Elizabeth Surbey

FLICKERFEST AWARDS NIGHT : SUNDAY 28TH JANUARY 2024

Film can be a powerful medium for creating empathy in an audience. The combination of visual storytelling, music, and emotional narratives allows viewers to immerse themselves in different perspectives and experiences. In so many ways the short film projects that Flickerfest celebrates are filled with EMPATHY.

Well-crafted films can evoke strong emotional responses, helping audiences connect with characters and situations on a deep, empathetic level. There are films from every category shown as part of FLICKERFEST that ask for empathic experiences between the characters portrayed, from a central character in an extraordinary situation or indeed the audience as witness.

Indeed, this reviewer, responding to the opening night program, had flagged one film, in particular. Having sadly not seen the entire season myself I know the competition would have been tight. Nonetheless this dynamic world premiere was “Yeah The Boys” and the overall film winner of this season.

AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AWARD WINNERS
Panasonic LUMIX Award for Best Australian Short Film (Academy® Qualifying)

Winner: YEAH THE BOYS
Director: Stefan Hunt
Writer: Vanessa Marian Varghese
Producer: Alex Taussig

YEAH THE BOYS follows six young Aussie men as they sink beers over an afternoon and well into the night. Emoting only through movement; lewd gestures, chokeholds, crowd surfs, and chugging shoeys, they somehow say everything without uttering a single word. Equal parts larrikin, brutal, and tender, this choreographic short film scored by The Avalanches is an observation of Australian masculine identity and our nation’s relationship with drinking culture.

Bravo one and all. The future of film in Australia looks bright. All awards mentioned here: 

https://flickerfest.com.au/news/flickerfest-2024-awards-announced-and-the-winners-are/

Flickerfest will now hit the road on a 40+ venues national tour to all states and territories across Australia. You can check out our full tour schedule – https://flickerfest.com.au/tour/

 

Published by Elizabeth Surbey

Elizabeth had a passion for theatre and performing from her youth and was a keen contributor to the joint school musicals- mostly the Gilbert and Sullivan romps. Once she headed to university this passion dominated with a 4 year stint at UNE in Armidale encompassing both performance and directing as major components of her Double Major in Drama and Major in English Literature. The year after graduation she found herself not only at the newly formed Actors' Centre but also teaching high school drama. She is still there, teaching, directing, writing for high school Drama and on the side across the years has performed in small season productions at Q theatre and directed several productions for the Short & Sweet program being a part of the inaugural group. Keenly she has represented other drama educators as committee member then President of Drama NSW also representing NSW on the National Committee at Drama Australia National Conferences. She completed her MA a century ago also with a focus on Drama & Theatre at UNSW. She is now a mum of two and recently directed her sixth Musical - perhaps now coming full circle in the scheme of things. She was contributing and consulting editor on a major Drama text for Cambridge Uni Press "Drama ReLoaded". More than anything she loves theatre and is very keen to share her experiences with this forum. Each year she directs secondary students in plays from Australia and across the globe, in productions large and small.