On the streets & SBS Review

After a long week, I'm back home in Canberra. It has been great to get out to cinemas
and meet audience members and here what they have had to say about Into the Shadows - and
the issues it raises.

If you have seen it, post some comments about your thoughts or join the facebook group. If you have not seen it, its still in cinemas this week. Thanks!

Here is a recent review by SBS

VOTE FOR IF AWARDS

We had a very positive screening at Dungog Film Festival!

The audience that saw the film all seemed to have a reaction to it: wether they were frustrated by the state of the Australian film industry, impassioned to do something about Australian film culture or simply soaked in the film - even a few laughs along the way which was cool.

If you saw the film at Dungog then show your support by visiting theIF AWARDS website. Here you can register and vote for
INTO THE SHADOWS. The winner is decided by the overall score given not the amount of votes so if you liked the film get behind it and hopefully we can encourage more people to see it and begin discussing, debating the issues that come out of the documentary.

Cheers-
Andrew.

SHOWTIME for MEN'S GROUP

I interviewed John L Simpson for Into the Shadows, late December 2007, and we spoke about Men's Group. From then on I had hoped the film would work for him and for those that took that leap of faith in the project and above all I hoped it would turn out to be a great film.

I saw it for the first time at Spaa Fringe 08 and it was very compelling. And it has now won a bag of awards at the INSIDE FILM AWARDS 2008. This is a great triumph for independent film and for the creative team behind the film!

It goes to show that if you want to make a film, do not take no for an answer, do not feel you have to be confined to the traditional ways of making a film. We live in an interesting time, when technology and film making culture is changing, anything is possible.

John L is working closely with independent exhibitors to find an audience for Men's Group and I hope he does. This is a film that all men should watch and will get something out of. The distribution and exhibition of this film is very telling of the market place for Australian films - there is none.

Well that is not entirely true, but it is very hard to find an audience for a low budget Aussie film and John L is a good example of how we as filmmakers can work with the distribution and exhibition industry and help find that core audience.

The big Aussie Film Myth

Local flicks more popular than credited

Michael Bodey | June 12, 2008

THE notion that Australians dislike Australian films is a myth, according to a research study commissioned by Film Finance Commission Australia.

The qualitative and quantitative study found Australian films did not suffer an intrinsic disadvantage against international films, despite the study's focus group research throwing up some disparaging remarks about local films.

"The qualitative research looked at the perceived wisdom; the quantitative research showed the perceived wisdom is wrong," said John Berenyi, managing director of Bergent Research, which conducted the study.

Read the story here.

What do you think? If you hear a film is Australian are you turned off or turned on?