Film in Australia
The big picture
In 1906, Australian film-makers produced what is thought to be the world’s first feature length film, The Story of the Kelly Gang, about the country’s most notorious outlaws. The film enjoyed enormous success at home and was shown in British and New Zealand cinemas.
Today, the Australian film industry has a reputation for innovation and quality, producing films with a unique flavour and global appeal.
Australia’s actors, directors, producers, costume designers, writers, cinematographers and animators are attracting growing international acclaim. Actors such as Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett, Rachel Griffiths, Abbie Cornish, Geoffrey Rush, Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Heath Ledger and Naomi Watts have amassed a body of work that has won critical acclaim and commercial success. The Australian production Happy Feet won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2007.
The qualities that attract overseas film producers to Australia include its world-class studio facilities, highly-skilled local technical crews and the stunning diversity of the landscape.
In 2006–07, 28 Australian-produced and co-produced feature films, with a total production value of $270 million, and 45 television drama programs, with a total production value of $272 million, went into production in Australia. In the same year, the value of foreign film and television production in Australia was $49 million.
Government support
The Australian Government actively supports the film industry financially and provides tax incentives to private sector investors and assistance to training bodies. Direct government funding for production is channelled principally through the Film Finance Corporation. In 2006–07, government funding represented 17 per cent of the total funding for Australian produced and co‑produced feature films in production.
Training
The Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) is the national centre of excellence in professional education and training for the Australian film, broadcast and digital media production industries. It offers full-time courses leading to postgraduate qualifications in the disciplines of cinematography, directing, editing, documentary-making, screenwriting, digital media, producing, costume design, production design, animation, television, screen composition, sound design and radio.
Many of Australia’s finest film-makers are AFTRS graduates, including Jane Campion, Phillip Noyce, Gillian Armstrong, PJ Hogan, Jocelyn Moorhouse, Dion Beebe, Cate Shortland and Rachael Perkins.
AFTRS graduates and students have won more than 400 awards including the Cannes Palme d’Or, Caméra d’Or, two Palmes d’Or for Best Short Film, two Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, an Academy Award for Best Screenplay (from six Oscar nominations), 22 Australian Film Institute Awards and 10 Best Short Fiction Awards at the Sydney Film Festival.
Development and screen culture
The Australian Film Commission (AFC) operates as part of the Australian Government Film Program to support the creation, availability and preservation of Australian audiovisual content.
The AFC provides marketing advice and support, including professional development and production opportunities. It coordinates an Australian presence in international marketplaces, promotes the availability of Australian content to Australian audiences, collects and analyses statistics on Australia’s audiovisual industries and administers the international co-production program. Australia has now concluded film co-production agreements with the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Ireland, Israel and Germany and memorandums of understanding with France and New Zealand.
To preserve Australia’s screen and sound heritage, the AFC administers the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA), which maintains Australia’s largest collection of recorded sound and moving image. The NFSA holds more than two million items, including television and sound recordings, newsreels, scripts, posters, film stills, memorabilia and other items produced during more than 100 years of Australian film‑making.
Production funding
The Film Finance Corporation (FFC) is the principal Australian Government agency for funding the production of film and television programs. The corporation strengthens Australian cultural identity and enhances the commercial viability of Australia’s independent screen production sector by supporting a diverse range of entertaining and informative Australian productions and showcasing them to the world.
The FFC has financed recent box office successes such as Noise, The Black Balloon, Jindabyne, Wolf Creek, Ten Canoes, Look Both Ways and Little Fish, as well as classic Australian films such as Crackerjack, Lantana, The Man Who Sued God, Rabbit-Proof Fence, Looking for Alibrandi, The Wog Boy, Chopper, Two Hands, Shine, Strictly Ballroom, The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert and Muriel’s Wedding.
Television productions that have had FFC support include The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant, Jessica, Society Murders, Heroes’ Mountain—The Thredbo Story, Blue Murder, Halifax f.p., Brides of Christ, Blue Water High, Noah & Saskia, Wicked Science, Thunderstone, Ocean Girl and Round the Twist.
The FFC has supported diverse and acclaimed documentaries including Girl in a Mirror, Yellow Fella, Missing Persons Unit, Dying to Leave, A Wedding in Ramallah, My Mother India, Diving School, Year of the Dogs, The Human Journey and the large format Antarctica.
In 2006–07, the FFC invested $76.1 million in 74 new film and television projects, including $37.8 million in 15 feature films and one feature documentary, and 46 television documentaries for an investment of $10.5 million. It also funded 95 hours of television drama for an investment of $24.6 million. The total production value of these projects was $195.6 million.
The Australian Government currently funds the FFC with $70.5 million annually.
New arrangements
From 1 July 2008, the Australian Government will establish a new film agency, Screen Australia, by merging existing film bodies including the Australian Film Commission, the Film Finance Corporation and Film Australia. The ASA will provide a consolidated, single source of interaction between the government and producers.
Film festivals and awards
The Australian Film Institute is a non-profit, membership-based organisation that manages the annual AFI Awards—the national awards recognising outstanding achievements in Australian film and television—which are held each November. The AFI is also Australia’s foremost screen culture organisation.
Australia’s film-making is celebrated at many festivals throughout the year and across the country. Major festivals include the Sydney International Film Festival, the Melbourne International Film Festival, the Brisbane International Film Festival and the Adelaide Film Festival.
Tropfest is one of Australia’s best-loved festivals for short film, held for one night each year in February in cities around Australia. Tropfest showcases the work of emerging film-makers, giving them the opportunity to screen for their peers and lovers of cinema in a festive environment.
Other festivals include the Cairns Celebration of Film, Over the Fence Comedy Film Festival, Revelation Perth Independent Film Festival, and St Kilda Film Festival. Many more can be found by searching the Australian Government’s Culture and Recreation Portal.
Documentary
Film Australia is one of Australia’s largest producers of television documentaries and educational programs. It produces programs under the National Interest Program (NIP), a contract with the Australian Government to develop and produce programs about Australia and matters of concern to Australians. Recent NIP programs include Colour of War: The Anzacs, Dhakiyarr vs the King, Vietnam Symphony and the Australian Biography series and website.
Film Australia also provides support to the Australian documentary sector through a range of services and facilities. It maintains and makes available to the film production industry a library of over 5000 titles and 150 000 photographs, reflecting a century of Australia’s history.
The Educational Production Initiative draws on the materials in Film Australia’s library to create opportunities for documentary film-makers and multimedia producers in education and new media production.
Film Australia operates its own studios in Sydney, including screening venues, a sound stage, sound post-production facilities, a film laboratory, production offices and editing and transfer suites. These are used by many independent film and television production companies.
Children’s television drama
The Australian Children’s Television Foundation is a national, non-profit organisation created to encourage the development, production and dissemination of high-quality television programs, films and other audiovisual media for children. The foundation receives funding from the Australian Government and some state governments.
The foundation has produced more than 150 hours of programs, which have won over 95 national and international awards. These include an International Emmy Award in 1998 for Captain Johnno, the Prix Jeunesse for Crash Zone series 1 and the Banff Award for Round the Twist series 3. The foundation sells its programs in more than 100 countries.
Tax incentives
The Australian Government in April 2007 announced the introduction of a new Australian Screen Production Incentive, following the completion of its Review of Australian Government Film Funding Support. The incentive, introduced from July 2007, includes:
A new Producer Offset (replacing the 10BA and 10B schemes, which were closed to new applications from 30 June 2007), providing an offset of 40 per cent of eligible Australian expenditure to producers of qualifying feature films, and a 20 per cent offset for qualifying television productions, including series, telemovies, mini-series and documentaries.
An enhanced Location Offset replacing the refundable film tax offset, and an additional Post, Digital and Visual (PDV) Offset. The offsets represent a cash subsidy worth up to 15 per cent of the total budget of a production, depending on how much is shot and spent in Australia.
For more detailed information regarding tax incentives, see Australian Film Commission information on production incentives.
Foreign production
Over the past decade, Australia has been a prime destination for foreign film producers, attracted by the diverse landscapes for location shooting, dozens of sound stages and studios, music scoring and post-production facilities, flexible and professional crews and actors of world renown.
Since the introduction of the Australian Government’s refundable tax offset for large budget film production, films like Superman Returns, Charlotte’s Web, The Matrix trilogy, Peter Pan, Star Wars Episodes II and III, Scooby Doo, The Great Raid, Pitch Black, Son of the Mask, Inspector Gadget 2, Ghost Ship, Stealth and the mini-series Salem’s Lot have been produced in Australia. Also, in 2006–07, Australia was home to several Bollywood productions, including Chak De India, Love Story 2050 and Heyy Babyy.
State governments in Australia also offer various incentives to film-makers. In New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland these include payroll tax exemptions, while Victoria offers grants and Western Australia offers project funding. Queensland has recently announced a special post-production incentive and South Australia now offers a labour cost rebate.
Contacts
Ausfilm is a one-stop shop for film-makers that provides all the information a producer may require for filming in Australia—including advice about locations, studios, crews, creative talent, production facilities and government and industry incentives and regulations. It is a collaboration of about 50 corporate member companies, state and territory film agencies and Austrade, with offices in Sydney and Los Angeles.
Ausfilm is supported by the Australian Government through the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.
Each Australian state and territory also has its own film agency, designed to provide location assistance and incentive to encourage production in that particular state or territory. A list of these agencies is as follows:
- New South Wales—New South Wales Film and Television Office
- Victoria—Melbourne Film Office
- Queensland—Pacific Film and Television Commission
- Western Australia—ScreenWest
- South Australia—South Australian Film Corporation
- Tasmania—Screen Tasmania
- Australian Capital Territory—ScreenACT
- Northern Territory—Northern Territory Film Office
Further information
- Ausfilm
- Australian Film Commission
- The AFC provides a guide to organisations and information sources for film and television production in Australia
- Also available via the AFC website is Get the Picture, the AFC’s comprehensive reference publication on the Australian film, video, television and interactive digital media industries
- Australian Film Television and Radio School
- National Film and Sound Archive
This fact sheet is also available to download (PDF)
last updated April 2008