New venue proves successful for North Bellarine Film Festival

THE red carpet was rolled out in Portarlington over the weekend as the North Bellarine Film Festival returned.

Across two days, from November 15 to November 16, locals and visitors packed Parks Hall for the eighth iteration of the event.

Committee vice president Rob Walton said it was terrific and exceeded all expectations.

“From my view, this festival has taken or has certainly jumped to another level, it really was a good feeling.”

Feature films and independent films were presented throughout the festival, with three separate sessions taking place.

Starting on Friday last week with drinks and nibbles at Pier St, attendees then made their way to Parks Hall for a screening of Daisy followed by a Q&A with writer and producer Cassidy Krygger and director Alyssa Scott.

Opening night ended with the presentation of the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black.

Australian and international short films were screened at the afternoon session on Saturday, with many of the film-makers in attendance.

The evening session began back at Pier St, where Mark Van den Bergen, a Portarlington resident and visual effects specialist, ran a Q&A session.

To finish off the evening the short films of the Emerging Filmmaker Award finalists were screened.

Film-makers under the age of 25 and existing or former Victorian residents were eligible to submit their work for the Emerging Filmmaker Award and Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award.

Sam Sungmin Lee took out the Emerging Film-maker Award with his film White Lies, Jackson Hayat was awarded the Emerging Documentary Film-maker for his Declutter, and Brie Bartleet’s Sink or Swim took home the People’s Choice Award.

This was the first year the festival has been run in Portarlington, with the event previously held at the Potato Shed.

Mr Walton said the new venue offered a more central location for people coming to the festival.

“Here [Portarlington] people can walk to the event, it’s a whole lot easier, I think we’ll certainly stay in Portarlington as long as the community supports us.”

The North Bellarine Film Festival plans to return in the middle of November again next year.