The 29th Flickerfest International Short Film Festival has announced the full list of short films officially selected into the Academy-qualifying and BAFTA-recognised competitions for 2020.
Over ten days, Flickerfest will once again delight audiences with the very best in short films from Australia and around the world, screened under the stars at Bondi Pavilion.
There were a record number of entries this year – 3,500 – from over 100 countries. From this large entry field, around 200 of the best, most creative and inspiring shorts will be screened at the festival across 17 competitive programmes. . . All guaranteed to make you laugh, cry and gasp with delight.
The shorts in competition at the event are vying for a number of prizes, including the Flickerfest Award for Best International Short Film, the Yoram Gross Award for Best International Animation, the Flickerfest Award for Best Australian Short Film and the Flickerfest Award for Best Documentary. All of these are Academy-qualifying!
The Flickerfest jury includes multi award-winning and Academy-nominated cinematographer Don McAlpine, actress and writer/director Gracie Otto, award-winning writer/director Dylan River and award-winning Australian director Samantha Lang.
'The Diver'
The Australian programme includes some brilliant entries. Key highlights include premieres of 'Chicken' by Papua New Guinean-Australian director and writer Alana Hicks, and 'The Diver' by Michael Leonard and Jamie Helmer, as well as 'Backpedal' by Dani Pearce, and the world premiere of 'Closed Doors' by Hunter Page Lochard and Fred Carter Simpkin.
Meanwhile, internationally, 'White Echo' by Chloe Sevigny, 'The Marvelous Misadventures Of The Stone Lady' by Gabriel Abrantes, 'Talk' starring William Baldwin, Clemence Poesy's 'The Tear's Thing' and 'Nimic' by Yorgos Lanthimos will all make their Australian premieres.
Flickerfest is Australia's largest short film competition dedicated to showcasing the very best short films from Australia and around the world. . . From live action, to documentaries, to animation.
There's also a new ASEAN region competition in partnership with DFAT and Australian Now, along with The Best Of EU competition, the LGBTQIA+ Rainbow Shorts programme, the family-friendly FlickerKids, the Love Bites (films about relationships) programme, and the hilarious Short Laughs.
The festival culminates with the awards presentation held under the stars at Bondi, before hitting the road for a huge five-month national tour from January to May.
See below for some of the highlights from Flickerfest's programme.
Best Of Australian Shorts highlights
Chicken
Alana Hicks
Backpedal
Dani Pearce
The Diver
Michael Leonard and Jamie Helmer
The Hitchhiker
Adele Vuko
Closed Doors
Hunter Page-Lochard and Fred Simpkin
Best Of International Shorts highlights
White Echo
Chloe Sevigny
The Marvelous Misadventures Of The Stone Lady
Gabriel Abrantes
Talk
Boulanger Romuald
Nimic
Yorgos Lanthimos
Bagold!
Maija O'Keefe, Andrew O'Keefe
The Fox And The Bird
Vincent Gessler, Christophe Pagnon, Samuel Guillaume, Frederic Guillaume
Best Of Documentary Shorts highlights
Bright Lights – The Perils Of The Pokies
Charby Ibrahim
Inferno
Patrick Fileti
Anas v. The Giant
Karen K H Sim and Adrienne Collatos
Showcase of Rainbow Shorts programme
The Distance Between Us And The Sky
Vasilis Kekatos
My Brother Is A Mermaid
Alfie Dale
After You Left
April Maxey
