From the glitz and glamour of Cannes to world-firsts at Warsaw to the homegrown heroes in Sydney, the TasmanianBreath of Fresh Air (BOFA) Film Festival has scoured the world’s film festivals throughout the year to bring the best films of 2014 to Tasmania.
BOFA (sited in Launceston, Tasmania ) is proud to announce the full program of diverse and powerful films for its fifth annual festival, which will take place this year from Thursday November 6 to Sunday November 9, 2014. This year there is a strong focus on documentary films as well as the best of the best features from around the world.
“BOFA has always been about documentaries and features with inspiring stories of challenge and achievement,” said Festival Director Owen Tilbury. “2014 is different only in that we have found an even more-amazing-than-normal range of powerful documentaries for the program. So our opening night film, Desert Runners, is unusually a documentary.”
Desert Runners tells the extraordinary story of the 4 Desert Ultra-Marathon Series, in which competitors run 4 grueling 250km races in the space of a year across some of the world’s most inhospitable terrains – the Gobi, the Atacama, the Sahara and Antarctica. BOFA is proud to show this dramatic documentary film on opening night, Thursday November 6, for its Australian film festival premiere.
Samantha Gash, whose journey is captured in Desert Runners, is a special guest of this year’s opening night as well as throughout the festival. Gash is the youngest person and the only Australian female to complete the 4 Desert Grand Slam and is a co-founder of Freedom Runners. Ticket holders have the chance to meet this inspiring woman at the glamorous opening night party, as well as mixing with other visiting actors and filmmakers. Guests can party the night away enjoying fine Tasmanian food and wine prepared by Don Cameron, one of the state’s finest chefs.
BOFA is thrilled to be screening this year’s winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, Winter Sleep. This Turkish film tells the story of Mr Aydin, who presides over a hotel on the Anatolian steppe. In winter as the snow begins to fall, the hotel turns into a shelter but also an inescapable place that fuels their animositie. It has been described as “near perfect film making.”
Other Cannes prize-winners screening at BOFA include Force Majeure, winner of the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section. This simultaneously hilarious and disturbing film, , from Swedish writer-director Ruben Östlund, investigates what happens to a man who instinctively abandons his family when a threatening avalanche turns out to be a false alarm.
In a proud moment for Australians at Cannes this year, veteran actor David Gulpilil won the Best Actor Un Certain Regard after receiving a long standing ovation for his captivating performance in Rolf de Heer’s Charlie’s Country. Thanks to the support of Tasmanians for Recognition, a FREE screening of Charlie’s Country will take place on the Saturday of the Festival.
Winner of Best Film at the Sydney Film Festival, Two Days, One Night bears witness to a tour de force performance by Marion Cotillard, playing Sandra, who has a weekend to convince her co-workers at a solar-panel factory to forego their yearly bonus in order for Sandra to keep her job.
Another festival winner is Tangerines, which took out the Grand Prix at the Warsaw Film Festival earlier this year. Directed by Zaza Urushadze, this wonderful film manages to insert humour and humanity into the Georgia/Russia conflict of 1992.
Other highlights of the festival include Advanced Style, which documents New York photographer Ari Seth Cohen as he photographs New York fashionistas ranging in age from 60-90 years old for his street-style blog. These ladies (and gentlemen) prove that age is no limit to being fabulous.
Another documentary, Finding Fela tackles the astonishing life of Nigerian musical pioneer, political maverick and global superstar Fela Kuti, whose biography inspired the Broadway smash hit musical, FELA!
A good laugh is had from The Trip to Italy with Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan, the follow-up to the hilarious hit comedy The Trip. The Trip to Italy sees Coogan and Brydon team up once more to go on a driving tour of Italy, visiting charming restaurants and hotels inspiring discussions between the two friends about life, relationships and careers.
There’s also horror genre bender The Babadook directed by Jennifer Kent and starring Tasmanian-born Essie Davis and Noah Winspear. This is preceded by the winner of the Stranger with My Face Short film Tasploitation Challenge competition, Bring in the Cat.
Another Tasmanian talent, filmmaker Niall Doran will be in attendance for a Q&A session after an exclusive screening of excerpts from his film (still in post-production), Sixteen Legs, which captures the never-before filmed kinky sexual behaviour of Tasmanian Cave Spiders. Witness the significant challenges for the film crew as they attempt to shoot these dinner-plate sized arachnids who don’t like light or heat in their completely dark and hostile environment.
The Sound of One Hand Clapping is this year's retrospective classic, telling the story of a post war migrant mother who leaves her three-year old daughter in a hut at a remote Tasmanian construction camp. Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan, who also directed the film and has just recently been shortlisted for this year’s Mann Booker Prize, will host the Q&A session.
BOFA is also about action. Films on innovation and community development are used to prompt an audience of opinion leaders from around Tasmania to make plans for creating state growth and effective collaboration . Action Sessions include ‘Regional Innovation, State Growth’ lead by Dr Anton Kritz, developer of the Regional Innovation Model (RIM), which is transforming the Central Coast of NSW, looking at how this model could be applied to Tasmania. Also, ‘Collaborating for Collective Impact’ will feature John Dengate, the Director of Twyfords, leading community groups like Anglicare Tasmania in a discussion on how Collective Impact can achieve significant and lasting social change in Tasmania.
Sponsored by Screen Tasmania is the industry master-class, ‘Making Documentaries and Factual Content Films that Make a Difference.’ Leading industry professionals such as Trish Lake from Freshwater Pictures, John Godfrey from SBS, Phil Craig of ABC; Susan Mackinnon, Documentary Australia Foundation; and many others discuss how to choose, develop, fund, make and distribute documentaries.
The Big Picture Debate is a free event tackling the topic of ‘Fracking in Tasmania: Good or Bad?’ Fracking conjures images of flammable water gushing from faucets in films like Gaslands whilst USA experts estimate that domestic shale sites hold an additional 24 billion barrels of recoverable oil and natural gas and claim it is safe. So who is right? Speakers from both sides of the argument will debate the pros and cons aided by footage from films on the subject, including the soon to be released The Frackman.
The Festival Lounge and Wine Bar will be open all throughout the festival from 11am until late in The Annexe, providing the perfect place to meet up with friends before or after a film and enjoy fine Tasmanian wine and beer, gourmet food and coffee. The Festival Lounge also provides a great environment for all festival-goers to mingle and meet on a level playing field, be they film fans or directors, festival guests or first-timers. Everyone is welcome.
BOFA 2014 is set to be a jam-packed four days of the world's best films, insightful discussions, and wonderful food and wine. Immerse yourself for the whole four days or dip into BOFA this November in Tasmania's beautiful Tamar Valley . It will no doubt be the ‘breath of fresh air’ you’ve been craving!
For more information and full program and ticketing details, visit http://bofa.com.au/.