The Sunshine Short Film Festival is back for its sixth year, and with more entries than ever before.
Organiser Steve Pereira said this year’s festival, with the theme of “Brilliant Sunshine”, was shaping up as a huge success.
“We’ve seen increases across the board, with more international entries than ever before a bit of a highlight,” Mr Pereira said.
“There’s also been a big rise in entries from secondary school students, which is fantastic as we’re a big supporter of local filmmakers.”
The film festival, which is run entirely by the Sunshine Business Association, has received 57 entries in total, including some from as far afield as India, Morocco and Germany.
The festival will kick off this Friday with a red carpet event at the Sunshine Cinemas.
With $10,000 in prizes up for grabs the festival is a boon for local filmmakers.
“It’s all about celebrating Sunshine and being proud of where you live,” Mr Pereira said. “It’s also a good chance to see people on screen who may be under-represented in films in general.
“We’re looking forward to running more workshops in future to develop filmmakers, not just in Sunshine but all over Brimbank.”
The main prize of $5000 will be awarded for the film with the best storytelling and film-making practice, as decided by judges. Previously it has been awarded on a public vote.
The festival has secured upcoming screenwriter Jaime Brown (The King, Please Like Me, The Secret Life of Us) as a judge.
