Multidimensional Coffs Harbour: Heart of Film

April 11, 2022
With Australia’s festival circuit getting back into full swing, one of the country’s more diverse and exciting entries, Screenwave International Film Festival (SWIFF) is marking its post-COVID return with an impressive celebration of film, arts and music.

Based in Coffs Harbour on the NSW north-coast (running April 21 – May 6), but also taking place in surrounding areas such as Bellingen, SWIFF has taken bold steps to embrace not just frontline film screenings, but to expand its programing with a dynamic exploration of music, visual arts, cultural and experimental media, drawing comparisons to the likes of international festival brands SXSW and California’s ComplexCon.

Marking its 7th edition, SWIFF recently announced a superb line-up that will see the 2022 festival open with a screening of the highly anticipated Robert Eggers epic The Northman before concluding with The Daniels’ acclaimed multiverse fantasy, Everything Everywhere All at Once. Two impressive entries that bookend a festival that features a number of new, and returning innovative sessions, including a one day music festival presented under the banner of Storyland (currently postponed due to flooding experienced along the NSW coast) and various industry focused initiatives like Nextwave Youth Film Awards and the newly minted Ferguson Film Prize, offering a cash and accreditation prize for emerging filmmakers, named in honour of Australian actor and performer Kate Ferguson.

“We are so appreciative to be launching The Ferguson Film Prize at this year’s SWIFF, with heartfelt thanks to the generosity of Kate Ferguson and her family,” explains Kate Howat, SWIFF’s Co-Director. “Kate sadly passed away last year having dedicated her life to filmmaking and the performing arts, with a career spanning over 50 years as both an actress and a musician.

“It’s an honour to be working with Kate’s family to carry on her vision and to formally recognise independent Australian film directors, and to support the progress of their careers. As SWIFF is produced by a team of year-round arts workers with an unwavering love of cinema and Australian films, we hope we can continue Kate’s legacy and help rising Australian directors.”

Further reflecting Kate Ferguson’s philanthropic creativity (Ferguson relocated to Coffs Habour in 2014 to work as a vocal coach), Howat and the SWIFF team have underpinned the festival with an engaging community spirit, building a showcase of the region’s artistic culture and its distinctive influence across the Australian arts scene.

“Storyland was an amalgamation of a few things,” Kate Howat elaborates. “Dave Horsley (SWIFF Festival Co-Director) and I were checking out a band here locally who mentioned their calendars were open for the next 12 months due to COVID, so we thought, maybe we can provide an event for Australian musicians who we admire – folks like Courtney Barnett and Hiatus Kaiyote and Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – and bring them to Coffs (and selfishly we don’t have to travel far from home to see them!), plus create a new major tour spot for regional NSW.

“We drew inspiration from travelling to great festivals like Dark Mofo, SXSW, Meow Wolf, and a nostalgia for older music fests like Harvest that were made for grownups like us. We thought it was the right time to broaden the scope of SWIFF and to create something we would want to go to ourselves.

“And the team behind Storyland are incredibly inspirational. They’re some of the best in the country and most of them live right here or nearby on the Mid North Coast. Audiences are frothing for something like this in regional Australia, and we hope they take a punt and come out to see something truly unique, and a bit weird.”

Dave Horsley and Kate Howat

Another unique aspect of SWIFF is its convergence of genres, not just through an eclectic program of international and local cinema – which this year includes A Hero from Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi, Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet’s debut feature Anais In Love, the Australian Documentary Ablaze from Indigenous filmmaker Tiriki Onus, the Joaquin Phoenix starer C’mon C’mon, Ivan Sen’s sci-fi romance Loveland,  recent Oscar winners Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) and Drive My Car, and Benedetta which screens as part of The Verhoeven Experience, a retrospective showcase of disruptive director Paul Verhoeven – but with a compelling execution of events that blur the creative boundaries between film, music, food and art.

An example is perfectly outlined with SWIFF Live’s presentation of Surfing Soundwaves, a deep dive into the surf culture of Australia’s past and present. Merging the creative talents of filmmaker Jolyon Hoff (The Staging Post) and musical outfit Headland, the seventy-minute event brings together curated archival footage, recently restored to a 4K print by The Surf Film Archive, with a live soundtrack performance from Headland to create a pulsing audio-visual experience celebrating the birth of Australia’s surf culture.

“It’s going to be a really amazing visual representation of what surfing was like back in the day; in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s when it was less commercialised,” conveys an enthusiastic Jolyon Hoff regarding his filmic contribution, That Was Then, This Is Now to the Surfing Soundwaves session. “All of this archival footage was shot on actual film, so, once we re-scan it and remaster it, it looks incredible, as good as if it was shot yesterday. A lot of the footage is the first time those areas of Australia, or Indonesia were ever filmed. It’s all very raw and we think it captures the real spirit of surfing, which was about adventure and exploration.”

“I think SWIFF and Coffs Harbour is the perfect place to be having our premiere. I absolutely love everything that Dave and Kate are doing. It’s just incredible. I love what they’ve set up and what they’ve created, that they’re expanding SWIFF into this more multidimensional festival space.

“I think that one thing about film and television that’s happened is it’’ become narrower and narrower in a way. While at the same time, all these opportunities are opening up and film and storytelling is crossing over into the art space and the musical space and the multi-media space and the multi-screen space. There’s so much potential in this world of multi-media and it’s moving so quick. I think they’re absolutely doing the right thing. I joke with Dave that if I ever move to Coffs Harbour, which I very well might, it will be because of what they did at SWIFF. I love it.”


Some other notable highlights of SWIFF 22 include a live performance from the seven-piece ensemble Beautiful Dark who will be reinterpreting music from Twin Peaks through a sublime audio-visual experience; a sci-fi Trivia Night hosted by Sydney Sci-Fi Film Festival Director Simon Foster and the return of SWIFF x Hilltop Autumn Feast, an outdoor long-table degustation experience curated by accomplished Executive Chefs Richie Dolan and Carla Jones. Meanwhile, industry insiders and rising filmmakers will have the opportunity to attend a Film Industry Networking drinks along with various mentoring, masterclasses and creative workshops.

“There’s a genuine feeling of excitement and comradery,” says Howat. “Especially when you’re at a good festival – that feeling of being part of something special – if only for a week or two. We’ve tried to create a festival for film lovers, and a festival we would want to go to ourselves. We’re a tightknit team of film devotees and I think that shows not only with our programming but with the type of fun and welcoming festival we produce.

“And it just so happens that we live in a spectacular part of Australia, on beautiful Gumbaynggirr country, where the mountains meet the sea – which is a pretty good recipe for a destination festival.

“Coffs Harbour is changing rapidly with major investment in building new multi-arts spaces and of course with Russell Crowe’s new film studio being built here, it feels like Coffs is starting to become a real cultural mecca. Plus, we still have the world’s largest fiberglass banana – so there’s that!”

Screenwave International Film Festival is set to run from April 21 through to May 6. For session times, program details and ticket sales, visit swiff.com.au now.

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