Under UWA’s canopy of pine trees, Somerville Auditorium has become synonymous with the magic of international cinema in Perth. For nine years, Tom Vincent has curated this iconic event, handpicking a selection of the world’s finest films to captivate audiences under the stars. As Tom prepares to step away from his role as Films Curator, I caught up with him to discuss his journey and the cinematic wonders awaiting Perth at Somerville.
Henry: It’s your ninth and final year at the Perth festival, how are you feeling?
Tom: I’m excited! Over nine years, I’ve seen the festival shift and I’ve been really happy to work to develop audiences. We all recognised that the film program can really attract a wide variety of people and provide the first experience of the festival. What we wanted to do over the last, say, four or five years was to develop younger audiences and new audiences for the festival via the film program incrementally. I think we’ve done that pretty well. I look back over nine years and think that I’ve got the program to pretty much where we wanted it to be.
Henry: Talk to me about Film curation and how one gets into that and what your experience has been with this job?
Tom: So I decided I wanted to get into film curation when I was living in Japan, which was about 20 years ago. I went back to the UK (where I’m from), and I did a master’s degree, that set me up quite well looking at film and cinema studies, not just looking at the texts, or the production, but the industry and the aligning industries that take films from production to audiences. It started to attune me to thinking about how audiences work and how distribution works. Before I came to Perth, I worked for eight years at a museum of film and photography where I was programming a lot more films than I do for Perth. I’m still watching about the same number of films but now I’m just being more selective, really choosing films that I know are right for this festival, for this venue and for this time.
Tom Vincent, Film Curator.
Henry: Can you expand on the process of curation and distribution?
Tom: You’ve got producers who make films, who then engage an international sales company to sell their film worldwide, then those sales companies sell them to different territories. Right now I’m working with the Australian and New Zealand distributors, whilst in the UK I was working with the UK and Ireland distributors. Throughout the year, it’s back and forth with those people trying to negotiate a program based on what both of us want. I never thought when I started that I’d be working at a venue like this. It’s a really special and unique place. It’s kind of the best of every world because you’ve got a large capacity and you’ve got an audience that wants to take risks and see new things. It’s ideal in lots of ways. And of course, we have outstanding pizza here!
Henry: When you’re watching all these films, do you ever find yourself worrying about your own bias, how do you mitigate that when you’re choosing these films?
Tom: That’s a really good question. I think if I wasn’t able to think on behalf of different audiences, yes, to some degree I wouldn’t be able to do the job. I have to put myself into other people’s shoes, whether that’s a regular attendee, or someone who might be interested to come for the first time because of a particular film. I have to be able to respond to those films when I see them. I used to always answer that question with like, oh, it’s not about me, it’s about you as the audience. While that is true, of course, my tastes do come into it as well.
It’s really finding the right balance. Also listening, listening to audiences. So all of these films, I’ve either seen with another audience somewhere or I’ve learned about how they have played in front of other audiences, and I have to always listen to that information and consider it. It’s kind of thinking outside of yourself and within yourself at the same time.
SOMERVILLE AUDITORIUM. Photography by Jess Wyld.
Henry: Having been to a whole lot of other places, how do you feel about Perth’s appetite for art and festivals?
Tom: I think there’s great capacity in Perth to create new things, to create new events and to find new showcases for art of whatever form it is. Isolation. I think that’s Perth’s vulnerability, but it’s also its strength because Perth is very good at making its own stuff. As far as film culture goes, I do hope and wish that there can be more cultural film events in Perth and ones that have a higher national and maybe even international profile. But Perth has great creators and great storytellers and great artists. I think it’s my job and anyone who’s in a position like me to find those people and give them a platform. Help elevate them and their work and the ways that work is shown.
Henry: Are you excited about coming to Somerville when it’s not your job to program?
Tom: Yeah, that’s gonna be nice because I do get anxious. Sometimes I sit in the audience and think they’re not really responding the way I hoped they would. Nine times out of ten, they are but sometimes I just kind of overthink things as an audience member. So, I’m looking forward to just seeing things without any attachment to the program.
Henry: And finally, do you have a snapshot of what you look for in a film?
Tom: Every film is different. But every film has got to hook us in. And that’s more important than ever when you’re programming a cinema because people need a reason to leave the house to see a film more and more. And I’m acutely focused on finding films that have a strong hook to get people out of the home and down to this beautiful venue.
As Tom Vincent bids adieu after nine remarkable years curating the iconic Somerville Outdoor Cinema, his passion for international cinema leaves an indelible mark. Join the celebration of cinema and bid farewell under the stars at Somerville.
Lotterywest Films runs from now until Sunday 31 March 2024 as part of Perth Festival.