Interested in watching some short films to start the semester off this 2022? Well, good news. Thirty films by the Victorian College of the Arts Film and Television graduating class of 2021 are currently available to stream for free on MIFF Play, with the special season lasting from February 21st until March 6th. With romance and comedy, dramas and documentaries, the supernatural and the sci-fi, it’s a diverse mix of both live-action and animation. The season is the second of a new, ongoing partnership between the VCA and MIFF Play.
As a press release noted: ‘Each film was created in an ever-changing COVID context, with many logistical aspects of film creation impacted, from the feasibility of shoot locations and their associated density limits, to restrictions on the number of cast allowed and the availability of film equipment. VCA countered these issues with two purpose-built sets to allow filmmakers to continue to work on their films while adhering to government restrictions.’
Said Andrew O’Keefe, Head of VCA Film and Television: “Never before has a VCA Film and Television graduating cohort faced such challenging circumstances as this remarkable group of filmmakers were forced to navigate. The creative process for a filmmaker, at the best of times, is fraught with difficulty and disruption, but in 2021 distractions were unprecedented. To make a collaborative artwork during the peak of a pandemic, these students have had to show resilience, passion and leadership far beyond what many of them thought possible.”
Said MIFF Program Manager Mia Falstein-Rush: “Year on year, some of the most exciting voices in Australian film emerge from VCA. Presenting this graduate season on MIFF Play is a rare and thrilling opportunity for these unique expressions of cinema to be experienced by audiences Australia-wide.”
You can watch a couple of trailers for the season below, and the films themselves here: https://play.miff.com.au/
Profiles on the filmmakers behind the films can be found through the course tabs here: https://finearts-music.unimelb.edu.au/showcase/film-and-television-graduate-season-2021
MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY FILM INQUIRER 