Flickerfest Australia’s leading and only Oscar® Qualifying and BAFTA recognised short film festival and leading optical retailer Specsavers are thrilled to have joined forces again for the second year of their national ad competition to uncover and support an up-and-coming filmmaker. As part of the competition, the winner will be nurtured and supported to write and direct their very own ‘Should’ve gone to Specsavers’ ad.
The brief was simple: entrants had to come up with a script for a 1-minute commercial that delivered an entertaining, light-hearted eyesight gag, with the line “Should’ve gone to Specsavers” as the punchline. After much deliberation over the strong field of over 100 entries received, a winner has been chosen.
Talented writer/director Conor Mercury, an Adelaide based award-winning short film and music video maker has taken out the top prize. Conor will be given the opportunity to bring his production and script to life under the guidance of the Specsavers brand team. The winning package also includes a $5k cash prize to acknowledge Conor’s talent.
Festival Director Bronwyn Kidd said that: “This is the second year of our partnership and it’s been incredibly rewarding to work with the team at Specsavers again to be able to support and nurture an Australian creative to develop their skills through this wonderful career initiative. At Flickerfest we are committed to finding pathways to support Australian filmmakers beyond our festival and it’s fantastic to partner with brands such as Specsavers who support us in our vision to discover, reward & further career opportunities for Australian talent in such a meaningful way.
Shaun Briggs, director of marketing planning, Specsavers ANZ, said: “For over 15 years, “Should’ve Gone to Specsavers” has been one of Australia’s most loved ad campaigns. We are excited to offer Conor the opportunity to put his creative spin on our beloved brand platform which aims to delight audiences and inspire them to be as excited about eye health as we are”.
Conor’s winning ad will premiere on the big screen at the 34th Flickerfest 2025 in Bondi, 17th to 26th January, launching at the festival’s prestigious opening night, before appearing in 45 other venues around the country as part of the Flickerfest national tour from Feb-Oct 2025.
Conor Mercury [pictured] is a director based in Adelaide, South Australia. After working in the camera and production departments on films including Peter Rabbit 2 (2019) and Mortal Kombat (2019), Conor began directing music videos for local and domestic bands. In 2024 Conor had his first solo exhibition, showing 50 music videos in a gallery space through the support of Renew Adelaide. Conor’s latest short film ‘The Fritz’, a quirky black comedy starring Trevor Jamieson and Clarence Ryan had its world premiere at Flickerfest in 2023.
