By Kirra Livingstone
THE Sunny Coast Showcase was a thoroughly entertaining night with a diverse offering of six locally produced short films, which made a 700-strong audience laugh, cry and wonder.
On 22 June, The Station in Birtinya hosted the Sunny Coast Showdown’s third showcase.
The concept, originally conceived by Dan Munday and Jon Coghill, was started to create a thriving film industry in the region.
The six short films shown on the night were Lured, Art Side of the Moon, The Hoist, Rustworthy, Smiley, and Stiff’s, directed by Beerwah local Ryan Butler.
Stiff’s is a comedic mockumentary based on morgue staff working on the ‘worst day of the year,’ April Fool’s Day, written by former Maleny local Stephen Walker. Each film featured in the showcase was initially selected from written pitches out of hundreds of applications, to be filmed, directed and produced by the Sunny Coast Screen Collective. The collective supports emerging short film writers kick-start their careers in the film industry on the Sunshine Coast.
Stiff’s writer, Stephen, said he based the quirky short film on his experiences from a past life.
“Many years ago I was a cop, always in morgues and they are just weird people with funny senses of humour and I thought, I got to write something about them,” he said.
Ryan said he felt emotional when Stiff’s premiered at the Sunny Coast Showcase, having previously won a gold yewwy for his short film last year, Bin Day.
“There is nothing so terrifying as the silence before your comedy begins to play in front of 700 people,” he said. “There’s also nothing as satisfying as when those 700 people begin to laugh.”
Butler thanked everyone from the Sunshine Coast Screen Collective, including the student volunteers, and of course the writer, Stephen.
“Finally I must thank Stephen for trusting me with the script,” he said.
“It begins what I believe will be a long creative partnership.”
The winner of both the people’s choice and best show golden yewwys was The Hoist written by Emma Morgan.
The Hoist is based on a true story Emma’s father told her, about a bush dance in country Victoria and a man’s ambitious idea to hoist the food table above the dancers, to stop people from snacking before they were meant to.
Popular Australian actor Rhys Muldoon starred in the funny, wacky, and heartwarming short film.
kirra@gcnews.com.au
Photo credit- SHOWDOWN GPC
