Young film maker gearing up for Port Shorts Film Festival
EVENTS
The Port Shorts annual film festival is on this weekend 25 and 26 October at Rex Smeal Park, giving filmmakers an opportunity to showcase their work and learn from the best.
For 16-year-old local teen and budding filmmaker, Vasco Gonsalves, his interest in film was sparked by entering the festival in 2015.
Since then he has participated every year, winning the people’s choice award in 2016 and again in 2018.
“My mum said I should try it out in 2015, so a friend and I put a film in to see how it went and that’s where I got an interest in film making,” said Mr Gonsalves.
This year, Mr Gonsalves is entering two short films into the filmmakers category of the festival.
“I spent about two weeks on the first film called ‘Missing’, a film about a family where a young girl goes missing and her brother doesn’t give up looking for her.”
The film has a dark twist and Mr Gonsalves said it was his first time dabbling in the horror genre.
“I wanted to try out new genres and it ended up being pretty good, something different for me.
“Horror can be quite difficult as it can be quite cringy and not good but this worked out pretty well,” he said.
The second film Mr Gonsalves produced for the festival is called ‘Greed’, set in a world that is dying of pollution, with the few people left on earth battling it out for resources.
“The difference between the two films is that I have improved a lot between each film,” he said.
In the days leading up to the festival, Port Shorts also offers multiply masterclasses with industry professionals.
Mr Gonsalves said he has learnt a lot from the classes and the festival itself.
“They have so many different experiences, it makes me just want to follow in their footsteps.
“It’s great because there is a lot of talent in Port Douglas and it is on an opportunity for kids to give it a try and see if they want to continue that path.
“It’s all definitely shown me to where I want to go in future and hopefully I get to go to uni for film,” he said.
Port Short Masterclasses began today and will run for the rest of the week, concluding with the Primary School Challenge on Friday night and The Port shorts Film Festival on Saturday night.
Have an opinion or point of view on one of our stories or a community issue? Please submit a Letter to the Editor here.*
Got a great news tip or video? We'd love to see it.
Send news tips to editor@newsport.com.au
* Readers are encouraged to use their full details to ensure letter legitimacy. Letters are the opinions of readers and do not represent the views of Newsport or its staff. Letters containing unlawful, obscene, defamatory, personal or abusive material will not be published.
