Introduction

Abstract

Welcome to this special issue of Studies in Australasian Cinema on low budget, independent filmmaking inAustralia, a sector that has produced some of themost powerful, recent success stories inAustralian cinema. To cite just two, BenjaminGilmour’s Jirga (2018) was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, and Sophie Hyde’s Berlin and Sundance winner, 52 Tuesdays (2013), garnered global critical acclaim. The low budget sector is noted for bringing new approaches to filmmaking. Unhindered by industry conventions, distributor interventions and screen agency dictates, filmmakers are freer to pursue their passion projects. The sector is an important source of new creative input into the industry. It is also an entry point for new key creatives, cast and crew. All this is well understood, but less well known is the extent and depth of the independent low budget sector in Australia. In 2018, the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) introduced a Best Indie Film Award for films budgeted under $2 million. The point of the award was to shine a ‘brighter spotlight’ on films ‘deserving of greater representation in our industry’ (2018). Indie films comprised almost 50% of all feature films entered in the AACTA awards between 2018 and 2020 (AACTA). As Screen Australia (2020) notes, in the last decade 52% of Australian feature films had budgets of less than $3 million, with 25% produced below $1 million. Given the importance of lowbudgetfilms toAustralian screen culture, it is an appropriate time for a Special Edition that investigates the opportunities and challenges filmmakers face in the pre-production, production and distribution of their films, as well as the impact national funding agency policy and programmes have on their projects. The adventures offered by low budget filmmaking can be exhilarating. Yet, as these articles demonstrate, working in the sector is not for the faint hearted. Behind the heroic narratives that often shape the reception of successful low budget films are sobering stories of financial hardship, production challenges and lack of distribution. Employing case study methodologies and drawing on interviews with producers, directors, screenwriters and actors, the four articles in the issue profile ten low budget Australian feature films produced over the last five years. Building on emerging scholarship in the field, the articles bring together a range of disciplines including creative labour theory, screen, screenwriting and narrative studies. All of the films profiled in these articles are drawn from the AACTA Indie Awards lists, 2018–2020. While they were all made for far less than $2 million, the AACTA Award definition provided a useful means of identifying a group of films for