Flickerfest rolls into Bondi this January for another year of world-class short films. Now in its 24th year, and one of the longest-running short film festivals in Australia, the festival is showcasing a diverse range of films across several different programs.

With over 2,300 entries this year, festival director Bronwyn Kidd had her work cut out culling the entries to 95.

“It takes us many, many months,” she says. “Basically, we open the entries in June and we start watching films in September. We have a selection committee of around 30 people, who are all film industry professionals, and who volunteer to very diligently put together what is a massive program. So it’s many, many hours of watching.”

Entries for 2015 have come from all over the globe, with films from Mozambique to Iceland and Mexico. “They seem to make an incredible amount of short films in France,” adds Kidd. “[We are] increasingly seeing more short films from Singapore, from Japan, from China. We’re seeing a lot more diverse voices, which is great.”

Highlights on the program include Japanese film Oh Lucy!, about a middle-aged office worker beginning English lessons with an unconventional teacher, and the Australian film Florence Has Left The Building (starring Jacki Weaver), about a nursing home that double-books a pair of Elvis impersonators.

The ten-day schedule also includes a number of themed screenings, including GreenFlicks, showcasing films that tackle environmental issues; children’s program FlickerKids; and the reintroduction of Love Bites, a showcase featuring films all about relationships.

With short content on the rise, particularly on the web, short films are now on the public radar as a legitimate form of entertainment, as opposed to an aspiring director’s visual calling card. Rather than short film festivals being seen as a means to an end, many aspiring filmmakers and seasoned professionals are turning to it as an art form.

“It’s no longer seen as some niche,” says Kidd. “Feature films are so homogenised; there’s so many voices telling someone how to make the film in order to make the most money. Short films for me stand so separately from that because they are about making wonderful cinema because you’re passionate about telling a story.

“At Flickerfest we see an incredible amount of stories that talk about what’s happening in the world, what’s happening in the Middle East, what’s happening with freedom in China, what are the contemporary concerns of younger filmmakers.

“It’s an average seven years in Australia to get a feature film up, so by the time you’ve gotten to the end of it, the story that you’re telling may no longer be contemporary or relevant.”

Once again the festival will tour following the Bondi season, with regional areas a huge focus for the organisers. The tour will hit 50 locations, from Gunnedah to Kempsey to Narrabri, as well as capital cities. With the internet so ingrained in society’s media consumption, how does a travelling film festival stay relevant?

“Filmmakers who are serious about their careers won’t necessarily upload films to the internet,” Kidd says. “We’re all drowning in content in everyday life, but what we’re looking for is worthy and valuable content, and that’s the place of a festival like Flickerfest.

“It’s all about discovering that next generation of emerging talent and supporting them and giving them an audience for their work on the big screen with a packed group of people. Watching a short film on the internet is a very lonely experience. You can’t see this stuff anywhere else.”

Flickerfest 2015 will be happening at the Bondi PavillionTheatre on Friday January 9 – Sunday January 18. Tickets and show times are on sale here.

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