Starting this evening, internationally-recognised, Perth-based comedy short film festival Over the Fence will be streaming festival gems amassed from 24 years of screening.
Films will be streamed between 4pm - 6pm every Monday over the coming weeks through Over the Fence's Facebook Page.
A grassroots festival dedicated to championing indie and new filmmakers, Festival Director Greg Coffey started Over the Fence back in 1996, when he and former co-Director Phil Jeng Kane were budding filmmakers, showing comedy shorts as part of the now-defunct Film and Television Institute WA Filmmakers Festival. Originally limited to WA films, it expanded nationwide before opening up to international submissions in 2006 due to the high volume of calls they received from international filmmakers looking for a platform for their work.
Cheeses of Nazareth (2005), dir. Joel Khon & Ben Esler
Somewhat left-of-centre, Over the Fence's mission is to challenge ideas of comedy and provide audiences with an entirely new experience of comedic storytelling, through the inclusion of different filmmaking styles and genres. Coffey emphasised that what makes the festival special is the quality of comedic content they showcase, which is:
Sometimes a bit rough, sometimes confronting, and definitely not for the children.
Milkmen (2003), writer & prod. Peter Templeman. dir. Luke Eve.
Amongst Coffey's favourites are two shorts from Perth director Robert Forsythe, Mensroom and Stump, the former following a desperate man's attempts to hold it in whilst on a date. Others to look out for include Cheeses of Nazareth, which is a take on religion and the obscenities of the church, and Milkmen from award-winning writer and producer Peter Templeman. Templeman was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film in 2007 for The Savoir, and has since gone on to work on episodes of hit Aussie TV shows Offspring and Wanted.
Festivals Comedy