[Press Release by The Lantern Group]
In 2009 Flickerfest will come of age and celebrate its 18th anniversary as Australia’s premier International Short Film Festival. Flickerfest is Australia’s only Academy Award accredited Short Film festival and as such, attracts a high calibre of films entering each year.
In January 2009 Flickerfest will showcase for ten days on the shores of Bondi Beach before heading off on a nationwide tour. The Festival boasts three competitive programs – International, Australian and Documentary. This year the Australian shorts competition has increased and an extra programme has been added to reflect the high standard of Australian films.
The competitive programs will be joined by a number of special programs and forums:
*Celebrity shorts – showcases celebrities flexing their creativity and taking risks from either behind the camera or on screen as they embrace the short film form.
*Love bites – examining life love and the idiosyncracies of all types of relationships in a saucy line up of sexy shorts with an international twist
This year Flickerfest has received a significant number of entries from Australia and beyond, exceeding 2008.. The increase in entries is yet further testimony to Flickerfest’s renowned profile as the most illustrious short film competition in Australia.
With a record 1350 entries from around the globe this year, “Flickerfest continues to attract the latest in cutting-edge and award-winning shorts from the world’s most exciting new filmmakers” said Festival Director, Bronwyn Kidd. “This guarantees that the festival presents our Australian audiences with a short film competition amongst the best in the world.’
The 10-day short film exhibition kicks off on Friday 9th January at Bondi Beach with a screenings and a glamorous Opening Night party and closes on 18th of January. After concluding, the festival hits the road for a 19-venue national tour from January to March. The tour encompasses capital centres and key regional areas in NSW, VIC, ACT, SA, QLD, NT and TAS.
Each year Flickerfest is pleased to celebrate an array of diverse short films from the many cultural backgrounds that make up the festival programmes and 2009 will be no exception.
Flickerfest is supported by key industry leaders including festival patrons Baz Luhrmann, Gillian Armstrong, Claudia Karvan, Deborra-lee Furness, Hugh Jackman and John Palermo from the Australian production company ‘Seed’. Their patronage is testimony to the quality of the event and its significance in nurturing future generations of Australian film making talent.
Flickerfest 2009 – 18th International Australian Short Film Festival
Bondi Pavilion 9th – 18th January 2009
Touring Nationally January – March 2009