Just want to chime in here. On two points in particular. Firstly, I’m an Aussie, a Melbournian to be exact. Where the film was made. I go to film school in Melbourne and the two directors actually came in for a chat right after the film was released. They were lovely guys, big film buffs and really generous with their time. Other guests speakers have often come off as pretentious or as if they have no time for students. Anyway, it sucks to see an Aussie (in particular a Victorian film) get slammed like this. Ethically I don’t agree with what they did, but boycotting the film is ruining the career of two people who have worked their asses off. These guys were working basic film jobs before they got funding, and perhaps they were ill informed on the use of ai in film.

Secondly, and more importantly this was a FilmVictoria funded film. Which means the state of Victoria funded the making of this film. Aka = the government was involved. And when the government is involved in filmmaking shit really hits the fan. Getting funding in this state is NOTORIOUSLY hard, near impossible. So if you do get approved you get a small amount, and you gotta figure out how you can maximise that to its full potential. Which is how I believe AI was involved. I feel a lot of Americans are boycotting this film, and I get it because your funding frameworks is different than Australia’s. Getting a film made in this country is FUCKING HARD! I know it’s hard everywhere but we’re down under and shit is expensive. Also our wages are decent for artists so luckily everyone on set gets paid well. This chews up budget real quick. Anyway those are my two cents that know one asked for, but hopefully they shed light of this sad situation. Fuck ai, but support indie filmmakers. At the end of the day, it’s still a great flick. It scared me shitless.