[ Industryperspectives ]
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Outand
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AustralianReel Queer Screen in an International Market
Australian queer film and video is thriving internationally despite its low yield and the difficulties of finding domestic theatrical release. Troy Bullock explores this overseas success and the surprising launch into international stardom by actors ‘playing gay’. 3 place among the finalists The winner also receives an automatic in short film competition My Queer place in the finals of the only truly inter- ACareer would be welcome news for national queer short film competition. The ing pad to success on the international any young director. It provides the opportu- Iris Prize, valued at £25,000, gives the market. Craig Boreham, whose Love Bite nity to open the prestigious Mardi Gras Film winner the opportunity to produce their (2008) opened the 2008 Mardi Gras Film Festival with a gala screening of their short next short in London. Top honours in My Festival in February, was selected to take film at Sydney’s City Recital Hall. Now in its Queer Career have been won by the likes part in the Berlinale Talent Campus in Ger- fifteenth year, the Mardi Gras Film Festival of Tony Ayres (Walking on Water [2002], many, a week-long film program where over showcases around 150 films each year and The Home Song Stories [2007]), Robert 350 young directors learn from acclaimed attracts an audience of over 25,000, making Luketic (Legally Blonde [2001], Monster- international filmmakers. Boreham won it the southern hemisphere’s largest gay in-Law [2005], 21 [2008]) and Academy a place in the prestigious program partly and lesbian film festival. The fifteen finalists Award winner Adam Elliot (Harvie Krum- on the strength of his previous short film in My Queer Career are selected from a sur- pet, 2003). According to Elliot: Transient (2005), the tale of failed gay love prisingly small number of submissions. In that won the audience choice award at My 2006 around sixty Australian and New Zea- My Queer Career is a supportive and cru- Queer Career in 2005. The 2006 winner of land short films competed for the top prize; cial vehicle for filmmakers who choose to, My Queer Career, Sotiris Dounoukos, said: in 2007, there were 150 films. Prizes are or simply ‘must’, express Queerness. They awarded for best cinematography, screen- have supported me over the last decade The support I received helped me to travel play, editing, direction, sound and develop- and given me the strength and confidence after the festival and meet with producers ment. All films compete for a top prize of to keep telling stories that are honest and about future projects ... Mona Lisa [2004] $3000 cash and all finalist films are eligible without compromise.1 has since been invited to another [ten] in- to be included on the national My Queer ternational festivals as a direct result of My Career tour and compilation DVD. A win in My Queer Career can be a launch- Queer Career.2
112 • Metro Magazine 158 the US distributors‘ were hoping for a tits-and-ass gay movie and weren’t overly happy with what they got until it started making money. 1 Ed Aldridge on Tan’ Lines
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1: tan lines 2: 2008 Mardi Gras Film Festival Opening Night 3: Margaret Pomeranz, a judge of the 2007 My Queer career Competition 4: SBS broadcaster Anton Enus, a judge of the 2008 My Queer career Competition
for a tits-and-ass gay movie and weren’t overly happy with what they got until it started making money.
1 Tan Lines has performed well on the inter- national market, scoring a small theatri- cal release in Germany and DVD releases In 2008, a series of master classes will be ‘a gay surf movie, a coming-of-age story, in North America, the United Kingdom, introduced to increase the professional or a punk’s view of teenage sexuality’. France and Spain. It has even managed development opportunities for filmmakers. Shot on MiniDV on the aptly named Manly to cross over to mainstream festivals. In a My Queer Career finalists will be invited to Beach in northern New South Wales, Tan positive review, Dennis Harvey in Variety attend three forums with key professionals Lines premiered at Melbourne’s Queer stated, ‘It’s hard not to wish this had been from the Australian film industry. Festival Film Festival and, unlike a lot of Austral- shot on 35mm.’4 The most recent country director Lex Lindsay believes: ian feature films, it has managed to turn to come on board with a DVD release is a profit for its producers quite quickly, Australia. ‘At the beginning we shopped it We need to continue to do more for our even after a difficult start. Turned down by around in Australia to two or three niche queer filmmakers, if we want to see hon- many of Australia’s funding bodies, who distributors that we thought would have est, powerful and meaningful representa- didn’t like the script, Aldridge was still loved it,’ says Aldridge. ‘It was a revelation tions of queer life in Australian cinema, the determined to get his film shot. ‘We kept to us that Australia took so long to come most important thing we can do is invest going as if we had the funding, casting on board.’ in our local queer voices.3 the roles, finding locations and hassling distributors.’ Aldridge managed to secure Some months after Tan Lines’ interna- Gay and global: Tan Lines a presale from TLA Releasing for a North tional success, Force Entertainment has American DVD release and then the sup- released Tan Lines on DVD in Australia One local queer voice that is having signif- port of Peccadillo Pictures in the UK. under their new FQ – Force Queer range. icant success in the international market- Small Australian film distributors are place is Ed Aldridge, writer and director of The UK were very supportive from the be- slowly beginning to realize the potential for Tan Lines (2006). The film is described as ginning, the US distributors were hoping gay and lesbian themed films, and major
Metro Magazine 158 • 113 [ Industryperspectives ]
video chains like Blockbuster have also of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (Stephan and gain both domestic and international taken notice. Large speciality sections Elliott, 1994) have all given a unique recognition. have been created at Blockbuster outlets take on a gay Australian experience. The in suburbs with strong gay and lesbian appearance of gay characters in Austral- Two of Priscilla’s stars, Hugo Weaving and demographics, like Brisbane’s New Farm ian films has been gradual, with many Guy Pearce, went on to build strong Hol- and Melbourne’s Prahran. roles small and secondary to the film’s lywood careers after their roles in the film. storyline. Pearce followed up with L.A. Confidential Queensland distributor Eagle Entertainment (Curtis Hanson, 1997) and Hugo Weaving launched its Out & About Films label in Early examples of gay male representa- has become an international star through 2005, after owner Jeff Cooke saw a gap in tion include experimentation by boys both The Matrix (The Wachowski Broth- the market and a demand from Australian at a Catholic seminary in The Devil’s ers, 1999, 2003 and 2003) and The Lord audiences for gay and lesbian content. Out Playground (Fred Schepisi, 1976) and an of the Rings (Peter Jackson, 2001, 2002 & About Films is releasing one or two titles all-too-intimate friendship between two and 2003) trilogies. While many American a month into DVD rental and retail stores boys in the 1981 television feature by Wil- actors admit to shying away from gay and says it is committed to the label liam Fitzwater, A Hard God. It wasn’t until roles due to the harm it could do their on- although the Australian market is still in The Everlasting Secret Family (Michael screen image, many of Australia’s leading its infancy. Managing director Dan Quinn Thornhill, 1988) that gay issues became actors have made leaps in their career explains: the central focus of an Australian film. In thanks to playing gay. Everlasting, a boarding school student We look for quality productions, a good becomes a member of a homosexual Before Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000), plot, well made films that just happen to brotherhood formed by men in his com- Russell Crowe was a gay son in The Sum have gay and lesbian themes. We’d love munity. He begins to resent the ‘plaything’ of Us. Also released in 1994, the film dealt to see some Australian films for this label. status imposed upon him by the older with the relationship between Crowe’s We’ve had some come our way but none members and his resentment culminates character and his father, played by Jack that we’ve released, it’s mostly been films in a battle of wills between himself and Thompson. It was praised for its ‘original- from America so far. a local senator’s trophy wife. Everlast- ity and refreshing portrayal of masculinity’.5 ing suggests that, like the so-called Crowe’s character says, ‘I don’t want to live Critically queer mainstream political scene, gay lifestyle in a world that begins and ends with being can become a dangerously manipulative gay,’ and the film manages to celebrate the Broadcast opportunities for gay and les- power trip in the wrong hands. common ground between gay and straight bian content in Australia are limited. Only people. Coming from the filmThe Heart- SBS shows real support for the industry, A key year in the pursuit of gay rights break Kid (Michael Jenkins, 1993) and the screening international programs such was 1994 as the Australian Government spin-off television series, Alex Dimitriades as Queer as Folk and a few Australian overturned Tasmania’s anti-sodomy changed his image completely in playing documentaries on queer issues. Austral- legislation. As if on cue, it was also the Ari, a nineteen-year-old homosexual Greek ian filmmakers can, however, cash in with year of two of Australia’s most successful Australian, in Ana Kokkinos’ Head On. The the many international broadcasters of queer films. The Adventures of Priscilla, 1998 film was described as ‘difficult yet in- queer content. Major buyers include the Queen of the Desert premiered at the San tense’ and scattered with casual drug use, gay television networks here! and Logo Francisco International Film Festival in violence and discomforting sex scenes, yet in the United States, both dedicated May 1994 and a week later a special mid- it managed to find its audience.N omi- 24-hour gay and lesbian channels, OUTtv night screening was held during the ‘Un nated for eight Australian Film Institute in Canada, GAY.tv in Italy and the soon- Certain Regard’ section of the Cannes (AFI) awards, including Best Film, Head to-be-launched The Queer Channel in the Film Festival. The cast of the film put on a On gained the recognition and respect of UK. The Internet also offers a number of glittering show on the steps of the Palais the domestic audience and succeeded Video on Demand platforms and online des Festivals before the film screened internationally telling a uniquely Austral- retail opportunities for gay and lesbian to a delighted crowd and finished with a ian story that could not be replicated by films. The limited amount of broadcast- standing ovation. Priscilla officially opened Hollywood. Dimitriades has gone on to a quality content in the marketplace means in North America in August 1994, and successful career in Australian television, that a producer with an entertaining and then a month later in Australia. By this film and theatre. technically sound product has a real op- time it was being heralded as a milestone portunity of selling to these content-hungry in Australian cinema and was backed The late Australian actor Heath Ledger networks. by its box office success in the United began his career playing gay – a cyclist in States. Priscilla pulled in $16 million at the the 1996 television series Sweat. He later Australia has a notable history of creating local box office, surprising people with received an Oscar nomination for play- successful queer films, and four of Aus- its uncanny ability to be both gay and ing a gay cowboy in the acclaimed drama tralia’s top 100 grossing films feature gay Australian. It was a strong departure from Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005). themes. With a combined box office of the image of Crocodile Dundee (Peter Paul Hogan and Michael Caton (passing over $26 million, Head On (Ana Kokkinos, Faiman, 1986) or the ideals of the country as a gay couple seeking a tax loophole in 1998), The Sum of Us (Geoff Burton and at the time, but was valued by critics and Strange Bedfellows), and Geoffrey Rush Kevin Dowling, 1994), Strange Bedfellows audiences alike as evidence that Austral- (in Candy [Neil Armfield, 2006]) have all (Dean Murphy, 2004) and The Adventures ian films could bypass the ‘cultural cringe’ had their turn with varying success.
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▐ While many American actors admit to shying away from gay roles due to the harm it could do their on-screen 2 image, many of Australia’s leading actors have made leaps in their career thanks to playing gay. ▐
Future queer
Lisa Daniels is co-author of The Bent Lens: A World Guide to Gay & Lesbian Film and the director of the Melbourne Queer Film 1 Festival (MQFF). The Bent Lens, now in its second edition, lists over 10,000 gay 1: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN 2: STRANGE BEDFELLOWS and lesbian films from around the world 3 3: THE SUM OF US yet features less than 200 Australian ti- tles. Daniels was surprised by this small number, especially considering the quality Our queer filmmakers don’t get enough tial to make quality gay and lesbian content of films that she sees every year in her support from commercial distributors and and while filmmakers may need to look role with the MQFF. Daniels estimates she yet the talent and the writing and produc- internationally for funding from presales and watches around 600 gay films every year, tion expertise is all there. Some Australian distribution deals, there are the opportuni- with around 400, mostly international, films films are of a fantastic quality; I just wish ties available to create a successful career being submitted to the MQFF each year. there was more money for the industry. within the gay and lesbian film industry.
My bugbear is the bigger theatrical dis- Daniels believes the real strengths in Troy Bullock is a distribution executive for bou- tributors in Australia don’t pick up so many queer filmmaking lie in short film, and she tique international sales agency Galloping Films. • of the great features from overseas. We has seen some fantastic films come out have excellent ones in the program each of places like the Victorian College of the Endnotes year like Breakfast with Scot [Laurie Lynd, Arts and the Australian Film Television and 1 ‘Call for Entries to My Queer Career 2007’, State 2007] or Spinning [Heidi Arnesen, 2006]. Radio School (AFTRS). of the Arts, 25 May 2006,
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