"Really Good Filmmaking" Is FLiCKERFEST Director Bronwyn Kidd's Driving Force

When it comes to the short films it has featured for more than a quarter of a century, FLiCKERFEST isn't about themes or motifs. "At all," stresses the Australian film festival's director, Bronwyn Kidd. In fact, the only recurring theme throughout FLiCKERFEST's history is, in Kidd's words, "really good filmmaking". Although any film submitted to the festival does have to have been made in the last two years and have a running time of less than 30 minutes.

Otherwise, variety is the name of the game at FLiCKERFEST, which kicks off its 2017 program on Jan 6, with a spectacular array of 120 short films from around Australia as well as international submissions. "It's incredibly diverse," says Kidd. "We look for stories that are human, uplifting, serious, humourous. And we have fiction, documentaries, shorts for kids, shorts made by kids, films by indigenous filmmakers and female filmmakers, films that really showcase Australia's multicultural background. We don't impose themes upon the filmmakers - the material comes from the desire and passion of these people to tell these particular stories — and it's so thrilling for us at FLiCKERFEST and the audiences around the country to discover all these interesting new voices."

"We don't impose themes upon the filmmakers - the material comes from the desire and passion of these people to tell these particular stories."

Filmmaking technology has come a long way in the last couple of decades, and Kidd recalls with a laugh the early days of FLiCKERFEST when the festival would travel around Australia with 35mm prints of its short-film lineup. "Things have changed in a massive way," she says. "And we have certainly noticed it with the access filmmakers now have to digital technology. Way back in the day, filmmaking was much more of an exclusive club for people who had the money and the access to equipment that enabled them to make movies. The new ability to film and edit easily and inexpensively has opened the door to an incredibly diverse range of storytelling."

And in addition to allowing a greater variety of voices to be heard, access to the tools of filmmaking has resulted in short movies with a slicker style."People are able to do special effects, combinations of live-action and animation, and that's where short films really have the chance to stand out," says Kidd. "As a filmmaker, you can be incredibly creative; there's no pressure from investors to do things a certain way to appeal to the box office." While FLiCKERFEST isn't really looking for filmmakers "showing off how well they can shoot a car chase so they can go work in America", it does nonetheless attract established industry players as well as up-and-comers. For example, a highlight of the 2017 festival launch, recently held in Sydney's Bondi, was the premiere of The Eleven O'Clock, a short comedy written by Josh Lawson and starring Lawson and Damon Herriman.

After its 10-day run in Sydney, FLiCKERFEST will be hitting the road, as it has for the last 20 years, making stops at more than 50 venues around Australia. The reception, according to Kidd, is overwhelmingly positive. "We wouldn't be touring for 20 years if we didn't get a good reception," she says. "We mostly tour the Australian shorts, which we've found audiences really enjoy. It's not that people don't want to see Australian films, it's that they often don't have access to them. And this is one-way Australian stories — our own culture — can be seen."