• Buy tickets online
  • Submit your film
  • Become a friend of the festival

News

Stellar Results Again for Gold Coast Film Festival

By CMS

Stellar Results Again for Gold Coast Film Festival

The 2011 Gold Coast Film Festival presented by Australia Fair Shopping Centre has drawn to a close with another year of stellar results. Attendance numbers continued their upwards spike with the festival boasting attendance of almost 7,500 over the 7 days. This is an increase in attendance of 283% in the 3 years since Casey Marshall Siemer has held the reins as Festival Director.

Event highlights this year included:-

•    Red carpet Gala opening and screening of Asia Pacific Screen Awards (“APSA”) nominated Rang zidan fei (Let the Bullets Fly), written and directed by Jiang Wen. The highest grossing domestic     film in history at the Chinese box office, Rang zidan fei (Let the Bullets Fly) was nominated for Best Feature Film and Achievement in Directing. To celebrate the film the red carpet featured a     traditional Chinese Lion Dance performance.

•    Sell out screening of Gold Coast produced and shot serial killer thriller Crawl from local identical twins Ben and Paul China.

•    Screening of 2011 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix winner Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia) with introduction and 20 minute Q&A session with producer Zeynep Özbatur     Atakan and cinematographer Gökhan Tiryaki. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia film won three 2011 APSAs.  Nuri Bilge Ceylan won the Achievement in Directing, Gökhan Tiryaki was presented with     the Award for Achievement in Cinematography and producer Zeynep Özbatur Atakan was awarded the Screen International Jury Grand Prize.

•    Surprise appearance by the face of Australian horror himself, John Jarratt to introduce the Queensland premiere of voodoo horror film Needle.

•    Australian premiere of anime film Hoshi o Ou Kodomo (Children Who Chase Lost Voices From Deep Below) introduced by producer Noritaka Kawaguchi and also the exquisite Cool Japan Gold     Coast anime artwork exhibition at Robina Art Gallery featuring the original work of Makoto Shinkai from Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below.

•    Outstanding presentation by Fight Club producer Ross Grayson Bell on Getting Your Film Financed in Hollywood and Engaging Cinema Audiences.

•    APSA Winner for Best Performance by an Actress for her role in Elena, Nadezhda Markina from the Russian Federation introduced and participated in a 20minute Q&A following the festival     screening of Elena.

The GCFF now moves its festival date from November to April to co-inside with the Gold Coast Supanova expo following the signing of a three year cultural partnership between the GCFF and Supanova Pop Culture Industries earlier this year. This partnership is exclusive to the GCFF and no other film festival in Australia will be afforded the same alignment.

Supanova Pop Culture Expo is Australia’s premier Pop Culture event bringing all aspects of the entertainment industry together in a celebration of film, television, gaming, comics, illustration, design, costuming, music, anime culture and technology. There is a natural synergy between the Gold Coast Supanova Expo and the GCFF and it is anticipated that in 2012 several high profile celebrity guests will be attending and participating in complimentary activities at both events.

The 2012 Gold Coast Film Festival presented by Australia Fair Shopping Centre, will be held April 19-29 at Birch Carroll and Coyle Cinemas at Australia Fair Shopping Centre in Southport. Gold Coast City Council’s Film Gold Coast is the major Government sponsor of the event. The full program of films and events will be available to view at www.gcfilmfestival.com