This October our Boroondara Seniors Film Festival returns to celebrate older adults on screen and behind the scenes.
Aspiring and emerging filmmakers of all ages are encouraged to submit their short films now.
Boroondara resident Richard Balsillie, 75, was one of 20 contributors whose short films were selected for last year’s festival out of 220 entries.
An avid explorer of social history and biographies, the genesis for Richard’s short film was receiving a newspaper cutting from 1859 about a character in his distant family tree who was lost at sea.
‘The whole story that emerged was a surprise’, he says of Shipwrecked.
Richard first joined a local film group in his 20s and as an older adult has enjoyed dedicating more time to his own documentary storytelling. He also volunteers on various multimedia projects and teaches others.
His advice to anyone interested in filmmaking is to ‘get outside your comfort zone and go a bit further. I’m always encouraging people to try different things,’ he says.
Richard will be drawn to human stories and travel and nature documentaries in this year’s festival line-up.
In the meantime, he’s back to editing his latest volunteer project for the Moorabbin Air Museum. ‘There are a lot of stories there’, he says. They include a possible lead for a documentary about his uncle, who built one of the first glider planes in Australia.
Enter your own film
We welcome short film submissions by creators of all ages for the Boroondara Seniors Film Festival.
Films by creators aged 60 and older can fit any genre and cover any subject.
Filmmakers under 60 can enter a short film with an older adult (60 or older) as the main character.
Submissions close on 15 July.
