General News
16 September, 2024
Inaugural Outback & Ocean Film Festival proves popular
Carpentaria Shire Council was pleased with the turnout over the weekend.
Carpentaria Shire Council CEO Anne Andrews expects the Outback & Ocean Film Festival to grow in popularity after locals embraced the event on the weekend.
“It was great, we had about 300 through the gate, which was a good number,” said Ms Andrews, who has only just recently stepped into the CEO role.
Film Festivals Australia directors Steve Bastoni and Meg Pascoe led the event and had support from actors Marcus Graham and Totti Goldsmith, who acted as judges.
“What was really fabulous was the local engagement,” Ms Andrews said.
“Steve has been running workshops with Gulf Christian College and the kids made about eight short films, which were shown at the start of the night.
“The local dance troupe opened the evening, which was very popular and then we went into this year’s top 10 Australian short films.”
On Sunday, Bastoni and the judges went to the Les Wilson Barramundi Centre to run a film workshop.
“We had 17 people there, a mixture of locals and tourists,” Ms Andrews said.
In what is a busy week for the Gulf, the fun continues this weekend with the annual Outback by the Sea concert at the Karumba Recreation Club.
“Local band Split Image will play, along with Shane Howard from Goanna, and Fanny Lumsden and her six-piece band round out the entertainment,” the CEO said.
“We’re expecting a good turnout for that and we encourage people from all over the North West to come.
“Tickets will be on sale at the gate for those who may decide at the last minute.
“We’ll have food and drinks on sale; we just ask you to bring a chair or a picnic blanket.”
While Outback events have struggled in some communities this year, Ms Andrews said the Carpentaria Shire was less dependent on tourism numbers for these end-of-season events.
“We’re very lucky that this is a sponsored event with a lot of community support. Similar to other festivals we will have smaller numbers but that’s a comfortable number for us at the moment with the size of the venue,” she said.