The stunning Sun Children from Iran is one of the festival hits. Courtesy BOFA.
May 2021, Tasmania. This year saw the 11th BOFA (Breath of Fresh Air) Film Festival open to real live cinema-goers in Launceston, Tasmania, on Friday 30 April, running through to Sunday 2 May.
Last year’s BOFA Festival was hit hard by the pandemic, and saw the organisers go online with an innovative lineup of virtual titles in place of the usual bums on seats. But the new format went down a storm with film fans.
Festival director Owen Tilbury is bullish about the online aspect of this year’s BOFA. Courtesy BOFA
"The feedback we had from the (2020) online festival was that people loved being able to watch movies in the comfort of their own home although they missed the personal interaction with people," said festival director Owen Tilbury.
“This year they have the choice of our online festival once again, but they can also opt to see films live here in Launceston and in Hobart as well,” he said. “This will effectively mean three festivals - one in Launceston from April 30-May 2, one in Hobart from May 28-30, and a free festival online from May 3-30.”
This means, says Tilbury, that film buffs who want to spend one night in their pyjamas at home and the next night at the cinema with friends will still be able to see everything the festival has to offer. "It effectively means we have two different curated film festivals going on at the same time," said Tilbury.
Star attractions this year are the world premiere of the stunning Queensland documentary ‘Meet the Wallers’ by Jim Stevens. Based on two decades tracing a single family history, this is what reality TV should really be like. For adventure buffs, the epic Ocean to Sky traces the ground-breaking expedition by Everest hero Sir Edmund Hillary as he jet-boats up the Ganges then goes on to climb Akask Parbat in the Himalayas immediately after.
Local Hero Rosemary Kariuki will attend the Hobart screening of the film Rosemary’s Way. Courtesy BOFA.
The festival is also bringing in stars and film-makers to talk about many of the screeners. Personalities like Vincent Sheehan, producer of the acclaimed Willem Defoe title The Hunter; Ocean to Sky director Michael Dillon, and Rosemary’s Way director Ros Horin.
Best of all, the star of Horin’s Rosemary’s Way, the amazing Rosemary Kariuki (who was voted Australian Local Hero of 2021) will attend the Hobart screening in person after being awarded a gong by Scott Morrison. A must see.
“After last year's move to online due to the pandemic we had overwhelming positive feedback on survey forms, so we decided to do it again” explained Tilbury. “We think people will enjoy a breath of fresh air from down here in Tasmania – be it online or in the flesh.”
BOFA festival is online, and at the Village Cinema Hobart, 181 Collins Street, Hobart. And BOFA Online is free. You can watch the online films any day, any time until the end of May within Australia. Subscribe to the BOFA newsletter to get your free code to access the film's from as far afield as Cuba or as close to home as Flinders Island, Tasmania.
All films are MA15+