Powerful local story steals the show at Byron film festival

A FILM exploring the aftermath of the 2022 Lismore floods has taken out top honours at this year’s Byron All Shorts festival.

Lismore filmmaker Karenza Ebejer won the iQ & Flickerfest Jury Award for Best Short Film for Things That Matter, which premiered at the Byron Bay International Film Festival last year. The award was presented at Mullumbimby Civic Hall over the weekend as part of Flickerfest’s national tour.

Mullumbimby filmmaker Sam Clarke claimed the Audience Award for Best Short Film for Light in Dark Places, which tells the story of local surfer Beau Devonshire’s near-death experience during the Chinny Charge. The film was also highly commended in the jury awards.

Stanley Cook, from Palmwoods near Main Arm, received the Jury Award for Emerging Talent for My Friend Artemis – a poignant story of friendship reunited and a tribute to the resilience of nature in an ever-changing world.

Year 4, 5 and 6 students from Main Arm Upper Primary School were highly commended in the Emerging Talent category for their film Cool People Who Have Done Amazing Things. Directed by local filmmaker Sharon Shostak and produced by Virginia Pavlovich, the imaginative short centres on a mind reader.

Eleven local finalists were selected from more than 40 entries across the Northern Rivers region for the event.

The awards followed a screening program curated by a jury of acclaimed local film practitioners, including David Lowe from Cloudcatcher Media, The Rocket producer Sylvia Wilczynski of Red Lamp Films and Bundjalung filmmaker Jahvis Loveday.

Flickerfest Mullumbimby and Byron All Shorts is presented in partnership with iQ Inc and serves as a fundraiser for the Island Quarry Reserve. The event’s national and local organisers, Bronwyn Kidd and Shane Rennie, are based in Mullumbimby.