The best of Flickerfest hits the road for a national tour, presenting a prime selection of local and international short films from this year’s festival at metropolitan and regional venues across the country.
Now in its 33rd year, Flickerfest remains Australia’s premier international short film festival, welcoming a record-breaking 3,400 submissions in 2024. Having held its main event at Bondi back in January, the Flickerfest national tour embarks on a travelling showcase of the very best from this year’s festival.
“They’re all feature-length programmes and they’re all best-ofs from the festival, so award-winners and favourites,” Festival Director Bronwyn Kidd says.
“It gives us an opportunity to reflect on the festival and then take films on tour that we think audiences are going to love.”
The south east Queensland leg of the tour gives audiences a taste of Flickerfest’s finest from home and abroad, with varying programmes featuring Best Of Australian and International Shorts, Short Laughs Comedy and Best Of European Union Shorts.
Bronwyn says Flickerfest has maintained its focus on local filmmakers and talent in this year’s selection, curating films that tell stories with a uniquely Australian voice. “It gives audiences a chance to see local stories and celebrate those filmmakers in their natural habitat,” she says.
“Flickerfest has always had a similar vision and platform for local filmmakers, so all of our touring programmes have a bespoke element to them where we are including local films.
'Cold Water'
“When you go along to a Flickerfest venue in Queensland, you know that you’re going to see Queensland films, films from your own backyard alongside the best of their peers from Australia and around the world. I think that’s a really cool thing, that you’re getting to see local stories and stories from further afield all united by excellence in the short film form.”
Among Bronwyn’s personal recommendations for Australian shorts are ‘The Bank Manager’, a 1930s bank heist venture filmed in Cloncurry with an ensemble cast and ‘Cold Water’ starring Bruce Spence (‘Mad Max’), which also won Best Screenplay at Flickerfest 2024.
From the international contingent, Queensland audiences will also get to see the absolutely fabulous Joanna Lumley in bittersweet UK drama ‘My Week With Maisy’, along with the stunning ‘Last Days Of Summer’ out of India and exceptional ‘Clodagh’ from Ireland.
After 27 years as Festival Director for Flickerfest, Bronwyn says her passion for the short film format has only grown stronger as the incoming generations of filmmakers embrace mobile technology to produce and submit their work.
“I have a very contemporary outlook because I’m constantly confronted by these new voices through telling stories,” Bronwyn says.
'Last Days Of Summer'
“Flickerfest is about celebrating diversity in storytelling. One of the big shifts I have seen is that because technology is so much more accessible, we’re getting that greater diversity.
“Film is no longer a hobby for the privileged, it has become a much more accessible way for people of all backgrounds to tell stories, and that’s been fantastic for Flickerfest to celebrate and be a platform for that diversity.
“These films enable the wonderful ability to go on a deep dive into a subject or a theme and really celebrate that filmmaker’s personal passion for a story, and that’s a great thing.”
Flickerfest hits HOTA (Gold Coast) 14 March, Majestic Cinemas (Nambour) 22-23 March, The J (Noosa) 28 March and Palace Centro (Brisbane) 4-5 April.
