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What I've Learnt - Natalie Miller · WHAT I'VE LEARNT

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Oscar and Bafter nominated Film The Father in Cinemas This Month was of course brought to you by the Doyen of Australian cinema, Natalie Miller, with a keen eye for the latest greatest films, film distributor Shamel Films and part owner of the iconic Clinton Cinema Nova, Cinematic Queen Natalie Miller, transformed Melbourne and Australia into a film hub.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Sourcing the best international and national films, she is revered for her dedication and determination to bring the best films to our local screens.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Directors and producers across the globe, from Fred Skepsey to Jane Campion, Sue Manslin the Dressmaker to Alan Finney, respect her curated content, which has seen Cinema Nova celebrated as Australia's premium art cinema.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: As Oscar's buzz swirl around her latest distribution selection, The Father, carried by Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Coleman.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: This movie is told from Hopkins' perspective as he ages, his memory fading.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Anne Olivia Coleman is losing patience with her 80-year-old father, Anthony, played by Anthony Hopkins, whose grip on reality is fading, but who refuses to allow a carer to look after him.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: She's moving to Paris and needs to ensure his safety while she's away.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: So before she leaves, she must find someone who will enjoy him.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: For Anthony, life has become a source of ever-disorient confusion.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: And in a masterful stroke, the writer-director Florian Zeller tells the story from his eyes as characters and locations shift and we become as muddled as he.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: So Natalie joins me on the Water Point podcast to discuss her latest choice, the Oscars, the collateral damage of closing her beloved cinema for comedy, her unfettered passion for film and storytelling, the new acne which she helped foster as an alumni board member, and the belief that the shared experience of going to the movies will always survive.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: So, Natalie, welcome to the Whatever Limit podcast.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Thrilled to have you on board.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Pleasure.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you and I know each other pretty well.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: After many months working together recently on a big project, I'm thrilled to have you on my podcast to discuss your decades at the helm of Australian cinema.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: As a pioneer who has mentored, produced, distributed, and worked with almost every major player in the Australian film industry.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me about the challenges of the last year and how the film industry has been impacted.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_02: Well, of course, like many industries, ours was very, very hard hit.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_02: And it was like, I cannot believe that last March we suddenly were going to have to close down.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it was quite extraordinary.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: And we'd had a record January with films like The Parasite and a number of other titles, I think Jojo Rabbit, we had an amazing, an amazing, amazing um summer, and then suddenly nothing.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_02: And we were all very much in shock.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_02: And if it wasn't for JobKeeper, I think we would have been totally put out of the map.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: And after a while, we were feeling fortunate when suddenly things were to open again.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: And we had this huge reopening.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_02: We had the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Sally Capp, come and cut the ribbon, and we got all the press there, and it was a huge affair, and we're back in business.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that was about June.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: And then after about two weeks, suddenly we were all reshut down again, which was a terrible shock to us.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: And there we remained for a long time.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: So it's been a pretty sad journey.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: But as the year went on, later, I don't, I think it got to very late in the year.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: I can't even remember.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: It's now like the year that wasn't.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think any of us want to remember it.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: We were suddenly allowed to open and but at very limited.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: I think we were allowed 20 people per screen initially, and then it was increased to 50.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: And um this went on till Christmas, and we were able to at least trade with people sitting apart, and there were so much, so many rules and regulations, but we were happy for ourselves, we were happy for the audience, we were happy for our staff that we were back in business.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: And come Christmas, we were playing um quite well a few films like The Dry, um, which I'd like to travel now.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: We've been so successful that it ended up of yesterday, it's just taking 20 million.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: 20 million at the box office.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_02: It's amazing.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: It shows that people around Australia were coming back to the cinema, but unfortunately, it is only for a few films, and the major cinemas particularly are suffering because all the big films like the James Bond, they've all been put off to the end of the year, which is um late by spring.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_02: So we it's very difficult.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_02: We're struggling along with outhouse films, and some are doing okay, but not like we used to do.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_02: I think people were a bit nervous, but I might add there was that other lockdown for four or five days, I think it was, about three or four weeks ago, which was another shock.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway, we feel by Easter when I opened The Father, which is uppermost in my mind at the moment, and I think one of has to be one of the best films coming out at Easter.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Coleman nominated for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Support Actor.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_02: Can't do better than that.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: And um, with the Oscars.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: So we're hoping that by Easter, and nothing happens in between, um the things they look up, and I really have a lot of faith that people want to go and see things on the big screen.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: Of course they do.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you have a knack for selecting Oscar awarding films, as we know, um, and you often host an annual event to reflect the Oscars where everybody comes and watches it, which is great.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I'm interested, like, what do you look for when you're selecting a film for Australian audiences?
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's very kind of you to say I'm good at picking Oscar-winning films.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_02: We haven't, as an exhibitor, I've shown a lot of Oscar-winning films.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_02: I've I've shown films from Cannes.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think I've had two films that won the Grand Prix in Cannes, The Square, and I'm going to go blank on the other name, but we've we've um done very well in that direction.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: But with with the father, I went to the Toronto Film Festival, of course, the year before last, couldn't go no traveling last year.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: And I think with the father, one of the um things we had the script, we had the script, and I read it, and as I was reading it, I recalled that I'd seen the play at the Melbourne Theatre Company.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: Florine Zeller is the director.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: He's a great playwright.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, one of his plays is playing at the Melbourne Theatre Company this year in their revamp season.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I remembered seeing that play and remembered loving it.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: So when I got to Toronto, I watched out to see um what I could do about it and went to the um to the embankment office who were the sales agents and inquired.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I had um um Captain Thornton with me, and we found out that they were going to show an extended promo reel of it at a particular time.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: So we raced off there very early to make sure we got a seat, which is often happens at festivals, unless you're early, you've got to know all the tricks of the trade, you've got to be early to get a seat.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_02: And we saw an extended promo reels from the film.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: And having seen LaPlay, I was able to piece it together in my head, and I thought, I really want this film.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_02: And it took a lot of hard negotiating.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, this particular company is, I think, one of the best sales agents in the business.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: And um they at the same time they asked, had big asking prices.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: So I had to do quite a lot of negotiating backwards and forwards, and I said yes to a price that I still wasn't happy with, but I just felt I've got to have this film.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_02: So that's where it all started in September 1919.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: 2019.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: 2019.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: So so it's interesting because it's a very competitive market.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, I know you've been to Caen probably what, 40 times over the over the years and and many other film festivals for decades.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, you're a fixture and revered as quite a powerhouse distributor and exhibitor.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: So tell me a little bit about what you love and hate about the the festival world, because I know there's a lot of fun and and excitement, but you work your butt off, as you often say, um, when you get there to negotiate.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's Cannes that I've mainly been to, but in recent years gone to Toronto, which I'm now probably carn I went to about 45 times, but I started going to Toronto and I like it so much better.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_02: I don't go to the others.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and sometimes, you know, I follow them, but I don't actually go to them.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and you just have to be a bit savvy.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: You meet the silk.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: What's good is if you've met the sales agents, you can have a relationship.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: Not all, there's so many of them, you can't deal with all of them, but you know the ones who have the sort of films that we like.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: And this particular case of the father was with the embankment films, Tim Haslan, who used to be with another major company and then started his own company.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_02: And I've known him over the years, but never done a deal with him.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_02: And it's been a great journey with them.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: They've been so supportive and interested in our campaign, but that's another part of the story.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: So, regarding festivals, yes, I think they will spring back.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_02: You can look at films on Link.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, I think the year, the year I didn't go to Cannes, a couple of years ago and went to Toronto.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_02: I watched the Reuben Oslim's film The Square on a link, and I actually bought it.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_02: So everybody else was in Cannes, and I bought that film because we'd had his previous film, Force Major, and the film won the Grand Prix in Cannes.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_02: So I was very excited, and I thought I didn't have the airfare, I didn't have the hotel, I didn't have the Yangs.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: So I I hope in the future one is gonna get a bit of both, that we will more and more be as we have this year.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_02: Watched, I just watched the Berlin Film Festival with links.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_02: Nothing would repeat the nothing can make up for seeing a film on a big screen.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that is without saying.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I think the festivals will all return.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_02: Cannes looking to return in July, not May, which they've done for 60 years.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um but they won't better, they'll have to put out links for us, like in Australia, for countries whose borders are closed.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_02: So it'll be a mix for a while, I think.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_02: And um but the festivals will return.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_02: Sydney's planning on June and Melbourne or early August, I think Sydney's planning, and Melbourne after that.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_02: And they'll probably also do a mix of of um people going.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: But I think we will be back, things will be back.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, the vaccination's happening, um, that's the go word at the moment.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_02: And I think you know, by later in the year when we're all vaccinated, but it's a bit sad.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_02: I did a Zoom meeting with a sales agent in in Paris um last Friday morning, talking about a film called Triangle of Sadness, which is also made by Reuben Osler, our prior director we've bought from.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: And she said we've all gone into lockdown again in Paris for another month.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, we're pretty lucky in Australia.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I agree with you.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: And thank God the vaccinations, in fact, today they're starting.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: So very poignant day today.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me, as Hollywood royalty like Matt Damon and Natalie Portman, Tom Hanks descend on Australian shores, and with Hemsworth and crew filming Thor in Sydney, Australia's becoming a massive hub and film production portal.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: As you're reflecting, there's something quite special here, and we seem to be doing pretty well in the COVID sense.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: Talk to me about how you see Australian funding, producer and location offsets working, and certainly we're getting a very uh big influx of people interested in shooting films here.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_02: I think the influx at the moment has to be because we're virus-free.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: More or less.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_02: We're more or less virus-free.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_02: You couldn't compare us to countries like America, Los Angeles, Canada, Paris, you know, so it's a natural, I suppose, out of a bad situation, a good situation for Australian film, that these people can come.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: So I think it's all right.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's okay, but there is a big upset among many industry about the offset, which is of, I suppose, in simplistic terms, the government um contributing money to people, X amount of money back if you invest in films.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_02: And they've put new rules in place which are going to make it very difficult for a lot of producers, particularly small producers.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: And um, I won't go into the rules and regulations here, but I think a lot of people are a bit up in arms and they're gonna fight that.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: I saw that with the big stars coming.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_02: I think, you know, it's great for our industry, it's fabulous.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: And things like the dry doing so well is fabulous.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_02: Penguin Bloom's done quite well, feels we've made even, you know, in this difficult time.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: So I think it's we've got a lot of talent here, and I think, you know, I think the future's bright.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_02: I have faith in it.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: And also there's a lot of good Australian stories being told, which is which is wonderful.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the dry is a you know such an Australian-based story.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that that that sort of, you know, there was a reticence about the parochialism of Australian stories for a long time, but they seem to have come sort of almost become the zeitgeist now.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: They've become fashionable to to tell Australian stories and to listen and to go see them.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, I think there were there was a flood of money coming in where young people, and which is fantastic, how to make films, but I, for one, have always been saying, you know, don't tell stories about yourself.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we need to tell good stories.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: And really, if you go back, we had Picnic at Hanging Rock, and we've had um oh, we had a lot to do.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, blacksmith was one, um, Jillian Armstrong's films that she made in the early years.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_02: They're all excellent films, and um but I think for younger people the budgets are so big it's more difficult, and they probably can't even some of them afford to buy the the rights to the books, which often the best films seem to be very often based on another source, which is very an interesting conversation for another day and another time.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_02: But um, if you really do a statistical analysis, um you know, we we you would see that that a lot of that is, you know, mentioned Picnic and Hanging Rock for one, Little Women, all sorts of films.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: So um The Dry.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the dry is a Jane Harper book, you know.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: I interviewed her, and and and the interesting thing about that is you're you know, it's a it's a good point you make because I wonder if that's got to do with um the the notion that the stories have an anchor and a very clear structure which helps bring them to light if they've been published.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, I mean that's interesting.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: I wonder what the stats are on that exactly.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_02: A screenwriter is a screenwriter, and they I'm sure there's a lot of there are a lot of very good screenwriters.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, some of the Oscar-nominated films are that's why they have two crack categories, best adapted and best original.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_02: So we're not saying the originals aren't good, but I think the ones adapted, the actual authors, we have a lot of very talented authors, and maybe that there's they have an extra edge, I think, in telling the stories.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that makes sense.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um a mix, there is a mix of you know, great screenwriters, playwrights, whose plays have been adapted to the screen as well.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_02: But we do have a lot of good Australian stories, and um there's a lot more to come.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_02: I think we've um we've got a lot to look forward to.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, no, I agree.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, um my friend Elliot Pearlman, who I'm interviewing, he's his book's just been optioned by Paramount, which is pretty exciting.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: So um I'm into I'm interviewing him this week, but and he's a good friend.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he really has uh is a very good example of what you're talking about, which is a good idea.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: He's just exactly, exactly.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just on that note, also, you've been very involved with ACME for a long time, I know, and very uh pivotal to both its development and I know you've been involved in the expansion in terms of seeing it come to this new uh level now, with it's been renovated and everyone's raving about it.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us a little bit about that because having such a it's really probably one of the best in the world, I would think.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_02: I wasn't actually involved in the redevelopment.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_02: I am involved, I was an original board member, so I was very involved when we first started it.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: It was very exciting.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: I've got photos of myself walking around with a hard hat, walking around when they were building the place from the very beginning, which is and often it's exciting to be with things when they're just starting.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's exciting to be involved in in a brand new project.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_02: And so I was on the board for many years and saw it develop.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_02: I was there very involved when they did Screen Worlds, the old Scream Worlds, which we all thought was fabulous at the time.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_02: And of course, now Katrina Sedwick's led the team to build this new development.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um and it is just amazing.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_02: I can only say that.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's amazing.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_02: And my involvement more is that I chair the alumni, all the people who used to be on the board, to try and keep them all together.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_02: We don't very much because they're all busy people, so it's hard to get them all there.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_02: As I used to be able to do that.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_02: But we did do we did a tour the a few weeks ago.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_02: We started to do a tour as the alumni.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, I highly recommend it to anyone to go there.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's a credit to them.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: And as you said, Deb, I think it is probably one of the best in the world.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: For sure, I think so.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me, you you often talk, um, you say you were often the only woman at the board table for many years, uh, which is also very timely discussion.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how is that and is it changing?
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: And what do you what did you learn about the role of women's voices on boards and in film?
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, I have to say that I was on the the only woman on the board a lot at the time, but um for many years, and I never really thought too thought too deeply about the fact that I was a woman, they were me, and I was as there, and they treated me with respect, and um um sometimes I would say um in an email, dear board members and Natalie, which maybe work out, but that's really quite surreal, isn't it?
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_02: I know, but um on the whole things have changed, of course they've changed, and over the years, um you know, on the board of ACME, over the years we had more and more women.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_02: I think when we started there were a few women, um not half half, but I'm sure it's half-half now, and on a lot of the other boards, that's changed.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_02: And um I think that's fantastic because you do need to have the mixed voices, and you know, women women have a lot to contribute, they're very efficient, they're very organized because they're running a house as well as work, so they're often super organized, and their their voices are as intelligent and they can make as good a contribution as a man.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_02: So we're pleased to see this change.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, your Natalie Miller fellowship facilitates and fosters um bringing uh female voices into the filmscape.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um how did that come about?
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: You you know that's a pretty important uh spearheading of Well, it's a funny story, really.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_02: We go back nearly 10 years, I think, and I had a personal assistant who sadly has passed away, but she worked with me for 20 years, and she said, I want to do something in your honour.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_02: And she got a group of women uh together from the industry, um, people like Annette Blonsky and Zelda Rosenbaum and Jenny Sabine, and there was a group of them.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and they called me to have coffee with them and made this suggestion.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_02: And at first I was like, I think that's the sort of thing you do when you die.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_02: I said still.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway, yeah, I then embraced the idea, and it's been fantastic, and they've done a wonderful job, and we've had give away$20,000 to a recipient every year to let them go and do leadership courses or whatever they choose.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_02: One went to Harvard, SummerCon.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_02: They've gone down to do different things in respect to getting their fellowship money, and we've had great support from commercial companies like Roadshow and Kojo in Adelaide.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_02: And we've had seminars, and it's an awareness, really.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_02: My feeling was more for it to be for the exhibition distribution industry, which I felt was very top-heavy with male leaders.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_02: I think the men getting the job and never leave is probably the problem, but it's very top-heavy with male leaders.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: And uh my own personal uh goal with it all really was uh to feel we could encourage more women to feel more confident.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I know um Jenny Tozy, when she became CEO of Film Victoria, at first she thought, can I do this?
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_02: Women, of course, she did it and did it very well.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: Women sometimes don't have the confidence to put themselves forward even to do it.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: And um, despite my favourite saying that women can do it all but not all at once, they can still do a lot.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_02: And that's not my quote, it's um as you know, Deb, somebody else's but I love that quote.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um I love that quote, and it's very true.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I just think I just think um, you know, women can make a big contribution, and hopefully this fellowship um it's just part of all the general wakening up of the community.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I know that it's very, very uh respected and appreciated by many women um because it gives women an opportunity to access uh a whole range of things in the film industry.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: So so well done to that because I think it's it's really important.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you're also involved, um, Melbourne University's College of Arts, Victorian College of the Arts Film School.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: Are you still you're still you've had a role in making sure too that that also cultivates diversity.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_02: I've just been on the board of that for many years back when it was at Swimbird and part of it when we moved to the VC Angst and Kildareau.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_02: And I really don't know why I'm still on the board, but my son Sean took over as chair some years ago.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_02: And if I say I want to leave, he says, Mum stays.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_02: That's about Mum I left.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_02: So it's not very arduous, we don't meet that often.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_02: But I've been involved with something to do with the students, so I enjoy that.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're a great mentor to many.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so do you hope that Cinema will thrive and survive alongside the streaming services?
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: Or will it, you know, I mean, in the streaming service is going to be an on, they're obviously here to stay.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: Are they just going to become a poor cousin to the cinematic experience?
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: Or do you think that they're going to be a trailblazer challenge to the cinematic experience?
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I can answer that by saying I would remove the word hope and say, I know cinema will survive.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_02: When I, the very first, when we came out of a bit of lockdown, and the first film I went to on the big screen, I had was it a privilege to be at a preview of the dry on a big screen at the jam factory?
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought, wow, you can't repeat that experience at home, the big screen, the sound.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, not only for that reason, I think people want to go out and be social and go with friends, and that's what people do.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_02: Someone said to me yesterday, we went with another couple of couples to the movie satana.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_02: That's what they want to do.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_02: So um I think cinema will absolutely survive, and it doesn't mean you're not going to watch the streaming.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's like when DVDs came in.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_02: Everyone thought, oh my God, that was the year I can belong for it, actually.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_02: And they thought, oh, DVDs are in, everyone's gonna stay home.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_02: They didn't, they can do both.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_02: You can go to a film at seven o'clock and come home at nine o'clock and watch um Shoots Creek if you want to.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you can do both.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, which we all did, which we loved.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_02: Which we all do.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, so I I have every, every faith.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_02: We just need things to get better in America and Europe where they can um want to see they want to supply the world globally with a James Bond.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_02: So they're not gonna just give it to Australia.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: So we just need the world to open up and it's all about the product.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_02: And once it does, and it will affect what everyone's vaccinated eventually.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I don't think this year is going to be great, but hopefully 2022 we'll be back in town in a big way.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that sounds so exciting, and I love chatting to you as always, Nat.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for coming on the What I've Learned podcast.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: And pleasure, and I look forward to seeing the Father.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: I can't wait.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm sure you've got a few others up your sleeve, as you always do.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I look forward to seeing the gems that you have coming up in the next few months for all of us to go and see at the big screen.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: Pleasure.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for listening.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: The What I've Learnt podcast will now be coming to you weekly with new episodes released every Tuesday.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'm blessed to have so many wonderful guests coming on the show.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: So check out my What I've Learnt Instagram for updates.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, stay tuned, kind, and curious.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: Love dead.