A record crowd of 5,000 people packed into Rosebud’s Village Green on Saturday February 6 to take part in Peninsula Short Film Fest. The audience sat shoulder to shoulder and watched 22 of the best short films in the country battle it out for nearly $30,000 in cash and prizes.
The Star studded judging panel, Peter Helliar (The Project), Michala Banas (Upper Middle Bogan), Lachy Hulme (Offspring), Pia Miranda (The Secret Life of Us), Damon Gameau (That Sugar Film) and Rob Connolly (Director of Paper Planes, The Bank and Balibo), had to make some tough decisions but eventually the top gong and the $5,000 went to Kai Smythe for “How Deep Can I go?”
Uber XCiting Day by Jackson Tozer and Michael Jones won second prize of $2,500 and the third prize was awarded to Sean Lahiff & Michael Clarkin for Too Dark.
This year more than 135 entries were received, with 12 finalists selected for the main category and then another 10 films shown in Best Animation, Best Documentary and the Woodleigh School Emerging Filmmaker category. With many entries from overseas, a new category, Best International Short Film was added to the program.
Festival Director Steve Bastoni said he was absolutely thrilled with the audience turn out and the response to the films. “The event continues to grow and we feel proud to give these filmmakers a platform to screen their films”, he said.
“PSFF has grown into a 3 day event with an OzIndie film kicking off the Festival on the Friday night, the Festival on Saturday followed by a Sunday Session – a film and Q&A with the Director. Filmmakers are already riding the PSFF wave, with BROKE securing local distribution as result of the OZ Indie Showcase and Robert Connolly expressing interest in Emerging filmmaker Liam Kelly’s work.”
“PSFF is all about fostering the film industry, we’ve all got a story to tell”, he added.
Mornington Peninsula Magazine is a proud sponsor of the event.
To find out more, visit: www.peninsulashortfilmfest.com.au
