In the 1990s, Australian experimental and avant-garde film traditions were displaced – at the level of theory, policy and practice. The 1994 ‘Creative Nation’ policy announced the Keating Government’s enthusiasm for innovation and digital media. Australian artists and organisations scrambled to claim ground, funds and relevance in an era marked by insistent declarations of the end of the avant-garde, the end of cinema and the inevitability of a digital future. Two decades on the innovation rhetoric is louder than ever, but there is a near vacuum of funding for experimental film practice through film funding agencies. Dr Maura Edmond presents a historical take on the question of where-to-now for film (and film studies) in an era of convergent screen media, by looking at a period in which those questions were considered at length by filmmakers, institutions, critics and policymakers. Maura is joined by Phoebe Macrossan for a Q&A where they discuss some of these issues with the audience.

Seminar: 0.00 - 46min
Q & A: 46min - 1hr 20min

Produced by the Sydney Screen Studies Network
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