Margaret River student film makes festival finals

Eight short films created by 31 students from Albany, Bunbury, Busselton and Margaret River have been named as finalists in the 2023 Cinesnaps Short Film Competition.

Shortlisted ahead of the 2023 CinefestOZ film festival this month, the films will be screened as part of the festival program.

The competition is open to middle and high school students from WA’s South West, Great Southern, Broome and Geraldton regions, with students creating their original 3-5 minute films based on this year’s theme of ‘The Switch’.

Margaret River SHS students Joshua Yates and Seth Wheadley have again been recognised for their work, with their film ‘The Switch’ scoring a finalist nod in the Year 10-12 category. The pair were runners up in the 2022 competition with the short film, ‘Alone’.

‘Switched’ by Aysiah, Jordan Neil and Dieter from Cape Naturaliste College, ‘Butchers Track’ by Callum Synnot and Liam Sheridan of St Mary MacKillop College, and ‘One Lucky Citizen’ by Georgiana Molloy Anglican School student Chloe Francis are also shortlisted in their categories.

CinefestOZ Community Manager Gabrielle Whirledge said 2023 had seen participation from a wide range of schools.

“Over 10 years of our competition and already we are seeing past entrants employed in the industry as professional film practitioners,” she said. “It’s a privilege to support regional students to become visual storytellers and we couldn’t do this without the generous funding of Festival sponsor and community partner Rio Tinto.”

Rio Tinto’s Justin Francesconi said: “Cinesnaps offers regional students a unique opportunity to develop digital and cinematography skills under the guidance of industry leaders.”

Finalists will walk the red carpet on August 31 at a CinefestOZ event, where the eight films will be screened before an audience of 200 people at the Esplanade Hotel in Busselton. Films will be judged by an expert Jury Panel headed by actor/director Myles Pollard.

Student films will also be screened as part of the festival’s Free Community Screenings between September 1 and 2 in Busselton, Vasse, Dunsborough, Margaret River, and Augusta.