2012 Bayside Film Festival

LIFE BEGINS AT THE2012 BAYSIDE FILM FESTIVAL

With its dynamic, life-affirming selection of short films and documentaries from Australia and abroad, the 9th annual Bayside Film Festival is guaranteed to banish those winter blues!

Renowned for showcasing the talent of young and emerging filmmakers, and helmed by Amadeo Marquez-Perez in his fourth year as Artistic Director, the 2012 Festival runs from 25 to 28 July at Palace Brighton Bay Cinemas and will explore the theme of transition as experienced through a range of compelling and ultimately uplifting stories of people dealing with lifes challenges.

For our opening night, we are proud to present the Australian premiere of Autumn Gold, a stirring feature-length documentary from Germany that profiles five international athletes as they prepare to participate in the Track and Field World Championships. But these are no ordinary athletes. Aged between 80 and 100 years, this inspiring group refuse to yield to the limitations of their physical years and approach the fulfilment of their sporting dreams with the zest of teenagers.

And up-and-coming auteurs shouldnt miss Will My Film Have An Audience? a fascinating workshop with actor/filmmaker, Maria Tran, whose credits include the short films A Little Dream, Happy Dent, the action, king-fu comedy, Maximum Choppage and the 2008 king-fu micro series Downtown Rumble, which aired on JTV-ABC TV.

The Youth Documentary Project (YDP), an initiative unique to the Festival, will once again screen short documentaries created by students from nine secondary schools throughout Victoria, which reflect life from a young adults viewpoint. YDP will also feature shorts from Skateistan, a co-ed skating school based in Afghanistan that will be participating in the Festival for the second year running.

Jump Cut, another groundbreaking Festival strand, which provides an insight into the minds of 10 to 26 year-olds, returns, incorporating thirteen shorts from Australia, Sweden, Germany and United Kingdom that encompass comedy, drama, animation and experimental cinema.

And closing the 2012 Festival will be the Australian premiere of Jig, a feature-length, toe-tapping journey into the 40th Irish Dancing World Championships. Amidst a sea of sequins, wigs and fake-tan, join three thousand young dancers from the globe as they compete for the coveted world title in Glasgow.

For ticket and program details, visit the Festival website at: www.baysidefilmfestival.com.au