Short films are making waves at Flickerfest

The 33^rd Flickerfest short film festival and competition is curling up ready to break with a resounding crash onto the idyllic shores of Bondi Beach. Held once again on its home turf inside Bondi Pavilion, this year’s festival will showcase over 210 films handpicked from a record breaking field of more than 3400 entries from all over the globe.

Flickerfest is Australia’s largest short film competition and has the unique distinction of having Academy® Qualification and BAFTA recognition. This means that films that receive a Flickerfest award in categories including Best International Short Film, the Yoram Gross Award for Best International Animation, the Panasonic Lumix for Best Australian Short Film or the Flickerfest Award for Best Documentary are eligible for an Oscar. 

With that level of incentive it’s no wonder Flickerfest attracts such a high standard of industry talent each year. Among contenders for the Oscar Qualifying International competition are: the comedy noir, 7 Minutes, by award-winning comedian, Ricky Gervais; a gorgeous animation set to John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s song, Happy Xmas (War is Over) with Sean Ono Lennon and Peter Jackson as co-executive producers; and the heart-rending, My Week With Maisy starring the multi-faceted and much-loved Joanna Lumley. 

Australians have short odds (pun intended) at bagging a little gold statuette too with a fantastic offering of gems this year. Legendary actor, Bruce Spence, gives a masterful performance in Cold Water. Written siblings, Jay and Shaun Perry, the film is an hilarious and sobering look at a twilight relationship. 

Poignantly relevant now though set in the 1980s, Unspoken looks at a young Croatian woman whose relationship with an Australian man is at odds with her family’s values, something that comes to a head amidst the proxy tensions that filter her community in response to the war in Yugoslavia. Written and directed by critically acclaimed actor, director and Flickerfest Alumni Damian Walshe-Howling.

In a similar but different vein, documentary film, Finding Home, depicts the extraordinary story of Yousef Mohammadi, who fled the war in Afghanistan as a boy. Made by Bondi local, Lester Jones, this world premiere combines live action and animation to tell a riveting story. 

On the lighter side, comedy doyens Michael Caton and Michala Banas star alongside writer/director Georgina Haigh in the darkly comical Ashes, that looks at the practical side of death. 

Showpony is an insightful, inventive look at a fraught relationship. Sophie Lowe reaches deep to play a vulnerable actress trying to record an audition video while her super critical boyfriend watches on. 

Milena Bennett is appearing for a third time at Flickerfest, with her previous films, A Day in Your Life and The Listening having since screened globally (the latter is now in development for a feature length version). This year, she has entered a beautiful, quasi-autobiographical film, Cactus. 

The film is a mostly factual retelling of a time when Bennett lived in Marrickville next to an older, single Portuguese man. The next door neighbours had a tense relationship in the beginning, with their cultural differences causing friction, however, it soon warmed into a meaningful friendship and a valuable life lesson for Bennett. 

Bennett wrote the script with her partner, Harry Greenwood. It was written a few years ago and put away without much thought until COVID hit in 2020.  

“The reason why we came back to it, it’s all about connecting and connection…and connecting with people that aren’t necessarily like you; connecting with people that might challenge you or have different views to you. And I felt that it was even more prevalent after COVID where we were missing connection with people,” explains Bennett. 

She was able to film the story not far from where she had originally lived, with the added bonus of being served cake and very strong coffee by the Greek family whose front yard was used. 

The plot of Cactus is simple and quite sweet but also imbued with insight and nuanced messaging. Bennett wanted the location to be recognisable as Marrickville as that is a well-known cultural melting-pot in Sydney and that’s important to the story. 

For Bennett, making a short film offers opportunities to learn, test and hone her film making craft, but raising money for a short film can be very challenging and even then you need lots of willing volunteers. The reward is the sense of validation. 

“I remember after Cactus I felt like ‘OMG I just wanna keep doing this’, I loved it so much…afterwards I just had this buzz and I thought I don’t care what I do I just want to be on a film set,” says Bennett.

“Then it’s also about telling stories that you care about and hoping people see them and that it touches them in some way.”

Jan 19 – 28, Bondi Pavilion, Bondi Beach 

Touring Nationally, Feb – Oct 

www.flickerfest.com.au