Mungo

Heart of Gold International Short Film Festival returns after its pandemic hiatus with a significantly expanded programme aiming to grow the 16 year old event into a warm multi-arts celebration. Tickets are now on sale for the festival which runs October 27 – 30 in Gympie, Queensland.

This edition of the festival includes 170 short films assembled into 40 feature-length sessions structured around themes from ‘Family Dynamics’ to ‘Festival’s Fringe’. Guests can explore ‘International Festival Highlights’ or ‘Flora & Fauna’ and sample films from over 30 countries, sourced at festivals from Flickerfest to Cannes. The program features a ‘Cinephile Circuit’ strand highlighting the most artistically ambitious sessions.

“We’re delighted to play over 70 Australian shorts this year, and honoured to bring our audiences the world premieres of seven films and Australian premiere of more than 30.”, says festival director Jackson Lapsley Scott. “Filmmakers in this country are making some truly world-class work – the future of Australian cinema looks exciting.”

The films will be competing for $10,000 in cash prizes judged by an industry jury, who will also attend the festival. Vanessa Gazy is an alumni of the festival, and creator of worldwide Netflix hit ECHOES and Stan Original EDEN. She joins the jury alongside co-founder of the Queensland Film Festival John Edmond, president of the Noosa Film Society Holly Pittman, and emerging playwright Sofia Abbey. Winners are announced at the festival’s Awards Ceremony on Saturday 29 October, also streamed online.

Also attending the festival is the soon-to-be-announced 2022 Patron. Past patrons include Aaron Pederson, Wayne Blair, Margaret Pomeranz and the Speirig Brothers.

A cohort of filmmakers from across Australia will converge on Heart of Gold in late October. Victorian director Andréas Giannopoulos will travel to the festival for the world premiere of his ADG-winning short Friends of Mine, shot on Super 16mm film stock in the streets of Melbourne in 2021. “We can’t wait to come to Heart of Gold! The festival looks utterly charming and we’re excited to share our film and spend a few days with everyone in Gympie,’ says Giannopoulos.

A Summer Place

The 2022 festival offers a rich time for creatives – with all the action taking place across one big precinct “it’s a unique opportunity to make strong natural connections with people in the industry from across the country,” explains the festival director. “Share a beer under the stars, watch some films, compare notes, then boogie to some live music – we’re about making friends more than contacts.”
This year, Heart of Gold launches The Prospect – an exhibition exploring the future and fringes of audio-visual storytelling. It includes a showcase of contemporary video art curated by award-winning writer/director & programmer Emily Avila, a trove of film practitioner interviews and panels focussed on cutting edge filmmaking methodologies, and the Virtual Reality Dome where patrons can explore a lineup of virtual reality experiences curated by the Australian VR Film Festival.

Complementing this programming is a suite of workshops including a Podcasting Intensive, Painting in VR, and Music Video Roundtables – where creatives can sit down & chat with the filmmakers behind clips for acts including Ball Park Music, Sheppard, Sycco, Cub Sport, Clea, Pete Murray, Dune Rats and more.

The Front Yard is Heart of Gold’s new festival hub, serviced by food trucks, cafe and bar, and featuring music and talks in all the gaps between film sessions. Talks focus on film, First Nations voices and the environment with discussions from film researchers as well as in-conversations with jury members and filmmaker Q&As.

The Front Yard stage is programmed to fill gaps between film sessions all festival long so attendees can swan from a film to a talk to a VR experience and back outside for a sunset blues session. Visiting creatives take to the decks as each night rounds out with filmmaker DJs in the Gold Bar.

Other festival highlights include the ‘Ballgowns & Boots’ themed opening night soirée with live bands and films under the stars, an evening of local stories and song with amateur storytelling and a community singalong, a live taping of cult comedy podcast Boonta Vista featuring Twitter’s @thomas_violence, @illybocean and more, jury in-conversation sessions, the 2022 Awards Ceremony, and a CRACKERJACK 20th anniversary screening to finish the festival.

Tickets are on sale now and more information and the full program can be found at heartofgold.com.au.

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