Capturing stories with Matthew Eeles
Cinema Australia's Matthew Eeles hosting an industry event during CinefestOZ in 2020
One vital component of a thriving indie film industry are the blogs and bloggers that cover it. While most other outlets concern themselves with the big Hollywood blockbusters, it takes a dedicated and enthusiastic journalist to get down into the trenches with the low budget filmmakers and actors in the wild west of the indie film scene.
Today, I’m lucky enough to be chatting to one such brave soul, Matthew Eeles from Cinema Australia. It’s time to interview the interviewer.
DB - Hi Matthew. Thanks for taking the time to chat to me today. You seem to have chosen the hard path by covering the Aussie indie film industry when the big Hollywood production houses have a ready-made audience and provide expensive press kits, red carpet events and sometimes goodie bags for journalists. What motivated you to go down this path?
ME - Thanks David.
I’ve covered American productions for other publications. I’ve interviewed many American actors and filmmakers including Brandon Routh (Superman Returns), Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos), and Laurence R. Harvey (The Human Centipede), and no matter how much time and effort I’d put into an interview, their answers always felt pre-generated and generic. It always felt very much a part of the “press junket” process.
I’ve always been obsessed with Australian cinema, and I think it’s a shame that Australian’s don’t seek out local films like they would an American film, or other international cinema. Australia’s larger media outlets rarely cover Australian films, and there isn’t much literature being published about contemporary Australian cinema at the moment. That’s what motivated me down this path. Making sure that someone is capturing Australian filmmaking stories for future generations to learn and benefit from.
Cinema Australia's Matthew Eeles with Sweet Country director Warwick Thornton
DB – Can you tell us about Cinema Australia? What do you do there and what do you hope to achieve with it?
ME - I’ve always had the line, “Cinema Australia is an online space dedicated to the support and promotion of Australian-made films through independent news, reviews, features and interviews.”
But that’s just the basics of what Cinema Australia is about. People don’t see what happens behind the scenes. I regularly receive phone calls and emails from Australian filmmakers asking for advice about how to let people know about their films. I get asked to read scripts, and to give feedback on stories and ideas. I also get asked a lot about film festivals, and what festivals would benefit a film the most. I’ve had film festival curators tell me that they’ve selected films based on my coverage alone.
I guess in many ways, I’ve achieved everything I want to with Cinema Australia because I’m in a position where I feel like I’m a part of the industry in a way. Going forward, my goal is to maintain my support for all filmmakers wherever required.
Matthew Eeles with the cast of Ship to Shore at the 2021 WA Made Film Festival
DB – Matthew, in addition to Cinema Australia, you also contribute to the industry in other capacities. I believe that you are an events host and also a podcaster?
ME - I do host events and Q&A’s. And the Cinema Australia Podcast is a part of the Cinema Australia network. I’m also the festival director of the WA Made Film Festival. Being from Western Australia, I’m very passionate about nurturing the growth of the local industry here. The festival is very passionate about independent filmmaking. We strive to provide independent filmmakers with a film festival experience usually reserved for more established filmmakers.
March next year will mark the third anniversary of the WA Made Film Festival and I hope it continues to grow for the benefit of the filmmaking community here. I also work with Central Queensland’s Capricorn Film Festival from time-to-time, where we recently hosted a series of Masterclasses with established filmmakers and industry professionals. Basically, anything that helps support emerging filmmakers, I’ll say yes to. [Laughs].
Matthew Eeles with Australian acting legend Bryan Brown
DB - I believe that you also write for The Perth Voice and Fremantle Herald in WA. Can you tell us a bit more about your other journalistic work?
ME - Besides cinema, my other passion is food. I’m very lucky to be in a position where I get paid to write restaurant reviews for two of Perth’s largest independent newspapers. To me, food is life, and being able to write about my experiences eating food is a dream.
Matthew Eeles hosting an Q&A for the 2019 documentary The Final Quarter at the Revelation Perth International Film Festival
DB - We’ve covered what you’ve done, but what are your future plans?
ME - I feel very content in life right now. I’m a simple man, and I like simple things. I have no delusions of grandeur whatsoever. My plans going forward are to maintain Cinema Australia’s role in capturing Australian filmmaking stories, and to help other filmmakers whenever and however I can.
Matthew Eeles with comedy legend Ben Elton
DB – Where can our readers follow your work, Matthew?
ME – I think the best place to start is cinemaaustralia.com.au. That’s the hub of Cinema Australia and it will give readers access to the entire Cinema Australia network.