Drone filming on the NSW Far South Coast. Photo: Raymond Toms.
Far South Film has called for entries from regional filmmakers from around Australia for the inaugural Far South Film Festival.
The festival will be screened online together with question-and-answer sessions from filmmakers and award announcements.
Far South Film is an association of professional and emerging filmmakers in the southeast region of NSW. Founder and producer Hiromi Matsuoka said the festival is encouraging movies of all kinds, including animation – two or three dimensional – claymation/stop motion, experimental video and screen-based art.
“In our region, we have a lot of talented musicians who have great music videos,” he said. “Remember that a lot of famous directors and cinematographers cut their filmmaking teeth making music videos so they are welcome too.”
The organisation is also seeking festival sponsors for filmmaker prizes and marketing support.
Ms Matsuoka said that bushfires and COVID-19 delayed the festival seeking sponsorship, but it has had previous support from South East Arts; Sapphire Coast Tourism; The Picture Show Man cinema in Merimbula; Bega Valley Shire Council; Eurobodalla Shire Council; and the Snowy Monaro’s Hub Youth Centre in Cooma.
“We realised that local businesses were either suffering hardship or putting any extra resources into bushfire recovery and support,” he said. “Then COVID-19 hit and we didn’t know if we could even hold the festival we had been planning.
“It took a while to gain clarity about how to make the festival work this year. We made the decision to go online with it. So now we are seeking sponsors to help us with prizes, which can be cash, filmmaking equipment or services.”
The Far South Film Festival showcases the unique, beautiful, scary and moving stories made by people from less populated regions of Australia who are most familiar with the stories and locations.
Conditions of entry into the festival stipulate that at least two key creatives – writer, director, producer or filmmaker – must reside in a regional area of Australia. Film submissions opened on 1 July and the final deadline for entries is 31 July, 2020.
There will be two film length categories: under 10 minutes, and 10-30 minutes. Award categories include Best Film, Best Use of a Regional Setting, Best Youth Film, Best Director and a Diversity Award. The major prize for Best Film is $1000, with a range of other prizes for different categories.
Ms Matsuoka said there are plans for the festival’s hosting, which are currently under wraps, including a special guest host for the award presentations.
More details are available on the Far South Film Festival website.
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