After taking out the First Nations Award at last year’s Smart Fone Flick Fest (SF3), Harlisha Newie-Joe of Point Frederick has been named a finalist in this year’s awards for her film Nganakaapu.
Following on from last year’s winning film Roots, Nganakaapu sees Newie-Joe continue to explore her ancestry, acknowledging a timeline carried through waves.
“This year’s film is a further exploration of Roots,” Newie-Joe said.
“Last year I traced back to where some of my ancestors came from – this time I have dived more into the spirituality of my ancestors.
“Four other people join me in the film, with each of us embodying one of the five regions of the Torres Strait Islands as I explored land embodiment.
“All of the regions are very different, ranging from rocky mountainous to flat and volcanic.
“With the dance featured in this film, I fused cultural and contemporary styles.”
Now in its ninth year, this year’s Flick Fest attracted 458 entries, including 28 feature films – an almost 50 per cent jump in entries from 2022.
Entries came from 60 countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, Morocco, Senegal, Uganda, China, Venezuela, right across Europe, America, New Zealand and – as always – a slew from Australia.
This year’s finalists are competing for more than $50,000 in prizes across multiple categories.
Of the 18 Gala finalists, 12 are Australian.
The films cover every genre including a beautiful dance piece from Scotland, a documentary about one man’s mental health struggles from Ghana, a kooky little comedy horror from the US, a beautiful reflective piece which showcases neuro-diverse, disabled and First Nations actors from regional NSW, a horror pic from two young First Nations filmmakers (aged 12 and 14), a Queer love story, a 60s spy spoof starring Sydney drag queens and everything in between and beyond.
There are also 30 SF3 Kids finalists this year, with filmmakers aged from 7-16 telling a range of stories.
This year SF3 Online runs from November 18 to December 3 additional screenings including the full 10 Best Feature Film finalists and a special Highly-Commended screening of some incredible films that couldn’t fit into the live event.
The Gala Finals of the ninth annual international Smart Fone Flick Fest (SF3) take place the weekend of November 18-19, with the best of the world’s ‘hand-made’ films to be screened live in Sydney.
Tickets are on sale to all live events at www.sf3.com.au
As for Newie-Joe, she said she continues to feel “a fire” with her storytelling.
“The ideas just keep coming,” she said.
“There could be more films in my future and I’d like to expand from doing dance films and play more with documentaries – although there will always be some dance involved.”
Terry Collins