Entry Fever Hits MyState Student Film Festival

Hobart, 17 November 2016: The 2016 MyState Student Film Festival has had a record-breaking 232
entries – a 67% increase on last year.

Tasmania’s biggest film festival will be showcasing the state’s best student filmmaking talent at the
2016 Awards event on 7 December at the Theatre Royal, Hobart.

MyState Limited Chief Executive Officer Melos Sulicich said the dramatic jump in entries was due to
MyState providing educational tools to teachers in Tasmania and increased awareness of the
opportunity the festival gave students to tap into their creative potential.

“With almost 1,000 students and 68 schools participating, the MyState Student Film Festival, now in
its 14th year is an important event in the community, education and arts calendar.

‘MyState is proud to support and nurture the talent of young Tasmanians at every stage of their
development and foster a vibrant and strong community. Australia has a strong filmmaking tradition
and the MyState Student Film Festival strengthens this and will help establish Tasmania as a centre
of excellence for filmmaking in years to come,” he said.

Mr Sulicich urged students, their families and the wider community to get involved in the build up to
the awards by visiting: www.mystatefilmfestival.com.au and voting for their favourite entry in the
People’s Choice Award category. Free ticket bookings will be open next week and available on the
site.

“The more the local community is involved in the film festival, the more their problem-solving skills,
teamwork, innovation creativity and hard work is recognised and encouraged,” he said.

Several new award categories including Best Documentary and Best Music Video have encouraged
students interested in different genres to participate. 40 documentary films were entered this year,
while media and music classes joined together for the first time to create music videos.

This year’s festival boasts an impressive line up of judges. They include Screen Tasmania’s
Executive Manager Alex Sangston, film director/producer Dick Marks, Tasmanian film and media
educator Graham Gates, ABC radio breakfast presenter Ryk Goddard, Wide Angle Tasmania’s
General Manager Abi Binning and filmmakers Lara van Raay and Lucien Simon to name a few.

Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman is a key judge, selecting the winner of the Premier’s Award with
the Department of Premier and Cabinet provide $2,000 in filmmaking equipment to the winning school
or filmmaker.

More than $13,000 in cash and prizes is up for grabs across 17 film award categories.

To stay updated, people can follow the Facebook page @mystatefilmfestival.

About MyState Student Film Festival

The MyState Student Film Festival is Tasmania’s premier artistic opportunity for young people to showcase their talent and
creativity in the visual arts. The Festival was created in 2003 to nurture the talent of young Tasmanians, fostering their creative
and critical thinking, and develop broader skills while working towards a tangible goal.
Kathryn Gatenby