Australian movies = the suck

There's no doubt we need government support. Our population isn't big enough to support a local industry without some form of subsidy. But we have to earn that right by making movies that people want to see - whether it's a big commercial movie or a small arthouse or niche-audience film.

-- Bill Bennett in "Earth Calling Film backers"

While I'm a little skeptical about Bill's taste in mainstream films (Cut, Deck Dogz), he IS right that we need to make films people want to see... and we need to do it NOW. Why? Because people are already refusing to see potentially good films because they're Australian. The longer you go without producing something worth seeing - a real watercooler 'Have you see Willis' latest? FUCK. You need to. Its amazing!!!!' cultural moment - the more ingrained the " Australian movies = the suck " mentality will become and thus the harder we'll have to work to overcome it... and its a we. Once upon a time, George Miller said "there is nothing wrong with the Australian film industry a good film can't fix". I'm afraid in 2005 the situation is that "there is nothing wrong with the Australian film industry that a whole succession of great films can't fix".

I've written about this before - I think we should be ashamed that we have failed our audiences. If no one likes what you're making then odds are you aren't an artistic genius but rather you're a talentless hack. Our film industry is one talentless hack per se.