Regional Tour

HELLO FRIENDS

It's a  fortnight since the finale of the 29th St Kilda Film Festival, and we all know what that means... not really, but that's what this blog is for! It's time for the Regional Tour, where SKFF brings an assortment of Festival goodies to towns around Victoria, for those who were unable to make it to Melbourne in May. Whether you're after a documentary fan, a comedy nut or love a good old fashioned apocalypse, there's something for everyone in this eclectic selection

Some of the films to feature are -- 


Transmission

Transmission

A thrilling post-apocalyptic tale about a father and daughter and this year's winner of the Best Short Film, Best Actor and Best Editing awards

The Globe Collector 
A quirky documentary about light globe collection and winner of this year's Best Documentary award

After the Credits 
What happens 'after the credits' of a typical Hollywood romance -- winner of Best Screenplay

Betty's Tap Catz

Betty's Tap Catz 
A heart-warming documentary about an elderly woman who, at 76, still teaches tap dancing

Bonny Doon 
Stephen Curry and Dave Lawson in a car, talking about Curry's acting career and techniques = hilarity

The venues throughout the state to showcase SKFF films include -- 

NHILL  Nhill Memorial Community Centre Theatre   Friday 15 June 7.30pm   HAMILTON   Hamilton Cinema      Saturday 16 June 1pm    MILDURA   Wesley Church      Friday 22 June 7.30pm  CHARLTON   The Rex       Saturday 23 June 7.30pm

MALLACOOTA   Mudbrick Pavilion      Friday 29 June 7.30pm   BAIRNSDALE   Sun Cinema - Bairnsdale   Saturday 30 June 7.30pm   COHUNA   Memorial Hall       Friday 6 July 7.30pm    BENDIGO  Star Cinema       Saturday 7 July 7pm

For further information about the Regional Tour's film selection and more about this year's Festival in general, follow this link. 


Hints and tips for short film submissions to next year's St Kilda Film Festival will be coming in the next blog update.

Chat soon,

In-the-know Intern

Goodbye... until the Regional Tour!

As we go on, 

We remember,

All the good times,

We had together. 

Awful song, lovely message. 

Tonight the 29th St Kilda Film Festival waved goodbye to another year of innovative and inspiring short films from across Australia (and the world -- for the International section). We've loved seeing y'all at The Astor, The Palais, Town Hall and Forum Hall, supporting the industry we all love in such a quintessentially 'Melbourne' setting.    

Congratulations to all the winners at tonight's Closing Night Awards -- you all deserve the great prizes on offer (including a whopping $10,000 for Best Short Film). For everyone who was nominated for an award, you should be proud too -- it takes a lot to stand out from such a strong field of entrants. In other Closing Night comments, Bob Franklin was in fine form as MC, delivering a dry-as-gin routine in hilarious fashion, and the venue looked very swish with colourful table displays and watercolour lighting effects a treat for the eyes. 

Listed below is a list of the winning films and people: 

Best Achievement in Production Design: Cryo – KAREN MURPHY
Best Achievement in Sound Post Production: Nullarbor - MATT BAUER
Best Original Score: The Missing Key - MILES NICHOLAS, JONATHAN NIX, KATHRYN BROWNHILL
SBS Award Winner: THE WILDING, Dir Grant Scicluna / Prod Jannine Barnes
Under the Radar – Best Youth Short Film: THE TROUBLE WITH ALEXANDER – Dir & Prod Blake Borcich
Best Achievement in Indigenous Filmmaking: YAPAWARNTI PALU RIJIKARRIJANI – Dir. Kai Raisbeck / Prod. Kai Raisbeck
Best Documentary: THE GLOBE COLLECTOR – Dir. Summer DeRoche / Prod. Andrea Distefano
Best Animation: THE MISSING KEY – Dir. Jonathan Nix /Prod. Garth Nix
Best Comedy: BOO! – Dir. Rupert Reid / Prod. Matthew Reeder
Best Actor: ANGOURIE RICE – Transmission
Audience Choice Award: THE PALACE – Dir. Anthony Maras / Prod. Anthony Maras, Kate Croser, Andros Achilleos
Craft Award: INTO THE SUN – Dir. Amy Gebhardt / Prod. Allison Lockwood
Craft Award Commendation: TEN QUINTILLION – Dir. Romilly Spiers / Prod. Romilly Spiers, Daniel Gregg
Best Director: Transmission - ZAK HILDITCH


BEST SHORT FILM: Transmission – Dir. Zak Hilditch / Prod. Liz Kearney


Well that's all folks, for the St Kilda Film Festival 2012! All the team have had a great Festival and we look forward to seeing next year's Top 100 entries, along with a whole new array of SoundKilda clips, new and exciting forums, and a new international program. 


I hope that you're all as excited about the future of Aussie film as we are! 


Remember: I'll be back to bring updates about the Regional Tour later this year! 


Intern (Max) Over and Out 

Things got arty at the after party

Just a pretty picture of the Palais' ceiling...

The Festival Wraps Up

Festival Friends,

Sadly, the curtain is soon to close on another year of the St Kilda Film Festival -- and what a year it has been! Yesterday the Top 100 sessions had solid attendance, alongside the Industry Open Day and the specialist Forums at the Forum Hall. As has become an annual tradition, Paul Harris hosted Film Buff's Forecast program, opening with, "We are coming live from the foyer of the beautiful, ornate few remaining picture palaces in Melbourne -- The Astor... it might be in a traffic gridlock but it's still looking in all its pristine glory".

Harris got to chat with Colin Usher, director of Top 100 documentary, the very sweet Betty's Tap Catz. Usher says "I like doing an uplifting documentary - so when the audience walks out of the theatre they feel happy about it". Betty's Tap Catz is the feel-good documentary about Betty Crocker ("not to be confused with the cookery icon" says Harris) a mature-aged dance teacher, motivating other elderly folks to get up and boogie down.

Another guest featured was the director of Tranmission Zak Hilditch. Harris mentions that it "has already had a pretty run and has played at several festivals including Tribeca" "yeah, it's been pretty exciting to meet other filmmakers and screenwriters". Funded by Screen Australia's 'Springboard' initiative, the film was made as teaser for a feature or at least "the mood and tone of a feature" as Hilditch says.

To catch the rest of yesterday's 'Film Buff's Forecast' check out http://ondemand.rrr.org.au/  for more filmy goodness.

Ten Things To Know Before You Shoot -- Forum on Friday, presented by Digital Pictures

Triple R's 'Film Buff's Forecast' -- direct from The Astor's wonderful Art Deco lobby

Remember that tonight is Closing Night, for which there are still tickets available to see the Festival's best and brightest be awarded for their efforts. It will be a great night of celebrating Australia's film industry and perhaps a good chance to network...

Also, there are the two final Top 100 film sessions (including the moving Adam's Tallit, the mesmerising documentary collaboration We Were Here, and the hilarious Picking Up At Auschwitz) the first session starts at 3.30pm, the second at 6.30pm. Also, we can't forget about the second Irish Shorts session (from 5pm), another fresh look at Irish culture.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the last night of St Kilda Film Festival 2012.
This isn't my last post, so don't get all teary... I'll be updating the blog with winners from tonight and information regarding the upcoming TOUR for Rural Victoria.

Lots of love,

Can't-Think-Of-Witty-Pseudonym-Intern

And the nominees are...

SoundKilda went off with a bang last night and I hope y'all had as much as the staff (!)... 

Hooray for all the winners from last night, including the DRAW for Best Music Video -- 

On the Borderline, Roadgeek. Dir & Prod. Michael Shanks

 Loveless, Children Collide Dir. David Michod Prod. Michael Cody

See the Best Music Video videos here: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_-wWJITam4&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCZhYf9hPCE

IN OTHER NEWS:

“Audiences, starved for a spark of originality, enjoy short movies which are innovative, economic and highly entertaining. This year’s exciting field of entries ticks all these boxes. Congratulations to the award nominees and all the Top 100 finalists." - Paul Harris, Festival Director

Congratulations to all the nominees for awards this year! It's been a very strong Top 100 and everyone should be stoked to have their film screened as there were over 500 entries! If you weren't successful in getting a film screened this year, I'll have plenty of tips from Paul Harris to come as the Festival winds down on how to enter and get your submission noticed! 

Here are some of the great films nominated for this year's massive prize pool!

BEST SHORT FILM

Provocative, haunting, beautiful, thrilling -- or all of them? Here are the four films we believe electrified the screen and embodied what SKFF looks for in a great short film. 

At The Formal – Dir. Andrew Kavanagh / Prod. Ramona Telecican

Peekaboo – Dir. Damien Power / Prod. Joe Weatherstone

The Palace – Dir. Anthony Maras / Prod. Anthony Maras, Kate Croser, Andros Achilleos

Transmission – Dir. Zak Hilditch / Prod. Liz Kearney

BEST DIRECTOR

The creators of the cinematic visions in which the characters and story can exist. 

At The Formal - Dir. Andrew Kavanagh\

Go The Dogs – Dir. Jackie van Beek

Paper Planes – Dir. Storm Ashwood

Transmission - Dir. Zak Hilditch

BEST ACTOR

These are the people that make characters come to life -- without their compelling portrayals, you might as well be reading a book!

Angourie Rice – Transmission

Alyssa McClelland – The Bride

Erol Afsin – The Palace

Wayne Davies – Transmission

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN SCREENPLAY

You can have amazing actors, great direction and inspired production design, but with clunky dialogue and bad pacing, a bad script will always let a film down. Here are some great scripts: 

After the Credits – Josh Lawson

Spider Walk - Raphael Sammut

The Bride - Charlie Clausen

The Human Fog - Tom Broadhurst

UNDER THE RADAR – BEST YOUTH SHORT FILM

Watch out oldies -- these guys are on their way to good things! 

The Gay Son Dir. & Prod. Tom Wilson

The Silence of Whitewater Dir. & Prod. by Daniel James

The Trouble with Alexander – Dir. &  Prod. by Blake Borcich

SBS AWARD

Our friends at SBS are awarding their favourite of the Top 100...

The Wilding - Dir. Grant Scicluna / Prod. Jannine Barnes

Ali 707 - Dir. Hannah Moore / Prod. Cameron Ford

Into The Sun - Dir. Amy Gebhardt / Prod. Allison Lockwood

Sidewalk Scribble - Dir. & Prod.  Peter Lowey

'Luminaris' an Annecy highlight

TONIGHT: 

The much-anticipated (and blogged about) 'Corman at Ya!' is on tonight at 11pm. 

Too late for you? Then Sessions 4 and 5 of the Top 100 from 6pm at The Astor. 

For Forum fans there's another dose from 6pm with Get Animated: Annecy and Beyond (which features Adam Elliot, OMG) then Ten Things To Know Before You Shoot from 8pm for a detailed look into filmmaking in the digital era. 

Check out session times tonight here -- 

http://www.stkildafilmfestival.com.au/2012-s2/page-107/friday-25-may

TOMORROW: 

The one, the only Paul Harris

Industry Open Day! -- say hi to friendly Industry folk who'll help you out with all your technical and career-advancement needs. Paul Harris will be broadcasting his Film Buff's Forecast for RRR at lunchtime from the foyer too - so that's always exciting. 

Forums galore! -- including Forums on editing, marketing and distribution

Irish Shorts 1 -- cream of Irish short filmmaking's expansive crop, hand-picked from Cork Film Festival for SKFF audience's viewing pleasure. A great cross-section of Irish film, exploring the country's multi-layered personality. 

Sessions 6 to 11 (!) of Australia's Top 100 Short Films -- there are too many to name here, so check out your festival guide or the website for program info. 

AND

Blaze of Glory -- the unofficial FESTIVAL PARTY

What an incredible day full of information and entertainment. So what if it's raining? That's not an excuse to not come, it's all indoors after all. 

Intern Out 

Some Funky Opening Night Photos

The Palais - Opening Night (photo - Jim Lee)

Audience on Opening Night (photo - SDP Media)

Shane Jacobson and Adam Elliot (photo - SDP Media)

Dave Lawson and Stephen Curry (photo - Jim Lee)

Festival Week in Full Swing

St Kilda Film Fest is in full swing and although all the staff are funning flat out, everyone is having a blast. Here's a quick run-down of what's happened and what's happening tonight. Plus a quick preview of Saturday's highlights...

YESTERDAY:
Under the Radar was well attended by filmmakers, alongside their family, friends and the general festival-going public. The winner of the youth program will be announced on Sunday night.
Annecy: 1997 to 2004 drew in animation buffs with its eclectic showcase of shorts.
Session One of the Top 100 gave everyone another sample of what's to come throughout the week.
Pitch Clinic and From Longs to Shorts! filled up Forum Hall with crowds of intrigued film practitioners, keen to soak up every bit of advice from leading Industry figures.

TONIGHT:
Sessions Two and Three of the Top 100 will play at The Astor from 6pm, these programs include:

Opening Night star 'The Globe Collector'
A revealing documentary about the Bali 9 'My Brother Andy'
Another intriguing character-documentary with 'It's Him Terry Lim!' 
The visually stunning 'Ten Quintillion'
Magical animation 'Polo's Robot' 
Tragi-comic meditation on being dumped 'The Human Fog' 

A drama about dealing with tragedy 'Shelling Peas'
The good, bad and ugly of Indians living in Melbourne 'In My Skin'
Everything can change in a 'Millisecond' 
Polly wants to map a lost city in 'The Cartographer' 
Intense study of PTSD 'Toy Soldier' 
Inspiring documentary 'On Her Shoulders' 

Making a Music Video 

Before heading over to SoundKilda, you might want to see how the music videos are made. All the elements of effectively merging imagery and melody are pulled-apart and studied. 

From 6.30 to 8pm at Forum Hall 

SOUNDKILDA 

Music video for 'Against the Grain' 

The much anticipated return of this festival favourite starts at 9pm, at The Astor.  The fabulous clips featured are from renowned artists such as Gotye, Miami Horror, and Kate Miller-Heidke, and directed by acclaimed auteurs including Darcy Prendergast, Natasha Pincus, and Krozm.

$3,500 in prizes is given to the most outstanding clips and an audience choice winner.

Come to soak up the atmosphere and hum along to some great tunes if you've not already bought tickets.

SOME THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO:
Industry Open Day 
Are you looking to enroll in a film school? 
Are you searching for the perfect equipment for your next shoot? 
Then come to the free 'Industry Open Day' to be held from 12pm to 4pm in The Astor's foyer on Saturday afternoon. With a wide range of aspects of the Industry catered for (post-production, camera equipment, film schools and more), exhibitors will have desks set up with experts and educators there to help with queries and/or inspiration!

Exhibitors include: 
Lemac
Music & Effects
RMIT University
Open Channel 
Australian Directors Guild 
... and many more!

Blaze of Glory 
The unofficial festival party is on this Saturday night at The Astor from 10.30pm.
Hosted by the SKFF staff joker Paul Shea, it'll be a night of drinks and nostalgia, set to the music of Duran Duran and Madonna, among others superstars of 'movie music'.
It's ONLY $5 too, so come along and be merry!

For all festival, program and ticketing information visit stkildafilmfestival.com.au