The first major event of the day is at 8:30am at Orana Cinemas in Busselton, with a Keynote Address by Glenn Gainor, as he explores and discusses the ways filmmakers can have their stories heard throughout the world by utilising emerging technologies. This presentation will include the world premiere of Taste, filmed with Sony’s new Xperia smartphone that offers cinema-quality images from a pocket-sized camera. It is sure to be a fascinating and essential event for any up and coming filmmakers who want to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to new film technologies. Tickets and additional information can be found here.

Thursday morning also marks the start of CinefestOZ’s free community screenings throughout Busselton, Dunsborough, Bunbury, and Margaret River. From 10am-4pm, in each of the four locations, festivalgoers are welcome to come along and enjoy our popular free screenings that celebrate and showcase the best cinema Australia has had to offer for the past decade. These screenings will continue until Sunday in each location, and present a wide range of films to suit any film fan’s tastes. Details on films, times, and screening locations can be found at the following here for Busselton, here for Bunbury, here for Dunsborough, and at this link for Margaret River.

At the Festival Hub Council Chambers, at 4:00pm, a special event with CinefestOZ 2019’s guest of honour, director Rachel Ward will be held. This Director’s Chair Q&A event will be hosted by CEO of the Australian Director’s Guild Kingston Anderson, and will provide industry practitioners and festival audiences alike the opportunity to meet and hear from one of Australia’s most acclaimed filmmakers. Ward’s most recent film, Palm Beach, is also screening at CinefestOZ this year. Tickets and additional information for this unmissable event can be found here.

The youth-friendly Cinesnaps Grand Finale will be held at the Festival Hub this afternoon at 4:45pm. This red carpet event will showcase the absolute best that the Cinesnaps Short Film Competition from 2019 had to offer. Young, aspiring filmmakers from the South West, aged between 15 and 18 years, were encouraged to create original short films based on the 2019 theme “The Watch,” and there is no better way to experience seven of the best of these short films that the region’s young filmmakers had to offer this year. The ticket price also includes a Cinesnaps VIP Bag, and further information as well as a link to buy tickets can be found here.

Finally, today brings with it the premiere events for five exciting films that will continue to screen as part of the CinefestOZ 2019 line-up over the next few days. However, these opening events provide exciting opportunities to gain insight into the filmmaker’s thoughts and insights through post-screening Q&A sessions. These premiere events, as well as pages for further information and links to purchase tickets, include:

  • Film Prize finalist Hearts and Bones, about a war photographer (played by Hugo Weaving) and one of his past subjects coming to terms with their past and discovering salvation.
  • MIFF@CinefestOZ Below, a dark comedy about Australia’s asylum-seeker detention system.
  • MIFF@CinefestOZ Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks, a documentary exploring the influence of Hong Kong’s martial arts cinema and how it’s shaped filmmaking all around the world.
  • Slam, a drama about an Australian of Middle-Eastern descent whose peaceful suburban life turns to hell when his sister Ameena disappears and is subsequently labelled an extremist.
  • Dark Place, an anthology of horror films from five of Australia’s next generation of Aboriginal filmmakers.