July 2015 is set to be a big month for film aficionados in Brisbane, with the inaugural Queensland Film Festival (QFF) set to run at the New Farm Six Cinemas from July 24 to 26. An annual international film festival championing excellence and variety in cinema, QFF will screen a dozen feature films and supporting short films in a curated program.
Beloved Australian film critic David Stratton is QFF’s patron, and he is looking forward to continuing his love affair with film in the Sunshine State. “My first contact with film culture in Queensland was in 1966 when, as the director of the Sydney Film Festival, I was able to help with the establishment of the Brisbane Film Festival”, says Stratton.
In some way, Brisbane’s international film festival has been a part of my year ever since. I always looked forward to travelling up for BIFF. Unbelievably, next year it will be 50 years since that first Brisbane Film Festival, and I’m very pleased to support QFF in reintroducing this kind of film festival for local audiences”.
The debut line-up for QFF is quite formidable. It includes Phillipe Garrell’s Jealousy, Peter Strickland’s The Duke of Burgundy (pictured), and Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson’s The Forbidden Room, as well as emerging local works such as Eight by first-time Brisbane filmmaker Peter Blackburn.
In future years QFF co-directors John Edmond and Dr Huw Walmsley-Evans plan to tour a selection of films to major regional centres. In 2015, the pair looks forward to focusing on Brisbane’s film community, with further details and the full program line-up to be announced closer to the event.
To keep up to date with all things QFF, head to http://qldff.com
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