History Timeline

CinefestOZ was established in 2008

CinefestOZ was founded by David Barton and Helen Shervington as a cultural celebration of the French bicentenary of Antipodean exploration of the South West corner of Western Australia, and the many French place names in use today. A not-for-profit CinefestOZ Board came together with a strong and enthusiastic purpose to start the Festival. That year, CinefestOZ’s first opening night film was the highly acclaimed international award winner Black Balloon.

Screen Legend award was introduced honouring a longstanding commitment to the Australian film industry.

In 2010, Steve Bisley accepted the inaugural Screen Legend award . Since then, many outstanding Australian filmmakers and talent have been presented with this award, including David Wenham, Bryan Brown, Gillian Armstrong and Sigrid Thornton to name a brief few.

The Cinesnaps Schools Program began an impressive run with it’s first program in 2011.

The Cinesnaps Schools Program began an impressive run with it’s first program in 2011. This program is now the largest schools program to be held at a film festival in Australia, offering films, workshops and film and culture discussions to South West students.

The $100,000 Film Prize was awarded for the first time.

The $100,000 CinefestOZ Film Prize was introduced at the 2014 CinefestOZ Film Festival, the largest Film Prize in Australia. The inaugural prize went to Robert Connolly’s charming film Paper Planes. The CinefestOZ Film Prize recognises excellence in Australian film.

Connecting with First Nations.

IndigifestOZ held it’s first Cultural Day at the 2015 Festival. IndigifestOZ has attracted the best Indigenous filmmakers from across the nation to present their films to the CinefestOZ audience, drawing focus to the best Indigenous feature films, documentaries and short films.

CinefestOZ expands to the Great Southern Region.

CinefestOZ travelled to Albany for the first CinefestOZ Albany, bring the magic of cinema to the Great Southern Region in 2021.

2022 saw the inaugural CinefestOZ Broome, WA's first First Nations Film Festival, presented in partnership with Goolarri Media Enterprises.

Cinesnaps achievement

In 2023, Cinesnaps achieved engagement with over 55,000 West Australian, regional students, since the programs inception.