Newtown Flicks Short Film Festival was an Australian competitive film festival featuring short films. It was held annually in and around the Sydney suburb of Newtown, Australia, from 2006 until 2012. After that, the organisation turned to film production.
The Newtown Flicks was established as a non-profit organisation in 2005, "to meet the demands of the underground Sydney short film industry". The festival was created by Martin Kelly, Bill Jordan, and Spiros Hristias while the three worked as equipment operators in the bio box of New Theatre, a live performance venue in Newtown. Meeting in local cafes, the creators developed the festival's name and logo, its aim and awards categories.[1]
After setting up the enterprise with their own money Kelly, Jordan, and Spiros looked for outside sponsorship for the festival. Since 2006, the festival's major sponsor has been JVC Professional, donors of filmmaking equipment. As a result, the JVC Encouragement Award is presented to a filmmaker showing potential not yet fully realised. Cash prizes are offered in the other categories together with bags for audio-visual accessories made by Crumpler and statuettes made by a local arts collective.
Over the years Newtown Flicks received grants from City of Sydney and Screen NSW. It became a national film festival for Australia in 2009.
Design of the statuettes and posters changed with each festival.
After the 2012 festival, Newtown Flicks announced that the organisation was moving into film production.[2]
In addition to showcasing the future of the Australian film industry, the following industry personalities have been involved with Newtown Flicks :
Held at the New Theatre between 15–17 April
| Award | Winning Title | |
|---|---|---|
| PICK OF THE FLICKS # 1 | Tackle | |
| PICK OF THE FLICKS # 2 | The Chess Set | |
| DIRECTORS CHOICE # 1 | Birthday Present | |
| DIRECTORS CHOICE # 2 | Europe |
Held at the Newtown Theatre between 30 March - 1 May
| Award | Title | Director | |
|---|---|---|---|
| BEST STUDENT FILM | Still Life | Tahnee McGuire | |
| BEST INDEPENDENT | Transient | Craig Boreham | |
| BEST TREEHOUSE | Wally | Tonnette Stanford | |
| DIRECTORS CHOICE | The Death of an Official | Natalie Lopes & Marlene Palmeiro | |
| JVC AWARD | Not Sitting Still | Sarah Antill |
Held at the PACT Theatre between 20 May – 1 June
| Award | Title | Director | |
|---|---|---|---|
| BEST STUDENT FILM | Modern Primitives | Kate Witchard | |
| BEST INDEPENDENT | Playground | Eve Spence | |
| BEST TREEHOUSE | Floating | Chih-Kuang Tu | |
| DIRECTORS CHOICE | The Cypriot | Vincent Taylor | |
| JVC AWARD | One Shoe Billy | Aiden Koegh |
In May 2009 Newtown Flicks Short Film Festival returned to the New Theatre, where the judging panel was led by twice Academy Award-nominated director Bruce Beresford.
| Award | Title | Director | |
|---|---|---|---|
| BEST STUDENT FILM | Reach | Luke Randall | |
| BEST INDEPENDENT | Fade | Vincent Taylor | |
| DIRECTORS CHOICE | Burden | Ben Field and Liam Doyle | |
| JVC AWARD | Mercury Vapour | Zoe Barnes |
In June 2010 Newtown Flicks Short Film Festival landed at the PACT Theatre, where the judging panel was led by director Bruce Beresford.
| Award | Title | Director | |
|---|---|---|---|
| BEST STUDENT FILM | Tundra | Claire Phillips | |
| BEST INDEPENDENT | Frail | Alex Murawski | |
| DIRECTORS CHOICE | Identity Theft | Stuart White | |
| JVC AWARD | Me, Myself and iPod | Aidan Prewett | |
| PANAVISION AWARD | What If Girl | Heremaia Rudkin |