A new documentary by acclaimed filmmaker Amiel Courtin-Wilson will World Premiere at the opening night of the 2008 Bayside Film Festival in July. The documentary has been commissioned by Sally Hussey, Artistic Director of the Bayside Film Festival.
Cicada, a stylised monologue documentary is the re-telling of the first memory of Melbourne man Daniel P Jones, who, aged 5, witnessed a murder.
Cicada is the first of three works to be commissioned by the Artistic Director over three years in the Festival’s New Directions series. New Directions complements the Bayside Film Festival’s key innovation, the award-winning Youth Documentary project, in which professional filmmakers work with young people in Bayside and beyond to create their first short documentaries. Some of these documentaries screen in competition at the festival.
New Directions also highlights the core philosophy behind Bayside Film Festival’s video-making programs in targeting areas of need, and using filmmaking as the foundation for articulating young voices and creating social awareness.
Artistic Director of the Bayside Film Festival, Sally Hussey said “Amiel Courtin-Wilson is the perfect filmmaker to launch New Directions for the Bayside Film Festival. He is a young filmmaker with a true artistic vision and an insatiable interest in storytelling. He made his first film at age 9, and since winning his first award at age 17, has produced consistently strong, vibrant, compelling, powerful and thought-provoking films.
“He is also a filmmaker who looks beyond the everyday, shedding light on the social margins with the subjects he chooses for his visual portraits. We are thrilled that he accepted this invitation and excited about premiering his work on opening night.”
Amiel Courtin-Wilson met Daniel P Jones three years ago while documenting a production by Plan B, a theatre company for ex-prisoners.
Filmmaker Amiel Courtin-Wilson said “I have always been interested in the ability people have to find transformation and hope in the face of otherwise crushing circumstances. This documentary allows me to explore new techniques in my filmmaking by further fusing elements of drama and documentary. It’s an amazing way to intimately get to know someone outside your realm of experience. It’s good for the soul.”
Now in it’s fifth year, the Bayside Film Festival showcases the best films of up-and-coming filmmakers, celebrates young voices through the Youth Documentary and Digital Stories Projects and empowers young people to create films that provide an insight into their worlds. The Bayside Film Festival screens July 16-19 at Palace Brighton Bay Cinema.
The 2008 Bayside Film Festival is presented by Bayside City Council and supported by Film Victoria and the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. The Festival is sponsored by Palace Cinemas, Melbourne Weekly, Jeans West, Heydon Films, Screen Education, Bendigo Bank Sandringham, Victoria College of the Arts (The University of Melbourne), Cameraquip, Mother’s Milk, Open Channel, Music and Effects, Kodak and Madman Productions.
[release by CG Publicity]