Introducing Troppo’s new film service

Some Troppodillians may be familiar with the wonderful Melbourne Film Blog. A few weeks ago I decided that it was just ridiculous that I didn’t consult it more. I only see about one film every month or two, and almost invariably the ones that are advertised in the papers. And yet fantastic films are being screened all the time as part of various film festivals. So while I was mashing the Melb Film Blog’s Google Calendar onto mine, I decided to ask Paul Martin, the author of said blog to help us out here at Troppo. I sent him this email.

Having subscribed to your blog via feed reader, one thing that keeps bugging
me is how much great stuff I’ve missed from not reading your blog. I’m now
trying to remedy that, but you probably know how time poor we’ve all become
in the age of the information deluge.

I don’t know if you know of Club Troppo but it’s a group blog commenting on
things of general interest to its authors who are interested in policy and
cultural things like films.

I wondered if there were any ways that we could co-operate to get
information to people quickly about opportunities to see great films.
Because so many of the best films are in festivals, often it’s critical to
get a ‘tip off’ from someone who is in your position, because hearing about
it from one of us amateurs who happens to have seen a film means it’s often
too late. I can certainly give you a logon to cross-post the reviews you
think we’d be most keen to read if you’d be prepared to do so. But perhaps
there are also other possibilities.

I’ve now mashed up your Google calendar onto my own so I can see films
coming up that I’m interested in – though I can’t easily link through to
reviews or get your view on whether I should see it.

Anyway I just wanted to raise this issue – I’d love to have a ‘great film
alert’ on Troppo – as I’d miss fewer great films.

Any thoughts?

Anyway, Paul has responded favourably and so I’m hoping he’ll be able to pop in here in ways that don’t take a lot of his time to give us tips about great films to see. The bias is films in Melbourne, but Paul also covers film festivals most of which have a presence in other capital cities. So to quote Humphrey Gocart in Casablanca, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.