Press release from Flickerfest
Celebrating 20 years screening the best internationally acclaimed short film fun, Flickerfest wraps up the summer season on Bondi Beach and prepares to hit the road for the annual national tour, taking short film to 30 venues across regional and rural Australia!
Kicking off in Byron Bay on Friday 21st January and covering 30 hot spots hungry for great films, Flickerfest continues to engage new audiences locally and remains as committed as ever to exposing the best in short film from Australia and the world to new audiences.
Celebrating 20 years of Flickerfest, 2011 has proven to be the biggest and best year ever – with 1793 films from all over the world received, a final 108 have been handpicked for the festival. In keeping with the “biggest and best” theme, Flickerfest has added even more dates to the touring calendar, stepping up from 23 venues in 2010 to 30 in 2011.
We can't wait to meet our new film-going friends in Cygnet and Queenstown in Tasmania; Esperance, Kalannie and Wyalkatchem; in Western Australia and McLaren Vale in South Australia, making this the largest tour that Flickerfest has ever undertaken! We'll report back at the end of it all and let you know which town makes the best lamington, who has the coldest beer and which audiences were the most boisterous!
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® accredited short film festival in Australia.
The touring programme this year includes the Best Of International Shorts 1 and 2, Best Of Australian Shorts, Best of Comedy Shorts and FlickerKids (featuring films for 6 – 12 year olds in a dedicated children’s programme). With this diverse programming, audiences will see the best of short film from Australian filmmakers, as well as those from around the world, with films from France, New Zealand, South Africa, Germany, the UK and even Romania!
The FlickerKids programme is a special night of short films for shorties, featuring the best animation and children’s story telling this side of Pixar! Highlights include The Gruffalo, an animation starring the voices of Helena Bonham-Carter and John Hurt.
Our International touring programmes include the Australian premiere of Academy Award®-winning animator Bill Plympton’s hilarious new Cow Who Wanted to be a Hamburger, the moving and thought-provoking Protect The Nation from South Africa, and the beautifuland haunting digital masterpiece, Babel, from France. Australian touring highlights include The Telegram Man, starring Jack Thompson, Gary Sweet and Sigrid Thornton; Bee Sting, starring Brendan Cowell and Matilda Brown and Glenn Owen Dodds, featuring David Wenham.
Short film in Australia is an exciting artistic medium to tell a story, and a fantastic way to discover new local talent and become reacquainted with established ones. Now in its 20th year, Flickerfest continues to be Australia’s premier international short film festival, and a champion of bringing Australian short filmmaking to Australian audiences wherever they are, right around the country!
Over the next few weeks Flickerfest will be visiting these regional venues:
BYRON BAY
A&I Hall, Bangalow
Fri 21 – Sun 23 January
02 6685 9999
www.iQ.org.au
DARWIN
Flix in the Wet – BCC Cinema 5
Sun 23 January
08 8981 0700
www.deckchaircinema.com
KATHERINE
Katherine Cinemas
Thur 27 January
08 8971 2522
www.katherinecinemas.com.au
AVOCA
Avoca Beach Picture Theatre
Fri 4 – Sat 5 February
02 4382 1777
www.avocabeachpicturetheatre.com.au
ALBANY
The Grassy Knoll
Sat 5 February
08 9844 4820
www.gsfi.org.au