One of the best short film festivals of the annual calendar is St Kilda. While there have been many pretenders over the years, St Kilda has remained as the premier event for short films (and music videos) in Australia. This year as it celebrates its 30th annual event, the fest is taking it to another level, partnering with SXSW to deliver a few special sidebars, and screening rare and archival films including a 40-years-lost documentary on pop group The Easybeats.
The fest has also announced a first taste of short films and music videos to whet the appetite and set the scene for 2013. In the headline I've listed a few selected filmmakers that I'm a huge fan of - the latter two have directed selected music videos although their names don't grace the announcement sheet for some reason (only the bands and singers themselves are mentioned).
Highlights from the first wave include Prick (pictured above) directed by Abe Forsythe and produced by Forsythe, Cara Gereghty and Josh Quong Tart. There's also director Matthew Moore's debut film Julian which he co-produced with Rob Jago. Director and producer Summer DeRoche, 2012 Winner of Best Documentary at SKFF, is back with new documentary Ruby. Her previous doc, The Globe Collector, was one of my favourite shorts from last year.
Executive producers Sam Worthington and Claudian Karvan together with producer Sam Mieikle and Rachael Turk, and director Danielle Boesenberg will see the world premiere of their film Scratch as part of this year's programme. Arc makes its Australian premiere at the festival, and is produced by Claire Yvonne Evans and directed by Max Doyle.
Australian singer/songwriter Sarah Blasko will star in short Sarah Blasko presents I Awake produced by Neil Cray and directed by Mike Daly. Rachel Griffiths stars in Butterflies produced by Warwick Burton and directed by Isabel Peppard. My Mother, Her Daughter will also premiere in Australia - the film is produced by Taylor Litton-Strain and directed by Erin Good.
There's also SoundKILDA, the music video sidebar that's worth the price of admission by itself. Early selections include Unshamed Desire by Missy Higgins, Wild Things By San Cisco, Easy Way Out by Gotye, Ghosts by The Presets and Don't Wanna Grow Up Anymore by Bob Evans (and also by the filmmakers that made them!).
The St Kilda Film Festival runs Thursday 23 May to Saturday 1 June 2013 St Kilda's Palais and Astor Theatre. More updates as they come.