Shorts Relief: Flicks for the Fires

Taking over Melbourne's Capitol Theatre for a one-day-only short film festival, Shorts Relief: Flicks for the Fires is the independent film industry sector's response to Australia's current bushfire crisis. The event will consist of short film and web series screenings, industry panellists and special guest speakers. Screening on Sunday 8 March from 2pm – 8pm, all profits from the event will be directly donated to Wildlife Victoria and the Victorian Bushfire Appeal.

The curated film festival will celebrate the work being produced by Victorian filmmakers. The festival format will comprise four screening blocks presented by special guests and talks delivered by panellists and speakers from a range of backgrounds including climate activists, filmmakers, performing artists and more. Audiences can expect to be entertained, educated and informed at this unprecedented event of Australian cinematic gold.

Short film screenings include works by Thomas Field (A Rare Breed), Ben Dean (KITT), Jesse Leaman (Lorne), Emily Medbury (Mycelium Made), Carl J. Sorheim (Off the Meter), Sally McLean (Speaking Daggers), Tom Henry Jones & Dylan Murphy (Super Birthday), Clayton Jacobson (The Trainer), Matthew Smolen (There's a Mobster Under My Bed), Greta Nash (Two Piece) among others to be announced.

Web series screenings include pieces by Aunty Donna (Jambalam), Scott Dale (Beyond the Water's Edge – pictured below), creator of Wilfred Tony Rogers with Warwick Holt (Bruce), Tim Stone (Cave Clan: Underground Artists), Nikki Tran & Simon Trevorrow (FRESH!), Pippa Mills, Helena Ruse & Andrew Mills (Leftovers), Stepmates (Regular Old Bogan), Madeleine Dyer & Daniel Mulvihill (Sexy Herpes) and Bryce McCoy & Vidad Narayan (Silo Art Trail).

Event producer Sally McLean of Incognita Enterprises says, "it has been just wonderful to see how quickly and generously everyone has jumped on board to help with this event. It really is a testament to the Aussie sense of community and spirit of helping out a mate."

"Alongside our generous partners, we have a core team of eight working on the event, all of whom come from festival organisation and event management backgrounds. We have developed every facet of the event with a view of bringing the members of our local film community together to show our support for bushfire relief, while simultaneously celebrating the amazing talent we have in the Victorian film sector."

Shorts Relief: Flicks for the Fires coincides with International Women's Day and in addition to seven of the eight team members being women, a strong focus has been placed on women filmmakers, actresses and presenters.

Shorts Relief is being produced by Incognita Enterprises in conjunction with The Lost Artist and Melbourne WebFest. Event partners include Ozflix, Auspicious Arts Projects, Zilla & Brook, Balloon Tree Productions, Humanitix who are donating their booking fees for ticket sales to the Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery fund, the Capitol Theatre who are generously waiving the venue hire fee for the day and The Mahoney Group who are donating a percentage of bar profits toward the total amount raised.

Shorts Relief: Flicks for the Fires
Sunday 8 March, 2pm – 8pm The Capitol Theatre, 113 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC
Tickets $40
Bookings essential: events.humanitix.com.au/shorts-relief-flicks-for-the-fires
For more information visit www.shortsrelief.com