Flickerfest 2014

Overview

This article is sponsored by our partners, Flickerfest.

If there’s one Australian short film festival that has aspiring filmmakers waiting by the letterbox, biting their nails in anticipation of a ‘YES!’, it’s got to be FLiCKERFEST. Having started life as a small-time shindig at Balmain High 23 years ago, the annual event is now an audiovisual extravaganza with tons of prestige.

2014, the organisers tell us, is set to be bigger, better and brighter than ever. Entries poured in by the bucketload, meaning that the selection committee cried, laughed and screamed through an excess of 2,200 hopeful shorts before settling on a final 107, to be screened at Bondi Pavilion between January 10 and 19.

Audiences will be treated to 59 homegrown shorts, 32 of the international variety, ten documentaries and six Greenflicks. No fewer than 19 of these will be world premieres and 65 of them have never before screened in front of Australian eyes. January 17 will see the return of FLiCKERLAB — a day-long opportunity to get acquainted with industry leaders. This year, attendees will be able to hear director and writer David Michod (Animal Kingdom, The Rover) in conversation with Garry Maddox (SMH film writer), as well as chat to screenwriters Michael Lucas (Not Suitable for Children, Offspring) and Louise Fox (Love My Way, Dead Europe).

The division of the booty will be announced on January 20, with some seriously handsome prizes up for grabs, including $2,500 cash awards for Best International Short Film and Best Australian Short Film. This year’s jury is made up of some of the national film industry’s most respected figures, including Rachel Ward (director, Beautiful Kate), James Mullighan (creative director, Cork Film Festival), Darren Dale (director, Blackfella Films) and Maeve Dermody (actor, Griff and Beautiful Kate).

During the past ten years, FLiCKERFEST Awards have gained increasing doses of international prestige, with the Academy® recognising three of the categories (Best Short Film, Best Australian Short and Best Animation) as qualifiers for the Oscars. Plus, in 2010, the Brits were so suitably impressed that the British Academy of Film and Television Arts agreed that any victorious UK films should find themselves eligible for a BAFTA nomination.

On top of all that, catching up with 107 of the year’s funniest, whackiest, most moving, most inspiring, most imaginative and best-executed short films is one fine way to finish up a day at the beach — or an excuse (if you need one) to head out there for the evening.