It was while working in the picturesque location of Dungog that filmmakers Allanah Zitserman and Stavros Kazantzidis were inspired to create a film festival in the spirit of Sundance and Telluride. They launched the event in 2007, as a non-competitive “film festival for Australian filmmakers,” to bring together “screen content creators with Australian audiences”. Now in its fourth year, the four-day regional film festival is the largest festival of Australian content in the world.
Speaking with Zitserman now, days before DFF 2010 launches on May 27, it is impossible not to be enthralled by her vision for the Australian film industry. Hers is a hands-on approach, one that she sees as being “credibly proactive as a festival”. For Zitserman and her team, which includes Kazantzidis as Managing Director and Laura Macdonald as Screen Programmer, it's about being as involved with each film as is individually required. She says, “We work with the filmmakers in the lead up, talking to them about what their plans are. We get very involved with their objectives. Our aim is to be a tool in their release strategy, being mindful of what they want to achieve.”
A good example of the unique role that the Dungog Film Festival is carving out for itself on the Australian film industry radar is the romantic comedy Surviving Georgia, starring Pia Miranda, Holly Valance, Caroline O'Connor, Shane Jacobson and Spencer McLaren (who also produced the film). Co-directed by the team behind The Caterpillar Wish (2006), Sandra Sciberras and Kate Whitbread, Surviving Georgia is premiering at DFF 2010. The film doesn't have a distributor, and like its festival predecessor The Jammed (DFF 2007), hopes to find one at Dungog.
Surviving Georgia was privately funded. Co-director/producer Whitbread says that while the lack of distribution “can be both a plus and a minus, it wasn't on the agenda”. Whitbread says that the team behind Surviving Georgia “wanted to make the film that we wanted to make; the film that the investors were supporting. When Allanah and Laura rang us, we talked about Dungog as being a really good platform for release because the audiences are generally supportive there. It's not the hustle and bustle of being a little film being lost in Melbourne or Sydney. People will be relaxed; they'll take the film for what it is and hopefully enjoy it. We feel that it's an enjoyable, warm film to watch and with a crowd of 650 or 700 and some distributors there, it will be an optimum premiere.”
Another notable screening at the festival is the closing night film, Subdivision, directed by Sue Brooks and starring Bruce Spence, Gary Sweet, Steve Bisley and Brooke Satchwell. In what Zitserman is touting as a first, Subdivison is a “re-release” having first appeared in Australian cinemas, albeit briefly, twelve months ago almost to the day. Producer Trish Lake compares the opportunity [of closing DFF 2010 with Subdivision] to the attention that The Tree enjoyed at Cannes as the closing night film of that festival. Lake says, “It takes to be a closing night film for everyone to sit up and really notice. Ultimately the Dungog Film Festival is doing for us in Australia what the Cannes Film Festival is doing for The Tree here in France. Being selected as the closing night film gives us the critical acclaim that we need.”
The 2010 Dungog Film Festival boasts its largest program yet with 165 films programmed across a number of strands and range of forms including feature films, short films and documentary. In addition to Surviving Georgia, other world premieres include Lou, the directorial debut of screenwriter Belinda Chayko starring John Hurt, Emily Barclay and Lily Bell-Tindley; Road Train, a thriller by director Dean Francis, starring Sophie Lowe, Xavier Samuel, Georgina Haig and Bob Morley; and Braille, a micro-budget action feature film shot over three years, directed and written by Matthew Chuang.
DFF 2010 also includes screenings of works-in-progress, like Bathing Franky, a debut feature filmed on location in and around Dungog and the Hunter Valley, and directed by Owen Elliot from a script by Michael Winchester. The pair, who also produced the film, is screening a rough cut to gauge audience responses and suggestions before they proceed to a fine cut.
Other highlights of the festival include a live script reading exercise, 'In the Raw,' which focuses on features in development. This year the strand includes Miranda by Stephen Sewell (The Boys), Snap by Andy Muir and The Hidden, by Jeremy Cumpston. Also of note is a series of 'Meet the Filmmaker' sessions, industry workshops and the National Film and Sound Archive 'Classics' section that includes Gillian Armstrong's Starstruck (1982) and Nadia Tass' Malcolm (1986). Both filmmakers are hosting master classes at this year's festival.
