Movie-goers were treated to an eclectic mix of entertaining, thought- provoking and moving short films on Saturday night with the much-heralded return of Flickerfest.
The best of Australian and International shorts were featured.
Celebrating its 30th year in 2021, Flickerfest remains Australia’s leading academy and BAFTA qualifying short film festival, continuing with a mission to present A-list world-class short film programs, this year hand-picked from a record 2700 entries.
Half of this year’s festival films were directed by women, including Cowra local and former Narrabri resident Trudi Houston, writer and director of short film Dust Cloud.
Trudi resides with her family on a farm at Woodstock in NSW’s central west, north-east of Cowra.
Trudi attended the event and spoke to the audience about the film and her beloved border collie sheepdog, Jack Sparrow, who features in the starring role.
Dust Cloud is about a badly behaved working dog (Jack) who changes his tune when he is given the love and respect he deserves from a prudent country woman played by Sandy Gore (Brides of Christ).
During her postgraduate studies, Trudi wrote the film while completing a Masters of Screenwriting at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in Sydney.
The film was conceived in 2019 at the height of the drought when the air was thick with dust, hence giving the film its name.
The eight-minute movie was filmed in March 2020 in Woodstock.
Using as many locals as possible, Trudi was able to enlist a NIDA graduate production designer, genuine shearers, and a local farmer and his son as the two surly characters that initially are not impressed by Jack’s work.
“Dust Cloud is about a stolen working dog who arrives in a cloud of dust, leaves in a cloud of dust and changes the thinking of people who meet him and their attitudes to life,” Trudi said.
An amusing Australian film titled The Exit Plan by writer Ella Cook and director Angus Wilkinson, looked into a futuristic world where the elderly are disposed of to make way for future generations.
In an overpopulated future, an elderly woman is visited by a young government official to ensure she is complying with the government’s new Exit Plan policy, but, when he interrogates her further he soon realises she has her own ‘plan’ for him.
Australian director and writer Chad O’Brien with co-writer Ebony McGuire, offered a touching film titled Wiran.
An indigenous girl dug deep within herself to practise and eventually own her performance of a Shakespearean sonnet for her high school drama class.
Standout films in the international shorts session included a beautifully moving French Guiana film called Frankie Jean and The Morning Star, by writer and director Hannah Marshall.
A plucky, rugby obsessed eight-year-old girl, practising her goal kicks in a local field, stumbles across a teenager about to end his life.
Her personality and the impact of her words and actions over the next few minutes dramatically changes the course of his life.
Animation also featured throughout the evening.
German animated film Criss Cross, written, directed and produced by Caroline Hamann and co-written and directed by Fritz Penzlin, was a film about love and borders, focussing on which is the stronger of the two.
An unfortunate, yet amusing chain of events motivates a couple in love to try and defy the obstacles between them.
Palestinian film titled The Present, was an extraordinarily moving and powerful film, written and co-directed by Hind Shoufani and Farah Nabulsi.
On his wedding anniversary, Yusef and his daughter, Yasmine, set out in the West Bank to buy his wife a gift.
Between segregated roads, checkpoints and aggressive soldiers, their shopping expedition was a heart-stopping and suspense filled trip.
Trudi Houston was delighted to attend the event.
“It was thrilling to see Dust Cloud being played to a theatre that was packed to capacity,” she said.
“I’d like to thank Narrabri for supporting Flickerfest and the short film industry”.
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