Four Griffith Film School students will showcase their graduating student films at the Cannes Film Festival’s Short Film Corner next month.
The Short Film Corner (May 8 to 11) is at the heart of the festival’s rendezvous, providing participants with the opportunity to develop a network to enhance promotion of their work. Films will be watched by many industry professionals at the festival.
Griffith Film School’s Head of School Professor Herman Van Eyken said the quality of the films was such that they deserved to be shown on a world stage.
“Hundreds of producers and directors attend Cannes each year, so this is a wonderful opportunity and a great learning experience for the students,” he said.
“I applaud their ambition and initiative for going to Cannes and representing the Griffith Film School.”
A Picture of War, directed by Kristy Campbell and produced by Rachael Janssen, depicts a recently retired war photographer struggling to cope with the haunting memories behind his photographs when he faces them at his last exhibition.
Kristy said Pulitzer prize-winning war photographer James Natchwey’s work inspired her to make the film.
“Since seeing his work, I began to wonder what sort of man walks into a war with a camera and not a gun,” she said.
“How does someone choose to witness human beings at their worst, and to ultimately let the rest of the world know?
“But more importantly, how does this person then return to an affluent society and deal with the irony of it all?”
With Kristy working in Singapore, the film”s sound designer Shaun O’Brien will accompany Rachael to Cannes.
Maxwell and Sierra and the Inside Out, directed by Hannah Ariotti, follows a young woman on her extraordinary journey in search of her missing boyfriend.
On her way, she discovers an enigma that will change the way she lives forever.
“This film is experimental, it’s abstract, it’s coming of age and it’s an adventure film,” Hannah says.
“The first part of the film is set in a flawlessly beautiful world, the middle is quite surreal where the main character is presented with a physical manifestation of everything she has done wrong in her life. The final section deals with frightening reality.”
Hannah and producer Naomi Kume will attend the festival.
For more information about the films and to view the trailers visit:
http://www.apictureofwar.com and http://www.shortfilmcorner.com/sfcfilm/filmfiche2.Aspx?id=53442460