here in australia the impact of an academy nomination is huge even though
it's generally not australian films that are nominated. for example, this
year cate blanchett has been nominated for 'elizabeth', an english film,
similarly geoffrey rush and rachel griffiths in supporting roles for their
various non-australian films. what bugs me is that the media takes this as
a sign that the australian film industry is booming whereas it really shows
that all the good aussie actors leave for distant shores!

in recent years 'shine' and 'the piano' are two australian films that have
made a big impact at the oscars. i saw 'shine' a week after it was
nominated and the cinema was packed with people that had never heard of it
until it got recognition overseas. i have heard that this has been the same
with 'elizabeth' in the last week. it's a pity that australians need to
wait until they get overseas approval such as the academy's before they go
and see their own films.


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Gemma Connolly
School of Theatre, Film and Dance
University of New South Wales
ph: +61 2 9399 8285
email: [log in to unmask]

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Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite
http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite