If you have a mobile phone and an idea, you can make a film.
That’s the message Healesville film-maker Adrian Jeffs has for aspiring filmmakers ahead of Yarra Ranges Film Society’s Show Us Your Shorts (SUYS) film festival in Warburton on Saturday, 5 February.
The free festival will showcase 11 short films shortlisted from more than 40 entries from across Australia.
Adrian and festival organiser, Laurie Hastings, say the festival can provide a third key ingredient – inspiration.
Adrian won Best Local Film Maker at SUYS in 2017 with A Good Day To Die, and in 2018 with Life Disrupted.
He had a young family and not a lot of spare cash for expensive camera equipment when he came across SmartFone Flick Fest which made filmmaking accessible and has literally opened up a world of opportunities in the short film genre.
“I didn’t know just how good the camera on my phone that I had in my pocket was,” he said.
He’s had the idea for A Good Day To Die for a while, and he ran with it.
“In the space of three weeks I went out and put the story together and it just got easier from there.”
That was on an Iphone 6plus and with today’s phones, Adrian says you can now shoot, edit and upload on the one device.
For Adrian filmmaking is about telling stories with meaning, and a message.
“A Good Day to Die was about mental health and sharing what I was going through. It was quite cathartic; releasing a lot of the demons,” he says.
Life Disrupted tells the story of his life-long friend, Mark who was struck down with a rare viral disease Acute hemorrhagic leukoencephalitis in his 30s.
“Going from a high-ranking business manager and father to having his whole life turned around and learning to walk and talk in his 30s, it’s like a wake-up call to me to not to take life for granted, he is a true inspiration”
“I want people to feel something, so to create something and have it on the big screen, and have people get something out of that, it’s about the message and knowing that your words have meaning.”
His films have screened and won numerous awards at festivals including Toronto SmartPhone Film Festival, The International Mobile Film Festival IMFF 2018 in San Diego and The International Mobile Motion Film Festival Switzerland where Adrian was also invited to judge this year.
Premiering Life Disrupted at the Sydney Opera House as part of MadeOnMobile festival however remains a highlight.
“From the start of our friendship of 40 years to doing the film and to have it premier at the Opera House at SF3 with Mark there to share that was quite a moving experience,” Adrian said.
Adrian’s passion for short film has led him to a role as co-curator of the world’s longest running smartphone filmmaking festival, MINA, locally he has produced more than 15 artist videos for Open Studios and a mentoring role with YAVA’s mentoring program in Healesville.
“All these opportunities have opened up for me after I hit ‘record’ on my phone,” Adrian says as encouragement to others for dive into the world of short film making and to go along to the SUYS festival as inspiration.
For Yarra Ranges Film Society, the event is a chance to showcase the films which were originally destined to be part of the cancelled 2021 Warburton Film Festival.
“The films are between five and 10 minutes and they are across a variety of genres including animated, documentary and drama films,” Laurie said.
Over the life of the SUYS competition, almost two decades, Laurie said it has proved a launching pad for a lot of film makers who start off with short films.
“We have these amazing films, made by passionate filmmakers, like Adrian, and we want people to see them.”
Bookings can be made online at culturetracks.info, by phone on 1300 368 333 or in person at The Arts Centre, Warburton or The Memo, Healesville.
