Be blown away by film fest line-up

CinefestOZ Film Festival has unveiled its 2019 program, lifting the lid on an epic line-up of Australian features, short films, documentaries, industry workshops and more than 150 related events.

This year’s festival continues CinefestOZ’s tradition of showcasing the best of Australian film, boasting more than 150 film screening events, including 15 world, 11 Australian and 53 WA premieres — a 10 per cent increase on the 2018 festival.

CinefestOZ chief executive Malinda Nixon said the quality and diversity of the 2019 program underlined the enormous growth the festival had experienced in its 12 years and promised audiences another memorable five days in the South West.

“Anyone who picks up a program for this year’s CinefestOZ is going to be blown away by what’s on offer,” Ms Nixon said.

“We have an absolutely incredible selection of features, short films, documentaries, industry workshops and special events and audiences really will be spoilt for choice.

“We are so proud that each year, CinefestOZ continues to grow and provide not only a platform for audiences to experience premiere film screenings but for WA and Australian filmmakers to come together to champion the industry.

Ms Nixon said she was thrilled to witness this year’s new, vast range of film’s the festival would have on offer.

“This is another outstanding year for homegrown cinema and we can’t wait for audiences to enjoy our fabulous celebration of Australian film in the beautiful South West next month.”

Ms Nixon said this years program was for film lovers, filmmakers and stars who were drawn to Busselton, Bunbury and Margaret River to share in five days of immersive film experiences at the region’s cinemas, wineries, boutique breweries, small bars and galleries.

One of the feature films included in the stellar line-up will be locally shot film The Naked Wanderer, which is about a broken-hearted man who treks the WA coastline mostly naked for charity in a bid to win back his ex-girlfriend.

The film festival will begin on Wednesday, August 28 and continue through until Sunday, September 1.