 | |
| Location | South West region, Western Australia |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2008 |
| Website | cinefestoz |
CinefestOZ is an annual film festival that takes place over five days in the South West region of Western Australia. IndigifestOZ is a section of the festival devoted to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander filmmakers. The CinefestOZ Film Prize of A$100,000 is the richest film prize in the country.
The CinefestOZ film festival was founded in 2008 by David Barton and Helen Shervington, "as a cultural celebration of the French bicentenary of Antipodean exploration of the South West corner of Western Australia". The opening film at the inaugural festival was the highly-acclaimed Australian film Black Balloon . [1]
The inaugural CinefestOZ Film Prize was awarded in 2014. [2]
In July 2023 it was announced that funding for the festival would continue for at least a further three years, until 2025. [3]
The events are staged in Busselton, the Margaret River wine region, [4] Bunbury, [5] Dunsborough, [6] and Augusta. [7] The festival showcases Australian and French films. [7] As of 2023 [update] it is a 6-day event. [3]
The festival awards the CinefestOZ Film Prize of A$100,000, to feature films and documentaries first screened in Western Australia. [7] The CinefestOZ prize is the largest cash film prize in Australia, and one of the largest in the world, [6] [8] and is decided by a jury of five Australian and international filmmakers. [3] The festival has staged IndigifestOZ since 2015, which provides a showcase for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander filmmakers, [1] screened for free as "Community Days". [3]
The film festival is supported by Tourism Western Australia, Screenwest, Lotterywest, and Screen Australia. [3] Chair of the festival as of 2023 [update] is Margaret Buswell. [2]
The 2021 festival was the 14th edition, taking place from 25 to 29 August 2021. [9] The feature documentary film Under the Volcano , produced by WA producer Cody Greenwood [5] and directed by Gracie Otto, had its Australian premiere at the festival, [10] while Akoni , a film about a Nigerian refugee struggling to integrate into Australian society by Australian filmmaker Genna Chanelle Hayes, had its world premiere. [11] [12] The Australian drama film Nitram , based on the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, won the 2021 Film Prize. [8] [13]
For the 16th edition in 2023, the awards jury was chaired by Australian director Robert Connolly, [14] with production designer ( Game of Thrones , The Matrix ) Deborah Riley; South Park producer Debbie Liebling; and actors Mia Wasikowska and Rob Collins the other members. Four films competed for the prize: Matt Vesely's Monolith ; Noora Niasari's Shayda; Mark Leonard Winter's The Rooster; and Bromley: Light After Dark. [2] Shayda won the prize. [15]
Augusta is a town on the south-west coast of Western Australia, where the Blackwood River flows into Flinders Bay. It is the nearest town to Cape Leeuwin, on the furthest southwest corner of the Australian continent. In the 2001 census it had a population of 1,091; by 2016 the population of the town was 1,109.
Dunsborough is a coastal town in the South West of Western Australia, 254 kilometres (158 mi) south of Perth, on the shores of Geographe Bay.
Zahra Amir Ebrahimi, known professionally as Zar Amir Ebrahimi, is an Iranian-French actress, producer and director. She rose to international prominence for her performance as journalist Arezoo Rahimi in the crime thriller Holy Spider (2022), for which she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress and Robert Award for Best Actress.
Osamah Sami is an Australian stage and screen actor, writer, and stand-up comedian, born in Iran of Iraqi origin. He is known for his book Good Muslim Boy, and the film Ali's Wedding.
David Bromley is an Australian artist best known for his painting and sculpture, in particular his portraits, and his paintings of children, birds, butterflies and female nudes. He began his career in Adelaide as a potter. He has exhibited widely in Australia, and also in Asia, Europe, Africa and America, and has been a finalist at the Archibald Prize six times.
Kelton Pell is a Noongar Aboriginal Australian stage, TV and film actor, best known for his role as the court liaison officer, Sam Wallan, in the SBS legal drama The Circuit set in north-western Australia. Pell is from Western Australia.
Goran Stolevski is a Macedonian Australian film director and screenwriter. He made his feature film directorial debut with the 2022 film You Won't Be Alone, which premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
Mark Leonard Winter is an Australian actor, known for performances in film, television and on stage.
Rams is a 2020 Australian comedy-drama film directed by Jeremy Sims, written by Jules Duncan, and starring Sam Neill, Michael Caton, and Miranda Richardson. It is based on the Icelandic drama film Rams (2015) by Grímur Hákonarson.
Dirty Films is an Australian independent film and television production company founded by Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton. The company was incorporated in the United Kingdom on 20 January 2000. Films produced include Bangers (1999), Little Fish (2005), Carol (2015), Shayda (2023), The New Boy (2023), and Fingernails (2023). Television productions include the series Stateless (2020), and Mrs. America (2020).
Nitram is a 2021 Australian biographical psychological drama film directed by Justin Kurzel from a screenplay by Shaun Grant. The film revolves around the life and behaviors of a mentally distressed young man called "Nitram", and the events leading to his involvement in the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania. The film stars Caleb Landry Jones, Judy Davis, Essie Davis and Anthony LaPaglia.
Benjamin Gilmour is a German Australian author and filmmaker, best known for writing and directing the film Jirga (2018).
Love in Bright Landscapes: The Story of David McComb of the Triffids is a feature-length documentary, depicting the life and times of late Australian songwriter David McComb best known for his work with the Triffids, a band he co-founded in Perth, Western Australia. The Triffids were active between 1978 and 1990.
Monolith is a 2022 Australian science-fiction thriller film directed by Matt Vesely from a script written by Lucy Campbell, and produced by Bettina Hamilton. Described as high-concept science fiction, it stars Lily Sullivan, the only on-screen actor in the film, as a journalist uncovering a mystery.
Jillian Nguyen is an Australian actress. She has played main roles in the 2022 film Loveland and the 2022 ABC television series Barons, as well as supporting roles in the 2020 SBS ensemble drama Hungry Ghosts and the 2022 film Millie Lies Low.
Shayda is a 2023 Australian drama film written, directed and co-produced by Noora Niasari. The film stars Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Osamah Sami, Mojean Aria, Jillian Nguyen, Rina Mousavi, Selina Zahednia, and Leah Purcell. The story follows an Iranian immigrant woman in Australia who is raising her young daughter as the two live in a women's shelter.
Noora Niasari is an Iranian-Australian film director based in Australia.
The AACTA Award for Best Indie Film is an award presented by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) since 2018.
The Rooster is a 2023 Australian comedy drama film directed by Mark Leonard Winter and starring Hugo Weaving, Phoenix Raei, and John Waters.
