International & Local reviews for St Kilda Film Festival shorts
St Kilda Film Festival shorts & directors get a great response both locally and internationally……
“EVERYTHING GOES” GETS RAVES AT 48TH SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
“Everything Goes,” an Australian Film Commission funded short film starring Hugo Weaving, Abbie Cornish and Sullivan Stapleton has had a rave response from critics and audiences alike at its first screenings at the 48th San Francisco International Film Festival last weekend.
The eighteen minute film depicts the unlikely relationship that forms between a young couple building their future together and a lonely man getting rid of his past.
Written and directed by first-timer Andrew Kotatko, “Everything Goes” was the only Australian film chosen for the “Revelations” programme, described by the festival organisers as “a superb collection of international narrative and animated shorts.”
In his preview of the San Francisco International Film Festival, critic Jeffrey M. Anderson of the San Francisco Examiner wrote that “the festival’s shorts programme, ‘Revelations’ boasts some fine work, but the highlight is Andrew Kotatko’s ‘Everything Goes,’ based on a Raymond Carver story.”
“Everything Goes,” winner of the Gray + Perkins Lawyers Award for Best Short Film at the 2004 Lexus IF Awards, will next screen at the St Kilda Film Festival, Australia’s premier national short film competition. The festival runs May 24 – 29, 2005. For more details, see the festival’s website at: www.stkildafilmfestival.com.au.
For further Information on “Everything Goes”: trainthought@hotmail.com
Director Matt Norman (The Writer & The Umbrella Men from St Kilda Film Festival 2005) wins BEST FILM at the Ballarat Film Festival.
Last night at the 1st Ballarat Film festival’s closing night Awards, Matt Norman of The Actors Café Pty Ltd film production company took out the night, winning BEST FILM for his 1915 short “SHANK”.
“SHANK” was part of the 2004 Tropfest Best of the Rest tour last year and has since been added to with a sequel to Premiere at this year’s St Kilda Film Festival. The sequel to this award winning film is called “The Umbrella Men” starring Damian Walshe-Howling and Benjie McNair. You can see “The Umbrella Men” along with Norman’s short feature “The Writer”, starring Kim Gyngell in the coming weeks at St Kilda Film Festival.
“Shank” was originally made for Tropfest in 2004. Starring it’s writer/director/producer/ editor Matt Norman and also Sydney based actor Rob Carlton, it tells the story of two mates with everything to lose. One is sent to Gallipoli (Carlton) while the other is left waiting for his friend to return (Norman).
Taking out the award was fantastic for everyone involved. Since “Shank”, Norman has made two other films so it’s hard to continue to push a past film when you’ve got others waiting for their turn in line. “To have one of my first films be reborn is a real treat” Matt said.
Matt Norman plans to shoot the third of the trilogy late 2005 called “Past the Poppies”, which is the story of a returned soldier seventy years on after Gallipoli. The film will be the closing chapter on this very sad but poignant homage to Gallipoli and its heroes. It’s the training run for the long anticipated feature “Imperial Myer” which is still in development and hopes to be in production in the coming years.
For more information please go to: www.theactorscafe.com
