iview: AFTRS Festival Favourites

AFTRS Festival Favourites, a new program of awarded short films by students of the Australian Film Television and Radio School will launch on ABC iview today.

Each of the eight short films have screened at film festivals the world over – from the Wairoa Māori Film Festival in New Zealand to Melbourne International Film Festival, Fantastic Fest in the USA, Uppsala International Short Film Festival in Sweden, ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in Canada, and more.

Collectively, the films have received 60 official festival invitations and several nominations and awards, including Best Directing for This River at Flickerfest International Film Festival, the Youth Jury Award for Best Short Film at San Sebastian Horror and Fantasy Film Festival for The Familiars and Best Short Film at St Kilda Film Festival for Lost Boy.

This award makes Lost Boy eligible for the 2022 Academy Awards short list.

“Since the launch of the collection it has received more than half a million views, establishing it as a popular and influential platform for Australians to discover our newest screen storytellers. The teams responsible for these eight short films will also now have the opportunity to showcase their creative brilliance to ABC iview audiences,” said AFTRS CEO, Dr Nell Greenwood.

Roberta Allan, ABC Head of Content Curation & Distribution, said, “The ABC is proud to support emerging filmmakers as part of our commitment to Australian creativity. The ABC iview collection of short films by AFTRS students showcases some of our best new talent and will give all Australians something great to watch over summer. The future of the Australian film industry is bright and the ABC is delighted to help bring such outstanding new homegrown stories to audiences.”

The eight selected films are:

Bala, directed by Deborah Brown and written by Melissa Lee Speyer, both Master of Arts Screen students. Bala has been selected for multiple festivals, including Asinabka Film & Media Arts Festival, Ontario, Canada (2020), ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, Toronto, Canada (2020), Flickerfest International Film Festival (2021), Birrarangga Film Festival, ACMI (2021), Manchester Film Festival, UK (2021), Gold Coast Film Festival (2021), Wairoa Māori Film Festival, New Zealand (2021), Brisbane International Film Festival (2021).

Elagabalus, winner of the Juror’s Choice Award at the 2021 Berlin Student Film Festival, Germany, was directed by Xanthe Dobbie, written by Samuel Herriman and produced by Alexis Talbot-Smith, all Master of Arts Screen students. The film’s other festival selections include CinefestOz Film Festival, WA (2020), Newfest: New York’s LGBTQ Film Festival (2020), Uppsala International Short Film Festival, Sweden (2020), FilmschoolFest Munich, Germany (2020), Image+Nation Festival Film LGBTQUEER, Montreal (2020), Queer Film Festival, Gold Coast (2020), St Kilda Film Festival (2021) and KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, India (2021).

The End, The Beginning, winner of the AVID Award for Best Original Music in an Australian Short Film at Flickerfest International Film Festival (2021), was directed by Archie Chew, written by Samuel Herriman and produced by Alicia Easaw-Mamutil, all Master of Arts Screen students. The film was also selected for Uppsala International Short Film Festival, Sweden (2019), Berlin Student Film Festival (2021), Flickerfest International Film Festival (2021), Providence Children’s Film Festival, Rhode Island (2021), BUFF Malmo Film Festival, Sweden (2021), Flickers Roving Eye International Film Festival, Rhode Island (2021), St Kilda Film Festival (2021) and Boston International Kids Film Festival (2021).

Like How I Remember was written and directed by Bachelor of Arts Screen: Production student Brittany Xu and produced by her classmates Mimi Rosenbaum and Claire Ma. The film has been selected for the Asian Film Festival, Los Angeles (2020), Chicago International Children’s Film Festival (2020) and the Gold Coast Film Festival (2021).

Lost Boy was nominated for Best Direction in a Student Film at the 2020 Australian Directors’ Guild Awards (2020) and won the Best Short Film award at St Kilda Film Festival (2021). Lost Boy was written and directed by Peter Skinner (Master of Arts Screen) and produced by Susannah Wolff and David Shyegun, both Graduate Certificate Screen (Creative Producing) graduates. The film was also selected for Brisbane International Film Festival (2020) and the Newport Beach Film Festival, California (2021).

Sunburn was directed by directed by Jaslyn Mairs, written by Claudia Bailey and produced by Lev Jutsen and Ben Bauchet while studying the Bachelor of Arts Screen: Production. The film has been selected to screen at CinefestOz Film Festival, WA (2020), Brisbane International Film Festival (2020), Berlin Student Film Festival (2021), Flickerfest International Film Festival (2021), Gold Coast Film Festival (2021), Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival (2021) and Melbourne International Film Festival (2021).

The Familiars won the Youth Jury Award for Best Short Film at the San Sebastian Horror and Fantasy Film Festival (2020) and the Best Australian Short Film and Best Performance in an Australian Short Film (Milly Alcock) at A Night of Horror International Film Festival (2021). The film was also nominated for Best Achievement in Sound Post-Production and Best Young Actor at St Kilda Film Festival (2021). The Familiars was directed by Millicent Malcolm (Graduate Certificate, Directing), written by Octavia B. Martin (Grade Certificate Screen, Screenwriting) and produced by Alexis Talbot-Smith (Master of Arts Screen). The film’s other festival selections include Flickers: Rhode Island International Film Festival (2020), Maniatic Film Festival, Valencia (2020), Telluride Horror Show (2020), Flickerfest International Film Festival (2021), HorrorHound Film Festival, Ohio (2021), IMAGINE Film Festival, Amsterdam (2021), Indy Shorts International Film Festival, Indianapolis (2021), Fantastic Fest, Austin (2021) and Canberra Short Film Festival (2021).

This River, written, directed and produced by Master of Arts Screen student Naomi Fryer won the Spectrum Films Award for Best Direction in an Australian Short Film at the Flickerfest International Film Festival (2021) and the Best Student Film and Best Cinematographer prizes at WIFT V-Fest (2021). The film has also been selected for Cinequest Film Festival, San Jose (2021), St Kilda Film Festival (2021), Montreal Independent Film Festival (2021), Canberra Short Film Festival (2021) and Female Voices Rock Film Festival, New York, USA (2021).