Twelve days, four world premieres, six Australian premieres and 19 years of bringing great cinema to Queensland’s Gold Coast! There are plenty of exciting numbers to crunch at the 2021 Annual Gold Coast Film Festival.
The festival’s 19th program is eagerly awaited after a year-long, corona-induced hiatus. From April 14 to 25, visitors can enjoy industry panels, special events, a luxe red carpet and of course over 100 lovingly-curated films from all around the world.
Valerie Taylor: Playing with Sharks has been chosen as the festival’s illuminating Opening Night headliner. The Sundance-selected documentary celebrates Australian marine explorer Taylor, and her intimate and protective relationship with one of the ocean’s most misunderstood predators.
“It was a privilege to work with (director) Sally Aitken and (producer) Bettina Dalton,” says Ms Taylor of the film’s Aussie premiere. “I commend them for taking interest in my lifelong pursuit of saving our marine life in order to get this message out to the masses.”
Playing on Closing Night is the highly anticipated YA apocalypse movie Love and Monsters: a fun action-packed film certain to slap a smile on your face.
The festival lineup includes plenty of other worthwhile events and films for just about every audience in Queensland, including local rom-coms This Little Love of Mine and the world-first Asian-Australian-centric Rhapsody of Love. Horror buffs will love Gold Coaster Josh Hale’s House of Inequity, and those with more of an interest in TV can check out the teen series Dive Club before it appears on Netflix and Channel 10 later this year.
Don’t forget to visit Gold Coast Film Festival‘s new website, for info on other great programs like the shorts celebration SIPFest or Pitch In Paradise, an industry opportunity for up-and-coming GC filmmakers.
Some have probably had those great ideas brewing in their heads for a while now, as City of Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate points out. “Movies got many of us through hard lockdown last year, and being able to watch films starring and made by talented Queenslanders and Australians is just another great reason to grab your tickets and head along to the Gold Coast’s favourite cinematic celebration.”
