 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(February 2024) |
Newtown Flicks Short Film Festival was an Australian competitive film festival featuring short films. It was held annually in and around the Sydney suburb of Newtown, Australia, from 2006 until 2012. After that, the organisation turned to film production.
The Newtown Flicks was established as a non-profit organisation in 2005, "to meet the demands of the underground Sydney short film industry". The festival was created by Martin Kelly, Bill Jordan, and Spiros Hristias while the three worked as equipment operators in the bio box of New Theatre, a live performance venue in Newtown. Meeting in local cafes, the creators developed the festival's name and logo, its aim and awards categories. [1]
After setting up the enterprise with their own money Kelly, Jordan, and Spiros looked for outside sponsorship for the festival. Since 2006, the festival's major sponsor has been JVC Professional, donors of filmmaking equipment. As a result, the JVC Encouragement Award is presented to a filmmaker showing potential not yet fully realised. Cash prizes are offered in the other categories together with bags for audio-visual accessories made by Crumpler and statuettes made by a local arts collective.[ citation needed ]
Over the years Newtown Flicks received grants from City of Sydney and Screen NSW. It became a national film festival for Australia in 2009.[ citation needed ]
Design of the statuettes and posters changed with each festival.[ citation needed ]
After the 2012 festival, Newtown Flicks announced that the organisation was moving into film production. [2]
In addition to showcasing the future of the Australian film industry, the following industry personalities have been involved with Newtown Flicks :
Held at the New Theatre between 15–17 April
| Award | Winning Title |
|---|---|
| PICK OF THE FLICKS # 1 | Tackle |
| PICK OF THE FLICKS # 2 | The Chess Set |
| DIRECTORS CHOICE # 1 | Birthday Present |
| DIRECTORS CHOICE # 2 | Europe |
Held at the Newtown Theatre between 30 March - 1 May
| Award | Title | Director |
|---|---|---|
| BEST STUDENT FILM | Still Life | Tahnee McGuire |
| BEST INDEPENDENT | Transient | Craig Boreham |
| BEST TREEHOUSE | Wally | Tonnette Stanford |
| DIRECTORS CHOICE | The Death of an Official | Natalie Lopes & Marlene Palmeiro |
| JVC AWARD | Not Sitting Still | Sarah Antill |
Held at the PACT Theatre between 20 May – 1 June
| Award | Title | Director |
|---|---|---|
| BEST STUDENT FILM | Modern Primitives | Kate Witchard |
| BEST INDEPENDENT | Playground | Eve Spence |
| BEST TREEHOUSE | Floating | Chih-Kuang Tu |
| DIRECTORS CHOICE | The Cypriot | Vincent Taylor |
| JVC AWARD | One Shoe Billy | Aiden Koegh |
In May 2009 Newtown Flicks Short Film Festival returned to the New Theatre, where the judging panel was led by twice Academy Award-nominated director Bruce Beresford.
| Award | Title | Director |
|---|---|---|
| BEST STUDENT FILM | Reach | Luke Randall |
| BEST INDEPENDENT | Fade | Vincent Taylor |
| DIRECTORS CHOICE | Burden | Ben Field and Liam Doyle |
| JVC AWARD | Mercury Vapour | Zoe Barnes |
In June 2010 Newtown Flicks Short Film Festival landed at the PACT Theatre , where the judging panel was led by director Bruce Beresford.
| Award | Title | Director |
|---|---|---|
| BEST STUDENT FILM | Tundra | Claire Phillips |
| BEST INDEPENDENT | Frail | Alex Murawski |
| DIRECTORS CHOICE | Identity Theft | Stuart White |
| JVC AWARD | Me, Myself and iPod | Aidan Prewett |
| PANAVISION AWARD | What If Girl | Heremaia Rudkin |
The cinema of Australia had its beginnings with the 1906 production of The Story of the Kelly Gang, arguably the world's first feature film. Since then, Australian crews have produced many films, a number of which have received international recognition. Many actors and filmmakers with international reputations started their careers in Australian films, and many of these have established lucrative careers in larger film-producing centres such as the United States.
Jack Thompson, AM is an Australian award-winning actor, who is a major figure of Australian cinema, particularly Australian New Wave.
The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize.
Bruce Beresford is an Australian film director and screenwriter. He has made more than 30 feature films over a 50-year career, both locally and internationally in the United States.
Timothy Burstall AM was an English Australian film director, writer and producer, best known for hit Australian movie Alvin Purple (1973) and its sequel Alvin Rides Again (1974).
The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television industry, both locally and internationally, including the producers, directors, actors, writers, and cinematographers. It is the most prestigious awards ceremony for the Australian film and television industry. They are generally considered to be the Australian counterpart of the Academy Awards for the United States and the BAFTA Awards for the United Kingdom.
Matthew Day is an Australian actor and filmmaker.
Kenneth Graham Ross is an Australian playwright, screenwriter, and lyricist best known for writing the 1978 stage play Breaker Morant, that was based on the life of Australian soldier Harry "Breaker" Morant.
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national collection of film, television, sound, radio, video games, new media, and related documents and artefacts. The collection ranges from works created in the late nineteenth century when the recorded sound and film industries were in their infancy, to those made in the present day.
Richard Bruce Wherrett AM was an Australian stage director, whose career spanned 40 years. He is known for being the founding director of the Sydney Theatre Company in 1979.
Short+Sweet is a multi-form arts platform presenting festivals in theatre, dance, music-theatre, comedy and cabaret co-ordinated in multiple counties globally. The unifying feature of all works presented at the festival is they must be no longer than ten-minutes. Their flagship festival is Short+Sweet Theatre Sydney, the largest ten-minute play festival in the world.
Alyssa McClelland is an Australian director, writer and actress.
Sydney Film School is a private film school based in Waterloo, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. Originally founded in 2004 by industry professionals and film lecturers from the University of Sydney, in 2019 the school changed ownership as part of an amalgamation with the Sydney Acting School.
The Bondi Short Film Festival is an annual one-day competitive short film festival open to amateur filmmakers held in the Australian city of Sydney, at Bondi Beach. The Festival's founding and current artistic director is Francis Coady.
Craig Boreham is an Australian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for his debut short film Transient, and the feature films Teenage Kicks (2016) and Lonesome (2022). His films focus on queer themes.
Allanah Zitserman is an Australian scriptwriter and film producer, founder of Dungog Film Festival, and director of Lumila Films.
The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) is a professional organisation of film and television practitioners in Australia. The Academy's aim is "to identify, award, promote, and celebrate Australia's greatest achievements in film and television".
Shark Island Productions is a documentary film production company based in Sydney, Australia, creates extensive education, outreach and community engagement campaigns with its films. It is the production arm of Shark Island Institute.
Ian David Darling is a documentary film director and producer.
George Ellis is an Australian conductor, composer and orchestrator. He presents concerts for international events with a broad range of styles from classical to pop/rock and jazz as well as presenting orchestral concerts for young audiences. He also lectures in conducting at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and is a regular presenter of Sonic Journey for ABC Radio Sydney’s program with Simon Marnie.