Australia sent three films to Cannes in 2023 and each one argued a different case

Australia placed three films at Cannes in 2023, across three separate sections, from three separate funding models, targeting three separate markets. That has not happened since 2014. The films were The New Boy (Warwick Thornton, Competition), Talk to Me (Danny and Michael Philippou, Midnight Screenings), and The Royal Hotel (Kitty Green, Directors’ Fortnight). Between them, they represent something close to a complete map of where Australian cinema is right now and where it is trying to go.

Three films, three strategies

The New Boy is the prestige play. Thornton, who won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2009 for Samson and Delilah, returned to the Competition section with a film about a young Aboriginal boy brought to a remote monastery in the 1940s. The film was produced by Scarlett Pictures and Bunya Productions, financed through Screen Australia, the South Australian Film Corporation, and private equity. Cate Blanchett stars as a nun. The budget was reported at approximately $8 million AUD, modest by international standards but significant for an Australian drama without genre hooks. The Cannes placement is the distribution strategy: Competition selection generates reviews, reviews generate acquisitions, and acquisitions generate the theatrical release that the film’s budget cannot otherwise support.

Talk to Me is the genre breakout. The Philippou brothers, Danny and Michael, are YouTubers who built an audience of millions on their channel RackaRacka before making their first feature. The film, a horror about teenagers who discover a ceramic hand that allows them to communicate with the dead, was produced by Causeway Films (the company behind The Babadook) and financed with a combination of Screen Australia funds and private investment. A24 acquired North American rights before Cannes. The Midnight Screenings slot, which programmes horror and genre films, gave Talk to Me the specific audience it needed: buyers who understand genre economics and critics who cover genre with seriousness.

The Royal Hotel is the arthouse-genre hybrid. Green, whose previous films The Assistant and The Newsreader established her as a director interested in institutional power dynamics, made a thriller about two young women working at a remote pub in outback Australia. Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick star. The film was produced by See-Saw Films (the company behind The King’s Speech and Lion) with financing from Film4, Screen Australia, and Screen NSW. Directors’ Fortnight, which programmes outside the official Competition, positioned the film as a discovery rather than a contender, which is the correct commercial framing for a mid-budget thriller with arthouse credentials.

The funding arithmetic

The three films illustrate the range of financing available to Australian features. The New Boy used the traditional model: federal agency plus state agency plus gap financing. Talk to Me leveraged the producer offset and private investment, with the A24 deal providing the distribution guarantee that makes the numbers work. The Royal Hotel used the international co-production model, with Film4’s involvement bringing UK tax incentives and a guaranteed UK release.

Screen Australia’s investment across the three films totalled roughly $5.5 million AUD. The return on that investment, measured in international visibility, is significant. Three Cannes selections in a single year is a result that no amount of direct marketing could replicate.

What the sales floor looked like

At the Marche du Film, Australia’s presence was handled by Screen Australia’s international division, which operated a stand and hosted meetings with distributors. The commercial outcomes varied by film.

Talk to Me was the clear winner in sales terms. A24’s pre-buy set the floor, and by the time the festival ended, the film had sold to territories across Europe, Asia, and Latin America. It would go on to gross over $90 million USD worldwide, making it one of the highest-grossing Australian films of the decade and the highest-grossing A24 horror title at that point.

The New Boy sold more modestly, with territory deals in France, Germany, and the UK. Thornton’s name and Blanchett’s presence guaranteed interest, but the film’s quiet, contemplative register limited its commercial ceiling. It is a film designed for festivals and limited theatrical runs, and its sales reflected that positioning.

The Royal Hotel landed between the two, with See-Saw’s established relationships securing deals in key territories. The Julia Garner attachment helped. Post-Ozark, post-Inventing Anna, Garner’s name moves units in markets where Australian films otherwise struggle for attention.

The year horror went international

The significance of Talk to Me extends beyond its box office. The Philippou brothers made a film that is identifiably Australian in setting, cast, and sensibility, and that performed as a global commercial product. This is the model that Australian horror has been building toward since The Babadook premiered at Sundance in 2014. Jennifer Kent proved that Australian horror could earn international prestige. The Philippou brothers proved it could earn international money.

The pipeline behind them is already visible. Zak Hilditch, Natalie Erika James, and Ben Howling have features in various stages of development. Causeway Films, which produced both The Babadook and Talk to Me, has become the de facto hub for Australian genre production with international ambitions.

What Cannes placement actually buys

For Australian cinema, a Cannes selection is not a prize. It is infrastructure. It provides the critical mass of reviews, interviews, and industry attention that a $6 to $10 million Australian film cannot generate through paid marketing. It places the film in front of the buyers who determine whether it will be seen outside Australia. And it signals to the funding bodies that their investment has produced something the international market recognises.

Three films in 2023. Three different arguments for what Australian cinema can be: prestige drama, commercial genre, arthouse thriller. The funding bodies will point to all three. The industry will celebrate all three. The question, as always, is whether the infrastructure that produced them can sustain this output or whether 2023 was the peak of a cycle that is already contracting.