Forest Lake State High School Grade 12 student Carrie Biddle has become the state finalist for QLD in the national REELise Film Festival for her short film Cinephilia.
It all started with an assessment. Carrie, a Film and Television Studies student, had to create a stylistic project in Term 4 to be graded. After a month of immense passion and perseverance, Carrie succeeded.
Flash forward to October 2, and Carrie’s film was shown in a live stream and judged as the best in the state to be submitted by a senior high school student.
“It feels really unreal,” she said. “Like a dream come true.”
“I never thought it would get that far in the first place.”
Cinephilia strings Surrealism and German Expressionism together to visualise and capture the experience of having films that you absolutely love stuck in your head that you will continue to reminisce about.
“It is a visual representation of that and my goal is for someone to feel that way about the entire film,” Carrie said.
References to popular films are strung throughout to show their memorable impact on the filmmaker.
Though the final result is always a reward, Carrie says the journey and process of filming is equally gratifying for her.
“I really enjoyed experimenting with different equipment,” she said. “I didn’t stick with anything for long so it was fun testing out all the things I wanted to.”
The shots taken in the film were filmed sporadically across different locations, including her bathroom and garage in her Forest Lake home, a friend’s property in Boonah, and the shores of Bribie Island.
As an aspiring filmmaker, producer and director, this achievement means alot to Carrie.
“It is my dream,” she said. “I have this whole plan envisioned.”
After she graduates next year she plans to study a Bachelor of Film at Griffith University while hopefully working in small roles in the film industry, followed by a PhD.
“I think it is good to have an understanding of every role before getting to the top.”
Success to Carrie means making films that resonate.
“The most specific goal I can think of is authenticity,” she said. “Films that genuinely connect to people and it is not just two hours wasted of their life, but that some people get something out of it.”
Films like Scott Pilgrim vs the World by Edgar Wright (Carrie’s favourite movie and director) have made impressions on her that she aspires to imitate in her future films.
“You can tell how much of the director has gone into it,” she said. “It can be funny and silly but it can also be a little bit inspirational.”
Carrie’s film will show at the Grand Final of the REELise Film Festival at Event Cinemas in Sydney and be judged against the other state finalists on November 5.
Watch her short film through this link: https://youtu.be/kdnGzzeR2Ss
