Press release from The Lantern Group
With the weather warming up, thoughts turn to summer, and with it comes Flickerfest, Australia’s leading International Short Film Festival and one of the greatest events on the summer calendar.
Celebrating 20 years of screening the best internationally acclaimed short film fun, the Festival in 2011 will open on Friday 7th January at Sydney’s Bondi Beach Pavilion, wrapping ten days later on Sunday 16th January. Festivities on both nights promise to ramp up the excitement and glamour as Australian celebrities of the silver screen and film-lovers alike gather to party under the warm summer night skies.
The best flicks from the festival then hit the road for a national tour starting in Byron Bay on Friday 21st January and covering 30 hot spots hungry for great films.
Over the past twenty-year’s Flickerfest has proven to be a successful launching pad for many filmmakers, helping to spring board many up and comers into a successful career in the industry. In 2010 Luke Doolan’s Miracle Fish won the special jury prize at Flickerfest before going on to being nominated for an Academy® Award, while Warwick Thornton’s short Nana won the Best Australian film in 2008, prior to making his internationally acclaimed feature film Samson and Delilah.
David Michod has won several awards at Flickerfest over the years, including Best Direction in an Australian Short film in 2008 for Crossbow and Best Australian Film in 2009 for Netherland Dwarf before going on to making his critically acclaimed and highly successful feature film debut Animal Kingdom.
In 2011 Flickerfest’s international reputation takes another step up, as all entries from the UK will now receive official recognition from the British Academy Of Film and Television Arts, to be eligible for a BAFTA nomination. This is on top of the Festival already being the only Academy® Award accredited short film festival in Australia.
Entries are now closed, with the Festival in 2011 receiving northward of an impressive 1500 contenders from around the world, a year on year result that confirms Flickerfest’s reputation as Australia’s largest and most respected short film competition.
The competition categories for 2011 include International and Australian short films, short documentaries and Greenflicks, a program of environmentally themed films. This year will also see the introduction of Flickerup, a competition open to student filmmakers from primary to high school age, or filmmakers under eighteen years of age from across Australia. A number of special showcases and forums will also screen out of competition.
Prizes are a rich offering across categories including the Flickerfest Award for Best Film and the Yoram Gross Award for Best Animation, both of which are Academy® Award Accredited. The SAE Award for Best Use of Digital Technology in a Short Film, The Jameson Award for Best Original Screen Play and a host of other industry prizes recognising excellence within the short film form will also be awarded.
Celebrating 20 years of showcasing the best short films Australia and the world produce, Flickerfest will again welcome in the New Year with the freshest trends in global cinema served up to film lovers under a balmy summer sky just a short stroll from beautiful Bondi Beach.
For more information, click here.