Cinema Plus: Robert Connolly and Event Audience Screenings

Abstract

This article discusses the problems that Australian films face in the big distribution model, and ways thatproducers have rethought how their films are funded and distributed. To do this it uses the case study of Robert Connolly'sCinema Plus exhibition company. Although there is a historical precedence set for Connolly's self-distribution venture, this shiftto rethink how Australian films are being distributed and exhibited is certainly representative of a changing reassessment of theporous relationship between production and exhibition, which for some time Screen Australia demarcated in by two separatepools. What Cinema Plus represents is a recognition that conventional big distribution is not always the most effective way toreach the widest possible audience.