by Gill Pringle in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

“We may be a small country, but I remain wholly devoted to it,” he tells us while taking a break between a schedule which sees him viewing at least four films a day.

“In a million years, if you’d said I’d end up on the Gold Coast and that area, I would have said probably not. But I had to make Elvis there and it became such a great experience. My kids also ended up falling in love with the environment and, as a filmmaking environment, it’s really great,” he says referring to daughter Lily, 20, and son William, 18, with his wife and collaborator and four time Oscar winning production and costume designer Catherine Martin.

“The state government is behind it, the federal government’s behind it, the local council is behind it. And Chris Hemsworth – who arrived [in Saudi] this morning – ask him because he lives just down the road!

“So, if the question is: Am I still devoted to Australia? Then the answer is yes. We live around the world, so it’s not like we just live there. But we have a house there and that is our core base,” he says.

Baz Luhrmann poses in the portrait studio during the Red Sea International Film Festival 2023 on December 03, 2023 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for The Red Sea International Film Festival

And while Saudi Arabia has been widely accused of image laundering, Luhrmann is first to admit that many countries – including Australia – are still dealing with their own backyard skeletons, pointing to his new series Faraway Downs and his friend Warwick Thornton’s The New Boy.

Faraway Downs was based on material I shot when I did Australia many years ago,” he says referring to his 2008 epic adventure drama starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman.

“I shot 2.1 million feet of footage, but because of streaming, I was able to lean into it in a more epic way – with the story of the Indigenous child, wrapped up in an old fashioned melodrama.

“At the centre of the story is the stolen generation, when children were forcibly removed from mixed race parents and put into compounds. But what was so remarkable and exciting for me is that a lot of the young filmmakers that were on that movie back then – who were helping me, the collaborators – were people like Warwick Thornton and his son [Dylan River] actually, who were all around on Australia back then.

“And a lot of outsiders don’t actually understand that the issue of the stolen generation is such a profound scar in the history of our country, and so, not dealt with. I’m not saying I’m the only one – but that’s what I set out to do with Australia, which I was able, I think, to do in a deeper way with Faraway Downs.

“So, what’s great is that, back then, there were Indigenous filmmakers, but now it’s just a whole scene. Like, for example, on Faraway Downs, I was able to re-do the soundtrack with all these young Indigenous pop stars doing the music and also graphic artists,” he says, suddenly becoming serious about the optics of his being in Saudi Arabia which – put in his own undeniable context – makes perfect sense.

“I think it’s a good comparison for the way you might look at Saudi. The fact that, only a few years ago, one of the first heroes of Saudi cinema was a woman who had to direct from inside a car,” he says referring to Saudi’s first female filmmaker, Haifaa Al Mansour whose 2005 documentary, Women Without Shadows, received international acclaim.

“And she became an icon for a whole new generation of young women directors, some of whom I’ve met. And, it’s interesting how female directors are leading the charge in this territory because of that ripple effect. That’s what I’m really getting at – ripple effect. So, if the question is: Do I think they’re facing up to it, I think you can never do enough. But what I think is great is a lot of those Indigenous First Nations directors in Australia, who were friends and I know well, they’re at Cannes all the time now. They’re just great filmmakers and they’re not being locked in, actually,” he says.

Luhrmann is proud that Australia has grown so much – in terms of being a filmmaking powerhouse – that he has been able to mostly remain in his home country for his career since the 1992 breakout hit, Strictly Ballroom.

“Back in the day, for Australians, we would make a really good little movie – like in the days of Peter Weir or Gillian Armstrong – but then we’d have to go off to Hollywood. If you wanted to grow up in scale, there wasn’t the infrastructure or the industry growth in Australia to stay at home and make a big film. There just wasn’t,” he argues.

Jury President Baz Luhrmann and Chris Hemsworth attend Baz Luhrmann in Conversation with Chris Hemsworth during the Red Sea International Film Festival 2023 on December 04, 2023 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Photo by Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images for The Red Sea International Film Festival

“But then as we grew, someone like Chris Hemsworth can go off, make Hollywood pictures, come back and do an Australian film – and he lives just down the road from me.

“And it’s the same for Saudi Arabia, where it’s going to take time. I’m not pretending it’s all a magic wand. And I’m not sugarcoating the issues, but go and see the movies…” he says pausing to ask me how many films I’ve personally seen at the festival – which is at least 15.

“Well, hats off – because I’ve never had to sit on a jury and see four movies a day. And it takes work but it’s so nourishing,” he says referring to the surprising depth of the movies here in competition, particularly those from the region, which one might expect to have been censored in some way but yet are brutally honest.

“To be blunt, I can’t talk about them too much, but the issue of women’s rights and not even hot button topic ones; just the ability to do the most simple things; things that we would take for granted in terms of your child or your agency and ownership, they’re really dealt with. But what’s great is – as opposed to it being discussed politically – it’s actually being humanised through storytelling.

“So, I can only say, I have absolutely no doubt that supporting the Red Sea Festival and letting diverse audiences from this environment be heard, just has to be a good thing. It’s just got to be, because certainly politics hasn’t been much help,” he argues.

And lest there be any doubt of his fierce loyalty to his country, then Luhrmann points to the fact that he has made only one film outside of Australia.

“And that was Romeo + Juliet which we made in Mexico. What we did was we bought in our keys [heads of department] that we collaborate with, but part of the deal was: We also worked with local filmmakers, and local young emerging creatives, and obviously crew.

“And one of the young guys hanging around on Romeo + Juliet went on to have a pretty good career. He’s won a couple of Oscars,” he teases, before revealing the name of Alfonso Cuaron.

“He used to hang on the set of Romeo + Juliet. And we were laughing about it the other day and so I think the word I like to use is cross fertilization. I would insist that there was a cross fertilisation between our creatives and our community because we are community based, we always work with the community wherever we are and that will never change.”

Ask Luhrmann if he is confident about genuine change in Saudi Arabia – and not just set-dressing – he nods his head. “Look, before I came here, of course you go, mmm… there’s always some trepidation. But from having been here, I am doubling down. I’m 100% sure of how important the Red Sea Film Festival is, because in a world where we are absolutely being failed by politics; we are absolutely being failed by violence solutions, it’s only storytelling voices that humanise things that are talked about intellectually or politically.

“But, when you see the stories and the people, and you see the suffering of ordinary people, you see that no person’s pain is less than another’s. And I am confident – confident, no wrong word… I am absolutely sure that we have to double down on stories, be they in film, streaming, whatever the medium, but particularly film because film is allowed to take the time to dig deep, and for stories to be told. That is the only way forward and that’s also exciting in terms of filmmaking.”

Main Photo: Baz Luhrmann poses in the portrait studio during the Red Sea International Film Festival 2023 on December 03, 2023 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for The Red Sea International Film Festival
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