Jane Scott, producer of Shine, was guest of honour at the Dublin Australian Film Festival. Lindsay Bane talked to her about her passion for her work, the challenge of chasing finance, and the cultural meeting of east and west.

Australian film producer Jane Scott understands tough money. She spent four years financing the Oscar winning film Shine (1996), a process that she said required lunacy. 'You begin to doubt your sanity at the end of that time,' she told me while visiting Dublin as a VIP guest at the Dublin Australian Film Festival in April. Shine's script was packaged with, what was then, an internationally unknown cast. It was hardly enough to attract a sales agent. What made it in the end? 'It was sort of blessed, I suppose,' said Scott. 'You look back on how it all came together, and even then it's a matter of chance.' While she recognized Shine's well-written script teamed with the cast and crew's intense passion generated success, it was pure chance that the film made it to the Sundance Film Festival, the place where Shine really took off. As buyers argued over the rights at Sundance, publicity heightened. Soon Shine had heads turned everywhere and an international audience followed it all the way to the red carpet. 'The audience loved it. And they would have always loved it, but they wouldn't necessarily have seen it. There are lots of fantastic films that are never seen,' Scott said, adding with a note of grief, 'tragically.'

The full article is printed in Film Ireland 105.