BIFF celebrates QLD filmmakers

  

One of the main objectives of a film festival is to engage its local community, and for BIFF that means the Sunshine state. In celebration of Queensland’s local heroes of cinema, the film festival will screen eight flicks made by Queensland’s community of filmmakers.

We take a look at some of the most anticipated, including a couple of world premieres.

My America
Brisbane based filmmaker Peter Hegedus is a double threat at this year’s BIFF. Not only is his doco The Trouble with St Mary’s also showing, but he poses the question “What does it mean to love America in the year 2011?” in My America.

After growing up in the gloomy socialist backwaters of 1980s Hungary, Hegedus saw a shining beacon of freedom and possibility in America and one of its most successful imports – Arnold Schwarzenegger. Dreaming of a better world, a world of justice, explosions and freedom, 30 years later everything his changed for Hegedus. America is failing, Arnie's best days are well and truly behind him and Peter, now living in Brisbane, is not entirely sure he's still allowed to believe in the Good Ole US of A.

To clarify his suspicion, the filmmaker begins a charming and occasionally hilarious transcontinental journey to the heart of the contemporary American Dream. A globetrotting odyssey that recalls the scattershot docos of Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock, My America is a clear-eyed and sincere investigation into the shifting face of a nation.

Tuesday 8 November 2011
8:30 PM Tribal Theatre 2

The Clouds Have Stories: The Art of the Torres Strait Islands
In July this year, Brisbane's Cultural Precinct played host to the largest showcase of Torres Strait Islander art ever collected and filmmaker Daniel Marsden was invited to cover the event. Initially believing that it would be a straightforward archival exercise, the further Marsden explored the history of this unique and overlooked artistic tradition, the more he realised that he needed to make a film that would stand as testament to the enduring power of Torres Strait Islander art.

Through his experiences The Clouds Have Stories was born, an intimate look at the people and works that make up both traditional and contemporary Torres Strait Islander art. This burgeoning Indigenous art scene is imaginatively portrayed by Marsden, whose film manages to capture a culture that’s sense of storytelling and history is imbued with the richness of Queensland’s natural landscapes.

This world premiere work was commissioned by the Cultural Centre, South Bank as part of ‘The Torres Strait Islands: A Celebration' which was supported by the Queensland Government.

Tuesday 8 November 2011M
6:00 PM State Library Of Queensland 1

The Tall Man
On the morning of November 19, 2004 the charges were timed for an explosive confrontation that would expose the state of racial tensions in contemporary Australia. An Aboriginal man named Cameron Doomadgee was arrested in the streets of Palm Island for allegedly swearing at police officer, Chris Hurley. In a mere forty minutes Doomadgee was dead, having suffered grievous internal injuries. Still unexplained, his death led to riots on the island and the first-ever trial against a policeman for a wrongful death in custody.

Australian filmmaker Tony Krawitz turns his hand to documentary making in The Tall Man, a reconstruction of the events that led to the ensuing turmoil in the small island community. Fairly handled and unflinchingly honest, Krawitz paints a harrowing picture of the corruption of good men and the seemingly irreparable fault lines that separate white and black in our 'Lucky Country'.

Outback Fight Club
Fred Brophy is chucking in the towel. After more than three decades touring around country Australia with his platoon of boxers, he's finally about to retire. But Brophy has long sustained a tradition that united country towns for generations upon generations. His boxing tent is the last of its kind left in the world, and when it goes that tradition will be forever lost.

Outback Fight Club follows Brophy and his team in outback Queensland as they fight their way through their final six shows. By melding stirring footage from the fights themselves with unassuming profiles of the men and women who dedicate their lives to boxing in them, filmmaker Paul Scott weaves a heartfelt farewell to an institution that has always been so much more than a simple boxing match.

Saturday 12 November 2011
4:00 PM Tribal Theatre 2

Prelude
Go behind the scenes of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra's search for the young performer of the year with this engrossing documentary film, which also includes a brief live performance and premieres for the first time anywhere in the world as part of BIFF.

Thursday 10 November 2011
9:00 PM Palace Barracks Cinema 4

For a full list of the films in the Local Heroes section of the program, check out the BIFF website.

Or head to our BIFF mini-site

Check out The Tall Man filmmaker Tony Krawtiz talking about his film at Adelaide Film Festival.