksi Vellis, 1991), to mention only features. Similar to related
works from other countries (such asjacque[...]ant’s Drugstore Cowboy,
1989), these films tend to deal with a network of fragmentary,
volatile, oft[...]manner, lives
that are lived a very long way from the values ofhonour, decency,
loyalty and sexual fide[...]bout marginal cultural styles and people
often on the edge, they also tend to revel in a certain wild,
ramshackle social mobili[...]ards or downwards but
endlessly sideways, through the many haunts, dives and lairs of
the urban underground. They document and dramatize a cease-
less, headlong skid that can at times only be halted by death.

Going Down is one of the most outstanding films of the sub-
cultural tradition. It is certainly one of the most authentic. It
provides a virtual ethnography of sub—cultural Sydney in the
early 1980s, with junkies, artists, Aboriginal ac[...]s morning-after coda — see also Ian
Pringle’s The Prisoner ofSt Petersburg, 1990) is crucial in giving
the film its overall structural drive and energy, inviting the viewer
to experience the same Whirligig of emotions, moods and situa-
tions that the characters do. Even the erratic poverty-row images
and sound editing internal to many scenes adds to the film’s vivid
achievement.

Going Down is unique[...]ortraits are usually male—centred) who struggle to
endure and perhaps break free of their harsh, urb[...]ced. Their experiences
are emblematic not only of the ways in which women are
exploited and degraded (by men and by the system), but also of
the ways they can survive, resist and take revenge. But no one,
man or woman, is morally or ethically pure in the world of the
film; friends help each other out, but they also abandon or rip
each other off if necessary.

The film’s style is a wonderful cross-mix of gritty[...]devices — something which (in combination with
the ugly subject matter) has earned it predict[...]

naturalistic and expressionistic approaches to narrative cinema,

Iected AUSTRALIAN FILMS

BELOW[...]IN
HAYDN KEENAN’S ‘come DOWN’.

it is also (at least for this critic) in its own terms one of the finest
and most memorable films made in Au[...]

The film is always building and releasing its tensions,
swinging the mood in upbraiding rhythm. A claustro-
phobic rage—for—order marshals many of the rectilinear
compositions and the cruelly—compressed frames. And
the film’s guttural sound cL1es and gruffpictorial[...]'S‘SQUARE3ASH|NG’-

character grunts early in the film: “I run this place.

ME! ”) But throughout these ha[...]geously
reprocessed television sequences overlaid to the ‘impossible’,
‘forbidden’ degree of four superimpositions. It is palpably illicit
and hot in the way it looks. In their macromatric re—filming, the
images have picked up a weird radioactive fuzz so[...]ter
your blood as well as your soul.

In addition to being stolen, the images have also been illicitly
commingled and overlaid. I-Iarrop has tampered with the pat-
ented mechanisms of the Super 8 cartridge so that he has
managed to do what Kodak goes to some lengths to prevent: the
film is wound back in its cartridge (after the ratchet mechanism
has been removed in a black bag), so that multiple exposures can
be made on the one stretch of narrow film. This requires an
extraordinary sophistication of conceptual editing to get all of
the four or five superimpositions interacting effectively. And the
wonder of Square Bashing is the way the levels disturb each other
and the viewer so aptly and deeply. Several ‘imagegroun[...]uice ofvision. As you sense
them bleeding away in the emulsion, character upon character
cries out for coupling and rest, unaware that the film has cruelly
assembled so many of them so int[...]d just as this secretional ooze of imagery
begins to define the film, the guttural, mordant editing comes
back to police the promiscuity.

The effect is not adolescent at all, but there is a strange
pubescent force in the film’s nine minutes. It’s an ardent film. The
simultaneous regimentation and dalliance of image[...]produce a sad but importunate kind of erotics. In the surge
of superimpositions, every disembodied ghos[...]d prays, either for release or for reinstatement.
The ambivalence is painful. It is as if the characters are still
embodied enough to know desire, but they are becoming so
evanescent they have only the memory of feeling. As we watch
from our own disturbed bodies, we literally feel for the characters
as they fade and moan. Here is an exqu[...]e fleshy
ghosts are they? Mostly, they’re from the midnight and midday
movie archive: e.g., Now Voyager (Irving Rapper, 1942), The
Hill (Sidney Lumet, 1965), The Gene Krupa Story (Don Weis,
1960). Here, in television’s daily alluvium, Harrop picks out
sparkling motes. The cast of his film are the usual suspects that

18 - CINEMA PAPERS 100

lurk most nights in the airwaves. They are the melodramatic

panoply of ordinary schmoes striving for extraordinary freedoms.
take all I
have.” So mutters one character just after Sal[...]on a syncopated version each time he contemplates the rectitude
of sacred music. And then, like every other character in I-Iarrop’s
deeply—layered film, Mineo must drown again in melodrama’s
over—reaching.

I’ve watched Square Bashing maybe fifty times in the past ten
years. (I rely on it the same way I need a few songs.) It never seems
to exhaust itself or become tawdry. It has compelling themes and
meanings — frustration, yearning, the futility of repression — but
I’m pretty sure that its greatest force is not something nameable.
Its greatest force comes in the way it disturbs and stops your
ratiocination. For me, fan that I am, Square Bashing draws forth
an endlessly ponde[...]istributed by AFI Distribution.

GRAHAM SHIRLEY)

The Cheaters

DIRECTED AND WRITTEN BY PAULETTE McDDNAGH
84 MINS, SOUND VERSION, 1931

Within the past decade, several Australian early sound films long
assumed lost have been rediscovered by the National Film 86
Sound Archive. The finding of one of them, Showgirl’s Luck
(1931), received saturation publicity. But the re—emergence of
others — among them Neville M[...]wn Land (1931) and Paulette McDonagh’s
Trail of the R00 (1931) and How I Play Cricket (with Don
Bradman, 1932) — have received no mention at all, possibly
because they’ve been shorts and not the attention—grabbing
features. One feature, howev[...]recent years has scarcely been
whispered about is the McDonagh sisters’ 1 93 1 talkie version of
their originally—silent The Cheaters (1930). Indeed, the sound

version of The Cheaters remains the most tantalizing and myste-
rious of all e[...]

The process of converting the film to sound appears to have
been long and arduous, for, having been announced in July
19303, the Standardtone version was not available for releas[...]at will become
apparent, this sound version, like the silent, failed to find a
market and vanished from memory. Indeed, it was never men-
tioned in interviews I conducted in the 1970s with Paulette
McDonagh and Neville Macken, who had not only financed The
Cheaters in its silent and two sound versions but also put money
into the Standardtone process and documentary shorts directed
by Paulette McDonagh and himself in the early ’30s.

Ken Berryman’s 1988 Filmnews piece queried how the first
reel of the Standardtone The Cheaters had come to be found in
a laneway, and what the chances were of other Australian films
emerging i[...]on. Astonishingly, two di-

PAULETTE MCDONAGWS ‘THE CHEAYERS’.

vergent answers emerged in just two[...]ased record collector Mike Sutcliffe contacted me to say
that he had found one of the music discs for the sound—on—disc
The Cheaters} And in 1990 Ruth Hill of the NFSA’s Nitrate
Preservation Program (established 1988) found three more reels
from the Standardtone version as she was going through untitled
spools that the NFSA had acquired from 21 Ron Noad in around
1983. One of the two reels missing from the Noad print was reel
one, suggesting that both the Davey and Noad finds originally
came from the same collection.

Ironically for the nil attention it received in its time, the silent
version of The Cheaters has screened often since its rediscovery
in the 19605. With good reason, too, since it is one of the best of
all surviving Australian silents. Its blend of stylized drama and
naturalism allows it to stand close comparison with Raymond
Longford’/s masterpiece, The Sentimental Bloke (1919), and
Paulette McDonagh’s previous feature, The Far Paradise, while
its chiaroscuro, noirish visual approach links it to German
expressionism and the influence of that movement on the Ameri-
can cinema. Performances have an emotional[...]hips with a sense ofan
inner life rippling across the faces as strongly as it guides action
and reactio[...]tles are commendably scarce, al-
lowing audiences to share the characters’ lives rather than to
simply watch.

Even given that one reel is still missing, the full—talkie The
Cheaters is a fascinating, frustrating experience. With touches of
Romeo and juliet, the plot is one of young love threatened by
parental conflict, one father being a wealthy businessman who
sends the other, an embezzler, to prison. The problem in viewing
both versions is that while the silent turns potentially stock
elements into a heartfelt, engaging romantic tragedy, the talkie
reduces them to mechanical basics. Two things contribute to this
change. The first is a pruning—down of the original film, editing
away many of the reflective passages in a bid to turn intertitles
into the spoken word. This translation removes much of the
original’s dream-like quality, forcing an inner[...]ctors. Second, dialogue
which ‘reads’ well in the silent simply sounds flat
in its spoken form —[...]n having an
independent life of its own”".

Yet the talkie The Cheaters retains enough of
the original’s complexity to place it among the
most visually striking of Australian films up to
the mid—1930s. The idea of post—synching and/
or re-shooting much of a feature was virtually
unheard of anywhere at that time’, and sound
improves the impact of at least two sequences:
a farewell between father and daughter, and the
first meeting between the lovers in a hotel
dining room. In the latter sequence, the casual-
ness of the surrounding chit—chat and back-
ground music gives effective counterpoint to
the rising tension when Paula Marsh (Marie
Lorraine) first sets eyes on a rope of pearls she’s
been instructed to steal — a tension heightened
when, instantly af[...]ther hotel scenes,
Paulette McDonagh strives hard to match visual

CINEMA PAPERS 100 - 19

The overall result of adding sound to The Cheaters, however,
is cursory and incomplete, cle[...]ult it
could be for established silent filmmakers to make their first
talkies. Even given that this one is a hybrid, it shows that the
transition silent filmmakers had to make was one oftossing away
certain number of the old rules and adapting to new ones. In the
place of richly—nuanced mime speaking an intern[...]hat filmmakers now needed was a symbiosis between
the most fluid screen conventions and a naturalism of perform-
ance that made verbal impact while continuing to draw from the
inner self.

With The Cheaters, Paulette McDonagh was clearly beginning
to grasp what amounted to a new medium but was overwhelmed
by a technically[...]r silent work, and
enough of it shines through in the talkie The Cheaters for one to
again lament that such a highly—skilled, still comparatively young
filmmaker wasn’t encouraged to make films after 1934.

THE CHEATERS Directed by Paulette McDonagh. Scriptwri[...]h), Frank Hawthorne (Keith Manion), Leal Douglas (The Lady),
StanleyCourt (Jules Severie), Reg Quartley[...]ns. 1931.

SUSAN DERMODY

Shirley Thompson versus
The Aliens

PRODUCED, DIRECTED AND CO-WRITTEN BYJIM SHARMAN
104 MINS, 19-72

I’ve likedthis film ofJim Sharman’s since I first heard the title. He
made it in _ 1972, before the film industry was considered
resurrectable, after speaking to Joseph von Sternberg at the 1 967
Sydney Film Festival and asking why Australia didn’t have a film
industry. “I don’t know”, replied Von Sternberg, “You have
cameras, don’t you?” I’ve liked Shirley Thompson versus the
Aliens since I heard that story, and every time I’ve watched it.

“Being ignorant meant we had[...]hough he may just as well have been talking about the bubble
that has preserved the industry, for much of its subsequent lease
of lif[...]in he went
with $17,000 (all his own money), onto the terrain of female
madness in the 19505 retro sci—fi teen horror flick.

It’s the ’50s, and the suburbs (embodied by liver-brick, double-
fronted[...]ve driven Shirley Thompson (Jane
Harders) mad, as anyone can understand. Front yards with their
lone, spindly front—yard shrubs; “Emoh Ruo” over front doors; the
over—regulated zone of the house interior with bed-dolls, koala
cushions, and rose-emblazoned tea—towels; an epic angle on the
lone arm of the Mixmaster descending to its task in the bowl
below; the same Mixmaster hurled in shattering close-shot through
the kitchen window when Shirley’s father has abruptly had a gut-
full. These are the iconic objects (Jane Campion was to learn a lot
from this), held in a wide—angled camera stare, that speak dumbly
from the heart of the matter of Shirley’s angst.

20 - CINEMA PAPERS 100

;. ta’

zainum

SHIRLEY THOMPSON (JANE HARDERS) AT HER WEDDING.
JIM SHARMAN’S ‘SHIRLEY THOMPSON VERSUS THE ALIENS’.

Is “Our Home” a habitable place? If you’re a bright girl in the
’50s, only with considerable accommodation, amounting, say, to
a lobotomy, suggests the film. Or perhaps a split personality, in
the first instance. Shirley, like Felicity Bannister (Kerry Walker)
to follow, in Patric/2 White ’s The Night the Prowler (Sharman,
1979), is a nice girl by day who grits her teeth and goes for a
milkshake at Bondi with Harold (Helmut Bakaitis), the nice boy
her parents have in mind for her. By nig[...]widgie, queen
of a motorbike gang, breaking into the Luna Park River Caves
Ride for a moment’s relief from all that conformity.

In the papier—maché Caves, bobbing past in a boat, she comes
across the aliens, who need her to relay important warnings to the
world. With good faith and real ingenuity, Shirley pirates a radio-
station signal to relay the warnings about the end ofthe world. “So
it’s true, so what? ”, snaps her father when he hears it between bars
of the Aeroplane jelly commercial. The River Cave aliens are more
familiar and finally less alarming than the people back home. And
Shirley gradually slips from Emoh Ruo to another kind of home
altogether, zombie-like, lobotomized, quiet at last.

Shirley Thompson is a great first entry, a[...]ian Gothic. This ‘genre’ or tendency is
maybe the first original move that was made in the space of the
revived industry. The hallmarks are dark, inward comedy drawn
from the ‘normality’ of suburban and small—town Australia,
pulled upside-down to show its underbelly of perversity, grotes-
querie[...]types are drawn as much from pa-
thology, as from the social or the psychological. The trajectory is
between the back-yard and the back-ward. Few ‘sane’ protago-
nists escape with their lives or sanity completely intact; the
solution is zombie—dom. And, while the films shows their art—film
and experimental bloodlines quite openly, they freely ransack the
bins of popular trash culture for their pe[...]

This time, ‘Shirley’ pursues the true business of her own soul with
more steel and more preparedness to directly suffer the joy and
the wounding. Maybe the 1850s were a slightly easier time to
psychically survive than the 1950s.

SHIRLEY THOMPSON VERSUS THE ALIENS Directed by Jim Sharman. Producer: Jim
Sha[...]975, p. 259.

2 Only a third prize was awarded in the 1930 Commonwealth production
contest — to Arthur Higgins and Austin Fay’s Fellers. After that film, The
Cheaters was rated fourth.

3 E1/eryones, 30 July 1930.

4 Film Weekly, 15 October 1931.

5 The disc is labelled: “McDonagh film. The Cheaters with Orch. PRT.129.
Part 10. 31/3/30.”[...]—Sharp Minor”.

6 John Russell Taylor, Hitch: The Life (7 Times of Alfred Hitchcock,
Berkley Books,[...]ahl’s German feature Das Blaue Licht (1932) has the look
ofa film shot with full silent—era mobility to which sound has been post-
synched ——[...]

looks at aspects of the film industry in

_ Australia’s llaiggest[...]Australia,‘as well as sucll federal bodies as the AFC‘.

No one supplement can in itself be compr[...]BOSSELL) AND ROSE (nun: CRACKNELL).
BlLl.'BENNE‘I"l”$ ‘SPIDER 3: noss’. ’ ' '

FORMATION

When the state Liberal government came into power in 1 9 8 8, one
of the first things it did was get rid of the NSW Film Corporation
[NSWFC], which went out back[...]concern about some of its
operations and that led to an ICAC inquiry, as everybody knows.
What a lot of people often forget is that the NSWFC actually
produced, or was responsible for,[...]areful He Might Hear
You, My Brilliant Career and The More Things Change..., which
in turn reflected a certain capability within the NSW industry.
The government then set up the New South Wales Film and
Television Office [NSWFTO]. This was done under the Film
Industry Act, which meant it was a statutory[...]Film Victoria and most other film
agencies around the country, it doesn’t have a board.
Primarily, the NSWFTO’s brief was to manage the NSWFC’s
on-going distribution responsibilities. Unlike its predecessor, it
wasn’t able to invest in production and was essentially a[...]

At the time of the NSWFC’s closure, there were great concerns
about a possible vacuum of investment. Did that eventuate?

I don’t think so.

In 1988, there was still the remnants of 10BA. As well, it is fair
to say the NSWFC had focused on film only, not television dr[...]e. It supported only a relatively small number of
the creative community within NSW, so by taking it away you
weren’t hurting the whole industry.

Sydney also had, and still has, the head offices of all of the
other government assistance agencies and 60% of the national
slate. The critical mass of industry activity in Sydney is such that
it can sustain itself, and that certainly was the case in 1988.

The NSWFTO office seems somewhat dwarfed by those of the
federal funding bodies.

In terms of financial re[...]e have 12. Applications have gone
from 100 a year to more than 400, and our people resources were
stretched until the recruitment of extra staff. That has been a
worry to me. It has meant that we’ve almost become captives of

the budget and given the filmmakers all sorts of extra scope.

Similarly, Bro/zen Highway, which we supported at script-
development stage, needed about $100,000[...]provided that money.

That situation has changed; the NSWFTO can now make

production investments.

In the 1992/93 financial year, the state government, through a
very supportive minister, Peter Collins, accepted our argument,
which we had to deliver in very economic rationalist terms.

We commissioned economic research to project the conse-
quences of our being given $1 million to make strategic produc-
tion investments, through[...]$100,000 or
$200,000. It was on that basis we got the $1 million, as a one-
off. They weren’t convinced it was a necessary thing for govern-
ment to be doing. But at least they were prepared to give it a shot.

We then spent $800,000 of that knowing we had to get the
runs on the board within the financial year in order to make sure
we got that support again.

We also commissioned KPMGP Marwick, and David Court
of EBR to do an ‘audit’ of what happened with the money we
invested. Theto characterize this money, it outperformed any other state

_“ Sydney is seen as the more commercial, slightly cowboy,

business-orien[...]ry. Its output is twice

process, where, in order to just go through the sheer number of
applications, we’ve become mere paper—pushers. I really wanted
to get out of that.

My philosophy about organizations l[...]ssible. They should be non—burea ucratic, be
of the industry and they should care. We are all of that.

How many do the assessments at present?

Two plus me, or a bit of me, is involved in the script and project
development area. We also use[...]ion
investment. That compares with 50—odd staff at the AFC and a
$20 million annual budget.

PRODUCTION INVESTMENT

In the post—10BA hiatus, with the FFC just starting to hit its
straps, the NSWFTO rose phoenix—like, but with rather little
wings in terms of human and financial resources. One of the
things it couldn’t do was to make production investments.

Now with every state but NSW offering production invest-
ment opportunities, the inevitable result was that a number of
films generated in NSW were forced to leave for elsewhere. In a
sense, NSW filmmakers were being disadvantaged against, par-
ticularly in the area of low-budget features.

Greenkeeping, for e[...]ed

that of Victoria's and has
always been harder to
characterize. NSW has
something of everything.”[...]of it, even without taking projected returns from
the investments into account. We delivered on 30:1 basis, which
is apparently unheard of. We created up to 700 new full—time
jobs, and the cost per job to the state government was lower than
in any other indu[...]ult, and with Peter Collins becoming Treasurer in the
intervening period, that money has been confirmed and is part of
our recurrent funding. We don’t have to fight for it every year.
More than that, we get to retain the earnings we generate from
those funds. Over time,[...]a lump of earnings that is a significant addition to the annual
allocation from the state government.

What kind of a capping is there on the investment?

10% of the budget is the maximum, and/or $200,000 in a
financial year.

Does the increase in investment change the financial resources in
another area? For example, is there more money for script
development, or is the investment fund strictly for production?[...]

The extra money is targeted for the purpose of production
investment. In production i[...]s
and tele—features, and documentaries. We want to apply in time
the same approach to production investment as we apply to
development finance. That is, we are interested i[...]BODIES

There are industry presumptions by which the state bodies are
categorized: Film Queensland for off-shore, big-budget Ameri-
can films; the NSWFTO for commercial, mainstream films; Film
Vic[...]enefit. Do
you agree with this view?

No. First, I do not think that quirky or experimental and
comm[...]ANTAGED BY BEING MADE IN NSW”.

are more likely to be successful than those which stay in a mould.[...]f
its greatest assets. That has not changed since the days when I
was Director of Film Victoria. The downside is that it can be
looked upon as insular, as fearing, or not wanting to use,
external influences.

Sydney is seen as the more commercial, slightly cowboy,
business—orie[...]e that
of Victoria’s and has always been harder to characterize. NSW
has something of everything. Yo[...]h is often said about
Victoria. Yet when you look at it, it does a lot of low—budget
feature filmmak[...]ES’ ‘BROKEN HIGHWAY’, “WHICH WE SUPPORTED
AT SCRIPT-DEVELOPMENT STAGE.”

Queensland has essentially had no industry and it is now
valiantly, and I think intelligently, building an industry off the
back of off-shore production. The tricky bit comes in making
sure you are not just a backlot to Hollywood, that you do in fact
develop a local in[...]films.

What Queensland has been doing is growing the pie. Tradi-
tionally, 60°/o of production was NSW sourced or based, Victo-
ria 30%, and the other 10% spread around Queensland, South
Austral[...]umber of productions from NSW. It is also getting
the lion’s share of off-shore production. The effect ofthat, though,
is to add on, not to redistribute. It’s making the pie bigger. The $ 1.3
billion worth of domestic production each y[...]92/93. That is aggregate budgets; that is not all the
money which was spent in Queensland. $27 million[...][aka No Return], and they did post-production in
the UK, so presumably a lot of that $27 million went[...]illion worth of off-shore
production benefit into the state.

OFF-SHORE

When you first came to this job, was attracting off-shore interests
one the initiatives you wanted to implement?

Off—shore interests are currently coming from the States, to a
lesser extent from Europe and not much from South East Asia,
except in the area of commercials, where we are getting a lot out
of Japan and Korea.

One of the reasons people come to Australia is the exotic
locations. Queensland has rainforests and coral reefs and a lot of
people want that. The point is: If that’s where it is, that’s where[...]ng Australia, or
NSW, as an off-shore location is to assist the local industry. The
industry requires internationalizing if it wants to stay at the
cutting edge of technical, as well as creative, capabilities. If it
wants to maintain and increase its role in the international

to assist the local industry. The industry requires internationaliling if it wants to
stay at the cutting edge of technical, as well as creative, c[...]hich off—shore production can assist,
and which the local industry may not be able to provide.

If you have a big film coming here, and it can mean the
difference between the viability and non—viability of some new
piece of post—production equipment, then the local industry
benefits from it. This is why I think it is worth attracting off—shore
production. But perceptions differ.

In NSW, I see it as augmenting an already existing, well-
e[...]ucture
already in place. We will only sell NSW on the basis of a value-for-
money package, where we are offering not only locations but also
the technical and creative capabilities, the stability and international
reputation of the industry, the English language, reverse seasons,
exchange rate[...]l of that up, it is a pretty attractive package.

I would never market Australia on the basis of lowest cost,
though, for two reasons. On[...]world that is cheaper. Two, it would attract what I
call the “opportunistic producers”, who are only ever going to be
motivated by whomever has the lowest price today. They are not
the sorts of people you build a strategy towards. You want to deal
with professional, international producers, not fly—by—nighters.

STEPHAN ELLIOTT’S ‘THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF
THE DESERT’: “WE WERE ABLE TO PROVIDE A SMALL, BUT VALUABLE,
PRODUCTION INVESTMENT AS WELL AS DEVELOPMENT FINANCE.”

I strongly believe in marketing Australia. And if we operate co-
operatively and collectively, then I think it will work out best for
the industry overall.

But by working collectively, m[...]d in NSW leave for some other state?

It depends. I’d like the capability not to lose projects developed
in NSW which should stay here. There are projects which were
created in the minds of the filmmakers with the specific intention

GLORIA (REBECCA GIBNEY) IN[...]ht develop projects which
will be made elsewhere. The last thing I would want to happen
is a film be constrained to being produced in NSW, when that is
not where it ought to be produced. The first priority is what is
right for the film.

We have co-operative relationships with every state film
agency and the AFC. Philosophically, it reinforces that Austral-[...]ct might be too expensive for NSW but, if you
can get Film Vic to tip in half, it works and the filmmaker is
happy. Mzxtric/‘l’s Wedding is a[...]ng it with WA, it’s probably of necessity going
to be shot in Western Australia. I can be comfortable with that,
sitting here as I am in Sydney, because so much post—production
is done here and so much of the crewing happens out of Sydney
or Melbourne.

Queensland has offered and enticed producers to relocate. Has
this been significant enough to affect production here?

I’d have to say “No.” I don’t know how many producers have
actually tak[...]olosimo and Jonathan Shiff.

It is a clever thing to do from a strategic point of view. The
Studios could have been a white elephant, but the[...]urned into something which can act as a catalyst. The next thing
is to start generating your own Queensland films. You need
resident producers to be able to do that, so relocation makes
sense. I am not sure if it has actually worked, but I understand the
rationale.

AsIA INITIATIVES

What plans do you have in relation to South East Asia? Is it
worthwhile attracti[...]

I don’t know if it can be done on a regional basis. At the end of
the day, it comes down to the project, and the creative people you
are dealing with.

Export Fil[...]ralia [EFSA], which is this child
of AUSTRADE and the NSWFTO, happened a few years back
when I was sitting here working out how to attract off-shore
production to NSW. I came across two guys in AUSTRADE who
had been doi[...]e interested in
doing film. So, we got together.

I maintained from the start that, if we were going to do it, it
should be on an Australia—wide basis.[...]urse, represent-
ing a federal agency, were happy to accept that. Now I am happy
to say, after a year or so, we have all the other states on board.

Last year, we kicked that off with AUSTRADE in Los Angeles
at the Location Expo and American Film Market. That was[...]es as an off-shore produc-
tion base, represented at the time by NSW and Queensland. It
was part of a thre[...]USTRADE in Los Angeles. AUSTRADE money comes from the
posts, not from Canberra.

The second cab off the tank was Japan. AUSTRADE Japan,
seeing how successful the programme was in Los Angeles,
decided they would[...]and Australia.

We kicked that off with a seminar at the Australian Embassy
in Tokyo on 12 November last year, which was launched by
Senator Cook, the then Federal Minister for Trade. A number of
us w[...]ities and what we were on about.

As you can see, the strategies differ as to working with
different countries and their particular industries. In the case of
North America, we can legitimately go out there and say, “If you
want to come on down with your fully—financed productio[...]ou are very welcome.
Just don’t abuse us or try to override us. I’d rather not make
Sydney look like Seattle, but[...]that can benefit
by being made in Australia, then why not.”

Japan I see differently. I don’t see that we just say “Bring your
fully—financed production down to Australia.” That’s not the
way they are going to operate.

Japan is interested in having a greater role in the international
film industry, and it sees as one of the characteristics for that the
English language. It recognizes that we have a proud industry of
our own, as do the Japanese, and that we are efficient and
economical. There is an opportunity there.

I think the relationship with the Japanese will not just be
financial, it will be a[...]say that, you are
immediately saying it is going to depend on the project.

We have been involved with a tele—feature called Crime Broker
and, to a lesser extent, The Seventh Floor. These are both part of
a tripartit[...]nd John Sexton and Network Ten out of Australia.

I had real apprehension about Crime Broker. I thought, “By
the time we take on board all the Cultural differences and
requirements of all of these parties, we are going to get down to
such a lowest common denominator. Do we really want to get
involved in this?”

‘28 . CINEMA PAPERS 100

What in fact happened was that the input that came from each
of those countries actually enhanced the tele—feature, rather than
detracting from it. Chris Brown at Portmans and I-Iiroyuki Ikeda
at Sogovision are very talented, creative people. They brought to
the project rather than taking away.

It sounds like[...]East Asia?

South East Asia doesn’t mean a lot to me other than Japan at this
stage. I know there is a lot of interest in Indonesia and Korea. I
share that interest, but I don’t know enough about their indus-
tries to have developed a View on what to do.

What I can say is that I am concerned that we came late to
South East Asia. It bothers me that, having ignor[...]k on relationships with their film industries for the past 15
years, all ofa sudden it suits us, for commercial or other strategic
reasons, to say, “Oh, remember us. Sorry.”

That’s why about three years ago, through John McQuaid,
who works in the Office and is a great Asiaphile with enormous
res[...]Asia, we re—activated our role as a
country in the Asia—Pacific Film Festival. It has fourteen mem[...]y year.

In 1993, it was held in Fukoka in Japan, the year before in
Seoul and the year before that in Taipei. This year it is going to
be in Sydney. We bid for it a couple of years back, and my
rationale for doing that was that we ought to back up our new-
found commercial interest with some sort ofcultural bona fides.
One way of doing this is the Asia—Pacific Film Festival.

I-Iappily, we have now the support of the Australian Film
Commission and SPAA. I understand the Prime Minister, con-
sistent with his Asia agenda, has accepted an invitation to be
involved as well.

The Festival is a good start and is an example of how we need
to balance up, on a daily basis, the cultural with the commercial.

One aspect ofthe Asia—Pacific coun[...]ies are actually quite self—sufficient.

Again, I am not expert in the areas of marketing and distribution,
but, yes, I would be very surprised to find a big market growth
in Australia for Indonesian and Korean films.

On the other hand, we are looking at a region which economi-
cally is growing at 10% per annum. I am told that is going to lead
to growth in the middle—classes, who are going to have an
increasing desire for “Western” material. In this area, there may
well be a role for Australia to play in the production and/or co-
production of Western film and television productions.

Technologically, I think we have a lot to offer. Again, depend-
ing on the region or country, they may produce hundreds of films
per annum, but the quality of the films is not very high by world
standards. I think associations with Australia can advantage them.

STUDIO

When John Morris was at the NSWFTO, there was talk of
establishing a studio. Is this still on the cards?

M
CONTINUES ON PAGE 81

.,.w;,_,.4 _

. I‘: i , e ives ofthree

people will change dramatically

dIon’t look back”, as the pre-

publicity has it. Scripted by
direc[...]

by leilani Hannah and
Raffaele Caputo

This interview can be considered an adjunct

to the one with Geoffrey Burton published in the
previous issue of ‘Cinema Papers’ (No. 99), i[...]rector of photography. Here, Burton discusses

‘The Sum of Us’, his first feature as (co-)director, and a
long-cherished project, ‘The Songlines’, an adaptation
of Bruce Chatwin’s book of the same name.‘

30 - CINEMA PAPERS 100

The Songlines is Chatwin’s account of a journey thr[...]sible pathways of ritual journeys which
have sung the world into existence.

The Sum of Us is based on a highly—successful stage[...]ision
and feature director, whose credits include The Clinic (1 983), “Un-
dercover” (1984), and A[...]),
which he also wrote. He now lives and works in the U.S.

Geoff Burton: There are autobiographical elements in The Sum
of Us: characters who are like people David g[...]g gay man living
and growing up in Footscray. But the actual story is not David’s

story per se.

LEF[...]RUSSELL CRDWEI. GEOFF BURTON AND
KEVIN UDWI.|NG'S THE SUM OF US. ABOVE: C0-DIRECTORS GEOFF BURTON AND KEVIN DCIWLING.

The play was staged in Australia in 1988 as part of the
Bicentennial theatre effort, with the Sydney Theatre Company. It
was in a period leading up to the Mardi Gras, when there were a
lot of gay activiti[...]This, in a sense, spelt its death—kneIl
because the bulk of theatregoers dismissed it as being a gay event.

I was shooting a film in Asia at the time and, although I knew
about the play, I didn’t see it. The local production was report-
edly very good, but[...]d a few
performances and, although people thought the play was inter-
esting, it didn’t go much further. It wasn’t until the play opened
off-Broadway that it really took off and ran for more than a year.
Kevin Dowling, who directed the play for its New York release,
is now my co-director of the film version.

Is Dowling in the same position as you: someone who hadn’t
direct[...]ears.

When [producer] Hal McElroy was attempting to set up the
project, and he was negotiating with David Stevens about adapt-
ing it, David said, “You must get Kevin to direct it. He has just
done this fantastic version of it and it really works.” That’s how
Kevin came to be involved.

One of the main reasons Hal decided to set it up as a co-
directing exercise is because[...]f working with actors.
That’s not exactly true, I have worked with actors for more than
thirty year[...]a level of generating and assessing
performance.

The whole process of co—directing has been very interesting
because, early on, Kevin and I discussed how the relationship
could be productive, non-comp[...]

I must say, I’ve been involved in a couple of co-directing
ve[...]ocumentaries. They have worked out very well, but
at various stages during the process there was some tension.
Consequently, I was keen not to go into this project unless I felt
confident about the potential working relationship between
Kevin and[...]is relationship really work is that
we approached the project on a genuine co—work basis: we
resisted the idea of breaking the functions into what one would
normally expect to be the relative work strengths of each person.
In other words, the most obvious thing to say is, “Well, you are
a cinematographer. You’ve done thirty pictures and you know
how to work coverage; look after the camera and where to point
it. Kevin, on the other hand, knows nothing about the technical
side, but has worked with actors for years and years; let him work
with the actors.” That would be the most obvious demarcation,
and under some situations that could work.

I’ve done shorter films with Rodney Fisher, inclu[...]those sort of relationships, one is
really happy to take on a greater work load as a technical
cinematographer. But on The Sum of Us, Kevin and I were very
keen this wouldn’t be the case. As a result, we smudged those
lines as much as we could, and I contributed to getting the
performances out ofthe actors, making decisions about perform-
ances and assessing the dramatic value and level of each scene.
The same with Kevin, who also contributed enormously his ideas
about the way the film should be shot. Obviously, because of our
re[...]one side we often made silly
mistakes. But often the strength ofthe relationship would pick up
on thos[...]doing
it; let’s do it this way.” That’s how the pre—production, rehears-
ing and shooting worked.

In the editing, on the other hand, the co-directing decisions

32 - CINEMA PAPERS 100

w[...]denburg, who provided a good centre-road approach
to the film. He is the one who probably generated more creativity
than either of us here. Kevin and I were in more of an assessing
capacity of what the editor was doing, rather than laying down
rules and saying, “Well, in my last picture I did a montage and it
worked brilliantly.” That was not the way we were working
because it was not what our e[...]ed.

But given that Kevin is more stage-bound, so to speak, he would
still have been relying on you te[...]He was
quite surprised by all of it, and also by the translation of perform-
ance to film. Often, material that he had been really wor[...]brilliantly on film, and vice versa. It had a lot to do with
the actors’ relationship with the camera, of course, and the way
they had been photographed ~ those subtle nuances which you
mightn’t see offthe video split or in the flesh but on a fifty—foot wide
screen are very apparent. In this sense, I believe Kevin experienced
more new things from the editing than I did.

The greatest thing I picked during the editing is the signifi-
cance of attempting to maintain an emotional flow within, say,
one long[...]hat
has been enormously interesting.

How did you get to know Kevin Dowling well enough to decide
that it would be fine to work with him?

It was very difficult at first, because we had a short time in which
to establish a working relationship. We were also in different
countries. In fact, it was during the production of Sirens (John
Duigan, 1994) when I started talking with Kevin via long-distance
telephone. Then the producers wisely brought him to Australia six
months before we started shooting
in order to meet me, work out the
basis ofour collaboration,and to do
some preliminary casting. But it was
well into[...]orking out
our common goals and traits.

Although I am older than Kevin,
we both came through a similar pe-
riod of history. We had the same
ideas of protest, a similar attitude
toward the 1 9605 and 705. We largely
share the same tastes in music and
film. So, already we wer[...]out-and-out
New Yorker, he says what he feels
all the time, and very succinctly.
There is never any doubt as to what
Kevin means, and it’s a great at-
tribute New Yorkers have more
than any other race. I say “race”
advisedly, because New Yorkers are

In the end, I don’t think one can really make rules about any
creative collaboration. Years ago I was involved in a film
company called Artists Productions. The three principals were
Pat Lovell, Tom Haydon and[...], was an extraordinary documentary filmmaker whom I had
known since the very beginning. We made The Last Tasmanian
(1978) together. We had a great co[...]ear and trepidation, angst and
conflict. This was the way Tom loved to work. We were the
greatest of friends, but every shot was fought ov[...]argument. His attitude was that conflict
produced the best result. Some people still feel that way, I don’t.
I defiantly oppose this way of working because not only do I
believe it is wrong, it’s also a dreadful way to have to live. But
there are still directors who believe conflict produces the best
results, and so you can’t lay down rules. It really depends on the
attitudes and values of the individuals involved.

Is The Sum of Us a step toward fulfilling a long-time directing
ambition?

Yes. I have always wanted to direct, and ifthe industry had been
bigger when I joined, film direction would have been the track I
headed down. As it was, there were very few films being made
and very few opportunities to direct pictures, unless you made

FACING PAGE: PU[...]OLSON).
LEFT: JOYCE (DEBORAH KENNEDY) AND HARRY.

THE SUM UFUS.

your own shorts, which we all did at that time. Professional
opportunities were much less and cinematography was an easier
track to take. I’m talking about the film industry of 32 years ago,
which I realized with alarm the other day. In fact, at that time,
there were no features being made, except an occasional part-
foreign film like the adaptation of Nino Culotta’s They’re 51

Weir[...]ematography your second choice then?

Yes, except I was never in a career situation where I could say,
“Okay, I am not directing, I’ll take cinematography because
that’s my second choice.” I wanted to make films, and I still
regard myself as a filmmaker rather than a cinematographer. I
think it remains important to smudge those demarcations. As
technology becomes easier and easier to manipulate, in future
those functions are going to become much more integrated. I am
just a filmmaker who has spent most ofmy caree[...]you always had this approach, which is different to most
cinematographers?

Yes, and I suppose it is different. I never planned a career in
cinematography and said to myself, “I’m going to operate for ten
years and then go on up the ladder.”

Instead, the story, ideas or world View has been the most
important aspect to how you approach a film, rather than your
working out an individual style?

Yes, and I think everybody should feel this way. Ithe photographing of films. This is
perhaps different to conventional cinematographers, where they
are quite often looking for a chance to explore a particular style,
or illustrate a way of shooting they have wanted to pursue, or see
as reflecting their own style.

There is a great trap in this approach, and I think it has been
a trap that has often been fallen into in Australian cinema. The
cinematography has resulted in work which is basically inappro-
priate to the film. There are hundreds of films, and we sh0uldn’t
run through titles, where it is easy to see that the cinematography
is just detracting and/or distracting from the script’s and direc-
tor’s intent. It is not done maliciously, it’s just that the cinema-
tographer is not saying to him— or herself, “I must find a way of
photographing this film which is first and foremost totally
appropriate to what this film is about.” I don’t think this is done
often enough. It has been my philosophy in shooting films, and
it’s probably why I spend more time with the script and the
director before shooting starts.

THE SONGLINES

Is the notion of landscape-as-character your attraction to Bruce
Chatwin’s The Songlines?

Very much so. The Sorzglines is fascinating because it’s not just
the landscape as a playing field for actors, as it is[...]f other
films. One example is a children’s film I did years ago called
Storm Boy (Henri Safran, 1976). At times, the landscape had to
change from being totally deadly and alienating to a place of
almost nirvana-like enlightenme[...]

the same stretch of sand and water. You had to manipulate the
light, filtration and everything else to give the landscape its
different role. That is one use of landscape.

What is more interesting is when you give the landscape some
sort of mystical significance in its role. We attempted this and
largely failed in The Year 1\/Iy Voice Bro1ae(]ohn Duigan, 1987).
Although the landscape of the hill is a haven for Danny (Noah
Taylor) and Freya[...]and becomes a safe place
when they are away from the urban tensions of the town, we
actually wanted to make the landscape much more at one with
the kids. It wasn’t just a question of them feeling comfortable, but
for them to actually gain a strength from the land, from the hill,
and from the cloudscapes that went past. This is something which
is very hard to do and still keep a narrative going.

There are elements of mysticism in the film, like Danny’s
attempts to telepathically communicate with Freya, and the fact
they draw stars together. We staged major moments of aware-
ness and enlightenment which actually give the hill a certain
importance in their lives. However, even though I think the film
is very successful and gratifying, and I am pleased with it in the
sense that the cinematography is suitable and appropriate, I
would have liked to have linked the landscape closer to Danny
and Freya. That was difficult to do because we would have had
to illustrate other people being less comfortable in that land-
scape. \Ve were compromised by the fact that people weren’t
uncomfortable, that the little old lady who lived in the house with
the pianola was clearly and perfectly at home in that landscape.
In fact, she was a sort of mystical character as well, and she drew
the same sort of comfort the kids drew from the landscape.

There was a lot to do with The Year My Voice Bro/ee which
generated my interest in The Song/zines. It is an opportunity to use
landscape as a much stronger player because of the Aboriginal
association with land. For Aborigines, land is the essence ofall life.

In white culture, you might make a film about the presence of
a God, or a relationship between a man and a God. \We do it in
films all the time, once we identify the God. \We can make it work
because, although in wh[...]forms,
there is a God—head. Yet, by and large, the relationship is pretty
hard to define.

Now, this is extraordinarily simplistic but from my under-
standing of Aboriginal culture the relationship is much easier to
define. It has to do with their relationship to land. But if the land/
Aboriginal equation is like the white man/God—head, the parallel
will become very hard to define on film, hard to make any sort
of drama out of, and hard to visualize.

It is difficult for white society to understand, but, in the case
ofAboriginal culture, the relationship with land is not so difficult
becaus[...]everything they do,
there is a consciousness with the mysticism ofthe land. The land
is what drives their life and what drives their death. So, in The
Song/zines we are basically attempting to illustrate the conscious-
ness and mysticism of the land.

For instance, a woman may be out hunting a[...]or through her vagina, a spirit will
come up from the land and she’ll become pregnant. A child will
be conceived and born from the land, and usually she doesn’t
know about this until the foetus starts to move. At the point the
foetus moves, she is aware she is pregnant, and the spot becomes
the child’s conception site. The conception site remains the

34 - CINEMA PAPERS 100

child’s sacred site for all of his or her life. It is identified by the
elders and a tjuringa will be placed there for the child, or taken
from there and put in a tjuringa store house. There is just no
parallel to this in white culture or society.

A writer who springs to mind as a parallel to The Songlines is D.
H. Lawrence and Kangaroo, though, given the description you’ve
just offered, a comparison seems somewhat ridiculous, because
in Lawrence the land is something indecipherable.

A parallel wit[...]silly as you might now think.
He doesn’t pursue the same mystical track that Chatwin does, but
in the sense of Lawrence being a foreigner in a new land the
parallel is pretty exact. I think with Kangaroo Lawrence brings
a perception[...]an only be that of a foreigner, as
does Chatwin.

I’ve not had much to do with Lawrence in the sense that I’ve
not done any research on him. But in pursuing research for the
Chatwin film I’ve discovered that the attitudes of people toward
Bruce Chatwin are so p[...]from
other writers. They either admire and adore the idea of the
different view he brings, or they violently rejec[...]it. This is also true of academics and
people in the Centre, whom Chatwin wrote about in the book.

In Alice Springs society, you are not real[...]er produce a book which in world terms has
become the definitive book about Aboriginal culture and white
Australia. But then there are the few who say “Hey, yeah, he is
right. i\/laybe it’s okay to come and make these observations”.

1 think Lawrence was reacted to in the same way, because there
are a lot of cultural pur[...]s BeDevil (Tracey Moffatt, 1993) prepared you for
The Songlines?

Every experience I am able to have working with Aboriginal
people, culture and ideas is a worthwhile contribution to what I
hope to do with The Songlines.

It’s interesting that whenever I’m involved with urban Abo-
rigines, which I try to be as often as I can, I am constantly
reminded of my obligations as a white filmmaker to allow the
right amount of contribution from Aboriginal people. In fact, I
seek out their contribution because, by and large, they have an
enormous amount to say. Usually it is stuff you take for granted
and[...]ou
just never think about.

It was in 1988 during the Bicentennial year when I had just
heard about The Songlines and was really attracted to it. There
was a germ of an idea that this was something I should pursue,
largely because at the root of it all Sharon Bell3, who is an
anthropologist and anthropological filmmaker, and I were quite
keen to make a documentary film about Professor [T[...]

4/4 5 .
/ .

Internationally, the AFC promotes Australian programs and
filmm[...]

Samson Films is one of the oldest production
companies to emerge in the NSW film industry since the
late 1960s revival. It was formed by Tom Jeffrey in 1968

with a friend, Sam Leon. They were floor managers at the
ABC at the time and had dreams of producing and directing
feature films. Leon subsequently left the ABC and the indus-
try, and the company sat dormant until Sue Milliken, who
worked at the ABC as a continuity person, met Jeffrey.

The first thing Milliken and Jeffrey did through Samson
Productions was manage the filming of ‘Born To Run’ (Don
Chaffey, 1976), a television “movie of the week” which
Disney in the U.S. had decided to shoot in Australia.

This was not the first time Disney had brought a prod-
uction over: ‘Born to Run’ followed ‘Ride the Wild Pony’
(Don Chaffey, 1975), on which Millik[...]as a production manager.

36 - CINEMA PAPERS 100

The cash—flow from Born to Run enabled Samson to set-up
offices in the Sydney suburb of Pyrmont, where it has existed to
this day. Its first Australian production was Wee[...]ed as associate producer, because
Samson produced the film in conjunction with the South Austral-
ian Film Corporation (SAFC). The Odd Angry S/Jot (Jeffrey)
soon followed in 1979.[...]oducer was
an extension of her skills in managing the Australian branch of
the completion bond company, Film Finances. But, in fact, it’s
the other way around: her role as a producer gave her the
necessary skills to be a completion guarantor, which is perhaps
one of the reasons why the company is the most successful such
operation in Australia.

Milliken began to manage the Australian end in 1980, really
as a one—off venture, when the compar1y’s principal, Richard
Symes, asked her to represent Film Finances on Richard Franklin’s
Roadgames (1981). Soon after, the 1OBA legislation came into
effect and the film industry went into a production frenzy. While
no formal arrangement was made, Milliken continued to look
after the business of Film Finances, while at the same time
developing projects with Jeffrey[...]

Back (Michael Caulfield, 1983) with[...]se she was
working full—time for Film Finances. The company is
still managed by Samson, through an informal ar-
rangement.

The success of Film Finances can be attributed to a
combination of Richard Symes and the fact that the
people running the Australian operations, principally
Milliken, are[...]is a unique individual. He has visited
Australia at least twice a year, every year, for the past

12 or 13 years Film Finances have been work[...]OI1 8 FILMING WEEKEND 0FSHAl70WS(TOMJeFFREY,197B),THE mist SEVLFGENEHATED SAMSON FILMS PRODUCTION.
hand[...]IKEN WAS ASSOCIATE PRODUCER.

Whether it is me or the people I’ve employed to run the

day-to-day business, we always try to put ourselves in the position AUS]'RA|_|AN |'-'||_M COMM|sS|0N

ofthe filmmaker. We try to contribute to the production, rather than

be a kind of policeman W[...]s are” In December 1993, Milliken was appointed the new chair of the
PVC tried hard never to let the standards slip, and I don’t think Australian Film C0mmi55i0H for 3 thr€C"Y‘331' terms replacing
they ever have. We’re as fresh and enthusiastic about doing the Wfit€f'dif€CF0F Cl'11'i5 N0O1'13f1-
right thing by the filmmakers as we were when we started in 1980. For many years, industry people have felt the need for filmmak-
That is one of the reasons Film Finances works, plus the fact that ers to have direct responsibility in the development and running of
we have paid out whenever we have been called on. In 15 years, the industry. The trend started long before Milliken took up the
l nobody has ever waited for their money. I think that Counts. position, and now Virtually all the commissioners are practition-

ers. These include: Robert Campbell, managing di-

THE UDD ANGRY SHDTITOM JEFFREY. 1579), WHICH MILLIKEN PRODUCED (WITH JEFFREY].

rector of the Seven Network; scriptwriter Laura
Jones; casting[...]utive Cathy
Robinson. Though not practitioners in the strict
sense, the other members of the AFC board are
Professor Stuart Cunningham of Quee[...]y of Technology, and chair and chief executive
of the Bank of Melbourne, Christopher Stewart.

For Cinema Papers’ 20th Anniversary issue,
Milliken wrote:

The culture of disdain so long embedded in the
bureaucracy’s attitude to filmmakers is, happily,
becoming a thing of the past. The staff of the
government agencies these days pretty much see
themselves as part ofthe team, as partners with the
filmmakers in the process.

Thus, perhaps one question that immediately
comes to mind has to do with the reconciliation of

Milliken’s role withi[...]

I am very conscious of the concerns of people outside NS\V about
getting a fair deal from the AFC. It’s an issue continually in mind
when discussing policy.

Something I’d like to get around to this year is talk to everybody
in the other states, get a dialogue going and let people feel that it’s
their AFC as well as ours. They have the same access and right to
the AFC, and they have to really overcome geography.

Geography is a strong[...]ons, as one might expect, but in terms of
juicing the advantages each state can offer as a way of overcoming
geographical limitations. This is especially the case in regard to the
film industry in WA, and, to a lesser extent, that ofSouth Australia.
With Que[...]ilmmaking activity now moves steadily
up and down the eastern seaboard.

From a political point of view, Milliken maintains
that the integrity ofstate—by—state industries should[...]in
terms of competing for production. Milliken:

The way to get state support is, of course, to talk up
your own state with your own state government,
which I believe everybody has been fairly successful in
doing. The states are all different, and we have all got
so much to offer.

I’ve produced films in Queensland and South Aus-
tralia, as well as in NSW. As a producer, even if I am
hoping I can make a film within two blocks of Bondi
Beach, I’ll look for the location that best suits the
project.

But we are still the same one industry and we have
still got to come together and present ourselves feder-
ally, and to the rest of the world, as one industry.

38 - CINEMA PAPERS 100[...]RODUCTIONS

One problem area cited by Milliken in the 20th Anni-
versary issue of Cinema Papers is “the squeezing of
budgets in the $3 to $4 million range”. Producers of
Milliken’s stature have no objection to working on
low-budget films with first—time directors, but find
they cannot due to fees and overheads. If a producer
like Milliken is going to take on smaller—budgeted
films, then she is going to need other things going at the
same time to pay the overheads necessary to keep the
whole show on the road.

In this kind of scenario, a co—production deal tends
to be the way to go. Milliken’s last two pictures, Black
Robe (l[...]ced as co—productions. Milliken:

Black Robe is the first official feature film co—production betwe[...]Canada. It is not a 100% Australian film, but all the
Australian money went on the Australian elements, and Australia
made a major creative contribution both on the screen and in
p0$t—pr0duction.

With Sirens, we simply wouldn’t have been able to make the
film without British Screen money. We had a really tough time
putting the money together. As it happened, the film was shot
here, and it’s the most Australian film you’ll ever see, but it was
post—produced in England. I would have much rather post-
produced it here, because I live here and because it’s a post-
production environment that I know.

If there were a way of financing films at that level, without
doing any deals that had obligations to them, I’d do it. But it was
an interesting experience working over there. and I’ve learnt from
it. Hopefully, I can impart that experience.

The co—production deal, however, is somewhat controversial.
Nlany feel the reputation of the film industry in this country lies
within the low—to—mediuin-budget range, and, ifa co—production
trend picks up full steam, then the area likely to lose out is that
of development and skill[...]

Rather than take on a high[...]-budget stance, what is
important for Milliken is to encourage and maintain a good level
of infrastructural support within the low—to—medium—budget
activity, particularly as a way of developing the role of the
producer in both creative and entrepreneurial cap[...]re associated with their productions. People
have to make their own way and it’s good for young producers to
have access to experienced filmmakers.

There is a tremendous infrastructure now through the Austral-
ian Film, Television & Radio School, the AFC and all the various
other interlocking elements of the industry. This simply didn’t
exist even ten yea[...]of
experience without being weighed down by it.

I’m all for people getting out there and doing it. Find a team and
go at it. Make some mistakes but do something interesting. And
then do it again.

NEW SOUTH WALES

Having the greater share of overall production activity, NSW can
safely claim to be the centre of the film industry. In whatever way
the NSW industry is affected, then it is a fair gauge for the whole
film industry.

During the 1992-93 period, there was a slump in production
i[...]result of that healthy
infrastructure. Milliken:

I think the NSW industry is in the best shape it has been for a long
time, certainly since the days of the ’80s, when there was a lot of
money around.

The NSW Film 8c Television Office is an extremely—s[...]does stuff.
NSW also has a terrific Minister for the Arts, Peter Collins, who
is very supportive. The NSW industry has worked hard to find
support, and it has certainly got the support back at a state level.

In relation to the role and future of NSW, Milliken feels
optimistic about the future of the Australian film industry
generally, with films being made at all sorts of levels, and from
different voices within the filmmaking community. Two of the
emerging voices are to do with women and with multi-culturalism,
especially with regard to indigenous people. Milliken:

Women are well on their way to finding their voice, and I think
the next one is going to be the Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander
people. The enthusiasm and energy with which they are now
approaching the visual medium is, I think, going to stun every-
body in a few years’ time.

At one graduation ceremony at the AFTRS for a six—month
training course, where 20[...]l Torres Strait Islanders
started and 14 finished the course, I watched these gorgeous kids
who have so much enthusiasm, talent and energy. The course was
a tremendous success, and the next stage is to see that they find
some work and experience to build on.

Interesting contemporary films are bei[...]irky and idiosyncratic about our society. We
seem to be finding a national style — not ‘style’, because the
country is too different to ever have a total style — but we do seem
to be finding our new ‘voices’. I

1994 Australian
Movie Convention

Wednesday August 17 to Saturday August 20 1994
ANA Hotel Gold Coast, Surfers Paradise, Australia
the 49th Gala Event hosted by the

Motion Picture Exhibitors’ Association of Quee[...]tional, Inc

75' Guest Speakers from all areas of the movie
industry and allied trades it Important business
sessions highlighting the latest production trends and
major developments ii} Special times for Trade
contact and in-depth discussion at Display Booths . . .
Video presentations . . . Ho[...]140.00; Saturday $140.00

(N.B. ‘ Tax Deduction to industry members in current tax year if paid
prior to 30th June 1994; " Registrations close on 10th August 1994 and
No registrations will be accepted at the Convention)

SPECIAL AIRFARE PACKAGES WITHIN
AUST[...]TE THIS SECTION ONLY IF YOU REQUIRE
ACCOMMODATION AT THE
ANA HOTEL SURFERS PARADISE

( ) Standard room - s[...]ation fees)
Please detach and return this section to Mrs P Parker,

Motion Picture Exhibitors’ Assoc[...]AFFORD CITY QLD 4053 with your registration fees.
Phone: (07) 356 5671, Fax: (07) 832 2197

CINEMA[...]

that explores the plight ofordinary, powerless individuals against
the anonymous face ofpolitical and social bureaucracies. This is
especially so with A Street to Die (1985), and his celebrated
second feature, Backlash (1986), which was scripted with his cast
on a day-to—day basis while on location.

Bennett’s backg[...]vious, conceptual and practical
stepping stone in the development of his thematic and stylistic
concern[...]writing
experiences and his filmmaking. Bennett:

I’m interested in people: what people do, the way they treat each
other, the way we live our lives and how those lives are cha[...]a very short and concentrated
period of time, was to throw myself into other people’s lives and
to gather very quickly a wide cross—section of exp[...]espectively— were never
theatrically released.

At face value, it would appear that after the theatrical disap-
pointments of Dear Cardholder a[...]d. Spider 6'3“
Rose, which recently screened in the Marché at the Cannes Film
Festival, marks his return.

Not unli[...]bout Rose (Ruth Cracknell),
who has lost her will to live after the death of her husband, and
Spider (Simon Bossell),[...]een greatly affected by dealing with death. Where the old

42 - CINEMA PAPERS 100

LEFT: WRITER-DIRECTO[...]ENI AND ROSE. SP/DER& ROSE.

lady basically wants to die, the young man wants to
live, and they both have quite definite pre-conceptions
about each other.

The two have been thrown together when Rose
requires an ambulance transfer to her son’s property in
the country, and Spider, on his last day and near the
end of his shift, is the one pressed upon to perform the
task. Bennett:

What this film is about I think is the foolishness ofmaking
assumptions about people. lt[...]judiced towards
him as he is towards her. But all the way through the film,
they meet people and they think they know them, but in
fact find out that they don’t.

I really think we shouldn’t judge people. Often t[...]th than we realize, and in absolute
contradiction to the way they look or apparently behave.

As we approach the turn of the millennium, we are
moving towards, or we have been forced to move to-
wards, a much more integrated society. Immigration is
going to become a very big issue; we are going to have to live very
closely with different cultures. Already schisms are happening
because people have an inability to actually confront that fact.
\X/hat they are really talking about is fear.

That analysis is apt in terms of the European scenario, the
migrating patterns of displaced populations which[...]Spider C9’ Rose is a very positive film about the fact that you must
never accept your lot in life. People will always try to put you
down, they will always try to shackle you, whether it’s because
you are an ol[...]e you are a young person and
you’re not allowed to do this. This is a film which says you must
follow your heart. You must never lose the life force that’s within
all of us, because that life force is going to enable us to overcome
most things.

Again, at face value, the film appears to mark a somewhat
obstinate return to the concerns of Bennett’s earlier work. But

to this film as being part of my apprenticeship. If[...]This is an unusual proposition given that, within the filmmaking
community, Bennett is recognized as having developed his own
very distinctive style and voice. The long hiatus was actually
spent working through 13 drafts of the screenplay, which obvi-
ously leaves little room for improvisation, a practice once so
central to Bennett in terms ofscripting and the performance of his
actors. Bennett:

The reason I haven’t made a film for so long is because I decided
that the period of my working life which involved films like
Backlash and Malpractice was over. At that stage, improvisation
was important, and it was something I wanted to explore, having
come out of documentary. It had a[...]too staid. With Malpractice,
Backlash and so on, I really wanted to try to capture “truth”.
Spider 57‘ Rose is not lik[...]shoot and there is very little
that is made up on the day. All of the film has been very carefully

thought through.

W[...]tightly-controlled and precise way
meant securing the right amount of money, the right amount of
time, and the right people behind it. In the past, Bennett has not
only written and directed,[...]hon effort, he could

never quite free himself up to concern himselfcompletely with the
creative endeavour of making a film. Bennett:

I felt that I started to get tired of not having a proper crew and not
being able to have time to figure out how to use cinema. I love
cinema and this is the first time I’ve ever really been given the

opportunity to explore my love of it.

Moreover, Bennett’s desire to explore the possibilities of
cinema was also fuelled by the dissatisfactions of the small
audience appeal of his earlier films.

Ultimately, my aim is to be able to tell stories that a large number

of people can see. It occurred to me that if I kept going down a
Malpractice or Backlash vein, I’d always be stuck in small art-

houses. I would like to be in a position where my stories are
disseminated by a wide audience, and the way to do that is by
using the medium to the full extent.

Essentially, for Bennett this meant bringing a support-
ive producer to his side, rather than once again wearing
the producer’s hat. Thus, in a scenario that can be[...]a virgin” experience, Spider
(7 Rose also marks the producing debut for Dendy
Cinema principals Lyn McCarthy and Graeme
Tubbenhauer.

The basis of the association between Bennett and
Dendy was forged[...]Bennett met up with McCarthy several years
later at an opportune time: Bennett was working on the
script while McCarthy and Tubbenhauer were feeling the
need to move into production, and were looking for
something to produce. After having read the script, it was
the combination of comedy and pathos that, from a
“[...]ealed McCarthy
and Tubbenhauer’s involvement in the project. McCarthy:

If you want to look at it from a commercial point of view,
we’ve had a lot of successes with that kind of film. I read that
combination and I saw bucks: make ’em laugh, make ’em cry and
m[...]benhauer made a bold and
brash move in attempting to have the film made as a co-
production with Zenith in London. From an international distri-
bution perspective, the co—production attempt was one of two
options: taking the easy road by securing a well—known English
actor for the role of Rose, or deciding on the tougher road with
a local talent. The latter option was finally settled upon. McCarthy:

We spent a couple of weeks in London trying to cast it and, after
that process, we actually realized the best person for the role was
Ruth Cracknell.

Now, our overseas distributors said, ‘Couldn’t we put the
absolute best person in, but someone whom we all know.’ That
would have been fine if we could find the person. But there is a lot
of risk-taking in the role: she does nudity, and it’s very emotion-
a[...]here were not many 60—plus actresses who wanted to
do it and some agents wouldn’t even show their clients the script.

At the end of the day, we said, ‘Okay, we know it’s going to be
a tough call, but it’s going to be an all-Australian movie.’

Zenith pulled out, but another opportune moment arose when
the Film Finance Corporation undertook changes to the Film
Fund in 1992. McCarthy:

I think the Film Finance Corporation got its act together by
realizing that they shouldn’t treat the Film Fund like a chook-
raffle and ‘best of bad lot wins’. They have to say to people,
‘Develop this script further and then come back to us’.

We say this all the time, because Graeme and I are in no rush. We
don’t need the money. We just want to make the best movies we can.

Bennett believes having McCa[...]iven him more creative freedom and more resources to
explore his role as a filmmaker. Bennett:

Right from the start, they have encouraged me to be very bold.
They gave me a creative brief, if you like, to really go for it, which
is a terrifying prospect for a filmmaker, because you have no
excuses to hide behind.

CINEMA PAPERS 100 . 43

L[...]me, but also because they have an
overview which at times I don’t have.

McCarthy adds:

We have a really good division of labour because Graeme and I
don’t want to be directors. We are happy to be producers; we find
it really creative.

At the same time, it was very important for us to have the right
script and the right director to work with, because all else follows.
If you know that on a personal level you have the same attitudes
about life, if you get on together, and that all of us are heading in
the right direction, then any little bumps along the way are just that.

Tubbenhauer:

I can also say as a exhibitor—distributor that the whole experience
has been incredibly rewarding for me. Up until this time, I hadn’t
been on a film shoot before. I have learnt an incredible amount
and, each time I now see a film, I will be looking at it slightly
differently from this experience. I can really see the process now.

All those behind Spider 6” Rose set out to make it very
adventurous looking. McCarthy, for one, wanted to see the $3.4
million up there on the screen. In part as a result, it has been shot
in Super 35 and is going to be projected in anamorphic.

Bennett is extremely[...]ed enormously and
it has been an association that I have found very rewarding. I hope
it will continue over future films.

I went to Andrew with some ideas in terms of the overall look.
I was really taken with an American stills photographer, William
Eggleston, who shoots a lot in the southern states of America,
Louisiana and so on. His photographs have a very distinct look
in that the colour is very complex. Andrew and I spent hours
perusing these photographs, trying to break down the effects he
achieved. We then did extensive camera tests with various filter
packs to try and get a look that would not be copying that, but
would[...]hich would ultimately link thematically with what the film was
saying. There is no point in doing all t[...]if
it’s just there for its own purpose. It has to link in narratively and
thematically.

I basically wanted the film to play stylistically against the script.
The script reads as a kind of pastoral story, but I wanted it to be
shot in a very urban, gritty, confrontational[...]emblance of elegance. It’s a tough balance, but I think we
have achieved the elegance and also a real edge in terms of very
abrasive camera movements. Maybe for the first time in my life,
I feel as though I’ve found my distinctive style.

Tubbenhauer is certainly enthusiastic about the film’s look:

I would have to say that, after 10 years of watching and program-
ming films at the Dendy cinemas, I’ve never seen some ofthe shots
that Bill has accomplished, many of which are very subtle.

The look of the film is very international. It’s not a hackneycd
kind of Australian cliché look. Maybe the accents in the film
aren’t international, but everything else about it is.

44 - CINEMA PAPERS 100

The film was shot in locales mostly around Mudgee. McCarthy:

Mudgee is not only the place we went to shoot, but stands for a
particular kind ofAustral[...]your red desert,
kangaroos and your emus.

One of the reasons we had to be really creative was because it
is a road movie. The film could have been boring with two people
just sitting inside a car, which is what the two characters do a lot
of the time.

Not only are the producers happy with what Bennett has done
to visualize the film, they have been impressed by his work on set
with the crew. Tubbenhauer:

What Bill has actually brought to this project is an incredible
leadership which ev[...]ed over hot coals for Bill during this film, both the cast
and crew. Bill is a lucid commentator and co[...]m has been so well imparted
that he has been able to achieve whatever he wants.

McCarthy and Tubbenhauer left the everyday running of the
production to their line producer Julia Overton and “a fantastic
production team”. McCarthy:

The whole crew ar_e the best possible people you can get; there is
no denying it. They have got on with th[...]e.

Bennett adds:

We’ve had enor‘mous fun on the film, and that’s terribly impor-
tant. As a director, what I aspire to do is create the right
environment each day on the set so that people can give their best.
It’s been a very happy shoot and I’ve had an absolute ball.

That sense of engagement and fun has been carried through
post-production with the choice of music, which will be the basis
for a lot of humour and emotion. Primarily, the filmmakers have
used music by the Aria-winning Australian rock group, The
Cruel Sea. Tubbenhauer:

If you know the band, the thing about them is that they are
essentially ins[...]ell. We’ve got some Dead
Kennedys in there, and the Deltones. The Deltones are in there for
one funny scene.

Getting The Cruel Sea was the initiative of Christine Woodrop,
the musical director. She played two bars of music and Bennett
and McCarthy looked at each other and said, “That’s them!”

Completed in time for Cannes, the film will be released
nationally in September by Dendy Films. McCarthy and
Tubbenhauer plan for the film to have mainstream theatrical
exhibition as well as play the festival circuit. McCarthy:

We are going to have the Australian premiere in Mudgee. It was
a very good experience shooting there and the people of Mudgee
want it, so we agreed.

Based on the material, I believe the film should have a platform
release. We will go o[...]d build
from that, depending on how we are going. I think that’s a smart
way of releasing any film at the quality end of the market.

Tubbenhauer adds:

Domestically, I don’t have any doubts that this film is going to be
very popular, given the creative people involved and Ruth
Cracknell’s i[...]nally, it’s always unclear how things are going to go.
We really have to wait to see how we go at Cannes, because it’s

the best barometer. But I personally believe the script and the way
it’s been shot is very exciting and world—class. I

xxx-\\\\\\\\\\\\&\‘ \

_,/. Li
////2 1[...]us wvuuvmu-ocuuamauuuconaurna

;/

, , L /. ~
at J 'vi.Zf’7l,': t7az:,1. <2‘~".’»z/n'.; ‘[...]wvision Distributors D A Selection of titles from the Cambridge Film Classic series Published by
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Please use boxes provided to indicate order of preference. Please note however[...]supply is on a ‘first come’ basis Many thanks to the numerous groups who donated gifts for this[...]

NUMBER 2 (APRIL 1974):

Cen[...]Roeg, Sandy Harbutt, Film under
Allende, Between The Wars, Alvin Purple

NUMBER 3 (JULY 1974):

Richar[...]ap-adopolous,
Willis O’Brien, William Friedkin, The
True Story Of Eskimo Nell.

NUMBER 10 (SEPT/OCT 1[...]obb, Samuel Z.
Arkoff, Roman Polanski, Saul Bass, The
Picture Show Man.

NUMBER 12 (APRIL 1977)

Ken Lo[...]o Tosi, John
Dankworth,John Scott, Days Of}-lope,
The Getting Of Wisdom.

NUMBER 13 (JULY 1977)

Louis[...]hmer,
Terry Jackman, John Huston, Luke's
Kingdom, The Last Wave, Blue Fire
Lady.

NUMBER 15 (JANUARY 1978)
Tom Cowan, Truffaut, John Faulkner,
Stephen Wallace, the Taviani brothers, Sri

Lankan film, Chant Ofjimmi[...]lom, John Duigan, Steven
Spielberg, Torn Jeffrey, The Africa
Project, Swedish cinema, Dawn./, Patrick.[...]lle Huppert, Brian May,
Polish cinema, Newsfront, The Night The
Prowler.

NUMBER 18 (OCT/NOV 1973)
John Lamond, S[...]nalism,

Japanese cinema, Peter Weir, Water
Under The Bridge.

NUMBER 27 (JUNE-JULY 1980)
Randal Kleise[...]ka, Stephen Wallace, Philippine
cinema, Cruising, The Last Outlaw.

NUMBER 36 (FEBRUARY 1982]

Kevin Do[...]chael Rubbo, Blow Out.
Breaker Morant, Body Heat, The Man
From Snowy River.

NUMBER 37 (APRIL 1982)

St[...]r, Norwegian cinema, National
Film Archive, We Of The Never Never.

NUMBER 40 (OCTOBER 1982)

Henri Saf[...]Wendy Hughes, Ray Barrett, My
Dinner With Andre, The Return Of
Captain Invincible.

NUMBER 41 (DECEMBE[...]der, Peter
Tammer, Liliana Cavani, Colin Higgins,
The Year OfLiuing Dangerously.

NUMBER 42 (MARCH 1983[...]Ian Pringle,
Agnes Varda, copyright, Strikebound,
The Man From Snowy River.

NUMBER 43 (MAY/JUNE 1983)

Sydney Pollack, Denny Lawrence,
Graeme Clifford, The Dismissal, Careful
He Might Hear You.

NUMBER 44-[...]ll, Jeremy Irons,
Eureka Stockade. \\'/aterfront, The Boy In
The Bush.A Woman Suffers. Street Hero.

NUMBER 47 (AU[...]hael Pattinson, Jan
Sardi, Yoram Gross, Bodyline, The Slim
Dusty ll/IOl’i(’.

NUMBER 49 (DECEMBER 1984)

Alain Resnais, B[...]Borowczyk, Peter Schreck, Bill Conti,
Brian May, The Last Bastion, Bliss.

NUMBER 51 (MAY 1985)

Lino[...]Hazlehurst, Dusan Makayeiev, Enzoh
Ruo, Winners, The Naked Country, Mad
Max: Beyond Thunderdome, Robbery
Under Arms. I

NUMBER 52 (JULY 1985)

John Schlesinger, Gillian[...]rawford, Emir Kusturica,
N.Z. film and TV, Return To Eden.

NUMBER 54 (NOVEMBER 1985)
Graeme Clifford,[...]man, Menahem Golan, rock videos,
Wills And Burke, The Great Bookie
Robbery, The Lancaster Miller Affair.

NUMBER 55 (JANUARY 1986[...]ul Verhoeven, Derek
Meddings, tie—in marketing, The Right-
Hand Man. Bi7'£l5t'ill(.’.

NUMBER 56 ([...]Smith, John Hargreaves,
Dead—End Drit‘e—In, The More Things
Change, Kangaroo, Tracy.

NUMBER 58 (JULY 1986)

Woody Allen, Reinhard Hauff. Orson
Welles, the Cinématheque Francaise, The
Fringe Dwellers, Great Expectations: The
Untold Story , The Last Frontier.

NUMBER 59 (SEPTEMBER 1986)

Robert Altman, Paul Cox, Lino Brocka,
Agnes Varda, The AFI Awards, The
Movers.

NUMBER 60 (NOVEMBER 1986)
Australian Tel[...]A conference, production
barometer, film finance, The Story Of
TheThe Sacrifice, Land-
slides, Pee Wee 's Big Adventure[...], James Clayden,
Video, De Laurentiis, New World, The
Navigator, Who's That Girl.

NUMBER 67 (JANUARY 1[...]eorge Miller, Jim
Jarmusch, Soviet cinema— Part I, women
in film, shooting in 70mm, filmmaking
in Ghana, The Year My Voice Broke,
Send A Gorilla.

NUMBER 68 ([...]4, Soviet
Cinema, Jim McBride, Glamour, Ghosts
Of The Civil Dead, Feathers, Ocean,
Ocean.

NUMBER 69 (M[...]ad Calm, Franco Nero,
Jane Campion, Ian Pringle's The Prisoner
ofSt. Peterslu/rg, Frank Pierson, Pay TV.

NUMBER 74 (JULY 1989)

The Delinquents, Australians in
Hollywood, Chi[...]

a[...]seas.

NUMBER 73 (MARCH 1990)

George Ogilvie’s The Crossing, Ray
Argall’s Return Home, Peter Greenaway
and The Cook...etc, Michel Ciment,
Bangkok Hilton and Bar[...]Pringle Isabelle Eberhardt, Jane
Campion An Angel At My Table,
Martin Scorsese Goodfellas,

Alan J. Pa[...]ent

NUMBER 32 (MARCH 1991)

Francis Ford Coppola The Godfather
Part Ill, Barbet Schroeder Reversal of[...]rbucci obituary.

NUMBER 83 (MAY 1991)

Australia at Cannes, Gillian Armstrong:
The Last Days at Chez Nous, Jonathan
Demme: The Silence of the Lambs, Flymz,
Dead To The World, Marke ]offe’s
Spotswood, Anthony Hopkins[...]992)
Overview of Australian film: Romper
Stomper, The Nostradamus Kid,
Greenkeeping, Eightball; plus Ka[...], Steven Spielberg
and Hook, George Negus filming The
Red Unknown, Richard Lowenstein Say a
Little Pray[...]2)

Cannes ’92, Strictly Ballroom, Hammers
over the Anvil, Daydream Believer, Wim
Wenders‘ Until the End of the World,
Satyajit Ray.

NUMBER 39 (AUGUST 1992)

Ca[...]s, Film-
Literature Connections, Teen Movies.

at menu-./tuna Arr v nu-s an-.:,
. mnexns on-How - sa 2 s sun: sg

NUMBER 90 (OCTOBER 1992)

Gillian Armstrong: The Last Days of
Chez Nous, Ridley Scott: 1492, Steph[...]Miscon-
duct; David Elficl<’s Love in Limbo, On
The Beach, Australia’s First Films.

NUMBER 92 (APR[...]s Oil; Megan
Simpson and Alex; jean—]acques’s The
Lover, Women in film and television.
Australia’[...]s Part 2.

NUMBER 93 (MAY 1993)

Australian films at Cannes, Jane Campion
and The Piano, Laurie Mclnnes’ Broken
Highway, Tracey M[...]oir Dogs, Paul Cox interview,
Michael ]enl<in’s The Heartbreak Kid,
‘Coming of Age’ films.

NUMBE[...])
Lynn—Maree Milburn’s Memories C5‘
Dreams, The Science of Previews, john
Dingwall and The Custodian, Documen-
tary Supplement including Man[...]Jason Donovan and Donald Crombie:
Rough Diamonds, The Penal Colony.

NUMBER 97/93 (APRIL 1994)

20th An[...]Simon Wincer’s Lightningjack, Richard
Franklin, The Salvation Army.

NUMBER 99 (JUNE 1994)

Australian films at Cannes ’94, Krzysztof
Kieslowski, Ken G. Hall T[...]plement, Geoffrey
Burton, Pauline Chan’s Traps. I

ALSO AVAILABLE

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the Next Wave.

The Back of Beyond Catalogue is lavishly illus[...]

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The Film and

Digital World

Bruce Williamson’s brainchild, the Digital Courier, is a way of

transferring film images directly into the compressed digital format for non-
linear editing, beating the log-jam at the telecine stage, and avoiding the traffic
jams outside as well. Rushes have never been so quick! I spoke with Williamson
at Atlab to get an idea of how far this remarkable idea had progressed.
Meanwhile, anyone who goes to the cinema (that much at least must be a
common factor for the readers of this column) can’t have failed to notice the
increase in numbers of commercials before the feature. The change is perhaps
directly attributable to the re-born kine process, currently available from th[...]ent process. Chats with all three.

Finally, with the options for post-production increasing all the time,

I spoke with Simon Dibbs of Spectrum about the implications for
post-production and the film industry now that non-linear editing

is being adopted by so many productions.

+1113-_Digi1al_Cou|:ier
The film-to-television interface has been around
for a long time. in fact, the very first BBC
television transmissions, in 1936, were shot in
the studio on film, which passed directly from
the camera gate into a rapid developer, and the
negative was scanned by a flying spot camera
whil[...]so many
years ago, “grading by telephone" used to be a
joke around the lab, dragged out by someone
every time the agency wanted a new print, they
wanted it now, and, no, there wasn‘t time to
send the old one back by courier. But now, in
what he claims to be a world first, Bruce
Williamson, R&D manager at Atlab, is about to
offer notjust grading, but telecine and editing by
phone as well.

Bruce says the idea arose from a party
conversation, when a friend described
Telecom’s goal of being able to send by phone
anything currently delivered by a courier serv-
ice. Instantly to mind came the labs 6:30 am
courier, racing around town delivering proc-
essed negative to the tape houses before the
traffic built up. And so the “Digital Courier”
came about.

Digital Courie[...]ilm, and editing on non—linear editing systems.
The intention was to reduce the time taken in
getting images from the negative into the edit-
ing system, wherever the system was located.

For Atlab’s initial testin[...]Spectrum, whose Lightworks sys-
tem has received the first test transmissions,
and with Telecom, of which Williamson was
moved to say, “They supplied heaps of informa-
tion and technical backup. Geezl they were
good. I can’t speak highly enough of them.”

Williamson explained that the idea is based
on Telecom‘s ISDN (Integrated Services Digital
Network). To start the operation, processed
camera negative is run through Atlab’s Rank
Cintel telecine and the signal is digitized and
compressed and stored on[...]re is
no videotape in any format involved.

Next, the compressed image data is sent via
Telecom‘s lSDN service. Atlab has tested the
system by transmitting data to a Lightworks
system at Spectrum Films in Willoughby. After
some tests of mute shots lasting only a few
seconds, they have built up to a ten-minute
edited segment with sound, which was trans-
mitted in just over twelve minutes. (The con-
cept of “running time” has little[...]

can’t watch the pictures as they come down the
phone line). The data received is fed directly
into Lightworks, ready for editing.

Williamson contrasts the Digital Courier with
the “Videofax” service currently operating,
whereby finished television commercials are
transmitted to stations. He explained that
Videofax uses Te|ecom’s “Microlink” service,
connecting only two ISDN phone lines. So, a
30—second commercial would take about ten
minutes to send. Atlab’s Digital Courier is de-
signed for[...]material — maybe several thousand feet of film
at a time, up to an hours running time —- which
would take all day to send at that rate.

To speed things up, Atlab chose to use
“Macrolink”, which distributes the picture infor-
mation across 30 phone lines, each capable of
carrying 64Kb/sec.Because the data is com-
pressed for storage before telephone[...]tofimage
quality. Bruce Williamson explained that the
12-minute result was using the “medium”
Lightworks quality, most often used[...]a separate (smaller)
data file, with a third file to link and sync the
image and sound together. These take a frac-
tion of the time that the image takes to transmit.

At first glance, it seems the system will not
be cheap. To set up an ISDN connection at
present costs $3,000; and then there is an
annual service fee of $12,000 (equivalent to
line rental). Then you need the multiplexer or
decoder. These are currently in the vicinity of
$12,000, although Williamson says that a year
ago the price was $22,000, and he expects all
these costs to come down further as the ISDN
system is used more. After all this, there’s the
cost of the phone calls — a pleasant surprise: a
local connection[...]or30
minutes before 8:00 am (which, after all, is the
right time for a rushes service), although the
price rises steeply during business hours or for[...]ons.

50 . CINEMA PAPERS 100

Williamson compared the set-up cost with
buying a Betacam SP recorder. Fo[...]justified, he thought, although prices will have
to come down before it is viable as a set-up for
location rushes on a six-week feature shoot!
Essentially, the daily cost has to be compared
with the cost of cassette tapes and couriers,
and in terms of the time saved. Can the com-
mercials editor start cutting as soon as he gets
in to work? Does the Gold Coast production
want to start an on-location assembly the same
day, or can it wait for the next flight? How
important is the time saved?

My own concern is that, at a time when
directors and DOPs are concerned about not
seeing film rushes, the Digital Courier is erod-
ing even the second option of a videotape, and
going straight into the compressed editing for-
mat — okay for editors,[...]hers. Williamson agreed that it would be
possible to take a second feed from the telecine
to make a videotape copy, which could be
delivered in the conventional way. He also
mentioned a modification to the telecine which
would allow the telecine grade to be reported in
terms of film grading lights. This[...]tute for a workprint, but perhaps one that
begins to address some of the problems cur-
rently felt by directors.

Will it succeed? Can Digital Courier fit into
theto see them accepting pictures—by-phone.
But Digital Courier can link in with automatic
rushes syncing — already a possibility with the
Aaton in—camera timecode system and with
phone exchange of film logging files — and then
there[...]ch wider applica-
tion. As Williamson points out, the network is
not limited to a lab service: users can link up
with each other, so that, for example, the editor
can send a rough cut to studio bosses interstate
or overseas; optical effects sequences can be

ATLAB'S BRUCE WILLIAMSON
AT THE DIGITAL COURIER.

sent to the lab for reference; final edits can be
sent to the lab with the EDL for neg matching;
or sound effects can be sent from any location
direct to the editing machine.

Yes, it’s all possible. What’s not possible is
to finish this piece without dragging in a refer-
ence to The Digital Highway. Will the Digital
Courier take film post-production out of the
traffic and onto the expressway? Perhaps — at
least the on—ramp is in sight— but it's still a long
way to reach the fast lane.

Di .ts.:.
_Caming,B. '

Call me an ol[...]), but l’m a little bit disappointed
every time I settle down with the popcorn at the
cinema, and the commercials start. Not the
slides for the Thai restaurant round the corner,
but the full—on television commercials. That’s
what they are, of course, transferred straight
off the small screen. Sure, the effects are great
(and that's the problem), but it’s still television.
Not only are they the ads i thought |’d left at
home, they somehow don‘t have the visual
impact that i came out to see. Objectively,
there aren’t the clean, rich, detailed blacks, nor
are the images so sharp.

What we’re seeing, of course,[...]having had my grumble
that it’s not real film, I have to admit that kines
are looking heaps better than they ever used to.
Who remembers the older style of tape-to-film
transfer, direct from one-inch? The sharpest
thing on the screen was always the television
lines, and as for shadow detail well, the old
kines are no more. Over the past couple of
years there’s been a dramatic improvement,
with the new transfers coming, not out of the
video houses, but from the special effects and
production companies.

Kine-recording! Even the name sounds ar-
chaic, so it’s no wonder that there’s a new term.
The phrase now is “Digital Film Transfers”. And
the big difference is due to Harry, and a new
generation of optical film recor[...]urrent
system, like Animal Logic’s, is based on the
Oxberry Solitaire camera. The majority of com-
mercials you will see at the cinema (and nearly
all of them are transferred from a video finish)
have been transferred at Acme. Peter Flynn
commented that Sydney had become the “Kine
capital” of South East Asia, for producers who
used to send commercials to London or the
United States. For commercials, Flynn claimed

ZAP Paul Cox set up the system at Zap a
couple of years ago: it uses a Harry to subtly
alter the colorimetry of the image to suit the film
emu|sion’s sensitivity. The camera itself is a
Dunn camera with a high—reso[...]-
chrome CRT. Each colour is displayed in turn
on the tube, and photographed onto Eastman
5248 negative through the appropriate colour
filter. It's a slow process — each frame takes 7
seconds — but this helps to improve the sharp-
ness and also slightly increases the brightness
range of the image as photographed. To in-
crease the apparent sharpness of the image,
the camera “dithers” or moves the line image
very slightly during exposure. This ap[...]ution.
Soren Jensen (also of Zap) explained that

the Harry was useful in a number of ways, as
well as controlling the image quality. For exam-
ple, in a Tiger Beer ad there was excessive
sparkle in one scene (from the original nega-
tive), which they were able to paint out frame by
frame before transferring back to film.

Zap doesn't do many transfers by compari-
son with Acme, but, as Cox pointed out, at
seven seconds per frame, he would need an-
other Harry to cope with all the work if it in-
creased much. Most of its business[...]gan Brewer).

Although Zap has done a lot of work to
maximize its image quality, and the speed of
the process points to a high—quality output, both
Cox and Jensen are conscious of the limita-
tions of the process. Cox feels that clients often
assume that all kine processes are now up to
film resolution standard and automatically ex-
pe[...]ino process or similar.
Audiences don’t deserve to be sold short. Cox
suggested that different film[...]idtme

Cinema Papa/‘.4 Ha

For around 60 years, the
Atlab group of laboratories
has been doing its utmost to
ensure that what you shoot is
what you get.

Atlab’s network
extends from Sydney toto the quality of
output. Fast c|ose—up action might w[...]of a jet
against a clear blue sky.

ANIMAL LOGIC The newest of the three
services is offered by Animal Logic, where Zareh
Nalbandian says it started the service as an
integrated stage in its productions[...]clients”. It made sense for material created in
the digital format by Animal Logic to be trans-
ferred to film by the same company, and it pro-
vided the appropriate image management to crop
fit the 4:3 image to cinema widescreen, and so on.
Since then, said Nalbandian, the service has
extended to "external” clients, who simply want
film transf[...]nts include features that are
useful in enhancing the end result of the film
transfer process. The digital images, usually
treated by the Harry system, are fed via Animal
Logic’s Ethern[...]rough its own software called Shootit,
running on the Silicon Graphics platform, and

restoration facil[...]iew

theatres for composite and

double head.

47 I-Iotham Parade
PO Box 766 Artarmon NSW
Aust[...]

into the Oxberry Solitaire film camera, loaded
with Kodak[...]k. By use
of intelligent interpolation of pixels, the image is
upgraded from normal television resolution to
either 2,000 or 4,000 lines. This process, unique
among the Sydney kine systems, is more than
simply “dithering" or line doubling: for each pixel,
the system looks at the pixels all around, and
makes intelligent guesses about how to fill in the
gaps between each picture element. As the
resolution increases, so the memory — and time
—requirementsincrease:4,000lineimages have
four times the information of 2,000 line images
(up to 80 Mbytes per frame), and so the time and
cost increase proportionately.

Nalbandian explained that the choice of
resolution depended a lot on the material, and
the format it had started in. The best choice for
origination (otherthan purely com[...]al SP Betacam. One—inch analogue tape he
placed at the bottom of the list. Nalbandian:

35mm film is the best, although for some types
of image, good Betacam can look very good,
because the clean, bright saturated colours in
the original reproduce well all through. With
rapid movements shot on tape, because of the
two-field interface problem, you get a double
image on every frame when you come out to
film. 80, we have to just take one field, and that
isn’t so good. it depends entirely on what the
production is.

Nalbandian regards its Digital Fi[...]highly—integrated
digital production facility. The time taken by the
Solitaire camera isn't really the limiting factor
in the work: the entire process of re-rendering

52 - CINEMA PAPER[...]tion frame by frame for film transfer
can take up to a day for about two minutes of
screen time — so[...]0-second commer-
cial would go overnight. Most of the work — as
at the other facilities — is for television commer-
ci[...]h other
scenes wouldn’t show up so noticeably.

THE TECHNICALITIES Framingforcinema
presents an interesting problem. Just as cin-
ematographers have to “shoot-and—protect”
wide-screen film, to allow for extra image top
and bottom on video screens, so material shot
originally for television is going to suffer top
and bottom cropping when it is transferred to
cinema screens. Often there’s a need to rack
above or below the mid-frame position for some
shots — or to dynamically adjust rack through a
shot. Animal Lo[...]enry in its transfer prices.
Nalbandian mentioned the successful Victo-
rian Road Safety campaign from last year,
where the framing in the original shots was
very tight, and couldn't be cropped, and so the
image actually finished up masked with left and
right side bars. This gave the image better film
resolution than otherwise, because the full video
image was blown up to less film width.

At Atlab, Simon Jacobs — who deals with
Digital Fi[...]g a television production into a cin-
ema format. The classic, perennial problem is
the frame rate: 24 or 25 frames per second.
lnvariably, the material is shot at 25 fps for
television, and so will appear slow, w[...]a half sec-
onds overtime. Cutting frames out of the image
(which Jacobs explained could be done at
Acme before the transfer was done) would
adjust the running time, but would also create
sound sync pr[...]artment has pitch correction,
which could be used to bring a slow-running
track up to tone, but apparently while voice and
effects tracks responded well, the results on
music, particularly when it is heard i[...]x-
plained that most customers were uncertain
how the sound should be transferred when
Atlab made the optical sound negative. But
there is a simple test: how long does the track
run for? If the total running time matched the
image at 25 fps, then the transfer had to be
done at 25, and so on.

Stereo sound presents theto Jacobs, At|ab’s sound de-
partment can do a lot to create four tracks out of
two, subtly adding reve[...]and they treat each kine track on its own
merits to get the best result.

With average costs of around $4,000 for a
one-minute commercial, from tape master to
answer print stage, it’s clearly well worth it.
compared with the costs of new film opticals,
negative matching and[...]hey’re bringing some advertis-
ing revenue into the theatres — and doesn’t the
feature look good on film when it finally starts!

Post Production —
on the Rebound?

Tape or non—linear editing, followed by a match
back to negative, is an increasingly common
post-producti[...]t only documentaries, but now dramas
and features at all budget levels are being
edited on a monitor. At Spectrum, the producer
can choose between editing on a flatbed film
editor, Betacam with Shotlister, or the latest
versions of Lightworks. So Spectrum’s Simon
Dibbs is better placed than almost anyone to
compare the methods, and point out the advan-
tages and disadvantages of each. And like
many others caught up in the technological
maelstrom of post production in the 1990s,
Dibbs is well aware of the pitfalls in rushing into
new technology. His voic[...]rging caution and talking good common
sense about the rush to save post-production
time and budgets.

Like most conversations on this topic, we
started with the disappearance of workprints.
Dibbs:

But a lot of people are coming back to doing at

least some workprint now — ten or fifteen per-[...]We're doing it differently in Australia. Most

of the world is going about it a different way. I
talked to the Lightworks people overseas, and
they were amazed that we were going straight
off the neg and then just cutting the neg. Every-
where else they are seeing their workprint and
then going into Lightworks with what they know
to be okay. The thing is, there’s a push from the
technocrats to let the computers take care of
everything. It's okay in principle, but I think
there are just too many things to go wrong.

One of the technical things that can go
wrong — mai[...]

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Deubtflte
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Red Scorpion II The Colour Of Night ANGEL BABY

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HOTEL SORRENTO
NAPO[...]rn Valley MELBOURNE: Unit 1, 45 Road, AUCKLAND: 8 The Promenade,
5 T

i
a , Chatswood, NSW 2067 Mt. Waverly, VIC 3[...]

understand what is happening — is the issue of
transferring 24 fps film to video and then into a
non-linear system. As Dibbs explained:
The video has to put an extra frame in every
second, because PAL can only run at 25; and
then the editor isn't actually cutting film frames,
but video frames. There's always a possibility of
cutting on the inserted frame, which isn’t there
in the negative.
While the negative matching systems (OSC/
R, Excalibur) can cope with the problem (and
Dibbs pointed out that because people tended
not to understand the problem they accepted
the results as being unavoidable), the new
version of Lightworks took advantage of its own
technology to avoid the problem completely.
(This is also a feature of the latest Avid soft-
ware.) Dibbs explained the procedure he had
devised to apply the system most reliably:
it's only been done once before, as far as I
know, on Frankenstein, but this is what we are
doing on the current Canadian-Australian fea-
ture Little Wome[...]illian
Armstrong].

We took a PAL Betacam machine to Van-
couver where they were transferring everythi[...]ing done in PAL. They transferred
from workprint, at 25 frames a second, so every
frame of video corresponds exactly to one frame
of film. Now the tape would run the action fast,
but, when it goes into Lightworks, it can run the
images at 24 (the computer isn't tied to PAL or
any other television system).

The problem is synchronizing the sound to
run at the right speed, and the answer we have
at the moment is that it has to be synced at the

SPECTRUM'S SIMON DIBBS AT THE LIGHTWORKS WORKSTATION.

54 - CINEMA PAPERS 100

telecine stage. Then the Lightworks digitizes it,

sampling at 50 Hertz, but it plays the samples

back at 48. Because it's digitally sampled, there
isn't actually a frequency shift — it runs at the
right speed and the right pitch.

Syncing sound rushes continues to be a
bottleneck in non—linear post—production. One
excellent solution is the Aaton in-camera
timecode system: because the film and the DAT
sound have the same timecode (generated
during the shoot), the DAT is controlled to
chase the telecine automatically. Of course,
this requires[...]f sound recordists around

who like their Nagras. Why should they have to

change because of a problem in post? You can’t[...]ttle Women.
“Rubber numbers” are stamped onto the
workprint and onto the magnetic sound, and
these numbers are also logged into the
Lightworks database. Dibbs:

I've gone for the American method, where each

roll of film gets continuous numbering through

the roll, ratherthan the English method of chang-
ing the numbers for each slate. Rubber numbers
are reliable, simple, safe and secure. If you get

a screw—up, you can simply number the roll

again.

So now we can bring the job back here on

Exabyte, fine cut on Lightworks up to the stage

of a director's cut, and then conform the print.

We can output the dialogue sound from
Lightworks onto a dubber, and sync up with the
workprint. Remember theget enough sound for the screenings with-
out the expense of doing a temporary mix.

Once the picture is locked off, we can lay up
the magnetic tracks using the rubber numbers —
we don't have tojuggle timecodes and Keykodes
together. And then if the souhdtis going to the
Fairlight, we can re-transfer the picturfégfrom the
final-cut workprint — this time at 24, so the
cassette runs at the correct speed for the
Fairlight,

l’d seen this as a bit of a one-off, just for this
sort of feature, because the sound syncing
really isn't quite solved yet. But I thought it
wouldn't get a run in this country, because
producers look at workprint costs as something
that can be cut out.

For low-budget features, the other alterna-
tive is to transfer the negative, then, after the
edit, workprint the selected takes and cut the
print before fine-cutting the negative. But look-
ing at Super 16, the workprint costs are much
cheaper. l’m still trying to get all the costs
worked out, but its more or less line ball [if you
do Super 16 workprints at the rushes stage].
There's no need for an auto assemble after the
edit; you can cut the print to match the EDL and
get proper screenings on film. You don’t cut the
neg until after the workprint is okay — and the
neg matchers much prefer to have a print to cut
to. You save money in lots of places.

We're breaking through all the technical
problems, and finding the best way to go, but it’s
still difficult to persuade producers, even when
there's only a very[...]rence.
Dibbs explained that Spectrum had managed

to integrate Shotlister into non-linear editing:

Pe[...]am; then when they're

ready they can switch over to Lightworks. We've
worked out how to load the logging files from
one to the other.

Shotlister is really good. We've cut 15 f[...]ver lost a frame. We wouldn't let anything out
of the place without running it through. Their
software[...]ves a mention
for that.

Dibbs is concerned about the rapid introduc-
tion of new technology that might appear to
handle its own area of operation very well, but
o[...]plications elsewhere. It all
takes time and money to resolve the difficulties.

Lightworks isn't cheap, but all the cost of the
software represents research and development,
and support — and we pay that for the system
because we know how much support it's going
to need. But too many people just see a new toy
and say, ‘Ah! here's a way to save money.’

The day Frameworks introduced the first care of everything. From rushes to neg.
Avid to Australia we set about 1 matching. Daily budget and

refining the way a long form progress reporting. And, apart

p[...]ld be supported in from always being accessable,

the new 'Non—Linear' Stephen still supervises complete

or refresher Avid courses for
the editorframeworks is the

environment.\Worl<ing with top[...]d digital
Frameworl<s' Stephen Smith has

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TEcHNthe digital world

We’re throwing huge amounts of money in
this country to keep up with technology, and it’s
not coming back. There's a lot of people who are
going to hurt — assistant editors aren't getting
onto po[...]— even editors
finish quicker, so they don’t get as much money
for the job.

Post-production seems to be changing still,
with newer computer editing sy[...]ing, it
seems, nearly every week, and new experts to
run them. It's my hope that there will soon be a
time for reappraisal, and we may well see some
of the simple, unsophisticated, yet elegantly
straightfo[...]ubber numbers
— bouncing back.

Spectrum Films

The NSW film industry is strongest in the area
of post—production, and one company, Spec-
trum Films, has contributed much to this state
of affairs, especially in regard to keeping up
with new technology. What follows is a brief
history of the company, and an interview with
Hans Pomeranz and Simon Dibbs on how the
Lightworks system has contributed.

Hans Pomeranz left the ABC in 1964 and be-
came what was called a freela[...]ich was origi-
nally a stage play).

Stockade did get a release but was not
successful, and, although the film was sold to
Channel 7 many years later, it actually lost a lot
of money and scared him witless. The experi-
ence did not leave him with a keen sense to
pursue direction. The combination of family life
and failure of Stockade determined the fate of
Pomeranz and Spectrum Films: he decided to
stick to the post—production side of things,
putting his tot[...]ngs of
an Australian film revival could be heard. The
Australian Film Commission started to give out
money, and the film industry really took off.
From a single cutt[...]entrates mainly on
feature films.

Spectrum tends to maintain a strong and
regular stream of clients. Why is that?

56 - CINEMA PAPERS 100

Yes, we have great loyalty.
Filmmakers keep coming
back to us because we look
after them, and this is a ma-[...]e supply comfortable
rooms for filmmakers, and
up-to—date equipment and
engineers to look after eve-
rything that happens here.
The bottom line always is
that editors and directors are
not concerned about what
goes wrong here; it just has
to be fixed and deadlines
have to be met. We arrange
a lot of things for the filmmakers, from people
answeringthetelephones andtakingtheirmes-
sages, to having tapes up and delivered to the

lab. We just make sure things happen. Film— '

makers have a deadline and, if you don't meet
the deadline, you can lose a lot of money and
prestige.

On the technology side, we are always on
the cutting—edgeofnewteohnology.Touchvision
was the first of the non—linear systems. It was a
tape-based system[...]t did
about two years’ good work here. But when the
Lightworks and Avid came out, it was old tech-
nology. So, the Touchvision we don’t have any
more, and we’ve gone the Lightworks way. It
seems to work for feature films.

How well does Lightworks integrate with the
existing equipment?

Deciding on Lightworks was a big step. There
were a lot of things to think about. Withfilm, you
shoot at 24, but you cut at 25 on the Lightworks.

What we have upstairs is an awful lot of
Steinbecks, so people are still cutting on film
and I think that will hang about for a while. But
Lightworks is the new technology and things
are definitely heading[...]tes
and commercials, but Lightworks is heading in
the direction of doing the corporates as well.

With the Lightworks, the options are so mul-
tiple that it gives a director the choice he or she
might be looking for. It's a lit[...]heres a time restraint. But
Lightworks allows you to cut film while still at the
shooting stage: rushes get processed and then
go off to the tape house to get a transfer of the
negative to Beta tape; they come back here and
are then digitized. Once it is cut on Lightworks,
we do a transfer to VHS and send on location a
cut version of the shoot the day before.

This is not unique to Spectrum — other
people are doing it — but I don’t know of too
many other people cutting dra[...]s. There is television

drama, but it’s shot at 25, so
you don’t have the 24/25
problem.
What made you go with
Lightworks instead of the
Avid?
Lightworks has the advantage
of having the whole film at
yourfingertips. Say you have
a 90-minute film with a 10:1
ratio, you are looking at 15 or
16 hours of material. On
Lightworks, every shot is
available at any second. In-
stead of having to take out a
hard disk and put anotherone
in and conforming it to tape,
it’s all there at any second.
And the capacity can be increased: you could
have a film[...], where
every shot is available. You just dial in the slate
number and the tape number and there it is.
We did enormous research: I went myself
three or four times to the States and so did
Simon Dibbs, who is my partner in this area,
and we looked at all the non—linear systems. We
looked at every system available, including
Avid, and we co[...]d suit us
best. It was Lightworks for what it had to offer us
in terms of the enormous memory.
But apart from memory, don't the different
systems perform the same process?
No, they work on different programmes, which
is the other advantage of Lightworks. It's much
more use[...]ontrol
which Avid hasn’t got. Because Avid went the
Apple Mac way, you need to do more manual
things than Lightworks to operate it. Editors of
a high calibre in the feature filmmaking side of
production believe Lightworks is much more
user-friendly, quicker and easier to learn. I
think Avid was smart to go the Mac way be-
cause so many people know Mac — Macs are
used at home — but once editors have been on
the Lightworks and tried it out, they prefer it.
Simo[...]works makes a difference in
as far as we are able to do more films in the
period of a year. You have the ability of produc-
ing more films in a smaller space, more effi-
ciently and, to a certain degree, to less cost.
Because of the speed of Lightworks and the
options it gives you, it enables you to make
better movies for the same amount of money.
That’s really how I think the tool should be used.
At the moment, people are milking the new
technology to save money, whereas I believe
within the next six months people are going to
realize they are better off making better movies
for the same amount of money. In terms of the
way Spectrum is working, this will mean that

But it didn’t happen overnight and the time has come to set the record straight.
For 21 years we have given the Australian film industry the hightest standard of negative cutting
in the World. We developed and perfected the FIRST computerised negative cutting system in the

world and we continue to update that system as technology advances.

10 years ago, the rest of the world started to demand a frame-accurate conversion between

film and tape. NCS was able to respond to that demand as our system had already been tested[...]many years. Once again Australian technology was the first in the World.

NCS AUSTRALIA has what the world wants — film and tape technology beyond comparison
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editors will cut on Lightworks and follow on film.
At present, the only thing Lightworks doesn’t
give them is the ability to look at the film on 35
mm, on the big screen, and this is a serious
consideration. If there is anything we are push-
ing towards at the moment, it is just that. Peo-
ple will allow some money to get a print done at
some stage in the cut, and the software is now
available where somebody in another room can
bring the film up to the out that has been done
on Lightworks. Some people are doing that at
the moment, but not many.

What is the picture quality like when doing a
film cut on Lightworks?

The quality Lightworks is producing can be
compared to U-matic, which is a long way from
35mm on a 50-foot screen, but it's getting better
all the time. When its on a huge screen, there
is a different feeling to what a film has on a little
screen. You get the benefits of speed and
efficiency, and having the ability to cut as fast
as you can think on Lightworks, but you don’t
have the ability to see it on the big screen. I am
the first to recognize that.

However, with a little bit of ex[...]t by doing it this way — producers will be able
to have the best of both. They will be able to
have all the efficiency of cutting on Lightworks
and the ability to see it on the big screen as

well. It just costs a little bit more money
Anyone can go out and buy one of these
boxes, but theres a lot more to it than having
the box. Making a feature film is becoming 4
very com[...]and there are a lot of
little details which need to be looked after.
What Spectrum is about, in particular, is having
everything done properly because the conse-
quences of not doing it properly are really

substantial. With the kind of experience Spec-
trum has got, we don’t believe there is anyone
else who can do it, simply because we have
been doing it for so long. I think we are in a
unique situation in that we can truthfully say to
someone we can deliver from the first day of
the shoot until the final mix, on time, and they
wont have any problems. We do it time and
time again. I

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AT THE MOVIES

Australia’s most literate film reviewer.
Every month in The Independent Monthly.

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AusUalia’s National Qu[...]

Above: Joseph Rosenthal, chief cameraman of the London—based Warwick n no pefmangnf Australian Venue yet 3-Xigted_ It was
Trading Company, at the Boer War, filming transports crossing the Vaal River, the heyday of the travelling picture Show. A few Vaudeville
early 1[...]Sm“ Included 3 Selectlon of Short fllms thrown
to Australia to film the Royal Visit to Sydney and Melbourm together to exploit the medium’s declining novelty, but more

sophistic[...], pioneered in Australia’s pre—cinema
days by the likes of the “war artist” Frederic Villiers', were
enjoying a resurgence with the advent of film.

Touring celebrity lecturers in 1[...]t Booth, assembled
single-subject film programmes to illustrate their entire night’s
entertainment.[...]ed imported films, Herbert Booth
alone relying on the local product. These lecturers assumed a role
later taken by the editors of feature—length documentaries, as-
sembling an aggregate of appropriate visuals to fit their narra-
tive? In this early period, slides usually alternated with the films,
but even this editorial construction was a significant progression
towards the style of the narrative feature film as we know it.

Fictional[...]increasing in length, particularly
those made by the French. Although 100 feet (approximately 2
mins) remained the standard length, special productions like[...]

(foan of/lire, 14 mins, 1900) were being sold by Baker 86 Rouse
in Sydney by the end of 1900.‘ By January 1901, a touring
Victor[...]eaux” totalling 15 mins).“

WAR ON FILM

With the Boer War’s outbreak on 11 October 1899, Australia
was involved in its first conflict to be recorded by the movie
camera. Film was suddenly regarded with unprecedented seri-
ousness as a window onto the unfamiliar battlefields of South
Africa, where loved ones were risking their lives. The Boer War
was the first major stimulus to the proliferation of Australian
cinema. The number of picture shows multiplied rapidly.
Casle[...]y~driven device projecting unsprocketed 70mm film at a
flickerless 40 pictures per second.‘ Its images were eight times the
area of standard 35mm film, both on the film and on the screen.
When the Tivoli’s manager I-Iarry Rickards brought it to Australia
in August 1 897, it was only moderately successful.‘ Re—introduced
to Australia as The British Biograph (sic) by H. G. L. Wyld and C.
H.[...]y 1900", its
Australian appearance coincided with the celebrations ofthe relief
of Mafeking. Superbly clear war coverage taken by W. K. L.
Dickson, the former leader of Edison’s movie development tea[...]Australian troops were recorded on their

arrival at Cape Town, and later films taken under fire during the
battles of Colenso, Spion Kop and Grobelars Kloof brought the
horror of war to the screen for the first time? Dickson’s war diaries
were published as The Biograph in Battle (T. Fisher Unwin,
London, 1901), describing the sufferings of a combat cameraman
struggling with[...]p—card reels,

and a few were re—animated for the author’s NFSA video Federa-
tion Films (1981).[...]18 months, and was given universal acclamation.

The British raconteur and pioneer recording artist G.[...]Herbert Wyndham
and Royal Navy Captain F. Edwards to Australia, and together
they presented the documentary film series Our Navy on a local
tour which began late in 1900 and lasted almost a year.'° The
10,000 feet of unique films covered nearly every conceivable
aspect of life in the British navy, and were produced by the firm
of C. West and Sons (principal cameraman Alfred West) of
Southsea, near Portsmouth in England.“ The family was not

Below: Left, Boer War cameraman W. K. L.
Dickson shooting 70mm film of the battle of
Colenso, December 1899. \Y/hen shown in[...]reedman, these
outstandingly clear films, shot by the only
Boer War cameraman with the newly-
invented telephoto lens, caused a sustained
sensation. From H. W. Wilson’s With the
Flag to Pretoria, Volume 1, Harmsworth,
London, 1900, p.[...]traveller, entertainer and raconteur. He
brought the documentary film entertainment
Our Navy to Australia late in 1900, raising
“the social plane of animated photography
in Australia[...]Photo courtesy of Dr Mimi Colligan.
Right: One of the first single-subject film
entertainments to tour Australia was A. J.
West's Our Navy, late in 1900. Local films
of Boer War troop departures and the
celebrations of federation were occasionally
slot[...]ich
G. H. Snazelle lectured and sang. Collection:
the author.

r W.-« --.5».
«\m\\\\\<%\'[...]

Famous The Sydney Morning Herald
Boer War correspondent and[...]ducers” and combined them with his
lectures: “The Tartan, The Shamrock and
Tommy Atkins”; “Australians in Action
and the Humours of an Army on the
March”; and “The Ever Victorious ‘Bobs’” (Lord Roberts).
These explained the conflict to the average Australian, and were
presented with characteristic humour and colour by the author
of “The Man from Snowy River”. His Australia-wide lectu[...]cal entrepreneur J. C. Williamson briefly engaged the
projectionist Lindesay Campbell to exhibit “Boer War” films in
February 1900", m[...]d war scenes staged in Britain
by R. W. Paul.

In I\/Iarch 1900, Williamson contracted the London—based
Warvvick Trading Company to send out Clement Mason to project
regular shipments ofgenuine 35mm film cov[...], headed their combat camera
crew, and later came to Australia to film the Royal Visit in 1901.‘-

The Warwick—Williamson Australian presentations began in Niel-
bourne on 17 March 1900 under the jawbreaking title of “J. C.

Williamson’s Anglo-American Bio—Tableau”.‘“

The few local films appearing in these Boer War presentations
featured the embarkation of Australian military contingents for
South Africa. The First Queensland Contingent was filmed
departing Brisbane in October 1899, and the coverage was
described in Part 6 of this series (No. 96, December 1993). i\/Iost
of the films of Victorian Contingent departures were shot by the
Salvation Army Limelight Department, and were listed in Part 7
(No. 97-8, April 1994). The remaining pre—Federation Austral-

ian military[...]21 March 1900, Baker fix’ Rouse’s maga-
zine, The Australasian Photographic Review (p. 23), stated[...]supply of New South Wales films of our troops on
the clay of their departure for the front. These were especially
taken for the firm.” The DaylesfordAdz/ocate (Victoria), 9 June
1900, p. 2[...]or J. C.
Williamson Limited, and this is probably the same film. Of the
four Sydney troop departure parades before 21 March 1900,
only the Second Division of the First Contingent paraded down
George Street, and that was on 3 November 1899, the likely

shooting date. Earliest known reference to film: Australasian
Photographic Review, 21 March[...]urviving Australian Boer War departure films show the First Queensland
Contingent in its final parades of late October 1899. The films were shot by Wills
and Mobsby of the Queensland Department of Agriculture, and were di[...]rt 6 of this series. These copies were taken from the video transfer, by courtesy of
Ken Berryman, Nati[...]ne coverage shot by Stephen Bond

Bond was one of the earliest Australian film projectionists,
commencing on an R. W. Paul machine at the Melbourne Opera
House just after Carl Hertz’s departure in October 1896.” He
touted as projectionist with the Newbury—Spada theatrical com-
pany, commencing at Ballarat on 3 December 1 8963“, arriving at
Hobart on the 5511/Iararoa on 12 December 1896.“ On that day
he supervised Tasmania’s first film screening at Hobart’s Theatre
Royal.” Returning to Melbourne on 9 January 189723, he again
toured as film exhibitor with the Newbury—Spada Company in
rural Victoria.“ During 1898 and 1899, he gave movie shows at
the Newbury—Spada Company’s “Shilling Pops” concerts at the
I\/Ielbourne Town Hall, and showed films at the Gaiety Theatre,
Melbourne, in association with Co[...]His earliest
known film productions were taken on the outbreak of the Boer
War in 1 89935, possibly on a camera ofhis own construction, and
included the following scenes of the local troops.

I\.)

First Victorian (Boer War) Contingent Marching Through
Melbourne City. Shot 23 October 1899, and shown at a
Melbourne Exhibition Building patriotic concert on the same
evening. Probably around 100 feet in length (1 min 40 secs).

Earliest known reference to film: The Argus (Melbourne), 23
October 1899, back page.

S[...]rian Contingent). Shot 23 October 1899, and shown at a
i\/Ielbourne Exhibition Building patriotic concert on the same
evening. Probably around 100 feet in length (1 min 40 secs).

Earliest known reference to film: The Argus (Melbourne), 23
October 1899, back page.

0.2

4 First Victorian (Boer War) Contingent Training at Langwarrin
Camp. Item recalled by Stephen[...]

Stephen Bond shot further films of the Royal Visit to Mel-
bourne in May 190117, and by 1904 was manufa[...]in private collections, reputedly
being mostly of the “beater intermittent” type, though the
designs are known to vary.” Later machines are believed to have
been given provisional patent protection. Bo[...]rating machines, and
processed his own films.”

The Boer War intensified Australian patriotic feelings which
had already been stimulated by the imminence of federation and
its emphasis on natio[...]War film exhibitors, who inciden-
tally augmented the country’s fighting funds by screening their
films at numerous patriotic concerts and benefit rallies.[...]ss, of an entirely different
character, staged by the Salvation Army.

‘SOLDIERS or rm: Cnoss’ FILM[...]” was meticulously described in our last issue,
to strip away the cloak of myth it acquired in earlier popular
accounts. It was not a feature film, not “a film” at all, not even
wholly a Salvation Army production.

“Soldiers of the Cross” was an elegantly illustrated lecture,
on[...]a-
sive propaganda exercise succeeded in its aim: to boost the
recruitment of staff to serve in the Salvation Army.

Melbourne’s The War Cry of 22 September 1900 (p. 9) gives
a précis of the lecture and an outline of the arrangement of its
illustrations. The many detailed reviews ofits presentation in the

secular press allow us to assemble a definitive list of the short

films it included. They were episodic, car[...]ough intervening slide sequences. Booth
presented the films in roughly chronological order of the events
portrayed. They are listed below in that o[...]these films except Paul’s Escape from Damascus, The
Arrest ofSt Peter in the Tomb, The Roman Mother Escaping over
a Bridge and A Christian Youth Tortured on the Rack were shot
and exhibited on Lumiere cinémato[...]t’s La Vie et la Passion de ]ésus-
Christ with the actor Brettau in the title role, shot in Paris.
Length: about 55 seconds. Earliest known reference: The War

Cry (Melbourne), 18 August 1900, p. 9.

2 The Betrayal (Lumiere film No. 939, French, 1898). From
Georges Hatot’s production, the betrayal of Christ byJudas in
the Garden of Gethsemane. Auckland Star, 21 May 1901,[...]kneels praying, Judas suddenly appears,
which is the sign for the soldiers to seize Him and take Him to
the Cross.” Length: about 55 seconds. Earliest known refer-
ence: Brishane Courier, 9 April 1901, p. 4.

3 The Crucifixion (Lumiere film No. 943, possibly also[...]Paris
production. Reviews are not specific about the aspects of the
Crucifixion which were shown. Length: about 55 seconds.

Earliest known reference: The War Cry (Melbourne), 18
August 1900, p. 9.

4 The Stoning of Stephen (Production: Salvation Army. Camera:
Joe Perry. Director: H. Booth). Probably shot at Murrumbeena
in mid—1900. The War Cry (Melbourne), 22 September 1900,
p. 9, describes the slide sequence preceding the film, and the film
itself: “The events that lead to the martyrdom ofStephen passed
in review. The Sanhedrim, the trial, Stephen’s impeachment by
the rulers and the stoning ofthe first martyr. The kinematographe
was employed in this latter scene. The effect on the audience, as
they beheld in a moving picture the innocent Stephen cruelly
beaten to the earth, and killed by fiendish fanaticism of the
formal religionists of his day cannot be described. The
kinematographe gives place to a picture [slide] ofStephen lying
dead upon the roadside, while Paul the persecutor stands over
him in an attitude of painful contemplation.” The part of

Stephen was played by Salvation Army Cadet James Annetts
(refer The War Cry (Melbourne), 25 October 1958, p. 7).

Below: Left, “Soldiers of the Cross”, film 7: Massacre of Christians in the
Catacombs. Courtesy of Meg Labrum, NFSA, Canberra. Right, “Soldiers of the Cross”,
film 10: The Martyrdom ofP0lycarp. Courtesy of Meg Labr[...]

reference: Auckland Star, 21 May 1901, p. 3.

The Arrest of St. Peter in the Tomb (catacombs). St. Peter, seized
under orders ofNero, was later crucified upside—down, according
to the writer St. Jerome, because Peter thought himself unworthy
of the same form of death as Christ. Earliest known reference to

the film: Brisbane Courier, 9 April 1901, p. 4.

Massacre of Christians in the Catacombs (Director: Booth;
Camera: Perry). Roman[...]group ofworship—
ping Christians in a corner of the 700 miles of ancient tomb

passages below Rome. Length: less than 90 seconds. Earliest
known reference: The War Cry, 18 August 1900, p. 9.

A Burial in the Catacombs (Director: Booth; Camera: Perry).
Chris[...]less than 90 seconds. Earliest known
references: The War Cry, 22 September 1900, p. 9; Evening
Post (Wellington, New Zealand), 28 May 1901, p. 2.

The Roman Mother Escaping Over a Bridge (Director: Bo[...]owed by this chase sequence on film, described in The War
Cry (Melbourne), 18 May 1901, p. 9: “A Chri[...]in her arms, was being pursued by Roman soldiers.
The path lay across a series of wooden planks forming a
narrow bridge. A comrade in the faith on the near side of the
stream encourages the woman to cross, and receives her with
a ready grasp and pr[...]er,
who had outstripped his Confederates, reached the plank and
dashed across. Forgetting to take into account the spring ofthe
board under his weight and rapid mov[...]nly
loses his balance, and is seen flying through the air, and drops
with a great splash in the stream.” The film was made on
Warwick Bioscope equipment aroun[...]nd 3 minutes in length. Earliest known reference: The
War‘ Cry (Melbourne), 4 May 1901, p. 8.

10 The Martyrdom ofPolycarp (Director: Booth; Camera: Perry).

Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna, executed under the authority of

. CINEMA PAPERS 100

“Soldiers of the Cross”, film 16: A Christian Youth Tortured on the
Rack. Courtesy of Meg Labrum, NFSA, Canberra.

Emperor Marcus Aurelius around AD 180, at the age of
86, the event adapted from an account by the ancient
writer Eusebius. The War‘ Cry (Melbourne), 18 August
1900, p. 9, states: “In the midst of a howling mob,
mocking and jeering, you see him led to the place of
martyrdom in one of the public squares of Rome. You
see him bound to the stake; then the fagots are ignited,
and the smoke and flames rise round the aged saint’s
body — he is seen to lift his eyes heavenward, and as his
face glows with the glory of expectation and God—given
triumph, his spirit takes its flight.”

The making of the Polycarp film was recalled by
Lieut. Colonel I-Iarold Graham in The War Cry, 25
October 1958, p. 3: “my own father, who posed as
Polycarp being burnt at the stake. In this instance it was
behind a real fire at Murrumbeena. My father told me
that the fire nearly smoked him out. However that was
overcome, and my dad did the part as mentioned.”

Length: less than 90 seconds. Earliest known reference:
The War Cry (Melbourne), 22 September 1900, p. 9.

11 Christian Martyrdom in the Lime Kilns (Director: Booth;

Camera: Perry). The War Cry 18 August 1900, p. 9, states:
“As the film opens, the patient faces of the martyrs are seen
through the rising smoke to be encouraging each other to look
with joy to the glory of the crown which waited on their
martyrdom. In the rear are seen the waving plumes of the
Roman soldiery. A pagan priest comes with his attendant to
the front. The incense is offered, an opportunity is given to
recant, but neither man, woman, nor child can be found
unfaithful enough to touch the unholy incense. Then, without
waiting the onrush of the soldiers to compel them into the
burning kiln, you see them joyfully commend themselves to
heaven and deliberately plunge over the brink, disappearing
amid the thickening vapours of the pit beneath, and the
soldiers, coming cautiously forward, peer through the smoke
with blanched, awe-struck faces into the boiling cauldron.”
The film’s production was recalled by Colonel Charles Rixon
in The War Cry, 25 October 1958, p. 7: “As each one jumped,
a puffofsmoke poured out. The patriarch who began the jump
was Cadet]. P. Rive [...] Each jumped about four feet on to a
mattress and timed it so that, whether man or boy, or Woman,
they knew in which direction to roll out of the way. The puffs
of smoke were steam from a boiler, and the tube was manipu-
lated by no other than Ben Orames [Commissioner], andjock
Brodie, the sweet Scotch tenor of those days. But the last
person to jump was Brigadier Lily Burgess; she hesitated to[...]s instruc-
tions, and obeying them, so she jumped to her feet and saluted,
hence a tragic picture ended with the head of a bonny woman
at the edge ofthe pit with a hand at her forehead [in a Salvation
Army salute].” Length: less than 90 seconds. Earliest refer-
ence: The War Cry (Melbourne), 18 August 1900, p. 9. The
film was also called The Burning Fiery Furnace.

12 The Drowning of Bishop Calepodius (Director: Booth; Cam-

era: Perry). A third century martyrdom at the hands of a
frenzied mob during the time of Emperor Severus (AD 197 —
235). Film described in Thethe martyrdom
of an old man. He was dragged through the streets, and, with

13 Attack on the Martyr in the Sealed Room (Director: Booth;
Camera: Perry). Described in The War Cry (Melbourne), 22
September 1900, p. 9: “The kinematographe picture depicts
the saint praying in secret, regardless of the storm of riot
without, the mob thirsting for his blood. Suddenly, however,
the door is broken through, a panel first, then the whole door
gives way. The raging rabble rush in and beat the saint to death
on the spot, one battle-axe blow mercifully ending his t[...]less than 90 seconds. Earliest known reference:

The War Cry (Melbourne), 22 September 1900, p. 9.

14 The Burning of the Valerian Martyrs (Director: Booth; Cam-
era: Perry). The slow torture and death ofChristians by burning
during the time of persecution by the Emperor Valerian, AD
257-259. Descriptions of this film are vague and it may be the
same item as film (11). The name of the Valerian martyr
Hippolytus is mentioned in a review in The Age (Melbourne) on

“Soldiers of the Cross": final slide revealing the propaganda purpose of the
presentation, in boosting the recruitment of the staff to the Salvation Army. Courtesy
of Meg Labrum, NFSA, Canberra.

14 September 1900, p. 7. The most famous of the Valerian
martyrs was probably St. Lawrence, who w[...]: less than 90
seconds. Earliest known reference: The War Cry (Melbourne),

18 August 1900, p. 9.

15 M[...]; Camera:

Perry). This film is mentioned only in The Young Soldier
(Melbourne), 29 September 1900, p. 14, which states: “we saw
two Roman boys who were the cause oftheir parents’ conver-
sion, and then we saw the whole family burning at the stake”.
Length: less than 90 seconds. This may have been one of the
Burning of the Valerian Martyrs series.

16 A Christian Youth Tortured on the Rack (Director: Booth;

Camera: Perry). The film was first mentioned during the New
Zealand tour of May 1901, and showed “the sufferings of a
half-naked youth on the rack”. A slide matching this descrip-
tion survives in the NFSA set. Length: unknown, but may have

been up to 3 minutes. Earliest known reference: New Zealand[...]7.

17 Slaughter of Christians by Wild Animals in the Arena (or

Coliseum). Described in The War Cry (Melbourne), 18 August
1900, p. 9: “You see the martyrs slowly march into the arena;
they kneel together while they receive the[...]jutting portion
ofthe Arena creeps a huge tiger. The Christians suddenly shrink
back at the sight of the monstrous beast. Little children rush to
their mothers — friend Clasps friend. Almost instantly another
equally ferocious creature steals behind the first, adding addi-
tional terror to the scene, and, while in the act ofspringing upon
them, the film closes.” The production was recalled by Colonel
Charles Rixon in The War Cry (Melbourne), 25 October 1958,
p. 7: “The film in which you refer to a lion coming into tho arena
had a tiger in my clay, and I had the horror and honour of going
into the back entrance of the Theatre Royal and accepting
delivery of the full length tiger with his skin over a bamboo
frame. When I took it to the Murrumbeena Girls’ Home, Gault
and Rumble [Salvation Army Officers] asked me to crawl into
the creature and manipulate the rings that moved the lips and
controlled its revolting jaws and rolling eyes. They were so long
discussing things, that I became tired of being a quadruped and
stood up. They then decided to use two boys in the tiger Uoe
Perry’s,boys] and just as the animal was about to enter the arena,
the hind quarters fell over, and it was quite interesting to see the
little fellow in the front half, trying to pull his brother onto his
feet. That film had to be made again, of course.” Length: less

than 90 seconds. Earliest known reference: The War Cry
(Melbourne), 18 August 1900, p. 9.

18 Slaughter of Christians by Gladiators in the Arena (Director:

Booth; Camera: Perry) . The film may have been confused with
item (16), as it[...]milar. However, it is men-
tioned twice, first in The War Cry (Melbourne), 18 August

1900, p. 9; later in the Otago Daily Times, 8 June 1901, p. 1.
Film would have been less than 90 seconds in length.

19 The Trial of Perpetua (Director: Booth; Camera: Perry[...]ied and executed for her
Christian faith in about the year AD 202 during the persecutions
of Emperor Severus. The film was also called Perpetua Before
the Pro—Corzsul. In this film, Perpetua is asked to burn some
incense indicating her worship o[...]

Late Night Movie Shows. Ho|lywood’s latest...and the Gala

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Opening Night Premiere and razzle-dazzle cocktail reception. :
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