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The Premier, Lara Giddings, today launched the 2011 Tasmanian Breath of Fresh Air Film Festival (BOFA).
In its second year, the festival will take place in and around the Inveresk Precinct in Launceston over five days from 23 to 27 November 2011, with support from Screen Tasmania and Events Tasmania.

“It is really exciting that Tasmania has its own, dedicated film festival,” Ms Giddings said.

“BOFA looks set to become another wonderful event on an increasingly busy calendar that includes festivals with a global reach, such as Festival of Voices and MONA FOMA.

“The best of Tasmania will be on show to the world over the five day event, which is much more than a traditional film festival.

“The Festivale of Film is a day-long party of food, wine and cinema, showing off some of Tasmania’s finest produce against the backdrop of food and drink related films in an outdoor setting.

“The Big Ideas Series will see debates on contemporary issues and how these are both reflected as well as influenced by filmmakers.

“Master classes on writing, producing, acting and the business of film making will encourage our local screen industry and provide many networking opportunities with the invited local, national and international speakers and presenters.

“And there will be prizes for films entered in competition, including a Best Tasmanian Short Film award which I am certain local film-makers will be very excited about.”

Festival Director, Owen Tilbury, said he was excited to see the festival move from its humble beginnings in 2010 to become one of the big ticket Tasmanian events.

“This all began when I retired and wondered why Tasmania had Australia’s largest film society but no film festival to call its own,” Mr Tilbury said.

“I realised that the only reason why not was because nobody had set one up, and from that came last year’s small but very successful festival.

“This year, with the support of the State Government and other partners and sponsors, the festival will be much larger and really show the world what Tasmania has to offer.

“BOFA is Australia’s newest and freshest film festival.

“The festival will showcase shorts, features and documentaries that provide fresh perspectives and innovative approaches to screen based storytelling.

“It will feature a strong programme of films that will be entertaining, insightful and hopefully provocative, because BOFA is about provoking and stimulating positive thought and change.

“There is a lot of talent in the Tasmanian screen industry and BOFA will be a great opportunity for that talent to be seen by a very large number of guests.

“It was vitally important to me that we have a Best Tasmanian category in competition for this very reason.

“BOFA is about the power of film, both to entertain and inform, but is also about showing the world just how extraordinary Tasmania is.”

BOFA will run from 23 to 27 November 2011. Program details will be finalised and available at www.bofa.com.au in the coming weeks.

Press Release from Lara Giddings, Premier of Tasmania.

Further information: Tasmanian Government Communications Unit
Phone: (03) 6233 6573