AFIN International Film Festival 2033 Screening 1

AFIN International Film Festival celebrates and showcases excellence in filmmaking and storytelling from emerging and established filmmakers and screenwriters, diversity and culture, both domestically, and from every corner of the globe.

AFIN is thrilled to be hosting four screening nights at Griffith University's cinema, showcasing some of the best AFIN nominated films for the year, and concluding with this Red Carpet Awards Ceremony at SunPAC, which is an event not to be missed. The awards night is the perfect opportunity to celebrate excellence in film, network, feast, and enjoy a night with entertainment, networking, awards presentations, and more.

TIMES

5:30pm-6:00pm - Arrivals and casual networking prior to cinema doors opening

6:00pm-6:15pm - Cinema doors opening and processing ticketing, prior to introduction and screening starting

DRINKS / BATHROOMS

Toilets are 1 level below the cinema, accessed by the stairwell or lift on the balcony.

There is a water bubbler and vending machine along the balcony.

PARKING / ENTRY

The venue is located at South Bank, on the corner of Dock and Stanley street, right opposite the children's hospital, and there is plenty of street parking in the area, but public transport is also very handy. You may find free parking (Note: CBD restrictions may apply).

The cinema is through the side-doors, located in the picture below, directly on dock street entry, where the red double-doors are.

AFIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTS: 2023 LIVE SCREENINGS

PRE-SALE NOTE: TICKETS ARE PRE-SALE ONLY AND MUST BE BOUGHT PRIOR TO THE EVENT. TICKETS CANNOT BE BOUGHT AT THE DOOR.

NIGHT 1 - Monday 16th October

STATIC - PLEAS Directed by Roman Buchatsky - Music Video - Israel - Self-rated PG content guide - Runtime - 3:47

Nomination(s):

Best Visual Effects, Best Music Video

HEALING HEART FEELING COUNTRY Directed by Robert Sherwood - Documentary Short - Australia - Self-rated PG content guide - Runtime - 5:08

Witness country come alive as Mark Cora, proud Minjungbal man and cultural educator unveils the contexts that shape his latest artwork, The Wind Dancer.

Nomination(s):

Best Documentary Short

WHEN DOVES FLY Directed by Mike Roberts - Short Film - Australia - Self-rated PG content guide - Runtime - 17:54

When her naivety takes over, Dove runs away from home and is challenged by the people she meets on her journey to self discovery.

Nomination(s):

Best Produced Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Student Film, Best Australian Film, Best Australian Actress (Lauren Campbell), Best Director

LOST IN THE MOMENT Directed by Darryl Cook - Music Video - Australia - Self-rated PG content guide - Runtime - 4:15

Lost in the moment is a story-based music video of a FIFO worker who is away missing his home after a tragedy unfolds no phone signal and can’t get in contact with Home

Nomination(s):

Best Music Video, Best Student Film

WENDY AND VEE Directed by Jean-Baptiste Canac - Short Film - Australia - Self-rated PG content guide - Runtime - 19:59

A daughter worries about her mother's abusive boyfriend and decides to do something about it.

Nomination(s):

Best Australian Actress (Jacy Lewis)

CHATEAU LAURIER - SEASON 2 Directed by James Stewart - Web Series - Canada - Runtime - 10:00

Season 2 of the hugely successful award-winning series (3 million views).

Edwardian newlyweds Hattie and Vivian navigate their lives on the other side of happily ever after and learn that life as heirs to the grand Chateau Laurier hotel comes with slings, arrows, enemies, opportunities and strife.

When the grand hotel was opened in Ottawa in 1912 it represented all that was extravagant and privileged at the dawn of a new century. The surrounding town was little more than a frontier. This is Canada in the moment it blooms onto the world stage, growing pains and all. Chateau Laurier follows the struggle to control power of the hotel (and beyond) between Briar Hays (Tymika Tafari), the new owner of the hotel, her estranged brother Vivian (Luke Humphrey), his wide-eyed new wife Hattie (Kate Ross Leckie), her acerbic Aunt Esme (Fiona Reid)…and Gabriel Sabot, the Cajun-creole boss of Lowertown (Emmanuel Kabongo).

The show has a core cast of recurring characters vying for power in the family-run hotel in 1912 Ottawa. Uniquely Canadian, Chateau Laurier is told with a flair for the dramatic, with diverse, distinct, entertaining characters and a dose of humour.

New Season 2 cast include Tymika Tafari (Apple TV+ The Marijuana Conspiracy), Emmanuel Kobongo (21 Thunder), Joel Oulette (Trickster), Brittany Raymond (The Next Step), Katie Uhlmann (Nurses) and Jason Gray (Reign).

Retuning cast include series leads Kate Ross Leckie (Alias Grace), Luke Humphrey (Tiny Pretty Things), Fiona Reid (Harry Potter on Broadway), Kent Staines (Anne with an E) and Fraser Elsdon (Y: The Last Man).

Nomination(s):

Best Production Design, Best Costume Design

PARTY BUS Directed by Dilyana Daneva - Short Film - Bulgaria - - Self-rated M/MA content guide - Runtime - 29:59

Alex is a bus driver for provincial psychiatry. He has to transfer a group of mentally ill patients to the clinic where he works at. It is a routine task, but the stakes are high. The patients should be dropped off at the clinic by noon. If he does not comply with this condition, Alex will lose not only his job, but also the chance to pay for his daughter's treatment.

Everything is going well until he stops for a short break at a roadside bar. When he comes back, he finds the bus trashed and empty. The patients have disappeared.

Deadlocked and helpless, Alex realizes he will lose everything, until a group of strangers stand on his way. They need help, just like him.

Overwhelmed by emotions and determined to save his child, he makes a fateful decision that will change his life and the strangers’ lives.

Nomination(s):

Best Emerging Female Director

WHERE'S WEIRDO Directed by Duncan Peake - Short Film - Australia - - Self-rated M/MA content guide - Runtime - 8:50

A young bookstore owner accidentally unleashes a demonic creature who takes the form of a famous children's book character.

Nomination(s):

Best Australian Film

RED GAIA Directed by Udesh Chetty - Animated Film - South Africa - - Self-rated M/MA content guide - Runtime - 12:50

Alone on the dying red planet, among the ruins of human civilization, one last android desperately guards the last essences of life. In her pursuit for meaning, she finds her own soul hanging in the balance.

Red Gaia is a tone-poem meditation on life, death and rebirth, destruction and creation and the cycles of existence, drawing inspiration from the Bhagavad Gita, Dante's Purgatorio, the Kabballah, the Tibetan Bardol Thodol as well as the legendary science fiction writer Isaac Asimov.

Nomination(s):

Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, Best Animated Film, Best Director

BANSHEES RIDGE Directed by Tristan Barr - Short Film - Australia - Self-rated M/MA content guide - Runtime - 11:00

Based on outback folklore, a bushranger who mourns the death of his daughter searches for a missing girl who has been taken by the corruptions the Australian settlers call "Banshees".

Nomination(s):

Best Produced Screenplay, Best Costume Design, Best Sound, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Live Action Short Film, Best Australian Film, Best Australian Actor (Matthew Caffoe), Best Actor (Matthew Caffoe), Best Director

THE ANKOU, THE CHILD AND THE BANDITS Directed by Simon Vautier - Short Film - France - - Self-rated M/MA content guide - Runtime - 32:47

A widowed and bankrupt farmer is being harassed by crooked creditors. Cornered, he steals a large sum of money from them to offer his daughter a future he cannot guarantee anymore. Knowing all too well the mob will not let this pass, the farmer finds refuge in his beliefs and summons the Ankou - Death's henchman in Brittany - to offer his life in exchange for his daughter's protection.

Nomination(s):

Best Live Action Short Film