Over the nearly twenty years of its existence Filmnews followed the many issues that have contributed to the development of film and media policy, theory, and practice, surveyed the development of individual filmmakers and videographers, of filmmaking practice in all its formats, and of the film community itself. In fact, it charted the change from a struggling, marginalised group of determined individuals to a strong and healthy industry. As the various film and video organisations around Australia came into being, they provided operational bases for a film and video community of plurality, diversity and innovation, and Filmnews documented their histories, recorded their activities and shared their commitment to screen culture. Filmnews gradually developed into a journal that provided an independent, critical perspective on all those issues that affected the production, distribution and exhibition of film and video in Australia, and aimed to supply both information and analysis to a readership that ranged from film practitioners to those working in screen education and film studies, to both teachers and students. And Filmnews was vigilant in continually questioning the practices of the industry, of government in relation to film and funding policies, of the funding bodies, and of screen education and training providers.
A readership survey in 1986 discovered that the typical reader was involved in film or video production, was male and in his twenties, was relatively poor, and loved the writing of Adrian Martin. He went to the movies at least once a week, bought several other film journals, regularly attended conferences, and spent up to $10,000 a year on film or video production services. Readers loved Filmnews, the only changes they wanted was more of what they were already getting – although one respondent did argue for `more criticism of local independent film and video, but better argued and less righteous.’ And another argued for more obituaries.
For ten years Filmnews was part of the C-op – often, and for most people, the most visible part. Filmnews was involved in all the fights, the campaigns, the lobbying, the victories and the conflicts that were so much part of Co-op life. Filmnews explained and analysed Co-op changes in policy, argued for more attention and funding to be given to the production of independent film and video, and to independent distribution and exhibition. Women’s films and women filmmakers became a strong and important element in Filmnews, including campaigns for training and workshops for women; the theory and the practice, the setting up of and the progress of the Women’s Film Fund and the Women’s film units became a continuing theme. Indigenous film making, films on black Australia, and the need for an Indigenous film unit was another strong campaign.
Then, almost overnight, the Co-op was gone. The cinema had closed down in 1981, when the AFC decided not to fund it any longer; but the AFC supported the Co-op’s move to new premises in Pyrmont, and encouraged more aggressive marketing and distribution policies. But these policies stretched the Co-op’s resources, and the AFC decided that only one government-funded distribution body was to be supported and that was the AFI; the Co-op had to close its doors. After a brief and badly thought out relationship with a commercial proprietor (Encore) selected by the AFC, FilmNews was allowed to become its own entity. Given a home for several years by Metro TV (now Metro Screen) in the Paddington Town Hall complex, and then by UTS, proved fruitful in both cases. New writers, new topics, new ways of looking at issues came out of both relationships, and Filmnews continued and improved its coverage of a growing, developing community that encompassed film and television production, film and media policies, and the institutions and organisations that covered and represented all sorts of different aspects of an increasingly diverse and complex area.
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