BOFA WANTS TO MAKE THINGS BETTER

Photo by Bookend Trust: Sophie Warren (left) and Katie Mulder (right) at the summit of Mt Weld, southern Tasmania, who were filmed while making a difference as part of Bookend Trust’s biological survey conducted by summer scholarship students, in partnership with the BayerBoost program and the Australian Geographic Society

BOFA Make a Difference Day

The Tasmanian Breath of Fresh Air Film Festival (BOFA) will this year challenge both filmmakers and the Tasmanian community to make the world a better place.

BOFA 2012 will run from November 8 to 11 at Launceston’s Inveresk precinct and on Sunday, November 11, the final day of the Festival, BOFA will partner with Bendigo Bank, the Rotary Club of Tamar Sunrise and Volunteering Tasmania to stage Tasmania’s first Make a Difference Day.

Festival Director Owen Tilbury explained that, because BOFA was all about films that inspire positive change, this year’s Festival would challenge both filmmakers and the community to get involved in making a difference.

“The heart and soul of BOFA lies in inspiring people to make positive changes at a personal, local and global level. The stories, the film-makers, the community events, the ideas and the debates, are all about leaving the world better than we found it,” he said.

Make a Difference Day will be a free public event at Inveresk, with a farmer’s market, a craft market, healthy foods and local wines, music and children’s entertainment.

Stalls will also explain how people can make a difference personally, locally and globally, with many sporting, environmental and volunteering organisations represented.

Organisations interested in participating should contact mad@bofa.com.au or go to the web site http://bofa.com.au/2012/home/make-a-difference-day/ for details.

BOFA “Make a Difference” Short Film Competition

In conjunction with Bendigo Bank and Volunteering Tasmania, BOFA 2012 is also challenging film makers to craft a three minute story – documentary or fictional – about making a positive difference.

Stories can be in any genre, but must be shot in high definition, in English or subtitled, and less than three minutes in length.

The screen based stories will be judged on three criteria: excellence in storytelling, excellence in film making, and excellence in capturing the Make a Difference theme.

Festival Director Owen Tilbury said that judges would be looking for creativity, innovation and fresh ways of telling a story.

“It could be about a volunteer in the community, overcoming adversity, improving the environment, human rights issues, or new technology which is making a difference – the short film is only limited by the film maker’s creativity and ability to tell a powerful story with beginning, middle and end.”

Short films can be entered in three categories:
• BOFA Make a Difference Open Award, – $5,000 donated by Jackson Volkswagen
• BOFA Make a Difference Youth (under 25) Award- $2,000 donated by the University of Tasmania and the Launceston City Council
• BOFA Make a Difference Student Award- $1,000 donated by the Tasmanian Centre for Global Learning
There will be free screenings of the best of the short films throughout the Tasmanian Breath of Fresh Air Film Festival, and the winners will be announced at the Festival’s most glamorous event, the Awards Dinner on Saturday, November 10.

Competition details and the entry process are available on the BOFA website at http://bofa.com.au/prizes-awards/ or via withoutabox. Entries close on September 30.

BOFA FILM FESTIVAL: THURSDAY 8TH – SUNDAY 11TH NOVEMBER, 2012

In 2012, BOFA plans to showcase over the Thursday 8 to Saturday 10 November, international and Australian feature films/documentaries, short films, cinema related exhibitions (in partnership with Queen Victoria Museum), master-classes and parties, but, as well, is adding a new Make a Difference Day (Sunday 11th November) incorporating a free community open day, a major Big Ideas debate (in partnership with The St James Ethics Centre), screenings of a Make a Difference Day short film competition, features/documentaries, several master-classes run by industry experts, and writers’ festival speakers all on Make a Difference themes. The Make a Difference Day will be the culmination of the festival and will highlight the purpose of inspiring “positive change”.
BOFA