Into the Shadows

Explores behind the big screen to meet the filmmakers, distributors and exhibitors who bring Australian films to us, the audience. The cinema was once a place where Australian culture thrived: audiences were educated, entertained and inspired by Australian stories, characters and landscapes. But now, alarmingly, out of the $945.4 million spent at the Australian box-office in 2008, only $35.5 million (3.8%) was spent on Australian films. Australian films are clearly not connecting with the cinema-going audience. Why? The film begins by tracing the history of Australian cinema, from the production boom in 1910-12, declining steadily to the barren post-war years. The film investigates the regeneration of the domestic production industry, championed by a dedicated few, in the late 1960s. Bruce Beresford, Phillip Adams and Alan Finney recount what the atmosphere was like in the 1960s and 1970s while distributors and exhibitors, Andrew Pike (Electric Shadows), Chris Kiely (Valhalla), ...