This summer, Flickerfest, Australia’s largest Short Film Competition and the only one with Academy® Qualification and BAFTA recognition, will once again grace our shores, rolling out the red carpet at Bondi Beach from the 19th – 28th January.
Celebrating its 33rd year, this not to be missed ten-day event will showcase a handpicked selection of Australia’s and the world’s most exciting short films under the stars and in the theatre at the Bondi Pavilion, presenting a not to be missed season showcasing our most exciting emerging cinema talent.
Over 210 of the most inspiring short films, enjoying their world and Australian premieres, have been handpicked from this year’s massive pool of over 3,400 entries to move, inspire and entertain audiences with the very best short films Australia and the world has to offer, showcased across 24 dedicated festival programmes. 62 Australian films are officially selected for the Best of Australian Competition, 42 International films in the Best of International Competition and 16 Documentaries across the Best of Documentary Competition. A further 100 films will also feature across Flickerfest showcase sessions.
Flickerfest’s prestigious Academy® Qualifying Competitions of 130 short films include 43 World Premieres, 61 Australian Premieres and 14 NSW premieres. Giving our audiences first look at the most outstanding short films on offer.
The shorts in competition at Flickerfest are fiercely vying for a number of prestigious prizes, including the Flickerfest Award for Best International Short Film, the Yoram Gross Award for Best International Animation, the Panasonic Lumix for Best Australian Short Film and the Flickerfest Award for Best Documentary – all of which are Academy® Qualifying.
Alongside the best of short films from Australia and the world in competition, audiences will also be delighted with FlickerUp, a celebration of youth filmmaking from across Australia, ‘Rainbow Shorts’ amazing LBTQI films in competition at home and across the world, FlickerKids, special showcases of kids and family-friendly films; ‘Love Bites’, films about relationships and ‘Short Laughs’ hilarious comedy films.
Flickerfest director Bronwyn Kidd says: “With a record of over 3400 entries received Flickerfest 2024 will again deliver an outstanding programme celebrating our most talented contemporary storytellers, both here in Australia and from around the world. With so many outstanding films to choose from I am so excited to present our audiences with programmes that applaud bold, inspiring, creative and unforgettable short films from talent who are destined to inform the future of cinema.”
Following the festival in Sydney, Flickerfest will share the short film love on tour to over 50 venues across Australia between February and October, 2024. Celebrating 33 years in 2024, Flickerfest hits Bondi Beach from 19th – 28th January 2024. For further information head to www.flickerfest.com.au
KEY EVENT DETAILS
What – FLiCKERFEST
When – 19th – 28th January 2024 (Touring Nationally Feb – Oct (50+ dates)
Where – Bondi Pavilion, Bondi Beach NSW 2026
Cost- starting from $22 for a session ticket (https://flickerfest.com.au/ticket-info/)
What – FLiCKERFEST, Australia’s most respected and only Academy® Qualifying International short film festival, screens the best short films from Australia and the world, all guaranteed to make you laugh, cry and gasp with delight. This year, Flickerfest will once again be hosted at its home of over two decades, the stylishly refurbished Bondi Pavilion for indoor and outdoor screenings. Panoramic beach side festival bar open daily before each session and into the night.
Flickerfest 2024 Programme Highlights Summary
Flickerfest is thrilled to reveal some highlights of just a few of the incredible films that have made the cut in our Academy® Qualifying Australian competition, showcasing the depth and enormous talent that exists in our local film industry.
Poignant and memorable with moments of laugh-out-loud humour, COLD WATER, written and directed by Melbourne brothers Jay and Shaun Perry, stars industry legend Bruce Spence, who delivers an electrifying performance as a man for whom the past cannot be divorced from the present.
Also screening is the world premiere of the outstanding drama UNSPOKEN, set in the 80s amongst the Australian Croatian community and starring an incredible ensemble cast, masterfully written and directed by critically acclaimed actor, director and Flickerfest Alumni Damian Walshe-Howling.
Flickerfest Alumni Milena Bennett returns with her new film CACTUS. Starring Tiarnie Coupland, this delicate film is a beautiful love letter to the Inner West suburb of Marrickville and the friction that exists in a melting pot of different cultures, people and cats.
Another must-see home grown film is FINDING HOME from Bondi local Lester Jones. This powerful documentary uses a combination of live action footage and animation to tell the extraordinary story of Yousef Mohammadi who fled his home country of Afghanistan to escape the dangers of war.
If comedy is what you’re after, then don’t miss ASHES (Short Laughs Comedy Showcase), written and directed by Georgina Haigh (The Sapphires, Back to the Rafters), who stars alongside laugh-out-loud performances from comedy masters Michael Caton and Michala Banas and catch an intimate and fragile performance from Sophie Lowe, as an actress who reveals her vulnerabilities in front of her critical partner in SHOWPONY (Lovebites Showcase), written and directed by Clare Hoey.
In the Oscar Qualifying International competition, watch out for the Australian premiere of 7 MINUTES, a new dark comedy directed by BAFTA and EMMY winner and comedy legend Ricky Gervais and the world premiere of MY WEEK WITH MAISY starring a tear-jerking performance from queen of the stage and screen Joanna Lumley.
Australian Programme
UNSPOKEN
Australia | 18:00 | 2023
WORLD PREMIERE
DIR: DAMIAN WALSHE-HOWLING
WRI: KAT DOMINIS / DAMIAN WALSHE-HOWLING / MARIANA RUDAN
1979. As volatile protests for Croatian independence break out across the city of Sydney, Croatian born Marina is forced to expose a secretive love affair with her Australian boyfriend, as escalating political violence spills into her childhood home with devastating consequences.
COLDWATER
Australia | 20:00 | 2023
NSW PREMIERE
DIR: JAY PERRY and SHAUN PERRY
WRI: JAY PERRY and SHAUN PERRY
Inspired by true events. Set in St Kilda, Australia, an elderly woman’s peaceful retirement is interrupted when her husband takes up a bizarre new hobby.
CACTUS
Australia | 17:40 | 2023
NSW PREMIERE
DIR: MILENA BENNETT
WRI: MILENA BENNETT
When twenty-something year old Grace meets her elderly Portuguese neighbour Mr Rodrigues, it’s instant friction; but mutual dislike soon grows into a bond of respect and understanding after an unexpected encounter forces them to connect.
BEAUTIFUL THINGS
Australia | 09:53 | 2023
WORLD PREMIERE
DIR: PAUL PINGA MATEREKE
WRI: PAUL PINGA MATEREKE
PROD: MICHAEL Z LIN
A struggling poet. A recovering addict. A resentful matriarch. A fractured family, held together by a yearly ritual. However, this year there’s an unexpected visitor. I met David McBride at his home in Bondi to discuss making a documentary about his trials and tribulations as a whistle-blower. I was struck by his vulnerability and openness. After completing the documentary, I asked him if he would be willing to star in a fictional work and he agreed. At its heart, ‘Beautiful Things’ examines the all-too-familiar story of the fractured family unit. Sonya, Kate and Ralphe are bound only by grief for their late mother/wife. Their bond exists only in service of the late matriarch’s memory. Will they find space in their hearts for the living as well as the dead? Can they salvage their broken relationship?
FENCES
Australia | 10:52 | 2023
WORLD PREMIERE
DIR: DUNCAN RAGG
WRI: DUNCAN RAGG
PROD: DIANNA LA GRASSA
When his son sends an AI version of himself to mend the fences on the family property, an ageing farmer must adapt to the change, or else lose his relationship with his son entirely. Starring Indigenous actor Meyne Wyatt and Scottish-Australian actor Colin Friels.
SEVEN MINUTES
UK | 09:57 | 2023
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
DIR: RICKY GERVAIS
WRI: JONATHAN PARRAMINT AND HARRY CARLILE
PROD: HUSSAIN CASEY-AHMED
A desolate train track seems the perfect spot to end it all, until someone else turns up with the same idea. Awkward.
MY WEEK WITH MAISY
UK | 18:10 | 2023
WORLD PREMIERE
DIR: MIKA SIMMONS
WRI: MARK OXTOBY
PROD: GEORGINA FRENCH
Mrs Foster (Joanna Lumley), a retired, middle-class Daily Mail reader, whose cup is half empty, is starting chemotherapy and is understandably anxious. The last thing she needs is to have to share the treatment room with a ‘know-it-all child’ who wants to grow up to be a lesbian. But through their unexpected friendship, Maisy gives Mrs Foster much more than just a glimmer of hope.
WAR IS OVER
USA | 09:45 | 2023
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
DIR: DAVE MULLINS
WRI: DAVE MULLINS
PROD: BRAD BOOKER
WAR IS OVER! is a 10-minute animated short film created in partnership with ElectroLeague and The John Lennon Estate, featuring the original recording of WAR IS OVER (Happy Xmas) by John Lennon and Yoko Ono on the 50th anniversary of its release. Set in an alternate WWI reality where a senseless war rages between two armies, the opposing sides have been entrenched in battle for what feels like an eternity.. The two engage in friendly but feverish game. Who will win and who will lose? Can there be a winner in this game as the war rages on?
Documentary Programme
FINDING HOME
Australia | 10:41 | 2023
WORLD PREMIERE
DIR: LESTER JONES
WRI: LESTER JONES
FINDING HOME tells the extraordinary story of Yousef Mohammadi, who as a young Afghani boy was forced to flee from his home country to avoid the dangers of war. In this contemporary documentary live action footage is combined with animation to share the emotive and inspiring story of how Yousef embarked on a journey from Afghanistan to Australia to find his place in the world.
KALA KUNBOLK (COLOUR COUNTRY)
Australia | 14:40 | 2023
NSW PREMIERE
DIR: JAMES HASKARD AND NINA HAIGH
WRI: NONE LISTED
PROD: INJALAK ARTS
Kala Kunbolk follows women of Gunbalanya, Arnhem Land, in their quest to preserve their age old tradition of collecting pandanus leaves and natural colour on country to create handcrafted baskets.
LINE RIDER
Slovenia | Australia| 24:49 | 2023
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
DIR: Simon Intihar
WRI: Simon Intihar
PROD: Pete Ireland and David Sipoš
Like any mad genius, Boštjan Čadež lives life on his own creative terms. Art. Music. Robotics. There’s nothing his mind can’t conquer – except perhaps the legacy of his globally famous, generation-defining video game “Line Rider”…and his tendency to self-destruct.
Rainbow Shorts Programme
SLOW DOWN THE FALL
Germany | 19:52 | 2023
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
DIR: CAMILLE TRICAUD, FRANZISKA UNGER
WRI: CAMILLE TRICAUD
PROD: FELIX HERRMANN, MAXIMILIAN BUNGARTEN, CAMILLE TRICAUD
In the light of the Alps, a great ski-jumping hill flashes metallically. Two ski jumpers synchronously rehearse movements in the valley, answer generic questions in front of a green screen and pose on the hill while being watched by a film crew. It is the first reunion for the two athletes since their separation.
FLORES DEL OTRO PATIO
Switzerland | 15:00 | 2022
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
DIR: JORGE CADENA
WRI: JORGE CADENA
PROD: YAN DECOPPET, GABRIELA BUSSMANN
In the north of Colombia, a group of queer activists use extravagant performative actions to denounce the disastrous exploitation by the country’s largest coal mine.
Short Laughs Showcase
ASHES
Australia | 13:15 | 2023
SYDNEY PREMIERE (SHORT LAUGHS PROGRAM)
DIR: GEORGINA HAIG
WRI: GEORGINA HAIG
Bereft after the loss of her beloved Dad James (Michael Caton), Frances misses the appointment to pick up his ashes. Through a bizarre posthumous prank, can James rectify his daughter’s habitual lateness, even after he’s gone? A darkly comedic story about grief, tough love and the unexpected ways those who have passed continue to influence us.
SHOWPONY
Australia | 04:32 | 2023
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
DIR: CLARE HOEY
WRI: CLARE HOEY
PROD: SOPHIE LOWE, VALENTINA NOVAKOVIC
Based on Sophie Lowe’s real experiences of filming self-tapes with partners who would try to sabotage her … particularly if her role contained a sex scene, Showpony is a hyperreal slice of a relationship. Familiarity breeds contempt, and the film’s toxic dynamic will resonate with anybody who’s fought with their partner. But Showpony takes it to the next level, portraying emotional abuse, gaslighting, and manipulation with a lightness of touch that makes you laugh before you realise it’s probably not very funny.
Flickerkids Showcase
WILFRID GORDON MCDONALD PARTRIDGE
AUSTRALIA | 14:56 | 2023
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
DIR: HATTIE ARCHIBALD
WRI: JACOB MELAMED
PROD: CALEB IRWIN
When 6 year old Wilfrid finds out that his 96 year old best friend Nancy has lost her memory, he sets out to see if he can get it back. A live-action adaptation of the classic children’s book by Mem Fox and illustrated by Julie Vivas, ‘Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge’ is a heartwarming story about memory loss and intergenerational connection, featuring celebrated actors Benita Collings (Play School) and Bruce Spence (Mad Max, Star Wars).
MR CHICKEN GOES TO MARS
AUSTRALIA | 03:15 | 2023
WORLD PREMIERE
DIR: KATRINA MATHERS AND LEIGH HOBBS
WRI: LEIGH HOBBS
PROD: KATRINA MATHERS
Mr Chicken Goes to Mars was inspired as Leigh was writing and illustrating his newest children’s book of the same name. The film is an explosive, fun and quirky story about a chicken who sets his sights on outer space.
