Comedy Proof Fence

It's that time of year again to get yourself down to Luna on SX in Freo for a session of seriously funny and original short films. This weekend, Luna is hosting the 15th Over The Fence Comedy Film Festival featuring 15 hilarious shorts that have been handpicked from across the globe for your viewing pleasure. “This year, we have films from Norway, United States, Canada, UK, France, Spain, and of course Australia,” says Festival Director Greg Coffey.

Mr Coffey has been with the festival since it began a decade-and-a-half ago. That's 15 years of siphoning through countless comedies to bring you the best. He says it's great fun but sometimes it can also be really tough. “It's really interesting inside of collating and processing. We actually create three levels, so films that come in, we all watch them and then we put them into three categories, either definitely in, definitely out, or maybe,” he explains. “The amount of times that a film I go 'Nup, that'll never make it' has actually not only made it but gone on and won an award… man do I know the term subjective.”

Despite being subjective, there's definitely some humour for everyone and viewers get to have their say by voting for their favourite at the end of the session. “We have two awards – we have the best film and there's the most popular film, which is voted by the audience and those winners will be announced post the Fremantle screening,” Coffey tells.

This year's theme – It's A Man's World, When She's Not There – explores ideas of manliness and mischief and is guaranteed to get you giggling. “Last year it was about relationships and this year it's distinctly about a man's world when she's not there. When she is, it's a completely different world obviously – it's her world,” Coffey laughs.

The festival is dedicated to opening a space for communication: “In comedy you can actually talk about any subject, whatever it is. It can be as frivolous as a slapstick film, or it can actually be really profound and discuss an issue,” details Coffey. “In this year's festival we have this delightful space where some films are actually jokes and some films are discussing issues and inside of our theme, it's a man's word when she's not there. It's kind of having a look at what it is for men and what we do when our women aren't around.”

Viewers can expect to see all kinds of comedy and debacle during the two-and-a-half-hour screening, including men battling it out on the street over roadside collection, the explicit and debauched private party life of Nelson Mandela, and the brutally honest depiction of the quirks of a relationship. “We have this fabulous film – we have a lot of fabulous films – but it's this Spanish film which is very short and it opens at this supermarket where she is testing her boyfriend, and all he has to do is pick vinegar, but he has to pick the right one and she set it up and it's so beautiful – it's exactly how the world operates when she's there,” recounts Coffey.

This year's line-up is definitely something to look forward to, Coffee explains: “We have one criterion for comedy, and that's a film that has an excellent sense of humour. They all have that.”