Jane Campion presents: Film festivals and the mentorship of Julia Leigh's Sleeping Beauty (2011)

摘要

"Jane Campion Presents: Film Festivals and the Mentorship of Julia Leigh's Sleeping Beauty (2011)" is concerned with the initiation of first-time filmmakers into the international film festival circuit. In 2011, Julia Leigh premiered her first film, Sleeping Beauty , at the Cannes Film Festival and was selected for the Palme d'Or. Given Cannes' placement on the spectrum of the circuit as the premier festive site in bestowing critical and economic capital, Leigh's selection deserves investigation. As I will argue, significant factors were at play in her selection for the festival, such as the participation and cooperation of Screen Australia and filmmaker Jane Campion.;The participation of Screen Australia, the national funding body of the Australian film industry, played an important role in Sleeping Beauty 's promotion. Screen Australia assigned the Australian trained Campion as a mentor to the project given Leigh's lack of industry experience. The move on the part of Screen Australia represents more than industry apprenticeship, though. Rather, the move is a calculation to continue raising the profile of the small national industry of Australia abroad. Film festivals are marketplaces that provide cultural and economic stability. Given Campion's past participation with the festival and Cannes' predilection for auteurs they "discover," the orchestrated mentorship was to create a festival film in order to provide the small industry with more economic opportunities via the film festival network. Campion's willingness to commit to the project also reflects the filmmaker's need to help usher a female filmmaker into a male centric industry. The film industry is predominately male, and the selection of films by festivals perpetuates the gender bias. Recognizing Cannes' programming strategies, Campion's participation can be read as a move of solidarity for female filmmakers. Julia Leigh and Sleeping Beauty, then, presents a distinct passage first-time can take to be initiated into the festival circuit: mentorship. By investigating the mentorship behind the production of Sleeping Beauty and the motivations of Screen Australia and Campion, the systems of power imbedded in the institutional structures of the international film festival are highlighted, opening avenues to further research.