THE PRESS THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 1980. The grooving film industry

Press, 28 August 1980, Page 16

THE PRESS THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 1980. The grooving film industry

Encouraging signs suggest that the New Zealand feature film industry has at last begun to find its feet. The establishment of the New Zealand Film Commission two years ago helped to put .the industry on a firmer financial base, using both public and private money. Perhaps as important, the setting up of the commission was a sign of Government and community confidence in the ability of New Zealand film-makers to produce good and marketable films. The response of the film-makers, judging by the recent signs, has justified this confidence.

The reaction of Australian and other overseas critics to various New Zealand feature films has shown that New Zealand film-makers can produce quality films and that New Zealand life can provide themes of more than parochial significance. The. cost .at which these films have been produced has shown that the. industry is no longer an expensive, luxury that the country cannot afford. There are signs, perhaps the most encouraging signs of all, that New Zealand-made films will soon be finding sufficiently profitable markets overseas to enable the industry to cease to draw on public funds. The commission itself is rapidly becoming less important for its own direct investment in films than for its ability to co-ordinate the promotion and selling of New Zealand films abroad.

Nevertheless, continued support from the public purse for the industry, particularly because the domestic market for films is so small, will -probably be necessary, and justifiable, for several years yet. In fostering a native feature film industry, New Zealand has followed an Australian precedent. Direct public funding and generous tax . concessions have ; propelled the Australian industry to a point at which Australian films are enjoying wide, and profitable, Screening outside Australia. A good case could be made for increasing public support to -the New. Zealand industry to the same

level, comparatively, as that enjoyed by the Australian industry. The eventual economic benefit to New Zealand, from the export of films and from the reduced need to buy films from abroad for the entertainment of New Zealanders, would alone justify this. Equally important is something less tangible. A native film industry is important in the formation of the national identity, at a time when television and cinema screens are major cultural influences. The extent to which the fledgling industry is drawing on New Zealand literature for its material reinforces this justification for continued public spending on filmmaking.

Although New Zealand filmmakers have grounds for satisfaction in their progress in the past few years, it should not be churlish to sound a note of caution. Judged against the best of overseas films, as they should be, most New Zealand feature films show room yet for very much improvement. It would be unwise, therefore, to devote excessive attention to continuing to produce feature films to the neglect of documentaries and material for television. Thanks in large measure to the work over many years of the National Film . Unit,' New Zealand’s mastery of' the documentary is up to world standards. The same, sadly, cannot be said of much material produced in New Zealand for television, even if it is generally improving with experience and in spite of budget limits. A secure feature film industry will be helpful if standards are to be raised in production for television. Good New Zealand film-makers at all levels cannot be expected to stay here if they are to be confined to filming documentaries or to television. One of the best results of the feature film industry’s becoming established in New Zealand is that skilled film-makers will be encouraged to stay and raise the standards in all departments of .film-making.