We Catch Up With Festival Director, Clare Stewart
There is no easy way to wind down after the adrenalin pumped experience of delivering the Sydney Film Festival.
Two days after we closed, I had a rush of empathy watching the brilliant Sir Ian McKellen (who had been a guest at our Official Competition Awards lunch) at the opening night of Waiting for Godot. When his character Estragon declared ‘there is no lack of void’, the sweep of his gesture perfectly described the grand emptiness of the moment when the audience and the filmmakers all go home.
I have discovered over four years that the best solution is to fill the post-festival black hole by jumping on a plane and throwing myself into holiday mode at intoxicating events like Durban, Sarajevo and this year, Edinburgh International Film Festival.
EIFF Artistic Director Hannah McGill attends many of the same festivals throughout the year and since EIFF moved to June, there is an even greater collegiate bond between our programming and print traffic teams. It was terrific to have the chance to dip into the tail-end of EIFF which has an overall emphasis on discovery and a reputation for breaking first films by significant talent. The festival’s Closing Night film Third Star was an impressive new British production and the first feature film directed by Australian Hattie Dalton whose short film The Banker received a BAFTA in 2005 and who has been working in the UK as an editor.
While in Scotland, I also caught up with author Christos Tsiolkas, who is doing a residency on the Loch Long Peninsula, as well as Glaswegian producer Paul Welsh just days before funding was announced for both Matchbox Pictures 8-part TV series of Christos’ The Slap and Cate Shortland’s (Somersault) next feature Lore, a German/Australian co-production which Paul is producing with SFF Board alumni Liz Watts and Karsten Stöter, Benny Drechsel and Gabriele Kranzelbinder. In the same round of Screen Australia funding, producer Angie Fielder’s (who was our Industry and Guest Manager at SFF for the 2007 and 2009 festivals) first feature Say Nothing was also green lit. It will be directed by Kieran Darcy-Smith who is no stranger to SFF audiences for his appearances in 2008 Official Competition feature The Square and Dendy Award-winning shorts Miracle Fish (2009) and Katoomba (2007).
Other holiday highlights included doing the Laurel and Hardy dance from Way Out West with Tilda Swinton, Mark Cousins and eager local Scots at Edinburgh’s Festival Square for the launch of their new Eight and a Half foundation www.eightandahalf.org and attending the World Premiere of Inception at Leicester Square in London with the entire cast in attendance. Tom Hardy (the star of our 2009 Official Competition winner Bronson) is sensational in Inception and I am full of anticipation for what he will bring to role of Mad Max in SFF Patron Dr George Miller’s upcoming production.
Other holiday highlights included doing the Laurel and Hardy dance from Way Out West with Tilda Swinton, Mark Cousins and eager local Scots at Edinburgh’s Festival Square for the launch of their new Eight and a Half foundation www.eightandahalf.org and attending the World Premiere of Inception at Leicester Square in London with the entire cast in attendance. Tom Hardy (the star of our 2009 Official Competition winner Bronson) is sensational in Inception and I am full of anticipation for what he will bring to role of Mad Max in SFF Patron Dr George Miller’s upcoming production.
After this all too brief reprise, the Venice and Toronto film festivals are just around the corner, and planning for SFF festival 2011 is in full swing.
Clare Stewart, Festival Director
Image (c) Karen Steains
