The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 756 - 566: Best Picture - Dream of Australasia

The biggest difference between the film structures of Australasia and Europe and America lies in the fact that most film production studios in Europe and America are large-scale, while Australasia is still filled with numerous small-scale movie production studios.

This is quite understandable. The film market in Europe and America has not undergone much expansion, and due to the impact of films from Australasia, local film factories are finding it even more difficult.

In such a situation, it is hard for small-scale movie companies to survive, and a single film’s failure could lead to a significant loss for these small-scale film enterprises and potentially even lead to bankruptcy.

In order to promote the development of Australasian films, Arthur implemented a fairly effective measure - separating production and broadcasting.

Put simply, this means that film production and broadcast of the films are handled by separate firms.

Even the three major film production studios cannot guarantee that the films they produce will be independently broadcast nationwide.

For film production studios, concentrating on making films is the best choice. It can save more costs and avoid the impact of a film’s financial loss being too high.

Under such circumstances, various large cinemas and even chain cinemas emerged.

After a film studio completes a film, it is passed on to the cinema for screening, and then dividends are given according to each party’s share of the profit.

This approach can prevent high-quality films from being quashed, as public support for a film is the highest criterion for evaluating its quality.

Interestingly, this film development method in Australasia proves to be effective, attracting a small number of film production studios and independent filmmakers from Europe and America.

Compared to the monopolistic and rigid film market in Europe and America, the film market in Australasia is more dynamic and capable of creating box office sensations.

With the addition of these individuals, they serve as a huge boost to the development of Australasia’s film industry.

True prosperity comes with diversity, and the participation of foreign films exemplifies Australasia’s leading position in the film industry.

Thanks to Australasia’s renowned reputation, these film production studios enjoy extra income from advertisements placed by major attractions and enterprises in the films.

How does a company quickly become internationally renowned? Apart from expanding its scale to become one of the top enterprises worldwide, one effective method is to advertise in front of global audiences.

The reason why Australia’s major tourist attractions are able to become internationally renowned quickly, stems in no small part from the contributions of these films.

In fact, aside from advertising, many films directly use these attractions as filming locations, not only showcasing the sites to international audiences in a more direct manner, but also saving costs of renting filming locations. It’s a win-win situation.

Under these films’ subtle influence, Australasia’s tourist attractions and enterprise brands have entered the film industry and become well-known to foreign audiences.

During this period, an interesting incident happened. A European tourist who had never been to Australasia arrived and surprisingly knew in detail which restaurants in Australasia served delicious food, and where the best spots for taking photos on the Golden Coast were. The influence of film is indeed remarkable.

This was at the beginning of the 20th century when there were neither mobile phones nor the internet. Who else could grasp such an understanding of a foreign country without leaving their home?

To ensure the authority and fairness of the Sydney Film Festival, the publicity department did not participate in the festival’s film selection process. Instead, they established a new association - the Australasian National Film Association - which exclusively oversaw this and future film festival activities.

The formation of the film association is rather complicated. In addition to being supervised by the publicity department, it invited notable Australasian film factories as members, as well as some well-known newspapers and media organizations, and some film critics with unique insights.

Indeed, film critics have already emerged in Australasia. Where there are films, there will be evaluations, and this is something a film cannot avoid.

This has led some people to take the opportunity to quickly become trusted film critics, who are invited by various newspapers and media outlets to review new films in Australasia and attract public attention.

Of course, these film critics dare not comment rashly on those patriotic films that are co-produced with the government.

Although Australasia also advocates freedom of speech, it does not mean that citizens will not be held accountable for what they say.

What is freedom? You can say anything, but you are also responsible for what you say.

If one can say anything without taking responsibility for their words, it is not called freedom, but a privilege that is superior to the entire nation and society.

Take the United States as an example. The President of America dare not say anything he wants because the President’s image determines his approval rating and the image of the entire U.S. government.

Representatives of major parties also dare not say anything they want. If they are right, it’s fine; if they are wrong, it’s the whole party’s mistake.

In order to ensure the authority and fairness of all awards, these film production studios are not allowed to score their own films during the evaluation, ensuring the accuracy of the scoring.

At the same time, the highest and lowest score of each film would be removed in the evaluation process, and the average score would be used as the final score of the film in a certain category.

The film with the higher score would become the winner of the award. The entire assessment process was open and transparent, with the final scores being publicly announced to ensure fairness.

Arthur did not want the film festival he had painstakingly established to become a flamboyant event, where whoever paid more could win awards.

Under everyone’s gaze, the world’s first film festival formally began.

It was not overly grand, but nor was it overly simple. The Sydney Film Festival, which would go down in film history and influence the entire Australasian film industry, began in this way.

The first president of the National Film Association, Gary Sanderson, slowly stepped onto the stage. With the list in hand that he had prepared earlier, he slightly bowed to the audience before loudly announcing, "Ladies and Gentlemen! I am honored to present the awards for the films winning in the first Sydney Film Festival organized by the Australasian National Film Association.

I know you all are eagerly waiting to find out which films have won. Well, let’s reveal the answers together!"

"I announce that the winner of the best film award at the first Sydney Film Festival is —— ’Dream of Australasia!’"

At his word, a certain director from the Royal Film Studio rightly stood up. With a smile on his face, he walked up onto the stage to accept the certificate from President Gary. He bowed slightly to the audience and then expressed his award-winning speech.

The speeches of the winners were invariably the same, thanking Arthur, appreciating the royal family and acknowledging the audience and the film studio for their support of the film.

Upon hearing the winner of the first and most important award, people present were a bit surprised, but quickly understood.

While there were many films comparable with ’Dream of Australasia’, as the first sound film in Australasia, ’Dream of Australasia’ brought massive changes to the Australasian film industry. It was only natural it was awarded.

The content of the certificate was simple, briefly describing the award that ’Dream of Australasia’ had won, as well as the production team and staff.

However, as the first significant award at the first film festival, the best film award attracted a lot of media attention. Cameras were flashing non-stop, as people were capturing that special moment.

"Next up, the winner of the best screenplay award at the first Sydney Film Awards is —— ’Hero!’" Gary Sanderson continued to announce with a smile.

A certain director from the Sydney Film Studio promptly stood up, smiling as he accepted the certificate from Gary. He also gave his award-winning speech.

’Hero’ is a film shot by Australasia during the post-war and flu pandemics period, which talks about heroes in the war and flu.

This film, filled with patriotic sentiments, wasn’t made for profit. Instead, it was made to resonate with the people of Australasia, to inspire them to strive and work hard for their nation.

With three small stories, each of them powerful and moving, it was only right that it won the best screenplay award.

It was not because the Film Association was biased towards nationalist films, but rather because these patriotic films produced by the three largest film studios had the national background, a real high investment, and were big productions.

Behind these patriotic films were many writers, novelists, and literary workers. Such a star-studded lineup could not be imagined by other small and medium-sized film studios.

Based on these people alone, winning a best screenplay award is not excessive. Even the earlier ’Dream of Australasia’ was a contender for the best screenplay award. Had it not won the best film award, it would have been uncertain who would have won the best screenplay award.

Each film can only win one award, which was a special rule of this film festival. Explore more at empire

Even though this rule may cause an excellent film to miss multiple other awards, the first Sydney Film Festival judged hundreds of films. Without this rule, more films would lose their chance to win awards.

Like now, if not for this rule, probably movies like ’Dream of Australasia’ and ’Hero’ could have scooped more awards.

Worth mentioning is that the awards of this film festival weren’t excessive. Counting all of them, there were only six awards: Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Music.

Among them, the director and actor awards were given to individuals, and the others were awarded to the films. It was really hard to determine who would win the honor before the winners were announced.

However, this ambiguous competition was what made the film awards so attractive, reflecting the fairness of the film review to a certain extent.

At festivals where the results are predetermined, either the quality of the films would be overwhelmingly one-sided, or the backing of the film studios would be overwhelmingly one-sided.

Such circumstances are not good for either film festival judging or film development.

Only by giving smaller film companies more opportunities and ensuring fairness in film reviews can the film industry go further and develop better.