Film culture only exists if there are enough people to form a critical mass with a desire for it to exist. Its effects are felt gradually, moving in a capillary action through the social body. From a certain angle, one could hardly say that the film scene in Melbourne is moribund. Yet it takes more than diversity and frequency of screenings to knit together a true film culture. What we are witnessing is an unprecedented proliferation of filmloving subcultures.
Subcultures are essentially tribal, and fiercely protective of their barriers.
The cultural links between the different pieces of the film culture puzzle are missing, or scarce. Take the case of SBS TV - another extraordinary resource for film lovers, envied the world over. It is possible to see there, month after month, some of the most significant and remarkable films of recent years, such as Kiarostami's Taste of Cherry , Tsai Mingliang's The River , or Youssef Chahine's Destiny . Each broadcast of these movies should register as a major cultural event. The supposed power of film critics is greatly exaggerated but, if they wield a very modest power within the scheme of things, it is a power of influence - more specifically, a power to stimulate desire, to incite curiosity.