Author: Elizabeth

FLICKERFEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL RETURNS FOR 2023

Flickerfest will return to Bondi this January for its 32nd year. Starting on January 20th at the iconic Bondi Pavillion, the festival’s Sydney season will run for 10 days before hitting the road for a massive, eight-month, national tour. The tour will reach over 50 metro and regional venues across all states, bringing Flickerfest to the rest of the country.

The festival’s full programme contains 114 short films handpicked from over 3200 entries. The Best Australian Short Film competition will see 64 films vie for the top spot. The International category will contain 37 entries, and the Documentary will have 13.

 A further 80 films will also feature across Flickerfest’s showcase sessions. Showcases include focuses on indigenous, LGBTQI+, and student films.

Flickerfest’s platform has helped shape and encourage many Australian film artists, with Kriv Stenders (Red Dog), Wayne Blair (

Rian Johnson cut his teeth on the mystery pastiche in the form of the modern noir Brick. Since then, he’s taken on con men (The Brothers Bloom), time travelling assassins (Looper), and a Jedi or two (The Last Jedi).

Then came global success Knives Out in 2019, which launched its own franchise.

The latest instalment Glass Onion is as witty and clever as the first, but this time instead of satirising “old money”, Johnson trains his eye on “new money”, as a long-time group of friends travel to an exclusive (and frankly ridiculous) Greek island owned by a tech billionaire.

Glass Onion is everything you could wish from a sequel and more – peeling through the layers of mystery has rarely been so fun.

Just as Daniel Craig bids farewell to one secret agent, he returns to the screen as another unraveller of

Banderas was already a bonafide star back then – previously co-starring with Tom Hanks in Oscar-winning drama Philadelphia and with Tom Cruise in Interview with a Vampire.

He and Salma Hayek Pinault went on to co-star in 1995’s Four Rooms, 2003’s Once Upon a Time in Mexico, 2021’s The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard and, memorably, in Hayek’s 2003 Oscar-nominated biopic Frida. The actress says that the closest they have ever got to echoing their own real-life relationship is in their roles in animated film, Puss in Boots 11 years ago.

A spin-off from the Shrek universe, their feline alter-egos Puss in Boots and Kitty Softpaws reflect their own long friendship, bringing a warmth and humour to these sparring soulmates.

Reunited for the long-awaited sequel, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, we meet Puss at a crossroads in his life as the fierce outlaw is forced to

Jeremy Stanford is an Australian actor, director, theatre personality and voice over artist. He is known in Australia for his work on award-winning television series such as Wentworth, Winners & Losers, and Jack Irish. Jeremy recently appeared in Natalie Erika James’ debut film Relic.

Filming has just wrapped in Hervey Bay, Queensland on the feature film 13 Summers. Directed by Tam Sainsbury, the psychological thriller focuses on an estranged couple, Ben (Nathan Phillips) and Vee (Hannah Levien), who have their secluded beach holiday disrupted by a backpacker (Ben Turland) of mysterious origin. The couple soon find themselves tangled in an escalating web of lies and deceit that not only threatens their marriage but also their lives.

The film’s impressive cast also features Georgie Parker, Bec Hewitt, and Jeremy Stanford. The feature comes from the mind of cast member Stanford, an established actor who is also

This article appeared in the December 8, 2022 edition of The Film Comment Letter, our free weekly newsletter featuring original film criticism and writing. Sign up for the Letter here.

The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022)

In the beginning, there was light. Steven Spielberg’s earliest memory, he has said, is of the brilliant red glow of the Torah ark at a synagogue his parents took him to when he was just six months old. The Fabelmans, Spielberg’s new film à clef, also begins with light, though not of faith. In the film’s dazzle of opening scenes, the menorah comes later; first, it’s the beam of the projector that irrevocably sears the saucer eyes of 6-year-old Sammy Fabelman (Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord), Spielberg’s screen surrogate. Despite the cooing reassurances of his mother, Mitzi (Michelle Williams), that movies are just “dreams,” and the clinical explanations of his father, Burt (Paul Dano),