From its humble beginnings in 1991 as a small festival at the Balmain High School, Flickerfest has risen to be Australia’s only Academy® accreditation and BAFTA recognised short film festival. In 2016 Flickerfest will be celebrating its 25th year, when the fun and festivities kick off on January 8th at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Pavilion at Bondi Beach. In the lead up to the start of Flickerfest, Festival director, Bronwyn Kidd took the time to talk to us and answer a few questions.
What Can Audience’s expect from this year’s Flickerfest?
It’s the 25th anniversary of Flickerfest in Bondi people can expect an amazing collection of amazing short films from around the world we received over 2400 entries and we have handpicked that down to around 100 in competition from all the far reaches of the globe, we’re Academy® accredited and BAFTA recognised short film competition, so the best of the best from the world in the very creative format of short film.
To get an idea of how the festival has grown how many films were screened during the first year of the festival?
I have been doing the festival for 19 years and its 25 years old. I was actually at the first flickerfest ever and I think there were 8 short films screened in that year and its grown quite dramatically in that time from 200 entries to up to over 2000 entries. It’s really about screening the best independent creative shorts and getting people to see amazing work that they wouldn’t get a chance to access at a world class festival on the shores of Bondi Beach, which of course is a very unique location and a fun place to hang out. With the Pavilion we take over the bar, have great opening and closing nights with fully catered parties that always a lot of fun. It’s a really unique event that’s held at the Bondi Pavilion.
What is the proportion of Australian to International entries?
What’s the ratio between International and Australian entries?
Its about a 50/50 split. We’ve got a range of comedy programs, Love bites short films which are about love and relationships, we’ve got some shorts from the Oscars, some shorts for the kids, a short doco program, 6 programs of Australian shorts in competition and 5 programs of international programs.
How Many Short Films from Flickerfest have gone to be considered for an Academy Award or Bafta?
We became Academy accredited in 2002 and I think that we have had 30-something films that were nominated or win the award between now and then, I’m pretty proud of that achievement. We are managing to pick some really fabulous short films and have some that go on to be short listed or nominated for an Oscar each year.
Bronwyn also took the time to explain what Flickerfest is looking for in the films that they screen each year
We’re really looking for the best of the best we’re also looking for creative ideas, we’re not necessarily looking for a big budget but we are looking for work that’s not necessarily mainstream and Hollywood. We are looking for unique stories, stories that will inspire people, stories that people will relate to and of course bringing all the elements of film together great direction, great script of course is the key, good acting, performances, wonderful locations and scenes. All of those elements that come together to make the magic of cinema.
After 10 days in Bondi (the 9th to the 18th of January) Flickerfest then goes on tour to 52 venues across Australia between January and May, find out more information and purchase tickets.