[press release from Screen Australia]
The Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival has announced its program for 2009 and will include the screening of four Australian films.
Selected to screen in the international competition of this prestigious short film festival is The Ground Beneath (d: René Hernandez) and Summer Breaks (d: Sean Kruck) which have done well domestically with The Ground Beneath recently winning an Australian Film Institute award for Best Screenplay in a Short Film and Summer Breaks awarded the Rouben Mamoulian Award as part of the 20th annual Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films.
The Lab Competition of the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival present short films made on digital media highlighting new practices and/or forms of expression and will include two Australian films – Chainsaw (d: Dennis Tupicoff) and My Rabit Hoppy (d: Anthony Lucas) – both of which have had successful festival screenings with My Rabit Hoppy selected as part of this year’s Cannes Film Festival Official Shorts Competition and Chainsaw which has screened at numerous international film festivals including the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival where it was awarded the Grand Prize of the City.
Attached to the festival at Clermont is the Short Film Market – one of the largest short film markets in the world that works towards making short films commercially viable. The 2008 market saw 66 television delegates, 83 distributors, 20 video publishers, 115 organisations and 428 French and international festival delegates in attendance.
The Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival will run 30 January – 7 February 2009.
Chainsaw
(25 min)
Production Company: Jungle Pictures Pty Ltd
Writer/Director: Dennis Tupicoff
Producers: Fiona Cochrane, Dennis Tupicoff
Cast: Luke Elliot, Anni Davey, Adam Pierzschalski, Nina Landis, David Cameron
Synopsis: Frank and Ava face the reality behind romance and celebrity, machismo and chainsaws.
The Ground Beneath
(20 mins)
Production Company: Passion Pictures
Writer/Director: René Hernandez
Producer: Kristina Ceyton
Cast: Tom Green, Rahel Abdulrahman, Jade Lebocq, Paul Tassone
Synopsis: The Ground Beneath follows the emotional journey of a young teenager, Kaden, who lives a life of fear and threat. His friendship with Casey, the girl from school, and Lewis, a boy that spends time in his street, becomes a chance for change and self-discovery.
My Rabit Hoppy
(3 mins)
Writer/Director: Anthony Lucas
Producers: Anthony Lucas, Julia Lucas
Directors of Photography: Anthony Lucas, Henry Lucas
Editor: Anthony Lucas
Cast: Henry Lucas, Peggy Lucas
Synopsis: A ‘Show and Tell’ school project about a pet rabbit goes horribly wrong.
Summer Breaks
(12 mins)
Production Company: Colour In Pictures
Writer/Director: Sean Kruck
Producer: Caroline Barry
Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Emily Wheaton, Jake Allen, Cash Weijers, Richard Wilson
Synopsis: A day in the life of two teenage boys hanging out in the suburbs on a summer day.