By Kate Meikle

WHEN “CityNews” last met independent filmmaker Courtney Dawson in 2012, she was embarking on an ambitious documentary to investigate why it’s been 20 years since an Australian film has reached number one at the yearly box office and why Australian films have consistently grossed under five per cent of annual movie revenues for more than a decade.

But first the former Ainslie resident needed $8000 to make it and turned to crowdfunding to raise the money.

“In the early stages of planning the documentary three years ago, crowdfunding was such a new concept. I found it difficult to explain to people,” says Courtney.

“But I benefitted from some media interest and reached my goal; $8000 was a small budget for a documentary, but I found an amazingly dedicated crew and I am so grateful to them!”

Courtney spent the next six months juggling working full time at the ABC in Sydney with scheduling interviews with influential filmmakers, historians, academics, critics, distributors, publicists, as well as stars of Australian cinema – Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman, Baz Luhrmann, Joel Edgerton and Jessica Mauboy.

A highlight for Courtney was sitting down with film critic David Stratton.

“David was great, he shared so much information and experience in films,” says Courtney.

Having studied film with honours at ANU, Courtney realised that she hadn’t seen an Australian film in a long time.

“I remember fondly the great relatable comedies of the 1990s such as ‘The Castle’ and ‘Muriel’s Wedding’ and I wondered why had Australian film successes dropped off recently?” she says.

Her documentary, “Advance Australian Film”, looks at the problems facing the Australian film industry such as marketing, distribution, losing local actors to Hollywood and funding.

“My story is also included in the film and my struggles to get the documentary off the ground. It is very hard to get funding – I didn’t get a grant,” says Courtney.

Despite the challenges, Courtney remains positive and hopeful about the innovations underway to help get the Australian film industry back on the map to former glory.

“Changes such as crowdfunding, social media marketing and video on demand platforms have made filmmaking accessible and changed the way we make, promote and distribute films,” says Courtney.

“Advance Australian Film”, SBS2, July 26. Buy the DVD/Digital download from advanceausfilm.com