Bendigo is set to screen nine films from the Edinburgh Short Film Festival as part of Scots Day Out under a new partnership.
In their only Australian screenings, the films will be shown over the two nights leading up to Scots Day Out 2016 on February 13.
Scots Day Out director, Chris Earl, said the creative partnership between Bendigo and Edinburgh was a wonderful cultural fit for two cities with fine reputations for artistic engagement in our communities.
“We are delighted to be bringing this taste of contemporary Scotland to Bendigo as part of celebrations leading to our city’s great free community event in Rosalind Park in February," he said.
“SDO each year puts Bendigo on the national Scottish stage with its unique Rosalind Park setting and attracts visitors from across Australia to our city.
The partnership with Edinburgh Short Film Festival can take Bendigo and SDO to an even wider audience.”
Edinburgh Short Film Festival director, Paul Bruce, said the Bendigo partnership was built on recent links with film festivals in Trinidad and Sardinia for the Edinburgh event that evolved from the Leith Short Film Festival in 2011.
“We like to see our short films screens in venues with a very different ambience to traditional cinemas,” he said.
“But we haven’t been to a heritage tram depot or mine before so the Bendigo experience will be truly unique.”
Paul said he had selected nine short films for the Bendigo screenings ranging from comedy and drama to modern Scottish music, creativity and survival.
“I hope Australia enjoys the journey of modern Scotland through our wonderful short films and we look forward to furthering our cultural links between Edinburgh and Bendigo,” he said.
The full list of short films to be screened as part of Bendigo’s SDO Festival will be released later this year.