Strictly Ballroom was the defining hit of the Australian film industry in the 1990s. Its striking visual aesthetic and feel-good story propelled it to an unexpected $21.7 million at the box office, carving out an enduring place in the national psyche and launching the career of director Baz Luhrmann.
But the profit it generated for the government film agency wasn’t quite the windfall that many expected. It was curtailed by the decision of the Film Finance Corporation (later merged into Screen Australia) to subordinate its returns to the other private investors (the Albert family) and the slow, winding nature of investor returns.
Government documents released by the National Archives of Australia reveal the story.
