I kind of worry about that a little bit - we lost our film culture for 30 years because the Americans came in and bought up all the cinema chains and wouldn't show any Australian films.

Three years after starting, by physically doing everything from raising the finance to special effects, we'd finally cobbled together our low budget film.

All the jokes in my films, the comedy, they're not me, I just try to hold a big mirror up to us.

Can you imagine what it would be like if all the Aussie film talent was able to make Australian stories?

The American formula things are out there but they don't have any stories to tell - we have all the stories to tell - but they're all formula.

We cheer everyone who goes off to Hollywood and tells American stories but telling Australian stories is the greatest thing you can do.

You go overseas and people are oppressed and scared and worried but we're not like that... we're more like my films and how people come out at the end of seeing them - they feel good.