Flickerfest is heading to Perth again, and it’s almost here! Now in its 27th year, Flickerfest remains Australia’s leading Academy Accredited and BAFTA recognised short film festival. Flickerfest opens on 1st March at Camelot Outdoor, and will be showcasing the best short films from Australia and around the world over four big nights. There will also be some incredible home-grown talent on display, as each night will feature a Western Australian produced short film, to showcase the high quality of work from the local filmmaking community. Here’s a taste of what’s on offer each night –
The festival kicks off March 1st with the Best of Australian Shorts. This programme features the charming and quirky stop-animation short Lost Property Office. This film follows Ed, the lonely custodian of the lost property office at a busy station, who repurposes the items he catalogues after he is made redundant from his job. The unique colour palette and hand-crafted details of this film give it an air of melancholy, but one that is oddly inspiring. Lost Property Office is directed and produced by Daniel Agdag and was shortlisted for an Academy Award.
Lost Property Office
The second night of the festival showcases the Best of European Union Shorts, and features the Oscar nominated Watu Wote (All of Us). The German film, directed by Katja Benrath, also took home the European Union in Australia Award for Best EU Short Film at the awards ceremony in Bondi. This short film is based on an attack by Al-Shabaab militants in 2015 on a bus traveling through Kenya. Despite the growing animosity between the co-existing religious groups in the area, during the attack the Muslim passengers protected their Christian travelers. Watu Wote is a powerful and touching short film that preaches solidarity in spite of differences in times of terror. Watu Wote is also playing on the following night as part of the Best of International Shorts programme.
Watu Wote
The third night showcases the Best of International Shorts, and features the Western Australian based short film Blight as the night’s display of local talent. Set in the early 20th century on Australia’s western frontier and filmed on Noongar country, Blight follows a young, female Aboriginal tracker as she hunts down one of her own on orders from a police Constable. Blight is thrilling and original, a well-written must-see drama with some intriguing supernatural undertones.
Blight
And finally Flickerfest winds down for Perth with the popular Short Laughs Comedy program, featuring Mrs McCutcheon written by Ben Young (Hounds of Love). 10-year-old Tom has to navigate the expectations and prejudices of others when he chooses the name Mrs McCutcheon, rather than the name he was given at birth, and questions whether he has been born in the wrong body. Mrs McCutcheon is light and engaging, and makes the contemporary notions of gender politics accessible to a younger audience.
Mrs McCutcheon
For more information, and to purchase tickets, click here.
