WHEN IS A FILM NOT A FILM?

For today’s filmmakers it might seems strange that film distribution was ever difficult; streaming, downloading, DVD’s provide endless outlets for viewers to see one’s work. But nothing really equates to viewing a film in a cinema with all the ambiance created by a million screenings of a million films.

Let me tell you a story, a story of distribution of my film A CITY’S CHILD. The film was first off the rank after Liberal PM John Gorton decided the industry needed some support. The Experimental Film Fund was the first to receive funding and $6000 of that went towards production of A CITY’S CHILD.

It’s conception and realisation I’ll leave for another time, but I take you back to 1971; the film had completed and went on to screen at various film festivals around the world. That is also another story for another time; I’m dealing now with a year or so later when John Fraser, who at that time was with Greater Union a film distributor in Australia.

John, who supported and believed in Australian films, fought valiantly to have GU screen the film and eventually won, but it was a hollow victory.

GU, not wanting the film, decided to claim it as invalid under the quality clause of the New South Wales Film Quota Act.

“The Film Quota Act, full title the New South Wales Cinematograph Films (Australian Quota) Act was an act of legislation passed in September 1935 that came into force on 1 January 1936. Under the Act it was compulsory that in the first year of operation 5 per cent, of the films distributed in New South Wales must be Australian productions, the percentage to increase yearly for five years when it becomes 15 per cent.”

This despite being produced in Melbourne with an all Australian cast and crew, with Federal Government Investment (it was not initially a grant). Media reports on this forced GU to relinquish their claim and reluctantly they agreed to distribute the film. After a very limited release in suburban cinemas, the film was withdrawn. My eternal thanks to John Fraser for his efforts (he also helped Brian Trenchard Smith with the release of The Man from Hong Kong).

To achieve the cinema release, the Australian Film Development Fund allotted $5000 towards costs for the blowup from 16mm to 35mm; ColourFilm deferred payment of $5000 for lab work. The total $10,000 I personally paid back. I also personally funded the 16mm prints and freight to the various international film festivals, which then required a physical print. There was no Government funding for this.

I suppose if A CITY’S CHILD  were to be made today it may obtain distribution through the Art House cinemas, and I can understand the business heads at GU at the time not wishing to take the film, which they probably believed to be noncommercial, but their claim it was not Australian as a devious way to not screen local product, revealed who their masters were at the time. “Hooray For Hollywood”.

https://vimeo.com/363749594

However, now the film is available online, so you have a chance to evaluate it. I hope you enjoy it, if only for Monica Maughan great performance. Enjoy!

PRIME VIDEO https://tinyurl.com/yy7qlnl2
UMBRELLA ENTERTAINMENT https://www.umbrellaent.com.au/on-demand/4377-citys-child-a-1971-vod-only.html
VIMEO https://vimeo.com/ondemand/acityschild1971

From the Sydney Film Festival:

The best and most mature of the Australian features is "A City's Child" produced and directed by Brian Kavanagh.

Set in a middle class suburb of Melbourne, the film, written by Don Battye, treats the loneliness of a thirtyish spinster who, following the death of her carping, invalid mother, builds a world of fantasy out of solitude and frustration.

Too often the director appears uncertain of what to do next with a resultant loss of dramatic tension and is prone to that all-Australian failing, the hammer-heavy delineation of obvious symbolism. But on the whole Kavanagh achieves an admirable blend of narrative elements and layman's sociology.

The subtle, knowing performance of Monica Maughan as the central character is a further asset. Miss Maughan constructs a cautious portrait of internal pain, of a woman alive but incapable of living.

Kavanagh's website also quotes this mention arising from the London Film Festival:

And Brian Kavanagh's intense view of a lonely spinster in Sydney, finding kinky consolation in the collection of dolls, " A City's Child," creates an errie atmosphere which remained with me long after most of the festival's other films had been and gone. Eric Shorter, London Daily Telegraph, December 1st 1971.

And this notice by Ken Quinnell in Nation magazine on 22nd January 1972:

There can be no mistaking Brian Kavanagh's exceptional talent as a director. Throughout, the precision of his camera placements, the flow of movement within the frame, and the exacting performances serve perfectly the underlying ambiguity of events and produce a masterpiece in miniature.

https://www.ozmovies.com.au/movie/downunderclub/citys-child#downunderclub