If the policeman in that frame of the next film you watch looks very much like the Premier of South Australia, you’d better believe it. Yes, it is he, in that little role, and as he explains it, “The director of The Full Monty was making a film in Adelaide and I got to play a very small role as a police officer…Your Chief Minister has had a much more celebrated film career!”
But a career in films may not be top on the list of priorities for the Hon Mike Rann, MP and 44th Premier of the state of South Australia(SA), Australia. What preoccupies the Labor leader are his plans to leverage the inherent advantages of his state to attract not merely students, tourists and business investment, but also facilitate film production collaborations and promote SA as a good place to live in. “One of the first things I did when I was elected Premier two-and-a-half years ago was to establish an International film festival – the Adelaide Film Festival,” says he, “It’s held every Feb-Mar and is easily the biggest film festival in the Southern hemisphere. We’d love to see more Indian films being exhibited there. We want it to become what the Adelaide Arts Festival is to the arts(it is the second biggest arts festival after Edinburgh).”
South Australia, with its population of just 1.5 million boasts of a varied landscape that includes starkly beautiful outback, green forests and hills, salt lakes, rugged cliffs and a varied coastline. All this could make for dramatic shooting locations, and supported by hi-tech post-production facilities in sound and special effects in capital Adelaide, a filmmaker need look no further. “Hollywood is increasingly using Australia for its film skills,” says the Premier, “There are opportunities for collaborations for special effects and post production – like The Last Samurai, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, the James Bond film…”
Having watched Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding before his Indian visit that began in Chennai last weekend and moved on to Bangalore and Mumbai, the SA leader thinks the film is a “great introduction to those not used to Indian films”. And films thinks he, are not just what links India and in specific Chennai, to South Australia. Yes, there’s cricket(Adelaide was where the legendary Don Bradman lived) and of course, a British colonial past. “We have a concept and a policy called multi-culturalism that Indians, more than any other people, would understand. Rather than the American `melting pot’ approach, we encourage migrants to retain their cultures, languages and their identities. We want them to pass on these to their children and their grandchildren – it’s the salad approach instead of the soup approach! We believe we are much stronger as a nation, the better we celebrate the cultures that make-up Australia. And that can often be re-inforced and re-invigorated through the arts.”
It is this belief in the arts that helps the Premier(who himself is of British parentage and was born in Kent), lead from the front with his varied portfolios – he is Minister for Economic Development, Social Inclusion, Arts and Minister for Volunteers. Not surprisingly, he holds all these differing portfolios together with his prime passion: “We have to be very strong in arts. It is easy to say during hard times that we are wasting our money in the arts. We don’t think so… we think it actually helps strengthen our prestige internationally, and also strengthen our self-esteem.”
How then did the political journalist who worked for the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation wend his way into the heart of politics? He smiles when he replies; “I was 14 when I was asked by a teacher what I wanted to be. I said I wanted to be a journalist and a Labor MP… and I have sort of stuck to my story!”
This is a story that could have a continuation, what with his 14-year-old daughter who wishes to become a film script writer and his 19-year-old son who wants to be a journalist. “My partner Sasha is an actress,” he tells us, “But let me tell you, I am looking for much better roles in my film career!”
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