Cinema Papers No.74 July 1989

JULY 1989 No. 74

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“WARM, SENSITIVE AND FUNNY!” - CBS-TV, LOS ANGELES

“THUMBS UP! IT’S A VERY POWERFUL HUMAN STORY AND I LIKED IT!” - Roger Ebert, SISKEL & EBERT

“OUTRAGEOUS, ENDEARING, LARGER-THAN-LIFE!” - E llio tt S tein, VILLAGE VOICE

Torch song tr ilo g y Based on the Award-Winning Play NEWLINE CINEMA PRESENTS A HOWARD GOTTFRIED/RONALD K, FIERSTEIN PRODICTION * PAUL BOGART . “TORCH SONG TRILOGY” starring ANNE BANCROFT, MATTHEW BRODERICK, HARVEY FIERSTEIN and BRIAN KERWIN ™ KAREN YOUNG, KEN PAGE andCHARLES PIERCE . fH0R“ SCOTT SALMON ADAPTEDBY PETER MATZ • PRODUCER MARIE CANTIN • PRODUCER RONALD K, FIERSTEIN EomB? NICHOLAS C. SMITH • PR RICHARD HOOVER • P = K MIKAEL SALOMON screenplay m m FIERSXj;IN ^ don _ produced H0WARD GOTTFRIED . ""1™ PAUL BOGART f il m

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CONTENTS N O . 74 JU LY 1 9 8 9

• n O £ 7-<K

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B R IE F L Y : N EW S AND V IE W S , IN C L U D IN G FF C F U N D IN G D E C IS IO N S

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T H E D E L IN Q U E N T S : P U T T IN G T O G E T H E R A S 1 0 M IL L IO N P R O JE C T

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A U ST R A L IA N S IN H O L L Y W O O D : W H O ’S W O R K IN G , W A IT IN G , W A N IN G

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C O M M U N IO N : P H IL IP P E M O R A ’S L A T E S T A L IE N

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GRA V E M A T T E R S : D A V ID CA ESA R A D D S T O H IS B O D Y O F W O R K

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C H IN E S E F IL M I : U N D E R S T O O D O R O V E R R A T E D ?

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C H IN E S E F IL M II : T H E X ’lAN S T U D IO S

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Y U R I S O K O L : MAN W IT H A M O V IE S T U D IO

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D O U B L E O R N O T H IN G : T W IN S IN T H E M O V IE S

A D V E R T IS IN G

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T R U E B E L IE V E R S : H IS T O R Y IN T H E M A KIN G O R H IS T O R Y IN T H E FA K IN G

Patricia Amad Peter Tapp

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T E C H N IC A L IT IE S I : N EW P R O D U C T S , N EW FA C E S, N EW PLA C ES

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T E C H N IC A L IT IE S II : T H E C H A L L E N G E O F S U P E R 35 MM

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F IL M R E V IE W S : G H O STS... O F T H E C IV IL D E A D ; H I G H H O PES;

N EXT ISSU E SEPTEM BER 1 P U B LIS H E R

Patricia Amad CO-EDITORS Philippa Hawker Peter Tapp T E C H N IC A L

EDITOR

Fred Harden MTV

BOARD

OF

C=

D IREC TO R S

John Jost CHAIRMAN Natalie Miller Gil Appleton Ross Dimsey Patricia Amad Peter Tapp Les Pradd Finan cial Ad visor

Nicholas Pullen S KCR KT AR y/ L kGAL ADVISOR

DESIGN Ian R ob ert so n S U B S C R IP T IO N S

Paula Amad E D ITO R IA L

A S S IS T A N C E

JO E L E A H Y ’S N E IG H B O U R S ; P H IL IP P IN E S , M Y P H IL IP P IN E S ; S C A N D A L ;

Janet Munari F O U N D IN G

T H E ’B U R B S AND T O R C H SO N G T R IL O G Y

P U B LIS H E R S

Peter Beilby S c o tt Murray Philippe Mora E D ITO R IA L

BOARD

Kathv Bail John Baxter (U S A ) Chris Berry Rod Bishop Ron Bu rn ett (Canada) An nette Blonski Raffaele Capu to Ro la nd o Caputo Felicity Collins Hu nter Cordaiv Stuart Cunn ingham Debi Enker Brian McFarlane Adrienne M cKib bins John Nicoll Bill Routt T YP E S E T T IN G

Typeset on Mac int osh SE and processed from disk

by On The Ball P R IN T IN G

P ho to Off set Producti ons D IS T R IB U T IO N

Network D is trib ut io n Co. Australian Film Commission

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N EW IN D E P E N D E N T S : A C E R T A IN T E N D E N C Y IN A U ST R A L IA N C IN E M A

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B O O K R E V IE W S : ST A T E O F IN D E P E N D E N T S , AND N IG H T M A R E M O V IE S

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D IR T Y D O Z E N : T H E R E V IE W E R S ’ R A TIN G S

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SH A M E : T H E SC E N A R IO

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P R O D U C T IO N SU R V E Y : W H O ’S M A KIN G W H A T IN A U ST R A L IA

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C E N S O R S H IP L IS T IN G S

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T H E LA ST W O R D ON CA N N ES ’89

CONTRIBUTORS KATHY BAIL is a freelance writer and editor; JOHN BAXTER is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles; KEN BERRYMAN is a freelance writer on film and manager of the Melbourne office o f the National Film and Sound Archive; MARCUS BREEN is a freelance writer on film; RAFFAELE CAPUTO is a freelance writer on film; DOMINIC CASE is technical manager of the Colorfilm group o f companies; SUSAN CHARLTON is a freelance writer on film; MARY COLBERT is a freelance writer and researcher; H UNTER CORDAIY is a writer on film and lectures in Mass Media at NSW University; ANNE MARIE CRAWFORD is a .freelance writer on film; FRED HARDEN is a film and television producer specializing in special effects; MICHAEL HELMS is a freelance writer; LINDA JAIVIN is a freelance writer specializing in China; PAUL KALINA is a freelance writer on film; SHELLEY KAY is a freelance writer on film; CATE KELLY was the Cinem a Papers Cannes correspondent; ADRIENNE MCKIBBINS is a freelance writer on film who specializes in Chinese cinema; NICHOLAS THOMAS is a fellow in anthropology at King’s College, Cambridge; JAMES WALTER is Professor o f Australian Studies at

Griffith University.

C I N E M A P A P E R S IS P U B L I S H E D W ITH F I N A N C IA L A S S IS T A N C E FRO M THE A U S T R A L I A N FILM C O M M I S S I O N A N D FI L M V I C T O R I A

© Copyright 1989 MTV Publishing Limited. Signed articles represent the view s o f the author/s and not necessarily those o f the editors and publisher. While even' care is taken with manuscripts and materials supplied to the magazine, neither the editors nor rhe publisher can accept liability for anv loss or damage which may arise. This magazine may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express permission of the copyright owner. Cinem a Papers is published every two months by MTV Publishing Limited, 43 Charles Street, Abbotsford, Victoria, Australia 3 0 67. Telephone (03) 429 5511. Fax <03) 4 2 7 9 2 5 5 . Telex AA 3 0 625. Reference ME 230.

C E N S O R S H I P EW REQUIREMENTS for cinema and video advertising came into effect from 1 May 1 9 8 9 , and apply to all cinema and video releases classified after that date. The requirements deal with advertising on the front and back o f video covers, video cassettes, posters, newspaper advertisements and other material, advertising films or videos. The classification categories, the symbols, the age infor­ mation and the category descriptions are as follows:

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1 9 8 9 N a tio n a l S c re e n w rite rs ' Conference

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HIS YEAR'S FOUR-DAY residential confer­

ence will be held at Queenscliff in Victoria from Thursday 21 to Sunday 24 September. Ne­ gotiations are underway to bring four overseas writers to join the Australian industry execu­ tives and entrepreneurs as official speakers.

The conference will provide masterclasses, workshops and panel debates on the radical changes facing Australia's film and television industries including amendments to the Broad­ casting Tribunal regulations, the advent of pay TV, "internationalism" and film financing. Reg­ istration numbers are limited to 190 on a firstcome first-served basis. For further informa­ tion, contact the director, Ellen McArthur, on (03) 489 3239

F or General Exhibition Parental Guidance Recommended F o r Persons Under 15 Years 15+ Recommended F or Mature Audiences 15 Years And Over 18+ Restricted To Adults 18 Years And Over 18+ Restricted To Adults 18 Years And Over

A new scheme which requires advice about the content o f a film to be displayed on film posters, along with more information about the film categories, comes into effect on 1 May 1 9 8 9 . The new developments will make it easier for parents to have greater participation in the selection and supervision o f material they wish their children to watch.

Under the scheme, information about the classification and content o f videos will be clearly marked in a 20-millimetre band across the bottom o f the cover. The new requirements apply to all films and videos classified after 1 May. The new markings and advertising requirements followed a report by the Joint Select Committee on Video Materials to the Parliament in April last year. The Committee recommended, among other things, that more information should be available about the content o f films and videos to allow those intending to see them to make better informed choices. The Committee also recommended that more information should be provided about age suitability.

The PG category will carry the explanation “Parental guidance recommended for persons under 15 years” and the M category will carry the sign 15+ in addition to the explanation “Recommended for mature audiences 15 years and over” .

The restricted category, in addition to the R symbol will carry the sign 18+ and the explanation “Restricted to adults 18 years and over”. This additional information will appear on all large posters for films and in the larger newspaper advertisements.

The smaller advertisements will have the classification categories and signs more prominently displayed than they are at present. All films and videos classified after 1 May other than those classified for General Exhibition would indicate the age categories recommended by the film Censorship Board.

There will be additional consumer advice on videos and in advertisements to inform viewers, and parents in particular, o f the stronger elements which warrant a particular classification. The markings on the front o f video covers will be promi­ nently displayed and the classification will be clearly marked on the video cassette itself.

FILM VICTORIA' S

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

Sixteen episodes o f the adventure series Mission: Impossible will be filmed in Victoria later this year,

M e lb o u rn e Spoleto W rite rs ' Festival

in a joint venture between Para­ mount and the National Nine Network. Mission: Impossible had

HE 1989 Melbourne Spoleto Writer's Festi­ val will focus on the relationship literature and writers have with other art forms.

The program includes forums; debates; indoor and outdoor cafe readings; informal dis­ cussions and meet-the-author sessions; inter­ views; exhibitions; book launches, social activi­ ties; a schools' program; a seminar on selfpublishing; and music. Some of the interna­ tional guests include Andre Brink, Marilyn Duckworth, Maxine Hong Kingston, Keri Hulme, Bernice Rubens and Luisa Valenzuela. The Festival will run from 1 3 - 19 September at the Kino Cinema, Melbourne.

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previously been filmed in Queensland. The production company, McMahon-Lake, Australian Film Studios and local unions co-operated in producing a major submission to Para­ mount, following a trip to Los Angeles by a Film Victoria team earlier this year.

LEFT:

John Calvin as Doyle and Shannon Meredith in Mission: Impossible.

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CORN,

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W The prizes at the 42n d Cannes Film Festival were awarded as follows: PALME D’OR

Sex, Lies a n d Videotape

Steven Soderbergh (USA) SPECIAL GRAND PRIZE OF THE JURY

ITH ALL THAT PRAYING and rally­

MOHAMME

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surprised by the frank portrayal o f poverty

ing and preparation for martyrdom

and misery in The P edlar, and, despite the fact

we hear so much about on the tele­

it was made by the forbiddingly-named Arts

vision now, it’s hard to imagine the

Bureau for the Propagation o f Islamic

people o f Iran have much time for the cin­

Thought, by the absence o f any obvious

ema. But apparendy they do: according to

religious (or political) message.

The Economist, upwards o f 2 million movie

In The Spell, a family marries o ff its be­

tickets are sold every day in Iran, mainly to

loved daughter to the son o f its enemies as

unemployed men who tend to sit in the

“blood money” . On their wedding night, the

cinemas from eleven in the morning till nine

unhappy couple become lost in the woods.

at night. Mostly (63% in 1 9 8 5 ), they watch

They take refuge in the palace o f a bitter and

Iranian films.

lonely aristocat. They discover that the aris­

Two Iranian films screened at the recent

tocrat’s wife, whom he believes died on their

H ong Kong International Film Festival: The

wedding night years before, is being kept

P ed lar, directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf

alive - in her tattered wedding gown (and

(1 9 8 7 ) and The Spell, directed by Dariush

under layers o f white powder for that “wan”

Farhang (1 9 8 8 ).

effect) - in the dungeon by his unfaithful

The P ed la r is actually three short films in

Too B ea u tifu l F o r Y ou

servant. The butler d id do it! This is a real

(Bertrand Blier, France)

one. The first is about the desperate efforts o f

gothic piece, complete with high melodrama,

AND

a poor couple, all o f whose children are badly

secret passageways and great thunderstorms.

New C in em a Paradiso

handicapped, to give away their newborn

The Economist, which seems to know an

(Giuseppe Tornatore, Italy)

baby to someone who can take better care o f

awful lot about these films, assures us that

it. The second is a surreal tale o f a middle-

“fooling the censor is a favourite technique in

aged man’s emotionally-charged

relation­

both films” . Was the dialogue in The P ed lar

ship with his ancient, dictatorial, Psycho-wor­

clipped just so that the censors couldn’t read

thy mother. The third is a tense, gangster

anything into it? Is the family feud in T he Spell

BEST ACTOR

shoot-up. The subject matter is heavy, but

an allegory for the Iran-Iraq war and the old

James Spader

the treatment is gently ironical, even humor­

aristocrat a Khomeini figure? It’s all a bit

Sex, Lies a n d Videotape (USA)

ous at times. I admit to being somewhat

baffling to the uninitiated.

BEST DIRECTOR

Em ir Kusturicia, ’ T im e o f the Gypsies (Yugoslavia)

BEST ACTRESS

Meryl Streep A C ry in the D a rk (Australia)

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MARILYN MONROE Australian Fan Club has recently been formed by Jane Guy. The Club will publish six newsletters a year and new mem­ bers will receive a set of six Marilyn Monroe postcards. A yearly subscription costs $20. For further information send a self-addressed envelope to: Australian Fan Club, 41 Chapel Street, Prahran, Victoria 3181. LEFT: Marilyn photo­ graphed in 1952 by Philippe Halsman for her first of nine LIFE covers.

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BEST ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTION

Mystery T ra in , Jim Jarmusch (USA) JURY PRIZE

Jesu s o f M ontreal

Denys Arcand (Canada) CAMERA D’OR

My Tw entieth C entury

Ildiko Enyedi (Hungary) TECHNICAL PRIZE

Shohei Imamura, Black R jiin

AUSTRALIAN FILM FINANCE CORPORATION FUNDING DECISIONS: MARCH - MAY 1989 B lood Oath Feature. Charles Waterstreet. F ather Feature. Barron Films. Strangers Feature. Genesis Films. W endy Cracked a Walnut Feature, Hoyts Productions Pty Ltd.

E lly and J ools 12 x 30-m inute children’s series. Southern Star Sullivan. T he Girl F rom T omorrow 12 x 30-m inute series. Film Australia. T he Greatest T une on E arth Fourpart series for children. Australian Children’s Television Foundation Productions. I n M oral P anic Documentary. Frank Heimans. Something Close to H ell Documentary. Andrew Wiseman and Paul Roberts. H arbour B eat Feature. David Elfick. It ’s N o w or N ever Feature. Fred Schepisi, Peter Beilby and Robert Le Tet. Riders on the Storm Feature. South Australian Film Industry Advisory Council. T he P rivate War of L ucinda Smith 2 x 2 hour mini-series. Resolution Films. Catalyst Documentary. 6 x 30-m inute series. Chris Oliver.

Giants of T ime Documentary. Juniper Films. Our Secret A ustralia Documentary. 13 x 30-m inute series. Central Coast Media Productions. T he R ed E xpress Documentary. 6 x 60-m inute series. Captured Live Productions. Shark Bay Documentary. Peter Du Cane.

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Film V icto ria 's N e w D eputy D irector

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AROLINE CREESE has been appointed as

deputy director of Film Victoria. Ms Creese has worked at a senior administrative level in a number of arts organizations, such as the Insti­ tute of Contemporary Arts; David Puttnam's production company, Enigma Productions; Di­ rectors Guild of Great Britain and as Supervisor for Television Drama Production for the ABC. Her position at Film Victoria will see her deputiz­ ing for Geoffrey Pollock and overseeing the organization's administration.

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Report by Patricia Amad and Philippa Hawker

THE DELINQUENTS HAS HAD A HIGH PROFILE LA TELY...

NOT SU RPRISIN G FOR A $10 M ILLION PROJECT W HICH GOT OFF THE GROUND WITH SUPPORT FROM DAVID BOWIE AND W HICH M ARKS KYLIE M INOGUE S FEATURE DEBUT. IT IS THE FIRST PRO DU CTIO N FROM THE NEW CO M PAN Y VILLAGE RO A DSHO W PICTURES, THE FIRST FEATURE

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TO BE SHOT AT THE FORMER DE LAURENTIIS

e t t i n g it s t a r t e d : t h e

STUDIOS IN Q UEEN SLAN D (N O W KN O W N

PRODUCERS. The D elinquents

has not been an easy project to get into production. For producers Alex Cutler and Michael Wilcox, it began almost by accident four years ago. They were trying to acquire the rights to another Australian novel, and were having difficulty coming to an agreement with the author. It was suggested to them that they also have a look at a novel Penguin would shortly be reissuing that was set in the same period.

The D elinquents, by Australian author Criena Rohan, had been published in London in 1 9 6 2 , a year before her early death .T h e sharp and tender story o f Fifties teenagers, with its downtown Romeo and Juliet, Brownie and Lola, was exactly what they had in mind.

Criena Rohan was the pseudonym o f Deirdre Cash, born in 192 5, the daughter o f a poet and Marxist, Leo Cash, and a singer, Valerie Cash. Barrett Reid, in his introduction to the reissued D elinquents, says that she was “beautiful, bohemian, never far from being ill, witty, loved a good story, and revelled in the human drama; and she was not above assisting drama to a decent climax if things got too slow.” She first started to write when she was 18, but The D elinquents was not published until 19 6 2 , the year before her death from cancer. A second novel, Down by the Dockside, was published posthumously, and a third, House with the Golden D oor, has been lost.

“We fell in love with it almost immediately and we negotiated a deal with Penguin virtually on the same day,” Alex Cutler says. “And then we struggled and suffered for a long tim e.” Once they had acquired the rights, they spent two years developing the project, until a chance remark at a David Bowie press conference in O ctober 1 9 8 7 gave it a new visibility.

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AS W ARNER RO ADSHO W STU D IO S), AND THE FIRST FEATURE FUNDED BY THE FILM FIN AN CE CO RPO RA TIO N (FFC) TO GO BEFORE THE CAM ERAS. Bowie had been asked what his future film plans were. He replied that was interested in a book he had recently read, and was trying to find out who owned the rights. The book was The Delinquents.

“And so the following morning the project went from total obscurity to front-page interest,” Alex Cutler says. Bowie made contact with Cutler and Wilcox and told them o f his enthusiasm for the book. “He had the same emotional reaction to the novel that we had. He loved it, and he wanted to see it get made. He was quite prepared to become involved with other people, but it took a bit of time for us to find out whether we wanted to go in the same direction, but once we determined that we shook hands on an association. We got a fair amount o f unsolicited publicity because o f that and it put the project on the agenda for a lot o f people.”

Bowie is working on the soundtrack, but his reported involve­ ment was considerably greater: stories that he would star in the film or function as producer have been doing the rounds. “A lot o f it has been misinformation and distortion, especially reports o f him pulling P

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out,” Alex Cutler says. “But that is because a lot o f people expected him to be in it as an actor.”

After acquiring the rights, Wilcox and Cutler set about the long process o f bringing the book to the screen: getting a script and getting backers. “One o f the things we struggled most with was the question o f track record,” Wilcox says. “We were constantly met with queries about our track record and it always bemused us because we felt that track record had something to do with being successful rather than how many films you had done.”

Cutler adds: “We came from a different orientation from that o f most new independent filmmakers. We had largely commercial back­ grounds, we were both lawyers, and therefore naturally regarded with suspicion because we all know” - he says, with deliberate irony “lawyers are not creative.”

Cutler, an American, was business affairs manager at the Grundy Organization and then worked for Hoyts on the distribution, financ­ ing and marketing o f a number o f Hoyts-Edgley productions, including A n In d ecen t Obsession, B urke a n d Wills, C oolan g atta Gold and One N ight Stand. Wilcox was a business affairs manager for McElroy and M cElroy, working on projects like The T ea r o f Living Dangerously, R a z o rb a ck , R etu rn to Eden and The L ast Frontier.

They took the D elinquents project to the then New South Wales Film Corporation for script development money for the first draff, on which Lex Marinos worked.

Cutler says: “In retrospect, what happened there was probably going to be indicative o f the way things went thereafter. They liked the novel too, But they said it was a very difficult adaptation, and when we delivered the first draft they said, ‘Yes, this confirms our fears that this is a highly difficult novel to adapt and we don’t think that you can live up to the earlier work.’”

Cutler and Wilcox then went to the Australian Film Commission (A FC), which was “interested enough to keep us coming back modify this, change that ... They really spent a lot o f time on the project, considering they didn’t put any money into it for some

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Roadshow Pictures a year ago. John TarnofF, executive vicepresident in charge o f production at Village Roadshow Pictures,was interested in the idea, and had tried to work out a deal, but it was not until he and Greg Coote joined Village Roadshow from Island in O ctober 1988 that things started to move.

TarnofF recalls. “We decided to make this not just a small Austra­ lian picture, but a picture with international value and impact, and the way to do this was to ‘cast it up’. It was Greg’s suggestion that we try Kylie, which we did. (The producers had already thought oF Minogue.) I knew her manager, Terry Blarney, from a prior transaction: I gave him the script, he and Kylie read it and immediately came back to us and said they were interested.”

TarnofF, who came to Australia when de Laurentiis was setting up its Australian arm, is eloquent about Village Roadshow Pictures’ plans. It aims to establish a niche as an international production company based in Los Angeles that can “do projects in Australia and elsewhere, where we can take advantage o f the fact that as an international company with international connections and financing and distribution, we can bring projects back to the American distribu­ tors at savings to them, nevertheless maintaining the quality o f production. ” He says : “What I find really exciting about working here and working with these folks is the international potential. I think what has happened now in the business in the States over the two years is that we have seen the independents going out o f business, and the ones that haven’t gone out o f business are madly scrambling to figure out a way o f staying afloat.

“What Wall Street doesn’t understand is that the movie business really isn’t like any other business - we’re not manufacturing door­ handles here, it is a really difficult business to survive in, to start up, particularly now with the way that distribution works. You really have to be a major studio, or major distribution company in order to survive. You have to have the established track record, the established distribution system and distribution relationships to the exhibitors, and you have to have the library and the ancillary sources o f money to keep you going over the long haul. The other side is that if you are Paramount and all your pictures are out there making lots o f money,

period o f tim e,” according to Cutler.

It was David Bowie’s unscheduled enthusiasm that “rekindled the A FC ’s interest” , as Michael Wilcox puts it. Script development assistance enabled playwright and poet Dorothy Hewett to come on the scene and work on a second draff. c

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UTTING THE DEAL TOGETHER: THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER. Cutler and Wilcox took the project to the Village

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a substantial proportion o f money.

“I think the Australian filmmaking community is wonderful, but I think they are going through a difficult time right now - there seems to be an identity crisis going on through the community here right now, this kind o f “post-lO BA blues” . I think it’s a challenging time and a lot o f people will probably go out o f business. And other people, who have the savvy and the creativity and the persistence to make it through will emerge. And I think a better product will emerge out o f that.

There is a real problem o f quality with the 1OBA years, the decline o f quality in those films. This is the problem when you are not making films for an audience but are making films for tax reasons. It happened in Canada and it was disastrous for the Canadian film industry - it has not recovered.

Canada now is being used as a location for Ameri­ can films, and the same Canadian filmmakers who were working before are working now, but as an opportunity for the Canadian film industry it was disastrous. I hope the same thing is not going to happen in Australia, I hope Australian filmmakers are more able to pick up the pieces.

“I think the F F C is great but I also think it will only be able to apply to a relatively small group o f films - not just in terms o f how they’re funded; I ’m talking not just o f theatrical films now, I ’m talking in terms o f television content and non-theatrical content - 1 mean, those are o f great value. I worry that there’s a little bit o f “Catch 2 2 ” in that the FF C tries on the one hand to ensure that the films have to have an Australian content; on the other hand they need to have presales; and one may exclude the other.

“We have been fortunate in that we have properties which because o f the way they are put together and because o f the nature o f the projects, have international marketability. How many o f those projects are there out there? Hopefully there will be a lot but I think they are hard to come by.”

The leads in The D elinquents have clear inter­ national marketability, but they entail certain changes to the original characters. Lola, in the book, is a Eurasian girl. [ “My name is really Lotus,” Lola tells her young lover, Brownie. “But mother always calls me Lola. She says it is enough to have Eastern blood without an Eastern name.”]

Cuder and Wilcox say that they had thought o f M inogue for the role at an early stage. Wilcox says: “We weren’t close enough to financing the film at that stage to make overtures and commitments.

But we thought she was going to be an extraordinarily big star; and even though Lola was written as a Eurasian character, we never saw her trauma as being derived from her ethnic background. This was not a story about racial discrimination, it was a story about oppression because o f non-conformity, o f what happens when young kids don’t conform to the values o f their parents and the values o f society.

“The other aspect was that in the book Lola starts o ff at 13 and goes through to 2 1 . We needed an actress who could play very young and very innocent, and and on the other hand be a mature woman.”

In finding a male lead, they looked to the one place where, as Michael Wilcox puts it, “Kylie is not a megastar - domestic U S ” . As Lola’s lover Brownie, a drifter with a love o f the sea, American actor Charlie Schlatter has been cast. He has appeared in B right Lights, Big City and 18 A gain .

to the shrewd producer or agent that means that Paramount is making the betw il l a p p e a r t o v i e w e r s ter deals in distribution, which means that in t h e d e l i n q u e n t s the client (the agent or the producer) is going to be getting a better deal by going with that studio. So the studio that is doing the best is going to be getting the best choice o f all the projects that are out there. And that perpetuates their pre-eminence, which is why the majors are always doing the good stuff, because they are shown it first.

“That makes it difficult for a company like ours to find projects.

On the other hand, where we can fit in, I hope, is in a niche where there are projects that the majors will like but, for one reason or another (cost, locale, or pure political stalemate) decide they don’t want to do. We can come in and say, ‘OK, we’ll take the responsibility, we’ll make it for you, we’ll cashflow it and we’ll bring certain things to the table that make it advantageous for you to be in business with us on this one, which you like anyway! ’ So we’ll see. I think the future lies with being able to crack some o f that stranglehold which the majors have - I mean, they aren’t going to be able to make every project themselves, and perhaps the answer lies in the international arena. Europe is now its own market; Japan and the Far East is a very big, growing market; having access to these markets and ha-ting the ability to deal with these territories gives us the opportunity to raise a c h a n g e o f im a g e :

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“When that role was being considered,” Michael Wilcox says, “Warner Brothers started showing considerable interest in the film and in those circumstances where you have an American major becoming very interested in U S domestic distribution, or world distribution in this case, they naturally take a view that some elements have got to have marketing value.” Brownie is o f Norwegian extracP

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tion, but this could be changed, W ilcox says, arguing that the important things about the character were that he wanted to go to sea, and that he was a drifter and an outsider. “Mind you,” he adds, there have been instances o f Australian films using imported elements where it has been totally grating and totally inappropriate. But I believe you can employ an American actor and make it work.”

Village Roadshow Pictures made a com mitment to half the budget o f the picture, and an application to the Film Finance Corporation was made in O ctober 1 9 8 8 .

“We got an approval on specified terms and conditions at the beginning o f January 1 9 8 9 ,” Wilcox says. The film was due to go into pre-production shortly after this: but, according to Alex Cutler, Village Roadshow “was faced with cashflowing the production pending the resolution or execution o f agreements, because the FFC wouldn’t spend the money, or didn’t have it.”

Says Wilcox: “I think Village certainly has been prepared to take a commercial risk by supporting and cashflowing the film. I think at some point the F F C has to work out what risks, if any, it will take to support production in Australia.”

Alex Cutler argues that “the F F C is occasionally a bit inconsistent with its stated desire to conduct business on a commercial basis and then at other times its way o f behaving by Governmental strictures.”

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thrown apart.

“I t is obviously a young writer’s book - she is still experimenting and trying to put everything in. She has a complicated time Sequence, jumping backwards and forwards, which isn’t popular in movies. The book takes about seven years, and we had to compress that so our actors didn’t have to age that much. There are various things we’ve taken out, and characters we’ve omitted.

“But the hardest thing to replace was a kind ofironic narrator who comments on the action - we’ve tried to replace that by the way the scenes are written, and by the dialogue. Dialogue is M ac’s strongest point and he is very good at picking just the right piercing phrase that someone throws in somewhere, a phrase that reflects on the scene and what’s happening to the principals.

“The music also replaces the narrator in a sense. I t ’s Fifties music, the badge o f rebellion, and we’re using that to underscore the rebel­ liousness o f the two kids and their milieu, contrasted with the stuffiness, the conservatism and the tight-arsed nature o f the authori­ ties. And the adults in those days thought children should be children until they were 2 1 , that they were the ‘property’ o f older people and should do what they were told. So I hope the music provides that tone o f rebelliousness.”

H e is enthusiastic about M inogue’s work, though he admits he was unaware o f her box-office potential. “I knew she had been in Neighbours, but I had been away most o f last year when she was apparently having all these big hits, so I knew almost nothing about her when I read the script. But she is an extraordinary actress. She’s very professional, she works hard, and I think she’s quite ambitious.

She’s astonished us all.”

PUTTING IT ON THE SCREEN: THE DIRECTOR. Once the

deal started to come together, director Chris Thom son was ap­ proached. Thom son directed the feature, The Empty Bench, and several mini-series, including W aterfron t, 1915, and The R ain bow W arrior Conspiracy. For the last couple o f years he has working in US television, “I wouldn’t want to spend the rest o f my life doing ‘Movies o f the Week’,” he says, “but it was an interesting experience to work in a different environment with crews who have very different approaches to what they want to put on the screen. Here we tend to consider that the most important thing is to have a beautiful script or story. Over there, sometimes you have the feeling that they’ll do anything to get a ‘name’ actor, a star, and they’ll change the story if necessary.

“I was sent the script o f The D elin q u en tsh tc last year when I was in America. I didn’t like it very much, but then they sent me the book, and that was wonderful. As soon as I read it, I wanted to do the film.

I persuaded them to bring Mac Gudgeon on - it was my contribution to suggest that he work with me on the script. H e came up here and sat in my pad, writing away all day while I was in here, and we’d sit down at night talking about the next day’s scenes and so on. I had worked with him before on W aterfront, and we are good friends.”

Thom son has plenty to say about the task o f m in o g u e adapting the novel. “The book leaps in its tone from w it h c o - s t a r tragedy to farce. I tried to make the tone as real and Ch a r l ie naturalistic as possible, concentrating on the story Sc h la t te r o f the boy and the girl coming together and being

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H ER E IT HAPPENS: T H E STUDIO.Stanley O ’Toole, man­ aging director o f Warner Roadshow Studios, is pleased to have this feature in production, and talks confidently about many more, several o f which will be produced by Village Roadshow Australia. These included the big-budget picture based on the com ic­ book hero, the Phantom, which has been written by Ken Shadie; Blood Oath, starring Brian Brown, which is about to start production; and B oom erang, a romantic comedy in development, in which a tem ­ peramental American movie star and a woman anthropologist have a stormy encounter in outback Australia, in an A frican Q ueen in reverse.

An Englishman, O ’Toole began with the Rank Organization and went through its ‘school’ training system, which provided staff with a thorough grounding in every aspect o f the filmmaking process. “I t’s something I ’d like to introduce here,” he says. But in the meantime, his brief is to turn the studio into a facility that will compete with the best o f Hollywood and Britain.

Nineteen episodes o f the Mission Impossible series were shot in Queensland, using the Warner Roadshow Studios, but the produc­ tion has since moved to Victoria. There was talk o f problems with the limited range o f locations that the Sunshine State had to offer.

O ’Toole expresses surprise at mention o f this. “I am astounded to hear anyone has problems with choice o f location in Queensland. You can do deserts or Westerns, you can do America or England in Surfers Paradise tomorrow. The only thing that perhaps you can’t do is snow.

This has the greatest choice oflocations that I ’ve seen anywhere in the world, and in such a small area by comparison with'world locations.

“At the m om ent,” he says, this is what I would call in world terms a medium studio. In a year’s time it will be a major world production complex, certainly by Christmas next year. By then it will be on a par with anything that Hollywood has to offer, only it will be better, very simply because it’s cheaper. My aim is to be able to take a script across the table o f my office and deliver back the final product.

“At the moment we have four beautiful soundproof stages, with state o f the art technology. I want to build an enormous stage, hopefully the largest stage in the world. And this studio needs that, because I want the epics. I could take, for example, any other picture; B a tm a n , for example, was done at Pinewood, and it cost way too much money. I could take the next one and do it for much less.

“W hen people see this place, they won’t believe it - it’s LA without the smog. And there is a sense o f quiet professionalism abounding here, and an equally great optimism among the people working here.”

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AUSTRALIAN DIRECTORS HAVE BEEN M AKIN G THEIR W AY TO AM ERICA FOR SOME TIME: BUT NOW THEY ARE BEING JO IN ED BY ACTO RS, W RITERS, PRODUCERS AND THE W ALLABY DARNED RESTAURANT.

ROM TH E OFFICE OF Katherine Haber at Consolidated Entertainment, there’s a classic LA view. No palms, no lawns, no a r t m oderne architecture... leave those to Westwood and Santa Monica. Here, in the D M Z between Beverly Hills and Hollywood, film interfaces with the record business. The monuments are all to bad taste and the hard sell: On The Rox disco, Tower Records’ sprawling warehouse store, and a billboard for Jackie Collins’ own personal junk lit. industry. M ore than a H u n dred M illion Sold.

As the sun sinks, Sunset comes alive with black leather, spandex, studs. Manes o f moussed hair, male and female, shimmer in the streetlights. Jackie’s billboard ignites, neon outlining the imperious Collins silhouette, and down the gutters roll dusty skeins o f tape from gutted cassettes. Sunset Tumbleweed.

Production executive to Sam Peckinpah, Ridley Scott on B lade R u n n er and Michael Cimino on The Sicilian, Haber is setting up an indieprod. She reels oft a list o f directors so far approached or considered - a UN o f talent. “Stephen Frears, Joel Schumacher, Barry Levinson, Lawrence Kasdan, Hector Babenco, Louis Malle, Martin Brest, Roland Joffe, Robert Redford, Sidney Lumet, Joe Ruben, Emile Ardolino, Roman Polanski, Sidney Poitier, Mark Rydell, Ridley Scott, Jonathan Demme, Jean-Jacques Annaud...”

No Australians - though there might well have been. The Hollywood in which executives like Haber operate is ecumenical, interna­ tional. Doesn’t matter where you come from. Just as long as you can cut it in this city' o f broken promises and one-night stands, where the streets, even if they don’t have palms, are shady. On both sides.

According to legend, a sign hung in the writers’ building at Para­ mount during the great days o f the Thirties European influx. “Here

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You Must Work. It Is N ot Enough Just T o Be Hungarian.” After hearing three Australians (mis)quote this in a week, the slogan emerges as a m otif of the contemporary Australian presence in Hollywood. It also raises some interesting questions.

QUESTION: HERE YOU MUST WORK. IT IS NOT ENOUGH JUST TO BE AUS­ TRALIAN - BUT ARE THERE ANY AUSTRALIANS IN HOLLYWOOD? “When I first arrived here,” Graeme Clifford recalls, “half the people I spoke to didn’t even know where Australia was, so it’s come a long way since then. I used to be asked questions like, ‘Do you have golf courses down there?’ and ‘D o you have kangaroos jumping up George Street?’ They had absolutely no idea at all. Not even geographically.

They didn’t even know which side of the continent Sydney was on.

Now they think everyone goes round throwing shrimps on barbe­ cues.”

Today, most Californians know where Australia is. And Australians are returning the compliment. Mel Gibson, Bryan Brown and Paul Hogan are more-or-less permanent Angelenos. In March o f 1989, Gibson paid almost U SS3 million for the Malibu house once owned by Rick Springfield. The LA Tim essays wife Barbara and the five kids have already moved in. Gibson just completed L eth al Weapon 71, is working on B ird on a W ire, then will go on to A ir A m erica - or is Franco Zeffirelli serious about starring young blue eyes as Hamlet?

With the Aussie dollar no longer on the critical list o f economic invalids, fewer American producers are attracted to making films in Australia, though Warners are well down the track with plans for a movie theme park behind Surfers’ Paradise at the ex-De Laurentiis studios which, through their new association with Village Roadshow, they now control.

But why go to Australia when Australia is happy to come to P A P E R S

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Hollywood? I t’s always been the Mecca international filmmakers prayed to; now they’re making the pilgrimage as well. Phil Noyce was here for the launch o f D ead C alm at 20 LA cinemas. John Duigan, whose The T ea r My Voice Broke was a major succes d ’estime (and the film most quoted when the trade talks of Australia ) paused in LA after his Mexican shoot o f R om ero, with Raul Julia as the assassinated Salva­ dorean archbishop.

Simon W incer’s mini-series o f Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove won praise and excellent ratings. And ex-Wincer associate Richard Davis, line producer on P har L a p , has thrived since relocating in Vancouver. His first film, Alan Goldstein’s The Outside C hance of M axim ilian C lick, was judged Best Picture at the Toronto Film Festival and M ost Popular Canadian Film. Davis is readying his first Hollywood project, C aden ce, to be written and directed by Martin Sheen, and starring Charlie Sheen and Gary Busey.

The Cinerama Dome on Sunset is already advertising Peter Weir’s new film for Touchstone, T he D ead Poets’ Society, an adventurous noncomedy with Robin Williams as a Fifties schoolteacher trying to ignite some love o f literature in the students at a snoot)' boys’ school. A year ago, Weir said: “These davs, you’d probably describe me as a Holly­ wood filmmaker. “I ’m working within the system, and my approach to the narrative film and my interest is in those pictures. Those were the ones I grew up with.”

Weir sees a Hollywood base as inescapable. “We speak the same language. We can get into cultural discussions involving one’s attitude to America and American films and how important is the national c

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cinema and so forth, but really you should open that sort o f discussion on the question o f language. Clearly, if Sweden spoke English you’d see Bergman shooting in America. It’s really a starting point for a discussion. Therefore, as an English-speaking filmmaker, it’s rather natural for me to be drawn ox er here.”

Few Australians feel the need to apologize for their presence in California, and the ritual assurances that they’d return home in a moment if the right project came up are losing their vigour. (Fred Schepisi, coasting on the critical success o f A Cry in the D ark and Meryl Streep’s Oscar nomination, is developing The Way o f the W irinun, a fantasy adventure about Aboriginal and white boys in the outback, to be shot in Australia for Disney. But New York-based Schepisi has always kept more aloof from California than m ost.) The majority have learned , if not to love then at least to live with LA’s rollercoaster life stvle. Manx' expatriates xx-ould endorse Clixe James’s justification for shifting to Britain. “As Ahab said xvhen Moby Dick carried him down for the third time, T ’m here because this is xvhere the work is.’”

The St. James Club perches like a grey and silver xxedding cake on a ledge o f Sunset where the road swings xvide ox er the fiats o f West Hollywood. Beloxx' its art deco toxxers, the land slopes into a golden morning haze, half sun, half smog.

The Terrace Room looks sunny and bright - until you notice that the trellised red flowers overhead are xinyl and the sunlight a cunning duplication. We are in fact in a basement - appropriate to the morn­ ing’s ex ent, announcements o f nominations for the Saturn Axx ards for the vear’s best horror and fantasv films.

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Dracula impersonator Ed Ansara, in full Bela Lugosi regalia, emcees the event, presiding over a parade o f glittering eccentricity: three smouldering bimbos in the Miss Saturn com petition, “little person” Billy Barty, whose career ranges from 4 2 n d Street to Lobster M an fr o m M ars, and a trio o f doubles from Ghostbusters II. Almost bizarre in their normality are Oscar-winning B eetlejuice make-up man Robert Short and, unrecognizable without his leather loincloth and Mohawk, the Wez o f M ad M ax I f Vernon Wells.

QUESTION: HERE YOU MUST WORK. IT IS NOT ENOUGH JUST TO BE AUS­ TRALIAN. BUT CAN YOU WORK? After M ad M ax I f Vernon Wells did the rounds o f Australian agents and waited for work. He waited five years. W hen the second film offer did come, it was from Hollywood- based Joel Silver, asking him to recreate Wez as a parody in John Hughes’ W eird Science.

“I expected nothing,” says Wells. “I came over here to do that film and, as far as I was concerned, that was the only thing I was doing. And the initial reaction was just, to me, overwhelming. I was having calls from every major casting agent in the country. I was being taken to meet people whom actors work their lives to get an interview with.

“I wasn’t awed by it because I didn’t realize what you go through in this country to see these people. Coming from Australia, where if you want to be in anything you plod around, knocking on doors and talking to every casting agent in Melbourne and Sydney, I felt this was a normal thing: if these people wanted to see me, they were casting agents and that’s as far as it went. B ut suddenly people were saying ‘You went and saw who? My God, how did you get in to see them?’ So I started to realize there was a total difference between Australia and Hollywood.”

Graeme Clifford came to the U S in 1 969 as assistant to R obert Altman on T hat C old D ay in the Park. Even so, crashing Hollywood wasn’t easy. “It took five years to get into the union.

You had to get all sorts o f work experience, and without the work experience you couldn’t get in, and you couldn’t get work experience if you weren’t in the union: it was a perfect C atch -22.”

Altman’s personal assistant for five years, Clifford cut Im ages fo r him, The Postm an Always R in gs Twice for Bob Rafelson, F.I.S.T. for N or­ man Jewison, The M an Who Fell to E arth and D o n }t Look Now for Nicolas Roeg, and Convoy for Sam Peckinpah. H e’s since directed Frances, B urke a n d Wills in Australia, and most recently G leam in g the Cube.

“I firmly believe,” he says,’’that in order to get anywhere in this country you have to come and stay here; you have to live here and be a constant presence here. Bryan Brown lives here. He has a house here.

A lot o f the pictures he’s got, it’s because he’s got an American agent working very hard for him, and he’s here all the tim e.”

Brown’s is the archetypal Hollywood success story. Lacking Gibson’s matinee idol appeal (Mel is assessed as the only leading man who can lure women into seeing an action picture) he relied on talent and persistence. The trashy C ocktail made a fortune, G orillas in the M ist won some serious reviews, and he’ll soon debut as his own producer in C onfidence, a project for Taylor Hackford(Hw O fficer a n d a G entlem an) co-starring Karen Allen (R a id e rs o f the Lost A rk) which started shooting in Australia in March.

Living in LA is only half the battle. You also need credits, an agent, and a guild or union affiliation - and ideally ail three. But even then it’s no picnic. “A number o f Australian directors seem to have overcome the distance problem ,” Clifford says. “ But it’s different for, say, writers. You never hear o f an Australian writer working on an American project; at least it’s extremely rare. Even Australian producers never get

ILLUSTRATIO N S: TOP: V ERN O N WELLS AS W EZ IN M AD M A X II. CENTRE: PETER WEIR DIRECTING W ITNESS. BOTTOM: DIRECTOR GRAEME CLIFFORD.

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IN HOLLYWOOD'S EYES AUSTRALIA HAD A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO CUT A SPACE FOR ITSELF IN WORLD CINEMA BUT THREW IT AWAY... A POTTED HISTORY IN THE JUNE ISSUE OF PREMIERE READS: "WHILE PAUL HOGAN WAS FEASTING ON HIS $400 MILLION, THE REST OF THE INDUSTRY WAS IN NEAR-STARVATION, THANKS TO A BOTCHED GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY SCHEME, THE FAILURE OF AMERICAN OUTPOSTS LAUNCHED IN OZ BY THE DE LAURENTIIS ENTERTAINMENT GROUP AND NEW WORLD ENTERTAINMENT, AND A TOUCH OF THE PETER PAN SYNDROME. IN TRUTH, AUSTRALIAN CINEMA HASN'T WANTED TO GROW UP..."

anything going here. The M cElroys have come closest to it. A few years ago they had quite a visible presence here, but I haven’t heard from even them lately.”

Writers and performers face an uphill slog. The Screen Actors Guild allows one non-union appearance; after that, there’s litde hope o f an American career without an agent working behind the scenes, coaxing casting directors for a few lines in a second film and that all-important letter assuring the authorities no other performer could play the role - a letter that can lead to the elusive “green card” .

Writers benefit least from living in Los Angeles. As actor Gary Busey remarked, “Every asshole in Hollywood has a script in his back pocket.” ) T V networks and independent producers maintain a “pre­ ferred” list and commission directly from it, excluding even nativeborn newcomers. And in an increasingly non-union industry, guild membership is o f little value. Affiliated with the Australian Writers’ Guild, the Screenwriters’ Guild will waive its $ 1 ,5 0 0 entrance fee for AW G members - if they have a contract with a major production company. In practice, the shop is closed unless you break in with persistence or sheer force o f talent. So far, few have. (Colin Higgins is a rare example o f an Australian-born writer who succeeded in H olly­ wood. Higgins, who died o f A ID S two years ago, wrote H a r o ld a n d M au d e and Silver Streak and co-wrote and directed N in e to Five and The Best L ittle Whorehouse in Texas, but as a long-time American resident with stateside family ties his example is hardly typical.)

American writers regard Australia’s government script support with dazed incredulity. Accustomed to unpaid development deals, “spec” writing, usually to appalling deadlines and for little money, wrangles over credit and a treadmill o f “pitch” meetings for hard­ bitten producers, they find the thought o f being paid just to develop their own ideas as fanciful as a Bollinger fountain or a Quiche Lorraine tree.

Michael Pattinson, in the U S to promote G round Z ero , appears on National Public Radio. The interviewer praises the didgeridoo under­ note o fT o m Báhler’s score, and coaxes, “W on’t you imitate it for us?”

Pattinson frostily declines. Ten minutes later, the same station is prom oting the Sydney Symphony, soon to make an LA appearance it will leap into our ears, we’re assured, “like a kangaroo bounding across the open spaces o f Australia.”

Dow n on Melrose Avenue, you can buy Vegemite and Violet Crumble Bars from one o f Olivia N ew ton-John’s Koala Blue stores, and at Long Beach, where the Q ueen M ary loiters aimlessly, a floating supermarket o f Olde English kitsch, you can eat Australian at the Wallaby Darned restaurant, choosing from a menu that includes Shrimp on the Barbie and a Pie Floater. Every table carries foil packs o f Vegem ite. Australia, you look like you need a holiday. From America..

longer looks so interesting in this company. Even while D e a d C alm was winning raves, N oyce’s Echoes o f P a rad ise (formerly Shadow o f the Peacock) did a few slow weeks at an art house—as did Bob Ellis’s W arm N ights on a Slow M oving T rain . Australian films were also perfunctorily placed at the American Film Institute’s LA Film Festival - P hobia opposite a new film by Wayne Wang, A fr a id to D an ce at 1 0 .4 0 pm on a Friday, and Ghosts... o f the C iv il D e a d u p against the Festival’s major event, the Orson Welles Awards.

T o attract studio attention these days, an Australian film must be “high concept” - shorthand for bizarre, ingenious, eccentric. T oung Einstein qualifies, so Warner Brothers are tossing it into the deep and o f the summer releases, up against In d ia n a Jon es a n d the L ast C rusade, B a tm a n and Ghostbusters II. Bums on seats may no longer matter to Phillip Adams, but to the minds-in-gear o f art house film distribution, they’re the stuff o f life itself.

In Hollywood’s eyes, Australia had a unique opportunity to cut a space for itself in world cinema, but threw it away. A potted history in the June issue o f Prem iere, most widely-read o f the movie monthlies, judges us harshly. “While Paul Hogan was feasting on his $ 4 0 0 million, the rest o f the industry was in near-starvation, thanks to a botched government subsidy scheme, the failure o f American outposts launched in O z by the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group and New World Entertainment, and a touch o f the Peter Pan syndrome. In truth, Australian cinema hasn’t wanted to grow up...”

“Growing up” in this conext means accepting commercial realities - something Australians, hooked on the “little Aussie battler’ image, have never found easy. I f it’s any consolation, the game is just as hard for locals. “Last year I wanted to do a Western epic based on a book called Son o f the M orning S t a r f complains B u ll D u rh am and F ield o f D ream s star Kevin Costner. “Bruce Beresford was going too direct it from a great script by Melissa M atheson, who wrote E.T. We were going to do it as a mini-series, but a 29-year-old television executive turned it down because he had never heard o f Bruce Beresford and I didn’t have a high television recognition factor, whatever that means..”

On finishing Weird Science, Vernon was offered a major role in Comm ando which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. He accepted eagerly, only to find the offer withdrawn as smoothly as it had been made. Somewhat put out by this studio double-talk, Vernon went home to Australia. Almost on his return, he was contracted for an HBO movie called Fortress \v\\\\ Rachel Ward. Shooting started on schedule and everything proceeded smoothlv until, one Sunday morning, with a week’s shooting still to come, Vernon got a call at 3 am from Joel Silver, the producer o f Com m ando, who said that things were not working out with the actor they had chosen and could Vernon catch a plane to the States tomorrow, (Monday) to start work on Tuesday! Sudden arrangements were made with the Fortress people, bags were hurriedly packed , and Vernon flew back to play a bloodthirsty warmongering mercenary called Bennett who was out for the blood of Schwarzenegger’s character, Colonel John Matrix. Two weeks o f blood and action passed by - and then he was again on a plane, bound for Australia, to spend a week finishing his work on Fortress. That done, it was back to the Comm ando set to do violent battle, and get run through with a steam pipe! Such is life!”

QUESTION: HERE YOU MUST WORK. IT IS NOT ENOUGH JUST TO BE AUS­ TRALIAN. BUT CAN'T YOU WORK IN AUSTRALIA AND JUST HAVE YOUR WORK SHOWN IN AMERICA? I t ’s no secret that Australian films, if they ever were Flavour o f the M onth, no longer enjoy that favoured position. W hen there are 31 flavours to choose from, fashions change like the seasons.

In the m id-Eighties, Australia’s official cinema turned from the international mass market. In the presence o f the Prime Minister at the Parramatta premiere o f Fast T alkin g, Phillip Adams announced that “bums on seats” were no longer to be pursued: instead the grail was an informed minority audience - “minds in gear” .

The decision depended on a supply o f films able to compete in the vigorous art house market. These haven’t appeared. Audiences in west Los Angeles, like those in midtown Manhattan, want stronger flavours than Australia is supplying today. Mike Leigh’s H igh Hopes, gamy and socialist, is the spring’s art house hit, along with the Oscar-winning P elle the C onqueror. M ichel Deville’s sexy, knowing L a Lectrice is certain to score through the summer. O ur self-effacing cinema no C

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FROM VERNON WEL LS ’ PUBLICITY SHEET.

QUESTION: HERE YOU MUST WORK. IT IS NOT ENOUGH JUST TO BE AUSTRALIAN. BUT EVEN IF YOU DO WORK, IS SUCCESS GUARANTEED? Perhaps the hardest thing for Australians to accept is the loss o f preferential status that goes with the move to California; as if, in leaving the Lucky Country, one leaves that luck behind.

O ut o f any 10 films, eight fail - a rule to which all film-makers are subject. David Stevens’ s Hollywood debut, the rural crime drama K a n s a s , was a flop so resounding that one critic remarked it provided rare grounds on which an entire state might sue for libel. Graeme Clifford’s G leam in g the Cube, a murder mystery' set against the skateP

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LEFT: DIRECTOR RICHARD FRANKLIN

escapes. Since this experience, Franklin has worked only in Britain and Australia.

The Universal Studios Tour. Each day, tens o f thousands o f trippers flow through this Disneyland o f the film business, trundled in articulated open floats through a series o f vertiginous rides closer to sideshow than film. Earthquakes are hot this year: the tour’s new ride, “E a rth q u a k e: The Big O ne” , thrusts you into an underground railway station as a tremor, 8.5 on the Richter Scale, hits LA. The ro o f opens, an oil tanker falls towards you, and water floods down the steps from ruptured mains. All the while, low-frequency sound sends shivers up the spine as Universal finally gets back part o f its massive investment in the failed Sensurround process.

In shows somewhere between pantomime and stage spectacle, stunt men clown, animals caper, and performers re-enact scenes from C on an and assorted sword-wielding fantasies. M ia m i Vice is turned into a circus, with convincing helicopter and machine-gun fire.

Occasionally, real filmmaking surfaces. You’re taken through what remains o f the back lot, shown the Psycho house and the street where Dirty Harry threatened to blow a bank robber’s head clean off. There’s a special effects show too. And in the middle o f this, billed as a “reconstruction o f an early Edison short”, perches an Australian film, as blatant as a blowfly on a slice o f pavlova. Just a scrap, uncredited, embedded in the show, as Australian cinema itself is embedded in the mosaic o f contemporary film.

It comes from a Film Australia dramatized documentary on tele­ phone manners in which Sydney actor Max Meldrum played Alexan­ der Graham Bell. Bell pops up in all sorts o f places - even walking up the wall o f an apparently normal office while a seated businessman makes a call. The room was built on its side, with the businessman clamped into his seat, then optically righted.

I know this film well, since it was made when I worked at Film Australia. I sent a still to Australian film writer John Brosnan in London. H e put it into his book on special effects, M ovie M agic.

Universal saw it and found their way, via Brosnan, to Lindfield and the vaults o f Film Australia. Which makes Max Meldrum, with an audience o f 4 .2 million people a year, the most widely seen Australian actor in Hollywood. Good on you, Max. W ho said an Australian can’t make it in America?

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boarding kids and Vietnamese culture o f the LA Disney­ land district, Orange County, also died.

Some o f the stu­ dio practices are so ingeniously perverse one can imagine they are pursued for sport.

After the success o f his first Hollywood feature, Psycho 17, Richard Franklin was exposed to one o f the most insidious - Gaslighting.

G aslight, Franklin reminds us, is “the film where Charles Boyer tries to convince Ingrid Bergman she’s insane by telling her to do things, then asking her why she did them .” After the success o f Psycho 77, Universal in 1 983 offered Franklin a thriller with its then-hottest new star, Henry Thomas from ET. The film was to be a remake o f Ted TetzlafPs 194 9 thriller The Window.

Franklin’s euphoria lasted through the first production meeting.

H e was looking forward, he said, to shooting in New York. The pro­ ducers looked blank; why shoot there? Well, said Franklin, the boy in Cornell W oolrich’s original story witnessed a murder from a New York fire escape. The whole story hinged on that fire escape. N o, the studio decreed: New York locations were too expensive.

Franklin set to work with Tom Holland on the script. Universal had only one requirement. Action: lots o f action: in fact “wall-to-wall action.” In due course Franklin delivered the script - to a cool reception. It was fine, Universal said. I t ’s just that they didn’t care for all this action.

It got worse. Setting up a meeting with Thomas, execs discovered the young actor lived in San Antonio, Texas. In a burst o f enthusiasm, they elected to shoot the film there. T o o late, it was discovered that San Antonio is one o f two cities in the United States which ban exterior fire

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on Santa Monica Boulevard stand three folding chairs re­ LATEST H O LLYW O O D PRO JECT STARS spectively stencilled “Philippe CH RISTO PH ER W A LK EN , LIN D SA Y CROUSE M ora” , “Christopher Walken” and “C om m u n ion ” . On them perch three blue alien heads, and above, AND AN ALIEN OR TW O ... a poster for the werewolf movie The H ow lin g II. From the inner office, a mid-Pacific voice is raised in genteel wrangling over prints. The di­ rector is In. documentaries o f the last 2 0 years, the environmental thriller A Breed I f there’s anything to Oscar W ilde’s fantasy in P icture o f D orian A p a rt, the clever but ill-fated satire, The R etu rn o f C a p ta in Invincible, G ray that the evil a man does may be consigned to a portrait, leaving and D eath o f a Soldier, about M elbourne’s 1 9 4 2 “Brownout Mur­ the subject unsullied, then Philippe Mora is its proof. ders” . And now, C om m u n ion , his most controversial project yet.

For someone who’s unleashed a succession o f horrors on the C om m u n ion springs from the febrile mind o f Whitley Strieber, world, he’s strikingly unmarked. His films The B east With in, T heH ow lbest-selling author o f those urban chillers The W olfen (about were­ ing II, The H ow ling I I I and now C om m union may seethe with the wolves in Manhattan) and The H u n g er (vampires ditto). sinister and the inexplicable, but the boyish Mora looks like a Bacchus Spending Christmas 198 5 with his wife and young son in rural out o f Caravaggio. All he needs to complete the picture is a bunch o f upstate New York, Strieber experienced what he believed to be - note grapes and a lute. the qualification - an abduction by intelligent non-humans. He Yet M ora’s films cluster like werewolves waiting for nightfall along remembers them inserting needle-like instruments into his rectum, what Robert Browning called “the dangerous edge o f things” . M ad nasal passages and skull. (Beforehand, one visitor politely enquired, D og M organ scandalized Australia’s film bureaucrats in 1975 with its “W hat can we do to help you stop screaming?” ) Later, hypnosis raw picture oflarceny, sodomy and genocide. Undaunted, he followed uncovered earlier experiences in Strieber’s life that may also have it with a series o f horror and fantasy films ranging from stylish to silly. involved alien visitors.

But Mora also made two o f the most skilful historical compilation Did it really happen? W hen his account o f the incident was 14

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PHILIPPE MORA ON COMMUNION: "STRIEBER GAVE THE MANUSCRIPT TO HIS PUBLISHER AND THEY SAID THEY DIDN'T WANT TO PUBLISH IT AND HE SHOULDN'T PUBLISH IT. IT WOULD DESTROY HIS CAREER. ABOUT FIVE OTHER PUBLISHERS TURNED IT DOWN BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT IT WAS CRAZY. THEN WILLIAM MORROW SAID 'WE THINK THIS IS TERRIFIC, WHETHER YOU'RE LYING OR NOT. BUT IF YOU'RE NOT LYING, WE'LL GIVE YOU A MILLION DOLLARS, SO TAKE A LIE DETECTOR TEST'. HE DID, AND HE PASSED." “It was a low budget movie for a studio picture: S4 or S5 million. UA was going through conniptions at the time because H ea v en ’s G ate was happening. We shot some o f it in Mississippi, just outside Jackson. T o cut costs, they found this disused hospital I could shoot in. It turned out that it was a disused m en tal hospital: the largest mental hospital in America. Five thousand inmates. Then it turned out it wasn’t disused.

Only certain floors weren’t being used.

“Patients kept wandering onto the set. One guy came up to me and said, ‘D o you have a match?’ I gave him a box o f matches. H e put the whole box in his mouth and started chewing them. I just called for the assistant director and said ‘There’s another one here.’

“The worst story is real black comedy. We were shooting a special effect where Paul Clemens was about to turn into an insect. We had this series o f heads. One had a giant tongue that came out o f the mouth, big as an arm. It was so disgusting that the crew left me and the cameraman and the effects guy to shoot it. We were shooting away when I heard someone say, ‘O h, My G od !’ . I turned around to see six women, absolutely freaked out. I ’m sure they thought it was what happened to patients in this hospital; this was The R oo m .”

Post-production on The Beast W ithin coincided with the break-up o f UA and its acquisition by M G M . M ora was given a crash course in movie politics and the ritual sacrifice o f expendable hostages that accompanied each palace revolution. “They kept changing the head o f the studio every month. You’d know another head had been chopped o ff by walking through the corridors o f the Thalberg Building. You’d hear sobbing in the corridors. It was the secretaries. It wasn’t your normal introduction to Hollywood.”

Mora followed The B east W ithin with A B reed A p a rt, about m oun­ tain climber Powers Boothe trying to steal rare eagle eggs from under the nose o f an unco-operative Rutger Hauer. Financed by John Daly’s independent Hemdale, the film, despite the casting o f Hauer and Kathleen Turner (before her R o m a n cin g the Stone fame) “is barely known outside the video market. Mora blames the lack o f clout o f a pre-P latoon Hemdale. “In those days films were financed by carving off rights: you’d sell the video rights here and something else there. By the time you got to theatrical, there wasn’t much collateral for a distributor.”

Hemdale also backed The H ow ling II , a sequel o f sorts to Joe Dante’s stylish and sly tale o f werewolves in the California o f hot tubs, Est, and network TV . Alarmingly rough, The H ow ling I I has a gamy charm for which Mora chooses exactly the right adjective. Borrowing a word that, in America, is redolent o f unwashed locker rooms and discarded sneakers, he labels it “funky” . Funky - but fun. Hemdale had been offered a cheap deal on Prague’s Barrandov studios, built by Goebbels to house German film production when Berlin came into range o f Allied bombers. “Here I was,” recalls Mora, “walking through this art deco studio, bigger than anything in Hollywood. But it was trench warfare filmmaking. The crew didn’t speak English. I had 150 Czechs staring at me, and two translators. H ot lunch for the crew was one frankfurter each and a slice o f rye bread.

“It was wild. The making o f that film was a film in itself. For instance, they sent me monkey suits instead o f werewolf suits. I f you look closely you’ll see that in the wide shots it’s gorillas running about.

I told the production manager that I needed a crypt. He said ‘How about King Wenceslas’s Crypt?’ I said, ‘Well, you know what happens in this scene. Christopher Lee puts a knife through a w erewolf s heart’ .

‘O h, that’ll be fine.’ So we go to this beautiful gothic cathedral and the priest takes us down to King Wenceslas’s crypt. I was a bit worried so I took him aside and said ‘You do understand - thus is a werewolf film.

There’s going to be murder and killings in the crypt.’ And the priest said ‘Fantastic! I ’ve been trying to get a bishop down here for 10 years.

They won’t let one in. But if you blaspheme and desecrate the crypt they won’t be able to refuse. I ’ll cable the Vatican tonight.’”

M ora’s Australian films have had their share o f controversy. In

published as C om m union (with a S I million advance), Strieber received plenty o f mail from around the world in which others claimed to have shared similar experiences. All he’ll say today is “We do not know yet what is happening to people. It seems very real, but there isn’t any proof that it is aliens.” Producer/director Mora skates round the question o f the film’s viewpoint. “I t ’s very much about a writer who’s in some kind o f a crisis, who believes he’s been abducted by aliens. But it could be a creative crisis in his work. Or he could be inventing this to create a book. And Christopher Walken puts that across really well.”

Sounds like a sceptic. On the other hand, there are those blue heads...

M ora’s C om m union , scripted by Strieber, starring Walken as the writer and Lindsay Crouse as his wife, has its roots back in 1968. That year, the 17-year-old Mora, Paris-born but Melbourne-raised, having seen ever}' movie in sight, religiously studied Sight a n d Sound and, incidentally, helped to found C in em a Papers, decided to relocate.

“There was no film school (in Australia), no industry at all, so I didn’t have much choice. And the thing people did then - it seems pretty quaint now - was go to London.”

At the London School o f Film Technique, Mora met another film student - Whitley Strieber. In the book o f C om m u n ion , Strieber describes how he found himself there. Plagued by “secret terror” , he’d fled Texas for London in January, 1968. Less than a year later, he also left Britain after an er­ ratic stay plagued by vague fears o f prowl­ ers, u n v erifia b le memories o f midnight raids on his apartment and feelings o f dread that drove him to rambling tours o f the Continent, details o f which he couldn’t later recall.

Strieber and Mora understandably lost touch. Mora became a filmmaker. The inde­ pendent T rou ble in M olopolis led to two compilation documen­ taries, Sw astika, about the rise ofNazism, and Brother C an Ton Spare a Dime?, on the Depression. In 1 9 7 5 , he re­ turned to Australia to direct his first professional fiction feature, M ad Dog M organ, with Dennis Hopper.

Shot is six weeks for S 4 0 0 ,0 0 0 , M ad D og M organ was a consider­ able achievement - though not in the eyes o f film bureaucrats. They were aghast at the suggestion that 19th century Australia was not inhabited exclusively by white- clad schoolgirls and Chips Rafferty.

Nor were there an}' takers for his next project, an original science fiction script called The Black H ole.(N o relation to the later dismal Disney production.) What was the Australian film community’s reaction? “ Bewilderment,” says Mora. “ ‘Black Hole? W hat’s a black hole?”’

Hollywood, however, was very interested in a director who could make a costume feature for the cost o f an episode o f The Streets o f San Francisco. United Artists’ producer Harvey Bernhard ( The Omen) offered Mora a “go” project, ready to shoot - a horror script by Tom Holland ( Psycho II, Fright Night, C h ild ’s Play) called The Beast Within.

Paul Clemens, Ronny Cox and Bibi Besch were cast in this early shape-shifter tale o f boy-into-insect that horror film historian Don Willis calls “the first were-cicada movie” .

M ora’s memories o f the project are best described as semi-fond.

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November 19 8 1 , Mora started shooting the comedy The R eturn o f C aptain In vin cible, from a script by Stephen B. De Souza {4 8 Hrs.) about a comic book superhero blacklisted by McCarthy and reduced to a boozy tramp. Ambiguities about the Australian pedigree o f Invincible - Alan Arkin starred, with Christopher Lee in a supporting role - led to the film being granted a provisional certificate for tax relief but later denied full certification. The decision was reversed on appeal, but too late to push the film into the black. {Invincible's bad luck continued outside Australia. With trailers circulating and prints in the theatres, it was shelved three days before its American opening when distributors Jackson Farley went bankrupt.)

D eath o f a Soldier, about Eddie Leonski, the GI “ Brownout M ur­ derer” who killed three women in wartime Melbourne was predicta­ bly controversial, not only for its casting o f Americans Reb Brown (from The H ow ling II) as Leonski and James Coburn as his defence lawyer, but for its abrasive handling o f US/Australian wartime rela­ tions. Mora showed Melbourne as a “Sodom and Gomorrah” (to use his words), with the two sides at one point shooting it out on a suburban railway station. The local uproar was predictable, and D eath o f a Soldier, though a success critically and financially in the US, flopped in Australia.

Few people knew how to take M ora’s next film. Also shot in Australia, The H ow ling III. The M arsupials, is peppered with oddities, like Frank Thring’s fruit)' Hitchcockian film director and a heroine with a pouch. Mora is frank about it. “I ’d had it with horror pictures.

I wanted to do a send-up o f horror pictures. H ow ling I I had been a big commercial success, even though it was a very wild, far-out premise. So I thought it would be hilarious to have marsupial werewolves, and have human marsupials.” One also suspects the film is a poke in the eye at the stolid Australian film establishment, which didn’t get the joke. A big hit on video, with 8 5 ,0 0 0 tapes produced for its first release, Howling I I I had an erratic theatrical showing, partly, Mora suspects, because American producers didn’t know what marsupials were ignorance the audience shared.

At this point, re-enter Whitley Strieber. Mora took the writer to lunch. “He was behaving oddly. You don’t want to pry, but he finally told me he thought he’d been abducted by little blue men. He was so sincere I didn’t burst out laughing in his face. I just thought, ‘Writer’s fantasy’ or something. He said ‘I don’t know whether I need a psychiatrist or a publisher.’ I said ‘You’d better get b oth.’

“There’s a disease called temporal lobe epilepsy, where people c

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ILLUSTRATIONS: FACING have delusions o f grandeur and believe PAGE: LINDSAY CROUSE AND they’re Jesus or think they’re with aliens.

CHRISTOPHER W ALKEN IN At one point Whitley thought he might COMM UNION. ABOVE: have that, and w'as tested, but he didn’t CHRISTOPHER WALKEN IN THE have it. Then he wrote Com m union.

COMPANY OF ALIENS. “He gave it to his publisher, Warner Books, and they said they didn’t want to publish it and he shouldn't publish it. It w'ould destroy his career. About five other publishers turned it dowm because they thought it was crazy. Then William Morrow' said ‘We think this is terrific, whether you’re lving or not. But if you’re not lying, we’ll give you a million dollars, so take a lie detector test’. And he passed.”

Strieber reproduces the polygraph transcript as an appendix to Com m union. The questions are puzzlingly, ambiguous: not “ Did these things happen?” but “Do you think these things happened?”

Mora doesn’t buy into the controversv over w'hether or not Strieber w'as really kidnapped. “He believes it happened - but he know's that it may not have. And he’s prepared to say it may not have. But he wrote it so well there’s a veracity in it, in the em otions.” The public agreed: Com m union w'as the most successful book Strieber ever wrote, staving in best seller lists for most o f 1987.

The S7 million Com m union took twro years to set up and shoot, partly in Hollywood and partly on locations in New' York’s Hudson Valley and the Catskills. Understandably, Mora is optimistic about the film. “Anyone interested in sf movies w'ill be interested in this. But I think the core audience will be the people who read the book, then it’ll cross over from there.”

But wfiat about Strieber’s record as an author o f a popular w'erew'olf novel and a contemporary vampire fable, both filmed? W on’t this impair credibility'? “ It most definitely is not a horror picture,” Mora insists. “That was difficult for Whitley too, because he’d written two horror novels. Whatever happened to him was heightened by his horror imagination: I’ve no doubt about that. Whether it was psycho­ logical or a real experience would have been coloured through this filter - which is why the book is verv scan'.”

Was Whitley Strieber really abducted by aliens in the snowy night of 26 December, 1985? Probably n o t - but then there probablv aren’t marsupial werewolves roaming outback Australia. And American and Australian soldiers probably didn’t shoot one another on a Queens­ land railway station during World War II. D id they?

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FILMMAKER DAVID CAESAR HAS SEVERAL MEMORABLE AND IDIOSYNCRATIC DOCUMENTARIES TO HIS NAME... HIS LATEST AND MOST SOPHISTICATED FILM, BODY WORK, CONSIDERS THE FUNERAL

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INDUSTRY WITH ITS ATTENDANT MYTHS AND

O R DAVID CAESAR, the line

between documentan' and fiction is something to mess with. “When you try to draw that line your work becomes dry and distant” he says. Trace that concern through the 1 1 -minute short, Shoppingtown, his final-year project as a student at the Austra­ lian Film Television and Radio School (A FT R S); L ivin g R oom , a 2 0 minute, Australian Film Commission-funded film about the culture o f housing; and Body Work, screening at the Sydney and M elbourne film festivals; and there is a sense o f immediacy (a word he keeps returning to) in the performances, the images and the ideas.

“Ultimately film is a storytelling medium,” he says. “What people want is a story and they want to believe it. They aren’t that discriminat­ ing about documentan' and fiction, but they stay away from (tradi­ tional) documentar)' in droves because it just doesn’t stimulate them - that sense o f finding an. objective truth is alienating for most audi­ ences.”

Body Work is Caesar’s most sophisticated work, sliding between conventional documentar)' modes and the strangest o f fictions. ( O ther film work includes projects for the A B C , the B B C , SBS - the A u stra ­ lian M osaic series - and music video.)

His subject in Body Work is the funeral industry, his ‘characters’ are the workers in that industry, and his inquiry is both informative and philosophical. It is arresting stuff: death as it is dealt with in the workplace; death as an everyday process. It plays on our morbid curi­ osity, our desire for knowledge about a subject that, at least in 20thcentury Western culture, is collectively repressed, even taboo.

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Researcher Chris Pip and producer Glenvs Rowe approached Caesar to direct the film. Pip had done extensive research, finding an­ swers to routine but rarely-asked questions: how do we distinguish the various stages o f a corpse’s decay; when does a patient become a body; what are the most common means o f disposal; who does the ‘dirty work’?

Caesar was given the facts and a list o f ‘bodvworkers’, ranging from embalmers, nurses and pathologists to mortuary technicians, hearse drivers, funeral directors and, o f course, gravediggers (one is delight­ fully Shakespearean).

But he has imposed on the initial idea his own rigorous structure and minimalist interview style, one which he began to develop in Shop­ pin gtow n, a stylized document o f shopping centre culture. In that film, he said to the participants (shoppers, shopkeepers, workers): “W hat we want is like a still photo, but because it’s a moving picture film, you have to stay still ... OK?” It formed the basis for a longer-term project, a search for a certain look which, as Roland Barthes reflects in C a m era L u cid a , fiction does not usually allow. “O h, if only there were a look, a subject’s look, if only someone in the photographs were looking at m e!” he mourns.

“For the Photograph has this power - which it is increasingly losing, the frontal pose being most often considered archaic nowadays - o f looking me straig h t in the eye (here, moreover, is another difference: in film no one ever looks at me; it is forbidden by the F ictio n ).”

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Barthes identifies that look, a particular “air” , in a photograph by Richard Avedon o f an American Labor Party leader, Philip Randolph.

Caesar, an admirer o f Avedon’s photography, has also selected his tableaux o f characters in Body Work with an eye to how they will perform for the camera. He is not afraid to hold the camera on his subject, often for a painfully long period o f time, in the hope o f a story, a piece o f information, a sign o f character.

“I f you can get through to people, past their defences, there’s a story, even if it’s one story,” Caesar says.

“I t’s like what I was trying to do with Living R oom as well. A person’s environment tells you an enormous amount about them . I am always conscious in the framing o f the shots o f getting close to people, not in terms o f the camera, but emotionally closer, in terms o f knowl­ edge.”

In one sense, the film is very structured; there is a logical progres­ sion from sequence. Before each section o f the interviews, an image o f decaying flowers fills the frame and voiceover gives a chronology o f a corpse - from death to burial or cremation. Different narratives inter­ sect: across personal, cultural, professional and emotional lines, heightening our expectation o f finally seeing a body.

But there is, ofcourse,acatch.

Audiences, Caesar suggests, ex­ pect a ‘pay-off. It could be a visual trick, access to information, the solution to a whodunnit. In Body Work the pay-off comes through the manipulation o f a common cinematic device.

“One o f the things I tried to set up in people’s minds was that they were going to see a dead body. So I tried to go against that by using tracking shots which made you think, ‘Any minute now I ’m going to see a dead body.’

The pay-off is that you realize at the end you never do. The film is quite life-reinforcing because you don’t. That for me is the pay-off in Body Work. “ On another level, there is likely to be a good pay-off for Caesar in terms o f the film’s critical recep­ tion. It has been nominated for a Dendy award and looks set to run the festival circuit.

Caesar has recently completed The Big E n d, a 12-minute drama, p ic s : f a c in g p a g e : d a v id c a e s a r .

He told the various people filmed in western suburbs o f Sydney, though it could be any outer a b o v e : f r o m b o d y w o r k ... a s h e s t o involved in the project that while suburb on the fringe o f large city. A possible counterpart to Margaret a s h e s b u t n o d u s t t o be s e e n h er e the film was about the nature o f D odd’s wonderful This W oman is Not a C a r ( 1 9 8 2 ), it too examines work, he wanted to “go past ex­ sexual/power relationships in Australian culture and the car as an ternal ideas o f people in the industry and look into them as individuals, object o f desire. show them as people first.”

Emphasizing that most o f his ideas about film apply equally to The responses were varied: “Some o f them had something they documentary' and drama, Caesar does however acknowledge that with wanted to get across, they felt isolated or felt that people had weird The Big E n d, which he also scripted, he wanted to prove he could work perceptions about what they did, so they did it for themselves in a way. with actors.

Others relaxed and just tried to answer the questions.” In each “The last drama I did at film school was a disaster... It really put me situation, however, he was attempting to draw out a performance. off. I couldn’t handle the “When people look into a camera, there’s a scope o f making dramas ONE OF THE THINGS I TRIED TO SET UP IN PEOPLE'S performance quality, but also a vulnerability so the next film I did was ... That vulnerability, combined with projec­ MINDS WAS THAT THEY WERE GOING TO SEE A DEAD BODY. Shoppingtown with a tion, is what gives it an edge.” Something SO I TRIED TO GO AGAINST THAT BY USING TRACKING crew o f only two. I could happens, he suggests, when you combine a SHOTS WHICH MADE YOU THINK, 'A N Y MINUTE NOW I'M understand it and con­ fear o f the camera and a belief in the story GOING TO SEE A DEAD BODY.' THE PAY-OFF IS THAT YOU trol it. I thought small being told: “I think you can find a truth ...”

REALIZE AT THE END YOU NEVER DO." crews were the only way He hesitates, and then attempts to bring I could work but on The the discussion back to basics: “I think that it is Big E n d, I had a crew o f 20 and it was the most enjoyable film expe­ important that people always remember that they’re being filmed. It s rience I’ve had.” important to remind the audience that there’s a camera there, that this Four years ago he began work on another ‘fiction’, based on David is a film, that these people are doing it for the camera.”

Maloufis short story, The Prowler. It was originally planned as a halfThere are indeed some extraordinary performances in Body Work; hour short but has since grown into a feature-length script. “ I’m glad but they are more than just the telling o f a story. Each performance is I didn’t make it then,” says Caesar, as he launches into a discussion o f integrally linked to the workplace - it is tempting to regard some o f the the script, and how to visualize ideas about paranoia, isolation, death. places as the result o f masterful production design.

The threads o f those earlier experimental documentaries become “The background has to tell you things,” Caesar explains. Like tangled in his explanation o f how to create the prowler’s environment, the fact that some people work in a white environment with fluores­ how to map out the territory' and make us believe his storv. That line cent lights and no windows, everything is stainless steel. Now the between documentary and fiction is something he is quite clearly still cleanliness o f that obviously affects the person, although on a small negotiating.

■ level they have some way o f challenging that space, of affecting it. c

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E V E N IN G BELL

DOES THE 'EVENING BELL' TOLL FOR THE NEW CHINESE CINEMA? CHINESE CINEMA IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY VISIBLE ON THE EXHIBITION AND FESTIVAL CIRCUIT. BUT DO WESTERN AUDIENCES UNDERSTAND THE CULTURE AND THE CONTEXT OF THE FILMS? AND WHAT DOES THIS VISIBILITY MEAN FOR THE FILMMAKERS? LINDA JAIVIN, A SPECIALIST WRITER ON CHINA, SAW A NUMBER OF NEW CHINESE FILMS AT THIS YEAR'S HONG

VENING BELL (1988), directed by Wu Ziniu, is the most recent film from the KONG FILM FESTIVAL. SHE SUGGESTS THAT THIS Chinese New Wave to capture inter­ INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION HAS ITS national attention - and a Silver Bear at Berlin. It tells the story o f five soldiers in the Red Army at the end ofW orld War II who stumble upon LIMITATIONS AND PITFALLS. a group o f stranded Japanese soldiers. The Japanese, who don’t know that the war has ended, have been so degraded by desperation and willingness to question and to provoke, to probe areas o f acute cultural hunger that they have even resorted to cannibalism. and political sensitivity', not just stroke Chinese national pride.

This is most definitely a film about the big ones - Life, Death, War, They sure aren’t making New Wave Chinese films like they used Food - and yet it left me entirely unmoved, aside from a few profound to. Chen Kaige, director o f Yellow E a rth , B ig P a ra d e and K in g o f the stirrings o f boredom.

C hildren , isn’t making them at all, at least for the moment. Chen The cinematography o f the film is quite beautiful, displaying the achieved a fine reputation overseas, but at home his films remained kind o f dramatic sense o f composition and awareness o f the potential politically controversial and, what’s worse in terms o f getting studio o f light and colour which has been typical o f the new Chinese cinema backing, unprofitable. Since m id-1 9 8 7 he has been in the U S, trying in general. The narrative o f the film is simple, the dialogue sparse. Yet to come up with a script that will attract a foreign producer.

E vening B ell d o t s not, somehow, ring true. It lacks emotional power.

Tian Zhuanzhuang, who directed H orse T h ie f is best known for Its characters are essentially conduits for a message which is hardly his sullen explorations o f marginality. His films have been received well universal and has been pithily summarized by a Chinese film journal: enough abroad but widely unwatched at hom e, and he reportedly E vening B ell, said C ontem porary C in em a , “ ...shows how the Chinese came under considerable pressure from his studio to make a com mer­ army use their spiritual and moral superiority to defeat the Japanese” . cially viable film. R ock a n d R o ll Youth was the embarrassing result. The As the journal points out, the Chinese “maintain a peculiar psychol­ story o f a young Peking breakdancer’s struggle for love, individuality ogy about the Japanese” . But rather than actively examining this psy­ and true trendiness, R ock a n d cholog)' - which boils down to a swirling yinR o ll Youth limps along like a yang symbol o f inferiority and superiority SOME DIRECTORS, CONSCIOUS OF THEIR failed Flashdance.

E ven in g B ell simply gives it expression. One can INTERNATIONAL REPUTATION, PRIVATELY ADMIT Swan Song director Zhang draw parallels with the non-reflective patriot­ THEIR RELUCTANCE TO TAKE ON URBAN THEMES Zeming also bowed to studio ism o f R ed Sorghum , in which a group o f BECAUSE FOREIGN AUDIENCES DON'T FIND YOUNG pressures and attem pted a lovable and heroic peasants drink their good CHINESE PEOPLE IN JEA N S AS INTERESTING TO commercial film, Sunshowers.

Chinese wine, attack a convoy o f wicked Japa­ LOOK AT AS PEASANTS IN HOMESPUN. The director’s self-proclaimed nese soldiers and die. and intriguing themes o f re­ There are many critics who consider Wu pressed sexuality and lesbian love are unfortunately buried under gloss Ziniu’s pacifist message both courageous and provocative, particularly and sentimentality. Zhang has had trouble finding support for other, within the Chinese context. Indeed, the censors have never allowed more congenial projects, and may spend the coming year in London one o f his early films, Dove T ree( 1 9 8 5 ), to be shown. Yet E vening B ell with his English wife. and R ed Sorghum are fundamentally different from those films which Like Zhang, Huang Jianxin, director o f The B lack C an n on In c i­ originally established the new Chinese cinem a’s original reputation d en t and its sequel, The S tan d -In , has chosen contemporary, H I for example, Yellow E arth , H orse Thief.\ Sw an Song, B lack C an n on urban themes, and his latest film, S am sara, is one o f four recent In cid en t and K in g o f C hildren. These diverse films have in com mon a

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MAP OF CH IN A SH O W IN G LO CATIO N OF M AJO R STUDIOS

CH EN KA IG E

• X I'A N STUDIOS SHAANXI

China OLD WELL

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• PEARL RIVER STUDIOS •c G U A N G X I STUDIOS

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in homespun.

Another reason that audiences outside China respond better to rural themes is that city folk talk a lot more than peasants do, and dialogue loses too much in the translation and everything in the subtitles.

Unintentionally hilarious subtitles are part o f the fun, however, with A ID S P atient, a 1 989 movie which foreign audiences are unlikely to see, although it has proved immensely popular with the home crowd and unconsciously reveals certain generalized attitudes towards for­ eigners in China.

Tony, a nice guy who once taught at a Chinese university, is just the kind o f guy everyone loves to know and more than a few knew to love. Before the events in the movie take place, he dies o f A ID S back in the U S. The Chinese police have somehow obtained a videotape o f Tony’s last words: his only regret is having slept with several women in China. Their hunt for the victims is on, and if this sounds like it’s in bad taste, it is. However, the good-hearted ineptness o f the film, and strange campy moments like the one when our handsome young police hero consults a female colleague while lying half-naked in bed as she fixates (or was that me?) on his nipples, give it the potential to be a cult classic, or at least a Double Take redub. It was certainly more fun than E vening Bell.

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movies adapted from novels or stories by the Peking writer Wang Shuo. W ang’s stories capture the mood o f contemporary Peking like no other writer, and are known for their streetwise savvy and clever dialogue.

One o f the most successful o f the four films based on W angShuo’s work is Three T C om pany, directed by the relatively unknown filmmaker Mi Jiashan. “ T ” stands for the Chinese word “ tz” , to take the place of, and this fast-paced, entertaining film is about three young entrepre­ neurs whose business is to stand in for people when they’re in a spot o f trouble. You can pay them to be yelled at by your wife, or meet your date if vou’re delayed (they promise to send their homeliest partner on this task), or, if vou’re a struggling author, they can even arrange a literary prize ceremony for you.

The film is extremely witty but is unlikely to enjoy the kind o f success abroad that movies like R ed Sorghum and Yellow E arth have had. One reason is that art-house audiences outside China have so far been unwilling to extend as warm a welcome to films reflecting contemporarv urban realities o f China as they do to films which exploit the more exotic countryside. Indeed, some directors conscious o f their international reputation privately admit their reluctance to take on urban themes because foreign audiences - and festival juries - don’t find voting Chinese people in jeans as interesting to look at as peasants 22

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CHINA'S STUDIO SYSTEM

W U T I A N M IN G

MANY OF THE MOST ACCLAIMED OF RECENT CHINESE FILMS HAVE COME FROM XI'AN STUDIOS. WU TIANMING (ABOVE), STUDIO HEAD, AND HUANG JIANXIN, DIRECTOR OF XI'AN'STHE BLACK CANNON INCIDENT, DISCUSS THEIR APPROACH TO FILMMAKING IN THIS

I’AN is one o f a number o f regional studios throughout China. It was REPORT BY ADRIENNE MCKIBBINS. stablished in 1 9 5 8 and is situated in the northwest, close to the Yellow River and the great plateaus, an area new directors. By 1 9 8 5 , X i’an was selling more prints than any other said to be the cradle o f the Chinese race and the birthplace o f China’s studio, and between 1 983 and the end o f 1 9 8 7 it received 2 0 national ancient culture. Because o f this Xi’an holds a symbolic quality, particu­ and international prizes. A film like The B lack C an n on In cid en t, larly to Wu Tianming. H e was born in this area, in Shaanxi Province, thought initially to be too obscure for the mass market, proved one o f and feels that nothing can capture the spirit o f the Chinese as well as the most popular film o f its year, returning a substantial profit. the landscape in which they dwell.

Wu felt that there had been a number o f misconceptions about the I f there has been a dominant factor in the films o f the Fifth popularity o f the new Chinese cinema. Because o f stories o f difficulties Generation, it has been the use o f landscape in contrast to the studioand changes made to some films, it was thought that films o f the Fifth bound product o f the past. Old W ell aptly demonstrates this. Wu has Generation were only appreciated outside China. This is not the case; filmed his story entirely in the village o f Shiyujiao in Shaanxi Province while not all were popular, many had found substantial audiences close to X i’an. The village o f 7 0 households and 3 8 0 people is 2 0 0 R ed Sorghum , for example, had been an enormous success inside and years old and its history as represented in the film is one o f a search for outside China. He felt it was important to stress the growing accep­ water. tance o f a more realistic and politically aware cinema in China.

X i’an is now regarded as one o f the most progressive film studios I asked how the reaction o f Western critics had affected this in China, but it has not always held this position. Its reputation has situation.

Wu replied that he had mixed feelings when films were en­ grown with the emergence o f the Fifth Generation o f filmmakers, co ­ thusiastically written about in the West. It seemed a lot o f the comment inciding with W u’s period as studio head. Wu Tianming had directed was out o f context; the writers and critics did not care about the culture only two features by the time he was appointed head o f the studio. He or the history behind these films, although that tendency is changing would have continued directing but was faced with a considerable a lot. On the other hand it has helped a lot o f filmmakers. number o f problems. In the year o f his appointment, 1 9 8 3 , X i’an was “There is still resistance in probably at its lowest ebb. It had sold fewer some quarters to showing the prints than any other studio in China that "THERE IS STILL RESISTANCE IN SOME QUARTERS truth or, as our filmmakers are year. None o f its films had been critically TO SHOW ING THE TRUTH OR SHOW ING HOW LIVES now doing, showing how lives praised or made a great deal o f money WERE AFFECTED BY EVENTS SUCH AS THE 'CULTURAL were affected by events such as three had made the list o f the 10 films with REVOLUTION'. BUT AS THESE FILMS HAVE BEEN PRAISED the ‘cultural revolution’ . As the lowest box office in China.

AND HAVE W ON PRIZES OVERSEAS, THE INTERNAL these films have been praised Wu says he did not see the problems as RESISTANCE IS FORCED TO SHUT UP, ESPECIALLY WHEN and have won prizes overseas, insurmountable. He had a number o f fac­ A GOOD CRITICAL RECEPTION CAN MEAN THE SALE OF A the internal resistance is forced tors on his side. H e was not a new face at to shut up, especially when a PRINT. ECONOMIC FACTORS ARE INCREASINGLY Xi’an. “ I had been there for most o f the 23 good critical reception can IMPORTANT." WU TIANM ING years since I entered the training course in mean the sale o f a print. E co ­ performing arts to study acting from 1960nomic factors are increasingly important,” he says.

6 2 . I knew a great many o f the workers at the studio and they knew Wu Tianm ing’s background makes him seem an unlikely candi­ what to expect from me. They knew I could be trusted and could date for head o f a film studio. He was born in 1 939 in Shaanxi expect what I promised to be carried ou t.”

Province, the son o f revolutionary cadres. His father had joined the Wu sees himself as a different type o f studio head from those at the Communist party in 1 9 3 6 . W u’s very early years were spent moving bigger studios o f Beijing and Shanghai. His is more than just an openabout as his parents were both guerrilla fighters. At the age o f nine, he door policy to the directors and the 4 0 0 0 employees at Xi’an. He is was selling tea on the street in Xiyang. It was not until 1 9 5 4 , five years outspoken about some o f the practices in China and genuinely seeks after Liberation, that Wu began proper schooling; in 1 960 he was reform. admitted into a training course for the performing arts at the Xi’an film Wu consciously balances commercial and artistic productions, de­ studio. At the completion o f this course he remained at the studio as liberately pushing films like The M agic B r a id (a low-budget kung fu an actor. Between 196 2 and 1 9 7 0 he played a series o f roles in a adventure film which made an enormous profit) in order to finance the number o f films, none, it seems, o f great historical importance; mostly, more adventurous and expensive films and to encourage the work o f

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film the book, mosdy because o f his understanding o f the novel and sympathetic attitude-to the author’s point o f view. Wu claims his intention was to give the film a real and tangible authenticity. T o do this he took the actors and crew to the Xiaoshui River and put them on rafts for several days and rehearsed - not a very common occurrence in Chinese cinema. When film production began again in the late Seventies after a number o f years o f inactivity, nearly all films were studio-bound, particularly those from Beijing and Shanghai. Wu felt it was important to use the locations where events had happened. He is pleased that one o f the strongest features o f the Fifth Generation’s films is the way these filmmakers have showed the harsh­ ness, beauty and variety o f the Chinese landscape.

R iv er was one o f the first o f many films that attempted to look at the implications o f the ‘cultural revolution’ and the effect this had on relationships. It was well receivedin China and has been seen exten­ sively overseas.

Wu was midway through filming L ife, an epic in two parts, when he was appointed head o f the studio in O ctober 1 9 8 3 . The film was completed in 1 984 and received even greater critical acclaim than R iver.

It won best film at the Hundred Flowers Awards ( a major prize in China). It was not until late 1 986 that Wu felt able to begin another film, an adaptation o f Zheng Yi’s novel, Old W ell. Again, Wu filmed on the actual locations and worked with cinematographer Zhang Yimou, who doubled as lead actor and second camera.

Although Wu Tianming is actually a Fourth G en­ eration filmmaker he has become identified with new filmmakers because he has been such a central and important figure in the last six years. Many o f the known directors have worked with Wu, including Chen Kaige, Tian Zhuangzhuang (director o f Horse T h ie f Zhang Yimou and Huang Jianxin.

Huang returned to X i’an after a two-year ad­ vanced directing course in Beijing. His first project was The B lack C an n on In ciden t. Huang knew it was an unusual film in both style and content, but was given full support by Wu at the studio. He had the unusual experience o f working with the crew o f choice with an average age o f 28. (Until the mid-Eighties this would be seen as a very young crew.)

I asked Huang why he had decided to be a film director. He seemed amused, explaining that since making B lack C an n on he had been asked this many times. “In the past,” he said, “I tended to make up a story that was full o f meaning and honourable intention to satisfy the question, but the reality is I really don’t know.

“What I do know is how things change for me when I begin to work -th e ideas just transform to images. When I am on location I always have excess energy and I am never tired. It is on completion o f a film I start to feel restless. It is only because I am travelling that 1 don’t have my non-filming symptoms.” He equates the feeling to an explanation a friend gave when asked why he smoked. “‘I don’t know,’ he replied, ‘except that I enjoy the satisfaction o f a cigarette. ’ Filming is like that for me, a fascination hard to describe and equally hard to give up. ” When I posed this question to Wu Tianming he replied without hesitation.“I feel o f all the media film is the most direct, the most popular (in China) and therefore the most powerful. I feel I have been lucky in the way I have become a creative leader. Film is as important to me as my life, and I feel sure my life would not have been as useful or significant if I had not made films. China is a nation that has experienced tremendous bitterness as well as moments o f happiness and greatness. The feelings o f her people are very deep-seated. She has a rich and complex 5,000-year-old civilization - it is these things I regard as the source and inspiration o f my work. I want to continue to make films for as long as I am physically able.”

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as Wu puts it, playing a callow youth. In 1 970 he wrote a one-act play, then shortly after completed a full-length piece, The Iron Tree in Blossom.

All through this period Wu Tianming claims he had an ultimate goal - to become a film director. He claims he had been ‘film crazy’ since he was 18. The first film to make a real impression on him was a Soviet film, Song o f the Sea. He animatedly explains how he could not afford to see it twice. His only recourse, he decided, was to sell his shoes outside the cinema. He tried, but was unsuccessful, so he went further afield and sold them them to a nearby bootmaker. Barefoot in midwinter, he sat in an unheated cinema and watched it twice more.

Although he had wanted to be a film director for a number o f years and had managed to break into the industry' it was not until he was 35 that he entered the Centre May 7th Art College to study film direction.

On completion o f the course he was able to work with established director Cui Wei as an assistant. Two years later, in 1 9 7 6 , he returned to Xi’an and worked as a log keeper and assistant director on a number o f films.

It is often stated that R iv er W ithout Buoys (a film currently held in the National Library Film Collection) was his first effort at direction, but this is not the case. He co-directed with Teng Wenji a film called K ith a n d K in , but in W u’s words the film was a complete failure, because o f its artificiality. He stiU feels strongly that the problem with many Chinese films o f this era was the falseness that filmmakers expected the audience to accept.

In 1983 he chose as his first solo effort a prize-winning novel by Ye Weilin, On A R iv er W ithout Buoys. A number o f studios had attempted to buy the rights, but Wu Tianming persuaded the author to let him a b o v e: scen es

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CINEM ATOGRAPHER YURI SO KO L HAS

HEN YURI SOKOL was a child in the

Ukrainian city o f Kharkov, everyone assumed he was destined for a musical career as a concert pianist, following in the footsteps o f his mother. For 11 years he prepared for that goal, practising several hours daily. But suddenly, at 15, he decided he wasn’t sufficiently motivated to make music a lifetime commitment, so he closed the piano and never touched the keys again.

“I ’ve probably changed aim many times in my life but one has to be flexible and keep re-examining,” he explains. Re-examination is a philosophy he’s put into practice: at the height o f a very successful career as a cinematographer in Russia, he risked a reputation and a comfortable privileged lifestyle by applying to emigrate. On advice from one man, he changed destination from the established niche for filmmakers - the U S - to go to a country with a barely established film industry about which he knew virtually nothing. Here, as his reputa­ tion as a cinematographer has grown, he has turned his energies into setting up a studio during a particularly volatile period in the industry.

His next role may be that o f a producer. Since that decision to aban­ don music, the one common denominator in his career has been film.

“I can’t say cinematography was always my dream. When I left high school I was interested in photography and technology - I used to experiment with making poison gas and explosives - and I ’d trained so long in an art form: somehow all these components added up to film.

And since I had to choose a specialization, cinematography combined the technical and artistic. I ’ve never regretted it and continue to be fascinated by b oth ,” says Sokol.

H e set his sights high. Only seven or eight applicants out o f thousands were selected for the cinema course at the National Institute C

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ALW AYS ENJOYED CHALLENGES, TECHNICAL AND OTHERW ISE. SETTING UP A STUDIO IS THE LATEST, BUT CERTAINLY NOT THE LAST. o f Film Art. It was a challenging course, but Sokol thrives on challenge.

When he was required to make a 10-m inute graduation film he went to the outermost province o f Khirgizia, on the Chinese border, with a direction student, Larissa Shepitko (who went on to become an acclaimed director, but died tragically on location several years ago).

They made a feature, D esert H e a t, inspired by images used by Eisenstein in Viva Mexico. It took 22 months to complete it in a studio where technical limitations virtually declared it ‘mission impossible’.

The film won 15 awards at film festivals in the U SSR and abroad.

Desert H e a t was to set the tone for much o f Sokol’s work.

Artistically bold, almost experimental, surreal and stark in its images, it was also ideologically bold in its harsh portrayal o f pioneer life, cultivating virgin lands without appropriate technology or irrigation.

The critical exposure o f one o f the political failures o f the U SSR (the Soviet dream o f the workers’ glory) was at first viewed critically by local authorities who later asked Sokol to stay to develop the studio and facilities. Ironically, it can also be viewed as an allegory o f the filmmakers’ struggles to make the project - also an ambitious pioneer­ ing venture - without the appropriate technolog}'.

The challenge o f developing the studio from its rudimentary base P

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spurred him on and he remained in Khirgizia for another four years, joined on projects by leading actors, scriptwriters and directors who had heard o f his work. Sokol recalls how, on one o f these films, he inadvertently set an actor friend on a new and illustrious career. Nikita Mikhalkov’s partici­ pation in one o f Sokol’s films caused long ab­ sences and subsequent expulsion from acting school. He then enrolled at the National Institute o f Cinema Art to study direction, and has since made a number o f features, including two based on Chekhov’s works, U nfinished Work f o r P ian ola (in which he also acted) and D a rk Eyes (which starred Marcello Mastroianni).

Sokol returned to Moscow in 1 9 6 5 , disillusioned with political corruption and intrigue among the filmworkers he had recruited. He found that by working in the provinces (which had seemed a perverse, if not masochistic move then) he had made up a lot o f time; colleagues who remained in the city were still pushing dollies and working as camera assistants because they had to work their way up through the system. His impatience and pioneering meant he by-passed all that.

The pattern was to be repeated. Quickly, he reached the top ranks o f Soviet cinematographers, was awarded a State medal, and for the next 12 years worked for the leading studio in the U SSR , Mosfilm, an enormous state-subsidized complex employing 6 ,0 0 0 filmworkers. It was very com fortable, well-paid and privileged lifestyle, by Soviet standards. The Soviet Filmmakers’ Union is not a trade association, but membership is by invitation and reputation: as a member o f this elite professional filmmakers’ club he was entitled to special facilities and privileges such as free movies, medical and transport privileges. He worked on a wide variety o f films - comedies, war films, courtroom dramas - and budgets posed no problems.

The status o f the cinematographer, especially the director o f pho­ tography, is quite high in the U SSR , Sokol explains. There was little

ABO VE: ON THE SET OF ROLL CALL IN RUSSIA (1966) FA CIN G PAGE: WITH BOB ELLIS ON THE SET OF WARM N IG H TS O N A SLO W M O V IN G TRA IN (1987)

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class distinction between his role and that o f a director. All films were made under the state subsidized umbrella, and the D O P was involved from the pre-production stage. He was invited to contribute to meetings between director, producer and production designer, who all worked with the screenwriter from the earliest stages, often beginning with the synopsis. (H e makes the qualification that al­ though the position is highly respected the system is more rigid than ours, comparing it to a feudal system where roles are inflexible.)

He doesn’t necessarily see that the Australian situation, where the D O P is seen in a more purely technical capacity, compares unfavoura­ bly. Here, where the D O P tends to enter the project at a later stage, coming in with a fresh eye can bring new perspectives. This is particularly useful, Sokol feels, when writer and director have been involved on many draffs o f a script, and a detached contribution can be constructive. He cites R em em ber Me, directed by Lex Marinos, which starred Wendy Hughes and Richard M oir as a divorced couple. Here, an ambiguity could be created about the woman’s relationship with her ex-husband by shooting them separately in frame so that viewers don’t know whether the events are happening in reality or in her imagination.

O f course, he says, the level o f contribution depends on the relationship with the director: it’s important to be discreet and if the suggestions aren’t accepted to retreat and support the director fully.

Artistic and ideological freedom became a strong consideration in creating a growing disillusionment with making films in the Soviet Union. “Its absence slowly began to gnaw at m e,” he says. Quite early in his career he began to nurture ideas o f emigrating though, at that stage the plans were as practical as “flying to the m oon, and as likely” .

He denies any discrimination because o f Jewish ancestry, adding that the State was aware he had relatives abroad.

“I knew the system was wrong but naively rationalized that I was a small pawn in a big game. I thought once I reached the top I would be able to communicate with people in decision-making capacities and P

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to make some impact. But I reached the top quickly, received the Shine Brightly My S tar to Melbourne in 1 9 7 6 . W hen he heard o f official seal o f approval and was mixing with the top echelons who Sokol’s impending departure Rado sent a card saying, “Why N ot Aus­ shaped, or at least contributed, to policy. T h at’s when it hit me: even tralia?” T o date Sokol knew virtually nothing about the country, had Brezhnev and the Minister o f Culture were powerless pawns in a only seen two Australian films, Picnic a t H a n g in g R ock and The Long system where a pervasive fear paralysed thinking at all levels o f the Weekend. bureaucracy. The absence o f ideals got to m e.”

It was 1 9 7 9 , the time o f boom and revival, o f optimism for the in­ H e cites two examples to illustrate the effects o f political interfer­ dustry. Sokol suspects the same pioneering instinct that sent him to ence and the gradual build-up o f frustration. A courtroom drama, A n d Khirghizia also played a part as he gambled with the unknown again.

Nobody Else, depicted a judge who on his deathbed admits he made a Rado continued his role o f mentor on Sokol’s arrival, introducing him mistake in sentencing an innocent man. to industry people The film was at first banned, then had and useful contacts, the last 10 minutes, including the con­ directors o f com ­ SOKOL ON RUSSIA: I KNEW THE SYSTEM WAS fession, cut by the censors because o f mercials. One o f WRONG BUT NAIVELY THOUGHT ONCE I HAD REACHED concern at the time with hooliganism these was Paul Cox and criminal activity. Basically the logic with whom Sokol THE TOP I WOULD BE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH was that figures in authority were not was to form a close PEOPLE IN DECISION-MAKING CAPACITIES AND TO MAKE allowed that level o f humanity. “But and successful - “I how do you make poignant complex leave you to judge SOME IMPACT. BUT WHEN I REACHED THE TOP AND HAD drama if everything must be simplified that,” he interjects RECEIVED THE OFFICIAL SEAL OF APPROVAL, IT HIT ME and diluted?”

- collaboration.

THAT EVEN BREZHNEV AND THE MINISTER OF CULTURE His last film in the U S S R was Q u a g ­ Both were pho­ m ire, a moving drama about a young tography experts, WERE POWERLESS PAWNS IN A SYSTEM WHERE A army deserter directed by Grigory both o f European PERVASIVE FEAR PARALYSED THINKING AT ALL LEVELS Chubraia. “We knew it as a controver­ b ackgrou n d and sial subject and were very surprised to sensible, and both OF THE BUREAUCRACY. receive phone calls o f congratulations slightly ‘out o f sync’ from the wives o f Brezhnev and M inis­ with their adopted ter o f Defence Marshal Ustinov who’d viewed it at a private screening. country and as such observers with original perspective. Cox had They praised the emotional impact. Two days later we received already made one feature, Kostas, and several short films that raised the another call from a Marshal Yepeshev informing us that the film would expectations o f critics. Sokol describes the collaboration in glowing terms: “I enjoyed working with Paul immensely and hold him in very never be released while he was in office. He kept his word - it was taken high regard. His approach and philosophy o f filmmaking was so o ff the shelf a couple o f months ago, after more than 10 years!” different from anything I ’d experienced before. His passionate dedica­ “The futility and frustration finally got to me. That was the last straw. When you don’t know who’s controlling your life, who you’re tion and rejection o f any commercial hype and circus (including a make-up artist) impressed me. T o be honest I never expected to find working for and your contributions are treated that way. Physical such a pure soul in a capitalistic system,” he says. comforts aren’t everything if you start to lose your soul. I felt “Stylistically C ox’s intuitive filmaking was an enormous challenge suffocated by the grey bureaucracy and refused to compromise any for me as a cinematographer. With an aesthetic eye and fine tuning to longer.” So he took the irreversible step - applying to emigrate. He performance, especially emotional action, he adopted a very bold knew the chances o f success were very slim but the risk was worth it, approach to shooting, often with moving camera, capturing the he felt. intensity and essence in one, or at most three takes. Frequendy he’d be Even when the Sokols (his wife Irena and two daughters) received happy with the first take and refuse to opt for more. I tried, especially the approval he recalls expectations o f reversal right up to the day o f in the early days, to plead with him but he was adamant; he was so their departure. His original destination was New York. confident he didn’t need extra cutaways or other angles. One has to Enter Erwin Rado, then the long-time director o f the Melbourne admire that boldness o f vision, especially as within the camera moves Film Festival, who had seen several o f Sokol’s films and had invited he wanted a variety o f shots to combine in a very carefully choreographed syn­ chronization o f movement o f camera and actors. The opening strip scene in M an o f Flowers was an eight-and-a-half minute take, the central argument in My First W ife lasts 10 minutes, with the cam­ era starting from the window at night, coming onto the bed and out the other side o f the bed in one take.”

What happened when two idealists clashed? Sokol dismisses the question with humour. “His intuitive and sponta­ neous method o f working with actors can pose problems for the cinematogra­ pher. It took a while to get around that but I became fascinated with how to adapt to his work; I ’d resort to contor­ tions and tricks, even espionage tactics, to find out what he was doing with the actor and how he was going to shoot the scene.

“When he was rehearsing he insisted on absolute privacy and would assure me that I could light and set up later. He probably was genuine in his intentions, C I N E M A

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TWO OF THE PAUL CO X -YU R I SO K O L CO LLA BO R A TIO N S: TOP: M AN O F FLO W ERS (1983) AND BELOW: M Y FIRST WIFE (1 9 84 )

but once he was happy with performance he’d want to shoot immedi­ ately, so as not to lose the momentum. I had to use all kinds o f tactics - eavesdropping, lurking behind windows, doors - to keep tabs on what he was doing so that I could anticipate and be prepared,” he recalls with some amusement.

Collaboration with Cox on features such as M an o f Flowers, My First Wife and Lonely H earts brought Sokol’s work to the attention o f producers, with work on telefeatures like Ju st Friends and Fragm ents o f W ar, and documentaries like H a n d le With C are. This year he took out the Milli Award for Cinematographer o f the Year and a a Golden Tripod ACS award for G eorgia, a Bob Weis production starring Judy Davis in a thriller about a woman attempting to solve the mystery o f her m other’s life and death. The judges were impressed by Sokol’s “unusual, restrained and naturalistic lighting control o f camera move­ ment, cinematography that was “Innovative without being overlit” and with a “subtlety' o f tone so effectively used.” Ironically, some o f the stylistic praises were the very qualities for which Sokol’s work was criticized in his early films in Australia - a rather sensitive area for him.

He still clearly recalls the words, “Yuri Sokol has brought to this country the gloom and doom o f Europe with his dark underlit style.”

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Sokol notes with satisfaction that Australian cinematographers use and appreciate a much greater variety o f styles now than they did when he first arrived 10 years ago.

The Cox collaboration was closely fol­ lowed by the studio era. The move to Sydney was prompted partly by his desire to set up a studio. Sokol says that he was appalled at the state o f working condi­ tions. “I found it ironic that in Russia the standard o f living is low but the working conditions (not equipment and stock) in the film indus­ try are high and here the reverse was true. Private living standards are so comfortable yet filmworkers tolerated conditions the same or even worse than in a third world country. I suppose it was the striving for the ideal especially since the stock and equipment were o f very good qual­ ity'. The idea was to establish a place that was conducive to work where every aspect o f production was within arm’s reach. I guess it was the drive for perfection, striving for the best o f two worlds.”

A few years ago he began to collect equipment and build lighting units that were unavailable from rental companies. The next stage was the search for a suitable property in Sydney. In the W aterloo complex there are three sound stages (plus one more on the drawing board), a full range o f cameras (from 35m m to video) specially-built lighting, comfortable meeting room s, mini-kitchens and other facilities able to accommodate any aspect o f the industry-video, drama, features, clips, mini-series. Despite the scale o f operations it’s still a family business managers somehow haven’t worked out, so wife Irena runs the day-today operations, while he oversees things.

Timing has been far from ideal in the lowest ebb o f industry activity since the beginning o f the revival but Sokol prefers to remain optimis­ tic: “W e’ve had an enormous number o f inquiries and significant bookings from the period August to November so it looks like things will pick up. I just hope we can accommodate all the work then.”

In any case he doesn’t see himself managing the studio for the rest o f his life. H e still returns to cinematography; as an efficient adminis­ trator, he likes the idea o f working as a producer, there are couple o f his own scripts he’d like to get o ff the ground, and though he shies away from the general idea o f directing there is one special project ( a black comedy about personal arms ownership) that he’d like to direct.

“I didn’t come here naive about the West. There are problems everywhere, but the scope and freedom to explore options has been amazing,” he says.

Does he have any regrets now that glasnost and perestroika are introducing such sweeping changes? W hat does he think o f the new wave o f glasnost films? Sokol is sceptical about any fundamental transformation. He believes that the changes are rather cosmetic. “I t ’s carefully orchestrated: basically the films are made on an old formula worked in reverse - a propaganda o f openness.” Generally unim­ pressed, he is critical o f the thinness and lack o f artistic merit in the ‘glasnost’ films he has seen. “The doors are open now, but they have nothing to say. The exposure o f sex, nudity and drugs on screen may be revolutionary for the Russians but by Western standards it’s rather naive, in some cases poor imitations o f what the W est has been producing for years.

“But the people making films now are products o f generations o f restriction and I expect that not until the reforms bring a completely new generation o f filmmakers will we see genuinely new, exciting films. So far there is no new Tarkovsky, no Parajanov. (The latter was jailed, declared persona non grata and prevented from working in film for some years because o f his ideologically outrageous lifestyle, espe­ cially his homosexuality, which until recently was considered a criminal offence.) But now at least talents like him are permitted to work.”

Sokol believes that as more people are allowed and encouraged to work in the film world the results will be more exciting. H e draws parallels with the period after the Revolution when the expulsion or emigration o f some leading artists, thinkers and film experts left gaps that were filled by professionals from other fields: doctors (such as Pudovkin), architects (Eisenstein), writers and journalists (Dovzhenko), who brought an exciting influx o f new ideas. “It may bring another era like that. L et’s hope so.” Sokol, however, has found plenty to keep him busy right here: in a time o f flux in the industry, the challenge is still considerable. g

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TWINS ARE BIG BUSINESS: TWINS IS THE ULTIMATE 'H IG H CONCEPT' HIT, BIG BUSINESS THE TOUCHSTONE-BETTE MIDLER VEHICLE. BUT THE TWIN AS 'DOUBLE' AND 'OTHER' HAS BEEN A CONSTANT PREOCCUPA­ TION OF ART AND CINEMA. HERE, SEVERAL EXAMPLES ARE CONSIDERED, BUT MOST NOTABLY DAVID CRON ENBERG'S LATEST OFFERING DEAD RINGERS AND PETER GREENAW AY'S ECCENTRIC A ZED AND TWO NOUGHTS If

VERY SCIEN CE is a mutilated o cto ­

pus. I f its tentacles were not clipped | to stumps, it would feel its wav into disturbing contacts. T o a believer, the effect o f the contemplation o f a science is o f being in the presence o f the good, the true, and the beau­ tiful. But what he is awed by is mutilation. T o our crippled intellects, only the maimed is what we call understandable, because the undip­ ped ramifies into all other things. According to my aesthetic, what is meant by beautiful is symmetrical deformation.”

This statement on the nature o f science was made by Charles Fort, an American writing at the turn o f this century. The aesthetic o f ‘symmetrical deformation’ can be readily ascribed to David Cronenberg’s D ead R in gers and Peter Greenaway’s A Z ed a n d Two Noughts. Both films are concerned with identical twins and, in distinctive ways, both have much to say on the nature o f creation and the propulsion o f the death instinct. YVhat distinguishes them is a 32

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TO BE ONE: PARADISE! TO BE TWO: BLISS! BUT TO BE BOTH AND NEITHER IS UNSPEAKABLE. - JOHN BARTH PETITION

matter o f style: Cronenberg chose the modernist urban environment with all its sterile corporate-yuppie furnishings, whereas Greenaway went in for the neo-classical approach clustering together high style with pantheistic romanticism.

The study and philosophy o f twins has preoccupied artists and thinkers for centuries. In the Symposium Plato described being as something whole and rounded: a universe o f ball creatures. The story goes that Zeus put an end to the polymorphous pleasure experienced by these creatures by cutting them in half. According to Paul Foss, in his article ‘Tales Told Tw ice’, Zeus did such “a good job that afterwards they carried deep within them, more painful than the visible scar o f the navel, the internal mark o f this scission, the memory o f their lost totality, a longing for the other half” . This longing for the other half o f ourselves that is lost is the basis o f every great (and not so great) love story. Otherness is at the heart o f the grand search. Acceptance or separation from the difference and sameness o f the other as double leads to a resolution o f tension between competing parts. All separa­ tion is violence unless it is transition. And this is also painful.

is thus, with this couple, that all narrative could begin. Couples are really the origin. Without them it was not possible to speak.

- P a u l F oss T ales T wice T old

In Truman Capote’s masterful work, In C old Blood, it is said that individually Perry and Dick would not have murdered the Clutter family. However, together they created a third personality and it was this personality that committed the crime. Cronenberg picks up on this mysterious idea o f the third personality in D ead Ringers. The fictional story o f twin gynaecologists Elliot and Beverly Mantle (Jeremy Irons) is a study in the concepts o f wholeness and separation.

As identical twins Elliot and Beverly have found in themselves a perfect working unit: Beverly does the research and Elliot presents it. Elliot is extroverted, Beverly introverted and reflective. The pair work in a perverse dualistic harmony until Claire Niveau ( Genevieve Bujold) en­ ters the scenario with a mutated cervix (she has three, not one). Her symmetrical deformation provides the initial impetus for the twins’ dual attraction to her. However, as with most Cronenberg plots, sex, woman and emotion are the cause o f all chaos and violence amongst beings in search o f each other. The twins’ living relationship becomes discordant as Beverly traces his emotional dependence onto Claire Niveau. But it is not necessarily the TOP LEFT: BRIAN AND ERIC notion o f twinship that propels D ead DEACON AS OSW ALD AND Ringers. It is something more to do OLIVER DEUCE IN A ZED AN D with the universal nature o f the TWO N O U G H TS. TOP RIGHT: double; the couple, most hated by JEREMY IRO NS AS ELLIOT Foucault, is the prime source o f ex­ AND BEVERLY MANTLE IN ploration.

DEAD RIN GERS. The idea o f being one self is an LEFT: SPLIT TW INS outdated concept. Cronenberg is fascinated with the question o f how long you can love someone who is changing. In The Fly this love is absolute and the greatest display o f love is to kill the beloved in an act similar to euthanasia. In D ead R in g ersth t bond that ties Beverly to Elliot cannot be broken by Claire.

She is outside. She is the other who cannot be reconciled as the other half. The notion o f one-ness, o f ‘me’, o f ‘I ’ ( T / T being similar figures in a hierarchy o f importance), o f self, has gradually ascended and declined in the Western consciousness. There is a strong reversion back to the classical notion o f two-ness, or the metaphysical notion o f two beings working as a harmonious one. (Reflect upon the third personality theory o f In C old B lood.) Although Claire is but one person she has three cervixes. This symmetrical mutation is a symbol o f her suitability for the twins who, in their own way, are freaks o f natural genetic grading. One woman with three cervixes can sendee two men with one nervous system? In Cronenberg theorv, anvway. In practice the woman wants one man and one baby. The serial 1 + 1=3 (the tenet o f reproduction) is replaced by the serial 1+ 1 + 1 = 1 which is the end result o f this m enage a trois where Elliot plays the role o f mediator, rival and obstacle in the relationship between Beverly and Claire. Eventu­ ally Beverly prefers to look into the mirror his brother Elliot provides: their relationship is essentially one o f narcissism. Beverly cannot break the umbilical cord nor shatter the mirror.

The two here is copulation: love and aggression, giving birth to a diversity of beings whose nature is divine, human, monstrous. And it

The facts, fictions, mythology and apocrypha on twins is limitlesslv rich - two o f everything, the search for your other half, mistaken identities, mirror imagining, substitution, the doppelganger, the lateral line and cloning. - P ktkr G rkknaway C

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LEFT: A MAN AND A W OMAN, AND ANOTHER MAN... ERIC DEACON, ANDREA FERREOL AND BRIAN DEACON IN A ZED A N D TWO NO U GHTS; AND JEREMY IRO NS, HEIDE V O N PALLESKE AND JEREMY IRONS IN DEAD RINGERS.

In Greenaway’s A Zed a n d Two Noughts the pregnant wives o f o f transitional violence - from loss and grief to acceptance, reproduc­ identical twins Oswald and Oliver Deuce are killed in a freak car tion and, finally, death. It is easier to confront the void and choose to accident caused by a swan. Alba Bewick is the only survivor o f the die (as Beverly and Elliot do) but it is remarkable to recognize the void accident. She has her leg amputated. Like many amputated limbs and from this contemplation see the diversity and richness o f being (in Alba’s stump is eroticized. Her loss o f symmetry makes her an object the case o f the Deuce brothers) and still choose death. W hat does all o f desire to the twin zoologists. As in D ead R ingers the woman with this mean? the symmetrical deformation makes love to identical twins concur­ The perfect double is at once the same and the other, the closest and rently. They finally accept a m énage d imkrelationship which results in most remote, hallowing out a radical difference within identity. Most the pregnancy o f Alba. A Zed a n d Two Noughts also shares with D ead of the time, however, identical (same sex) twins still remain the more authentic, the more balanced, happily contemplating themselves, face R ingers a mad surgeon, Van Maegeren, who has a penchant for the to face, as with Plato’s ball creatures. aesthetic o f symmetrical deformation inspired by the artist Vermeer.

- P au l F oss T ales T wice T old The neo-classical and romantic approach in A Zed a n d Two Noughts contrasts sharply with the austere and psychologically sterile There is a limited stock o f cinematic themes. The subject o f twins nature o f D ead Ringers. Both films exude a kind o f aesthetic terrorism is rich for an exploration o f otherness and sameness, o f multiplicity and upon the audience. A Zed a n d Two Noughts is overwhelming in its oneness. As a theme, it is ancient. Research on identical twins had been visual imagery to the point o f suffocation: Greenaway confronts the the cornerstone o f much genetic research until modern technology double with everything at his disposal. The visual imagery o f D ead provided the tools to explore chromosomes and genes directly. As a R ingersis spartan and Cronenberg confronts the double with nothing. subject identical and fraternal twins are contemporary and relevant for Each film resolves its narra­ a number o f reasons. tive and psychological sche­ First, the ethical mata with the double nega­ WHAT MAKES THE IDENTICAL TWINS EXPLORATION questions surrounding tive: the twins ultimately can­ eugenics, social darSO FASCINATING AT PRESENT IS THE COMBINED FORCE OF cel each other out. However, winism, family plan­ ANCIENT MYTHOLOGY AND NEW GENETIC AND PSYCHOLOGICAL the resolution in each film is ning and genetic engi­ ultimately different. D ead neering are far from RESEARCH. THE ARCHETYPAL PAIR OF TWINS, CASTOR AND R ingers ends in violent sepa­ being resolved. Simply POLLUX, THE ASTROLOGICAL GEMINI, WERE BORN OUT OF AN ration after the twins’ mu­ put, eugenics is the EGG FROM THE UNION OF A WOMAN AND A GOD DISGUISED AS tual confrontation with the practical application o f void, emptiness. The cathar­ g e n e tic th eo ry to A SWAN. THE TWINS FEATURED IN D E A D R IN G E R S AND A Z E D tic reaction this produces in strengthen the genetic A N D TW O N O U G H T S ARE THE RESULT OF THE UNION OF MYTH the audience could be said to material o f the human be one o f negative attain­ (THE SWAN) AND GENETICS (THE GOD). species (positive eugen­ ment. The resolution o f the ics) or eliminate genetic narrative structure lacks posi­ dross (negative eugen­ tive motion. D ead R ingersis a dead end. The world view is one o f bar­ ics). Recent studies show that much o f Nazi racial policy, realized in renness: the possibility o f reproduction within Cronenberg’s W eltan­ the German Population Courts, was based on H itler’s study o f certain schauung is non-existent because women are either mutant, sterile or American states whose laws ‘concerning prevention o f reproduction duplicitous and men are emotional cripples eternally bonded to each by people whose progeny would, in all probability, be o f no value or other by a common nervous system (this mutant masculinity!). be injurious to the racial stock’ (see O tto W agener’s H itler: Memoirs In A Zed a n d Two Noughts the twins’ death is more the result o f a o f a C on fidan t, 1 9 8 5 ). Secondly, cloning, roboting, bio-cybernetics confrontation with the fullness o f life and the trauma o f loss, grief. (Its and artificial intelligence have taken a special place in contemporary very ripeness, reminds us o f John Keats’ lines in “T o Autumn” - the research and thinking, inspiring debate both philosophically (Baudril­ twins watch “the last oozings hours by hours” .) The narrative conflict lard, Rorvik) and cinematically ( B lad eru n n er, A ndroid, Robocop, is resolved both structurally and philosophically; their separation is one M akin g M r R ig h t). Thirdly, there is the general problem o f alienation 34

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the union o f myth (the swan) and genetics (the god).

Identical twins are formed by the splitting o f a single fertilized egg.

They are the equivalent o f genetic clones. According to accepted theory identical twins can differ in personality only by nurture. Yet new studies in America on identical twins separated at birth and raised in different environments suggest that particular personality traits are inherited genetically (nature) and not socialized (nurture). This has set off the nature-nurture debate in academia. (For more see “T o the Manner Born” by Winifred Gallagher in R ollin g Stone, March 1988 and The New York Times, December 1, 1 9 86). The concept o f a genetic personality reeks o f a hopeless determinism that could be used to justify negative eugenics if a political climate so engineered it.

and enslavement o f wo/man from/to nature and environment.

Alienation runs deep: we are as close to understanding ourselves as ever, which is very little, since the fate o f all explanation is to close one door only to have another fly wide open. Fourthly, there is the apocalyptic imagination. In 1 9 8 4 the future had caught up with us and despite the fact that Armageddon had not occurred, the apocalyptic mind (take Reagan, for instance) continues to espouse the second millennium. T o Space Invaders we relinquished our fears o f the evercoming invasion and to S tar W ars we dreamt the magic o f alien technology. It has been a cathartic time, the decade o f the eighties. It is no wonder that ‘art’ films like D ea d Ringers, A Zed a n d Two Noughts and B laderu n n er and genre films such as Twins, B ig Business and D om inick a n d E u g en eb n n g us back to earth and explore the possibili­ ties therein.

Against such a background ancient themes are being explored in the dream factories. Establishing links with the archetypes and my­ thologies (the dream substances) o f the past is imagined to be a line to healing the neurotic and schizophrenic present. The egomaniacal notions o f total self-creation proffered by the ‘me’-generation theolo­ gies o f the previous few decades ignore the pantheistic, divine, shamanistic, mythological and animistic roots o f humanity. Altered states o f awareness are long forgotten (except by Timothy Leary!).

The twins/doubles cinematic vehicles share a commonality with various other thematic offspring. Role reversals and mistaken identities: The Secret o f My Success, Chances A re, Positive ID , Vice Versa, Big, M r Afomand Z elig { 2i film that covers many categories). The persistent dis­ covery o f Otherness via clones, androids, cyborgs, aliens, angels and animals: G orillas in the Mist, Wild Thing, Project X, Wings o f Desire, Cocoon, Starm an, Enemy M ine, The M an Who Fell To Earth, B lad eru n ­ ner, A ndroid, M aking M r R ight, and M ade in H eaven. Transforma­ tion themes that are either metamorphic: A lien, Aliens, The Fly, The Fly I I and Predator.; or lycanthropic/lupine: White Dog, Com pany o f Wolves, A n A m erican W erew olf in Fondon and Teen W olf There are also the altered states o f consciousness themes inspired by science, drugs, magic: The Witches o f Fastwick, Dogs in Space, Sid a n d Nancy, The Believers, B rainstorm , The A dventures o f B aron M unchausen,

To be one: Paradise! To be two: Bliss! But to be both and neither is unspeakable. - J ohn B arth Petition

As a grouping the films I have listed above all reflect on the transitional and shifting nature o f personality and character. They represent a higher unity o f ambivalence and over-determination in a world that has lost its pivot. A multiplicity o f personality but not multiple personalities (except, o f course, for Zelig).

The ambiguous double suicides o f both sets o f twins in D ead R ingers and A Zed a n d Two Noughts are basically irrational but predetermined acts based on a kind o f schizophrenic logic. Their urge to individuate self from other (as in Nietszche’s Apollonian principle) is mutant and does not relinquish into the urge to submerge self into the social (as in the Dionysian principle). The twins merge into each other, happily contemplating themselves (in a mutual self pity) as the death instinct has victory.

What distinguishes D ead R ingers and A Zed a n d Two Noughts from other ‘twins’ vehicles ( Twins, D om inick a n d Eugene, B ig Busi­ ness) is that personal tragedy fails to be personal. Their experience is mutual: the failure o f the mirror stage. This failure to isolate the personal from the social is what has lemmings running for the cliffs.

Mass empathy equals mass suicide.

D ead R ingers and A Zed a n d Two Noughts are dice cast in the shadow o f the hysteria that has extremists touting the Christian anxiety o f the second coming and Armageddon (an issue radically dealt with

by Adam Parfrey in his book, Apocalypse Culture, Amok Press, New York, 1 9 87). These two films are contemplative pieces with a strong warning signal in the text - beware o f false prophets! T o make a definitive case o f them is as simple and complex as Greenaway’s puzzle, “Is a zebra a white horse with black stripes, or a black horse with white stripes?” Maybe the zebra is a mutilated octopus? I leave this to your imagination.

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Dudes, A n gel H e a rt and Siesta.

All these categories share a thematic in search o f the Other: within and without. What makes the identical twins exploration so fascinat­ ing at present is the combined force o f ancient mythology and new genetic and psychological research. The archetypal pair o f twins, Castor and Pollux, the astrological Gemini, were born out o f an egg from the union o f a woman and a god disguised as a swan. The twins featured in D ead R in gers and A Z ed a n d Two Noughts are the result o f C

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REPORT

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HISTORY IN THE M AKING, THE RE M AKING, THE FAKING? WHAT DOES THE TRUE BELIEVERS TELL US ABOUT A TURBULENT PERIOD OF AUSTRALIAN HISTORY AND THE BELIEFS THAT INFORMED IT ?

T IS BECOM ING increasingly evident that

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if we wish to understand Australian society today, the decade from the m id-1940s to the mid-Fifties is an essential starting point.

It was then that the battle o f ideas about the sort o f society Australia should become in the contemporary world was fought. The way that battle was resolved entailed the defeat o f the preconceptions o f a new order cherished by many in the 1940s, and laid the foundations o f the national political economy that has shaped our lives since then.

The contest o f ideas was not peculiar to Australia, but the drama with which it was played out was. It often seems to me that we have been so bemused by the American representations o f those years McCarthy as the icon o f witchhunts, the romantic myths o f belea­ guered artists (predominantly writers and screenwriters) “blacklisted” from their professions (remember Woody Allen in The Front:) - that we have overlooked the much greater and much more dramatic schisms that the Cold War/Red Scare brought in Australian society.

The Australian Royal Commission into Espionage was more focused and in some ways more startling than the American F1UAC hearings, the roles played by - and effects on the careers o f - our leading political figures had a tragic trajectory, and the near destruction o f our oldest political party was unparalleled in analogous Western societies.

Elements o f the Australian scenario have long been picked over by academics who have studied the Labor split, the formation o f the Liberal Party, the “Battle o f the Banks”, the nature o f the post-war 36

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economy, the rise o f consumerism, the articulation o f liberal hegem­ ony, and so on. But these have been written for specialist audiences, and have often worked only on isolated elements o f the mosaic. We have lacked overarching interpretation. Above all, we have lacked attempts to interpret these events in a way accessible to the popular consciousness.

The series The True BelieversJ, then, offers much: it attempts, by working through a popular medium, to rescue that crucial decade for the people. It is predicated on a recognition o f the dramatic potential o f the political contest o f those years. It is resolutely Australian in its focus. And it promises attention to the nature o f the beliefs that informed the struggle. I f its ambitions are not fully realized, it is an interesting attempt, and its accolades (including the 1988 AFI award for best mini-series) suggest it is one o f the strongest mini-series o f recent years.

The True Believers works best as narrative and melodrama: it fails to deliver in helping us to understand the nature o f ideas, and in reaching for an epic quality it neglects some o f the more interesting human characteristics o f its protagonists and so underrates all but the “heroes” . Some o f these failings are perhaps endemic to the mini-series form - at least as practised in Australia. Let me elaborate on each o f these features.

The storyline that can be drawn from the politics o f the 1940s and Fifties is a strong one, and The True Believers is astutely managed to capitalize on that story’s potential. The story o f the series is cast, as pre­ publicity made clear, as the story o f three men - Ben Chifley, H .V. P A P E R S

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(D oc) Evatt, and Robert Menzies. It is a story o f those universal leadership, ambition and power. It is, more precisely, about what ambition and the pursuit o f power do to those who aspire to lead.

Chifley is the only one o f these three whose beliefs (in “the people” , in a better Australia) remain pre-eminent - for both Menzies and Evatt, ambition is overriding. Yet all three, in significant ways, lose: the pressure kills Chifley, Menzies compromises what he believes in, and Evatt is finally robbed o f “the moment for which he was made” by circumstances beyond his control. This is, then, a moral tale and one which can easily be given tragic shape.

There are “natural” hooks for the narrative: the death o f Curtin and Chifley’s succession, the battles over bank nationalization, the 1949 miners’ strike, the re-emergence o f Menzies as a political force, the internecine battles o f the Labor Party over Communism and the “groupers” , the bill to outlaw Communism and the subsequent elec­ tion campaign (which may have killed Chifley), the “blooding” o f Evatt as ALP leader in the anti-Communist referendum campaign, the Petrov affair and Evatt’s pro­ longed (and increasingly irra­ THE TRUE BELIEVERS IS A tional) fishing expedition in front STORY OF THOSE UNIVERSALS o f the Royal Commission, and a gripping climax - the Labor - LEADERSHIP, AMBITION AND Party split.

POWER - AND A STORY ABOUT Bob Ellis and Stephen Ram ­ WHAT AMBITION AND THE sey (scriptwriters) succeed in con­ veying the lineaments o f this story PURSUIT OF POWER DO TO well. That is not to say that they THOSE WHO ASPIRE TO LEAD. get every detail right, as is at­ tested by commentary in and let­ THIS IS, THEN, A MORAL TALE ters to the metropolitan dailies AND ONE WHICH CAN EASILY from interested parties at the time BE GIVEN TRAGIC SHAPE. the series was screened and since.2 Sometimes major details are changed for dramatic effect, o f which more below. And Ellis himself has claimed that the script was sufficiently modified in the course o f production, and without his agreement, as to qualify its historical ac­ curacy.3 But the writers do know their material, and they do distil a C I N E M A

workable script from the mountains o f indigestible speeches recorded in Hansard and in the ,

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PA IG N IN G FROM

newspapers and memoirs or the time. t r a in Further, they deploy dramatic conventions to good effect. They create a distanced observer/chorus in the figure o f the (fictional) journalist Ron Tait: a laconic and sceptical commentator on the heroics o f the protagonists, but a “secret sharer” in the struggle who is there (for us) when the last word is said. The tactic o f cross­ cutting between groups o f protagonists as they register differentially the effects o f some twist in the drama works well. Indeed, the device o f observing people while they listen (for instance, Menzies and his wife listening to Chifley on the radio, the Catholic Action Group likewise listening to Evatt, Evatt registering election results) becomes a recurrent and dramatically effective leitmotiv - and affirms the centrality o f radio in community life at the time. The marriage o f archival and reconstructed material to provide “newsreel” commen­ tary on events as they unfold and to convey the “mentality” o f the times is superb. The production values, and the attention to detail are impressive - the series looks very good despite the decision to contain costs by shooting on video. Indeed, as an instance o f technical proficiency and composition the series deserves its accolades, with the possible exceptions o f its musical score (which is stereotypical and at times so heavy-handed as to suggest an ironic counterpoint to the earnest intentions o f the script), and its misplaced emphasis - even where casting is against it - on actors creating simulacra o f their subjects (which is almost too self-conscious, and hence distracting).

Nonetheless, the principal actors - Ed Devereaux (Ben Chifley), John Bonney (Robert Menzies), Simon Chilvers (H .V . Evatt), Ron Blan­ chard (Arthur Calwell), Gary Files (Fred Daly), Nick Tate (Les Haylen), Graham Rouse (Arthur Fadden)-give uniformly strong per­ formances within the constraints o f the script.

Where the seams begin to show, however, is at those points where the scriptwriters choose to exercise dramatic licence. One such ex­ ample (and it is far from the only one) is in their treatment o f the 1949 miners’ strike. Chifley and his allies are here depicted as having little choice but to deploy troops against striking miners because the government has been forced into an untenable situation by the P A P E R S

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easy to discover - in the landmark W hite Paper on Full Employment (1 9 4 5 ) for instance. The viewer, however, has a hard time discerning what in particular Labor was trying to achieve from The T rue Believers, where Chifley’s major speeches are inspirational, not programmatic.

This emphasis on ideology rather than content misses a chief strength o f the ATP in the Chifley period.

One o f the most striking things about talking to people who joined the Liberal Party in the late 1940s is how strong the Labor Party was then seen to be: they joined because they feared the Curtin/Chifleystyle ALP government would dominate for a generation. It is worth re­ calling, too, that the non-Labor parties’ hold on power in the early 1950s was precarious - electoral trends flowed steadily Labor’s way after 1 9 4 9 , with substantial improvement for the ALP in the 1951 federal elections; every State but South Australia returning a Labor government by 1 9 5 3 , and the widespread expectation that Labor would surely win nationally in 1 9 5 4 . The Petrov affair and the split in the ALP - on both o f which the series is very good - changed all that.

Still, it is wrong retrospectively to reinterpret the preceding years and suggest that Chifley’s was always a marginal and embattled govern­ ment in the 1940s and that once out o f office it was assumed banished for years.

The series takes the easy way out with Menzies, showing him as an oily and pragmatic opportunist, who justifies his ploys to himself as “just politics” while pontificating to Pattie at home about being a truly moral man. Again, subsequent commentary by Ellis confirms that this was always his in te n tio n -h e describes Menzies as “ ... the manipulating villain, a self-made lazy aristocrat and conscienceless villain ... moved to heights o f selfishness” .7 N ot surprisingly, this has stimulated outrage from his family,8 and an extraordinary defence from John Bonney (the actor who played Menzies) that “my m oonlight flit through the hall o f fame will surely be eclipsed by the dazzling sun of the real Sir R obert” .9 Such a representation cannot account for the affection and warmth for Menzies held by those who worked with him .10 M ore importantly, for a series concerned with belief, this approach emphasizes pragmatism at the cost o f understanding the philosophy that would dominate the politics o f the 1950s and Sixties.

The implication is that on the non-Labor side beliefs are unimpor­ tant: the imperatives o f maintaining power will always override them.

O f course Menzies did develop as a strategist and manipulator o f the first order, capable as the series shows o f capitalizing on the “Red Threat” , the Petrov affair and Labor’s internal dissension to destroy

Communist-led executive o f the mining union. Other actors in these events, however, have suggested a radically different story.

Edgar Ross, for instance, has argued that the union leadership tried to prevent the strike,4 and it has been said that the union executive offered terms which the gov­ ernment simply would not listen to weeks before the “strike-breaking” exercise, because Chifley had his own end: to break the power o f the Communist executive. The researchers for the series should have felt obliged to speak to the former Communist union organizer, Edgar Ross, and to be cognizant o f the views o f “the other side” . The point is not to demand that scriptwriters adjudicate, but neither should they oversimplify a complex situation. In fact, the solution they opted for had the effect o f refusing to concede that Chifley too was a tactician, playing hardball politics. And this highlights the central malaise, the soft-core o f the series.

In this version Chifley is the steadfast saint around whom others mill and scheme. Whatever other script changes were effected in the course o f production, it is evident that this accords with Ellis’s intention: he has subsequently described Chifley as “ ...the saintly hero... a lonely childless man o f startling rural working-class intellect and forensic ability...”5 Accordingly, Chifley is characterized chiefly by his saintly forbearance. M ost o f the time he is reacting, embattled, heading o ff disasters rather than initiating. Granted he is, above all others, the keeper o f the flame, but his epic avuncularity prevents him from getting down into the gutter where mainstream politics flows.

And so the small-minded, the pragmatists, the cynics - in a word, the politicians - chip away at him until eventually, inevitably, they destroy him. All this is very moving. But this sort o f sentimental heroization diminishes Chifley as a politician, misrepresents the strength o f the Labor government, and short-changes every other figure in the series.

The True Believers diminishes Chifley not only by failing to show him as a tactician and ready to engage in “combat politics” , but also by failing to convey the content o f his program. Chifley was not the sole author o f this program, but along with his colleagues and a collection o f brilliant bureaucrats (his “official family” ),6 was a key progenitor o f detailed plans for a new order. This was a time when Labor had a philosophy a n d a program, and could show the link between ideals and a pragmatic blueprint for society. The details are

THE LEADING PLAYERS LEFT TO RIGHT: TOM BURKE (RAY M EAGHER), ARTHUR CALW ELL (RON BLANCHARD), FRED DALY (G A RY FILES), ROBERT M ENZIES (JO H N BO N N EY), 'D O C' EVATT (SIM ON CHILVERS), BEN CHIFLEY (ED DEVEREAUX) AND LES HAYLEN (N ICK TATE).

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the A LP’s chances o f government. But to imply that he was no more the series’ argument.15 Some may recall a considerably more positive than this is absurdly to underestimate him and to miss the other side portrait in an A BC documentary, L ike a S um m er Storm , screened per­ o f the battle o f ideas. The non-Labor side, too, developed a principled haps 15 years ago (and now in the National Library collection). blueprint for post-War society, which was at odds with the Labor Further, in late 198 8 A BC Radio National ran a series called “The program. Again, the details are easy to locate - in the Institute for D oc” ,16 consisting o f reminiscences from those who knew Evatt, Public Affairs publication L ookin g F orw ard (1 9 4 4 ), for instance. which - coming hard on the heels o f The True B eliev ers- served to play Menzies and his allies believed in this program. W hat is more Menzies up the many dimensions o f the man and to show how limited the was able brilliandy to convey the substance o f that program into the portrait in The True Believers is. I will suggest below that dramatic public sphere, and in a way that won public assent. A notable instance convention rather than biographical detail played its part in the way o f this was his appeal to “the forgotten people” , as Judith Brett has Evatt was represented in the series, but first let me note one more area shown.11 Further, the non-Labor side, in parallel with the establish­ where The True Believers works to diminish rather than to reveal. ment o f the Liberal Party, set about constructing extra-parliamentary The roles o f women deserve com ment here in terms o f what the networks specifically concerned with generating the ideas that would series implies about gender relations in the 1940s. Women are fuel their political renaissance. Y et this series sees “true believers” as by depicted only as supporters o f strong men - wives or secretaries. Each definition only in the Labor camp. There has been a tradition in o f the key figures is represented in a tight partnership - Ben and Lizzie Australian historiography that represents Labor Chifley, Bob and Pattie as the party o f initiative and non-Labor as the Menzies, “The D o c” and IT SEEMS CLEAR THAT THE MAKERS parties o f reaction, but this tradition has been Mary Alice Evatt, Edgar OF THE TRUE BELIEVERS BELIEVED THAT THE STORY countered by work that shows how important and Tess Ross. This ploy ideas and the means o f generating ideas have has dramatic purposes: the COULD ONLY BE MADE ACCESSIBLE BY PERSONALIZING, been in sustaining non-Labor politics.12 Even if women are confidantes, to SIMPLIFYING AND PRESENTING HEROES, BATTLERS AND the series is primarily concerned with under­ whom strategy and motives VILLAINS. SUCH AN APPROACH INEVITABLY standing Labor politics in this period (and the can be explained - and thus self-destruction within the A L P ), the larger made clear to the audience.

EMPHASIZES THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE HEROES context in which the party operated must be In their turn, they are rep­ AT THE EXPENSE OF ALL OTHERS. more faithfully rendered. For The True Believers resented as those who are to ignore this counter-revolution in historiog­ capable o f penetrating vain­ raphy is to misunderstand our recent history and to misunderstand the glory and bluster to speak for common sense, and who register (for us) nature o f the confrontation Labor faced in the 1940s and 1950s. Yet the real dangers and emotional ramifications o f “boys’ games” . all this is an effect o f the way the series chooses to misrepresent Chifley’s (fictional) secretary, Elsie, in particular stands for us as the Menzies. (often silent) witness, signalling through changes o f expression the The Communist leadership, and Edgar Ross in particular, is even inevitable end towards which he is being driven. Nonetheless, there is no space within this utilization o f conventions for registering these more seriously impugned. N ot only, as already shown, is Ross’s account o f the 194 9 miners’ strike given no credence whatsoever, but women as strong persons, actors within this drama in their own right.

Perhaps the intention is to indicate that women simply were more con­ also Ross is portrayed as an unthinking extremist agitator, speaking strained in the 1940s. Looking at the struggles mounted by women’s only in slogans, and sacrificing everything to his fanaticism. This does not accord well with the Ross one finds in his books, or can still see in movements in the 1940s would qualify this impression;17 the entry o f women into federal parliament and the now well explained dynamics public performance. Further, the series takes considerable liberties o f a partnership like that o f Joe and Enid Lyons18 should have given with Ross’s broader relationships, portraying quarrelsome confronta­ further pause to reconsider. M ost particularly, the careers o f these tions between Edgar and his brother Lloyd (one o f Chifley’s “official individual women have not been well-served by this representation. family” ) and showing Edgar’s wife Tess taking Lloyd’s side against him when in fact Edgar and Lloyd had no contact at all during this The scriptwriters must have known, for instance, that Mary Alice Evatt period. 13 Indeed, the series even makes Ross’ children younger than was a significant figure in Australian artistic they were to enhance the supposed danger to which their father’s circles, where she dragged “The D oc” along in b^ s a n t a m a r ia political extremism exposed them. What the series presents here is a her wake,19 or that women like Tess Ross had (j o h n d e r u m ) a n d stock melodramatic type designed to evoke a knee-jerk response from their own role in the Communist women’s a r c h b is h o p m a n n ix an audience, and this runs directly counter to later claims to be faithful m ovem ents.20 Heather Menzies complains o f (n o r m a n k a y e ) to the broad historical record. Surely this is much more than a matter the representation o f “a mother who was nothw o r k o u t t h e ir ing like the sparkling character I knew” .21 s t r a t e g ie s o f “minor performance issues” (see below) as the A BC was later to claim in the face o f criticism.

Evatt, too, undergoes some simplification in The True Believers.

H e is allowed to play in only one key: the cantankerous, irascible in­ dividualist with a messianic belief in his destiny as leader o f the ALP in government. H e was certainly all o f these things, but he was more complex and more gifted than the series can allow. Nonetheless, as if to shore up the series’ interpreta­ tion, much subsequent com m en­ tary by people with a special inter­ est in the series played up Evatt’s alleged “dementia” , and subse­ quent decline (perhaps, according to Ellis, into Alzheimer’s disease).14 Yet the extent to which his later illness affected his political leader­ ship is still a m oot point, and his biography does not sit well with C I N E M A

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So is it asking too much to expect a mini-series to give insight into the many-sided nature o f the events which shaped our recent history?

It seems clear that the makers o f The True Believers believed that the story**78*12could only be made accessible by personalizing, by simplifying and by presenting heroes, battlers and villains. Such an approach inevitably emphasizes the perspective o f the heroes at the expense o f all others. But to really understand the period we need multiple per­ spectives. Those who share the belief in the importance o f that period and the necessity for it to be understood, may well feel short-changed, for the sorts o f reasons mentioned in this article. In defence o f the series, it has been argued that it captures what the period was like (by, among others, Fred Dalv).22 It clearly appeals to the emotions o f those whose first (pro-Labor) political memories are o f that time (as Phillip Adams testifies).23 And from the ABC itself has come this defence:

“Jerusalem” , is o f Evatt walking alone down the steps o f Parliament House. How is this to be read, in the light o f the defeats we have witnessed, and knowing that Evatt was to find no peace, with the end o f his political career, but an inauspicious twilight period as NSW C hief Justice during which he was increasingly infirm and experienced the loss o f his powers and competence? Is this not another version o f the battler, brave but beaten, “the single most representative character” in the construction o f national identity?26 Is this not, to pick up a strand from Ray Evans’s previous article in this journal on S h o u t! another appeal to the “my7ths o f ... a dependent people who treasure the struggles which are never w on.”? 2/ The type may be ubiquitous in the Australian mini-series, but the appeal is wearing thin. The sentimen­ tal sanctification o f Chifley, the reduction o f all Evatt’s agonies to the lineaments o f “the battler” , these strategies remind me o f Fay W eldon’s pithy comment: “There is no vision here, but an acute observation o f what a mass audience wants to see and hear. Heart strings twang, but don’t vibrate.” 28 The effect o f a series like The True Believers, partisan as it is, is unwittingly a profoundly conservative one. It fails to engage with the substance o f the battle o f ideas - on both sides - mistaking inspirational rhetoric for content. It implies that there is a dichotomy between “true b elief’ and pragmatic action - an unmistakable indicator o f a “moon party” mythology. (In this it is truly a product o f the 1980s, when Labor governments have learned the implicit message this series encapsulates, and have to all intents and purposes sacrificed principles to the pragmatism o f power: but the 1940s experience, when the ALP achieved a unification o f ideas with a program might have been used to show that it does not need to be like that.) It suggests that there were heroes in politics in those day7s, and that they failed. It gives the impression that the major battles have already been fought. The message is unmistakably “We think we are winning, but we never d o.”

What price social reform now7?

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Mr Ellis, alleging inaccuracies, really deals with minor performance issues rather than serious distortions o f fact which w'ould destroy the worth of The True Believers as a broad historical record... What the drama hopes to achieve is a portrayal o f historical events and personalities which, while perhaps not factual in even,7 detail, will nevertheless convey the atmos­ phere and overall sense of events and personalities of the time... It is just one portrayal of the record o f what happened... Changes certainly w'ere made... almost entirely for economic reasons... For example, we combined some ofthe... characters... to form some composite characters... Whatever changes w7ere made w'ere accepted so that the series ultimately could be produced and not remain a fantasy lying in someone’s bottom drawer.24

None o f these responses can account for the failure to deal with ideas, the caricaturing o f Edgar Ross, the distorted pictures o f Evatt and Menzies - all o f which are matters o f interpretation. The interpreta­ tion, as I have suggested, is undercut by sentimental heroization.

The tenor o f The Trite Believers brought to mind a distinction once made by a political scientist between “sun” parties and “m oon” parties. 2:> The argument went that some parties are more concerned with power and the imperatives o f staying in power (usually through having been in power for lengthy periods and knowing what it takes) than with philosophy. These become dominant parties, “sun” parties.

Other parties are so wedded to a philosophy that they will sacrifice power to the “purity” o f their ideas. Once out o f power, however, they may become so concerned (and internally divided) about principles that they become even more recessive: these are the “m oon” parties.

The Labor Party7, in this series, bears the hallmarks o f a “m oon” partv . It is the only party, as I have suggested, that is shown to have “true believers” , the only one concerned with (and fatally divided over) ideas. There is always, within the Labor Party - and indeed all parties with an articulated philosophy intended to inform their programs - a tension between what philosophy dictates and what the contingencies o f power demand. Can these be balanced, and if they cannot will ideals or pragmatism win? Clearly, appeals to “tradition” (always popular in the Labor Party) are usually appeals to ideals. The series concern with “true believers” , therefore, does tap into a recurrent theme in Labor history7. But what the “m oon” party metaphor was intended to expose, and what this series suggests, is that the cost o f “true b elief’ may be defeat.

Yet that is only part o f the story7: the Labor Party was strong, was fully capable o f dominating the hard grind o f combat politics in the 1940s. Indeed, it is only by retrospectively reading those years in the light o f the culminating disasters o f Evatt’s leadership and the Labor split that the my7th can be sustained. This is to sacrifice the contingency o f evetyday politics to a tragic trajectory7o f inevitability. There is little feel o f the contingent, the unpredictable (that is to say, o f what it was really like) in The True Believers. And in case we miss the point, there are comments like Bill M cKell’s “We think we are winning, but we never d o.”

The tendency is epitomized in the dramatic use made o f Evatt, to whom, significantly, the final word is given. The final scenes are set in King’s Hall, where Evatt delivers these lines to the journalist, Ron Tait:

FOOTNOTES 1. The True Believers. Presented by Roadshow, Coote and Carroll in association with the ABC. Written by Bob Ellis and Stephen Ramsey. Executive Producers Sandra Lew and Matt Carroll. Director Peter Fisk. Screened weeklv on ABC TV, 28 June to 2 August 1988.

2. See, for instance, Gerard Henderson ( The Weekend A ustralian, 6-7 August 1988), B.A. Santamaria [The A ustralian, 3 January 1989), Edgar Ross {Sydney M orning H erald, 2 July 1988, and The A ustralian, 16 January71989), Heather Menzies"Henderson {The Aus­ tralian, 20 July 1988 and The A ustralian, 18 Januaryl989).

3. Bob Ellis, “Historv in the Faking”, The A ustralian Listener, 17-23 D ecem berl988, p p l2-13.

4. Edgar Ross, The Sydney M orning H erald, 2 July 1988.

5. Ellis, op. cit. p l2 .

6. L.F. Crisp, Ben Chifley: a political biography (Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1 9 6 3 ),pp 256-7.

7. Ellis, op. cit. p l2 .

8 Heather Menzies Henderson, The A ustralian, 20 Julv 1988, and The A ustralian, 18 January 1989.

9. John Bonney, The A ustralian, 8 August 1988.

10. See, for instance, Sir John Bunting, R.G. Menzies: a portrait (Svdnev: Susan Havnes/ Allen and Unwin, 1988).

11.

Judith Brett, “Menzies’ Forgotten People”, M eanjin, 43, 2 (1984), pp 253-65.

12 David Kemp, “Liberalism and Conservatism in Australia since 1 944”, in B. Head and J. Walter, eds., Intellectual Movements an d A ustralian Society, (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1988), pp 322-62.

13. Edgar Ross, The A ustralian, 16 January 1989.

14. Fred Daly, “Telling it like it was”, The Guide, Sydney M orning H erald, 27 June 1988; Ellis, op.cit. p 12.

15. Kylie Tennant, Evatt - Politics an d Justice (Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1970).

16. ABC Radio National, The Doc: Recollections ofH . V. Evatt, 5.30pm, 30 September and 7 O ctoberl988.

17. For a guide, see B. Irving, “Women on the homeffont in World War II - 1939-1945: a bibliographic guide”, H ecate, X II, i/ii, 1986.

18. Kate White, A Political Love Stoty: Joe an d Enid Lww(Melbourne: Penguin, 1987).

19. Geoffrey Dutton, The Innovators: the Sydney alternatives in the rise o f m odem art, literature an d ideas (Melbourne: Macmillan, 1986), pp 67-9.

20. CPA, W omen in Our New World {Sy'dney: Current Book Distributors, 1947).

21. Heather Menzies Henderson, The Australian, 18 January7 1989.

22.

Fred Daly, op cit.

23. Phillip Adams, “Truly great, believe m e!”, The Weekend A ustralian, 25-26 June 1988.

24. Ian McGarrity, Acting Director o f Television, ABC Sydney, The A ustralian, 11 January7 1989.

25. Samuel Lubell, The Future o f A m erican Politics{G arden City7, NY: Doubleday Anchor Books, 1956), chapters 10 and 11.

26. Graeme Turner, N ational Fictions: Literature, Film a n d the Construction o f A ustra­ lian N arrative (Sy'dney: Allen and Unwin, 1986), p 110.

27. Raymond Evans, “Heroes Often Fail: Johnny O ’Keefe and Another Australian Legend”, C inem a Papers 71, January 1989, p 42.

28. Fay Weldon, Letters to Alice on fir st reading Ja n e Austen (London: Coronet/ Hodder and Stoughton, 1985), p 22.

This is where we laid lack Curtin. This is where we laid Ben Chifley... If the good Lord had any mercy he’d have struck me down after I won the 1951 referendum. There’s only one truly graceful way out o f Australian politics - it’s in a coffin. You have all the dignity7 o f death plus a 21-gun salute and lots o f flowers. But this way...

The final shot, as the end credits roll, and the background music changes from “T o be a pilgrim” (which has been Evatt’s theme) to 40

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NUMBER 1 (JANUARY 1974): David Williamson, Ray Harryhausen, Peter Weir, Antony Ginnane, Gillian Armstrong, Ken G. Hall, The Cars that Ate Paris.

NUMBER 2 (APRIL 1974): Censorship, Frank Moorhouse, Nicolas Roeg, Sandy Harbutt, Film under Allende, Betiveen The Wars, Alvin Purple

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NUMBER 10 (SEPT/OCT 1976) Nagisa Oshima, Philippe Mora, Krzysztof Zanussi, Marco Ferreri, Marco Belloochio, gay cinema.

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NUMBER 12 (APRIL 1977) Ken Loach, Tom Haydon, Donald Sutherland, Bert Deling, Piero Tosi, John Dankworth, John Scott, Days O f Hope, The Getting O f Wisdom.

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NUMBER 15 (JANUARY 1978) Tom Cowan, Francois Truffaut, John Faulkner, Stephen Wallace, the Taviani brothers, Sri Lankan cinema, T he Irishman, The C hant O f Jim m ie Blacksmith.

NUMBER 16 ( APRIL-JUNE 1978) Gunnel Lindblom, John Duigan, Steven Spielberg, Tom Jeffrey, The A frica Project, Swedish cinema, Dawn!, Patrick.

NUMBER 17 (AUG/SEPT 1978) Bill Bain, Isabelle Huppert, Brian May, Polish cinema, Newsfront, The Night The Prowler.

NUMBER 26 (APRIL/MAY 1980)

NUMBER 44-45 (APRIL 1984)

NUMBER 56 (MARCH 1986)

Charles H. Joffe, Jerome Heilman, Malcolm Smith, Australian nationalism, Japanese cinema, Peter Weir, Water Under The Bridge.

David Stevens, Simon Wincer, Susan Lambert, a personal history o f C inem a Papers, Street Kids.

Fred Schepisi, Dennis O ’Rourke, Brian Trenchard-Smith, John Hargreaves, stunts, smoke machines,D ead-End DriveIn, The More Things Change, Kangaroo, Tracy.

NUMBER 46 (JULY 1984) NUMBER 27 (JUNE-JULY 1980) Randal Kleiser, Peter Yeldham, Donald Richie, Richard Franklin’s obituary of Alfred Hitchcock, the New Zealand film industry, G rendel Grendel Grendel.

Paul Cox, Russell Mulcahy, Alan J. Pakula, Robert Duvall, Jeremy Irons, Eureka Stockade, W aterfront, The Boy In The Bush,A Woman Suffers, Street Hero.

NUMBER 47 (AUGUST 1984) NUMBER 28 (AUG/SEPT 1980) Bob Godfrey, Diane Kurys, Tim Burns, John O ’Shea, Bruce Beresford, Bad Timing, Roadgames.

Richard Lowenstein, Wim Wenders, David Bradbury, Sophia Turkiewicz, Hugh Hudson, Robbery Under Arms.

NUMBER 48 (OCT/NOV 1984) NUMBER 29 (OCT/NOV 1980) Bob Ellis, Uri Windt, Edward Woodward, Lino Brocka, Stephen Wallace, Philippine cinema, Cruising, The Last Outlaw.

Ken Cameron, Michael Pattinson, Jan Sardi, Yoram Gross, Bodyline, The Slim Dusty Movie.

NUMBER 49 (DECEMBER 1984) NUMBER 36 (FEBRUARY 1982) Kevin Dobson, Brian Kearney, Sonia Hofmann, Michael Rubbo, Blow Out, Breaker Morant, Body Heat, The Man From Snowy River.

NUMBER 37 (APRIL 1982) Stephen M aclxan, Jacki Weaver, Carlos Saura, Peter Ustinov, women in drama, Monkey Grip.

Alain Resnais, Brian McKenzie, Angela Punch McGregor, Ennio Morricone, Jane Campion, horror films, N iel Lynne.

NUMBER 50 (FEB/MARCH 1985) Stephen Wallace, Ian Pringle, Walerian Borowczyk, Peter Schreck, Bill Conti, Brian May, The Last Bastion, Bliss.

NUMBER 51 (MAY 1985)

Geoff Burrowes, George Miller, James Ivory, Phil Noyce, Joan Fontaine, Tony Williams, law and insurance, F ar East.

Lino Brocka, Harrison Ford, Noni Hazlehurst, Dusan Makavejev, Emoh Ruo, Winners, The N aked Country, M ad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, Robbery Under Arms.

NUMBER 39 (AUGUST 1982)

NUMBER 52 (JULY 1985)

Antony Ginnane, Stanley Hawes, Jeremy Thomas, Andrew Sarris, sponsored documentaries, Blue Fin.

Helen Morse, Richard Mason, Anja Breien, David Millikan, Derek Granger, Norwegian cinema, National Film Archive, We O f The Never Never.

John Schlesinger, Gillian Armstrong, Alan Parker, soap operas, TV News, film advertising, D on’t C all Me Girlie, For Love Alone, Double Sculls.

NUMBER 20 (MARCH-APRIL 1979)

NUMBER 40 (OCTOBER 1982)

NUMBER 53 (SEPTEMBER 1985)

Henri Safran, Michael Ritchie, Pauline Kael, Wendy Hughes, Ray Barrett, My D inner With Andre, The R eturn O f Captain Invincible.

Bryan Brown, Nicolas Roeg, Vincent Ward, Hector Crawford, Emir Kusturica, New Zealand film and television, R eturn To Eden.

NUMBER 41 (DECEMBER 1982)

NUMBER 54 (NOVEMBER 1985)

Igor Auzins, Paul Schrader, Peter Tammer, Liliana Cavani, Colin Higgins, The T ear O f Living Dangerously.

Graeme Clifford, Bob Weis, John Boorman, Menahem Golan, rock videos, Wills A nd Burke, The G reat Bookie Robbery, The Lancaster M iller A ffair.

NUMBER 18 (OCT/NOV 1978) John Lamond, Sonia Borg, Alain Tanner, Indian cinema, Dimboola, Cathy’s Child.

NUMBER 19 (JAN/FEB 1979)

Ken Cameron, Claude Ixlouch, Jim Sharman, French cinema, My B rilliant Career.

NUMBER 22 (JULY/AUG 1979) Bruce Petty, Luciana Arrighi, Albie Thoms, Stax, A lison’s Birthday

NUMBER 24 (DEC/JAN 1980) Brian Trenchard-Smith, Ian Holmes, Arthur Hiller, Jerzy Toeplitz, Brazilian cinema, Harlequin.

NUMBER 25 (FEB/MARCH 1980) David Puttnam, Janet Strickland, Everett de Roche, Peter Faiman, Chain Reaction, Stir.

NUMBER 38 (JUNE 1982)

NUMBER 42 (MARCH 1983) Mel Gibson, John Waters, Ian Pringle, Agnes Varda, copyright, Strikebound, The M an From Snowy River.

NUMBER 43 (MAY/JUNE 1983) Sydney Pollack, Denny Lawrence, Graeme Clifford, The Dismissal, C areful H e Might H ear Tou.

NUMBER 58 (JULY 1986) Woody Allen, Reinhard Hauff, Orson Welles, the Cinémathèque Française, The Fringe Dwellers, G reat 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 Television, Franco Zeffirelli, Nadia Tass, Bill Bennett, Dutch Cinema, Movies By Microchip, Otello.

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NUMBER 62 (MARCH 1987) Screen Violence, David Lynch, Cary Grant, ASSA conference, production barometer, film finance, The Story O f The Kelly Gang.

NUMBER 63 (MAY 1987) Gillian Armstrong, Antony Ginnane, Chris Haywood, Elmore Leonard, Troy Kennedy Martin, The Sacrifice, Landslides, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Jilted.

NUMBER 64 (JULY 1987) Nostalgia, Dennis Hopper, Mel Gibson, Vladimir Osherov, Brian TrenchardSmith, Chartbusters, Insatiable.

NUMBER 65 (SEPTEMBER 1987) Angela Carter, Wim Wenders, Jean-Pierre Gorin, Derek Jarman, Gerald L’Ecuyer, Gustav Hasford, AFI Awards, Poor Man’s Orange.

NUMBER 66 (NOVEMBER 1987) Australian Screenwriters, Cinema and China, James Bond, James Clayden, Video, De Laurentiis, New World, The Navigator, Who’s That Girl.

NUMBER 55 (JANUARY 1986) James Stewart, Debbie Byrne, Brian Thompson, Paul Verhoeven, Derek Meddings, tie-in marketing, The R ightH a n d Man, Birdsville.

NUMBER 67 (JANUARY 1988) John Duigan, George Miller, Jim Jarmusch, Soviet cinema- Part I, women in film, shooting in 70mm, filmmaking in Ghana, The T ear My Voice Broke, Send A Gorilla.

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NUMBER 123 AUTUMN 1985

NUMBER 131 AUTUMN 1987

The 1984 Women’s Film Unit, The Films ofSolrun Hoaas, Louise Webb, Scott Hicks, Jan Roberts

Richard Lowenstein, New Japanese Cinema, Ken Russell, Taking a Film Production Overseas, Richard Chataway and Michael Cusack

to New Films and Videos in Distribution is available three times a year. It covers Australian and imported titles, listed alphabetically under category headings, and enables anyone seeking informa­ tion on a particular title, or films on a specific subject area, to find out details about distributors and availability. The Guide covers 35mm and 16mm features, shorts, documentaries and home video releases, as well as educational, management training, health and safety and ‘how-to’ programs. Also listed are all new acquisitions available for free borrowing from Government

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NUMBER 124 WINTER 1985 Films for Workers, Merata Mita, Len Lye, Marleen Gorris, Daniel Petrie, Larry Meltzer

NUMBER 132 WINTER 1987 Censorship in Australia, Rosalind Krauss, Troy Kennedy Martin, New Zealand Cinema, David Chesworth,

NUMBER 125 SPRING 1985 Rod Webb, Marleen Gorris, Ivan Gaal, Red M atildas , Sydney Film Festival

NUMBER 126 SUMMER 1985/86 The Victorian Women’s Film Unit, Randelli’s, Laleen Jayamanne, Lounge Room Rock, The Story o f Oberhausen

NUMBER 133 SPRING 1987 Wim Wenders, Solveig Dommartin, The Films o f Wim Wenders, Jean-Pierre Gorin, Michelangelo Antonioni, Wendy Thompson, Michael Lee, Jonathan Dennis, Super 8

NUMBER 134 SUMMER 1987/88 NUMBER 127 AUTUMN 1986 AFTRS reviews, Jane Oehr, John Hughes, Melanie Read, Philip Brophy,Gyula Gazdag, C hile: H asta Cuando?

Recent Australian Films, Film Music, Groucho’s Cigar, Jerzy Domaradzki, Hong Kong Cinema, The Films o f Chris Marker, David Noakes, The Devil in the Flesh, How the West Was Lost

NUMBER 128 WINTER 1986

NUMBER 135 AUTUMN 1988

Karin Altmann, Tom Cowan, Gillian Coote, Nick Torrens, David Bradbury, Margaret Haselgrove, Karl Steinberg, AFTRS graduate films, Super 8, Pop Movie

Alfred Hitchcock, Martha Ansara, New Chinese Cinema, Lindsay Anderson, Sequence Magazine, Cinema Italia, New Japanese Cinema, F atal Attraction

NUMBER 129 SPRING 1986

Film Theory and Architecture, Victor Burgin, Horace Ove, Style Form and History in Australian Mini Series, Blue Velvet, South o f the Border, C an n ibal Tours

NUMBER 136 WINTER 1988 Reinhard Hauff, 1986 Sydney Film Festival, Nick Zedd, Tony Rayns, Australian Independent Film, Public Television in Australia, Super 8

NUMBER 137 SPRING 1988 NUMBER 130 SUMMER 1986/87 Sogo Ishii, Tom Haydon, Gillian Leahy, Tom Zubrycki, John Hanhardt, Australian Video Festival, Erika Addis, Ross Gibson, Super 8, C am era N atu ra

Hanif Kureishi, Fascist Italy and American Cinema, Gillian Armstrong, Atom Egoyan, Film Theory and Architecture, Shame, Television Mini Series, Korean Cinema, Sammy an d Rosie G et L a id ■

Martha Ansara, Channel 4 , Soviet Cinema Part II, Jim McBride, Glamour, nature cinematography, Ghosts O f The C ivil D ead, Feathers, Ocean, Ocean.

David Cronenberg, Co-productions, The Year in Retrospect, Philip Brophy, Film Sound - the role o f the sound track, Young Einstein, Shout, The Last Tem pta­ tion o f Christ, Salt Saliva Sperm a n d Sweat

NUMBER 69 (MAY 1988)

NUMBER 72 (MARCH 1989)

Special Cannes issue, film composers, sex, death and family films, Vincent Ward, Luigi Acquisto, David Parker, production barometer, Ian Bradley, Pleasure Domes.

Charles Dickens’ Little Dorrit, Australian Science Fiction movies, Survey: The 1988 Mini-Series, Stop Making Scents: Aromarama, Ann Turner’s Celia, Fellini’s L a dolce vita, Women and Westerns

NUMBER 68 (MARCH 1988)

NUMBER 70 (NOVEMBER 1988) Film Australia, Gillian Armstrong, Fred Schepisi, Wes Craven, John Waters, A1 Clark, Shame Screenplay Part I.

NUMBER 71 (JANUARY 1989) Yahoo Serious, Film Finance Corporation,

NUMBER 73 (MAY 1989) Special Cannes Issue, Phil Noyce, Franco Nero, Jane Campion, Ian Pringle, Frank Pierson, Australian films at Cannes, Production Barometer, Pay TV , Film Finance, Fanzines ■

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SUPPLIERS QUIET ENNIS NOONAN,

THE SLUMP IN PRODUCTION ON BOTH

general manager at Samuelson’s in Sydney, was trying to be opti­ mistic about the slump in pro­ duction. H e estimated that both commercials and features were down 50 % on last year - and last year wasn’t all that good either!

H e said that Samuelson’s size lets it ride out the bumps, but it looks as i f significant change will not take place before September. Some o f the recent problems have been cancellations, owing to the Sydney rain.

The positive side o f this is that Samuelson’s has had more time to devote to modifications and R & D. The new C C D chips have improved the quality o f video assists and the pivoting viewfinders on the Arri 3 doors have now been fitted with a flicker-free (at 25fps) manual iris, auto gain (with a high/low override) video split. It can be flipped in or out and there is no inter­ ference if run from the same battery as the camera. (Peter H obson in M elbourne also mentioned that they now have the D E N IZ colour C C D split for the Arri 3.)

They have added a swing-away bracket to the 6.6-inch matte box for easier lens changes and gate checks, and have changed the focus box on the Canon 6 0 0 - and 800m m telephoto lenses, so that one revolution o f the focus control wheel gives a full rack o f the lenses.

They have also spent some time on the nose m ount for the new Bell Je t Ranger helicopter. The remote control box will now allow a tilt during shooting, has full speed and iris control, footage and camera speed and an on / o ff readout on the green-screen high-definition monitor. You can even shoot high-speed and control it all from the module that sits on your lap.

New rental items available from Sammies include the big Arri 12 k H M I with the (wait for i t ) Arrivator motorized stand, which takes all the lug out o f lifting the light up to its full height o f around five metres.

Sammies has the new Betacam C V R -5 0 7 , which is the latest C C D camera and SP recorder, and the C V R -35 portable V T R for record and playback. Both o f these units give great pictures.

You may remember John Seale praising the Panavision Primo lenses in the last issue o f C in em a Papers. There is a fully matched set o f lenses in some unusual increments: 10, 1 4 .5 ,1 7 .5 , 2 1 ,2 7 , 3 5 ,4 0 , 5 0 , 7 5 , 1 0 0 , 150 and 200m m . There is also a 17-75m m zoom.

Peter H obson, manager at Sammies M elbourne, added that they also have the Tiffen Pro-M ist glass filters, which should take the place o f the acrylic SupaFrosts, o f which I ’ve scratched my share.

Peter said that he was getting good reports on the Panavision E Series anamorphic lenses that are being used on the Boulevard Films feature, H u n tin g. Boulevard is using the Panaflex Platinum camera.

He also com m ented that M elbourne’s weather has been terrific. For further details contact Samuelson’s Film Services in Sydney on (0 2 ) 43 1 8 4 4 , in M elbourne on (0 3 ) 6 4 6 3 0 4 4 and Perth on (0 9 ) 3 6 2 4 4 8 8 .

D

FEATURES AND COMMERCIALS HAS STARTED TO HIT THE HIRE COMPANIES AND SUPPLIERS OF EQUIPMENT. COMBINED WITH THE LOSS OF SALES TAX EXEMPTION, IT HAS MADE IMMEDIATE JUSTIFICATION OF NEW EQUIPMENT PURCHASES DIFFICULT. lab is putting on new s ta ff- overall, it seems the mood is positive. The new Atlab address is 4 7 Hotham Parade, Artarmon, New South Wales, Telephone (0 2 ) 9 0 6 0 1 0 0 .

JOSEPHINE COOKE has taken a brave plunge with the opening o f her new film editing and audio facility at (and called) Sixty-One Australia Street, in Camperdown. She has take over the Superfine Studios equipment and has tried to produce the kind o f facility she wished had been available when she was sound editing. Believing that some o f the available multi-track sound edit suites still have trouble handling ‘sprockets’ she has created an environment that allows clients to involve their own sound editors in the audio post-production. You can call Josephine on (0 2 ) 5 5 0 3 5 3 5 .

IT WAS PLEASING to see that Yuri Sokol has been recognized with the Milli Award for Cinematographer o f the Year from the Australian Cinematographers’ Society. He also received the ACS Golden Tripod Award for the cinematography on Ben Lewin’s G eorgia. His reported comments in E ncore on mixing Fuji and Kodak stocks on the film made me wonder at Hanim ex’s congratulatory ad in the same issue claiming that it was shot entirely on Fuji. I can only guess at what the reporter meant by saying Yuri used “Kodak for low-speed filming and then continuing with Fuji when the light dropped” . Maybe it was the accent!

Congratulations to all other ACS winners, including Jim Frazier, Paul Nichola, David Parer and Glen Carruthers for their Specialized Cinematography Awards.

I'VE BEEN LOOKING closely at the Super V H S equipment available and was pleased to be invited by the people from Ace Edit to a display o f their range o f S-V H S gear. Glyn Morris has pulled together a complete system from Bauer/Bosch which includes the full-size SV H S C C D camcorder and the V H S-C version that has hi-fi stereo audio. There is the 45cm multi-input receiver-handling Com posite/ R G B / S-V H S, a title generator and edit controller. H e also showed a flexible I.D en timebase corrector that will obviously be required to allow the S-V H S format to deliver its potential. Even if you missed the displays in M elbourne and Sydney you can get full details and prices from Ace Edit on (0 2 ) 3 9 8 9 0 3 9 or P .O . Box 3 2 3 , Bondi Junction, New South Wales 2 0 2 2 .

DICK LEVERS from Atlab is hardly likely to admit to any difficulties in settling into the new Artarmon premises - he designed the new layout.

Apparently the changeover has been sm ooth, and he reported that the staff are still getting used to having windows, after living in a bunker at Epping: even if the only view is o f the three television towers on the hill. H e is busy working on the Telecine and sound facilities, and the C I N

E M

A

I HAVE ONLY NOTED the announcements o f the death o f Joe Roizen, who died suddenly in Paris on 1 March. Joe was one o f the guests at • C O N T IN U E S BO TTO M O F F O LL O W IN G P A G E

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Special Report

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by Colorfilm Technical Manager Dominic Case

SUPER 35MM The revolutionary format NE OF THE most distinc­ tive features o f the film m e­ dium is its technical consis­ tency over the years. While video has shifted from two inch quad tape through one-inch to the ever-increasing range o f half­ inch tape standards, and now into digital signals, film has maintained course and speed. This year is the centenary o f 35m m film , first used

by George Eastman and Thomas Edison in 1 8 8 9 , and there have been no more than minor adjustments to its basic standards since the 1930s.

Film is still the same width, has the same number o f perforations o f the same shape per frame, and runs through cameras at the same speed as it did then. I t ’s true that there have been slight chances to the frame shape and the soundtrack; but all these changes have been - in computer-speak - backward compatible. In other words, the new technique has not affected the use o f old films or equipment in any way.

FILMS HAVE CHANGED SIGNIFICANTLY SINCE THE

O

THIRTIES, BUT NOT FILM - WE HAVE HAD 35MM FOR A CENTURY NOW, AND MOST OF ITS SPECIFI­ CATIONS HAVE NOT CHANGED IN MORE THAN 50 YEARS. SO WHAT KINDS OF CHANGES WILL A NEW FORMAT LIKE SUPER 35MM BRING TO THE INDUSTRY? Cinemascope is the name that survives to represent them all. These techniques make use o f the full available frame area in the film, but use an anamorphic lens to broaden the image out to twice the width on the screen. This gives an aspect ratio o f about 2 .3 5 to 1. Naturally the same type o f anamorphic lens is used to squeeze the image in the camera, so that a wide view is concentrated onto the negative in the first place.

W hat projectionists and the public know as Cinemascope is known by cinematographers as Panavision, and it is this company that has performed the optical miracles o f designing camera lenses that focus, zoom , and squeeze at at the same time.

The other approach to wide-screen film presentation could also be called short-screen presentation. By cropping the top and bottom o f regular academy frame image, the aspect ratio is automatically in­ creased. Choosing a shorter focal length lens for the projector now widens the image and restores it to full-screen height. The com monly accepted standard ratios are 1.8 5 to 1 here and the U S , but a slightly less dramatic 1 .6 6 to 1 in the U S and Europe. This format has the advantage o f simpler optics both in the camera and the projector, but as it uses less o f the available negative area, the image on the screen suffers from poorer resolution and graininess, and needs more projec­ tor illumination than a conventional academy presentation.

Over the past 30 or 4 0 years there have been many other ap­ proaches to the problem o f getting more imagé onto the screen: these have ranged from Vistavision, in which the film was turned on its side like a still camera, to Techm scope, in which an even shorter frame height is used, together with a tw o-perf put-down. These other systems never became established as m ajor production systems b e­ cause o f the substantial hardware changes required.

W hat is known as the Super 35 system is in a sense a synthesis o f the successful wide- or very wide-screen systems under conventional 35m m four-perf film. Surprisingly it is n ot as new as many people might think. In fact the first use o f Superscope was in 1 9 5 4 , in which an aspect ratio o f 2 to 1 was obtained; in 1 9 5 4 the frame dimensions were modified to give an image that was compatible with Cinemas­ cope, at 2 .3 5 to 1.

WIDER AND WIDER SCREENS When the dimensions o f 35m m film were brought in, before the turn o f the century, a frame size o f roughly an inch by three quarters was setded on. This used the entire width o f the film, and left virtually no waste between one frame and the next. W hen soundtracks were added to film, the running speed was increased from 16 to 2 4 frames per second. The image frame was made about 10 per cent narrower to make room for the track, but instead o f an almost square picture, the height o f the frame was reduced by the same factor, thus keeping the aspect ratio o f 1.33 to 1, as before, but introducing a certain amount o f waste film between each frame. Pull-down o f course remained at four perfs per frame. This was known as the academy or M ovietone frame.

Although this aspect ratio has been maintained for some film applications - 16mm for example - and for television (one o f the few consistent standards for T V in fact), Hollywood soon looked for more impact in the theatre by widening the image, and so making use o f peripheral vision. A host o f techniques arrived in the Fifties, o f which • FRED H A R D E N 'S U P P LIE R S Q U IET ' C O N T IN U E D

last year’s SM P T E conference in Sydney and I met him on one o f the discussion panels. A noted American television engineer and later a consultant, Joe held dozens o f patents and was involved in the development o f the first colour videotape recorder atAmpex. In 1 9 5 7 he developed the first electronic video editing system using recorded pulses on the edge o f the tape. In 1 9 5 9 in the Ampex booth at the first U S Trade Fair in M oscow he recorded the impromptu debate between Nixon and Khruschev and when the tape was shown on U S network television it apparently received the highest Nielsen rating recorded.

Another piece o f television history and another important participant whose contribution should be remembered.

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a conventional 1.85 release, an initial reduction o f about 10 per cent flat is used in duping. Seventy mm also works very nicely, with a straight blow-up onto 65m m intermediate negative.

On the point o f image size, a normal 1.85 wide-screen picture uses a negative area o f .3 8 8 square inches. An anamorphic extraction from a Super 35 negative, by comparison, uses .3 7 2 square inches - almost exactly the same area. However, the ’Scope print is much larger - an area o f .638 square inches, so that much more light is available for projection.

The advantage oftliis technique is that the cinematographer is able to use conventional spherical lenses, allowing a much greater choice o f lens type, focal length, zoom range and depth o f field, as anamorphic lenses are commonly held to give less depth than corresponding sphericals. In theory this is a logical step: a lens that has to zoom over a wide range o f focal lengths, focus sharply over a deep range o f subject distances, and do all this with an anamorphic ratio o f two to one is a tall order and I take my hat o ff to the optical people who can make it work, but the Super 35 approach means that the anamorphic element can be taken o ff location, and locked into position on an optical printer bench, where it can operate with a fixed focal length and a fixed copy ratio.

There is another apparent advantage in these days when any pro­ duction has to have an eye to a T V release, or the domestic video market. T o date, television is universally a 1.33 to 1 ratio, leading to the common difficulties o f fitting a 2 .3 5 wide image onto a narrow screen. Cropping and pan-and-scan inevitably lead to compromises, where a cinematographer has used the full width o f the cinema screen only to end up with a video version that shows two noses talking to each other, or - arguably worse still - a beautifully composed shot with a series o f awkward pans as the telecine operator chases the star around the screen. Although no one can make perfect composition for 2 .3 5 and 1.33 in the same shot, Super 35 offers the cinematographer the opportunity to shoot a 1.33 image in the full height o f the camera frame, but restrict important subject matter away from the top and bottom o f the frame, so that they will not be lost in the cinema release.

Interestingly, one o f the m ajor applications in the 1950s was for prints exported by Hollywood to South America. It turned out that higher ticket prices could be charged for wide-screen films, and so a number o f conventional flat productions were reduped into a squeezed format for export.

However, in the 1 9 5 0 s, grain was a much more dominant factor than today, and the reduced negative area that was used by the Superscope system (as it was then called) led to unacceptably poor image definition, and the designers moved on to other approaches.

REBIRTH OF SUPER 35 In the years in between, negative emulsions have become finer and finer-grained. At the same time filming techniques have called for greater and greater versatility in camera set-ups. The idea o f shooting image oyer the entire width o f the film, including the sound-track area, re-emerged a few years ago, and was first seen in sections o f the film Grey stoke: The Legend o fT a rz a n , L ord o f the Apes, shot by John Alcott.

A year or so later, the Western Silverado was shot by John Bailey using the same technique. It gave them the big, wide deep look o f the old Westerns, with the width o f ’Scope, but much more depth o f field than we have been used to. A number o f other productions followed in short order, and Australian filmmakers were as keen as any others make use o f the technique.

A documentary - The L ast I H e a rd - came first, shot by John M cLean, followed shortly by two features - B irdsville, later refilled Bullseye, shot by Dean Sender, and Paul Murphy’s photography on D e a d E n d D rive-In . Several other features have followed more re­ cently.

Super 35 uses the full width o f the negative area - from perf to perf - to record the original image, with conventional, or spherical lenses.

An optical printing stage is used in duplication, to squeeze that wide image into the normal projection width, and to leave room for the soundtrack on the prints. I f the print is to be released in Cinemascope, the the image is squeezed about 10 per cent and stretched to about 1.8 times original height, so that only the middle section o f the negative - top to bottom - finishes up on the dupe neg for release printing. For

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THE FRAMELINE - WHAT'S IN AND WHAT'S OUT? Once the decision is made to use the Super 35 format, decisions must be made as to how the image is to be framed on film.

The first consideration is the left/right centreline. M ost cameras have their lenses mounted on the Academy centreline - about 50 thou­ sandths o f an inch to one side o f film centre - which is the normal frame centre o f the final printed film image (allowing for the soundtrack on one side). Lenses zoom on this axis. Obviously the centre o f a Super 35 frame is at film centre, not Academy centre. M ost camera suppliers have chosen to re-centre lens mounts on cameras fitted for Super 35 to avoid the possibility o f vignetting, and to centre zooms accurately.

However, provided these points are borne in mind it is possible to use an unmodified camera; and this may be useful in certain circumstances such as second unit work.

Much more critical is the matter o f composition in the vertical plane. Four aspect ratios have to be considered: Cinemascope, wide­ screen, 70m m and television. The obvious approach is to have all framelines marked with a common centreline. Important action is kept within the 2.3 5 limit, but the outer areas are kept free o f unwanted items such as mike booms, matte boxes, or dolly tracks.

The alternative approach is to mark the various framelines with a common top line (C T L ). It usually turns out that the most critical reference point in framing or composing a shot is not the centre, but the head line: it is preferable to have a character’s head near the top o f the frame regardless o f aspect ratio. Furthermore, having only one top line minimizes the problem o f avoiding booms without upsetting the sound people.

When it comes to the television transfer, be it for broadcast or for video mastering, the difference between the cinema framelines and the full height o f the frame is quite considerable. As it happens though, many telecine gates are unable to scan the full silent width o f the film and so there is room for a reasonably elegant solution. The telecine is zoomed in slightly and re-centred so that approximately one-tenth o f an inch is masked from either side o f the image - on the one side because o f the skid plate which normally covers the track area, and on the other side to give symmetry left-to-right. T o obtain a true 1.33 to 1 ratio, the frame height turns out to be only slightly more than the wide-screen height. By cropping very slightly narrower than this, it is possible to use exactly the same vertical masking as the 1.85 ratio limits, so that once again it is possible to use a symmetrical or common top line approach.

The beauty o f this result is that by careful framing, it is possible for a cinematographer to make full use o f the wide cinema screen where the shot demands it, but not to be stuck with massive cropping or intrusive panning and scanning for the T V version. In practice, cinematographers have tended to frame for the cinema, perceived as the most important, and have left the other ratios - particularly the T V ratio - to be sorted out at transfer time. From the laboratory point o f view, either approach is easy to handle - but please don’t mix different framing standards in one production. N ot only does it require additional neg matching procedures, but also the potential for confu­ sion and lost time is bound to lead to disaster.

As with any format, it is important to have a precise standard to work to - a set o f dimensions agreed by the camera manufacturers, the laboratories and the theatres. Since the object o f using the full width o f the film is to maximize the size o f the image, a camera aperture o f 98 thou seems sensible. That is equivalent to the original silent aperture. However, it turns out that the some cameras have mechani­ cal limitations that would prevent exposing right to the edge o f this limit - for example, a claw mechanism would cast a shadow. Another point is that the area between the perfs and normal academy aperture has been set aside for an optical time-code recording system. (Al­ though this has not been widely implemented, the industry has accepted this by agreement o f a ‘recommended practice’ in 1 9 8 3 .) So it becomes necessary to trim one side o f the image by about 2 0 thou.

Masking the other side to match give a maximum camera aperture o f 945 thou (still wider than the Academy width o f 899 thou). The maximum projected width - a shade narrower still to be sure that the camera gate edge is not seen on the screen - becomes 9 2 5 thou.

So at present two possible standards exist - 9 8 0 or 9 4 5 thou.

Cameras exist for both dimensions, and both are vigorously supported 44

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by their proponents. Does this matter? W hat’s wrong with two alternatives? Well, this is where the laboratory comes in. Obviously if you have shot your picture 9 8 0 wide, you will feel cheated if the lab does a blow-up from 9 4 5 thou: apart from very slight cropping, the useful negative area is about 12 per cent smaller, which means a greater blow-up with correspondingly more graininess and less sharpness.

Conversely, if your camera mask is only 9 4 5 thou wide, then a print that shows 9 8 0 thou will include a lot o f messy camera mask shadows.

Now the point about the anamorphic lenses used by the lab for Super 35 extractions is that they will only work at one focal length and therefore one degree o f magnification. It is not simply a matter o f re­ focusing the lens to suit a different negative size: you need a completely different lens. Anew set-up for a new lens is not so easy either: focusing an anamorphic copying lens requires separate adjustments for vertical focus and horizontal focus.

So at present there is no agreement for a standard: the 9 8 0 thou group is keen to maintain full width for full quality; the 9 4 5 group cannot possibly accommodate this width, and the labs will be happy with either, but not both.

PRODUCTION METHODS What about Super 35 in the laboratory? Naturally, negative process­ ing is no problem - the raw stock is exactly the same as for regular 35m m productions. Since the system uses a smaller negative area than any other 3 5 mm system - at any rate for cinema release formats - image sharpness and graininess are at a greater premium: accurate focus is a fundamental necessity, as anything slightly soft will fall apart through the duping stages. Fine-grained emulsions are preferable to high­ speed stocks, although well-exposed 5 2 9 4 has been used very success­ fully on several productions. In general, it seems that a full, rich negative - about half a stop over normal - gives the best image, with minimal grain and best image contrast. Forced development is to be avoided at all costs, although there is little need o f that with the range o f emulsions available these days.

Rushes need to be planned for. The lab has no problems in printing open aperture work prints - it is done normally - but they need to be projected with a suitable mask in the projector. As the picture is offacademy centre, ideally the projector should be moved; in practice, this is unnecessary, since the rushes are usually screened for either academy or 1.85 ratio, with the screen tabs slightly wider open than normal. It is useful to run some focus and frame leader at the head o f rushes rolls, to indicate the limits for 1.85. ’Scope, or whatever format the producA

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F A C IN G P A G E : C H R IST O P H ER LAM BERT IN G R EYSTOKES,

LEGEND OF TARZAN.

THE

TH IS P A G E ,

C L O C K W IS E : FIG 1: SU PER 35 N E G A TIV E A R EA IS SIM ILA R TO 1 .8 5 :1 W ID E -S C R EE N N E G A TIV E A R E A , BUT THE A N A M O R P H IC P R IN T , LIKE A R EG U LA R C IN E M A ­ S C O P E P R IN T IS V E R Y M UCH LA R G E R , G IV IN G A B R IG H TER IM AGE O N THE SC R E EN . FIG S 2 A A N D 2 B : A C T IO N C A N BE CEN TR ED IN THE

Scope

print; .63 8

FRAM E O R P O S IT IO N E D SO TH A T

sq.in

BO TH THE 1.3 3 :1 V ID EO R ELEASE FIG 1

A N D THE 2 .3 5 :1 CIN EM A RELEASE

FIG 2A

W ILL H A V E THE SAM E T O P LIN E . IN THE LATTER C A S E , THE SQ U E E ZE D N E G A TIV E W ILL BE EXTR A C TED FRO M THE U PPER P O R TIO N O F THE CA M ER A N E G A TIV E FRAM E. FIG 3 L A B O R A T O R Y FLO W C H A R T : O N L Y MUTE P R IN T S C A N BE M ADE FRO M THE O R IG IN A L SU PER 35 N E G A T IV E. A C O N T A C T IN T E R P O S I­ TIVE TH EN A CTS A S A M A STER FO R S U B S E Q U E N T DUPE N E G A T IV E S IN A N Y TH E A T R ICA L R ELEASE FO RM AT.

FIG 3

FIG 2B

tion is working to.

Editing presents no problems; flatbeds are available with open aperture, and in fact editors can work very successfully with conven­ tional equipment.

After negative matching, an answer print has to be made. It has to be remembered that at this stage, the extraction to the final format has not been made, and so it is not possible to make a conventional cinema print from the original negative. The best option is to make a fully colour-balanced mute print and run it double head with the final magnetic mix. This print serves basically as a check on the colour grading, neg matching'and so on. Once grading has been approved, it is possible to make a dupe neg, via an interpos, for release printing.

During this duplicating process the blow-up, or squeeze, is intro­ duced.

In theory it would be possible to squeeze either when making the interpos from the original negative, or at the second stage o f making the dupe negative. Various laboratories have done comparative tests, and have reported various results, with one lab preferring the squeezed interpos, one preferring the squeeze at the interneg stage, and another saying they really couldn’t distinguish. Colorfilm’s experiments in this indicate that some scenes show marginally less graininess when the squeeze is done in the first stage, but other material does not show any such differences.

M ore importantly, contact printing from the original negative is by far the preferable alternative for a number o f reasons: firstly, the original negative is treated more gently on a contact printer and is less at risk, secondly, marks or defects are much harder to eliminate in any optical printing system, and so it is better to delay the optical stage until the image is on a one-piece, uncut, unhandled, one-light intermediate positive; and thirdly, a flat interpos preserves the options for release, allowing 2 .3 5 , wide-screen or 65m m negatives to be made from the protection master.

So the standard practice that has evolved is as follows: First, a mute answer print from the original negative. Second, a contact interpositive from the original. Third, a squeezed dupe negative from that interpositive. Finally, prints from that squeezed dupe neg.

The same interpos can be used to prepare a flat dupe neg for a wide-screen release. This is in fact what is known as the super 1.85 technique. Again, the same interpos will serve for making either a blow-up 65m m neg, or a contact dupe neg for blow-up 70m m prints, although Australian laboratories do not offer 70m m facilities.

C I N E M A

Finally, what about opticals and special effects? Here, there are two conflicting points o f view. One is that super 35 is an ideal format for heavy optical effects pictures, the other that it is most unsuitable for this kind o f work.

On the positive side, the advantage o f Super 35 is that it is a laboratory process, applied to a final cut negative. Any full-width flat image can be used in the system. So all the variety o f special effects rigs, such as front- or back-screen projection, motion control rigs, model or periscope work can all be shot using conventional lenses.

Similarly, opticals, and in particular graphics and titles can run in a conventional format. All that is needed is an open gate, which most optical and effects cameras are fitted with anyway. The only note o f caution for titles is that the text must be centred to film centre and not academy centre. Once the opticals and special effects are com ­ pleted, they are cut in to the original in exactly the same way as they would be in a conventional wide-screen production.

On the other side, the extraction and anamorphic squeeze stage blows approximately half the negative area up to the full frame. O b ­ viously this exaggerates any graininess and other image degradation that has occurred during the optical process. M ajor optical houses in the USA overcome this problem with conventional films by working in the larger formats such as Vistavision. However, in order to incorporate the resulting optical negatives with the original footage, another two stages o f duping are needed, leading to final images that are seven stages removed from the original.

Two features that went through Colorfilm in the Super 35 format were The T im e G u ard ian s The E verlasting Secret Fam ily. Andrew Mason o f Mirage was responsible for the extensive effects in Tim e G u ard ian s, and he recommended the Super 35 for that reason. Mike Thornhill made the decision in Secret Fam ily to avoid opticals completely, and even to produce fades and dissolves by A and B rolling the original negative. So the choice is there.

The latest release in Australia to have made use o f Super 35 has been In cid en t A t R a v e n ’s G ate , shot by Richard Michalak, who seems to have made particularly good use o f the format. Otherwise, there has been little activity in Super 35 either in Australia or overseas, and it seems unlikely that it will become the universal format that its greatest fans have hoped for. But 35mm film must owe its long and successful life - at least in part - to the number o f variations to the basic format that are all essentially compatible. Super 35 has evolved, and it will remain, as a useful option for production that will be the best choice in at least some circumstances.

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T H IS IS S U E : GHOSTS... OF THE CIVIL DEAD,

HIGH HOPES, JOE LEAHY'S NEIGHBOURS, PHILIPPINES MY PHILIPPINES, SCANDAL, THE 'BURBS A N D TORCH SONG TRILOGY

GHOSTS... OF THE CIVIL DEAD SHELLEY KAY TRONG WAVES OF COM PULSION and

G H O ST S... OF THE CIV IL DEAD IS OF THE W ORLD OF MEN: IT IS HUM ILIATING, DEGRADING, AND PSYC H O LO G ICA LLY BRUTAL...

THE MOST HAU NTIN G AESTHETIC TOOL EMPLOYED IS THE FEMALE V O ICES ON THE SO UNDTRACK JU XTA PO SED WITH THE HARDCORE MASCULINE PREO CCUPATIO N S

repulsion savage Ghosts... o f the C ivil D ead and are hard to calm. It is a strange and powerful film that exhibits a rare balance o f philosophical, aesthetic and narrative tech­ niques without sacrificing its hardcore and unrelenting point o f view on the discourse around the dense and often neglected politi­ cal campaign over the prison system. For a budget o f S I . 6 million, Evan English (pro­ ducer) and John Hillcoat (director) bought a lot o f talent for a film which breaks some ground in narrative-documentary filmmak­ ing by creating a hybrid o f cin ém a vérité and speculative fiction. Ghosts looks like a cross­ fertilization o f Chris Marker’s 10-minute 2 0 8 9 with Kubrick’s aesthetic sterilization in A Clockwork O range and George Lucas’s early science fiction film T H X 1138. Coming to the surface occasionally is an essence o f Genet and Fassbinder with a gentle hint o f mid-Eighties Cocteau Twins just to even things out.

In his book One D ay in the L ife o f Iv an Denisovich, Alexander Solzhenitsyn uses the prison camps o f the Eastern Bloc as a basis for a study in confinement. By rifling through and uncovering the past life o f authoritarian control Solzhenitsyn discovers the mecha­ nisms o f the present. In Ghosts the filmmak-

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ers speculate on a time-future which is pre­ sumably not too distant from the time-pres­ ent. Between the philosophies o f Iv an D en i­ sovich and Ghosts lies the difference between the social realism that is the trademark o f the modernist movement and the speculative hyper-reality that signifies post-modernism.

In Ghosts the “future in containm ent” is an aesthetic nightmare o f controlled environ­ ments: the superstructure o f the prison build­ ing is high-tech with interior design surfaces reminiscent o f the hypermarket, the raw PoM o brutalism o f the newly-established public service complexes, the sterile conjec­ tures o f the high fashion house and the corporate fetish for the fine-tuned, air-condi­ tioned, colour-coordinated skyscraper. It is a prison world where we can anticipate a de­ luded day when the inmates may well be referred to as “clients” .

Ghosts is o f the world o f men: it is humili­ ating, degrading, psychologically brutal.

Working with rock stars (Nick Cave and Dave M ason), ex-cons, actors (David Field, Mike Bishop and Chris de Rose) and an ex­ cop (Tony Redford) the filmmakers were assured that they could recreate the tensions and conflicts the prison system perpetuates.

Many o f the participants felt the making of Ghosts was like a trip to hell and back. One cast member never wants to see the film again. In the recreation o f the act is the act.

Evan English tells a story that clearly reveals

the pain and anger felt by the cast and crew during filming at a converted government aircraft factory: “T o make it more inviting a wall was con ­ structed and I painted a sign some 5 0 feet long that read, as you entered the building, ‘W elcom e to Central Industrial.’ By the end o f week one it was a bit tattered, by the end o f week three it was falling down, by week four other words were appearing, two weeks from the end only pieces o f the original remained and the sign now read, ‘W elcome to H ell.’ It was not an easy film to make.

W ithin it is a lot o f pain and anger.”

T he most haunting aesthetic tool em­ ployed in Ghostsis the juxtaposition o f female voices on the soundtrack with the hardcore masculine preoccupations o f the narrative.

The original soundtrack, by Nick Cave, Mick Harvey and Blixa Bargeld, mixes an ethereal female voice with industrial noise for an uncanny, atmospheric effect. The woman’s voice is ghostlike, alien. W om en are alienated from the life o f prison. Their presence is dissociated, cut o f f The narrative process o f G^astsreconstructs this alienation using simple devices. The prisoners receive routine com ­ mands from recorded messages over a p.a. system. The voiceover is feminine but autom aton-like, authoritarian but with a soft edge. H er voice rhymes with the kindergarten-like design o f the prison recreation area.

By contrasting visual pornography with news footage o f female reporters on televi­ sion, a general (sexual) tension is built up.

Through the use o f the haunting original music, the recorded routine commands and the juxtaposition o f television porn and news, the film represents women as either fleeting ethereal presences, authoritarian automatons or participants in overt sexual practices. It is no wonder that the final shot o f the film is so powerful, despite the relative domesticity, innocence and simplicity o f the image: a crew-cut, ciwie-dressed ex-con (DavidField) ascending an elevator - in front o f him, a woman carrying a baby. Ghostly voices on the soundtrack.

Ghosts furnishes a narrative built for de­ picting two major thematic concerns. There is the Foucaultian argument that the prison system is an apparatus o f the State which legitimates and propagates the State’s power by further criminalization o f inmates. Ghosts also tries to train the average viewer’s eye to seek out the hypocrisy o f the sociological movement which argues that environmental control is a key element to the enhancement o f psychological well-being. The film clearly articulates and speculates on the consequences o f Foucault’s argument while determining the inhibiting effects o f the manipulation o f psychological well-being via environmental deprivation.

An interesting narrative intervention in Ghosts concerns the use o f a double negative in the narrative structure o f the film. A phrase twice-repeated by a long-term inmate o f Central Industrial Prison is “Killing nobody makes you nobody.” In some narrative fic­ tion, murder often implies incorporation (a

technique frequently used by Pasolini). Within narrative film fiction the killing o f someone is a device for either furthering the plot or implying a change o f character or both.

Ghosts' overall effect as a convincing state­ ment on the nature o f confinement rests on the murder o f a homosexual inmate, Tilly (Dave M ason), by another inmate, Wenzil (David Field), who should never have been placed in the General Population section o f the prison. Lilly’s murder is a crude act o f unadulterated hatred. It is unmotivated and immoral. As a result o f a ‘Lockdown’ in the prison after several guards and inmates have been murdered, W enzil is released; his act o f murder going unacknowledged by the bu­ reaucracy.

The double negative within the plot is geared around the whole issue o f legitimacy.

Ghosts makes its point cleverly by showing one process o f legitimation (o f the power o f the State prison system to legitimate its need for maximum security prisons) via a legiti­ mate narrative device (murder) to discredit and make “illegitimate” the process that le­ gitimizes the prison system in the eyes o f the general public. The argument for the reevaluation o f the prison system has never been as well articulated.

GHOSTS... OF THE CIVIL DEAD Directed by John

Hillcoat. Producer: Evan English. Screenplay: Nick Cave, Gene Conkie, Evan English, John Hillcoat.

Director o f photography: Paul Goldman. Editor: Stewart Young. Music: Nick Cave. Production Designer: Chris Kennedy. Sound: Bronwyn Murphy. Cast: Dave Field (Wenzil), Mike Bishop (Hale), Chris de Rose (Greschner) Nick Cave (Maynard), Vincent Gil (Ruben), Bogdan Koca (Waychek) Kevin Mackey (Glover) Ian Mortimer (Jack). Production company: Correctional Serv­ ices Film Productions-Outlaw Values. Distribu­ tor: Outlaw Values. 35mm. Australia 1988.

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HIGH HOPES HUNTER

CORDAIY

IKE L E IG H ’S NEW FILM is an unflat­ tering testimony to the recently celeb­ rated decade o f Thatcherism in which a car­ ing society has been transformed into a na­ tion consumed by greed, weariness, and class enmity. This new-look England, which bears an uncanny resemblance to an older, even more conservative society, is exemplified by the phrase “a place for everyone and every­ one in his place,” used by characters in the film as a form o f abuse and ridicule. The phrase (from the same stable as “you’ve never had it so good” ) confirms the return to Victorian values which has been at the ideo­ logical centre o f the present Conservative government’s policies. W hat is so compelling about the film is how this enormous social change - many commentators refer to the impact o f the Thatcher government over the last decade as a ‘revolution’ - is woven into the texture o f o f attitudes, conversation and reactions to events.

H igh H opes explores these broad themes through a story o f a family and neighbours.

As with Leigh’s previous work, the film is a detailed view o f these relationships which exposes the vulnerability and frailties o f the characters in a way which is always tender, even com passionate. These H IG H H O PES: EXPO SES qualities, how­ THE V ULN ERABILITIES AND ever, are pre­ FRAILTIES OF THE CH A R A C ­ cisely the ones TERS IN A W A Y W HICH IS which the film A LW A YS TENDER, EVEN su g g ests are CO M PASSIO N A TE. BELOW : lacking from the CYR IL A N D SH IR LEY (PHILIP lives o f M rs DAVIS A N D RUTH SHEEN) Bender (stoically

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piayed by Edna D ore) and her disparate fam­ ily. Her son Cyril (Philip Davis) and his girl­ friend Shirley (Ruth Sheen) are archetypes o f the society left behind by the blue revolution, bewildered by where the old Britain has gone, still visiting Karl Marx’s grave for inspi­ ration, promising to wear a tie “the day they machine-gun the Royal family” . Cyril’s sister Valerie (Heather Tobias) has tried to move with the times. Her life and surroundings are a display o f kitsch ornamental glass, cliched fashion (multi-coloured stretch aerobic suit, exercise machine and Walkman in the living room) and a sadly comical sex life with her husband in which he should be Michael Douglas and she’ll pretend to be a virgin.

When Mrs Bender locks herself out o f her London council house she unwittingly cre­ ates a family crisis - who will help her? Valerie gets her husband to phone Cyril, saying that mother has had a serious accident, and her next-door neighbour Laetitia Booth-Braine (Leslie Manville) asks the old lady if there are any neighbours who can help her. Suddenly being locked out is a metaphor for the disin­ tegration o f social relationships. In the new Britain Mrs Bender should help herself. This idea is amplified later when Laetitia tells her husband Rupert (David Bam ber) that she has agreed to do some charity work and wants him to donate some cases o f champagne. His immediate, irritated response is, “Who are we helping this time?” Rupert and Laetitia are part o f the movement o f upper middle class professionals into traditional working class areas. Their designer house, Saab and weekend country cottage are mysteries to Mrs Bender, and objects o f curiosity for Cyril and Valerie ( “Amazing what you can do with a slum,” Valerie tells Rupert). What they have done with a slum is to show that while all property can rise in value, and class, the same does not apply to all people.

Some have no chance, as shown by an almost random character, Wayne (Jason Watkins) who arrives from the country to stay with his sister in London. Though he is only present for the first half o f the film, his role as the vague, totally lost modern version o f Dick Whittington is a counterbalance to the other characters who have adapted to the new Britain. Wayne believes he will find his sister ( “She lives in London, do you know her?” ) and a job. Only Cyril and Shirley take pity on him; after spending a few nights on their floor, he is put on a bus and returned to the country town for his own safety.

ter but it does bring Shirley, Cyril and his mother closer together. In the final scene they take Mrs Bender up to the ro of o f their flats to show her their garden (a few plants near a chimney stack) and point out the sights o f London. She is amazed by the vision o f the city from such a height, remarking that it must be “the top o f the world.” Only high hopes, it is implied, let you think the top o f a slum is the top o f the world.

Mike Leigh has only made two cinema features - the first was B leak M oments (1 9 7 1 ) and now H igh Hopes. M ost o f his screen work has been for television, where he has estab­ lished a strong reputation for a wry directo­ rial style and superb use o f small ensembles o f actors. Next to his v ery , quirky 1 976 production, Nuts In M ay (B B C ), this new film is his best work.

HIGH HOPES Directed by Mike Leigh. Producers: Victor Glynn, Simon Channing-Williams. Execu­ tive producer: Tom Donald. Screenplay: Mike Leigh. Director of photography: Roger Pratt.

Editor: Jon Gregory. Production designer: Diana Charnley. Music: Andrew Dixon. Cast: Philip Davis (Cyril), Ruth Sheen (Shirley), Edna Dore (Mrs Bender), Philip Jackson (Martin), Heather Tobias (Valerie), Laetitia Booth-Braine (Leslie Manville), Rupert Booth-Braine (David Bamber), Jason Watkins (Wayne). Production company: Film Four-British Screen/Portman Films. Dis­ tributor: Newvision. UK. 35mm. 112 mins.1988.

JOE LEAHY’S NEIGHBOURS NICHOLAS

THOMAS

The crisis over who will come with a spare key leads to an invitation from Valerie for Cyril and Shirley to attend a family birthday party for their mother. As one birthday is about to be celebrated, another potential birthday is discussed by Cyril and Shirley. He wants a decent world before having a child.

How can you care about children when you don’t care about the world they will live in?

Shirley says the world will not change so quickly, and the gulf between her realism and Cyril’s passionate idealism is one o f the most poignant moments in the film.

The birthday party at Valerie’s is a disas­

HOSE WHO SAW Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson’s earlier New Guinea documentary, First C on tact, would come to Jo e L eahy’s Neighbours with high expecta­ tions. The earlier film used remarkable docu­ mentary footage o f the initial encounters between highlands people and the prospect­ ing Leahy brothers, but also made effective use o f oral history and contemporary percep­ tions. There was something spectacular about the events which no film concerned exclu­ sively with the present could recapture, but the sequel is in many ways a more complex and nuanced product.

The focus is upon relations between the local clanspeople and Joe Leahy, the mixed-

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race son o f one o f the JO E L E A H Y 'S prospectors and a lo­ N E IG H B O U R S: MUCH cal woman, who was MORE THAN A MORAL brought up with his TALE... SH O W S US m other’s people, but PEOPLE BETWEEN acquired extensive TWO W ORLDS e x p e rie n c e w ith white approaches to work and commerce through work on coffee plantations. Before Papua New Guinea’s in­ dependence in 1975 he established his own plantation on land bought from the Ganiga, a group living about 2 0 miles from M ount Hagen town, and has more recently estab­ lished another plantation on a share basis with some local people. The most striking and immediate fact is the enormous discrep­ ancy in wealth and difference in lifestyle between Leahy and the surrounding tribe speople. Joe has children in Australian board­ ing schools, a substantial European-style house, a BM W and several other vehicles, and he watches satellite television in the evenings as his wife reads New Idea. Tumul, the big-man who provided Joe with land initially, and who is now aggrieved because promises to share the benefits and give him a car were not kept, lives in a small, traditional thatch house and has very little money.

But the film offers much more than a. moral tale o f a rapacious colonist appropriat­ ing the resources and labour o f unfortunate native people. It does not avoid questions of morality, but divisions and complications among the Ganiga people themselves make taking sides rather difficult. One clan leader is a strong supporter o f Leahy; Tum ul, already mentioned, is initially bitter and resentful, but becomes tired and seeks Jo e ’s patronage again; younger men, more politicized, are more strongly opposed but clearly lack the resources to mobilize opposition. O r do they?

These disputes emerge in several hostile exchanges, as well as in sections where char­ acters express their perspectives to the filmmakers, but there is no resolution. In the later stages o f the film, Tumul has been bought o ff with the gift o f a clapped-out truck, and one senior man is suggesting that Joe replace a recently deceased strongman as

the main leader, but discontent also emerges when other young men discover that they have been misled about the profit-sharing arrangements for the new plantation. The viewer is left speculating about what may have happened in the area since the film was completed.

Voiceover narration is kept to an absolute minimum, and in some sections what is said in argument comes almost too fast; it is difficult to absorb the subtleties o f the claims being made about business and develop­ ment, about ‘our customs’ as opposed to ‘white customs’. It is clear, though, that Ganiga big-men are using development for their own objectives. Development is not just an external system which is taking over their lives, but a set o f status markers which they are creating themselves. Our common per­ ception might be that colonialism takes over indigenous societies., but the sense here is that it has been taken over by big-m en, who may enhance their personal prestige through driving around in trucks and presenting cash as well as traditional valuables at marriages and funerals. These new strategies are added to older ways o f gaining status through competitive feasts and warfare. This is a theme o f much wider relevance for understanding colonialism, which had been too often per­ ceived as the imposition o f foreign values upon passive victims.

So although the film does show us people between two worlds, dealing with both the traditional and the modern, it also under­ mines this rather unsatisfactory dichotomy by indicating the purposes and uses o f devel­ opment for big-men in this particular case, and also the ways in which Leahy himself continues to make claims couched in more traditional terms. His attempts to turn a funerary oration into a sermon on the virtues o f the plantation and the way o f commerce is crass and unseemly, but nevertheless acceded to by some o f the prominent men around him.

Although the most prominent actors are the senior men, the film also makes it appar­ ent that these highlands groups are not sim­ ply patriarchal tribes in which men m onopo­ lize both public affairs and new business. At several points it is apparent that women control cash and make funerary presentations o f their own. A problem which derives di­ rectly from the film’s richness and lack o f intrusive narration is that some o f these events are not especially self-evident; although the film could certainly be seen and appreciated at one level by general audiences, there are many intriguing aspects o f local culture and behaviour which could either be misinter­ preted or really demand some further expli­ cation. The nature o f local Christianity, for example, appears to resist our usual under­ standing o f what ‘conversion’ from paganism means. This emerges where hostile action against a group o f enemies is being debated, and is opposed, o f course, by the local (in­ digenous) preacher. An older man speaks for war, stressing that, although he is Christian “the Catholic Church is my father, the Lu­

theran Church is my m other” - it is some­ times necessary to do ‘Satan’s work’. Warfare clearly retains a kind o f social value and importance which has been redefined, but not entirely stigmatized or suppressed by the Church.

But the elusiveness o f full understanding underlines the film’s complexity and refusal to subordinate the situation to a unitary political narrative or anthropological gener­ alities. Some viewers may look for another account o f colonial villainy, and the facts o f inequality are inescapable, but the complicity o f some local people and the lack o f obvious solutions should be equally apparent. Nor does the density preclude appreciation at a more general level, since the basic themes are indeed stark. So neither intricacy nor accessi­ bility are compromised. There is concen­ trated engagement with people and their statements to the exclusion o f the travelogue style into which some ethnographic docu­ mentaries lapse. These conversations convey as much as one could pretend to know o f the meanings and politics o f a very tangled situ­ ation; one which is locally crucial, but with much wider implications for other histories.

These are the accomplishments o f Jo e L eahy’s Neighbours.

JOE LEAHY’S NEIGHBOURS directed and produced

by Robin Anderson and Bob Connolly. Associate producer: Chris Owen. Fellowship producer: Tom Haydon. Photography: Bob Connolly. Sound: Robin Anderson. Editing:Ray Thomas, Bob Connolly. Translator: Ganiga Tomas Taim. 16mm.

90 mins. Australia. 1988.

PHILIPPINES, MY PHILIPPINES MARCUS

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OCUMENTARY FILM raises the ques­

tion: What is the purpose o f film? The answer to this impertinence is found in film itself and the relations that film has with its subject and with those who watch it.

The purpose o f film is particularly medi­ ated by politics when the social documentary genre is considered. Inevitably, the left has used documentary as a vehicle for informa­ tion on a mass scale. This is nothing new, but it is important in relation to recent films by Australians about the Philippines, as well as films about Aborigines and Latin America.

Some o f these films share a left perspective: N ica ra g u a : No P asaran , South o f the B order (David Bradbury); Bullets ofthe Poets (George Gittoes); H ow the West was Lost (David Noakes); Celso a n d C ora (Gary Kildea); P hil­ ippines, My Philippines (Chris Nash). Their purpose is to create an atmosphere around certain issues that can serve to undo the injustice that the film explains, or reinforce victories that have already been won.

This sort o f film was originally called ag­ itprop. It surges with the sense o f achieve­ ment that must accompany such efforts. It developed in the Soviet Union in 19191 9 2 0 , when Dziga Vertov, Sergei Eisenstein and Vladimir Mayakovsky sought to polemicize the civil war that followed the 1 9 1 7 revolution, using documentary theatre and film in com bat zones. In Marxist terms, C

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agitprop is film that has a clear use-value for its subjects and a use-value for those who watch it. In other words, it reinforces the opinions and wills o f the participants and informs and educates, even motivates to ac­ tion those elsewhere.

Marxist sympathies are what make P hilip­ pines, My Philippines a good Aussie agitprop film. The film’s strength is in its unfailing commitment to a cause - the liberation o f the Philippines from the dual evils o f foreign domination and radical land-owning conser­ vatism. The latter, in particular, is inextrica­ bly tied to the Philippines government, which is just another puppet government dancing to the all too familiar tune o f international capital.

The point is simply and repeatedly made in this film that President Cory Aquino is just another tap dancer on the hotplate o f capital­ ism. Nothing has changed for the mass o f the people since Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos fled the country in 1 9 8 6 . Unfortunately for Aquino, the country she governs is ripe for revolution, with a high proportion o f its population either rural peasants or disenfranchized urban poor. Many o f the latter are classifiable as lumpen proletariat, if they are lucky, working a subsistence existence on Manila’s rubbish tip, reselling the junk they collect there to scrap merchants, so they can buy basic essentials like food.

The peasants suffer just as much. They work on land rented from either absentee or local landlords who keep up the pressure for rents, until the peasants are in massive, un­ payable debt that becomes enslavement. I t ’s an exponential downward spiral and one fit for the most basic, yet effective political edu­ cation, leading to revo­ PH ILIPP IN ES, M Y lutionary action.

P H IL IP P IN E S : Interestingly, P hilip­ pines, My P h ilippin es M ARXIST SYM PATHIES swings from a vaguely MAKE THIS A GO O D objective-looking stance AUSSIE AGITPRO P - the countryside, ghet­ FILM ... tos, the masses, tourist scenery - to a committed, emotive stance.

The material that covers the New People’s Army and the Philippines Communist Party takes a committed stance. It is engaged and enthusiastic. Scenes o f local NPA activity in the countryside - political meetings in vil­ lages, military manoeuvres - change to pin­ head military men in sterile offices. This is the people, this is the enemy, the subtext says.

Real life happens and this film shows it as a sensuous lived experience in the villages, paddy fields and ghettos. The technological coldness o f F -1 8 or F - l l l bombers, the pointless rhetoric o f the army commander blabbering about “the evils o f communism” , contrasted with the warm confidence o f the W orker’s Democratic Front spokesperson, Bobbie Malay, are comfortably intercut.

What does not fit with this analysis are the other lived experiences: the offensive subju­ gation o f Filipino women and children, often

by Australian men on sex holidays; Australian Government aid programs linked to an Ameri­ can strategy o f low intensity warfare, where 49

minor solutions to major structural socio­ political inequities are used to keep the popu­ lace “happy” .

Indeed, if there is a failure in the agitprop o f Philippines, My Philippines, it is that there is an enormous gulf between the exciting possibility o f the Filipino people taking con­ trol o f the country and the complicated images and problems o f the present. They are all part o f the same problem and o f necessity appear in the one film, but war does not sit well with beauty contests. This is the problem that documentary seems so incapable o f resolving - exciting stories o f war, people’s struggles and victory buoy us up, but what to do with the messy bits - those beautiful women ex­ posing their bodies, the rice fields, the priests and the church? There are other possible ways to explain the relationship between the real and the ill-fitting messy bits, so that the orthodoxy o f the Aussie agitprop does not become unnecessarily predictable. Put sim­ ply, it would involve more intense, personal involvement. I would want more debauchery - more naked men and women, death squads, military goons, articulate revolutionaries, beautiful fighters, filthy water buffalo, bare breasts, ugly Australians, male chauvinists, red light districts, rice fields, slums, prosti­ tutes, generals, Aquinos et al. I want them piled high on my screen like a M cD onald’s hamburger o f gluttony, ready to be sorted into a dynamic mess o f possibility.

put that dirt under our fingernails, because Australian television is the final arbiter o f taste, paying pre-sales for these documenta­ ries, based on “broadcast quality” criteria which the filmmakers must meet in order to sell the film and go on to the next one.

Nevertheless, Philippines, My Philippines is a convincingly constructed film committed to the struggle for socialism in the Philippines.

More important, it presents hope for a better, more humane future, as the basic tenet o f the struggle.

The film closes with a statement by Bobbie Malay that summarizes the situation in the Philippines from the left’s point o f view. The statement also, indirectly, acknowledges the film’s position in inducing change: “The important thing is that the process has begun in patient work to change ways o f thinking, mobilizing, getting things done. In other words, what we are really after is social change.

This is going to take a long time whether we are in government or n o t.” The purpose o f Philippines, My Philippines is clear. Its opti­ mism should be welcomed.

It is superficially easy to put the over­ sexed statement o f a Western male on the screen and let it speak across the surface o f meaning: “The Philippines is... the sexual Disneyland o f the world” . Such a statement confirms our opinion o f such men, but moves virtually nowhere beyond its surface to ex­ plain the horror and degradation.

SUSAN

There is a sense in which the Aussie ag­ itprop documentary cannot take the dirt from the locale in which the film is made and

PHILIPPINES, MY PHILIPPINES Directed by Chris Nash. Producers: Maree Delofski, Chris Nash.

Director o f photography: John Whitteron. Editor Ruth Cullen. Sound: Bronwyn Murphy. Produc­ tion company: Stoney Desert. Distributor: Ronin.

73 min. 16mm. Australia. 1988.

SCANDAL CHARLTON

CANDAL hopes to render into film a particular m om ent in a particular time. A time when the last vestige o f all that which seemed certain was exposed to the light o f a thousand flash bulbs. A m om ent o f startled innocence whence, it was believed, nothing would ever be the same.

The film spins a story out o f figures and events involved in what became known as ‘The Profumo Affair’ . It is set in London in

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the early Sixties, S C A N D A L: STRIKES A when John Pro­ RELA TIO N SH IP BETWEEN fumo, the M inis­ THE P A SSA G E OF FILM AND ter for War in H a­ THE P A SSA G E OF TIME. rold MacMfillan’s A BO V E: JO A N N E W H A LLEYTory Governme­ KILM ER A S CHRISTIN E KEELER, nt had to stand A N D IA N M CKELLEN AS down after accu­ JO H N PROFUM O. sations o f sexual intrigue involving two teenage girls, Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies; an entrepreneurial society os­ teopath, D r Stephen Ward; and Eugene Iva­ nov, a Soviet naval attache.

The film begins with grainy blue-grey newsreel images sliding in slow motion be­ neath Sinatra’s performance o f “W itchcraft” : scenes o f JFK , the Beatles, Martin Luther King mouthing the words “I Have a Dream ” , Khrushchev at the U N , and sundry British T V and movie stars are bled into one another to evoke a homogeneous spirit o f ‘Just B e­ fore’ to bracket the events which follow.

The films slows down all these elements so that we can drink in a deep sense o f the times and isolate and maintain focus on the forces at play: as though a look could trans­ form a nation, or that change could be embedded in the flesh o f just one woman, foregrounded through the eyes o f one man.

Christine Keeler. Her story is the story of how the Frothy Fifties became the Swinging Six­ ties, how the ideal o f female beauty moved from Hollywood to London. Christine Keeler started the Longest Party - with all reputation gone, Britain had no stuffy standards to live up to and therefore could have the party with no holds barred. D O N ’T invite the neigh­ bours! DON’T keep the noise down...

- Julie Burchill “Chelsea Girls ” Girls on Film

In S can d al, a relationship is struck be­ tween the passage o f film and the passage o f time, so that qualities made possible by film itself are used to convey memory, sensuality

and, m ost important, history. O nce, this spirit o f passage o f time was conveyed through montage sequences (falling calendar leaves, spinning newspapers, the gliding arms o f a clock). Now the effect is also achieved by giving images the Super-8 treatment.

Paul Cox, Philip Kaufman and Oliver Stone are among those who have called upon this technique (in C actus, The U n bearable Lightness o f B ein g and T alk R a d io ) to denote a historic loss o f innocence, recalled through memory’s filter. W hat was once innovation is now an easy and recognizable signal to the visually literate audience.

T he story o f S can d al has been told many times before - on the front covers o f tabloids, through half a dozen published memoirs, in hip reflections upon the Sixties - almost a mini-series and now a movie. W hat the film claims to offer the story is a re-interpretation o f events, rehabilitating the figure o f D r Stephen Ward. Abandoned by his rulingclass friends, he became the scapegoat for the entire affair and ultimately com mitted sui­ cide during his trial, where he was charged with living o ff the earnings o f a prostitute.

Like other recent British films such as D a n ce With a Stranger, M ona L isa, P ersonal Services, P rick Up T ou r E ars and Wish Tou Were H ere, S can d al tends to illustrate the equation SEX +CLASS =T R U T H =RENNAISSANCE in British Cinema.

B ut where S can d al really works in lifting the lid on sex is in its portray o f the relation­ ship between Christine Keeler (Joanne Whalley-Kilmer) and D r Stephen Ward (John H u rt). With great sweetness and subtlety the film creates situations and allows perform­ ances that convey the ambiguity o f their friendship, a friendship which involves se­ duction, affection, desire, dependence, vo­ yeurism, paternalism and betrayal - but not sexual love.

There is an ambiguity which endures to this day, requiring inverted commas to be placed around Keeler’s vocation. Were she and Mandy Rice-Davies ‘show-girls’, ‘callgirls’ or just “‘com m on’ girls [who] mingled, partied and slept with ‘their betters’” ?

W hen Ward (H urt) steps out from the opening montage into the streets o f Sixties London and purveys all that “wild, untu­ tored, elemental beauty” to be found in girls like Christine, his declaration that he’d “stop at nothing when aroused” sets up an expec­ tation o f one kind o f sexual scenario within the audience and in Keeler as well. Ward maintains this intensity o f feeling, but how it evolves from the presumed to the ambiguous is the success o f the film and the triumph o f John H u rt’s performance.

After a disaster like his recurring clown in the otherwise interesting operatic omnibus, A r ia , it is easy to lose sight o f the value o f H urt’s other acting work. In S ca n d a l he, like Ward, is completely rehabilitated, giving the performance o f his career. H urt has com ­ mented that producers never think o f him as a romantic lead. (H e has appeared instead as The E lep h an t M an , in A lien , as Quentin Crisp in The N aked C iv il Servan t and as

Caligula in I, C lau d iu s.)

In S can d al, he is a new kind o f romantic lead, because this is not quite a love story. He is both a romantic and a sexual man, but we never see him directly engaged as either. He is the instigator, yet on the periphery - con­ structing possibilities, encouraging experi­ ment, then reclining and enjoying the aban­ don o f others. H urt is allowed the warmth and intensity o f the romantic lead that is usually denied him. It is all expressed in the face, while the body remains an enigma.

Scandal enjoys the company o f women and infuses scenes with a playful narcissism and practised allure, both splendid and comic.

Keeler, as played by Joanne Whalley-Kilmer (E dge o f D arkness, The Singing D etective, W illow), is perfect company for Hurt. Whal­ ley-Kilmer is able to suggest Keeler as we already know her and as we wish to imagine her. The film depends upon this. She is all at once - kitten, older sister, and tragedian.

The figure o f Mandy Rice-Davies is writ­ ten as petulant, brittle and self-seeking. Within this small range o f postures, Bridget Fonda {A ria , Shag), carries o ff the British accent and the physical gestures with flair. Hers is an infectious performance which seems strangely cut short, as though it was feared that her stature might overshadow the subtlety o f W halley-Kilmer’s task, or that, in rehabilitating Keeler and Ward, Rice-Davies had to become S can d al’s new villain and scapegoat. Rather in­ elegant o f the filmmakers really, who include first-time feature director Michael Caton-Jones; scriptwriter Michael Thomas ( The H u n g er, Ladyhaw ke, B urke a n d Wills, C ountrym an) and producer Stephen Woolley (co ­ founder o f Palace Video, a pro­ ducer on M on a Lisa, A bsolute Beginners and Shag).

Finally, S can d al is also n o­ table for an appearance by R o ­ land Gift as a wronged lover with a gun; a theme song called “Nothing Has Been Proved” by the Pet Shop Boys, sung by Dusty Springfield; and an appalling hair jo b on Ian M cKellen, who takes the role o f Profumo.

And keep an eye out for Britt Ekland as Mariella Novotny.

SCANDAL Directed by Michael Caton-Jones. Pro­

ducer: Stephen Woolley. Executive producers: Nik Powell, Joe Boyd. Co-executive producers: Harvey Weinstein, Bob Weinstein. Associate pro­ ducer: Redmond Morris. Screenplay: Michael Thomas. Director o f photography: Mike Molloy.

Editor: Angus Newtown. Production designer: Simon Holland. Music: Carl Davis. Cast: John Hurt (Stephen Ward), Joanne Whalley-Kilmer (Christine Keeler), Bridget Fonda (Mandy RiceDavies), Ian McKellen (John Profumo), Leslie Phillips (Lord Astor), Britt Ekland (Mariella Novotny), Daniel Massey (Mervyn Griffith-Jones), Roland Gift (Johnnie Edgcome), Jeroen Krabbe (Eugene Ivanov). Production company: Palace.

Distributor: CEL. 35mm. 114 mins. UK. 1989.

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THE ’BURBS JOHN

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/ ■ ■ ELL IS other people,” said Sartre. Joe I I D ante, director o f The H ow ling, E x ­ plorers and G rem lins, takes this proposition a step further in his brilliantly malicious comedy, The }Burbs. Through the character o f Ray Pe­ terson (Tom Hanks), the suburbanite who pries into the affairs o f his eccentric neigh­ bours and comes grievously unstuck, Dante and screenwriter Dana Olsen drag Sartre into the late Eighties. H orror, they demonstrate, is us.

“U s” in this case is the inhabitants o f a sleepy corner o f the American suburbs - the ’burbs. The film chooses it almost at random, dropping out o f orbit to isolate the midWestern town, the middle-class tree-lined street, and the people themselves: Peterson, his wife Carol (Carrie Fisher), and their neigh­ bours Art Weingartner (Rick Ducom m un), Walter (Gale Gordon) and Mark Rumsfield (Bruce Dern).

Ray, idling away his week’s vacation at hom e, has time on his hands. He applies it to observing his new neighbours, the Klopeks,

THE 'BU RBS: BRILLIANTLY whose house is the one bad tooth in M ALICIO US COM EDY. the n eig h b o u r­ ABO VE: TOM H A N K S AND hood’s otherwise CARRIE FISHER AS THE gleaming smile.

PR Y IN G SUBURBANITES Dana Olsen’s WHO COME G RIEVO U SLY clever script enlists UN STU CK. us smoothly in the locals’ inquisitiveness about the Klopeks. Why do they come out only at night? ( “Nocturnal feeders,” volunteers a neighbourhood kid.)

Why do they surround their house with barbed wire? Why are they always digging in their backyard? Obviously they’re up to no good. The lawn is unmown, the house un­ painted and crumbling. Howls and flares emanate from the cellar at night. Worse, the Klopeks are antisocial. They mow not, nor do they water, weed or gossip. They don’t care

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if W alter’s poodle defecates in their yard.

Unavailable for car pool, district beautifica­ tion or backyard barbecues, they’re instantly suspect.

The next steps are straight from the W a­ tergate manual: covert surveillance, then dirty tricks like anonymous notes under the door and a search o f their garbage, and the final break-in which leads to humiliating expo­ sure. Having failed to learn from the mistakes o f recent political history, Ray and his co­ conspirators are doomed to repeat them.

Dante tells this story with the genial sub­ versiveness that characterizes the best o f his work. This quality surfaced briefly in G rem ­ lins, particularly in the scene where Phoebe Cates described finding, at the age o f she was nine, the corpse o f her father in the chimney, clad in Santa Claus costume and with his neck broken. The ironies o f that project were often obscured by the animated goblins from Chinatown, but ambitions to escape from fantasy and work with more believable people have lingered in D ante’s mind ever since.

After In n er Space, his last major fantasy, he developed a project about a boy genius called L ittle M an T ate, but dropped it when the studio insisted on a major female star as the mother. The ’Burbs came along almost by chance. Rod Daniel (L ike Father, L ike Son) had been set to direct it, but when he walked, Dante stepped in.

He agreed to make the film only if U n i­ versal gave him the run o f its newest subur­ ban street, where the studio has brought to ­ gether all the famous houses on its backlot.

Here Deanna Durbin’s old home now sits next to the Munsters’ Gothic mansion and opposite one inhabited by James Stewart and his giant invisible rabbit friend in Harvey.

Sadly, the Bates mansion from Psycho is not full-sized but a scaled- down replica, and so remains on its hilltop, a popular stop on the Universal City tour. Using it for the Klopeks’ home would have put the capstone to a film already riddled with hom m ages.(ln addition to the now-ritual appearance o f Roger Corman alumnus Dick Miller, there are countless inside references to horror films - the most obscure o f them a tome on demonology by “Julian Karswell” , the heavy from Jacques Tourneur’s N ight o f the Demon. And Jerry Goldsmith wittily reprises his P atton score to underline Bruce D ern’s comic militarism.)

But Dante is almost gleeful that The cB u r bs is only peripherally a horror fantasy. “I t’s a behavioural movie,” he told me. “The fun comes from observing how people react, not from the special effects. I t’s an ensemble cast.

I t ’s embarrassing to compare it to an Ealing comedy, because it’s not that kind o f com ­ edy. But it’s in that tradition. I t ’s ffee-form, almost experimental. I t’s not an art film, but it’s probably the loosest movie I ever did. It was a real challenge.”

The ’B urbs shows that behind the skilled gamester with a flair for the grotesque lies an assured social satirist. It may not be an art film, but its concerns and its socio- political subtext will certainly appeal as much to adults as to his usual audience o f under-18s. The

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cB urbs is a leap into the dark for Joe Dante. But it’s one he had to take.

Though he’ll be making G rem lins I I later this year, one hopes his career will move in this direction rather than towards more vinyl vampires and plastic piranhas. This is water in which he swims well.

THE BURBS Directed by Joe

Dante. Producers: Larry Brezner, Michael Finnell. As­ sociate producer: Pat Kehoe.

Co-producer: Dana Olsen.

Screenplay: Dana Olsen. Pho­ tography: Robert Stevens.

Editor: Marshall Harvey.

Production design: James Spencer. Music: Jerry Goldsmith. Cast: Tom Hanks (Ray Peterson), Bruce Dern (Mark Rumsfield, Carrie Fisher (Carol Peterson), Rick Ducommun (Art Weingartner), Corey Feldman (Rick)' Butler), Wendy Schaal (Bonnie Rumsfield), Brother Theodore (Dr Werner Klopek), Courtney Gains (Hans Klopek).

Production company: Rollins-Morra-Brezner. Dis­ tributor: UIP. 35mm. 103 minutes. USA. 1989.

TORCH SONG TRILOGY RAFFAELE

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CAPUTO

WO M OMENTS. The first: Brooklyn 1952.

A long shot o f the New York cityscape steadily pulls back over a bird’s-eye-view o f a cemetery into the household o f a lower-class Jewish family. Off-screen a woman’s voice re­ peatedly calls out, “Arnold!” The camera then locates her in her kitchen, and then follows her movements as she marches around the apartment in search o f her young son. F i­ nally, both camera and mother discover Arnold in her bedroom closet, before a mir­ ror, inexpertly spreading lipstick around his mouth while modelling his m other’s clothes and accessories. Caught in this act, Arnold turns to camera/mother and giggles. Cut to reverse shot o f his mother, who at first momentarily giggles along with him when suddenly her face casts an expression o f both concern and disapproval. End o f first se­ quence.

The second moment: 1 9 7 1 . Immedi­ ately follows the first. A single close-up shot o f Arnold Berkhoff (Harvey Fierstein), fe­ male impersonator, in the dressing room o f the Club East 4th , where, as in the previous sequence, he is applying lipstick before a mirror. This time, however, he addresses the camera directly (no reverse shot and no mother) and begins a personal oration on his as yet unfulfilled desire for true love, though couched in and around the conditions o f career, family and home.

T o a large degree the first moment charts the course o f the whole film: to reconcile or recast Ma BerkhofTs disapproving glance at what appears to her as Arnold’s ‘aberrent’ lifestyle, through the experience o f death or loss -th e cemetery. I f the first moment is primarily concerned with a problem and therefore its reconciliation, the second moment, with its direct address, lays claim to

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the conditions o f TO RCH S O N G TR ILO G Y: this reconciliation.

A CHALLENGE TO THE T h e second D ISA PP R O V IN G GLANCE. m o m en t, h o w ­ A B O V E:H A R V EY FIERSTEIf' ever, has som e­ A S A RN O LD A N D BRIAN thing o f a dual KERW IN A S ED. function. On the one hand, the di­ rect address is to articulate a difference. It is to say that “This is what I am” , and in saying this to say “I am different from you.” Yet the address also functions to make things equal, to universalize a desire - Arnold’s desire for love, family and home is to say, “I want what everyone else wants.”

The latter position become essential in order to understand and envelop Arnold’s loss (the death o f his true love, Alan [M at­ thew Broderick] at the hands o f fag-bashers) with that o f his m other’s (the death o f her husband o f 35 years). Arnold’s loss is to correspond, if not in character, then in qual­ ity, with that o f his mother (Anne Bancroft): it is the loss o f a lover and a husband, for Arnold and Alan were to marry, adopt a son and share a home.

But it is precisely with this second m o­ ment, despite the film’s humanism, that something o f a paradox forms. The film goes to great trouble to mark out Arnold’s behav­ iour as different or aberrent, only to have it subsumed within a conventional framework - family and home - which is to say that “my difference which is different is the same” . In other words, if Torch Song Trilogy is in part a challenge to the disapproving glance not only o f mother but o f a heterosexual world, this challenge seems to be posed not so much from a homosexual world, but more from the moral and social hierarchy it wishes to chal­ lenge.

TORCH SONG TRILOGY Directed by Paul Bogart.

Producer: Howard Gottfried. Executive producer: Ronald K. Fierstein. Associate producer: Marie Cantin. Screenplay: Harvey Fierstein from his play. Director o f photography: Mikael Salmon.

Editor. Nicholas C. Smith. Production designer: Richard Hoover. Choreographer: Scott Salmon.

Music: Peter Matz. Cast: Harvey Fierstein (Ar­ nold), Anne Bancroft (Ma), Matthew Broderick (Alan), Brian Kerwin (ed), Karen Young (Laurel), Eddie Castrodad (David), Ken Page (Murray).

Production Co.: New Line Cinema. Distributor: Hoyts. 119 mins. USA. 35mm. USA. 1988.

S P E C I A L

REVI EW

NEW INDEPENDENTS R e p o r t by A n n e - M a r i e

A

THE ST KILDA FILM FESTIVAL FOCUSES ATTENTION ON AUSTRALIAN INDEPENDENT FILMMAKING. WHAT'S THE PICTURE?

USTRALIAN feature filmmaking

has often been described as cultur­ ally mediocre, as “an art neither modernist nor ‘vulgarly’ popular” .1 Works on show at each o f the past few years o f the St. Kilda Film Festival make it clear that the same can be said o f a good proportion o f Australian independent films.

The tensions contained in a financing system that simultaneously attempts to recognize the inherent creative worth o f the independent sector whilst also aiming to develop new talent for the feature industry are painfully apparent in much o f the work: films that attempt to be ‘calling cards’ for their makers, but still want to be seen in some way as ‘innovative’ or ‘experimental’ (experimentalism here reduced to a cute idea, a clever game or a hyping up o f technical elements); films often characterized by reduced notions o f form and aesthetics, hom o­ geneous cinematographies, unadventurous mises-en-scene and a conformity to hastily constructed local formulas. The approach is obviously functional in a certain way, providing a showcase for the makers’ technical capabilities whilst indicating a certain perfunctory ‘worthiness’ in their aims. Yet it is a very pale shadow o f the vitality that can be the hallmark o f independent cinema.

B ut amidst all o f this, there exists a strong body o f work more seriously engaged with the particular forms in which it is involved. It is this work that keeps the local culture artistically alive and makes the whole business seem worthwhile. So I want to give some devoted attention to just a few films from this year’s festival that are concerned more with cinema than with the industry.

Am ong the many visions o f suburban existence on display, David Caesar’s experimental documentary L iv in g R oom stands out as some­ thing extraordinary. Formally it is very sparse, its structural elements simple and apparent, and its style minimal. The central images in the film are still, wordless shots o f people in their home environments looking directly into the camera and out at the audience. It is not a comfortable film to watch by any means, for it (quite consciously) embodies many o f the tensions inherent in attempting to represent on screen the lives o f ‘ordinary people’ .

A N O R D IN A R Y The subjects o f the film do not seem to have suspected just how re­ lentless the gaze o f Caesar’s camera could be. They appear for the most part initially confident, posing as in a snapshot. Yet as the duration o f each shot is extended, smiles become strained and confusion appears. With the emotional nakedness and vulnera­ bility o f the people on screen, we too begin to feel rather self-conscious.

Our voyeuristic position becomes disconcerting.as a big black gulf opens between the social spaces o f the cosy film festival audience and the Sydney suburbs. Because o f the powerful dic

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rectness o f the subjects’ stares, it is difficult for us to disengage ourselves and assume a posture o f interested ‘sociological’ distance.

Yet the film also disallows the kind o f identification in which one can comfortably imagine that all the world is a kind o f narcissistic extension o f one’s own feelings and responses. In evoking this rare and vivid sense o f social difference, L ivin g R oom mobilizes a radical awareness o f conflict in social relations.

Caesar’s own uneasy position in all o f this is also openly revealed.

The ‘artiness’ o f his style and his dubious entitlement to submit his subjects to such probing are other irreconcilable aspects o f the film’s abrasive social view. Here too the film is unflinching about displaying its processes.

Thematically the film deals with urban environments and the reac­ tions o f inhabitants to these spaces. The static camera is here not so much a passive recorder o f social realities as a powerful metaphor for the way in which people’s lives are heavily shaped by their physical surroundings. The juxtaposition o f this leaden stillness and the silence o f the subjects with the everyday sounds occurring all around the frame also suggests natural human energies stifled by the rigid determina­ tions o f their severe and inhospitable living spaces. In this sense, L iving R oom presents a very pessimistic view o f modern life and a polemical statement about the way ‘the system’ ensnares and violates its human populace. (Perhaps the mysterious, abstract video images that appear throughout the film are a reference to these impersonal, unseen processes.)

Yet the film is not glib in its pessimism. Caesar’s living rooms are microcosmic sites for very tangible struggles between the determina­ tions o f the spaces (an idyllic family scene on a poster in a display home demonstrates clearly the design for living) and people’s resistances to these forces (a child jumping on a new sofa; the defiant angry stare o f one o f the camera’s silent subjects).

W OM AN The film is thus a dynamic and con­ vincing analytical document o f social conditions in action.

L ivin g R oom gives remarkably original expression to Caesar’s vision o f things. It’s a rare instance o f the kind o f impulse that also makes Philip Brophy’s Salt, Saliva, Sperm a n d Sweat an extraordinary film. In fact, I can think o f no other recent Australian films that venture so courageously into such disconcertingly unfamiliar terrain. They belong to a realm o f the cinema described by Ross Gibson as “the ethical avant garde” - a genu­ inely cutting edge, where safety is

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washed and o f Jackie singing joyfully in the shower. Dom esticity is exalted as a realm o f rich life experience. This is highlighted towards the end o f the film by Jackie’s list o f major life desires: “love, immortality and the perfect carrot” .

So the quest for the singular soul o f the ‘ordinary woman’ is finally abandoned, and the deception o f the documentary shape o f this fiction becomes symbolic o f the bogus nature o f the mission as a whole. Yet the tantalizing spirit o f the perfect self still haunts the film as it has haunted a history o f cinema from Maya D eren’s Meshes o f the A fternoon to Mary Lam bert’s Siesta. There is (as in Lam bert’s film) both a denial o f the mystical entity and an implicit engagement with it; both an impulse to demystify and an invocation o f its powerful charms o f seduction. Perhaps then the question o f the immortality o f ‘the ordinary woman’ is partly answered in this film through its processes o f collaborative creation: it lies not in her transcendent individuality, but in the power o f her shared experience.

- A commitment to a cinema o f simplicity and humility is clear in Brian M cKenzie’s K elv in a n d H is Friends. I t ’s a documentary about a real life ‘ordinary’ person, revealing an intense engagement with the quiet dramas o f everyday life and the idiosyncratic amidst the banal.

There is neither driving voiceover nor any other overt explanatory device operating in the film. Rather, its patient documentations are contained within a subtle narrative structure which slowly draws us into the tangible world o f the protagonist.

The vision o f human existence painted in the film is one in which the individual drifts emotionally isolated in a predominantly hostile world. Kelvin’s relations with the people around him arise almost entirely out o f the coincidence o f the crossing paths o f their lives. His closest companions are his landlady, a man he m et in passing on St. Kilda pier and an old school acquaintance. Conversations between them in the film are striking for the almost complete lack o f empathy they seem to have for each other’s thoughts and feelings. I f there is humanity to be found in their relations, it lies much more in their sharing o f everyday experience - in the little chores that Kelvin does for this landlady or the endless cups o f tea and coffee they drink together.

Along with the extreme personal rituals and beliefs he adopts, these fragmented human connections form part o f a network necessary to Kelvin’s ongoing survival. His life emerges finally as a vivid enactment o f the struggle to create meaning for oneself in a world where it seems absent.

Underlying all o f this, there is a profound impulse in the film to record the smallest material details o f life, from the messy intricacies o f street locations to a brand o f dishwashing detergent. The subjects’ re­ actions to the presence o f the camera, their subtle performances o f their own ‘naturalness’, are part o f the document. Implicit here is a faith in the potency o f the photographic image, particularly in its relation to ‘real fife’. Mirroring this, the personal stills shown to us by the people in the film stand as emblems for a fragmented past, and provide keys to the depth and soul o f the present.

I t ’s been said before that M cKenzie’s work bears a spiritual tie with Italian Neo-Realist films o f the 1940s and 1950s. There is in his work a very deep involvement with impulses o f documentary and fiction, not so much as stylistic curiosities, but as serious, even ethical, questions o f cinematic form. W hether in the meticulous recreation o f a documen­ tary sensibility in an overtly fictional form, as in his earlier film With Love to the Person N ext to M e, or in a storytelling documentary like K elvin a n d H is Friends, he works very close to a point where the two impulses become organically fused. Neither the ‘truth’ o f the film nor its artistic vision are dissipated in this process. Few local filmmakers have the heart for such exploration.

Films like these are so often lost in the few lines allowed for each work by more comprehensive festival reviews (and o f course there were other films in this festival that deserved discussion too). The lack o f serious attention given to independent films is another lamentable recurring phenomenon. T he local cinema o f better faith is worth a more dedicated consideration.

K E LV IN A N D HIS FRIEN DS

feared and “the warm flush o f identification” is renounced.*12 In the context o f Australian cinema it’s a vital impulse indeed.

Also focusing on a dialectic between external social forces and individual self-determination is Sue Brooks and Alison Tilson’s A n O rdinary W oman. Since the fascinating H olzwege: Wood R o a d s / W rong Ways appeared on the local scene a number o f years ago, the blurring o f documentary and fiction has become a popular addition to the standard bag o f tricks for Australian independent films. A n O rdinary W om an incorporates an uncommonly intelligent use o f this device, linking the formal confusion with thematic questions about individual identity, and attempting in the process to exorcise the phantom o f transcendent selfhood.

In one sense the film is a kind o f group autobiography. The central character o f Jackie is a Active construction built around the personal memorabilia brought to the role by the lead actress and fleshed out with the personal experiences o f various individuals involved in the production. Taking the apparent form o f a documentary about this woman, the film presents her speaking directly about herself and has a number o f (also fictional) characters describing her for us. Memories are created for the woman in a fragmented manner variously suggest­ ing moments o f brief but vivid physical sensations (a hand stroking duckling fur; bedsheets billowing vigorously on a clothes line; a brightly coloured garden chair), encapsulated dramatic moments from childhood (an angry mother; waiting alone after school), and snapshots from her past (photographs that are artificially constructed for the film as well as some from the actress’ real life).

When Jackie’s friends and relatives speak o f her it is almost entirely in terms o f social relations and very rarely o f what might be her own internal desires and motivations. In response to her husband’s appar­ ent enthusiasm about her career potentials, a voice behind the camera asks, “Is that what she wants or what you want?” . As in Corinne Cantrill’s In This L ife/B o d y , there is a sense o f the self being captured and defined by other people’s framings. There is a recurring image o f Jackie as a small child with her mother behind her in the distance.

During the course o f the film she examines the image repeatedly, each time imposing her own views o f what it represents: she likes her solid position in the foreground; she muses that the distance between herself and her mother is about as far as she was able to venture at that time; and she is reminded o f her early desire to be an opera singer (a transformed expression o f this desire being her current job singing in a club). Yet whilst In This L ife /B o d y powerfully affirms the impulse to active self-determination (the autobiography is ultimately created by the filmmaker herself, the framing o f the images finally her own in the series o f mirror self-portraits), A n O rdin ary W om an presents identity as more heavily shaped by external processes o f socialization.

However this sense o f things is not lamented in any way. The most profound levels o f meaning are found in the sensual materiality o f the immediate present, vividly expressed in a series o f shots o f a baby being 54

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N OTES 1. Sam Rohdie, “The Film Industry”,Wheelwright & Buckley (eds) Com m unications and. the M edia in A ustralia , Allen & Unwin, A ust,1987, p 142 2. Ross Gibson, “I Used To Speak French” , Expérim enta (exhibition catalogue), MIMA Inc.: Aust.; 1988, p 15.

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T H IS IS S U E : SIGNS OF INDEPENDENTS: TEN YEARS OF THE

CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT FUND, A N D NIGHTMARE MOVIES: A CRITICAL HISTORY OF THE HORROR FILM 1968 - 1988

SIGNS OF INDEPENDENTS TEN YEARS OF THE CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT FUND

Compiled and edited by Megan McMurchy and Jennifer Stott, Sydney: Australian Film Commis­ sion, 1988. 154 pp; rrp: $10

KEN

BERRYMAN

T A TIM E when young filmmakers ask, “W hat’s a Film Co-op?” , A FC and AFI personnel busy themselves with internal re­ views, and the whole industry takes a deep breath in contem plation o f the New FFC Age, the appearance o f a modest publication like Signs o f In depen den ts is unlikely to make headlines. But neither should it pass unno­ ticed, nor go unreviewed, for it is both a timely and worthy tribute to the talents and persistence o f Australia’s independent filmmakers who have continued to produce challenging, innovative work in a usually less than perfect industrial climate.

I cannot recall another publication which serves so efficiendy as a guide to recent Australian independent film practice. Nick H erd’s In d ep en d en t F ilm m a k in g in A u stra ­ lia 1 960-1980 remains handy as background and in dealing with the semantics, but is now a little dated. Case Studies in In d ep en d en t P roduction (reviewed in C in em a Papers 7 2 ) is current and catches the process but has a limited filmography. The A F I D istribution L td F ilm & Video C atalog u e 1987-88 in­ cludes essays which provide historical over­ views o f the independent sector and its title information is solid, but restricted - not un­ naturally - to films the Institute distributes.

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ents stops just short o f celebratory mode in The nearest equivalent is A u stra lia n In d e ­ the essays which precede the film profiles. p en d en t F ilm , compiled and edited by V icto­ Co-editor and the then D irector o f Creative ria Treole in 1 9 8 3 and also published by the A FC (but now, unfortunately, out o f print).

Development at the A FC , Megan M cM ur­ chy, writes candidly on the set o f “inherent Signs o f In depen den ts draws some ofits mate­ contradictions” which have from the outset rial from the earlier work, at the same time plagued the low-budget funding schemes. In updating and expanding its contents. similar vein, Ross Gibson draws the distinc­ The new publication provides a complete tion between ‘m odernization’ and ‘modern­ listing o f all films and videos produced with ism’ in relation to 20th-century Western the assistance o f the various funding schemes work and, more particularly, the local film administered by the Creative Development industry and AFC literature.

Branch (now U nit) since it took over the Experimental Film and Television Fund in Such pieces remind one that, o f the many public faces o f the Film Commission, it is the 1 9 7 8 . This is the first time such information has been generally available. It encompasses Creative Development area which has always seemed most willing to expose itself, warts the output o f the Creative Development and all. O r as Meaghan Morris (in Film news, Fund, N o Frills Fund, W om en’s Film Fund, Documentary Development Program and Feb 1 9 8 9 ) puts it, the C D F: Documentary Fellowship Program - 4 8 4 ... has proved capable o f absorbing,sometimes projects in all. The listing includes title, to a disturbing degree, any number o f attacks, filmmaker, genre, gauge or format, length justified and otherwise, on its fundamental principles, practices, and even its reasons For and year o f completion and, while it occupies being, (p. 16) a comparatively small section o f the book, it represents considerable labour. The requisite In this context, the McM urchy and G i­ “detective work” in relation to “many myste­ bson essays both see p ost-1 985 C D F guide­ rious titles” is acknowledged by the editors lines as offering genuine hope for a diverse but, even so,the publication o f such a listing Australian film culture achievable in part never adequately reflects the effort involved through bold funding decisions - assuming in its compilation. o f course that Government support is main­ Extended profiles o f 100 selected titles tained. Similarly, Susan Dermody, while ac­ form the major section o f the book, and these knowledging in her essay the difficulty o f include detailed synopses and background writing in the late 1980s about ‘women’s information; the occasional favourable press film’, suggests that neither it nor the W om en’s quote; cast and crew credits; AFC funding Film Fund which has done so much to nur­ and distribution sources; T V sales (if any); ture this area should be regarded as “dead and listings o f awards and/or Festival ap­ horses fit for public flogging” . pearances, both local and overseas. It appears Apart from the industry/culture dilemma, that the editors have tried, in this section, to the lack o f suit­ make a balanced se­ able d istribulection o f different WHILST I CANNOT RECALL ANOTHER tion/exhibition genres and formats PUBLICATION WHICH SERVES SO EFFICIENTLY outlets for low ranging over the past AS A GUIDE TO RECENT AUSTRALIAN budget films has 10 years. Observing INDEPENDENT FILM PRACTICE... IT DOES FAIL long been a run­ the various strands TO DO JUSTICE TO MANY FINE FILMS W HICH, ning sore. Je n ­ o f quality filmmak­ IF NOT HIGHLIGHTED IN THIS PUBLICATION, nifer S to tt’s es­ ing juxtaposed in ARE UNLIKELY TO BE BETTER TREATED say, ‘ D ecen t this manner, it is ANYW HERE ELSE...

Exposure’ , con­ difficult not to see it tends that in as other than a rich many ways this is still the case: the closure o f and vital body o f work - a judgem ent less the Co-op, the mainstream exhibitors’ ‘No likely to be made from a perusal of, say, a Boring Shorts’ campaign, the continued C in em a P apers Production Survey at any indifference o f commercial T V networks to given time. As well, the impressive number o f most independent product, and the dimin­ Festival/Award entries for each title signify ished purchasing power o f government film how well-travelled and decorated many o f agencies and educational institutions - these these films have become since 1 9 7 8 . and other factors have continued to frustrate These, o f course, are not the only meas­ the best efforts o f those seeking wider dis­ ures o f a funding scheme’s or an individual semination for this material. But here too film’s success and indeed Signs o f In d ep en d ­ C

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there has been the odd victory: some o f the the longer documentaries and low-budget features have secured theatrical release through the arthouse ‘circuit’; the ABC and SBS have accepted more independentiy-produced local material, including films which would previously have been considered too ‘difficult’ for television broadcast, than at any other time; newer cultural events such as the Australian Video, Fringe and St. Kilda Festi­ vals and organizations like M IM A have pro­ vided important forums for promoting inno­ vative, low-budget work; and traditional champions o f the independent sector such as Ronin Films have continued to seek new ways - including home video - o f promoting non-mainstream product.

It would be unfair to criticize Signs o f I n ­ dependents for failing to tackle in detailed fashion other hardy annuals which help make up the fabric o f C D B / C D U history. The focus is rightly on the films themselves. But one o f the great unwritten tales ofp o st-1 9 7 0 independent film practice I suspect might centre on those films which d id n ’t receive funding (and perhaps weren’t made, or completed). M ost local filmmakers have col­ ourful assessment stories to relate, and many o f these are from regional perspectives. Apart from some minor comments in Megan McM urchy’s essay, regional considerations and assessment practices are not emphasized in this publication, although its select but useful bibliography does cite literature rele­ vant to these topics. I should, at the risk o f sounding parochial, also draw readers’ atten­ tion to Adrian M artin’s short but affectionate piece on ‘Fat City’ - his tribute to Melbourne film culture which, apart from being depicted as somewhat different from that o f its north­ ern counterpart, is, as Meaghan Morris has observed, in a sense not at all pertinent to an overview ofthe Creative Development Fund.

each, but nothing o f John Prescott, Dirk de Bruyn, Peter Tamm er, Solrun Hoaas, Philip Buli, etc, etc.

This is not to deny the validity o f any o f the ‘major’ entries in Signs o f Independents but rather to stress the need for circulation o f adequate documentation for a ll funded films - and especially those most likely to be margi­ nalized by exhibitors, historians and film theorists alike. I f such work is to endure, the availability o f detailed and accurate informa­ tion is as important as the accessibility o f the films/videos themselves. This little book is an important step in this process. L et’s hope others are willing to continue the “detective work” that necessarily goes with it.

Some kid out there has grown up with Freddy and Jason rather than Dracula and Franken­ stein, and is graduating to the books and films o f Stephen King and Clive Barker. He or she knows Empire and Troma better than Ham­ mer and Corman ... probably prefers Return o fth e Living D ead to Day o fth e D ead, and is too young to remember when you could legally rent a Lucio Fulci film on video in Britain. Some day, I hope that kid will write a book sub-titled ‘A Critical History o f the Horror Film, 1988-2008’ that contradicts everything you’re about to read, (xiii)

NIGHTMARE

MOVIES T H fe

NE W

E D î r 1 O N.\

A CR1Ï5CAI HISTORY O f THE HORROR MOVIE FROM N iS

KIM NEWMAN 'iHOKreNSASlE.WSiOHTFUtAND SNCBWfcff ISAJOY CUVE BARKER ' '

NIGHTMARE MOVIES A CRITICAL HISTORY OF THE HORROR FILM 1968 - 1 9 8 8

Kim Newman, Bloomsbury, 255pp. $34.95 pb.

MICHAEL

N

HELMS

IG H TM ARE MOVIES, by English writer

For those wishing to pursue particular titles listed in Signs o f Independents, the direc­ tory o f distributors included as the book’s final section will be helpful. It is a pity that such valuable directory assistance was not ex­ tended to those titlesomitted from the ‘Major films and videos’ section. I imagine space, time and cost factors governed the editors’ decision to limit the amount o f information allocated to the ‘non-m ajor’ (minor?) films and videos in the complete listing section.

But whatever the reason(s), it fails to do justice to many fine films which, if not high­ lighted in this publication, are unlikely to be better treated anywhere else. And despite the Editors’ desire to present a balanced listing o f major titles, the selection remains quite arbi­ trary. T o take some obvious examples - David Bradbury’s Frontline is in the ‘m ajor’ section, but Public Enem y No 1 isn’t; Tom Zubrycki’s K e m im is featured, but not Friends a n d E n em ies or W aterloo; similarly, Brian M cKenzie’s K elvin a n d H isF rien d szn d With Love to the Person N ext to Me, but not W inter H arvest, I ’ll Be H om e For C hristm as or L ast D ay ’s Work. Sarah Gibson and Susan Lam­ bert have managed three ‘major’ entries, Pat Fiske and M elbourne’s John Hughes two

Kim Newman, is a most welcome text indeed. Some readers may remember an ear­ lier version o f this book that appeared in 1 9 8 4 ; the intervening years have allowed Newman the time to thoroughly revise, update, expand and re-present his work in a manner that befits the nature and importance o f the whole enterprise.

For the past decade intelligent and criti­ cal (a keyword) writing on the contemporary horror film has been almost entirely confined to certain segments o f the press: from photo­ stat fanzines and more glossy but still largely self-published ventures, to the works coming out o f American University presses and other independent/specialist publication houses in other words, material that is hard to gain access to, especially in Australia.

These texts cover a range o f styles, for­ mats and tones o f voice; what is impressive about Newman is that not only is he acutely aware o f the industrial,thematic and social histories o f the horror film but he also dem­ onstrates a vigorous working knowledge o f all the above-mentioned writing types. He kicks o ff the whole shebang with an introduc­ tion that makes it clear that his book reflects changing times: his generation has “a new

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pantheon o f greats, from George A. Rom ero through to Sam Raimi” . H e has an eye for detail, a healthy appreciation o f irony and a voice that remains conversational and never pedantic. I found myself entertained and informed before I had even finished the introduction.

After stating that the main purpose o f the book is to write a history o f the modern horror film by tracing links between different sub-sets o f the horror film via largely auteurist methods, Newman pauses to point out that time has re-ordered the way horror films - and all films for that matter - are produced, exhibited and viewed. The new generation o f horror fans - who only know V C R s, Jason Vorhees, Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger and the special effects creators who dominate current horror film productions - will, in time, write yet another history. He predicts:

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A safe bet, but one would be hard pressed to find a similar work that covers as much ground in one volume and is as consistently interesting as what follows.

N ightm are Movies is divided into 14 chapters with a postscript (the previous edi­ tion consisted o f 13). The first chapter is devoted to a lengthy analysis o f George A. Rom ero’s N ight o f the L ivin g D ea d and its perceived far-reaching influence. N ight ofthe L ivin g D ea d is then used as a touchstone throughout the book against which many later works (including Rom ero’s) are con­ trasted and compared. His use o f Romero does not mean he regards the director as infallible. He has this to say about R om ero’s little seen J a c k ’ s W ife: George A. Romero’s Ja c k ’s Wife (1973) in­ verts the theme of Rosemary’s Baby by pre­ senting witchcraft as an avenue o f escape for its housewife heroine. Made after the failure o f There’s Always Vanilla (1972), a romantic comedy, the film is not quite able to mix disenchanted social realism with horror film rituals as successfully as MartinwoxAd do .With cliche displays o f histrionics, self-revealing monologues and lines like ‘I thought insensi­ tivity was m’,the personal drama seems more stylized than the black magic scenes, (p.42)

Besides chapters on Devil Movies (from which the last quote is extracted). Ghost S to ­ ries, Urban Psychos, The British Horror Y\\m,The Texas C hainsaw M assacre or - as he describes it - The Down H om e, Up Coun­ try, M ulti-Im plement Massacre Movie, Au­ teurs (with the inclusion this time o f Dario Argento) and Classical Gothic H orror Films, Newman also gives some attention to the much neglected but very active Chinese and Italian horror/exploitation industries. Aus-

tralian horror films are also afforded some space too.

film,which pits Cher, Susan Sarandon and M ich elle P feiffer against Nicholson’s ‘horny li’l devil’, has been structured in ac­ cordance with the complex deal neces­ sary to get all the per­ formers to appear to ­ gether-everyone has to have an equally de­ veloped part, which means that every plot point has to be made three times. But, if nothing else, De Niro and Nicholson do finally establish the Devil’s official hairstyle.(p.4 9)

The scope o f N ig h tm are M ovies is actu­ ally much wider than that simple chapter listing suggests. You will find single films dis­ cussed in here that you might not expect. But this situation serves to illustrate the book’s tide and support his opening contention that conventions o f the traditional horror film are continually merging and mutating into other generic areas o f the cinema. Take, for ex­ ample, Newman on some more recent big budget films that may be familiar: During the post-modernist confusion o f the late 1980s, as genre barriers fell apart, the Devil made something o f a comeback in the unexpected forms o f Tim Curry, in Ridley Scott’s Legend (1 9 8 5 ), Robert De Niro, in Alan Parker’s A ngel H ea rt (1987) and Jack Nicholson, in George Miller’s The Witches o f Eastwick (1987). Meanwhile Philip Yordan rejigs some o f the themes from his Cataclysm script for The Unholy (1 987) and there’s a similar build-up to apocalypse in The Seventh Sign (1988). All these films bend over back­ wards to avoid being stuck with the ‘horror movie’ tag: the results are predictably scrappy, shot through with pretension and generally smack o f creative energy being misapplied wholesale. De Niro’s Louis Cyphre and Nicholson’s Darryl Van Horn are likeable slices o f ham, and Nicholson in particular has fun with his triple seductions, cherry-vomit­ ing and a marvellous rant against God for cre­ ating women, but the films in which they ap­ pear never cohere. Parker, adapting William Hjortsberg’s private eye horror novel Falling A ngel, spends all his time on picturesque images ofwhirling fans and wintry 1955 New York and New Orleans and falls down on any storytelling he is required to do. Miller, stuck with the far more intractable John Updike source novel, gives the impression that his

While that quote may epitom ize the overall tone and style o f N ig h tm are Movies, which often makes it more exciting than the films under consideration, the book does fall down in one area most relevant to the Austra­ lian viewing o f the horror film. This is the hard industrial fact o f re-titling. T obe H ooper’s D eath T rap is known as D eath Blow in Australia; Penelope Spheeris’s The Boys N ext D oor has been retitled No A p p a ren t M otive; P han tasm is known as The N ever D e a d - but these do not appear in Newman’s seven-page list o f alternative titles. He ac­ knowledges the difficulty in assembling a list o f alternative titles for every market in every territory, admitting: “I ’ve only sampled the retitlings done by fly-by-night video dis­ tributors and for Australian release, for

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NIGHTM ARE M OVIES: example.’’Still, NEW M AN HAS AN EYE FOR this is the only DETAIL, A HEALTHY A PP R EC IA ­ hitch in a book TION OF IR O N Y AND A VO ICE that remains THAT REM AINS C O N V ER SA ­ otherwise TIO N AL AND NEVER PEDANTIC. thoughtful, A BO VE: A M ITYV ILLE \\, thoroughly re­ THE P O SS E SSIO N . searched and provides the most comprehensive overview and com m en­ tary yet on horror film production on a truly international level. In short, N ightm are Movies in its newest form is great value and is sure to challenge the preconceptions o f many people about the modern horror film.

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B E S T D A N G ER O U S LIAISO N S

M A R R IED TO TH E M OB

A N D

W O R S T 7

Bill Collins Keith Connolly

8

John Flaus

7

Paul Harris

9

Paul Harris

4

Sandra Hall

9

Sandra Hall

9

Philippa Hawker

4

Philippa Hawker

6

John Hinde

7

John Hinde

8 8

Ivan Hutchinson

5

Ivan Hutchinson

Stan James Neil Jillett

6

Stan James

7

6

Neil Jillett

4

Tina Kaufman

8

Tina Kaufman

-

Dougal Macdonald

7

Dougal Macdonald

-

Adrian Martin

8

Adrian Martin

Michael van Niekerk

-

Michael van Niekerk

8

Tom Ryan David Stratton

7

T om Ryan

8

David Stratton

7

Evan Williams

6

Evan Williams

-

DISTANT VO IC ES, STILL LIVES

Bill Collins

6

Keith Connolly

9

Keith Connolly

-

John Flaus

8

John Flaus

Paul Harris

8

Paul Harris

3

Sandra Hall

9 -

Sandra Hah

-

Philippa Hawker

3

Philippa Hawker

LEA D IN G FILM V IEW ERS H A V E RATED TW ELV E O F THE LATEST RELEASES O N A SCALE OF O N E TO TEN - TEN BEING THE O PTIM U M R A T IN G . THE CRITICS A R E : BILL COLLINS (C H A N N EL 10 , D A ILY M IR R O R ), KEITH C O N N O LLY (M ELB O U R N E H ER A LD ),

FLY II

9

Bill Collins

FILM W RITERS A R O U N D A U S TR A LIA AR E T H IN K IN G . A P A N EL O F

8 4

. 5

John Flaus

THE D IRTY D O Z E N IS Y O U R CHANCE TO CATCH UP O N W H AT

Bill Collins Keith Connolly

John Hinde Ivan Hutchinson

6

John Hinde

9

Ivan Hutchinson

3

Stan James

-

Stan James

1

Neil Jillett

10

Neil Jillett

-

Tina Kaufman

8

Tina Kaufman

-

Dougal Macdonald

-

Dougal Macdonald

-

Adrian Martin

Adrian Martin

Michael van Niekerk

3 -

5

Tom Ryan

-

Tom Ryan

David Stratton

9

David Stratton

Evan Wilhams

9

Evan Williams

Michael van Niekerk

1

JO H N FLAUS (3RRR M ELB O U R N E, A G E EN TER T A IN M EN T G U ID E),

THE DEAD P O O L

TUCKER

S A N D R A H A LL (THE B U LLETIN ), PA U L HARRIS (3RRR M EL­ B O U R N E, A G E EN TER TA IN M EN T G UIDE) PH ILIP PA HAW KER (CIN­ EM A PA PER S ), JO H N HINDE (ABC R A D IO / T V ), IV A N HU TC H IN­ SON (HSV 7 , TV W EEK ), STAN JA M ES (A D ELAID E A D V ER TIS ER ), NEIL JILLETT (M ELB O U R N E A G E ), TIN A K A U FM A N (FILM N EW S ), D O U G A L M A C D O N A LD (CANB ER RA TIM ES ), A D R IA N M AR TIN (X P R ES S ,T EN S IO N ), M ICHAEL V A N NIEKERK (THE W EST A U S ­ T R A L IA N ), TO M R Y A N (3 LO : R A M O N A K O V A L S H O W ), D AV ID STR ATTO N (SBS: THE M O V IE S H O W , V A R IE T Y ), A N D EV A N W IL­

Bill Collins

8

Bill Collins

Keith Connolly

7

Keith Connolly

1

John Flaus

6

John Flaus

3

Paul Harris

6

Paul Harris

2

Sandra Hall

8

Sandra Hah

-

Philippa Hawker

7

Philippa Hawker

John Hinde

7

John Hinde

3

Ivan Hutchinson

Ivan Hutchinson

3

Stan James

4 -

Stan James

3

Neil Jillett

7

Neil Jillett

2

Tina Kaufman

7

Tina Kaufman

-

Dougal Macdonald

5 -

Dougal Macdonald

-

Adrian Martin

Adrian Martin

Michael van Niekerk

-

Michael van Niekerk

5

T om Ryan

7

T om Ryan

1

David Stratton

8

David Stratton

2

Evan Williams

—

Evan Wilhams

-

LIAM S (THE A U S T R A LIA N ).

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DEAR AM ER IC A

THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST

Bill Collins

-

Bill Collins

Keith Connolly

8

Keith Connolly

5

John Flaus

-

John Flaus

7

Paul Harris

7

Paul Harris

7

Sandra Hall

6

Sandra Hall

7

Philippa Hawker

-

Philippa Hawker

John Hinde

6

John Hinde

6

Ivan Hutchinson

7

Ivan Hutchinson

8

Stan James

-

Stan James

6

Neil Jillett

8

Neil Jillett

9

Tina Kaufman

5

Tina Kaufman

7

Dougal Macdonald

-

Dougal Macdonald

-

Adrian Martin

-

Adrian Martin

1

Michael van Niekerk

-

Michael van Niekerk

7

Tom Ryan

4

Tom Ryan

6

David Stratton

7

David Stratton

5

Evan Williams

7

Evan Williams

7

6

6.5

36 FILLETTE

THE N A K ED G U N Bill Collins

_

Bill Collins

Keith Connolly

7

Keith Connolly

1

John Flaus

-

John Flaus

5

7

Paul Harris

3

Paul Harris

-

Sandra Hall

-

Sandra Hall

-

Philippa Hawker

6

Philippa Hawker

-

John Hinde

7

Ivan Hutchinson

6

John Hinde Ivan Hutchinson

4

Stan James

6

Stan James

-

Neil Jillett

8

Tina Kaufman

6

Neil Jillett Tina Kaufman

-

Dougal Macdonald

4 -

Dougal Macdonald

-

Adrian Martin

-

Michael van Niekerk

5

Adrian Martin Michael van Niekerk

Tom Ryan

-

Tom Ryan

David Stratton

7

David Stratton

7

Evan Williams

5

Evan Williams

-

7

8

M A N C H U R IA N CANDIDATE *

JOE LE A H Y 'S N EIGH B O UR S 7

Bill Collins

9

Keith Connolly

8

Keith Connolly

8

John Flaus

8

John Flaus

7

Bill Collins

Paul Harris

7

Paul Harris

8

Sandra Hall

8

Sandra Hall

7

Philippa Hawker

7

Philippa Hawker

8

John Hinde

9

9

Ivan Hutchinson

8

John Hinde Ivan Hutchinson

Stan James

-

Stan James

6

Neil Jillett

10

Neil Jillett

9 8

8

Tina Kaufman

8

Tina Kaufman

Dougal Macdonald

Dougal Macdonald

7

Adrian Martin

7 -

Adrian Martin

9

Michael van Niekerk

-

Michael van Niekerk

8

9

Tom Ryan

6

7

David Stratton

8

8

Evan Williams

9

Tom Ryan David Stratton Evan Williams

â&#x20AC;˘RETROSPECTIVE DANGEROUS LIAISONS: AVERAGE RATING 6.S

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68 IN T /E X T TOW TRUCK GINBORAK MAIN STREET DAY

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We’re in the cabin o f the tow truck, riding with ASTA, LIZZIE and TIM as they come into the main street, past the pubs and the shops. We see what they see.

There are still enough vehicles and MEN in the street and on the hotel verandah to make the street something of a gauntlet. As soon as the truck appears, there are shouts, horn toots and a couple o f empty beer cans sail over the cabin o f the truck, another bounces o ff the door. LIZ Z IE , in her freshly ironed dress, hair brushed, instinctively ducks.

DANNY, BO BBY, WAYNE, BRIAN, L IT T LE STEVE watch from the verandah. Up ahead now, the Ginborak Police Station bakes in the Satdee arvo heat. A station wagon, “GINBORAK COM M UN ITY H O SPITAL” painted on its side, is already parked there.

down as she gets up and steps across to her brother.

LORNA (SCARCELY AUD IBLE): Yeah...

And then without another w'ord, and not even a glance at LIZ Z IE, she goes down the steps with her brother, the width o f the stairs between them. LIZ Z IE w'atches horri­ fied, then looks to ASTA: now' she must go on alone. They turn to find the MATRON standing in the doorway. She’s a big woman, middle-aged, very' erect and her uniform practically crackles. A cigarette dangles from her lips. She has two Manila folders under her am. She looks dowm at DAVE and LORNA driving off and clicks her tongue. Then she looks at LIZ Z IE - as if to say, “Well?”

LIZZIE pushes past her and enters the Police Station.

Through the window, w'e see CUDDY waiting behind the counter. He’s heard too - and he’s ready. He looks grim.

clean.No V.D. Little bastards. Someone should try'sticking it in them where it hurts... anyway. Back to it. No rest for the wicked. (OPENS H ER D OOR, SLIDES IN ) Motor­ bike, eh? You should get married. Hoo-roo.

And she backs out at frightening speed and drives off with a merry toot o f her horn.

ASTA looks at TIM . He shakes his head - “That matron - she’s a character ...”

Then they both look towards the steps. LIZZIE is slowly coming down. TIM slides out o f the truck. LIZZIF1 lifts her eyes and manages a smile.

TIM : How... how d’vou feel, Liz? LIZZIE: I feel... better.

They all get into the tow truck.

69 EXT GINBORAK POLICE STN. VERANDAH DAY

70 EXT HOTEL FRONT & P.O.V. TO POLICE STN. DAY

A hard cut in tight on the BOYS gathered round DANNY. ANDREW swallow's hard. BRUCE has joined the others.

BRUCE: Now w'hat do we do?

The tow truck drives past.

DANNY: Nothing. We stay calm. Andy, you and Steve go home, but nobody does a disappearing act - right?

The BOYS nod, hanging on DANNY’s even' word.

DANNY: Let the Sergeant play policeman and we plav along. Everybody knows what to say?

A not very cons'incing scries o f murmurs of agreement from the BOYS: yeah, they know' what to sav.

BOBBY: We’re gonna need that lawyer again...?

DANNY: That’s all right, mate. We’ll get him. Won’t we, Andy?

ANDREW (SCARED): Yeah.

DANNY: This... Asta-baby, she probably does... (SHRUGS) custody and that... Our guy could run rings around her.

Right?

Again, the others murmur agreement, grinning with DANNY.

STREET AND

ASTA and LIZ Z IE slide out o f the tow truck. On the other side, TIM opens his door.

LIZZIE: Don’t... come in, Dad. Things I ’ll have to say...

Don’t want you to....

TIM nods - upset but grateful.

Up on the Police Station verandah, LORNA, still in her ‘checkout chick’ uniform, stands waiting. ASTA and LIZZIE begin to ascend the steps. TIM exhales heavily and can’t help sliding down in his seat a little, checking out the wide, empty street. On the verandah, LORNA is even more scared than L IZ Z IE - and alone.

LORNA: Said I would. Dress? You got a nice dress on...

Maybe I shoulda... Thought you weren’t coming, Liz. She stops, looking past them down the street. ASTA and LIZZIE look too.

LORNA’s brother DAVE and LORNA’s M O T H ER have just pulled in at the kerb beside the tow truck. DAVE jumps out o f his station wagon and looks as if he’s about to come running up the steps. Then he sees TIM looking at him. He sees ASTA and LIZ Z IE. He stops, looks off down the street, and scratches his head. LORNA sits down on the verandah bench and keeps her eyes dowm on her hands knotted in her lap.

Down at the kerb, DAVE seems to reach a decision.

He turns and runs up the steps, carefully avoiding ASTA’s or L IZ Z IE ’S eye. He stops a step from the top, breathing heavily, looking straight at LORNA, his face a mixture of fear, embarrassment and confusion. Slowly LORNA lifts her eyes to his. He indicates back to their mother.

DAVE (ALM OST PLEADING): Lorn... For god’s sake!

LORNA drops her eyes again - and then keeps them

Later. Hot and still. There are a few' DRINKERS on the pub verandah, but the Fairlane is parked, tail to the kerb, and LIT T LE STEVE, his arm and one side o f his face ban­ daged, lounges on the bonnet, sipping a can o f beer.

ANDREW’S sports car is parked nearby.

The Police Station is half a kilometre away, but it can be clearly seen. The tow-truck and the MATRON’S car are parked outside.

LITTLE STEV E’s about to concentrate on his beer when a movement dow'n there catches his eye. He slides off the car and runs up the steps to the door o f the bar.

LIT T LE STEVE: They’re coming out!

He goes and leans on a verandah post and looks dow'n there to the Police Station as DANNY, ANDREW, WAYNE, and BOBBY drift out behind him, some with beers in their hands. WAYNE jumps up onto the boot o f the Fairlane.

Down there, the tiny figures o f ASTA, LIZ Z IE and the MATRON stand on the verandah o f the Police Station.

71 EXT POLICE STN. VERANDAH AND STREET

DAY

LIZ Z IE sits onto the bench. She’s trembling and sniffing back tears. She stares out into the street. The MATRON bends over LIZ Z IE and pats her hands, speaking gently.

MATRON: You’re a brave girl. Be strong, dear, be strong.

LIZ Z IE manages to glance up at her and nod, then goes back to staring. ASTA and the MATRON move down to M ATRON’S car.

ASTA: Thanks very much for your help, Matron.

MATRON: Hm - won’t say it was a pleasure, Miss Cadell.

(CH EERY, TO TIM ) Mr Curtis ... (BACK TO ASTA AND A GLANCE BACK UP TO LIZ Z IE) We think she’s

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72 EXT HOTEL FRONT & P.O.V. TO POLICE STN DAY

73 EXT CURTIS PLACE FRONT

DAY

A W.S. o f the whole Curtis place, baking in the sun. The tow truck is clearly visible in the doorway to the workshop.

And Mrs Rodolph’s white Mercedes is parked in front of the house.

74 INT CURTIS PLACE LOUNGE/DINING ROOM DAY

A cheap print showing cool green waves breaking on a white beach hangs over the fire place.

MRS RODOLPH is seated in an apparentlv relaxed manner. NORMA stands drying her hands on her apron, so dumbfounded at this visitation that her mouth almost hangs open. TIM is seated on the couch. He’s been working and is in his greasy overalls, wiping his hands on a

61

piece o f cotton waste. ASTA sits casually on the arm o f the sofa by T IM , licking cake mix out o f a bowl. It is not just that MRS RODOLPH is the town’s leading citizen arid employer; her whole manner and appearance are intimidating to the C U R TISES. MRS RODOLPH: The football season’s starting soon we’ve got a gymkhana and... I mean there’s a whole town to consider. Something like this can turn neighbours, households against each other. I imagine vour business could suffer, Mr Curtis.

TIM : It might.

MRS RODOLPH: Naturally I feel responsible - and not just because my own son is apparently inv olved ...

ASTA: O f course.

ASTA isn’t intimidated at all. She looks MRS RODOLPH right in the eye with an ever-so-polite sm ile. M RS R O D O L P H suppresses irritatio n , manages to smile back.

MRS RODOLPH: Are you here in the capacity o f the Curtis’ legal adviser, Miss Cadell?

ASTA has a cake-mix finger in her mouth.

ASTA: Oh... Urn... I dunno. D’you want me to go, Tim? TIM (N O TTAKIN G HIS EYES OFF MRS ROD OLPH): No - you stay.

Now LIZZIE leans timidly in the doorway. MRS RODOLPH gives her a warm sympathetic smile.

MRS RODOLPH: Lizzie ...

LIZZIE just looks at her.

ASTA: Mrs Rodolph? (i.e. YOU W ERE SAYING ...?)

MRS RODOLPH: Yes. Well... I had hoped, Mr Curtis, that you and I might’ve discussed this - one parent to another...

TIM : Oh, yeah.

MRS RODOLPH: However... You see - these charges...

Can’t we find a way o f resolving this - amongst ourselves?

PAUSE. TIM and NORMA exchange a look, but say nothing.

MRS RODOLPH: If Lizzie really feels she was wronged ...

TIM : She was wronged, Mrs Rodolph.

MRS RODOLPH: Oh, dear... (LONG PAUSE) Lizzie I ’m so sorrv. But revenge is ...

LIZZIE: What?

MRS RODOLPH: Well, all right.These things happen.

Now I don’t want to seem unreasonable ...

ASTA: Yes? MRS RODOLPH: Lizzie - what about a holiday, darling?

Or some lovely new clothes?

LIZZIE looks confused.

ASTA: Don’t you want a holiday, Liz? Singapore, Disneyland - anywhere you want. (LIZ Z IE SHAKES H ER HEAD) Lovely new clothes?

L IZ Z IE shakes her head again. ASTA gives MRS RODOLPH an ‘apologetic’ smile and a shrug, and then, ever so civilized: ASTA: How much are you offering in cash, Mrs Rodolph?

MRS RODOLPH: I didn’t have a precise figure in mind.

ASTA: But vou are prepared to be very generous?

MRS RODOLPH: O f course AN OTHER PAUSE. NORMA looks at TIM , then she and TIM look at MRS RODOLPH, blank, waiting. But having now understood, there’s a. growing anger. ASTA stands, putting aside the cake mixing bowl. She shrugs, as if to say, “Well, there it is - if that’s all you have to say ...”

MRS RODOLPH stands also. She looks hard at ASTA, her eyes glinting. ASTA shrugs in a deliberately insolent way.

MRS RODOLPH: Well - let me make one thing very clear.

My family is not going to be dragged through the mire because o f some little factory girl.

TIM (STANDS): You’ve made yourself very clear, Mrs Rodolph. Now you can get out o f our home.

MRS RODOLPH turns and exits without another word. TIM stands there. He blinks. He puff's out his cheeks and scratches his head.

TIM : Whew! That’s torn it - eh?

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But no one is laughing down at the hotel. To the garble of the starters and riders from the radio over the bar and the clink o f glasses, SERGEANT CUDDY and CONSTABLE GAVIN are ‘playing policeman’ arresting DANNY, WAYNE and BOBBY. Watching from the edge o f the pool table, GARRY, in a high collared shirt and a beanie pulled over his (yellow painted) hair. From the other side, at the very end o f the bar, ROSS, smoking a cigarette as he nurses his beer, his still bruised face blank. The REGULARS watch and rumble comments among themselves as CUDDY and GAVIN move DANNY and WAYNE toward the door. BOBBY, at the bar, drains his beer.

BOBBY: Right with you, Sarge... Don’t go without me.

Laughter from the REGULARS. CUDDY is already looking slightlv anxious. Then three o f the boys' fathers are there: FISKE (DANNY’s father, a smallish, almost jockeysized man, flash, with what he thinks is a raffish twinkle).

HEMMINGWAY (L IT T L E ST E V E ’s father, a slow, beefy man, there because he has to be and not liking it), and MORGAN (WAYNE’s father, a dour, dark unspeaking man who looks dangerous).

HEMMINGWAY: Just gonna take the girl’s word for it, are you, Wal? FISKE: Litde bitch yelps and you jump, eh?

CUDDY (AWARE OF AN AUD IENCE): That is my job, gentlemen. The girl laid charges - serious charges. (TO BOBBY) Come on, Robert - move.

Through this, DANNY is all sweet patience. BOBBY joins them now.

CUDDY looks over the regulars, trying to elicit a bit o f sympathy. One or two o f them, including the battered ROSS, give CUDDY’ a nodofsupport. Police and prisoners move out the doors to the front verandah, the fathers with them - and GARRY’ and a fair few REGULARS tagging along, as: HEMMINGWAY": We’re just working men here, Wal. You know that ...

FISKE: Out-of-work working men ...

Rumbles o f assent from the REGULARS. They’re out crossing the verandah now. The police car is parked by the kerb, LIT T LE STEVE and BRUCE SULLIVAN already seated in the back seat.

CUDDY and GAVIN move DANNY, WAYNE and BOBBY to the car and put them in - WAYNE in the back, BOBBY, then DANNY, in the front, as: HEMMINGWAY": Bail’s gonna be pretty'steep too, isn’t it?

CUDDY" swallows. He looks back. The verandah is lined with a small group o f MEN, many with drinks in their hands, GARRY" at the centre o f them. CUDDY motions GAVIN to get into the driver’s seat, then turns back to the MEN. He’s hating this. He has to go on living in this town.

He doesn’t want to look like a shit. On the other hand, he has to look as though he’s upholding the Law. CUDDY": Bail? Well - you all know that’s not up to me...

GARRY": Jeez, fellers - reckon we better have a whip round ... Start a fighting fund...

More laughter from the MEN. GARRY’s moment o f glory'. DANNY gives GARRY the thumbs up from the window o f the police car. WAYNE grins. A joke - but a hat actually does begin to be passed round the verandah - and some MEN are actually putting their dollars in the hat.

CUDDY" pushes his cap back. He’s sw'eating. He tries to look as if he’s in on the joke, but he knows this is going a bit far. As: FISKE: Just because a few lads act as Nature intended...

GARRY: Six, she reckons? Ought to be grateful...

More laughter.The hat going round. CUDDY goes to GAVTN’s window. At the same time, FISKE and H EM ­ MINGWAY" are bending to their sons in the car.

FISKE: Don’t worry' ’bout a thing, Danny-bov. We’ll see you right...

CUDDY (TO GAVIN): Righto - take ’em down and get on with it... (TO TH E BOY’S) Now you blokes behave yourselves and - um - we don’t want any trouble...

Chorus of, “Sure thing, Sarge... We’ll be good boys...” and so on from the BOYS. GARRY’: Well, she reckons six ... Maybe she’s just skiting.

Another laugh.

Now, to make matters worse, TIM drives up in the tow truck, stops nose into the kerb and calmly looks out over the scene. A stir through the MEN on the verandah.

CUDDY (M U TTERS): Oh, gawd...(TO TH E MEN) Righto, that’s enough. Why don’t yous all go back inside out o f the heat ... Go on...

He gives GAVIN a nod and the police car moves off.

Some o f the MEN drift back inside, including the MAN W ITH TH E HAT. FISKE, HEMMINGWAY and M O R­ GAN stand on the verandah, w'atching as CUDDY lumbers over to the tow truck. TIM is still sitting there, looking at the pub as if the MEN and the FATHERS are invisible, methodically rolling a smoke. CUDDY appears at the window. He keeps his voice low.

CUDDY: U h - g ’ day...

TIM : (D O ESN ’T LO OK AT HIM , LICKS CIGARETTE PAPER): G’dayyWal. CUDDY": Listen, mate - 1 wouldn’t go in there if I w'as you.

TIM : “Public Bar”, Wal. Says it on the door.

TIM goes to get out now', but CUDDY leans on the truck door.

CUDDY": I said, listen. I believe vour girl’s story'-all right?

No - shut up and listen. (SIN C ERE) I believe her and I ’m real sorry. But you coming down here -w hat’re you trying to prove?

TIM : I just want a beer - where I have been having one for twenty y'ears.

CUDDY" shrugs and steps back. TIM gets out, slams

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his door and goes up the steps. FISK E, H EM ­ MINGWAY and MORGAN are waiting for him.

FISKE: Now here’s the man we want to see...

HEMMINGWAY: Yeah. Now what is all this, Tim? Just what is going on?

TIM : (CASUAL, N OT STO PPIN G): I don’t know, Em. You better tell me ...

T IM pushes open the bar door and goes into the gloom o f the Public Bar. The FATHERS and assorted MEN follow. T IM strolls across to the bar, pausing only to light his smoke on the way. To one side, GARRY is still pushing the ‘fighting fund’.

GARRY: Any more for the fighting fund? Anymore. Come on, yrou blokes - let’s see justice done ...

W h il e a t t h e sa m e t im e : FISKE: Now don’t be a smart-arse, Tim-boy. Didn’t you see the coppers? Had my son - and these blokes’ - under arrest.

TIM (LEANS ON T H E BAR): Give us a beer, Bett ...

(OFF-HAND) Well, Danny’s been arrested before, Bill.

Nothing new in that.

BETTY, the barmaid, expressionless, pulls T IM a beer. There’s a bit o f space around T IM - except for FISKE, HEMMINGWAY and MORGAN. Just down the bar from T IM , ROSS - watching everything, cigarette smoke curl­ ing up past his battered eyes.

HEMMINGWAY: Jesus Christ, Tim! This is serious.

TIM : Too right it is. (GETS H IS BEER ) Cheers... (SIPS) FISKE (SM ILIN G): Now', come on, Tim. No hard feel­ ings. Man to man, old son - your girl - what’s-’er-name Lizzie ...

TIM (HARDER): Watch what you’re saying, Fiske.

FISKE (STILL SM ILIN G): Eh? You’re dozey, Tim-boy.

You’re the last to know. Caught her coming home this time, eh?

FISKE laughs suggestively, playing to the R EG U ­ LARS. And he gets a knowing laugh back. Down the bar, ROSS sw'ears under his breath. T IM ’s face is working: he’s a gentle man, and known these blokes though he’d never call them ‘mates’ - most o f his life...

HEMMINGWAY: My Little Steve, Tim - all those stitches in his face from that woman friend o f y'ours - but never mind that... Leave thataside ... H e’sa good boy. H e’snever been in trouble.

TIM (OVERLAPPING): Your good boy, Ern - your ‘good boy’ was there... Prob’ly held my girl down while those other ‘good boys’ ...

FISKE: Doesn’t need any holding down from what I hear TIM snaps. He throws a wild punch at FISK E, but misses.

FISKE dodges aw'ay, picks up T IM ’s beer and throws the almost full glass in T IM ’s face.

FISKE: Cool off, son.

T IM ’s blinking beer out o f his eyes, fists clenched, swinging. The dour MORGAN steps in and punches TIM hard in the stomach. T IM doubles up. Now' FISKE punches wildly at T IM ’s head.

ROSS moves in; he’s in no condition for fighting, but he whacks MORGAN in the ear and pushes FISK E’s head back with a snap. They clumsily punch each other: an ugly, shambling, panting mess. TIM gets FISKE smack in the nose... ROSS, disabled by his broken rib, gets hit in the chest by MORGAN. FISKE gets on T IM ’s back, an arm round his throat. T IM smashes FISKE into the bar. Behind the bar, BETTY is ringing a bell.

T IM ’s back against the bar now', hands up, ready.

ROSS is beside him, teeth gritted against the pain, but ready to fight on... GARRY’s up on the pool table, blood - someone else’s - in his eye. CUDDY is pushing his way through without much difficulty'.

CUDDY: Righto, righto. I said ‘righto’, gentlemen!

The MEN straighten up, puffed, glow'ering. A few' murmurs o f disappointment from the other M EN . CUDDY looks round at all the fighters, shaking his head. He finishes with TIM and ROSS. CUDDY: You two - outside! The rest o f you - be your age, eh? Settle dowm. Right? Right!

CUDDY takes T IM ’s arm. ROSS goes to w'alk, but staggers: TIM holds him up. CUDDY takes them through the doors, across the verandah and straight dowm to T IM ’s truck. ROSS stands back. There’s just time for TIM to give him a nod - “Thanks, mate” - before ROSS limps off. TIM w'renches open the doorofhis truck and gets in. His overalls are torn, his hair dishevelled and his face flushed and bruised.

CUDDY: Happy? You do your drinking at home for a bit, eh?

TIM (SLAMMING HIS D OOR): I didn’t w'ant any trouble CUDDY gives him an ironic look, as if to say, “Oh, yeah?” Then he leans close to TIM , keeping his voice low, but his tone urgent.

CUDDY: Get your girl to drop it, Tim. TIM stares at him. CUDDY - the Law - too?

CUDDY’s eyes flick round to the pub, directing TIM

to look that way. The verandah is now lined with more M EN than before - just watching.

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EXT

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RIVER BANK/RAIL BRIDGE DAY

A clear blue sky and everything crystal clear in the bright afternoon sunlight. A gentle breeze stirs the trees along the banks and sandy bed o f the Ginborak River. In the scrub, the sound o f birdsong, mingling with the shouts o f kids playing, riding bicycles. There’s even a family having a picnic, a tartan rug spread on the sand. The scene is calm and, were it not so utterly normal, idyllic. But then, far across from us, behind the trestles o f the bridge, we make out a police car. And, emerging from underneath the bridge, L IZ Z IE , attended by a U N IFO R M ED P O LIC E­ WOMAN and a plainclothes D ET EC T IV E. ASTA is just behind them. W e’re too far away to hear what’s being said, but it is L IZ Z IE showing the police where it happened.

The D E T E C T IV E waits near L IZ Z IE , pen poised over a notebook. L IZ Z IE points back towards the trees, but can’t look where she’s pointing. ASTA nods to LIZ Z IE - “Go on...” The POLICEW OM AN puts an arm around L IZ ­ Z IE’S shoulders.

All in W ID E SH O T, while in the FO R EG R O U N D , KIDS play and M UM serves the picnic on the tartan rug.

77 EXT CURTIS PLACE REAR HOUSE AND COURTYARD DAY/AFTERNOON

NORMA and friends sit on the concrete o f the rear courtyard, in the shaded part o f the house. A Saturday arvo get-together, but this week with a difference. NORMA is tense and resdess, and is idly trickling some water onto some weedy plants, amongst them a gardenia bush - just for something to do. She looks across to where TIN A is-.pouring a shandy for ASTA. NORMA sees TIN A give ASTA an enquiring look and ASTA shrug. We hear RITA ’s voice: RITA: This’s just the other night... Any o f that beer left, Teen?

D U LC IE is sprawled in an old deck chair, RITA and FAY are on a couple o f chairs brought out from the kitchen; ASTA sits on the bottom o f the back steps, sewing on a button. TINA tops up RITA ’s shandy. D U LC IE squints at the sky and puffs out the front o f her dress.

RITA: Thanks, Teen. Anyway... (RESU M IN G H E R STORY) “Where’s me dinner?” he says. “I ’m tired,” I say.

“You’ll have to get your own.” Well - you shoulda seen him. “Not enough I got to ask you for drinking money,” he says, “a man doesn’t even get his dinner... ” D ULCIE (WINKS): Hasn’t he heard o f Women’s Lib, Reet? You’re a career woman, love.

RITA snorts ironically. The others, including ASTA, laugh.

RITA: So then he says... he says... (LAUGHIN G H E R ­ SELF) “Ifyou won’t get me dinner, I ain’t gonna root yous no more - find m’self a real woman.”

FAY: Go on. He never.

All through this, NORMA is listening, smiling at RITA’s story, but her mind is elsewhere, tensely watering her garden.

RITA: Yeah, he did.

TINA: So what’d you do, Reet?

RITA (STOPS LAUGHIN G): Got him his dinner.

A momentary pause - and then they all laugh, although now the laughter’s knowing, tinged with irony.

D U LCIE: Yeah - what can you do?

RITA: I wasn’t gonna miss out - I ’d been thinking about it all day. (MOANS IN A PARODY OF SENSUALITY) FAY (T H E SHY ONE, EM BARRASSED): Oh, Rit-a ...

RITA: Ah, look at Little Miss Sweet - (D IGS FAY IN T H E RIBS) Come on - you like a bit, don’t ya? When it’s nice.

FAY (LAUGHIN G AT T H E GRO U N D ) When it’s nice.

It usually isn’t - for FAY. 78 INT CURTIS PLACE THE WORKSHOP AFTERNOON

D AY/

TIM is hard at work under the bonnet o f a car, straining at getting the head off the engine. His face is set and he seems to work grimly. He has a small bruise under one cheekbone and still wears the torn overalls from the fracas in the pub.

LIZZIE leans on the other side o f the car, trying to get TIM to look at her. He won’t. The sounds o f the WOMEN laughing in the rear courtyard.

SFX: PHON E RINGS IN SID E T H E HOUSE. TIM looks up.

TIM : One o f those women gonna get the phone...

LIZZIE: What happened, Dad? TIM : Nothing.

LIZZIE: Tell me ...

TIM : Nothing. How’d you get on with the detective bloke?

LIZZIE (SH RUGS): All right. Had to take ’em down where... (PAUSE) Dad? Outside, a car pulls into the petrol pumps. A gentle horn toot is heard. L IZ Z IE looks hard at T IM . She’s got a pretty fair idea that he got into a fight because o f her.

LIZZIE: I’ll get that, will I? (PO IN TS O U T SID E) TIM : No. (PAUSE) Yeah - okay, love.

He smiles at her. She grins back and goes out to the pumps.

79 EXT CURTIS PLACE REAR HOUSE AND COURTYARD DAY/AFTERNOON

TIN A is coming out the screen door with the kind o f expression that makes all the others stop and look at her.

TINA: That was Betty on the phone. Down the pub. She reckons all the boys’ll be back on the street within the hour.

A kind o f resigned dismay on the faces o f the WOMEN. ASTA stands. Her face has gone very hard and cold.

TINA: Yeah. Seems Mrs Bloody Rodolph is going bond.

And... get this... the blokes at the pub - they passed the hat around. Big joke.

TINA can’t help a bitter laugh herself. The others stare at her, stunned. Except for ASTA: she is already walking toward the rear door o f the workshop.

8 0 EXT GINBORAK POLICE STN. D AY/ AFTERNOON

ASTA pulls into the kerb in front o f the police station.

There are six or seven cars already there, including the white Mercedes, plus a couple o f motorcycles. ASTA turns off her engine and rests the bike onto the side stand. At the same moment, cheering and making victory signs, the BOYS emerge from the police station and begin coming down the steps: DANNY, ANDREW, WAYNE, BR U C E, BOBBY and L IT T LE STEVE. With them are MRS ROD OLPH, FISKE, HEMMINGWAY, MRS SULLIVAN, BRIAN, GARRY and a CO U PLE OF BLOKES from the pub. They see ASTA. In a second, all have gone silent. ASTA takes off her helmet, shakes out her hair. Now the others are on the kerb. MRS SULLIVAN tries to pull BRUCE toward her car, but he shakes her off. ASTA swings off her bike, holding her helmet by its chin-guard. MRS RODOLPH stands still a moment, her face inscrutable. Then without another glance at ASTA, she goes to her Mercedes and drives off. The rest stand there, with a variety o f expressions: mocking, hostile, anxious. ASTA moves through them on the footpath, meeting their glances. The camera moves with ASTA. Not a word is spoken. ASTA meets MRS SULLFVAN’s eye, but MRS SULLIVAN looks away at once and then hurries to her car. The others step aside at the last split second to avoid collision with ASTA, who moves to the steps and then begins to ascend. The camera contin­ ues with ASTA, just behind her, up the steps to the police station entrance. Only from the soundtrack do we realize that people are following ASTA up the steps ...

81 IN T /E X T POLICE STATION OFFICE AFTERNOON

D AY/

CUDDY, CONSTABLE GAVIN and A N OTH ER CO N ­ STABLE turn to confront ASTA. There can be little doubt about why she’s there. ASTA looks straight at CUDDY. He is already edgy and ASTA’s very presence does little for his equilibrium.

ASTA is very cool, distinct and precise. For a second not a sound, except, off-screen, footsteps on the verandah outside. CUDDY looks away, sees that the other two CONSTABLES are watching him. He looks back to ASTA. CUDDY: The Justice o f the Peace has been apprised ofthe facts and bail has been approved and posted.

A giggle from out on the verandah. ASTA ignores it.

ASTA: I see. In that case, I shall require ofyou the name and telephone number o f the J.P. as I shall be... apprising him o f certain facts myself and requesting an injunction restrain­ ing any o f these... men from coming anywhere near the Curtis house and specifically Miss Curtis herself.

CUDDY: Oh, will you? That’s coming on a bit strong, isn’t it. I mean ...

DANNY (O SV )( A SCO RN FUL LAUGH): Jeez-us.How far is she gonna take this?

CUDDY goes to say something, but ASTA beats him to it, not even looking directly at DANNY, just turning her head very slightly in his direction.

ASTA (CO LD ): This time you are going to gaol.

The cold finality' and absolute certainty' o f ASTA’s voice wipe the grins off the BOYS’ faces. DANNY looks at her with loathing. BRU C E and LIT T LE STEVE, at the window, look worried.

REVERSE ANGLE: WAYNE grabs DANNY’s shoul­ der and swings him round to face him and BOBBY. Now, BACKGROUND; in the office, ASTA is calmly leaning on the counter, the CONSTABLES are just look­ ing at her, and CUDDY is dialling a number on the phone.

As BACKGROUND SOU N D, we hear CUDDY on the telephone: “Good afternoon, Mrs Morris. Sergeant Cuddy here, Ginborak Police. Would George be there?

Certainly... (PAUSE) Ah, George, Wal Cuddy. Could you slip back to the station? We’ve - uh - got a request for an injunction.... The Curtis matter. Sorry to trouble you, George ... I f you could ... The girl’s - uh - lawyer is here

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now...” etc.

MEANW HILE, DANNY shakes off WAYNE’s hand. In whispers: WAYNE: You hear that? Hear her in there?

DANNY: Yeah. I heard.

Now ANDREW, BRU C E and LITTLE STEVE crowd around too.

WAYNE: Our bloke’s gonna run rings round her, eh? She’s done this before, mate. You can tell ...

DANNY: Ah, she sounds good... Got you scared, has she?

(LAUGHS) Who’s for a beer? My shout...

He nudges them, encouraging them to laugh it off.

They all start down the steps. Only DANNY looks back.

ASTA is now writing on an official form. CUDDY is watching her nervously.

DANNY looks scared himself.

82 INT CURTIS PLACE DAY/LATE AFTERNOON

THE WORKSHOP

ASTA still astride her bike, but with her helmet off, sur­ rounded by LIZ Z IE , NORMA, TINA, RITA, FAY and D U LCIE. TIM stands back, Still beside the car he’s working on, but listening along with the others. ASTA’s just told them what she did.

LIZZIE: Oh, Gee! You fixed them all right.

L IZ Z IE ’S beaming, swept up in the excitement, in having this powerful protector. But her smile seems to irritate ASTA. ASTA: It doesn’t mean a damn thing. We may not get an injunction. If we do, it may stop them, it may not. And they’ve got plenty o f friends...

And she gets off her bike. The WOMEN look anxious and confused now'.

LIZ Z IE stares at ASTA, bewildered by ASTA’s harshness.Then: D U LCIE: Might be best to get out o f town for a bit.

FAY: Yeah - till things quieten down ..

LIZ Z IE just watches ASTA, wanting her opinion.

NORMA (TO T IM ): She could go to your sister down in Esperance...

LIZZIE: Yeah, sure. They’d like that. That’s really admit­ ting they got you scared.

ASTA: You should be scared.

The WOMEN exchange looks, confused again. And: TIM : Give the kid a break. . .

ASTA: Why? Do you think she’s going to get a break out there? (POINTS O U TSID E) Do you w'ant to hear some pretty stories about women w'ho laid charges?

LIZ Z IE: Anyway, I ’m not scared...Not with you around.

ASTA looks at her, an increasingly exasperated expression on her face.

ASTA: What about you, Lizzie? What about you standing up for yourself?

LIZZIE: I will. I can ...

ASTA grabs the front o f L IZ Z IE ’S blouse, tw ists it a little. LIZZIE starts to look frightened.

ASTA: Can you? What if there’s no one? I think you’d just freeze up ...

LIZZIE: No, I wouldn’t ...

ASTA(PUSHES H E R R O U G H LY ): You’ll be ready? Eh? The others look bew'ildered and anxious.

TIM : Hey - Asta - steady on... What’re you...

ASTA pushes her hard again - not hurting her, but needling, provoking - a hard, almost sneering expression on her face.

LIZZIE: Stop it. Stop it, will va... Ast-a...

ASTA (PUSHES H ER AGAIN): Little Lizzie. Pretty Lizzie. (PUSHES AGAIN ) Fight back. Get angry, Lizzie LIZZIE stumbles backward, trying to avoid ASTA’s pushes, angry but blocked. The other WOMEN move up, hover, not knowing what to do.

LIZZIE: You’re my friend, Asta! Stop it!

TINA: All right - you made your point...

ASTA (IGNORES TINA): You can’t count on anyone, Lizzie.

ASTA goes to push LIZZIE again but now LIZ Z IE ’s anger breaks through. She dodges and swings wildly, slapping ASTA’s face, murder in her eye. ASTA steps back, rubbing her face.

ASTA: Yes. At least like that. And even then. Come on.

She goes to LIZZIE, grabs her by the arm and takes her out. TIM for looks for help or explanation to NORMA, both o f them utterly bewildered.TINA, RITA, FAY and D U LCIE follow ASTA. 83 EXT CURTIS PLACE DAY/LATE AFTERNOON

REAR COURTYARD

A hard cut from the previous scene to: ASTA has LIZZIE hard up against the wall ofthe house, a hand either side o f her head, talking right into her face, her voice matter offact.

LIZZIE looks frightened.

ASTA: He’s smiling. He thinks he’s got you. You lift vour knee hard - right into his balls. Understand? (GRABS L IZ Z IE ’S LEG BEHIND TH E KNEE AND LIFTS IT) That’ll hurt him -badly. And your hands, Lizzie - voucan

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do a lot with your little hands... (D EM O N STRA T­ ING) Grab here - the windpipe - dig vour fingers in... and pull hard... Or go for the eves...

LIZ Z IE (H O R R IFIE D ): The eyes ?

ASTA: You heard me.

FAY turns her head away, but TINA and D U LC IE w'atch grimly. NORMA moves around ASTA and LIZ Z IE, making helpless gestures as if she wants to intervene - but she doesn’t. She joins TIM .

But now TIM is coming closer, slowly, his face white.

We realize he’s been watching. ASTA and LIZ Z IE look at him.

T IM : I didn’t bring her up for this. She’s my little girl ...

She’s a woman...

ASTA: Do you think I like it- Do you think I like watching even1shadow and jumping at every sound?

TIM can’t answer. He bites his lip and turns away.

FAY starts to cry and RITA comforts her.

ASTA turns back to LIZ Z IE , who is looking wideeyed at her father, and takes her by the shoulders and turns her around, putting an arm around L IZ Z IE ’s neck. We realize that ASTA herself is upset by this, but she goes on: ASTA: Now - he’s got you like this.

LIZ Z IE breaks free and turns to look at ASTA. LIZZIE: But Asta - Asta - what if there’s... six?

D U LC IE: Yeah - what if there’s six?

This stops ASTA. She stands there, looking at the ground. She knows that for LIZ Z IE the question is more than practical: there’s the shame o f having not resisted...

ASTA exhales heavily, then looks back at LIZZIE. ASTA: I... I don’t know', Lizzie.

LIZ Z IE (SWALLOWS, TH EN ): All right. Go on.

84

EXT

GINBORAK R.S.L. CLUB

NIGHT

DANNY, WAYNE and BR U C E, all three spruced up for Saturday night, hang about on the footpath outside the R.S.L. Club. DANNY' sits up on the boot o f the Fairlane.

BRU C E passes round a hip flask o f whiskey. Other cars are pulling up and TOW N SPEOPLE are going into the Club, from w'hich come the sound o f a dance band. There are GROUPS, CO U PLES, SIN GLE PEOPLE. A variety of responses to the BOYS, but most opt for pretending they’re just not there.

The BOYS are checking out all the GIRLS as they go in - especially those unattached. Some GIRLS look back.

One or two even smile. Little SU Z IE and a GIRLFRIEN D (RACHEL) hover hear the gate, watching DANNY. Then a group o f three GIRLS come along the footpath. They’re dressed and made up in their Saturday night best. One of them is MELINA from the Milk Bar. The BOYS smarten up. BRU C E stuffs the hip flask into his back pocket.

DANNY: Hi, Melina.

He gives the GIRLS one o f his most beguiling smiles.

Thev stop in their tracks. While the other two look appre­ hensive, MELINA comes over. She isn’t smiling.

DANNY: Well, here we are. We going in?

MELINA: We are. You fellas can do what you like. (ALL IN A RUSH) I ’ve known Lizzie Curtis since Primary' and she wouldn’t lie. (LOOKS O V ER A L L OF TH EM ) You lot stay right away from us.

MELINA turns and she and the other GIRLS go into the Club.

DANNY stands with his hands on his hips, looking slightlv stupid, as if he’s just been slapped. Over near the gate, little SU ZIE has seen all this. Now she nudges RA­ CH EL and comes over. Both o f them about 14, a bit shy, but coming on brazen.

SU ZIE: Hi, Dannv.

DANNY (ABSTRACTED): What?

SU ZIE: Me ’n’ Rachel aren’t doing anything ...

DANNY: Yeah?

SU Z IE and RACHEL seem to join DANNY and the BOYS, but the BOYS don’t seem all that interested, still seething over the rejection by MELINA and her friends.

BRU C E gets out the hip flask, offers it round. SUZIE drinks.

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Goodbye. (HANGS UP, STANDS) Well, how' wfas it in gaol? A bit o f excitement for you, was it?

ANDREW winces at the sarcasm, but he doesn’t let her see the effect on him. She moves to him - and the drink cabinet. He shrugs and looks at the floor.

MRS RO D OLPH : Graham’ll be here tonight on the plane.

He savs, from what I was able to tell him, it doesn’t look good... But if you w'ere to co-operate with the police, say the others forced you to...

ANDREW walks aw'av from her, sipping his drink.

MRS RO D OLPH : Andrew- - what do those town boys do to you? When you’ve got everything? After all that trouble ... before... (PAUSE) I ’m really trying to understand, dar­ ling. Because I can’t...

ANDREW: What do you want me to say?

MRS ROD OLPH Anything! HELPLESSLY) That girl ...why? And when you’re so good-looking... Ifth at’sallvou w'ant, take some money, drive dowm to Kal...

He turns to look at her with withering contempt, tossing his car keys in his hand.

ANDREW: I ’m going out, Mum MRS RO D OLPH : Your father fucked the factory girls-he didn’t need to... Andrew'!

But he has walked out, not looking back at her.

MRS RODOLPH stares at the empty doorway. She begins to cry, overwhelmed with self-pity'.

87 INT GINBORAK R.S.L CLUB

NIGHT

A table with six empty' beer jugs. A foot goes up on the table and one beer jug crashes to the floor, smashing.

DANNY ignores it. He puts his other foot up as well.

The Saturday night dance at the Ginborak R.S.L is rocking on into the night. On the little stage, a local COUN TRY ‘N ’ W ESTERN GROUP with a female SIN G ER plods through a number - Tammy Wvnette’s “Stand By Your Man” . COUPLES shuffle about the dance floor - includ­ ing GIRLS dancing together.

DANNY and his bunch are at a corner table: AN­ DREW, BRU C E, BO BBY, WAYNE, LIT T LE STEVE, SU Z IE and RACHEL. The tables either side of them are empty'. A few- heads turn at the smashed beer jug - one o f them CUDDY - seen from the BOYS’ P.O.V.,rightacross the other side o f the room, out o f uniform, with wife NELL, socializing with FRIENDS their own age.

CUDDY shoots DANNY a “Watch it” look. DANNY takes no notice. When CUDDY looks away, BOBBY gives him a two-finger sign. Meamvhile: DANNY (TO ANDREW): Get us more more beer, rich boy.

ANDREW: You don’t have to... (SAY THAT) All right.

ANDREW stands and starts to move toward the bar.

DANNY throws an empty' cigarette pack after him, hitting him in the back.

DANNY: And some smokes! Well, what a night, eh? Sat-urdee night... Cheer up, Little Steve mate... Listen - (A JO K E) it’ll be the Children’s Court for y'ou anyway. So forget it.

SU Z IE and RACHEL giggle. They’re being almost completely ignored but having a great time. Now, GARRY, also dressed for Saturday night, joins them, but he obvi­ ously didn’t expect to find them there. GARRY now' wears a Stetson hat and has his collar turned up to hide the yellow paint.

GARRY: Well, well, w-ell! How are y'ou, Danny mate?

(LOOKS AT GIRLS) Cradle-snatchin’ tonight, eh?

WAYNE: Piss off, cowboy.

Pause.

8 6 IN TTH E RODOLPH HOUSE STUDY/LOUNGEROOM NIGHT

SU Z IE: You w:anta have a dance, Steve?

L IT T LE STEVE, junior macho, shrugs indifferently.

ANDREW, coming back w-ith more beer, is startled to see DANNY and then the others get up.

SU Z IE: Can we come?

Angle angle, tighter on CUDDY. He looks around and across the room.

DANNY and the BOYS have gone - and SU Z IE and RACHEL are still sitting there.

CUDDY exhales with relief, thinking the BOYS have gone home.

MRS ROD OLPH is seated behind a huge desk speaking on the phone.

MRS ROD OLPH (IN TO PHON E): Naturally I ’ve spo­ ken to our lawyer, Sergeant - he’ll be here tonight in the Cessna... Look, this Cadell woman - apparently she’s a well-known radical - a troublemaker... She... I am Jiot telling you how to do your job, but...

ANDREW enters, dressed in expensive sports clothes, all ready to go o u t-a s ¡f it’s just a normal Saturday night.

He goes to the drinks cabinet and gets himself a whiskey.

MRS ROD OLPH (PH ON E; ICY): I believe you’ve ap­ plied for a transfer, Sergeant? Well - jolly good luck...!

ASTA stands looking out across the still moonlit plain, the piece o f chocolate cake in her hand forgotten. NORMA crouches at her weedy little garden, touching the flowers o f her gardenia bush. LIZ Z IE sits on the back steps, eating cake and licking icing off her fingers. Above them, a huge silver moon hangs in the sky.

NORMA: ‘Ey - Asta. Take a whiff o f this.

ASTA crouches beside her and inhales the night scent o f the gardenia. She shuts her ey'es and smiles.

NORMA: Isn’t that beautiful?

ASTA: Hmmm.

85 EXT THE RODOLPH HOUSE NIGHT

A magnificent homestead surrounded by lawns, gardens and trees.

64

88 EXT CURTIS PLACE REAR COURTYARD

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NORMA watches ASTA enjoy the scent. She smiles, at first at ASTA and then to herself, at a memory triggered by the scent.

NORMA: I used to wear that scent, you know w'hen I w'as ’bout eighteen... was wearing it when I told his father... (NODS BACK TOWARD T H E H O U SE) Ah, well...

ASTA w'aits for her to go on, but NORMA falls silent, then straightens up with a sigh and stands looking at the moon. The two women looking up at the enormous moon.

On the steps, L IZ Z IE twists her head to look too, a cakey finger in her mouth.

NORMA: Funny to think people’ve been walking on her up there, eh? (PAUSE, CO N FID EN TIA L) Gawd, I ’d love to do that ...

ASTA looks at her surprised.

LIZ Z IE (EMBARRASSED): Oh, Gran... give up...

NORMA: Yeah - w'alking on the moon... (TO ASTA) I have dreams about it...

And old NORMA walks in a circle round the courtyard like an astronaut - slow, weightless, her face alive with a childlike wonder. L IZ Z IE giggles, then falls silent. And ASTA w'atches NORMA, moved by her dreams .

8 9 IN T

H O TEL PUBLIC BAR NIGHT

A few' lights have been turned off and the dim room is thick with cigarette smoke. The bar is thick with MEN getting drinks before closing time. The PUBLICAN and BETTY w'ork fast.

BETTY: Closing up, gentlemen. Last drinks...

FISKE and MORGAN are two o f the last at the bar.

FISKE comes away with a jug o f beer in each hand. He and MORGAN cross to DANNY’s table, where BRIAN is now with DANNY, WAYNE, BO BBY, ANDREW, BRU C E and even underage L IT T LE STEVE. GARRY in his cow­ boy hat sits on a reversed chair.

But apart from the core group, DANNY’s bunch seems to’ve swollen: there are other MEN and BOYS at nearby tables, leaning against the wall.

GARRY (TO BRIAN): How’d you go?

BRIAN: S’posedtobem eetin’ these birds down the sports ground - and they never show' ...

FISKE: Here you go, boys ...

BRIAN takes one o f the jugs, drinks straight from it.

BRIAN: Something’s got into these women...

WAYNE: “Something”? Bloody Lizzie Curtis...

GARRY: Whole family think they’re bloody Christmas ...

Head shake. MEN and BOYS are looking around for something, someone... Suddenly DANNY gets to his feet.

He staggers unsteadily, then grins round at them all.

DANNY: Yeah - bugger ‘em. Bugger the lot o f‘em. Why don’t w'e all go for a little drive? It’s a nice night.

FISKE grins at MORGAN. 89A H UNTER’S H O TEL

FRONT

NIGHT

A long row' o f vehicles - cars and motorcycles - parked diagonally, noses into the kerb. MEN and BOYS silhouet­ ted against the night sky and the street lights as they move towards their vehicles. SU Z IE and her GIRLFRIEN D stand on the verandah, w'atching. A great roar and revving o f engines, Tracking along the verandah as the headlights go on, one after the other, as if an electric current joins the vehicles together and runs through them.

Yahooing, yells, hoots, the blaring o f horns as the vehicles back out. The squeal o f tyres. Horns hooting. The start o f the hunt.

90 EXT

CURTIS PLACE

FRONT NIGHT

A W IDE SH O T o f the Curtis place. A single light still burns in the living room. The houses nearby in darkness. From a distance comes a faint roar as o f many engines.

91 IN T /E X T CURTIS PLACE SLEEPO U T/PLAIN OUT BACK NIGHT

On the iron bed in the sleepout, ASTA lies asleep under a blanket. A half-eaten slice o f heavily iced chocolate cake sits on the bedside cabinet. The roar o f engines draws closer.

Now' they’re very close, sounding as if they’re just the other side o f the fibro w'alls o f the sleepout.

ASTA wakes up and lies still listening. Then she rolls over and looks out the flyscreened window's toward the plain. She sees: A couple o f cars careering around the back o f the house, lights on high beam, horns tooting. ASTA throws off the blanket. She’s fully dressed, but for her boots. She starts pulling them on. She grabs for her jacket and goes out the door. Horns toot and MEN yell.

92 EXT CURTIS PLACE NIGHT

REAR VERANDAH DOOR

ASTA leaps up the steps o f the back verandah and pounds on the door. As she does, she’s lit up by the headlights o f a car that hits the asbestos fence o f the rear courtyard, to the accompaniment o f laughter and yells. The house door opens almost at once. TIM stands there, bleary eyed, still clutching the book over which he fell asleep. ASTA pushes past him, into the kitchen and kicks the door shut.

93 IN T /E X T CURTIS PLACE K ITC H EN /R EA R COURTYARD NIGHT

As T IM locks and bolts the back door, ASTA looks out the window to the rear courtyard. M EN are getting out o f cars, bottles and beer cans in their hands. At the same moment, there’s a tinkle o f broken glass on the roof o f the house.

94 INT CURTIS PLACE

HOUSE HALLWAY NIGHT

LIZZIE is coming out o f her bedroom, sleep-tousled, pulling on a dressing gown, her eyes wide with fear. ASTA and T IM come into the hallway from the kitchen. For an instant, torches illuminate FACES at the kitchen windows.

ASTA at once slams the kitchen door and props a chair under the handle.

ASTA: Get dressed, Lizzie. No lights-and stay low. Quick as you can?

L IZ Z IE stands bewildered. ASTA pushes her gently back into her bedroom, as NORM A comes out o f her room, buttoning the front o f her dress, and goes past TIM and ASTA into L IZ Z IE ’S room.

On the other side o f the front door, there are heavy footsteps, knocking, giggling, the sound o f things being moved and thrown. T IM goes to the telephone.

95 INT NIGHT

CURTIS PLACE

LOU NGE/DINING ROOM

A standard lamp is on in the lounge where T IM was reading. Keeping low, ASTA moves fast to turn it off. Dark SHAPES move at the windows onto the front verandah.

96 INT CURTIS PLACE LIZZIE’S ROOM NIGHT

NORM A is helping L IZ Z IE on with jeans and jumper.

Suddenly a beer bottle smashes through the bedroom window and disintegrates against the wall. L IZ Z IE screams.

9 7 INT CURTIS PLACE HALLWAY

NIGHT

From above them, crashes and clatters as missiles land on the iron roof.

T IM rattles the phone cradle. The phone is dead.

Now the light in the hall goes out, plunging them into almost total darkness . L IZ Z IE , now dressed and carrying riding boots, comes out o f her room. NORM A is just behind her. A heavy knocking on the front door, as with a bit o f four by two...

BO BBY (OSV) (SO U T H ER N ACCEN T): Is Mizz Lizzie at home?

BRIAN (OSV): Yeah - we hear she turns on for the boys Laughter and more pounding on the door. Then: WAYNE (OSV): Aah - smash the fuckin’ thing in.

A heavy crashing starts on the front door. LIZ Z IE clings to T IM , NORM A to ASTA. 98 EX T CURTIS PLACE

FRONT NIGHT

Cars, trucks, utes, motorcycles parked on the forecourt by the petrol pumps, on the footpath, parked anyhow by the kerb. And we make out dim F IG U R ES: on the verandah o f the house, on the front steps, pounding and rattling on the double doors o f the workshop, rattling at the petrol pumps.

We might (or might not) make out WAYNE, BO BBY and BRIAN assaulting the front door o f the house, BR U C E and L IT T L E STEV E among those pounding on the work­ shop doors. Still O T H ER S, in the street, rain rocks and half bricks onto the roof...

There is not a lot o f shouting: the attackers go about their work as if with a silent, sullen fury.

On the opposite side o f the street, DANNY, hands on hips, surveys the scene, a smile on his face, but taking no active part himself. Leaning against the Fairlane on the other side o f the street - and looking increasingly anxious -A N D R E W . He licks his lips, glancing up and down the so far empty street.

99 IN T /E X T CURTIS PLACE HALLWAY AND CON­ NECTING PATH TO GARAGE NIGHT

From the kitchen, a crash, the sound o f broken glass and a cheer. Then the door between the kitchen and the hallway starts to shake. Things are smashed in the kitchen.

T IM leaps to shut the door into the lounge room: now there are V O IC ES in there too. With ASTA and NORMA following, T IM hauls L IZ Z IE out o f the house toward the stout door to the workshop office.

100

INT CURTIS PLACE WORKSHOP NIGHT

T IM bolts the heavy fire door between the house and the workshop. No time for re lie f- they’re not safe.

Almost at once there’s a pounding on the fire door.

And on the rear door. Shouts of, “They’re in here...” The glass o f the rear window comes in. Hands grope menacingly, enticingly through the grille as the boys call out to LIZZIE. ASTA’s eyes are flicking round the work­ shop, looking for exits, weapons. T IM is arming himself with a length o f iron pipe. Then: NORM A (AN APPEAL, AN ORD ER?): Get Lizzie out o f here. ASTA thinks for a split second. She exchanges a look with T IM . He races toward the window, yelling, smashing at the hands coming through the grille.

101 EX T

CURTIS PLACE

FRONT NIGHT

As in Scene 9 8 , the ATTACKERS continue their assault, but now those on the verandah,

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attacking the front door, have made it inside, and there are more around the workshop doors. Then camera pulls back, revealing that the Fairlane, DANNY and ANDREW have gone ...

102

EXT CURTIS PLACE FRONT NIGHT

ASTA now astride her bike. She turns the ignition to “O N ”. L IZ Z IE climbs up behind her. T IM tosses her an old helmet. L IZ Z IE catches it neatly. Her eyes meet those o f her father. L IZ Z IE puts the helmet on.

NORM A runs to the double front doors, holding the steam hose. For a moment, ASTA prays to her engine: “Start” . She nods to NORMA. NORM A glides back the heavy bolt o f the double doors. ASTA presses her starter button. The big engine roars into life. NORMA kicks open the double doors, blasting steam outside. ASTA opens the throttle wide: the big bike goes up on its rear wheel and goes.

103

EXT

CURTIS PLACE

FRONT

NIGHT

ASTA’s P.O.V. from the bike. MEN and BOYS jumping out o f the way. A narrow space between two cars. Hands trying to clutch. All this is a blur. Bike tacho on the red line.

Speedo at 100 kph. Roaring through.

Back at the doors, NORMA blasting steam, TIM laying about him with the pipe, trying to get the doors shut.

BRIAN and BO BBY try to grab NORMA. She blasts steam at them. BO BBY yells with pain. Leaning with all their strength on the doors, TIM and NORMA get them closed.

104 EXT

STREET NIGHT

High speed TRA VELLIN G SH O T: ASTA foreground, LIZ Z IE clinging on behind, pursued by three cars and BRIAN on his motorcycle.

105

INT

CURTIS PLACE

WORKSHOP

NIGHT

T IM and NORM A cower near the doors. From outside, pounding and smashing on the doors, a voice saying “W e’re gonna get you ... ” T IM and NORMA look at each other, terrified and not able to believe it. They’ve all gone mad... Outside, a car revs up.

106

EXT

RAILWAY FOOTBRIDGE

NIGHT

ASTA and LIZZIE turn into a pedestrian footbridge fol­ lowed by WAYNE. The three vehicles halt momentarily then speed towards the vehicle crossing.

1 0 7 E X T RAILW AY ROAD N IG H T On the far side o f the footbridge, ASTA accelerates into the street. The three cars have crossed the railway further up and speed toward ASTA. Almost at the point o f collision the vehicles handbrake turn, slewing themselves across the road.

ASTA (TO LIZ Z IE ): Hang on!

In a split second ASTA swerves off the road and onto the footpath. BRIAN is not so lucky. He brakes wildly, the big bike slews around, cannonballs into the side o f the car there and BRIAN is thrown across the bonnet onto the street. Cars one and two speed o ff after ASTA and LIZ Z IE. 108

EXT

MAIN STREET NIGHT

ASTA and L IZ Z IE round the comer into the main street.

Both cars are gaining rapidly and draw level on either side o f ASTA and LIZ Z IE . Hands reach out from windows, trying to grab them. The driver o f the vehicle on the left is grinning, keeping pace with the bike, swerving in and out, closer and closer. L IZ Z IE fumbles with the chin-strap o f her helmet pulls it off holds the strap like a sling, then, with all her strength, hurls it through the window o f the car, hit­ ting the DRJVERsm ack in the face. He yells with shock and pain. His hands leave the wheel. The car, out o f control at high speed, goes up on the footpath, and into a shop front.

Just ahead o f this disaster, a vehicle turns from a side street onto the main street,narrowly missing ASTA but right into the path o f the oncoming car. The pursuer brakes violently but rams the rear o f the oncoming car and rolls down the street, sliding to a halt in a shower o f sparks.

109

IN T /E X T CURTIS PLACE WORKSHOP NIGHT

From outside, a car smashes into the workshop doors: they start to give. T IM clutches his piece o f pipe, NORMA the steam hose.

T IM : Gotta get out, Mum... Get in the truck.

NORMA: No...

T IM : Get in the truck! I ’ll be right behind you.

He pushes her hard. She stumbles toward the truck. At exactly the same moment, the doors burst open and remaining BOYS pour in: we recognize WAYNE, BO BBY, BR U C E and LIT T L E STEV E, amongst O TH ERS. NORM A leaps into the tow truck, shuts the door, locks it.

The BOYS fall on T IM . He lays about him with the pipe, but they back him up against the rear o f the truck.

NORMA frantically trying to get the truck engine-started.

It fires. She crunches it into gear. Suddenly L IT T L E STEV E is at her window, grinning in at her like a maniac in his bandage, pounding on the window. T IM moves round the side o f the truck, swinging the pipe. The BOYS sur-

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round him. T IM gets up on the running board o f the truck. As soon as he’s there, NORMA puts her foot down, sending the truck smashing into the doors and the car directly outside. T IM flails des­ perately with his pipe. The tow truck engine whines in protest, pushing at the car in the way. And now WAYNE’s up on the back clambering towards T IM ...

110 EXT

MAIN STREET

POLICE STN

NIGHT

ASTA’s motorcycle skids to a stop outside the Police Station. The lights are on, the door is open. The main street seems quiet again.

ASTA hesitates, but: LIZ Z IE : Go back, Asta. I ’ll send Cuddy or... Go! LIZZIE turns and runs up the Police Station steps.

ASTA watches her a second, then roars off.

111

INT

POLICE STN

NIGHT

As the roar o f ASTA’s engine recedes, LIZZIE runs in and up to the counter. She bangs on the counter and calls out.

But there’s no answer: the place is empty.

112 CURTIS PLACE FRONT (AFTER ATTACK) NIGHT

All the attackers are gone. Debris is scattered all over the forecourt o f the place; the smashed doors gape open, the fluorescent lights o f the interior spilling out to show a couple o f timid and tentative N EIG H BO U R S, in their night clothes, approaching, peering, curious, horrified.

One car is parked at the kerb - TIN A ’s ‘bomb’ - and TIN A herself is crouched near T IM . He sits in the gutter, dazed, bloody, unable to quite think straight. TIN A checks his wounds with gentle fingers, trying not to cry. An elderly HUSBAND and W IFE help TIN A to get T IM to his feet and move toward TIN A ’s car.

TINA: Never shoulda gone home ...

T IM : Teen... You gotta find Mum... I ’ll be right...

Now the sound o f the ’roo shooter’s truck skidding to a stop. PENNY is driving and ROSS is beside her. ROSS stands out on the running board and surveys the scene.

ROSS: S h it...

And almost at the same moment, ASTA is pulling in on the bike, jumping off with: ASTA: Norma?

Where’s...

TINA (PANTING): I dunno...

T IM (IN T IN A ’S CAR): They... took Mum. Took... tow truck... Lizzie?

ASTA: Safe, Tim - safe. Oh, shit...

ASTA moves back to her bike. Now the helmet’s just an impediment. ASTA drops it. She beckons to TIN A “Lets go” . TINA tears herself away from T IM as: TIN A (TO T H E ELD ERLY C O U PLE) Get him to the hospital! Her ‘n’ me’ll start looking now... You find Rita, Pen? Find anyone and... Go! And TINA jumps on the back o f ASTA’s bike, ASTA moving off even before TIN A is settled.

ROSS: Give her the gun, Pen...!

The truck takes off with a shower o f gravel.

113

EXT

RIVER BANK, RAILWAY BRIDGE

NIGHT

The tow truck, its rear illuminated by the headlights o f another car, disappears over the edge o f a gully. The other car follows. For a moment, there’s the glow o f the two vehicles’ lights from below the dip. Then darkness. Silence as the engines cut out. Far away, the sound o f a police siren.

114 EXT

GINBORAK R.S.L. CLUB

NIGHT

Outside the R.S.L. D U LC IE is leaning out the window o f her old ute, explaining the situation with great urgency to a knot o f W OMEN: we see FAY, a WOMAN from the Meatworks, a TOWNSWOMAN, MELINA and her friends - and behind these, filled with trepidation, MRS S U L L I­ VAN. Almost at the same time, BACKGROUN D , CUDDY is standing on the kerb, with CU D D Y looking with furious anxiety as the police car, driven by GAVIN roars up, its siren dying.

D U L C IE :..... so if yous cornin’’ CUDDY: Come on, come on,come on...! Jump in. We gotta find her!

FAY runs around and jumps in the cabin with D U L ­ C IE ; so does the TOWNSWOMAN. The Meatworks WOMAN hitches up her Saturday night finery and climbs in the back o f the ute with MELINA. And - after a moment’s hesitation, so does MRS SULLIVAN. D U L C IE toots her horn and throws the ute into a big circle turn. At the same moment, CUD D Y is jumping into the police car and all we hear from him, before the police car takes off again, siren screaming, is: CUDDY: Where the Christ have you been?

SCENE 115 DELETED 116 EXT RAILWAY LIN E

NIGHT

The railway line curves away across the plain, the silver tracks gleaming in the beam o f a powerful spotlight. PENNY drives the truck slowly, ROSS on the running board, directing One spotlight one way; up on the truck, BETTY from the pub is directing another spotlight offinto the darkness. PATTI stands by with SH IR T in the back.

65

BETTY/PA TTI: Nor-ma... Nor-ma...

U6AEXT

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RIVER BANK NIGHT

D U L C IE ’s ute slowly bumps along a dirt road near the river. The headlights pick the paper bark trees out o f the darkness. M ELINA and MRS SULLIVAN stand in the back o f the ute calling into the darkness.

MRS SULLIVAN: Norma ...

MELINA: Mrs Curtis!

116B EXT

PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE

NIGHT

Dark figures o f several townspeople walk along the bridge.

Torches pierce the darkness below. Occasional calls.

117 E X T ALONG T H E RAILW AY L IN E N IG H T NORMA’s jammed into the middle o f the tow truck seat.

Her nose is bleeding and there’s a cut on her cheek. Her dress is ripped.

On one side o f her sits LIT T L E STEV E, at the wheel o f the truck. WAYNE sits the other side ofher, holding very tightly onto her arm. NORM A’s breathing heavily, far from beaten yet.

Both doors o f the truck are open. The other car sits nearby and the other boys, BO BBY, BR U C E and a couple o f ST EV E’s mates are crowded round the tow truck.

BO BBY jumps up on the running board and leans past WAYNE to speak right into NORM A’s face.

BO BBY: You bloody burnt me, y’old bitch!

NORMA: Good! Gudess little bastards ...

BR U C E (G ETTIN G W O R R IED ): Christ - what’re we gonna do with her?

NORMA: You’re gonna do nothing? Bimbos! I ’m gonna get yous all - name evert' one o f yous ...

She gets an arm free and swings a punch at BOBBY. BRIAN struggles to control her.

BO BBY: Fighting back, are you Gran’ma! Don’t look at me like that!

NORMA spits in his face. BO BBY wipes off the sp itand suddenly grins.

BO BBY: Know what we’re gonna do with her. Get her out o f the car... She’s gonna go blabbing, give her something to blab about ... Get her out, Wayne.

BO BBY jumps down. LIT T L E STEVE jumps out the other side, comesrunning round the truck. At the same time, WAYNE’s got the idea, starts hauling at NORMA. She reaches out with her other arm and grabs onto the steering wheel.

WAYNE: See where Lizzie gets it from... Jesus...

L IT T L E STEVE: Yeah - she was a tiger, eh?

BR U C E: Shut up! Shut up!

BOBBY jumps back up to help WAYNE. With the last o f her strength, NORMA makes a grab for the horn and sends a noisy blast into the night, at the same time yelling as loud as she can: NORMA: Help! Hee-llppp!

BOBBY and WAYNE pounce on her. She screams.

118 EXT MONTAGE OF FACES NIGHT

GINBORAK STREETS

In D U L C IE ’s ute at the river. D U LC IE, FAY, T H E TOWNSWOMAN, T H E M EATW ORKER, MRS SU L ­ LIVAN and MELINA. Far, far away - a scream and the sound o f a horn...PENNY, ROSS, BETTY, PATTI and SH IR L along the railway line. PENNY accelerates...

ASTA and TIN A stopped on the motorcycle on the roadside. Another scream.

TINA: The bridge. Other side o f the bridge...

ASTA opens the throttle right up...

119 E X T R IV ER BANK /R A ILW A Y BRID G E N IG H T Now' they’ve got NORMA out o f the truck and hold her hard against the front mudguard. WAYNE has one arm, L IT T L E STEV E the other. The other BOYS crow'd close, their faces hot. NORM A’s been hit: her Up is split and a trickle ofblood runs down her chin. She’s whimpering, eyes filled with tears from the pain. BO BBY leans close to her, twisting the front o f her dress in his hand.

BO BBY: Now don’t do that again, Grannie - maltin’ all that noise. D on’t you w'ant to have some fun?

Suddenly, the sound o f engines. Headlights. The BOYS freeze. Then, above them, the single headlight o f ASTA’s motorcycle on the bridge, turning o ff the road, bumping and sliding down towards them.

The BOYS panic.BOBBY throws NORMA to the ground with a curse; LITTLE STEV E jumps into the tow truck, feverishly tries to get the engine started; BO BBY and WAYNE take offinto the scrub along the river; the other BOYS and BR U C E get into the other car.

Now' ROSS’ truck’s coming off the road and down toward them. It cuts off the other car. Then another car coming o ff the road and down the slopes: it’s RITA with LORNA and her brother DAVE. ASTA drops the bike and she and TIN A take o ff after BO BBY and WAYNE. ASTA has a length o f chain. She catches up to BO BBY. The chain wTaps round BO BBY ’S shoulder. He screams. TINA catches up to WAYNE at the

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edge o f the water. H e’s got to get past her or jump into the black river. He runs at her. She grabs him, lifts a knee into his balls.

Now' the sound o f the police siren approaching. And D U L C IE ’s there, running across to NORMA, followed by FAY and MRS SULLIVAN. They pass L IT T L E STEVE, struggling in the grip o f PENNY and MELINA. RITA, DAVE and LORNA, along with some other W OM EN sur­ round the other BOYS. RITA grabs BR U C E by the shirt collar, nearly choking him.

D U LC IE gets to NORMA, and kneels beside her, holding her. MRS SULLIVAN watches, a hand to her mouth.

CUDDY and GAVIN slide down the slope and move towards NORMA. ASTA wrestles forward with BOBBY: one side o f his face is streaming with blood and he yelps with pain.CUDDY sees NORMA. His big, creased face crumples.

He looks away and finds himself facing TINA. She has WAYNE by the belt and shirt collar. He’s clutching his crotch. TINA virtually throw's him at CUDDY. WAYNE stumbles forward, crashing into a car. TINA is beside herself with rage, but she manages to say, hard and cold: TINA: Now - do your job - you useless bastard.

Silence for a moment. RITA and FAY push BRU C E forward. He confronts his mother, MRS SULLIVAN. She turns away from him for a moment - then suddenly turns back and spits in his face.

NORMA, helped by D U LC IE and FAY, manages to get up, as: NORMA: Tim? Is me son all right?

FAY: In the hospital, Norm. Hurt, but OK... OK. NORMA starts to cry.

D U LC IE (N EARTEARS): It’ll be right, love - it’ll all be right.

NORIvLA: Course it will, D uke - I know.

D U LC IE holds her. NORMA sees ASTA and: NORMA: Asta! Asta! Where’s my Lizzie!

ASTA (TO CU D D Y’S BLANK FACE): She’s all right?

CUDDY: I dunno - where is she?

ASTA - and all the rest - stare at CUDDY; we cut to: 1 1 9 A E X T G IN B O R A K PO LIC E STATION FR O N T & R EA R N IG H T LIZ Z IE appears at the door o f the Police Station and peers with anxious confusion up and down the empty street.

What is happening? Where is everybody? Why hasn’t ASTA - somebody, anybody - come for her? Cautiously, and keeping an eye on the still and empty street, she begins to descend the steps to the street.

Suddenly DANNY’s Fairlane sweeps into view, mov­ ing fast. Halfway down the steps, LIZ Z IE freezes. The Fairlane is skidding to a stop, going into reverse. L IZ Z IE jumps down the last steps and starts to run - in the opposite direction to the car - along the footpath and down the lane beside the Police Station.

The Fairlane stops its reverse, then lurches forward again in a sweeping U-tum , tyres screaming. L IZ Z IE is sprinting down the lane beside the Police Station, coming out onto a stretch o f gravel. She can see houses. One has a porch light on. She runs harder, frantically toward the light.

The Fairlane completes its U-tum. LIZ Z IE sprints like crazy for the house - any house will do. Now the Fairlane is coming up the roadway behind her. L IZ Z IE jumps the fence o f the house, runs for the front door. The Fairlane skids to a stop out front. ANDREW is getting out before the car has stopped. Then DANNY too...

L IZ Z IE pounds with her fists and kicks with her feet on the front door o f the house. No reaction. L IZ Z IE picks up a garden sprinkler - still attached to a hose - which lies at her feet on the verandah. ANDREW, then DANNY, jump the fence, moving in on her...

L IZ Z IE smashes the window o f the house and is about to yell for help... when a hand is clapped over her mouth.

ANDREW and DANNY grab her from both sides. She kicks and squirms like a mad thing as they drag her away.

They bundle her into the back o f the Fairlane. Only now, with the Fairlane F.G ., does a light go on inside the house.

A police siren is heard - but away in the distance.

The Fairlane screams off, DANNY at the wheel. We glimpse ANDREW in the back seat, holding the furiously struggling LIZ Z IE . Silence again in the street - except for the faint, approaching siren.

119B EXT POLICE STATION FRONT NIGHT

The Police siren louder, but still in the distance - as ASTA and TINA, on the big bike, pull up out front o f the Police Station. Immediately the bike stops: ASTA: Lizzie! Lizzie?

She kicks the side stand out and almost lets the big bike fall onto it. TINA puts a foot out to stop falling off. But

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ASTA is running full tilt up the Police Station steps: ASTA: Lizzie? Lizz-ie!

TIN A is o ff the bike, mns up the steps too, stops halfway... H old. We wait for what’ seems an eternity, but is only two seconds before... ASTA comes running out again, her face showing acute bewilderment and fear. She comes down to TINA. She can’t believe it... On the soundtrack alone, the police car is almost upon us...

AS W E C U T T O : 120 INT/TRAVELLING DANNY’S FAIRLANE NIGHT

The Fairlane bumping along a gravel road now, but still being driven at great speed: we hear the rumble o f the tyres over the stones. Outside the windows, thick scrub.

In the back seat, LIZ Z IE appears to’ve given up.

Breathing heavily, she sits quite still. ANDREW has an arm around her shoulders and his other hand over her mouth.

Because he thinks she’s worn out, his grip is relaxed’ ANDREW: Where’re we going? For Christ’s sake ...

Before DANNY can answer, L IZ Z IE bites ANDREW ’s hand as hard as she can and knocks away his arm. ANDREW yelps at his bitten hand. L IZ Z IE ’S hands like claws, tearing and scratching and at the same time: LIZ Z IE : Help? Help! Somebody help me...

And SIM ULTAN EOUSLY DANNY: Hang onto her. Shut her up, you weak turd...

ANDREW: Bit me? The bitch bit me. Stop the car! Stop ANDREW tries to fend off L IZ Z IE ’s blows. She falls backward on the seat and as she reaches with her hands over her head for the door handle she kicks hard at ANDREW with riding-booted feet. ANDREW ’S yelling for DANNY to stop the car. DANNY is laughing. He drives faster. A curve in the dirt road, ahead.

L IZ Z IE gets the door open a fraction. ANDREW tries to kneel up to get on top ofher. She kicks him in the balls - not enough to disable him, but enough to really hurt.

As DANNY throws the car hard into the curve. AN­ DREW , naked hatred on his face, gets his foot under L IZ Z IE ’s kicking legs and kicks out hard at her, connecting with her buttock. The momentum o f the curve aids the kick and L IZ Z IE somersaults out the open door. There’s a sickening thump and: ANDREW (SCREAMS): Jesus! Oh, Jesus! Stop the car!

DANNY slams on the brakes - as we cut to: 121

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POLICE STATION

NIGHT

The front o f the station is lined with vehicles. The place itself is ablaze with light. There are TOW N SPEO PLE all along the footpath, sitting on the fence and the station steps. Raised voices are heard from inside as GAVIN and the D ET EC T IV E get on with booking people. M R and MRS HEMMINGWAY come down the steps and a scuffle breaks out between M R HEMMINGWAY and DAVE. MRS SULLIVAN, in tears, is led down the steps by her HUSBAND, who looks mortified.

GARRY sits on the bonnet o f a car with SU Z IE and RACHEL. ROSS and PENNY sit on the tray o f their truck, ROSS exhausted. DAVE’s car, LORNA in the passenger seat, pulls up in the street. FAY and PENNY ROSS come running over. A look among the W OM EN is enough to establish no luck ...

NORMA sits up in the cabin o f D U L C IE ’s ute.

D U LC IE comes to the window. Again, a look is enough to say that L IZ Z IE still hasn’t been found. NORM A’ s hand rests on the window ledge. D U LC IE covers NORM A’s hand with her own.

D U LC IE: Let me take yous down to the hospital, love.

NORMA: Not till they find Liz. I ’m all right. (ALM OST STARTS T O CRY, STO PS H ERSELF) D U LC IE squeezes her friend’s hand and shakes her head, then they both look to where ASTA and TIN A are pulling in on the bike. ASTA looks haggard and desperate.

TINA looks across and catches D U LC IE and NORM A’s eye. Unnecessarily, she shakes her head, “no” .

Another angle, tighter on ASTA and TINA. ASTA puts the bike onto its stand. For a moment, they put their arms round each other’s waists - a gesture o f comfort TINA: When it’s light - soon as it’s light...

But now there’s a stir in the CROW D. Some sitting people stand and there is a general movement onto the footpath at the base o f the steps leading up to the Police Station verandah.

Coming down the street is a police car, driven by CUDDY. A CONSTABLE sits in the back beside AN­ D REW and DANNY. Behind the police car, a white Mer­ cedes, driven by MRS RO D O LPH . Beside her sits a man in a pearl grey suit, the Rodolph LAWYER.. The police car rolls to a stop. The CROW D presses up to it, coming around onto the street side as well, getting between it and the Mercedes. In the back seat, ANDREW looks scared, but DANNY looks calm. The flicker o f a smug smile crosses his face.

The press o f the CROW D is so great against the car

that C U D D Y has to work hard to get his door open as: CUD D Y: Righto. Stand back. Stand back there.

He manages to get out o f the car - and finds himself confronting TINA. But every eye is fixed on CUDDY. C U D D Y (SHAKES H IS HEAD): Say they been out the Rodolph place since round nine ...

Those in the CROW D who didn’t hear this have it passed back to them. Sceptical murmurs run through the crowd. BE T T Y the barmaid gives a snort o f derision.

C U D D Y moves to the rear door o f the police car. MRS R O D O LP H and her LAWYER are out o f their car. MRS R O D O LPH is inscrutable, the LAWYER calmly arrogant.

C U D D Y looks over the heads o f the CROW D and calls up to the Station: CU D D Y: Gavin. Ga-vin! (TO T H E CROW D ): Stand back. I said stand back here ...

There’s just enough space for CU D D Y to open the reardoor. He does. DANNYand ANDREWslide out. The other CO N STA BLE is third to get out. Now ASTA’s next to CUD D Y. She takes in DANNY’s face: a calm smile with a touch o f his sweet, innocent “gee, I don’t know what all the fuss is about” . AN DREW licks his lips and looks back to his mother and the LAWYER. He is terrified. The LAWYER smiles, nods reassuringly. Meanwhile: CUDDY: Clear the way here. (YELLS) Gav-in! You people stand out o f the way. With great suddenness, there is a movement in the CROW D - like a convulsive heave.

The CO N STABLE still in the car leaves his sliding out a fraction too late: ROSS leans on the door and shuts it again, trapping the CO N STABLE in the car. RITA, LORNA, DAVE, TIN A and some M EATW ORKERS push between C U D D Y and DANNY and ANDREW. The whole CROW D tightens: pressing in on the police car, surround CU D D Y, cutting o ff M RS RO D O LPH and the LAWYER. GAVIN appears at the head o f the steps and the steps are jammed.

ASTA steps right in front o f DANNY. ANDREW is just behind him. There’s an element in the CROW D which yells out, “Righto - outa the way - give the cops a fair go...” but having said that, goes quiet. The whole CROW D goes quiet. ASTA looks straight at DANNY. He looks Straight at her. ASTA’s voice is very low - only those immediately near her can hear what she says, as: ASTA: Where is she?

There’s a tight circle now round ASTA, DANNY and AN­ DREW . C U D D Y’s about to speak, but stops; is about to move, but is stopped. M RS R O D O LP H ’s voice pierces the thick silence like an icicle: M RS R O D O LPH : Sergeant - can we get on with this?

ROSS: Shut up!

ASTA has never taken her eyes o ff DANNY. ASTA: Where is she?

DANNY: “She”? W ho’s she?

ASTA (T H E EYES FIL LED W ITH RAGE): You know pretty boy.

DANNY just smirks.

ANDREW : We’ve just been having a few drinks at my place, Miss Cadell. Um - ask my mother ...

ASTA appears to take no notice o f this whatsoever.

She never deviates her attention from DANNY. ASTA: Tell me or 1 will break your neck.

DANNY snorts derisively, looks around the CROW D for support. Who is this loonie? He shakes his head incredu­ lously, as if this whole situation is outrageous and: DANNY: Yeah? You and what army? Get outa the way, you mad dyke.

He smiles contemptuously - as if she’s a mere irritant - and goes to push past her.

ASTA’s control snaps. She backhands DANNY with a stinging blow across the face. The CROW D gasps. Some go to move forward, but others hold them back as: DANNY: Bloody women! Bloody, stinking, stupid bitches!

He throws a wild punch at her, but now ASTA erupts with a rage beyond reason, beyond the limits o f her strength.She seems not to feel his blows as she grabs him by the throat, shaking him, lifting a knee with all her force into his crotch, felling him to the ground, falling on top o f him, her hands round his throat, squeezing, the fingernails digging into the windpipe. DANNY is gasping, fighting for breath, his blows weak.

C U D D Y makes a huge effort to get through, yelling.

CUD D Y: Enough! That’s enough ...

But now TIN A is behind ASTA, holding her shoul­ ders, then reaching down, freeing the convulsive hands TINA: Asta, Asta - you’ll kill him...

ANDREW goes to move forward, but is restrained by R ITA and PENNY ROSS. ASTA releases DANNY’s throat and grabs him by the hair, pounds his head on the ground.

ANDREW : Stop it! D on’t hurt him! The road ...ju st near

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closer for a better view. There are murmurs from the CROWD: “Is she dead?” . “Yeah, must be.” “Jeez. How about th a t...” “Old Danny’s gonna go for a row,

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the quarry.

ASTA drops DANNY at once, stands and begins fighting her way through the crowd. She’s injured a hand and holds it stiffly before her.

ANDREW : It wasn’t meant to happen...We just wanted...

MRS R O D O LPH (A WARNING LIK E A W HIPLASH): Andrew!

ANDREW : She fought like crazy... jumped out o f the car ... we couldn’t find her... we looked...

MRS R O D O LPH : Do not say one more word, Andrew!

The CROW D parts enough for mother and son to look at each other - and ANDREW shuts up. CUDDY looks at MRS R O D O LPH with loathing - and now is allowed to push through. ASTA, running for her bike.

CUD D Y hauling DANNY upright by his shirtfront, throws him back against the police car with a thud, restrain­ ing his own rage and contempt with a great effort o f will.

He twists his great fist in the shirt, snarling: CUDDY: Pity she didn’t finish you off... “mate”...

Angle, a high shot: some o f the CROWD running to their vehicles: 122

EXT SIDE ROAD

QUARRY DAY/DAWN

The big motorcycle lies askew in the dusty road. The camera comes o ff it, craning up and finding a dead tree, stark against the pale morning sky, close by the wail o f an empty dam. Down the side o f the dam, two sets o f tracks: one o f running feet, the other as o f someone who’s dragged and crawled themselves... A figure in black sits rocking back and forth, cradling a body in her arms.

ASTA holds the dead body o f LIZ Z IE and weeps, her cries at first the only sounds amongst the dawn birds. But then we become aware o f the sound o f engines... From high up still, we see trucks, cars, a couple o f bikes, utes, the police car... Ginborak is coming out to look. TOW N SPEOPLE are getting out, moving forward, lining up on the dam wall against the sky...

Some are awed, touched - but for many, after the night o f alarms and excursions, there’s a bizarre, carnival feel in the cool dawn air.

We see FISKE and H EM M IN G W A Y- almost pleased at this; we see quite a few MEN from the pub, we see EIL EEN and BERYL, with their BO YFRIEN DS, avid for the show; we see GARRY, who’s scored at last he’s got SU Z IE on one arm and RACHEL on the other...

But we also see RITA, LORNA, DAVE, FAY, PENNY, ROSS, BETTY , PATTI, MELINA, MRS SULLIVAN, SH IR L, PATTI, the TOW N SPEOPLE, the MEATW O R K E R And D U L C IE ’s ute is drawing to a stop: D U L C IE ’s getting down from the cabin, TIN A’s getting out o f the back. And NORMA in the cabin, peering through the CROW D, not yet knowing, not yet allowing herself to think...

Now CU D D Y is pushing through the CROW D, through the rim o f people along the dam wall ... No one’s gone down to ASTA, curious though they might be.

CUD D Y and TIN A go down the slope together almost side by side - but as if quite unaware o f each other.

CUDDY: Holy Mary... Holy Mary, Mother o f God...

ASTA looks up at TINA and CU D D Y and holds L IZ Z IE to her almost fiercely, her eyes filled with tears...

Only now do we see L IZ Z IE fully, if for the briefest moment. She isn’t beautiful in death. Her hair is matted with blood, one side o f her face grazed raw by the stones, her limbs twisted like the broken wings o f a bird. Like CUD D Y and TINA, we don’t want to look long.

A long pause. A wind stirs. Subdued chatter and even some laughs heard from the TOW NSPEOPLE. Now RITA, ROSS and PENNY come down the slope.

They get to within a few feet and stop. Flash RITA starts to cry. CU D D Y crouches to ASTA. He slips his arms under the body and tries to lift it up. ASTA won’t let him. She holds onto the body with a cry o f denial. TINA crouches by CUD D Y and gently helps him. ASTA releases the body, her hands trailing over it as the other two lift it up. Then she too gets to her feet. All those with the body look up.

Now NORMA, a blanket round her shoulders, stands at the top o f the slope, her friend D U LC IE beside h e r - but D U LC IE is looking anxiously at her friend, not down the slope. Down there, TIN A steps back. It’s CUD D Y and ASTA who carry the body between them, RITA, TINA, ROSS and PENNY walking either side.

ASTA and C U D D Y’s eyes meet over the body as they struggle up the slope. As they get to the top o f the slope, NORM A looks at the face o f her dead grand-daughter then stares at the ground, apparently broken.

D U L C IE moves to her. ASTA and CU D D Y moving with the body o f L IZ Z IE toward D U L C IE ’s ute RITA, PENNY and ROSS still with them. The CROWD presses

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eh? “ RITA is still crying. Those with the body pass EILEEN and BERYL in the CROWD. BERYL looks impassive, but EIL EEN detaches herself, moves to RITA. EILEEN : Are you all right, Reet?

RITA shakes her head - “N o” - and moves on. EILEEN looks stricken. She’s been wrong and her face shows she knows it. Nearby, GARRY is with SU Z IE and RACHEL. GARRY has a bottle in one hand and a stupid grin on his face. RACHEL is wide-eyed, but SU Z IE is crying. Ever the opportunist, GARRY slips an arm around SU Z IE ’s shoul­ ders with a “There, there...” gesture. But SU Z IE shakes him off, angrily, and moves away from him... A number o f older TOW NSM EN remove their hats as a sign o f respect for the dead.

At D U L C IE ’s ute, D U LC IE herself moves to spread some sacks and an old tarp in the back o f the ute. M R H EM MINGWAY detaches himself from the CROWD and helps by letting down the tailgate o f the ute. Helped now by TINA and LORNA, ASTA and CUD D Y lift L IZ Z IE and lay her gently in the back o f the ute. D U LC IE pulls the corner o f the tarp over L IZ Z IE ’S face.

The CROWD presses closer. NORMA stands by the ute, gripping the side o f it for support. D U LC IE , and now FAY, are with her. NORMA begins to climb into the back o f the ute. D U LC IE and FAY help her up. H EM M IN G ­ WAY closes the tailgate. NORMA moves so that she stands in the back o f the ute, leaning on the roof o f the cabin. She still has the blanket draped round her shoulders. Suddenly she lifts her eyes - and they are fierce. The CROWD goes quiet. With a sweeping, almost grand, gesture, NORMA indicates the body: NORMA: D ’you see this, you people? D ’you see?

And then she leans back against the ute’s cabin, as if exhausted. ASTA now stands alone on one side o f the ute, gripping the walls, looking down at the covered body.

Beyond her, but blurred and turned away, TINA, RITA, LORNA, PENNY, D U LC IE and FAY - and be­ yond them again, DAVE and ROSS. Now CUD D Y has moved so that he is on the other side o f the ute, facing ASTA across the body. Just behind CUDDY, GAVIN, and then the CROW D, the people o f Ginborak. NORMA sinks to sit by the body, huddled against the ute’s cabin, her eyes down on the body.

ASTA can’t bear it. She lifts her eyes to find CUDDY looking hard at her. He is lost in anger at himself and a helpless frustration. He takes it out on ASTA. CUDDY: Well - I hope you’re bloody satisfied.

ASTA stares at him. She can’t speak.

Then NORMA lifts her eyes to look at CUDDY. She reaches out a hand to cover ASTA’s. Then TINA, RITA, PENNY, FAY, LORNA, PATTI, BETTY and MEATW O RKER #1 - all o f them, move so that they stand with ASTA. Beyond the W OMEN, ROSS and DAVE. TINA: No,Wal - we’re not bloody satisfied-not by a long way - “mate” ...

All these W OMEN look steadily at CUDDY. It’s not personal. It’s just what TIN A says-they’re »otsatisfied and their faces say they intend to do something about it.

CUDDY takes this in. He drops his eyes and nods - “Fair enough”. Then: LORNA: Sergeant...?

He looks at her.

LORNA moves around the rear o f the ute and up to CUDDY. She’s scared. DAVE moves quickly to his sister, but not to stop h e r - not this time. LORNA swallows hard.

She knows everyone is listening.

LORNA: Sergeant... I ’ll be down the Police Station at nine o ’clock. ‘Kay? I ’ll be laying charges... ‘n’ this time I ’m not running away.

CUD D Y lifts his eyes to DAVE, who stands right behind LORNA. And DAVE just looks at him. CUDDY nods. H e’ll be there.

Now D U LC IE and M EATW ORKER #1 are in the cabin o f the ute. D U LC IE starts the engine. The ute starts to move.

A space is left between ASTA and the women, on one side, and CUD D Y on the other. ASTA, TINA, RITA, PENNY, PATTI, BETTY, FAY begin to move as a group after the slowly moving ute. ROSS joins PENNY. LORNA and DAVE join this group. Then L IT T L E SU Z IE ... then EILEEN ... then MRS SULLIVAN. They move toward camera. The shot develops till we have almost a single on ASTA - her face streaked with tears, but her head up, the other W OM EN with her.

FR E EZ E FRAME

THE END 67

FEATURES PRE PRODUCTION

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FEATURES POST PRODUCTION

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PRODUCTION

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LINDA SAFARI ALMOST ALIEN Production co.

Entertainment Partners Producer James Michael Vernon Director R olf de Heer Scriptwriter Peter Lofgren Assoc, producer Penny Wall Photography Martin McGrath 1st asst director Don Cranberry Editor Pippa Anderson Casting Forcast Publicity Lionel Midford Synopsis: A TV weather forecaster goes through a mid-life crisis when he discovers, after 18 years o f marriage and two children, that his wife is an alien.

BEYOND MY REACH Executive producer Producer Writer Assoc, producer Publicity

Peter Boyle Frank Howson Frank Howson Barbi Taylor Lionel Midford

BREAKAWAY Prod, company

Breakaway Films P/LUkiyo Films P/L Dist. co. Smart Egg/Cinema Enterprises Don McLennan Producers Jane Ballantyne Director Don McLennan Jan Sardi Scriptwriter Zbigniew Friedrich Photography Casting Greg Apps Synopsis: When Joey (a prisoner on the run) takes Reginald (an accountant) hos­ tage, he gets more than he bargained for. '

THE PHANTOM MOVIE Phantom Films Pty Ltd Prod. co.

Peter Sjoquist Producer Ken Shadie Scriptwriter Lee Falk Based on comic by Prod, designer Grace Walker Bruce Sherlock Exec, producer Mark Turnbull Assoc, producer

THE STARS ARE UPSIDE DOWN Prod. co.

Soundstage Australia Ltd Tibor Meszaros Producer Mario Andreacchio Director Scriptwriter Joy Whitby Based on novel by Gabriel Alington Hannah Downie Exec, producer Assoc, producer Joy Whitby Prod, supervisor Robert Cocks Soundstage Australia Ltd Studios T racks Grasshopper Productions Movielab Laboratory S I .4 million Budget 90 mins Length 16mm Gauge Synopsis: The story' ofTavy, a 16-year-old English servant igirl, who finds love and a challenging new life in mid-19th century Australia.

YOUNG FLYNN Executive producer Producer Scriptwriters Associate producer Publicity

Peter Boyle Frank Howson Frank Howson Alister Webb Barbi Taylor Lionel Midford

FOR INCLUSION IN THE PRODUCTION SURVEY CONTACT CINEMA PAPERS ON 429 5511

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THE DELINQUENTS

Prod. co. Soundstage Australia Limited Dist. company UAA Producer Tibor Meszaros Animation director Laszlo Ujvari Scriptwriters Joan Ambrose Tibor Meszaros Peter Jeffrey Script editor Joan Ambrose Based on novel by Coper, Gat 8c Rozgoni Photography Sandor Polyak Sound recordist Ric Curtin Geza Paal Editor Prod, designer Sandor Polyak Composers K. Peek R. Szikora C.S. Bogdan G. Berkes M. Fenyo A. Bodnar G. Szentmihalyi Robert A. Cocks Assoc, producer Exec, producer Hannah Downie Prod, supervisor David Downie Endre Sik Prod, managers Janos Juhasz Allie Conley Prod, secretary Robert Sharpe Prod, accountants Sandor Antalne Miklos Katalin 1st asst director Casting Watermelon Valley Productions Storyboard Janos Katona Janos Katona Character designer Music performed by Kevin Peek Sound editors Ric Curtin S. Kalman Ric Curtin Mixers S. Kalman Animation Hollo Laszlo Film Studio Opticals Hungarian Film Laboratory Studios Soundstage Australia Limited Hollo Laszlo Film Studio Hungaroton Tracks Hungarian Film Laboratory Laboratory 90 mins Length 35mm Gauge Eastmancolor Shooting stock Synopsis: A story' o f intrigue, adventure, mystery, action and romance, combining humour and heroism with rock’n’roll music for all ages. The heroine is Linda, a police officer with Interpol. She: is well known for her Tae Kwon Do and her linguistic skills.

Several stories operate simultaneously and the protagonist always wins against great odds, without guns, in her fight against organized international <zrime.

Prod, company Dist. company Producers

The Delinquents P/L Greater Union Alex Cutler Michael Wilcox Chris Thomson Director Mac Gudgeon Scriptwriters Dorothy Hewett Lex Marinos Clay Frohman Prod, consultant Criena Rohan Based on novel by Andrew Lesnie Photography Paul Brincat Sound recordist John Scott Editor Laurence Eastwood Prod, designer David Bowie Composer Executive producers Greg Coote John Tarnoff Graham Burke Irene Dobson Line producer Prod, coordinator Sharon Miller Rosslyn Abernethy Prod, manager Phil Urquhart Unit manager Location managers Colin Oddy John Watson Prod, secretary Rebecca Coote Prod, accountants Lea Collins Dianne Brown Base liaison Trish Wallace Colin Fletcher 1st asst director 2nd asst director Toby Pease 3rd asst director Emma Schofield Jackie Sullivan Continuity Rebecca Coote Producers’ assistant Casting Forcast (Michael Lynch Rae Davidson) Jane O ’Hara Extras casting Gabrielle Dunn Unit assistant Colin Dean Focus puller Lyddy Van Gyen Clapper loader Key grip Robyn Morgan Robbie van Amstel Asst grip Gaffer Simon Lee Peter Bushby Third electrics Fourth electrics Glen Court Alex Paton Boom operator Art director Rob Robinson Asst art directors Diaan Wajon Tim Ferrier Michelle McGahey Bruce Finlayson Costume designer Make-up Judy Lovell Asst hair/make-up Yvonne Savage Sandi CicheUo Costume supervisor Wardrobe asst Marilyn Brent Standby wardrobe Julie Barton Props buyer David McKay Standby props John Osmond Special effects Ray Fowler Lorry d’Ercole Choreography Lissa Coote Set decorator Ray Pedler Scenic artist Peter Collias Drew Young Carpenters Gary Wilson Dave Franks Bruce Fletcher Set construction Phil Worth Asst editor Liz Goldfinch Musical coord.

Christine Woodruff Set finishers Dave Driffin Desmond Keena Wayne Truce Dialogue editor Greg Bell Sound editor Soundage Editing assistant Raj Oakley Fx editor Ashley Grenville Stunts coordinator Bob Hicks Action vehicle coord.

Gerald Knight Still photography Barry Peake Best boy Greg Allen

THE MAGIC RIDDLE Prod. co.

Yoram Gross Film Studio Dist. co.

Beyond International Group Yoram Gross Producer Director Yoram Gross Scriptwriters Yoram Gross Leonard Lee Assoc, producer Sandra Gross Music Guy Gross Storyboard Ray Nowland Prod, supervisor Jeannette Toms Prod, manager Rod Lee Length 80 minutes Gauge 35 mm Cast: Robyn Moore, Keith Scott Synopsis: An enchanting story which bor­ rows characters and events from popular fairy tales and weaves them into one charm­ ing and suspenseful tale o f love, mystery and mirth.

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Alan Long Shane Minslow Fiona Searson Dennis Davidson 8c Assoc.

Dermi Gordon Catering Studios Warner Roadshow Studios Colorfilm Pty Ltd Mixed at Colorfilm Pty Ltd Laboratory $ 10 million Budget 100 minutes Length 35mm Gauge Agfa Shooting stock Samuelson Camera equipment Film Services Australia P/L Completion guarantors Completion Bond Co. Ine. Cast: Kylie Minogue (Lola), Charlie Schlat­ ter (Brownie), Desiree Smith (Mavis), Todd Boyce (Lyle), Angela Punch McGregor (Mrs Lovell), Lynette Curran (Mrs Hansen), Melissa Jaffer (Aunt Westbury), Bruno Lawrence (Bosun).

Synopsis: Set in the Fifties, The D elin­ quents is a love story that follows the grow­ ing relationship between Lola and Brownie, two young teenagers on the run.

Runner Rushes runner Unit publicist

A STING IN THE TALE Prod, company Dist. company

Rosa Colosimo P/L Octopus Worldwide Media Enterprises Producers Rosa Colosimo Reg McLean Director Eugene Schlusser Scriptwriter Patricia Edgworth Based on idea by Rosa Colosimo Photography Nicholas Sherman Sound recordist Michael Piper Editor Zbigniew Friedrich Exec, producer Rosa Colosimo Prod, manager Alison Sadler Unit manager Julie Wurm Location manager Ean Bidgood Prod, accountant Reg McLean 1st asst dirctor Arthur D ’Aprano Continuity Heather Oxenham Lighting camera Nicholas Sherman Focus puller Michael Kelly Key grip Freddo Dierck Asst grip Daniel Schlusser Gaffer Tom Moody Boom operator Scott Piper Art director Lisa Brennan Make-up Ann-Maree Hurley Wardrobe Anita Fioravanti Special effects John Armstrong Jay Western Asst editor Annette Kelly Stunts coordinator Zev Elefpheriou Still photography Tom Moody Best boy Andrew Robertson Runner Joanne Lee Publicity Silvana Scibilia Julia Fraser Catering Peter Smith - Kookaburra Catering Mixed at Hendon Studios Laboratory Cinevex Length 90 mins Gauge 16mm Shooting stock Eastman Kodak Cast: Diane Craig (Diane Lane), Garry Day(BarryRobins),LynneWiUiams(Louise Parker), Edwin Hodgeman (Monroe), Don Barker (PM ), John Noble (PM ’s minder), Tony Mack (Michael Meadows), Bob Newman (Permanent secretary), Gordon Goulding (Wilson Sinclair),. Patrick Edgeworth (Editor).

Synopsis: Newly-elected Government MP Diane Lane is determined to become Australia’s first woman Prime Minister. Her best friend and confidante Louise Parker, a political reporter, wants to become editor

o f her paper. Unaware o f Diane’s plans her married lover Barry Robbins, the Minister o f health, has similar ambitions and plots the demise o f the current Prime Minister.

DOCUMENTARIES CHOCOLATES, GIANTS AND PEACHES ROALD DAHL LIVE IN MELBOURNE Prod, company T V Ed Productions/ Min. o f Education Victoria Producer Lily Steiner Director Lily Steiner Camera Noel Penn Audio Anthony Artmann Editors Mark Williams Lily Steiner Prod, assistants Jayne Catterina Judi Latham Synopsis: This series o f three programs was recorded live at the Dallas Brooks Hall during Roald Dahl’s recent visit to M el­ bourne. He recalls anecdotes, reads from his books, and answers questions from the children in the audience.

COVER TO COVER - ROALD DAHL Prod, company T V Ed Productions/ Min. o f Education Victoria Producer Lily Steiner Director Lily Steiner Camera Noel Penn Audio Anthony Artmann Editors Mark Williams Lily Steiner Prod, assistants Jayne Catterina Judi Latham Synopsis: The ‘Cover to Cover’ series looks at children’s authors and illustrators. This program was recorded during Roald Dahl’s recent visit to Australia.

Producer Director Scriptwriter Photography Sound recordists

Frank Heimans Frank Heimans Paul Rea John Thornton George Weis Hugo De Vries Synopsis: In M oral Panic examines the social history and psychology o f punish­ ment, comparing Australian methods with those overseas.

110 W est Street. Crows Nest N SW 20 6 5 Australia Phone: [0 2 ] 9 2 2 -3 1 4 4 ) Fax: (02) 9 57 50 0 1 ) Modem : (0 2 )9 2 2 7 6 4 2

IT’S NOT ALL RUBBISH Prod, company

Ministry o f Education/ TV Ed Productions Producer Ivan Gaal Director Ivan Gaal Scriptwriter Bob Phelps Photography Nicholas Sherman Sound recordist CatherineSouth Editor Ivan Gaal Composer Rex Watts Assoc, producer DallasKinnear Boom operator Tom Kantor Make-up Jane Catterina Narrator/presenter Rob Gell Still photography Don Porter Laboratory EditDecision Company Pty Ltd Length 28 mins Gauge 1" video Shooting stock Fuji BVU Synopsis: A 28-min. documentary filmed at Brunswick East High School. The pro­ gram is about how a group o f cross-aged high school students empower themselves with knowledge and skills they will need in order to successfully organize, in a demo­ cratic manner a recycling program in their school. The program will be presented by Rob Gell, the well-known weather presen­ ter on Channel 9 , who is also an expert conservationist.

Your complete Negative Matching Service including • Time Coding onto 8" Floppy Disc • Super 16mm • Syncing Neg or Pos Rushes • 16mm & 35mm Edge-Coding Service (“ Rubber Numbering” ) • Tight deadlines our speciality • 24 hours a day, 7 days a week if required.

Contact Greg Chapman Tel (02) 439 3988 Fax (02) 437 5074 105/6-8 C LA R K E ST.,

DOWN FROM DARWIN

CROWS N EST NS W 2065

Ordinary Miracle Pictures PARENT/TEACHER BruceReady INTERVIEW SKILLS Brenton Harris Prod, company T V Ed Productions/ Director Tony Le Maistre Min. o f Education Victoria Scriptwriter MikeSexton Producer LilySteiner Director LilySteiner Photography BruceReady Prod, manager Brenton Harris Synopsis: A drama that focuses on com­ munication skills necessary for successful Length 50 mins interaction during parent/teacher inter­ Gauge 16mm to 1" video views in skills.

Synopsis: A look at the top end o f Australia and debris that remains after World War II. Prod. co.

Producers

GIANTS OF TIME

Film Studio and Production Offices for Hire

PARENTS HELPING CHILDREN TO READ

TV Ed Productions/ Prod, company JuniperFilmsProd, company Min. o f Education Victoria Dist. company JuniperFilms Producer LilySteiner Producer John Davy Tristram Director LilySteiner Director Ian James Wilson Scriptwriter Nadine Amadio Synopsis: A drama that aims to provide parents and relatives with useful insights Photography Garry Maunder Sound recordist RalphSteeleand ideas for helping children who are learning to read.

Synopsis: A celebration o f humanity, wis­ dom and the spirit o f old people.

Avalon Film Corporation 29 Mitchell Street North Sydney Available now for hire

Phone:

POSTCARDS FROM ITALY HAEMODIALYSIS

Prod, company Colosimo Film Productions Pty Ltd Prod, company FlindersMedia, Dist. company Octopus Worldwide Flinders Medical Centre Media Enterprises Producer Mike Davies Producer Rosa Colosimo Director Mike Davies Director Luigi Acquisto Scriptwriter Mike Davies Based on orig.idea by Rosa Colosimo Based on the idea by Mike Davies Photography SoniaLeber Sound recordist Andrew Ganczarzcyk Editor LuigiAcquisto Editor Janet Todd Exec, producer Rosa Colosimo Composer Robert Krai Prod, manager Kellie Romain Exec, producer Bronte Turner Prod, assistant DianaCavuoto Assoc, producer Rod Larcombe Camera operator Vladimir Osherov Camera operator Janet Todd Camera assistant SoniaLeber Art director AlanBendey Publicity Kellie Romain Music performed by Robert Krai Length 55 mins Sound editor AndrewGanczarzcyk Gauge 1" video Gauge 3/ 4" video Shooting stock SP Betacam Synopsis: A dialysis patient with end-stage Cast: Justin O ’Brien, Jeffrey Smart, David renal failure demonstrates a satisfactory lifes­ Malouf, Princess Niki Borghese, Anna tyle and demonstrates a satisfactory lifestyle Calandra, Bernard Hickey, Franco Nero, and demonstrates haemodialysis.

Desmond O ’Grady, Lori Whiting, Rod IN MORAL PANIC Dudley.

Synopsis: For decades Australian artists, Prod, company Cinetel Productions P/L tourists, writers, academics and adventur­ Dist. company Devillier-donegan Enterprises USA ers have come to Italy to spend a few weeks

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or months absorbing the country’s ancient culture and lyrical beauty. Many o f these casual visitors end up settling in Italy. This documentary looks at the other side o f the ‘migration’ coin - emigration, rather than immigration - and asks why an increasing number o f Australians opt for a different lifestyle in Italy. The emphasis is on inter­ esting and fascinating personalities.

UNDER SOUTHERN SKIES Prod, company Dist. company

35mni & 16mm Negative Cutting

Our Secret Australia Beyond International Group Producer Mark Falzon Director Michael Edols Synopsis: Under Southern Skies takes the viewer on a journey o f discovery and ex­ plores how man lives and moves within his fragile envrionment by combining the beauty and uniqueness o f our plant life with the natural elements that created this vast land we call Australia.

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WITH FLYING COLOURS Prod, company AFTRS Exec, producer William Fitzwater Director Sara Hourez Camera operator Chris Fraser Editor Sara Hourez Length 20 minutes Gauge Betacam to 1" Synopsis: People with disabilities can compete on the same level as the rest o f the community and achieve success. Some with flying colours.

Derwent pencils - but finds, as in Dos­ toyevsky’s Crim e a n d Punishment, that they give her no pleasure because her conscience gives her no rest. She throws them into the creek... but they don’t sink...

FILM AUSTRALIA PTY LTD ARMY OFFICER CADETS

Prod, company Film Australia Pty Ltd Dist. company Film Australia Pty Ltd Producer Sonia Humphrey Director Maurice Murphy Scriptwriter Sonia Humphrey Photography AndrewFraser Sound recordist Don Conno Editor JacquelineWalke Exec, producer PaulHumf Prod, manager Ron Hannam Prod, secretary LoriWallac Prod, assistant Geraldine Crown Musical director Roy Nicho Editing assistant NicholasCole Publicity Jane Glen Marketing John Swind Laboratory Video Film Company Lab. liaison Mark Farrow Length 8-12 mins Shooting stock 16mm Eastmancolour Synopsis: A short recruitment film to be shown to potential applicants, influencer groups and those already expressing an interest in a career as an Army officer. It details the career o f an officer up to the rank o f Major in all the major corps, and meth­ ods o f getting there.

ARMY RESERVE EMPLOYER MOTIVATION THE COLOURED PENCILS

Prod, company Film Australia Pty Ltd FrontlineFilmsDist. company Film Australia Pty Ltd Mark DavisProducer Sonia Humphrey BelindaAlexandrovics Director Matt Scully Judith Alexandrovics Scriptwriter Richard Ryan Based on the short Photography Ross King story by Kay Arthur Sound recordists Ken Hammond Photography RomanBaska Rick Creaser Sound recordist RexWattsEditor JacquelineWalker Editor Steven King Exec, producer PaulHumfr Composer Peter Crosbie Prod, manager Ron Hannam Prod, managers Dennis Smith Prod, secretary Lori Wallace Judith Alexandrovics Prod, accountant Elizabeth Clarke Continuity Victoria Sullivan Prod, assistant KatrinaFansca Casting BelindaAlexandrovics Camera assistant PeterColem Casting consultants Sheila Florance Marketing John Swinde Judith Alexandrovics Laboratory Video Film Company Camera assistant Kate Daniels Lab. liaison MarkFarrow Key grip David Cassar Length 10-12 minutes Gaffer Roary Timony Gauge Videotape Electrician Peter Alexandrovics Synopsis: A video to explain to employers Boom operator Peter Clancy the benefits o f encouraging their employ­ Art director Georgina Campbell ees to serve in the Defence Reserves.

Asst art director Camilla Cattanach Costume designer Richard Naylor THE BOMB IN YOUR BACKYARD Make-up Vivienne McGillicuddy Prod, company Film Australia Pty Ltd Hairdresser Les Jenner Producer Geoff Barnes Wardrobe Silvia Petrovic Researcher EmmaGordo Special effects Paul Newcombe Exec, producer JanetBell Belinda Alexandrovics Prod, manager Catriona Macmillan Asst editor Belinda Alexandrovics Prod, secretary JaneBenson Neg. matching V FL Prod. acct.

Waldemar Wawryzniuk Musical director Peter Crosbie Marketing/promotions John Swindells Music performed by Peter Crosbie Publicity JaneGlen Sound editor Rex Watts Length 4x1 hour Still photography Stine Baska Synopsis: An essay series on blind preju­ Animation Funny Farm dice and justifiable fear.

Neil Robinson Opticals V FL COLOURS Runner Steven Oyston Prod, company Film Australia Pty Ltd Catering Howard Cooper Dist. company Film Australia Pty Ltd Laboratory V FL Producer Paul Humfress Budget $56,000 Director John Michael Rogowski Length 28 mins Scriptwriter John Michael Guage 16mm Rogowski Shooting stock Fuji 125 From an idea by John Michael Cast: Phoebe Belcher (Annie), Sheila Flo­ Rogowski rance (Gran), Ailsa Piper (Mrs Smithers), Photography Mike Atwell Aretha Baker (Wendy).

Sound recordist David White Synopsis: This charming short film reveals Editor Geraldine Crown a childish world. It is a simple story o f Composer Guy Gross poverty and a little girl’s guilt. Annie takes Choreography Victoria Taylor something she has. always wanted - 72 Stephen Page Prod, company Producer Director Scriptwriter

HAVE GUNS WILL TRACK FILM T.V. AND STAGE I k n o w th e film (sh o o tin g ) b u s in e s s 25 y e a rs e x p e rie n ce E x p e rie n c e d o p e ra to rs, m o b ile w o rk sh o p , re se a rch an d w e a p o n tra in in g to a c to rs an d e x tra s. F lin tlo c k s to m o d e rn b iza rre cu s to m w eapons.

C re d its in clu d e: J a m e s B o n d Thunderball - Live and Let Die - Diamonds are for Ever - You Only Live Twice

Saint Series Roger Moore Arabesque - Licence to Kill - Battle of Britain - Battle of the Bulge - Patton Lust for Glory E n q u irie s: F IL M A R M S (042) 341677

leltoy Jen«/ S p e c ia lis in g in F ilm P r o d u c tio n E q u ip m e n t L ig h t s , G e ls , T a p e s , B u lb s , L ig h t M e te rs , S t a n d s , C a m e r a S u p p o r t E q u ip m e n t, D u llin g , S p r a y s , etc 133 Mullens Road, Rozelle.

PO Box 456 Rozelle 2039 Telephone (02) 818 1844 Fax (02) 818 3919

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Exec, producer Paul Humfress Sound recordist Max Hensser Prod, manager Ron Hannam Editor Michael Balson Prod secretary LoriWallace Exec, producers Bruce Moir Prod, accountant Elizabeth Clarke Tristram Miall Prod, assistant Madeline Murray Prod, coordinator Glenda Carpenter 1st asst director Adrian Pickersgill Prod, manager John Russell Camera assistant Peter Coleman Prod, secretary Kathy Grant Key grip PeterDoigProd, accountant Simon Lenthen Gaffer Jonathon Hughes Still photography Carmen Ky Art director Gary Whitelaw Publicity Jane Glen Make-up StevenKellyMarketing Martin Wood Wardrobe ClarenceChai Laboratory Video Film Company Tech, director Matthew Dorn Length 50 mins Varilite operator PeterLothian Gauge 16mm Publicity JaneGlen Synopsis: A documentary for television Marketing John Swindells illustrating the Marionette Theatre o f Catering The Katering Company Australia’s innovative puppet play, K ak a d u , Length 25 mins from first draft: to opening night. Inspired Gauge 1" video

by Bill Neidje’s book, K a k a d u m a n , the Cast: Victoria Taylor, Stephen Page puppet play, written by Aboriginal play­ (Dancers) wright Vivian Walker, brings Bill Neidje’s Synopsis: Man lives in a world o f light and message to the stage in a lively production colour. This film will focus on the various aimed at a wide family audience. human attributes o f colour, using dance, music, lighting and sets.

LIG H TH O U S E S Prod, company Film Australia Pty Ltd COMMUNITY SERVICES & HEALTH Dist. company Film Australia Pty Ltd Prod, company Film Australia Pty Ltd Researcher Ian Walker Producer JanetBell From an idea by Maritime Operations Scriptwriter Stephen Ramsey Division Prod, manager Catriona Macmillan Department o f Transport Prod, secretary Jane Benson & Communications Prod, accountant Waldemar Wawryzniuk Exec, producer Bruce Moir Prod, assistant Jane Benson Prod, manager John Russell Publicity JaneGeln Prod, secretary Kathy Grant Marketing coord.

John Swindells Prod, accountant Simon Lenthen Length 5x5 mins Publicity Jane Glen Synopsis: Five five-minute programsfor Marketing Martin Wood the Department o f Community Services Length 20 minutes and Health about polydrug use.

Gauge 16mm Synopsis: Documentary on the LightstaHMAS CERBERUS tion system, its technology and history.

Prod, company Film Australia Pty Ltd MANAGER ON THE CASE Dist. company Film Australia Pty Ltd Sonia Humphrey Producer Prod, company Film Australia Pty Ltd Dist. company Film Australia Pty Ltd Director Frank Heimans Director Richard Sattler Scriptwriter Frank Heimans Scriptwriter Steve Johnson Photography Gary Smith Prod, designer Louella Hatfield Laurie Robinson Sound recordist Exec, producer Janet Bell Frank Heimans Editor Prod, manager Catriona Macmillan Paul Humfress Exec, producer Floor manager Katrina Fanscali Ron Hannam Prod, manager Jane Benson Prod, secretary Lori Wallace Prod, secretary Waldemar Wawrzyniuk Prod. acct.

Elizabeth Clarke Prod, accoutant Prod, assistant/ Chris Rowell Neg. matching Vision switcher Margo Pulsford Elizabeth Walshe Editing assistant Juliet Phillips Director’s assistant Jane Glen Publicity John Swindells Lighting camerap.

Jonathon Hughes Marketing Make-up Michelle Myers Cinevex Laboratory Wardrobe Juliet Phillips 25 mins Length Publicity 16mm Eastman Jane Glen Shooting stock Marketing John Swindells Synopsis: A recruiting film for the Navy, to Catering The Katering Company be shown to those who have already ex­ Film Australia Studios pressed an interest in joining up, explaining Hoyts Television OB facilities the content and activities o f the three 15 minutes Length months they will spend at HMAS Cer­ 1 " video Gauge berus, if they decide to enlist.

Cast: Carol Willesee (case manager), Steven Tandy (administrator), Vicki Luke HOW WONDERFUL (rehab counsellor), Russell Crowe (storeFilm Australia Pty Ltd Prod, company man/employee) Film Australia Pty Ltd Dist. company Synopsis: A film for COM CARE which is Lynn Hegarty Director a humorous look at how the new case Lynn Hegarty Scriptwriter manager system will work in CommonHelen Steele Script editor wealth agencies to administer rehabilitaBruce Moir Exec, producer tion programs for injured workers.

John Russell Prod, manager Kathy Grant Prod, secretary MILITARY POLICE Simon Lenthen Prod, accountant Film Australia Pty Ltd Prod, company Jane Glen Publicity Film Australia Pty Ltd Dist. company Martin Wood Marketing Paul Humfress Producer 58 minutes Length Richard Ryan Scriptwriter 16mm Gauge Paul Humfress Exec, producer Synopsis:An offbeat and comic look at Ron Hannam Pro. manager pregnancy in the life o f a modern career Lori Wallace Prod, secretary woman.

Elizabeth Clarke Prod, accountant Jane Glen Publicity KAKADU PUPPETS John Swindells Marketing (WORKING TITLE) 2 x 20 minutes Length Film Australia Pty Ltd Prod, company Synopsis: Two 20-•minute films designed Film Australia Pty Ltd Dist. company to instruct those newly assigned to the unit Michael Balson Director in interviewing and interrogation techJohn Hosking Photography

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niques appropriate to the military circum­ stances in which they will be applied.

Based on the book by Siobhan McHugh Exec, producer Bruce Moir Assoc, producer Siobhan McHugh MILITARY SKILLS Prod, manager John Russell Prod, company Film Australia Pty Ltd Prod, secretary Kathy Grant Dist. company Film Australia Pty Ltd Prod, accountant Simon Lenthen Producer Sonia Humphrey Publicity JaneGlen Scriptwriter FrankHeimans Marketing Martin Wood Editor FrankHeimans Length 60 minutes Exec, producer PaulHumfress Gauge 16mm Prod, manager Ron Hannam Synopsis: A television documentary which Prod, secretary Lori Wallace tells the story o f the people who built the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme.

Prod, accountant Elizabeth Clarke Editing assistant Elizabeth Walshe Publicity Jane Glen SPECIAL EDUCATION MAGAZINE Marketing John Swindells Prod, company Film Australia Pty Ltd Length 30 minutes Dist. company Film Australia Pty Ltd Producer Paul Humfress Gauge U-matic video Synopsis: Scripting and editing o f material Scriptwriter/research Jebby Phillips Exec, producer Paul Humfress shot by the Army during a military skills contest between 8 countries held in 1988.

Publicity JaneGlen Marketing John Swindells MORTGAGE Length 30 mins Prod, company Film Australia Pty Ltd Gauge Video Dist. company Film Australia Pty Ltd Synopsis: A proposed 30-minute nonDirector BillBennett broadcast television magazine to be dis­ Scriptwriter BillBennett tributed to schools for young people withconversational or intellectual disabilities.

Photography SteveArnold Sound recordist MaxHensser Editor SaraBennett TO ABSENT FRIENDS Exec, producer BruceMoirProd, company Film Australia Pty Ltd Prod, coordinator Jo AnneDist. company Film Australia Pty Ltd McGowan Producer Paul Humfress Prod, manager HilaryMay Director Peter McLean Film Australia prod.mgr.

John Russell Scriptwriter Paula Dawson Prod, secretary Kathy Grant From an idea by Paula Dawson Prod, accountant Elizabeth Anderson, Ross King Photography Howard Spry Reel Accountants Sound recordists 1st asst director Nikki Long Rodney Simmons Casting Forcast Noel Cunnington Camera assistant AdrienSeffrin Exec, producer Paul Humfress Wardrobe Ruth Bracegirdle Alison Wotherspoon Prod, managers Ron Hannam Publicity ■ Jane Glen Marketing Martin Wood Neil Cousins Prod, accountant Catering Gerry Billings Elizabeth Clarke Length 94 mins Prod, assistant Michael Rogowski Gauge 16mm Robyn Peterson Camera assistants Cast: Doris Younane (Sharon Reeves), John Scott Brian Vriends (Steve Reeves), Bruce Ve­ Jonathon Hughes Gaffer nables (The Builder), Paul Coolahan (D e­ Publicity Jane Glen veloper).

John Swindells Marketing Synopsis: A real-life look at the Australian Synopsis: To Absent Friends traces the Dream o f home ownership. concept and construction o f Paul Dawson’s most recent work, a fully functional bar­ NATIONAL PARKS (WORKING TITLE) room. All reflective surfaces will be her Prod, company Film Australia Pty Ltd holographic images, reconstructed from a past New Year’s Eve event. The final enviDist. company Film Australia Pty Ltd Director Mark Gould ronment is an exploration o f memory' at Scriptwriter/research Mark Gould work and the infinite quality o f time.

Exec, producer Bruce Moir John Russell Prod, manager THE UNFAIR GO? Kathy Grant Prod, secretary Prod, company Film Australia Pty' Ltd Simon Lenthen Prod, accountant Dist. company Film Australia Pty Ltd Jane Glen Producer Publicity' Paul Humfress Marketing Martin Wood Director Ian Munro Length 20 minutes Scriptwriter Con Anemogiannis Synopsis: A video showing the types, aims Photography Steve Windon and uses o f Australia’s National Parks.

David Knaus Greg Lowe A SENSE OF IDENTITY Preston Clothier Prod, company Film Australia Pty Ltd Alex McPhee Film Australia Pty' Ltd Dist. company Sound recordists Bronwvn Murphy Producer Sonia Humphrey Don Connolly Researcher Tracey Maurer Leo Sullivan Exec, producer Paul Humfress Scott Montgomery Prod, manager Ron Hannam Ken Hammond Marketing John Swindells Editors Robin Archer Length 30-40 minutess Denise Haslem Synopsis: The changing role o f Aboriginal Exec, producer Paul Humfress women and the social developments against Prod, manager Ron Hannam which these changes have occurred. The Unit manager Con Anemogiannis film aims to educate the general public on Prod, secretary' Lori Wallace the important role and community' develProd, accountant Elizabeth Clarke Neg. matching opments that have involved Aboriginal Kut the Caper women and to give Aboriginal women a Musical directors Jim Conway sense o f identity.

Colin Watson Sound editor Gary O ’Grady THE SNOWY ■- THE PEOPLE Editing assistants Helen Martin BEHIND THE POWER Harriete McKern Film Australia Pty Ltd Mixers Prod, company Geoff Stitt Dist. company Film Australia Pty Ltd George Hart Director Stephen Ramsay Narrator Jim Downes

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Executive producer Ann Darrouzet Scriptwriter Marianne Latham Length 10-12 mins Gauge Betacam Synopsis: A video for the RTA that delineates the facts about alcohol and its effects on the body, with specific emphasis on its effects on driving.

UNIT PREPARATION FOR MOVEMENT Prod, company Film Australia PtyLtd Film Australia PtyLtd Dist. company Sonia Humphrey Producer Geoff Barnes Director Geoff Barnes Scriptwriter Kerry Brown Photography Leo Sullivan Sound recordist Sue Horsley Editor Paul Humffess Exec, producer Ron Hannam Prod, manager Lori Wallace Prod, secretary Elizabeth Clarke Prod, accountant Emma Gordon Prod, assistant Synopsis: A dramatized documentary to

PLAY IT SAFE

ACTION REPLAY

Exec, producer Ann Darrouzet Scriptwriter Anna-Marie Beligan Length 10-12 mins Gauge Betacam Synopsis: A video for the RTA that assists senior citizens to cope with traffic as pedes­ trians, drivers and users o f public transport.

Production company AFTRS Exec, producer William Fitzwater Producer Sara Hourez Director Sara Hourez Scriptwriter Fay Weldon Casting Shauna Wolfson Studio AFTRS Length 1 hour Gauge 1 " video Synopsis: Sexual incompatibility and war­ fare.

TAKING CHANCES

Yoram Gross Film Studio Pty Ltd/ Beyond International Group Producer Yoram Gross Director Yoram Gross Phil Gerlach Assoc, producer the Kangaroo. two loveable stars from the famous D ot an d the K an garoo feature films, romp through the world and report about the planet we live in. Fifty-two programs o f information, entertainment, live action and fun for kids and adults alike.

Film Australia P/L Film Australia P/L Sonia Humphrey Ian Host Ian Host Russell Galloway John Schiefelbein Ray Thomas Paul Humffess Ron Hannam Lori Wallace Elizabeth Clarke Wendy Rimon Jane Glen Mark Tomlinson Nigel McKenzie John Swindells Adab Kerri Jenkins Lab. liaison 25 mins Length 16mm Gauge Eastmancolour Shooting stock Synopsis: Jindalee, Australia’s world-beating over-the-horizon radar will operate as a vital link in Australia’s Northern defences.

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BROADY GIRLS (WORKING TITLE) Open Channel Prod, company Russell Porter Exec, producer John Moore Producer Lou Hubbard Line producer Fiona Cochrane Scriptwriter Mandy Walker Photography Alison Tilson Script editor 50 mins Length BVU Gauge Synopsis: A 50-minute documentary which explores the experiences o f teenage moth­ ers living in a working-class suburb on the outskirts o f Melbourne. Will show the economic, social and family pressures.

HAYDAZE

Ann Darrouzet Exec, producer Maggie Fooke Scriptwriter Maggie Fooke Director Maggie Fooke Animator 10 mins Length Betacam Gauge Synopsis: A video for the Ministry o f the Arts which explores the role o f community arts and its place in Australian culture.

NEW SOUTH WALES FILM AND TELEVISION OFFICE

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DRUGS AND THE LAW Prod. companyVector Production PtyLtd Jonathan Clemens Producer Roger Hudson Director Jonathan Clemens Scriptwriters Roger Hudson Bethwyn Serow Prod, manager Gary' Hillbert Editor Lighting cameraperson Graeme Ross Paul Finlay Sound Elliott Street Post-production Productions 15 mins Length Betacam SP to 1 " Gauge Synopsis: Produced for the New South Wales Police Department, this short video briefly relates the social history o f various drugs, both legal and illegal, and outlines the present situation in Australia, detailing the police procedures applicable to posses­ sion and use o f currently illegal drugs as well as the misuse o f legal ones.

REMEMBER JOHNNY B CRAFT CENTRE MARKETING FILM Fith Nabula Production company Ann Darrouzet Exec, producer Adele Sztar Director Tim Lewis Editor David Olney Photography 10 mins Length 16mm Gauge Synopsis: A promotional film for thy Meat Market Craft Centre to show the range and quality' o f Australian craft to potential overseas buyers.

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Mediacast Pty Ltd Prod, company Michael Hohensee Producer Paul Callaghan Director Michael Hohensee Scriptwriter Bethwyn Serow Prod, manager Gary' Hillberg Editor Phil Donnison Lighting camerap.

Graham Wyse Sound Mediacast Post-production 15 mins Length Betacam to 1" Gauge Synopsis: Produced for the State Rail

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BF Productions Ltd Barron Films Ltd Paul D. Barron Roz Berrystone David Rapsey Directors Paul Moloney David Rapsey' Scriptwriters John Rapsey Glenda Hambly David Rapsey Based on the idea by John Rapsey Ian Pugsley Photography David Glasser Sound recordist Geoff Hall Editors Tan Thien Thai Prod, coordinator Ros Scotts Deb Copland Prod, manager Simon Hawkins Unit manager Prod, secretary' Sharryn Scott Ann McFarlane Prod, accountant Graham Murray 1st asst directors Gillian Harris Michael Mercurio 2nd asst director Continuity Chris O ’Connell-Bryant John Rapsey Casting Ian Pugsley Camera operator Marc Edgcombe Focus puller Steve Scott Clapper loader John Goldney Key grip Michael Vivian Asst grip Phil Golombick Gaffer Jenny Sutcliffe Boom operator Sue Vivian Art director Asst art director Julieanne Mills Noel Howell Costume designer Karen Sims Make-up Marilyn Smits Wardrobe assistant Toni Manolas Props buyer Lawrence Wardman Peter Moves Standby props Set decorator Kim Sexton Set construction Peter Carman Asst editors Julie Grant Kendon Polak Neg. matching Warwick Driscoll Dialogue editor Glenn Martin Editing assistant Cindy Clarkson Mixer Dave Upson Stunts coordinator Rob Greenough Still photography Skip Watkins Dialogue coach Annie Murtagh-Monks Wrangler Rob Greenough John McGuckin Prod, company Dist. company Producers

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TH E IR LIFE IN Y O U R H A N D S

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THE PRIVATE WAR OF LUCINDA SMITH

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Ann Darrouzet Exec, producer Dennis Tupicoff Scriptwriter 10-12 mins Length Betacam Gauge Synopsis: A video for the RTA which explains the problems that pre-school children have in coping with traffic and strategies for parents and teachers to help children.

Prod, company Dist. company Producer Director Scriptwriter Photography Sound recordist Editor Exec, producer Prod, manager Prod, secretary Prod, accountant Prod, assistant Publicity Camera assistant Editing assistant Marketing

Alicia Walsh Big Belly Bus Tracks Movielab Kelvin Crumplin Neil Harris Budget S2.3 million Gauge 16mm Shooting stock Kodak Eastmancolor 7 291, 7291 Length 12x30 mins Synopsis: The Carmichaels, an old West­ ern Australian family proud o f their pio­ neering forebears, clash with the ‘back to basics’ city-bred (and international back­ ground) family who buy the neighbouring farm. The results are both funny and dra­ matic as the various personalities sort out their priorities, relationships and respective interests. A humorous, contemporary ‘kidadult’ adventure series.

TELEVISION PRE PRODUCTION

Exec, producer Ann Darrouzet Scriptwriter David Taft Length 18 mins Gauge Betacam Synopsis: A video for the Office o f Intellectual Disability Services, highlighting a range o f leisure and recreational opportunities available for people with intellectual disability.

suring the successful movement o f army units from point A to point B.

Runner Catering Mixed at Laboratory Lab. liaison

Authority o f New South Wales, this video uses a short drama set in a high school to underline the dangers o f trespassing on and vandalizing railway rolling stock and prop­ erty, with the aim o f enhancing the safety and comfort o f all passengers.

DRINK DRIVING

Publicity Jane Glen Marketing John Swindells Laboratory Adab Australia Lab. liaison Kerri Jenkins Length 6 x 30 minutes Gauge 16mm Shooting stock Eastmancolor Synopsis: A proposed series o f six pro­ grams that would raise issues, increase the audience’s anxiety, make viewers aware o f the many welfare problems that exist and suggest alternative systems o f dealing with the problems o f the underprivileged both within Australia and overseas.

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Resolution Films Nine network Geoffrey Daniels Ray Alehin Ray Alehin Peter Yeldham

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ADVENTURES ON KYTHERA II Media World Pty Ltd Richard Price Television Associates John Tatoulis Producers Colin South John Tatoulis Director Deborah Parsons Scriptwriter John Wilkinson Sound recordist Michael Collins Editor Tassos Ioannides Composer Tassos Ioannides Assoc, producer Yvonne Collins Prod, manager Tania Peternostro Unit manager Frances Shepherdson Prod, secretary Georgia Hewson Prod, assistant Sonya Pemberton 1st asst director Harry Panagiotis Camera operator Freddo Dirk Key grip Greg Nelson Boom operator Phil Chambers Art director Lilly Chorny Wardrobe Billy Chapman Still photography Paul Sime Publicity Judy Malmgren Tutor 6 x 30 minutes Length SP Betacam Gauge Cast: Rebekah Elmaloglou (Tik), Zenton Chorny (Zeonton), Amelia Frid (Moly), Garry Perazzo (Spike), George Lekkas (Johnny), Richard Aspel (Johnny), Tassos Ioannides (Philippas).

Synopsis: A six-part series which follow's the antics and adventures o f five children who, through unusual circumstances, meet up again on the Greek island o f Kythera.

They embark on a variety o f escapades that bring them into contact with new friends, unusual customs and exciting places.

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Grundy Television Margaret Slarke Andrew Friedman David Morgan Erik Steen Igor Auzins Malcolm Tennent Peter Bernardos Julie Money Russell Webb Ginny Lowndes John Coulter John Hugginson Philip East Peter Pinne Stephen Jones Barbara Ring

Lisa Harrison Vicki Popplewell Rob Short Sean Clayton Prod, secretary Tony Forsyth Prod, accountant Scott Hibbert Prod, assistants Laura Hayes Adrian Pickersgill Peter Conroy Peter Fitzgerald 1st asst director Stewart Wright 2nd asst director Adam Spence Continuity Kay Hennessy Linda Ray Shirley Ballard Sian Fatouras Casting Sue Manger Resarchers Ben Cheshire Allen Matheson Karen Jarrett Kay Bendle Research assistant Alexandra Keller Music editor Gary Hardman Gaffers Graham Mulder John Engler Director’s assistant Kristin Voumard Art directors Tony Rayes Vivian Wilson Asst art director Brian W. Alexander Art dept coordinator Lee John Bulgin Make-up Viv Mepham Belinda Burke Rochelle Ford Hairdressers Heather McLaren Victoria Thompson Gail Mayes Wardrobe Julie Barton Phillipa Hain Wardrobe asst Kate Boalch Props buyer John Carroll Standby props Johanna Bianco Steve Haig Cast: Bryan Marshall (Host) Synopsis: Program seeking public help to assist the police in solving current crimes.

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Beyond International Group Producer Tim Clucas Director Judith John-Story Photography various Sound recordists various Editors Harley Oliver Robert Davidson Mark Verkerk Composer Twilight Productions Exec, producer Peter Abbott Prod, secretary Therese Hagerty Prod, accountant Ara Sahargian Camera operator various Boom operator various Make-up various Hairdresser Warren Hanrahan Props David King Props buyer David King Special effects Custom Video Set designer Freddie Lawrence Set construction Up-Set Pty Ltd Musical directors Murray Burns Colin Bayley Music performed by Twilight Productions Sound editor Julian Ellingworth Mixer Julian Ellingworth Still photography various Tech adviser Charlie Busby Publicity Michael Shephard Georgina Harrop Studios ATN 7 Mixed at Beyond Facilities Length 1 hour Gauge 1" video Cast: Ian Finlay, JefFWatson, Chris ArdillGuinness, Simon Nasht, Amanda Keller, Simon Reeve, Maxine Grey, Bryan Smith (presenters) Synopsis: Beyond2000is a one-hour weekly television program, exploring the progress o f science and technology. It features the latest scientific breakthroughs and ingen-

CASSIDY Prod. co.

Archive Films Ptv Ltd/ABC Producer Bob Weis Line producer Tony Winley Director Carl Schultz Scriptwriter Joanna Murray-Smith Line director Tonv Winley Based on the novel bv Morris West Photography Ellery Ryan Sound recordist Nick Wood Editors Tony Kavanagh Lyn Solly Prod, designer Murray Picknett Composer Paul Grabowsky Exec, producer Sandra Levy Assoc, producer Wayne Barn' Prod, manager Carol Chirlian Prod, co-ordinator Shuna Burdett Unit manager John Downie Location manager Maude Heath Prod, secretary Kerrie Mainwaring 1st asst director Scott Hartford-Davies 2nd asst director Tony Tilse 3rd asst director Russell Burton Continuity Rhonda McAvoy Producer’s asst.

Anne-Marie Gaskin Casting Liz Mullinar Extras casting Sue Walsh Casting consultant Liz Mullinar Camera operator Paul Costello Andrew McClymont Focus puller Clapper loader Greg Heap Key grip John Huntingford Asst grip Gary' Burdett 2nd unit photogra]phv Geoff Mannis Gaffer Tim Jones Electrician Ken Pettigrew Boom operator Chris Nilsen Art director Graham Johnson Costume designer Jolanta Nejman Make-up Suzie Clemo

Joan Petch Wardrobe coordinator Colleen Woulfe Wardrobe assts Phillipa Wootten Lorraine Verhayen Props Peter Fitzgerald Benn Hyde Anton Cannon Props buyer Paddy McDonald Susan Glavich Special effects Peter Leggett Set dressers Robert Hutchinson Tim Tulk Scenic artist Paul Brockebank Standby carpenter Ian Rhodes Set construction Laurie Dorn Neg matching Pamela Toose Standby set finisher Bill Kennedy Sound editor Lionel Bush Nicole La Macchia Editing assistants Fabian Snjuro Mixer Mark Walker Asst mixer Ian Neilson Stunts coordinator Chris Anderson Still photography Virginia Speers Amenities Geoff McDonell Runner Warren Parsonson Publicity Virginia Sargent Unit publicist Di White Catering A& B Catering Studios ABC Frenchs Forest Mixed at ABC Gore Hill Laboratory Atlab Length 4 x 5 0 mins Gauge 16mm Cast: Caroline Goodall, Bill Hunter, Philip Quast, Martin Shaw, Pauline Chan, Peter Carroll, Tracy Mann, Pat Bishop, Stephen Payne.

Synopsis: Cassidy is the Premier o f New South Wales who, on his deathbed, nominates his estranged daughter as executor o f his estate. A story o f corruption, murder and political intrigue against an interna­ tional background o f Sydney, Hong Kong and London.

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A COUNTRY PRACTICE Prod, company Dist. company Producer Directors

JN P Films Pty. Ltd. ATN 7 Denny Lawrence Robert Meillon Leigh Spence Peter Maxwell Chris Martin-Jones Steve Spears Scriptwriters Carol Williams Ray Harding Micky Beckett Ian David Robyn Sinclair Based on the idea by James Davem Exec, producer James Davem Bill Searle Assoc, producer Prod, coordinator.

Barbara Lucas Prod, manager David Watts Unit manager Margi Cremin Peter Warman Location manager Prod, secretary Toni Higginbotham Prod, accountant.

Lucy Vorst Ian Simmons 1st asst directors Richard McGrath Mark Moroney Andrew Turner 2nd asst directors Peter Dudkin Directors’ assistants Karen Moore Stephanie Richards Karen Willing Victoria Osborne Script assistant Justine Slater Production assistants; Pip Nacard Shauna Crowley Casting John Norton Lighting Paul Wootten Troy Hampson Jeff Greenwood Glen Steer Camera operators Peter Westley John De Ruvo Andrew Short John Abbott Dietrich Bock Camera assistant Andrew Barrance Key grip Colleen McNamara Boom operator Phil Jones Peter Hunter Dave Masala Steve Muir Art director Rachael de Santo Make-up Veyatie Hirst Kit Moore Joanne Stevens Therese Rendle Wardrobe Allan Bums Wardrobe assts Amanda Bloomfield Chris Proctor Wayne Pickard Props Malcolm Gregory Dirk Van Den Driesen Props buyer John Paul (Lon) Lucini Douglas Kelly Set decorator Peter Wengel Scenic artist Kevin Smith Glen Shapter Carpenters Max Rigg Steve Erry Sound editor Howard Flicker Russel Thompson Paul Blakeney Editing assistant ATN 7 stills Still photography department Wendy O ’Donnell Tech, adviser Jenny Wilks Linda McGrail Julia Wyszkowski Publicity Julia Wyszkowski Unit publicist Taste Buddies Catering ATN Seven, Epping Studios Sarah Viles Vision switcher Custom Video Mixed at 1" video Shooting stock Cast: Shane Porteous (Dr. Terence Elli­ ott), Lorrae Desmond (Shirley Gilroy), Brian Wenzel (Sgt. Frank Gilroy), Kate Raison (Cathy Hayden), Joyce Jacobs (Esme Watson), Joan Sydney (Matron Sloan), Syd Heylen (Cookie Lock) Gordon Piper (Bob Hatfield), Joan Sydney (Matron Sloan), Michael Muntz (Dr Chris Kouros).

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Mandy Smith Colin Budds Gary Conway Paul Moloney Arch Nicholson Luis Bayonas Scriptwriters Peter Kinloch Jan Sardi Tony Morphett Barry Wilson Photography Ron Hagen Philippe Decrausaz Sound recordists John McKerrow Bill Murphy Editors Scott McLennan Vince Smits Prod, supervisor Jeff Shenker Prod, control Ian Bradley Exec, producer Ray Hennessy Assoc, producer Post-prod, supervisor Sue Washington Prod, co-ordinator Gina Black Tony Tynan Unit managers Fran Lugt Greg Ellis Location manager Prod, secretary Wendy Walker Kevin Plummer Prod, accountant Chris Page 1st asst directors Kath Hayden Jamie Leslie Amie Custo 2nd asst directors.

Christian Robinson Carmel Torcasio Continuity Anne Went Andrew Kennedy Story editor Peter Hepworth Script editors Jan Pontifex Casting Louise Mitchell Casting assistants Focus pullers Craig Barden Gary Bottomley Ian Phillips Clapper/loaders Brett Matthews Key grips Craig Dusting Kerry Boyle Colin McLean Asst grips Wayne Mitchell Bill Jones Gaffers Gary Plunkett Boom operator Craig Walmsley Simon Wilmot Andrew Reese Art director Leigh Eichler Asst art director Clare Griffin Costume designer Brad Smith Make-up Cindy Ferrier Lisa Jones Hairdressers Christine Miller Wardrobe supervisor Keely Elfis Sue Miles Wardrobe standby Denise Braddon Kate Murray Props buyer Paul Kiely Standby props Richard Williamson Brad King Set dressers Soufi Livaditis Scott Adcock Simon Price-McCutcheon Richie Dehne Gordon White Set construction Peter McNee Lesley Forsyth Asst editor John Clifford-White Music editor Colin Swan Sound editors Michael Garden George Parton Editing assistants Justine Hughes David Harrison Mixers Andrew Jobson Stunts coordinator Chris Anderson Stunts New Generation Stunts Drivers Paul Rogan John Greene Best boy Con Mancuso Battista Remati Runner Travis Walker Unit publicist Susan Elizabeth Wood Catering Location One Catering Studios Crawford Productions/GTV 9 Mixed at Crawford Productions Laboratory Cinevex Length 26 x 4 7 mins 16mm Gauge Kodak 7 2 9 1 , 7 292 Shooting stock Directors

Synopsis: Set in the small rural community o f “Wandin Valley”, the series deals with medical and social issues, through the major characters and the local Bush Nursing Hospital. It also dramatises the lives o f the local vet and the National Park Ranger.

E STREET Westside Television Productions Westside Television Dist. company Productions Denis Phelan Producer Julian Pringle Directors Peter Andrikides Graham Rouse Viktors Ritelis John Bannas David Phillips Scriptwriters Graeme Koetsveld Sally Webb Tom Hegarty Carol Williams David Allen Mary Dagmar Davies Nicholas Langton John Upton Linden Wilkinson Tim Pye Senior script editor Caroline Stanton Script editors Hugh Stuckey Louise Crane Carol Long Researcher Val Graham Researcher’s asst Based on the idea by Forrest Redlich Graem Hicks Audio directors Dominic Brine Michael Hagan Editor Prod, designer Martin McAdoo Ashley Irwin Composer Forrest Redlich Exec, producer Brendan Mooney Assoc, producer Dale Archer Prod, manager Rachel Quirk Prod, coordinator Prod, secretary Debbie Johnson Prod, accountant Bjorn Magus Vikki Knott Prod, assistant Andrew Merrifield 1st asst floor mgrs Stephen Henley Dorian Newstead 2nd ass floor managers Mike Ferguson Aldo King Tracey Jones 3rd directors assts Lynn Danzey Gillian Styne Gretchen Cook Producer’s assistant Audine Leith Casting Tom Carey Lighting directors Bob Miller Barry Armstrong Camera operator Rob Kerr Camera assistant Elle Peterson Art department co- ord.

Jane Johnston Costume designers Wardrobe consultant Miv Brewer Liz Harper Make-up/hair Annie Peaccok Standby wardrobe Lizzie Gardiner Mark Riordan Lyn London Wardrobe buyer Wardrobe Michele Leonard Phillip Miller Set dressers Rob Holland Props Lisa Atkinson Bliss Swiff Steve Moran (O B) Standby props Marcus Erasmus Paul Jones Ashley Irwin Musical director Deri Hadler Sound editor Alison Pickup Runner Art dept runner Andrew Playford Length 52x1 hour Cast: Penny Cook, Brooke Andersen, Cecily Poison, Les Dayman, Katrina Sedgwick, Vic Rooney, Tony Martin, Warren Jones, Paul Kelman, Alussa-Jane Cook.

Synopsis: A drama focusing on an inner city suburb and its residents Prod, company

THE FLYING DOCTORS Prod. co.

Producer

Crawford Productions P/L Stanley Walsh

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Cast: Robert Grubb (D r Geoff Standish), Liz Burch (Dr Chris Randall), Lenore Smith (Kate Wellings), Peter O ’Brien (Sam Patteson), Rebecca Gibney (Emma Patter­ son), Brett Climo (D r David Ratdiffe), Andrew McFarlane (D r Tom Callaghan), George Kapiniaris (D .J.), Maurie Fields (Vic Buckley), Val Jellay (Nancy Buckley).

Synopsis: A Royal Flying D octor Service is located in the outback town o f Coopers Crossing. The doctors not only contend with the medical challenges, but also with the small community in which they live.

G.P. Prod, company

Roadshow Coote & Carroll/ABC M att Carroll Exec, producers Sandra Levy Sue Masters Supervising producer Various Directors Various Scriptwriters Greg Millin Script editor Kris Wyld Script co-ordinator Matt Ford Story department Kristen Dunphy Dr Stephen Faux Medical consultants Dr David Whitten Marcus North Snr prod, designer Leigh Tierney Designers Colin Rudder Freya Hadley Kim Vecera Assoc, producers Judy Murphy Michelle Milgate Costume designer Simon Walker Composer Prod, co-ordinator Françoise Fombertaux Annette Gover Prod, manager Julia Robinson Prod, secretary Gary Stephens 1st asst directors David Young Alan Parsons Mark Stanforth Maura Fay Casting consultants & Associates Irene Gaskell Extras casting Rory Cronin Props buyers Ian Andrewartha Unit publicist Virginia Sargent Studios ABC Mixed at ABC Length 1 hr weekly Gauge 1" video 1st asst, director Gary Stephens Casting consultants Maura Fay & Associates Props buyers Rory Cronin Ian Andrewartha Unit publicist Virginia Sargent Studios ABC Mixed at ABC Length 1 hr weekly Gauge 1" video Cast: Michael Craig (William), John McTernan (Robert), Sarah Chadwick (Cathy), Michael O ’Neill (Steve), Denise Roberts (Julie), Brian Rooney (Michael).

Synopsis: Drama series detailing the cornings and goings o f an inner city medical practice.

HEY DAD...!

Prod, company Gary Reilly Productions Diost. company ATN Producer Gary Reilly Director Sally Brady Scriptwriters Gary Reilly John Flanagan Kym Goldsworthy Ian Rochford Ken Matthews Neil Stewart Joan Flanagan From the idea by Gary Reilly John Flanagan Sound recordist Jim Astley Editors Garry Bums Anne Flett Prod, designer Ken Goodman Composer Mike Perjanik Exec, producer Gary Reilly Floor manager Jamie Stevens

Rod Harbour Producer’s asst Jane Elizabeth Ogden N E IG H B O U R S Costume designer Lucinda White William Mcllvaney Casting Liz Mullinar Make-up Prod, company Grundy Television Make-up Mary Georgiou Dallas Stephens Art director Steve Muir Producer Mark Callan David Jennings Michael Longhitano Make-up VeyatieHurstHairdressers Hairdressers Directors Various Georgina Bush Paul Pattison Wardrobe Helen Lloyd Scriptwriters Various Paul Williams Mandy Sedewie Wardrobe assistant MichelleJaulinWardrobe Wardrobe Based on original idea by Reg Watson Lindy Wylie Julianne Jonas Props Gordon Brown Sound recordists Peter Say Wardrobe assts Rita Crouch Gursel Ali Standby props David King Grant Vogler Francesca Bath Mark Grivas Length 22x 30 minutes Bruce Findlay Props buyer Props runners Jim Fayle Sue Birjak Gauge 1 " video Prod, designer SteveKellerStandby props Ben Heaps Rob Tresize Cast: Robert Hughes (Martin Kelly), Julie Composer (theme) Tony Hatch Props buyers.

Philip Cumming Music editor WarrenPearson McGregor (Betty Wilson), Simon Bucha­ Exec, producer Don Battye Kate Saunders Offline editing The Editing Machine Exec, in charge production Peter Pinne nan (Debbie Kelly), Sarah Monahan (Jenny Set decorator Glenn Turner Vision switching Jenny Wiliams Kelly), Christopher Truswell (Nudge), Prod, co-ordinator Reita Wilson Set construction Greg Murphy Post-production ATV 10 Melbourne Christopher Mayer (Simon Kelly).

Prod, manager Stewart Wright Cast: Roger Oakley (Tom ), Vanessa Runner Tim Disney Synopsis: Situation comedy about a wid­ Downing (Pippa),Sharyn Hodgson (Carly), Location manager Bob Villinger Tutor Sandra Burritt owed father trying to raise his children with Adam Willits (Steven), Kate Ritchie (Sally), Asst directors Howard Neil Catering.

Helen Louwers the help o f the family’s crazy cousin.

Don Linke Nicolle Dickson (Bobby), Fiona Spence Post-production A TV -10 Melbourne Mark Farr (Celia), Norman Coburn (Fisher), Craig Cast: Anne Charleston (Madge Bishop), Thomson (Martin), Judy Nunn (Ailsa), Casting Jan Russ Alan Dale (Jim Robinson), Shauna O ’Grady Prod, company ATN Channel 7 Michelle Luvisetto Ray Meagher (Alf), Peter Vroom (Lance).

(Beverly Robinson), Anne Haddy (Helen Camera operators Joe Battaglia Dist. company ATN Channel 7 Synopsis: A warm and amusing family Daniels), Stefan Dennis (Paul Robinson), Producer Andrew Howie Jeff Biggs drama set in the fictional seaside town o f Fiona Corke (Gail Robinson), Des Clarke Andrew Currie Directors various Summer Bay. (Paul Keane), Guy Pearce (Mark Young), Andrew Berry various Scriptwriters Annie Jones (Jane Harris), Ian Smith Paul Barnett Based on the idea by Alan Bateman JACK THOMPSON’S AUSTRALIA (Harold Smith), Kristian Schmid (Todd Mark Collins Editor Terry Combs Prod. co.

Great Southland Productions Landers), Sally Jensen (Katie Landers).

Mark Allen Prod, designer John Carroll Dist. co.

Beyond International Group Synopsis: Love ’em or hate ’em, but Peter Hind Composer Mike Perianik Producers Matthew Flanagan everyone’sgot ’em: neighbours. Ramsay Script supervisor Ray Kolle Exec, producer Des Monaghan John Luscombe Prod, co-ordinator Lynda Burke Director Matthew Flanagan Story editor WayneDoyleStreet...the stage for an exciting drama serial...drawing back the curtain to reveal Script editor LoisBooton Prod, manager Peter Corny Scriptwriters Julie Miller Storyliners Cheredith Mok the intrigue and passions o f Australian Prod, secretary Edwina Searle Bill Edmonds families...and their neighbours.

Jason Daniel Ray Sinclair Prod, accountant Therese Tran Directors’ assistants Linda Prod, assistant Narrator Jack Thompson Tony Broderick RAFFERTY’S RULES Walker 1st asst directors Shane Gow Length 2 6 x i hour Prod. co.

ATN 7 Drama Department Jane Daniels Gauge 16mm Grant Brown Producer Robert Bruning Christine Lipari Cathie Roden Synopsis: Ja c k Thompson Down Under is Directors Alister Smart Floor managers RayLindsay about the Australia and Australians Jack 2nd asst directors Peter Pearce Geoffrey Nottage Mark Hancock loves best: those who challenge the coun­ Alex Tinley Catherin Miller Alan Wlliamson try, who dare to achieve, who seek adven­ Continuity Frances Swan Mike Smith Tech, directors Howard Simmons ture. Thompson hosts and narrates this 26Marcus Georgiades Michael Carson Peter Marino part series which covers every conceivable Liz Perry Scriptwriters John Upton Barry Shaw environment and a host o f Australian char­ Inese Vogler Casting coordinator Peter Coe David Allen acters. Stories culled from the best that Maura Fay Casting consultants Nicholas Langton Lighting supervisors Stuart de Young Australian production teams can find. and Assoc.

(MTV PUBLISHING LIM ITED)

WISHES TO THANK THE AUSTRALIAN FILM COMMISSION AND FILM VICTORIA FO R T H E IR CONTINUING ENCOURAGEMENT AND SUPPORT ▲▲ ▲

Film Victoria

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Jan Pontifex Louise Mitchell Jack Degenkamp Dean Carter Shane Grigg Alan McNair Tek K. Beh Technical directors Timothy Coulson Jonathan Olb Vison switcher Darren White Vision assistant Frank Racina Lighting Greg Rawson Russell Howard Mick Mato John Budge Audio Paul Indaimo Russell McAbee Colin Swan Boom operator Scott Finlay Scott Rawlings Georgie Greenhill Art director Keryn Carter Make-up Kate Archer Valerie Nelson Wardrobe Simon Carter Props Jill Eden Set decorator Kevin Hardie Videotape Miranda Howlett John Barber Video post-prod.

Michael Carden Sound editor Andrew Jobson Mixer Network publicity Susan Elizabeth Wood HSV 7 Studios Crawfords Mixed at 1 " video Gauge Cast: Nick Giannopoulos (Jim ), Simon Palomares (Rick) George Kapiniaris (M emo), Tracey Callendar (Liz), Simon Thorpe (Skip), George Vidalis (Manolis).

Synopsis: Kostas leaves his son Jim in charge o f the Acropolis Cafe, but you should see the Acropolis Now.

Gordon Graham Chris Roach Michael Cove Johanna Pigott Tim Gooding Ben Lewin From the idea by Editor Robert Nowland Composer Mike Perjanik Exec, producer Des Monaghan Script executive Louise Home Prod, coordinator Lynda Wilkinson Location manager Richard Montgomery Prod, secretary Kim Dorrell Prod, accountant Therese Tran 1st asst directors Jamie Crooks Soren Jensen Nikki Long 2nd asst directors Peter Jenner Continuity Danuta Morrissey Alison Ely Jenni Fraser Helen Salter Casting Maura Fay Casting consultants and Associates Art director Richard Hobbs Madeline Cullen Wardrobe supervisor Annette Adams Make-up Hairdresser James Matamis Standby wardrobe Morag Smart Lauryn Forder Wadrobe assistant Niki Trinder Art dept assistant Cathie Finlay Props buyer Murray Gosson Standby props Grant Page Stunts Janelle Dearden Unit publicist Elizabeth Chappel Catering 30 x 1 hour Length 1" video Gauge Cast: John Wood (Michael Rafferty), Simon Chilvers (Sgt Flicker), Katy Brinson (Lisa Blake), Arky Michael (Fulvio Frangellomini).

Synopsis: The trials and tribulations o f stipendiary magistrate Michael Rafferty.

Casting Casting assistant Camera operators

THE DRUM MACHINE Independent Image Productions/SBS TV Juan Jaramillo Producer Juan Jaramillo Director Scriptwriter Juan Jaramillo Michael Rayan Rey Carlson Photography Kevin Kearney Sound recordist Mark Wynyard Editor Rebecca Cohen Prod, designer Saoco Composers Exec, producer Barbara Mariotti John Pachito Prod, manager Louise Willis Continuity Peter Ledgway Key grip Mark Pidcock 2nd unit camera Graham Dickson Gaffer Andrew Dal Bosco Boom operator Caroline Zoe Viesnik Make-up Marylin Dealne Neg matching (Negative Cutting Service) Saoco Music performed by Patricia Jaramillo Still photography Graciela Dousdebes Catering SBSTV Mixed at Laboratory The Video Film Company Mark Farrar Lab. liaison 5 100,000 Budget 58 minutes Length Super 16 Gauge Fuji 8521 Shooting stock Cast: Doug Scroope (advertising execu­ tive), Gustavo Cereijo (himself), Julio Cereijo (himself), Leo Velasquez (him­ self), Sergio Mulet (himelf), Nestor Rosano (himself), Luciano Gaitan (himslef), Mike Ryan (himself), Peter Guarino (him­ self), John Fielding (himself).

Synopsis: A salsa band faces the dilemma o f compromising their■music for the sake o f fame.

Prod, company

ROUND THE TWIST Prod, company ACTF Productions Ltd. Antonia Barnard Producer Various Director Paul Jennings Scriptwriter Based on the novels by Paul Jennings Patricia Edgar Exec, producer Ewan Burnett Supervising producer Esben Storm Script editor Casting Liz Mullinar’s Casting (Melbourne) Greg Apps Casting consultants Tessie Hill VFL Laboratory' AAV Post-production 1 3 x 2 5 mins Length 16mm Gauge Synopsis: Based on the very successful short stories by Paul Jennings, this series shows the weird, wacky and spooky world o f the Twist family, who live in an old lighthouse.

TELEVISION POST PRODUCTION

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ACROPOLIS NOW Prod, company Producer Director Scriptwriters

Crawford Productions Peter Herbert Pino Amenta Simon Palomares Nick Giannopoulos George Kapiniaris Jo Rosas Off-line editor Dee Liebenberg Post-prod, supervisor Ian Bradley Exec, producers Gary Fenton Vince Smits Prod, supervisor Kimanie JonesProd, coordinator Hameister Jeff Shenker Prod, administrator Covla Hegarty Assistant to producer Rebecca de Regt Floor managers Peter O ’Connor Peter Herbert Script editors Jutta Goetze Julie Bates Director’s assistant

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FLAIR Flair Television Production Pty Ltd Paul Davies Henri Safran Alan Hopgood

Prod, company Producer Director Scriptwriter

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Paul Davies Gaye Hopgood Nino G. Martinetti Photography John Wilkinson Sound recordist Richard Hindley Editor David Copping Prod, designer Frank Strangio Composer Assoc, producer Lynne Davies Christine Hart Prod, coordinator Basil Appleby Prod, manager Michael Batchelor Unit manager Steve Brett Unit manager asst.

Paul Healey Location manager Marina Mansfield Prod, secretary Jim Hajicosta Prod, accountant Mary Makris Accounts assistant David Clarke 1st asst director Trish Carney 2nd asst director Caroline Grose 3rd asst director Joanne McLennan Continuity Lee Lamer Casting director Nino G. Martinetti Camera operator Brendan Lavelle 2nd unit camera David Lindsey 2nd unit focus puller Guy Hancock 3rd electrics Archie Roberts Safety supervisor John Parker Construction manager Ian Doig Asst construction mgr Will Davidson Construction assts Steven Mamo Rob McLeod Action vehicle coord.

Michael Warwick Armourer Warwick Field Focus puller Kathy Chambers Clapper loader Ken Connor Key grip Alistair Reilly Asst grip Michael Mato Gaffer Greg Nelson Boom operator Carole Harvey Art director Anna Senior Costume designer Vivienne Make-up supervisor McGillicuddy Fiona Graham Make-up assistant Stephen Mahoney Hairdresser Wardrobe buyer/ Frankie Hogen supervisor Wardrobe assistants Christine Daives Anna Wade Paula Ekerick Standby wardrobe Daryl Mills Props buyer Chris James Standby props Trisha Keating Set dresser Brian Pearce Special effects Trisha Keating Set decorator Andrew Charker Carpenters Jim Gannon Glen Ruehland Stunts coordinator Still photography David B. Simmonds Wally Dalton Wrangler Nick Payne Best boy Marcus Hunt Runner Tony Johnston Unit publicist Catering David & Cassie Vaile Cast: Heather Thomas, Andrew Clarke, James Healey, Rovvena Wallace, Imogen Annesley, Charles Tingwell, David Reyne.

Synopsis: The return o f beautiful fashion designer Tessa Clarke to her native Austra­ lia is the catalyst for a cocktail o f love, jealousy and deceit. A tragic fire, a self­ destructive younger sister and two lovers one a powerful yet mysterious tycoon, the other a handsome but flawed go-getter cause a cauldron o f emotions to erupt into murder.

Based on idea by

KABOODLE 2 Prod, company ACTF Productions Ltd. Exec, producer Patricia Edgar Supervising producer Ewan Burnett Series producer Susie Campbell Animators: Peter Viska Paul Williams Maggie Geddes Neil Robinson Richard Chataway Michael Cusack S65 8 ,0 0 0 Budget 6 x 24 minutes Length 1 inch video Gauge Synopsis: Six more half-hours o f television drama for the under-ten age group, this time all animated and regular characters.

THE MAGISTRATE Warner Dalton Productions Pty Ltd Kim Dalton Producers Chris Warner Kathy Mueller Director Chris Warner Scriptwriter Based on the original Chris Warner idea by Chris Davis Photography Chris West Sound recordist Barrie Munro Editors Kevin Stott Exec, producers Graham Benson (TVS) Ross Dimsey (ABC) Patrizia DeCrescenzo (Reteitalia) Jennie Crowley Prod, coordinator Lorraine Alexander Prod, manager Ann Bartlett Unit manager Ali All Location manager Shelley Austin Prod, secretary Robert Threadgold Prod, accountant Peter Murphy 1st asst director Neil Proud 2nd asst director Jennie Harrison 3rd asst director Emma Peach Continuity Dina Mann Casting Jo Rippon Extras casting Russell Bacon Camera operator Mark Lamble Focus puller Campbell Miller Clapper/loader Max Gaffney Key grip Tony Woolveridge Asst grip Andrew Holmes Gaffer Rob Pinal Electricians Mike Cleary Tony Dickinson Boom operator Dale Mack Art director Penny Southgate Asst art directors Steven Crosby Alexandra Tynan Costume designer Paddy Oswald Make-up Ian Loughnan Franco Nero’s make-up Renato Erancola Concetta Raffa Wardrobe Joyce Imlach Norm Jones-Ellis Props buyer John Cuskelly Glen Dunham Standby props Terry Barrow Special effects Hatise Demirel Asst editors Rosemary Jones Sound editors Karen Harvey Robin Dodds Mixer Paul Freeman Stunts coordinator Chris Anderson New Generation Stunts Stunts Still photography Lindsay Hogan Dialogue coach Franco Cavarro Runner Helen Francis Farmer & King Pty Ltd Publicity Meredith King Unit publicists Maria Farmer Catering Backdoor catering Laboratory Cinevex lenght 6 x 1 hour Gauge 16mm Cast: Franco Nero (Paolo), Catherine Wilkin (Claire), Julia Blake (Jean), Dennis Miller (Davies), Steve Bastoni (Robbie), Victoria Rowland (Nicole).

Synopsis: The M agistrate is the story o f Paolo Pizzi, an Italian Investigating magis­ trate who, following the murder in Italy o f his Australian wife, returns to Australia after an absence o f 20 years to search for his missing son. It is a story o f personal obses­ sion and family reconciliation set against a background o f corruption, murder and political intrigue.

Prod, company

FOR INCLUSION IN THE PRODUCTION SURVEY CALL CINEMA PAPERS ON (03) 429 5511

MARCH

1989

m-g) S(i-m-g) Hellhound - Hellraiser II: C.Figg, UK, 93 mins, Village Roadshow, O(horror) Long Arm o f the Law Part 3 (main title not shown in English): Not shown, Hong Kong, 104 mins, Chinatown Cinema, V(f-m-g) Maniac Cop: L.Cohen, USA, 81 mins, CBS/Fox Video, V(i-m-g)

Chinatown Cinema, V(i-m -g) 0(ad ult concepts) Dead Ringers: D.Cronenberg/ M.Boyman, Canada, 115 mins, Filmpac, 0(d ru g use) S(i-m-j) L(f-m -g) V(i-m -j) Hanussen: A.Brauner, Austria/Hungary, 140 mins, Fox Columbia, V(i-m -j) 0(ad ult concepts) I ’m Gonna Git Y ou Sucka: P.McCarthy/C.Craig, USA, 88 mins,UIP, L(i-m-g) V(i-m-g) Iron Triangle, The: T.Scotti/ A.Schapiro, USA, 90 mins, Village Roadshow, L(i-m -g) V(i-m-g) La Vie E st U n Long Fleuve Tranquille: F.Quentin, France, 91 mins, Newvision , 0(d ru g use) Law or Justice?: Shaw Bros, Hong Kong, 100 mins, Chinatown Cinema, V(i-m -j) 0(d ru g use) Luigi’s Ladies: P.Juillet, Australia, 94 mins, Hoyts, L(i-m -j) 0(ad ult concepts) Mighty Quinn, The: S.Lieberson/ M .H unt/E.Elbert, USA, 96 mins, UIP, L(f-m-g) V(i-m-j) My Demon Lover: R.Shaye, USA, 87 mins, Filmpac, 0 ( adult concepts, mild horror) Positive I.D .: A.Anderson, USA, 92 mins, U IP, L(i-m -j) V(i-m-j) 0(ad ult concepts) Red Scorpion: J.Abramoff, USA, 103 mins,Vestron Australia, V(f-m-g) L(i-m-g) Ruthless Law: Liberty Pon Co., Hong Kong, 91 mins, Yu Enterprises, V(i-m-g) Salaam Bombay!: M.Nair, India, 111 mins, Dendy Cinema, L(i-m-j) 0(adult concepts) See You In The Morning: A.Pakula/ S.Solt, USA, 118 mins, Village Roadshow, L(i-m-g) 0(adult concepts) Sing: C.Zadan, USA, 98 mins, Fox Columbia, L(i-m-g) Skin Deep: T.Adams, USA, 100 mins, Fox Columbia, L(f-m-g) 0(sexual allusions) Warlock: S. Miner, USA, 101 mins, Hoyts, 0(m ild horror ) L(i-m-g) W inter People: R So lo , USA, 110 mins, Hoyts, V(i-m -j) 0(adult concepts)

G (G E N E R A L E X H IB IT IO N ) Felix The C at The Movie: D .Oriolo/ J.Schenk/C.Schneider, Poland/USA, 79 mins, Village Roadshow Makioka Sisters, The: Tomoyuki Tanaka/Kon Ichikawa, Japan, 136 mins, Quality Films Skier’s Dream: J.Long/J. An grove, Canada, 71 mins, Filmpac PG (P A R E N T A L G U ID A N C E) Chances Are: M .Lobell, USA, 105 mins, Fox Columbia, V (i-l-j) L(i-l-j) 0(ad ult concepts, sexual allusions) Daisy and Simon: P.Borain, Australia, 105 mins, Hoyts, L(f-l-j) 0(ad ult con­ cepts) Farewell to the King: A.Ruddy/ A.Morgan, USA/Malaysia, 116 mins, Filmpac Holdings, V(f-l-j) 0(ad ult concepts) Fletch Lives: A.Greisman/P.Douglas, USA, 93 mins, U IP, L(i-l-g) V(i-l-j) 0(ad u lt concepts, sexual allusions) Floating Clouds (main tide not shown in English): Toho Company, Japan, 120 mins, Quality Films, 0(ad uit concepts) H otel Terminus - The Life and Times o f Klaus Barbie: M.Ophuls, USA, 266 mins, Village Roadshow, 0(adult concepts) I t’s A Mad Mad Mad W orld III (said to be - Title not shown in English): D.Poon, Hong Kong, 9 4 mins, Chinatown Cinema, L(i-l-g) V(i-l-g) 0(ad ult concepts) Lucky Stiff: G.Olsen, USA, 82 mins, Hoyts, V(f-l-j) 0(ad u lt concepts, drug references) Sound o f the M ountain (main title not shown in English): Toho International, Japan, 93 mins, Quality Films, 0(adult concepts) Story o f H ay Bo, The: Not shown, Hong Kong, 99 mins, Yu Enterprises, 0(ad ult concepts) Tap: G.Adelson/R.Vane, USA, 108 mins, Fox Columbia, L(i-m -j) 0(sexual allusion)

FILM S R E F U S E D R EG ISTR A T IO N Man Behind The Sun: Fu Chi, Hong Kong, 104 mins, Yu Enterprises, 0(extrem e cruelty)

APRIL

G (G EN E R A L E X H IB IT IO N ) Ashik Kerib: Georgia Films Studio, USSR, 76 mins, Trade Representative o f the USSR PG (P A R EN T A L G U ID A N C E) All About Ah Long (main title not in English): R W ong, Hong Kong, 97 mins, Chinatown Cinema, (V(i-m-j) L(i-l-j) Appointment with Death: M.Winner, UK/Israel/Italy, 102 mins, Hoyts, V(i-1g) 0(adult concepts) Experts, The: J.Keach, USA, 93 mins, UIP, L(i-l-g) 0(sexual allusions) Fountain, The: Lenfilm, USSR, 101 mins, Trade Representative o f the USSR, L(i-l-j) 0(adult concepts) Lean on Me: N.Twain, USA, 108 mins, Village Roadshow, L(i-m-j) 0(adult concepts) New York Stories - Life Lessons/Life W ithout Zoe/O edipus Wrecks: KGreenhut, USA, 124 mins, Village Roadshow, L(i-l-g) 0(adult concepts) Police Academy 6 - City Under Siege: P.Maslansky, USA, 84 mins, Village Roadshow, L(i-l-g) V(i-l-j) M (M A T U R E A U D IE N C ES ) Beverly Hills Brats: T.Moore/J.Rivers, USA, 94 mins, Village Roadshow L(i-m-g) Criminal Law: R.MacLean/H.Heath, USA/Canada, 113 mins, Hoyts, L(i-mg) V(i-m -j) S(i-m-j) Dead Bang: S.Roth, USA, 101 mins, Village Roadshow, L(f-m-g) V(i-m-g) Decline of Western Civilization Part II - The Metal Years, The: J.Dayton/ V.Faris, USA, 93 mins, Hoyts, L(f-m-g)

R (R E S T R IC T E D E X H IB IT IO N )

M (M A T U R E A U D IE N C ES )

Boost, The: D.Blatt, USA, 95 mins, Hoyts, 0(d ru g abuse) Flirting (main title not in English): Golden Harvest/Paragon Films, Hong Kong, 92 mins, Chinatown Cinema, V(i­

Chief Zabu: N.Leigh, USA, 82 mins, Village Roadshow, L(f-m -g) S(i-m-g) Crazy Companies II: Win’s Movie Company, Hong Kong, 96 mins,

1989

0(sexual allusions, drug references) Dream A Little Dream: M .Rocco/ D.Eisenberg, USA, 114 mins, Vestron Australia, L(i-m-g) 0(ad u lt concepts) Dream Team, The: C.Knight, USA/ Canada, 112 mins, U IP, L(i-m-g) V(i-m-g) Inspector Wears Skirts Part II, The (main title not shown in English): Golden Way Films, Hong Kong, 96mins, Chinatown Cinema, V(f-m-g) Jacknife: R.Schaffel/C.Baum, USA, 102 mins, Filmpac, L(i-m-g) Lover Boy: G.Foster/W.Hunt, USA, 98 mins, Fox Columbia Tri Star, L(i-m-g) My First Forty Years: M.Cecchi Gori/ V.Cecchi Gori, Italy, 106 mins, Fox Columbia Tri Star, L(i-m-g) S(i-m-g) 0(d ru g use) Never Say Die: G.Murphy, New Zealand, 103 mins, Filpac, L(i-m-g) V(i-m-j) Peacock King (main title not in English): Golden Harvest, Hong Kong, 83 mins, Chinatown Cinema, V(i-m-g) O (horror) Rooftops: H.Koch, USA, 94 mins, Village Roadshow, L(f-m-g) V(i-m-g) Slaves o f New York: I.Merchant/ G.Hendler, USA, 124 mins, Fox Columbia Tri Star, L(i-m-g) They Came to Rob H ong Kong (main title not in English): C.Ford/C.Lau, Hong Kong, 97 mins, Chinatown Cinema, V(i-m-g) L(i-m-g) Un Hom bre de Exito (A Successful Man): H.Hernandez, Cuba, 103 mins, New Era Films, L(i-m-g) 0(adult concepts) When T at Fu Was Young: S.Shin, Hong Kong, 97 mins, Chinatown Cinema, S(i-m-j) R (R E ST R IC T ED E X H IB IT IO N ) Boost, The (a): D.Blatt, USA, 95 mins, Hoyts, * * * Dead Pit, The: G.Everett, USA, 101 mins, Village Roadshow, O(horror) Ghosts ... of the Civil Dead: E.English, Australia, 91 mins, Outlaw Values Marketing, S(i-m-g) V(i-m -j) Man Behind the Sun (b): Fu Chi, Hong Kong, 104 mins, Yu Enterprises, * * * Manifesto: M.Golan/Y.Globus, USA/ Yugoslavia, 97 mins, Hoyts, S(i-m-g) 0(adult concepts) Tougher Than Leather: V.Giordano, USA, 86 mins, Hoyts, V(i-m-g) L(f-m-g) 0(sexual allusions)

Films examined in terms o f the Customs (Cinematograph Films) Regulations as States’ film censorship legislation are listed below.

An explanatory key to reasons for classifying non-"G " films appears hereunder: Purpose

Explicitness/Intensity

Frequency Infrequent

Frequent

Low

Medium

High

Justified

Gratuitous ë

S (S e x )

i

f

1

m

h

)

V (Violence)

i

f

1

m

h

j

ë

L(Language)

i

f

1

m

h

j

ë

O (Other)

i

f

1

m

h

j

ë

Title

Producer

Reason for decision

Applicant

Submitted length

Country

TO A D V E R T I S E IN

CINEMA P A P E R S M ELB O U R N E 4 2 9 5 5 1 1

C A L L P A T R IC IA AM AD

c

N E M A

P

A

P

E

R

S

7 4

(a) See also under Films Board o f Review and R(Restricted Exhibition) March 1989 (b) See also under Films Board o f Review and Films Refused Registration March 1989 FILM S BOARD O F R EV IEW Boost, T he (a): D.Blatt, USA, 95 mins, Hoyts, * * * Decision reviewed: Classify' R by the Film Censorship Board.

Decision o f the Board: Confirm the decison o f the Film Censorship Board Man Behind the Sun (b): Fu Chi, Hong Kong, 104 mins, Yu Enterprises, * * * Decision reviewed: Refusal to register by the Film Censorship Board Decision o f the Board: Direct the Film Censorship Board to register and classify’ R

77

THE

LAST

INTERVIEWS

WORD

BY

CATE

KELLY

THIS YEAR AT CANNES AUSTRALIA HAD FOUR FILMS INVITED TO THE FESTIVAL: TWO FILMS IN COMPETITION, JANE CAMPION'S SWEETIE AND FRED SCHEPISI'S EVIL ANGELS (A CRY IN THE DARK AS IT IS KNOWN OVERSEAS) AND TWO FILMS IN THE SIDEBAR EVENT, UN CERTAIN REGARD - IAN PRINGLE'S THE PRISONER OF ST PETERSBURG AND BILL BENNETT'S MALPRACTICE. MANY MORE SCREENED IN THE MARKETPLACE. BUT APART FROM FATIGUE, CLAUSTROPHOBIA AND A FORTNIGHT-LONG HANGOVER, WHAT DOES

W H A T D O ES C A N N E S M EAN TO Y O U ?

Sue M urray: D ir e c t o r o f M a r k et in g , A ustralian F ilm

C om m ission

CANNES HAVE TO OFFER FOR AUSTRALIAN

Cannes attracts a fantastic mix o f people - the media, festival directors, filmmakers and buyers. It is where films are debated in cine­ matic terms, national film cultures are analyzed, films are bought and sold, where having a profile can be extremely important, where locating people can be a nightmare. In other words, it’s a must.

In terms o f the A FC , it means a lot o f work: setting up office facilities, assisting producers with their marketing strategies, produc­ ing information booklets, setting up festival activities for the next year, co-ordinating screenings and promoting Australian films. It is both an endurance test and a challenge to allocate limited financial resources in order to achieve the best possible exposure for the Aus­ tralian films.

PAUL Cox :

FILMMAKERS? WHAT ROLE DOES THE AUSTRALIAN FILM COMMISSION HAVE IN CREAT­ ING AN AUSTRALIAN PRESENCE? HOW DID THIS YEAR'S FESTIVAL COMPARE WITH PREVIOUS FESTIVALS? AND HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOUR­ SELF FOR THE RIGOURS OF THE CROISETTE? A SELECTION OF EXPERIENCED FESTIVAL-GOERS AND FIRST-TIMERS ASSESS THE 1989 FESTIVAL

D ir e c t o r o f I sland , ( s c r ee n in g in t h e m a r k et )

Well, it must certainly not be regarded as a proper film festival. This is a political set-up. I f you look at all the films in all the categories they are there for certain reasons, political reasons. I t ’s not a celebration o f the cinema - it used to be. Now it’s all money and greed. I t ’s a product like shampoo here, and all the way around the world, yet we still celebrate the great Cannes boulevard, we are still seen along the Croisette avec les croissants.

The com petition has A Cry in the D ark. It has been released and bombed out in two countries. I t’s representing Australia in the com ­ petition. I ’ve nothing against it, but it’s ludicrous - it’s in the main competition because they wanted Meryl Streep here.

A screening in Cannes is also the most dreadful, harrowing thing on earth. Everybody has to walk in and out because they have to go to the next show. It is really like modern life, like consumerism. But it’s quite handy for me to be here because o f the financing o f the next film. A few discussions have been taking place and that usually results in something going on after the festival. So that’s why I came.

Alan F inney:

AND GIVE SOME TIPS FOR 1990. ately looking for the big film. The reason for that is that our supply lines are intact, our relationships are longstanding, they usually go back a number o f years. So for us it’s a very different exercise, it’s a question o f coming and speaking with these people and having a meal and a drink and saying hello. So for us Cannes is more a touching base exercise than heavy negotiation in a smoke-filled room.

Kim L ewis : Prisoner

D ir . M a r k et in g / D is t r ib u t io n V illa g e R o a dsho w

C I N

E M A

Kim L ew is M a rk etin g ( p r in c ip a ll y r e pr e se n t in g T h e

St Petersburg

and

C el ia )

Cannes is pretty important for Australian independents because it’s both a festival and a market. The American Film Market and Milan aren’t festival oriented and, apart from Berlin and M ontreal, m ost o f the other festivals don’t have a strong market. But you can cover all the ground here. You can sell your film to a film co-op. or you can sell to a studio here. It has the biggest range. The biggest difficulty is contacting them, because there’s no register o f any reliable kind, and no full calendar o f films.

W e’re not running around this market or any other market desper78

of

P

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David Hannay:

com m ittee). O nce a film is selected we co-ordinate the translation and subtitling and work with the agent and producer on the presentation o f the film. T he marketing staff who attend Cannes also try to see as many o f the new Australian films as possible so that we can discuss the films with buyers. T he A FC doesn’t sell films, so the emphasis is on providing as much information as we can so that buyers can identify the films they are interested in seeing. We also set up meetings in advance so that we can plan our annual festivals and special events strategy, identify potential pre-sale and co-production partners for Australian producers and keep informed as to buying trends and prices. This contact with the market is essential for our marketing advisory role. Preparing for Cannes is a continuous process - we started planning for 1 9 9 0 at this year’s festival.

P roducer

I com e here for my future more than anything else. Last year M apan tsu la was an official selection but usually I come to meet people, to renew acquaintances and talk about future projects. I don’t need any other market, but Cannes is essential to me.

B ob W eis :

P r o d u c e r o f G eorgia

I ’ve always brought myself to markets because I thought it was an important thing to do. I think anyone who is a serious filmmaker can get to a market, it ought to be a part o f their strategy. I f you can get $1 million to $5 million together to make a film, then you ought to be able to get $ 1 0 ,0 0 0 to find out what the rest o f the world is doing.

I t ’s a very important experience for a filmmaker to come to a market like this and see how these people appreciate what they are doing. I t ’s basically a communicative medium and if we get stuck in a production phase without getting any feedback from the distribution phase, it’s a pretty isolated and alienating experience.

T here’s a sort o f quixotic attitude on the part o f some o f the filmmakers that distribution is part o f the dirty world o f money and commercialism and we’re artists and we don’t need to address that.

I t ’s very naive, because film is that very strange mixture o f art and com merce. I t ’s a very expensive medium to work in. I t ’s not a sellout to find out whether the intentions with which you started a project are realized.

Daniel Scharf:

NATALIE Miller :

Alan F inney : W hat some Australians tend to feel they have to do is to hype the Aussie film. The trouble is that it can increase that dis­ crepancy between expectation and delivery. There are some films that should be hyped in reverse. You should go around saying, “I t ’s only a little film ,” and then people may be surprised. I find that in a marketing sense people are often more impressed if they think they think they’ve discovered something. T h at’s what you have to do when you’re distributing films, you have to be very careful to cue people’s expectations in an accurate way that allows them to feel they’re part o f the process. I think this reflects the confusion in all our minds about the kinds o f films we should be making. On the hand there are the C rocodile D undees, and on the other hand the smaller films o f more limited scope and ambition - but people come to a market like this and try to sell those films as though they’re C rocodile D undee. You can’t have it both ways. You don’t bring a cat to Cannes and sell it as a lion, you sell it as a nice little cat, and there are a lot o f people that want to buy a cat.

P r o d u c e r : T h e Prisoner of St P etersburg , and

L over Bor

This is my first time at Cannes, my first time at any market. I t ’s very enlightening meeting people, seeing how things like the press are handled. I ’ve m et an incredible number o f people, a broad range o f producers, buyers, distributors. I think it’s imperative for Australian independents to come to a market like this and see what the real world’s about.

H O W D ID Y O U P R E P A R E F O R T H E F E S T IV A L ?

Kim L ewis: It is difficult for a single producer or a new company, because it takes two to four years for people to know you’re around, and where you’re based, and whether or not your product is reliable.

A lot o f people come here and try to get everyone into their screenings; that’s not only difficult, because screenings are expensive, but it’s also worthless gunning for all those big companies if you’re handling specialty product. I f you run a film through the Palais markets and it’s a new film, the first screening’s free, and subsequent screenings are $ 7 0 to $ 1 0 0 . And if you run it through the AFC it’s $ 4 0 0 a screening, outside the Palais, in the cinemas. You might get only 30 or 4 0 people to a session, or as few as 15 to a morning screening. I t ’s better to show a film that’s got some trade in it a minimum o f three times, up to as many as five or six, because people just keep missing screenings in this place Ideally you let everyone know your film is on long before the festival and get your bookings made early in the year. You try to get your actual screening times into the bumper issue trade ads, but you don’t always have that information in time yourself. I f you’re a regular, then it is not so difficult to get that important information out to people, because you know them and they will respond to you and will make contact with you. I f you have a film screening in the official selections, you really need to have a public relations person, a press co-ordinator.

The festival runs for 12 days, so you’ve got to survive that period o f time. Y ou’ve got to pace yourself in a way that allows you to get through that time in the best possible physical condition. Cannes is not H obart - it is not a place that closes at midnight, so you’ve got to be careful that you don’t overdo it or you can blow the next three days’ business. I f you get 30 seconds with Menahem Golan and you think you’ve really got a picture for him, then you’ve got to be in

T R IS T R A M

M ia l l :

P r o d u c e r , f o r m e r l y w it h

F ilm

A u st r a lia ,

ACCOMPANYING M A L P R A C T IC E

I don’t think that there’s any golden rule o f how to prepare for Cannes. I f you have a film then what you can do is have masses o f leaflets and you work the press gallery and if you’re an American multi-millionaire producer you can have planes flying around outside every lunchtime. But most o f that can only happen once you’re here.

You make sure that people like Bill [Bennett] and Ian [Gilmour] come along, because people here are really more interested in direc­ tors and actors than in marketing people.

I f you have a production in development that you want to get interest in, you really have to think a long way ahead. As far as I can see there is very little point in coming here without at least a first draft script, a budget and key elements, actors and so on. And you send that to your targeted people beforehand, so that when you finally meet, they’ve read it, and you can sit down and have some good useful discussions. T h at’s the textbook way o f doing it. I don’t know how many people actually achieve it.

E van E nglish :

P r o d u c e r , G hosts... of th e C ivil D ead

Basically I just take some time and figure out my targets. In this case it was certain territories, like Spain and Germany. I feed out informa­ tion, sales spiels and screening times, and send out information to everyone in the territory I can think of, not just buyers, but producers, friends, everyone, because that’s the network.

Then you have to figure out what sort o f publicity you’re going to do. We can’t afford to advertise in the trades, so we go different ways. W e do a guerrilla poster campaign, which is always really important, because people talk about it, and we do invitations and then blitz the place. The other important point is to contact the trades, Variety, Hollywood R eporter, Business o f F ilm , L e F ilm F ran cais and Screen In tern a tio n a l, and make sure that you get some stories printed in the bumper editions or the dailies.

reasonable shape.

Sue Murray : In terms o f the market, we book the cinema, accom ­ m odation, office space and local staff; assist producers with their ac­ creditation and discuss marketing strategies; and create a new cam­ paign each year, including producing a new catalogue and promo reel, for the festival, in February we preview all the available films to Pierre Rissient (who is the delegate for Gilles Jacob and the selection C I N E M A

D is t r ib u t o r - e x h ib it o r

For the first-timers at Cannes, there’s not a lot that can prepare you for it. You have to be focused, you have to know what you’ve come for, and not try to be all things to all people. I f you’re trying to sell a film, send your material out to your targeted buyers beforehand; if you’re going to hold a function, send the invitations well before you com e, that way people will focus on you. And stay somewhere central, it doesn’t matter where - that’s one o f the important things.

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B ob W eis : I think individual produc­ ers need to spend more money and more effort on their profile in this market. When you come to a few vou realize that if you haven’t worked out your strategy three months before you arrive, written letters and con­ tacted the people that you wanted to see, and worked out exactly what it is that you wanted to achieve, then vou end up having beers with Australian colleagues and talking about the w'eather. At this festival, anybody can com e, and does, and it takes a few markets to realize who is just full o f shit, and who is a real player. And the difficulty is that somebody who is a real player one year is full o f shit the next.

From a support point o f viewT I THE IN FA M O U S CA R LT O N think the State and Federal bodies provide good infrastructure, particularly the AFC. The State bodies have been a little confused over the years about what their role is and whether there is a conflict o f interest between them and the Federal body and whether they ought to be plugging into the Federal body’s initiatives or doing something separate.

H O W D O E S T H E F E S T IV A L C O M P A R E W IT H O T H E R Y E A R S ?

Natalie Miller : I ’ve been coming here at least 12 years. In the early days there weren’t nearly so many films screening, and the in­ dependent arthouse distributor could pick up really top specialist films for very low' prices. When I first came there w'ere onlv about five Australians here altogether. This year I ’ve found films that I liked, but unfortunately they w'ere either pre-sold, or the majors have bought them. A few'years ago, for example, I bought Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger Than P aradise. Now', with his third film, Mystery T ra in , the asking price is just enormous for an independent, it’s too much o f a risk.

What has changed it a lot is video. A lot o f the big companies buy all the rights, and don’t care if it doesn’t do a lot theatrically - but the rights have gone. And there are companies like Troma Productions, with their titles like R a b id G rannies and Teenage N in ja Turtles on the Moon. The place is full o f that as w'ell.

P ierre Rissient :

W H A T D O Y O U T H IN K O F TH E A U S ­ T R A L IA N P R E S E N C E T H IS Y E A R ?

B ob Weis : T h at’s a very complex question and it w'orks on different levels. I think think the A FC pro­ H O TEL, C A N N E S vides a very good service for Austra­ lian producers and one w'hich I notice the British and the Americans have tried to emulate this year.

In terms o f films, Australia’s back. But w'here I think the Austra­ lians fall dowm is in international marketing. Partly it’s a perception o f where Australian films haven’t w'orked as product lines for the distributors in the various territories. Australian films are still consid­ ered to be at the bottom end o f distributors’ schedules, or difficult, or special, regardless o f the fact that the occasional film has broken through in a big way. And a lot o f our stuff, even when it is appreciated critically, is not considered good commercial fare. So I think there’s a problem o f perception that w'e have in creating a market for our films, and possibly also something that w'e have to address in terms o f our filmmaking.

P aul Cox : Australians have a tradition to come here even' year and promote their films. I don’t know' how they promote them, that’s none of my business, but I just w'onder how' much it costs and is it really worthwhile?

this year. When the drive tow'ards co-productions first happened, it w'as a w'av to finance films and the concept seemed unimportant.

People w'ere putting together a French and a German and Italian and Australian element because they thought they could find the monev, and that’s always a fairly disastrous recipe for film production at the end o f the day. I t’s only w'orth doing a co-production if there are creative elements which drive the deal. But there’s been some interesting as w'ell as some w'acky projects pitched to me this time.

P ierre Rissient : In 1 986 there w'ere a few Australian films, espe­ cially a few shorts o f Jane Campion, and 198 9 is a kind o f conse­ quence of 1 986. The fact that Sweetie exists and has got into competition is a kind o f result o f 1 9 8 6 . With Jane in that year there w'as Scott Murray [with D evil in the Flesh] and Bill Bennett [with B acklash] and that w'as good because it meant three young directors could emerge at Cannes, and this year there is Jane Campion, Ian Pringle and Bill Bennett again. It should remind us that if people come with good fresh things, then they can succeed.

Kim L ewis : I t ’s a slower market, better for buyers than sellers because there’s lots o f product around and not many people making offers. There’s an argument that there are too many markets, and this one is very close to the American Film Market, so there’s not a lot o f new' product that wasn’t at the AFM . A lot o f serious buyers have acknowledged that it’s basically been a four-day market covering an 1 1 -day period.

Having the AFC space at the Hotel Carlton w'as obviouslv a godsend this year because it allowed everyone to stay on ground level and get details. The AFC is a curious beast: it helps to facilitate better relationships with buyers, to a greater degree for the official festival organization. But it’s sometime awkward for individual marketing reps and the A FC , because no one really knows how' it w'orks. Thev tend to think that the AFC is the marketing representative and be unaware that there is an agent for the film, because not many other organizations work in this way.

Natalie M iller : I remember some years it w'as enormous, in the year of Picnic a t H an g in g R ock, it w'as like Captain Cook discovering Australia all over again, everyone w'as talking Australia, it was just this huge, huge buzz. With G allipoli we had people on horseback riding up and down the Croisette, and everyone was talking about it. That’s what’s missing this year - it’s been a better festival than usual, there have been a lot o f good films, but there’s not that buzz.

For Australia, this year has been better than the last few' years, with Sweetie in competition and Prisoner o f Petersburg in U n Certain Regard and a Paul Cox film here. I just think the pizzazz o f promotion has been less. The Australians have a nice profile here and good controversial w'ord o f mouth on Sweetie —some like it, some don’t —and I think that wall set the film for some sort o f success.

P l-b i .k : ist , re pr e se n t in g S ilv er L in ing E n t e r t a in m e n t

This year is certainly not so packed peoplew'ise, probablv because it’s becoming so expensive. Consequently it has been much easier to 80

F estival d e l e ­

I think this year in com peti­ tion there have been more daring, more adventurous films, and these have been about the most success­ ful, the best received. I think it will encourage Cannes to go ahead with these kinds o f films. g ate.

David H annay: I think that the people at the AFC at the moment are terrific and I like the way they run things. W hen I first came here years ago, everyone w'as waving the nationalistic flag and saying, “W e’re here.” We don’t have to do that any more, everyone know's w'e’re here. One year there w'as the most appalling promotion with the slogan, “Our product’s got great legs” [and a graphic to match].

It w'as tasteless and gross - thank goodness we’re not doing anything like that any more.

B ob Weis : There’s tremendous interest in genuine co-productions

Rea F rancis:

manipulate the market. I don’t think anyone can complain about the tal­ ent line-up, but the business side o f the market is slow'.

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