Shorts on the beach
After 20 years as Australia’s premier short film festival, you’d think there’d be no way Flickerfest could get better – but it just has.
Now as well as being the only Academy-award accredited shorts festival in the country, Flickerfest is also recognised by BAFTA, the foremost British film awards. It’s no wonder entries to this festival just keep growing; this year it attracted 1790 hopefuls from Australia and around the world.
About 100 will be screened at the Bondi Pavilion from January 7 to 16 and a selection will tour to 30 hot spots around the country, starting in Byron Bay on January 21.
Bronwyn Kidd has been at the helm as festival director for 14 of its 20 years and remembers sifting through 200 entries in her first year.
“That shows just how much appreciation of short films has grown in Australia,” Kidd said.
This year the focus is on the environment with the Greenflicks program, sponsored by Waverley Council and supported by the Alternative Media Group.
“We have entries from all over the world on all sorts of environmental issues, from climate change to bees. There are lots of comic and creative ways of looking at the environmental problems facing the planet,” Kidd said.
Among them is The Bill which shows a group of German businessmen having lunch and flashing their huge environmental footprints; then there’s Hairy Tale, about a UK hairdresser recycling hair to make furniture and In Forests, where hunted animals take revenge on the hunters.
But Kidd is very impressed with the selection of home-grown shorts.
“There’s some great Australian films. I’m always impressed with the standard – we make some of the best short films in the world,” she said.
“The Father is a moving and confronting film from Victoria about a man who gets out of prison and reunites with his son; there’s Luke Graham’s Bee Sting with Brendan Cowan and the world premiere of The Telegram Man with Jack Thompson, Gary Sweet and Sigrid Thornton, both films from NSW that show the enormous industry support for short films in this country.
“And Umoja, no men allowed from a Bondi film-maker selected for the prestigious International Documentary Film Festival in Holland – a fantastic film about women in Africa who set up a women-only village and kick out all the men.”
Among the international highlights Kidd lists the Romanian gypsy film, Music in the Blood, which captures the colourful world of Maneli music, and Bill Plympton’s irreverent USA film, The Cow who wanted to be a hamburger which has been shortlisted for an Oscar.
This year also introduces Flickerup for up-and-coming filmmakers under 18.
“We approached schools, hoping to create a platform for the new generation of filmmakers. There are lots out there making videos as part of the curriculum and with access to digital technology. We’re making the festival as accessible as possible to a wide range of people.”
Flickerfest has many achievements to crow about. It has screened over 30 short films that have been nominated for an Academy award and four of those have won.
“We have a great standard again this year with many world or Australian premieres. Above all, the festival is lots of fun and held in a great spot,” Kidd said.
