The Melbourne International Film Festival might be underway now, but the inner-west will soon play host to a unique film festival all of its own.
The inaugural Pride Short Film Fest will take place on August 28, September 3 and September 10 at the eponymous Footscray bar on Barkly Street.
As the name suggests, the Pride Short Film Fest will be a celebration of local queer filmmakers, with six movies shown each night and introduced by the director or a member of the cast and crew.
Festival director Tom Nguyen said the idea for the festival was inspired by the regular film nights held at the bar featuring Hollywood movies popular with queer people.
“I’ve worked on movie projects around Melbourne and I know that there’s a community of people that not only love watching movies, but making them as well and a lot of them are gay and queer,” Mr Nguyen said.
“My Idea was to find local queer films and filmmakers and show their work to the audience we already have and also create a space for them to meet each other and meet the audience.”
Pride of Our Footscray manager Mat O’Keefe said the festival would feature a broad range of films.
“It’s got everything from camp horror to social commentary on Melbourne’s fascination with cool cafes,” Mr O’Keefe said.
“It’s rare to have a film festival in a bar such as this and you get to meet the directors so it’s more personal than going to Hoyts.”
Details and bookings: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1416708
