Young creator shares message behind winning film

WINNERS of the Koorie Youth Flick Fest were invited to Federation Square in Melbourne for a special screening of their films last month.

The Flick Fest is a short film competition for Indigenous young people in Central Victoria and part of the Victorian Indigenous Film Festival.

This year the theme was Me on Country, and filmmakers were assisted by First Nations content creator Leroy Miller, facilitated by the City of Greater Bendigo, to create their movies.

Along with Montana Moore, Kobe McCaig created an award winning film 2 Sides, which he said examined different lifestyles of First Nations peoples and how they connect to country.

A Bendigo Secondary School student and Wemba Wemba man, McCaig said the idea behind the film was to show Indigenous people don’t have to be doing “something cultural” to feel connected to the land.

“Our connection is always there no matter what,” he said.

“I feel like there is pressure on Aboriginal people to know so much about culture, but unfortunately that’s not always possible with what’s happened in the past for our people.

“I wanted to show that it doesn’t make us less Aboriginal.”

McCaig said he believed the film did so well because of its message.

“Something that many people could relate to,” he said, “especially when you are still learning about your culture and history.”

La Trobe University’s tech team helped create their film said McCaig.

Without the support of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander program coordinator Sue Pickles from BSSC, McCaig said he’s “not sure I would’ve had a go.”

“We decided on the story then filmed over a couple of days, I then met with them regularly to edit and finalise it,” he said.

“I really enjoyed the process and creating the story. If I had the chance again, I think I’d like to do more, but I’m unsure of what that looks like at this stage.”

Flick Fest runs annually and gives young First Nations people an opportunity to show off their talents with visual stories.

The two winning groups won $1000 each and had their films shown at the Central Victorian Indigenous Film Festival for Reconciliation Week and at Fed Square for NAIDOC Week.

Entries for next year’s competition will open in February.