BOFA 2014 ATTRACTS DIRECTORS, WRITERS, ATHLETES AND MORE

Inspiring Ultra-Marathon runner Samantha Gash, this year’s Man Booker Prize winner Richard Flanagan, and TV presenter Mike Munro are only a handful of the esteemed special guests joining the audience at this year’s Tasmanian Breath of Fresh Air (BOFA) Film Festival in Launceston, Tasmania, from November 6-9, 2014.

BOFA has scoured the world’s film festivals throughout the year in order to bring the best film of 2014 to Launceston. Unsurprisingly, the program has attracted many special guest leaders from the film industry and other fields.

Samantha Gash – whose journey is captured in Desert Runners, the extraordinary BOFA opening night film – is a special guest for the whole length of the festival. Gash is the youngest person and the only Australian female to have completed the 4 Desert Ultra-Marathon Series, in which competitors run 4 grueling 250km races in the space of a year across some of the world’s most inhospitable terrains.

Winner of this year’s Man Booker Prize for his novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan will be the special guest of a Q&A session after a screening of the classic Tasmanian film from 1998, The Sound of One Hand Clapping. Flanagan not only directed this film, but also wrote the novel on which it was based.

Respected Australian journalist and TV presenter, Mike Munro will be hosting the BOFA Devil Short Film Awards on Saturday Nov 8. Synonymous with the biographical program This is Your Life, which he hosted for 13 years, Munro’s other television credits include 60 Minutes, A Current Affair and Sunday Night. He began his career in journalism at only 17 years of age and has worked in television for over thirty years.

Many of the Festival’s special guests will be presenting at BOFA’s Action Sessions. Dr Anton Kriz, developer of the Regional Innovation Management (RIM) model, which is transforming the central coast of NSW, will be presenting the session entitled ‘Regional Innovation, State Growth’. Director of Twyfords, John Dengate will be explaining Collective Impact at the session entitled ‘Collaborating for Collective Impact’.

A must for aspiring documentary filmmakers, the masterclass ‘Making Documentaries and Factual Content that Make a Difference’ will be conducted by special guests Trish Lake (Freshwater Pictures), Karena Slaninka (Director of Screen Tasmania), Michael Cordell (Cordell Jigsaw Zapruder), Malinda Wink (GoodPitch Australia), Janine Hosking (director of 35 Letters), Susan Mackinnon (Documentary Australia Foundation), Ray Pedretti (Showrunner Productions), Niall Doran (The Bookend Trust), Phil Craig (ABC TV), Nick Batzias (Madman Entertainment), and John Godfrey (SBS).

The insightful panel discussion on ‘What Makes a Man a Man?’ will feature experts such as psychologist Agi O’Hara, legendary Hawthorn footballer Peter Hudson, campaigner for marriage equality Rick Marton and Launceston’s young citizen of the year Adam Mostogl.

Numerous filmmakers behind the films of BOFA’s 2014 program will also be in attendance for the Festival. Be sure to keep an eye out for them mingling with fellow festival-goers at the Festival Lounge & Wine Bar!

In a free event on Sunday Nov 9, Paul Barclay from Radio National will host a conversation with filmmakers Jeff McDonald and Bridget Lyon who wrote, directed and produced The Inheritance. In The Inheritance Lyon explores the past and future of the little-understood Huntington’s disease after discovering a history of it within her family.

As well as joining the discussion in the documentary masterclass, Tasmanian talent Niall Doran will be participating in a Q&A session after an exclusive screening of excerpts from his film (still in post-production) Sixteen Legs: Spider Love capturing the kinky sexual behaviour of Tasmanian Cave Spiders, never-before captured on film.

Other filmmakers engaging in Q&A sessions after screenings of their films include Janine Hosking, director of the deeply moving 35 Letters, and Nick Torrens, director of absorbing documentary China’s 3 Dreams.

Director of the upcoming documentary The Opposition, Hollie Fifer will be a special guest of the Festival, as well as Dayne Pratsky and Kate Hodges, the subject and producer respectively of the soon to be released The Frackman. Clips from The Frackman will be shown during The Big Picture Debate free event at BOFA entitled ‘Fracking in Tasmania: Good or Bad?’. Taking place on Sunday Nov 9, the debate will be adjudicated by Paul Barclay.

The Festival Lounge and Wine Bar will be open all throughout the festival from 11am until late in The Annexe, providing the perfect place to meet up with friends before or after a film and enjoy fine Tasmanian wine and beer, gourmet food and coffee. The Festival Lounge also provides a great environment for all festival-goers to mingle and meet on a level playing field, be they film fans or directors, festival guests or first-timers. Everyone is welcome.

With this array of esteemed guests in attendance – leaders of the film industry and other fields – BOFA 2014 is a must-attend event on the calendar of film festivals, both in Australia and internationally. Whether you’re an experienced filmmaker, a film-buff, a lover of the arts, an advocator for environmental action, or simply a fan of great wine and great conversation, then be sure to plan a long weekend in Launceston for BOFA 2014. It’s sure to be more than just a ‘breath of fresh air!’

For more information and full program and ticketing details, visit http://bofa.com.au/.

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The Tasmanian Breath of Fresh Air Film Festival is supported by the Tasmanian Government through Events Tasmania and Screen Tasmania. Federal Government assistance is provided by Screen Australia
Matt Fraser | Communications Manager