The St Kilda Film Festival is in full swing this week after opening night kicked off festival proceedings last Thursday in Melbourne.
‘We watched some terrific films, listened to some lovely speeches and rolled on into the night with an after party that looked like it would never slow down,’ said a representative of the festival.
‘The good times continued over the weekend with cracking sessions at The Astor Theatre and the Limerick Arms Hotel, plus our mammoth Filmmaker Development Day at JMC Academy and The Backlot Studios.’
On top of that, the nominees for the St Kilda Film Festival’s awards have just been announced.
Read: Australian Film Festivals Guide 2023
Here are just some of the upcoming screening sessions that will make your tram trip down to the shore more than worth it:
Cinema Tabu 16mm Film Show (6 June)
Cinema Tabu are presenting rarely-seen 16mm shorts at the Golden Gate Hotel and Backlot Studios. All films in these showings come from the festival director’s private collection.
Viewers can enjoy behavioural and sex-educational film classics from the 50s, 60s & 70s such as Personal Hygiene for Boys, How Do You Do, A Career in Banking and a bunch of other nostalgic flicks.
Australian Animation Showcase (11 June)
Australia’s best animators will fill the Astor’s big-screen canvas with quiet poetic beauty, heartbreaking animated documentary and swashbuckling medieval fantasy.
A variety of animation styles and storytelling techniques are on display in this unique showcase.
Films showing:
- Marionettes (and the virtue of a lotus flower)
- Handmade Happiness
- Pockets of Permanence
- Dies Irae
- Teacups
- Black Wing
- Backfire
- The Only Photograph of Emily Dickinson, American Poet
- 101 Days of Lockdown
- Famished Shell
- Blockhead and Sparkles and the Flood of Tears
Read: Students learn the tricks and traps of running a film festival
Australian Comedy Showcase
For those that love to laugh (so … everybody), look no further than the Australian Comedy Showcase at the South Melbourne Market.
These comedies run the gamut from surreal mindbenders, absurdist masterpieces, friendly banter, arthouse hysterics and catastrophic slapstick.
Films showing:
- The Outside Dunny
- Butter: A Love Story
- Flappy
- Just Alright
- The Lost Crystal’s of Jessica’s Room
- The Party Job
- Opposites Day
Made in VIC Showcase (11 June)
The Made in Victoria sessions are the perfect way to round out the screening program of St Kilda Film Festival. These screenings highlight some of the great achievements in the local short film scene over the last year – from comedy to horror, drama to animation.
Films showing:
- Don’t Come In … Yet!
- Disparate fragments form patterns
- The Girl in the Gramophone
- Victim
- I am Daniel
- Visitors
- A Rose for Katrina
- I wanted to be a butterfly
- Breathe
- Big Rig
- Songbirds
- The Wavy Handed God
- Tarneit
- TREES
Some sold-out sessions (yep, if you didn’t get a ticket already you’ll have to wait for a last-minute cancellation) also worth mentioning are:
- Pride Without Prejudice: LGBTQIA+ Showcase
- Dark Matters at the Golden Gate Hotel
- Australian Documentary Showcase at The Backlot Studios
The St Kilda Film Festival continues until 12 June 2023 in Melbourne. You can find the full program and purchase tickets at the official website.
