Indie cinema changed forever: de Heer

By Brendan Swift

Director Rolf de Heer says independent cinema has changed forever in the wake of the global economic crisis, which will lead to a new funding and distribution model.

“Exactly what the model will end up I don’t know – I think it’s really a more constantly evolving thing, rather than one thing or another,” he said.

“It’s tough out there.”

de Heer’s comments follow a high profile Metro Screen forum last week on the difficulty of attracting audiences to see local films.

However, the debate – which included Screen Australia boss Ruth Harley, Hopscotch Films managing director Troy Lum, SPAA president Antony I. Ginnane and director Rachel Ward – came up with few concrete solutions.

“There’s the two models: there’s the financial model and the cultural model. Culturally we seem to be doing ok – financially not so well – but then most film industries in the world are bloody subsidised – we’re not the only ones I can tell you,” de Heer said.

“People will say it’s all to do with exhibition. But there are a lot of exhibitors who have really backed Australian film and often enough, they get burnt, but they come back for a second go because they believe in it. I don’t think we can complain about the exhibition and distribution we’ve had, given the way we perform.”

Rolf de Heer on set

He nominates indigenous drama Samson & Delilah as his favourite movie of the year – “a profoundly important work”.

de Heer’s own indigenous drama Ten Canoes had a similar impact to Samson & Delilah when it was released in 2006 and the two films have performed similarly at the box office: $3,511,649 and $3,173,103 respectively.

Despite the success of Ten Canoes, de Heer cemented his reputation with his early features, beginning with Tail of a Tiger in 1984.

Umbrella Entertainment is preparing to release the Rolf De Heer Collection, which showcases his first six films: Tail of a Tiger, Incident at Raven’s Gate, Dingo, Bad Boy Bubby, The Quiet Room and Epsilon.

Bad Boy Bubby, the story of a 38-year old man (played by Nick Hope) and his first journey into the outside world, proved to be de Heer’s biggest early hit when it was released in 1993.

“I’m obviously fond of it because of what it’s helped allow me to do because it was a real breakthrough film in a way,” de Heer says.

“But oddly enough some of the other films get more queries nowadays after them. I get emails from England asking about Tail of a Tiger: not one, but more than one.”

“Each film is madness in it’s own way. They all have a special place.”

His predominately art house films have traversed a wide range of topics, attracting almost 30 Australian and international awards.

“I remember Raven’s Gate, when it got its video release, I had some friends who used to work in video shops and they reported to me it was the most stolen video of the year. And you think ‘ok, that’s nice’.

Umbrella Entertainment will release the Rolf de Heer Collection next month. For a chance to win a signed copy email us at info@if.com.au with your thoughts about current issues in the screen industry. The best letter will be published in the December/January issue of INSIDEFILM.

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