The St Kilda Film Festival 2009

The St Kilda short film festival is now touring around Australia. I was lucky enough to be invited to one of their stops.

This year the tour kicked off with a haunting story entitled Cicada. Thrusting his melancholy and worn face into the camera, the narrator tells the story of how as a child he witnessed a horrific murder in a pub where his mother worked. It’s evident the story shaped his life from there and the impact of this short telling was palpable. No one dared even shuffle in their seats as the credits ran.

Some highlights for me included Tin Can Heart, a ridiculously beautiful animation in a similar style to Wall.E, The Ground Beneath, a story of a young boy’s struggle to take control of his own life, and One Shoe Short, set in a small indigenous community about two boys who light heartedly stumble around their day, you guessed it, one shoe short.

The St Kilda Film Festival never disappoints and the tour films this year were stellar. However, I couldn’t ignore the fact that in the films chosen to tour there were a lot of big names including Miranda Otto …and bigger budgets. Though there were a couple of quite obvious amateur jobs, I was disappointed that the festival seems to have developed into a showcase for already known talents rather than a platform for emerging names.

Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Many years ago I readily denounced small films at the flick of my hand but now I realize they are seeds that help the industry grow.

Get along and see this tour if you can, check the website for more details. www.stkildafilmfestival.com.au/. The St Kilda Film Fest is touring Australia until September 20.