Nanna Power: the story of the Gloucester Knitting Nannas, has been officially selected for the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival and the Far South Film Festival.
Nanna Power was the first production from Treechange Films, a collaboration between Gloucester Advocate journalist, Anne Keen and Pete White from Bulahdelah.
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Anne and Pete first learned their film had been officially selected for the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival in May this year.
"It was really surreal. I read the email a few times, Pete read the email a few times. It was a pinch yourself kind of thing. It was unexpected," Anne said.
"We were trying to figure out if it was even real. We were a bit surprised!"
The Melbourne Documentary Film Festival is a major film festival, with more than 100 films officially selected from Australia and internationally.
"There's some pretty major films in there. When you get in with the calibre of feature length films that have big names attached to them and large budgets, it gives you an idea of the size of the film festival," Anne said.
Originally, Nanna Power was to be shown at Cinema Nova in Carlton on July 31. Anne had her tickets to Melbourne booked and was excited at the chance to be able to view their film on the big screen.
However, organisers of the festival had to move the screening of all films as the state of Victoria went into lockdown, along with NSW. The new date of the screening of Nanna Power was set to be September 14 but with Victoria shutting down its borders to NSW, Anne didn't event attempt to book new flights.
"It's kind of bittersweet. It was really exciting to be chosen in the film festivals. The opportunity to see it in the cinema was really exciting, to the point that I was going to fly to Melbourne to see it," Anne said.
As the Melbourne lockdown continues, the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival is now taking place entirely online. It's due to run from October 1 to 31.
The Far South Film Festival is not a new experience for Anne. Her solo debut short film, Undermining a Community, highlighting the fragmentation of the Gloucester community caused by Gloucester Resources Limited's plans for the open cut Rocky Hill Mine, was a finalist in the festival in 2020.
Again, the timing couldn't be worse, and the Far South Film Festival also had to move entirely online. Nanna Power screened on the Far South Film Festival website for a week from August 21.
Nanna Power has received a positive review by Documentary Drive, an online magazine dedicated to the art of documentary film.
"That was really nice, to actually have a review done of it, to hear someone else's opinion of it." Anne said.
Treechange Films has been working on a project through Screenworks, which is due to be released in October 2021.
"From that we're hoping to release a longer version of it, which again will feature someone from the region."
Visit Melbourne Documentary Film Festival website at mdff.org.au to get your tickets for the online festival. Check out the Treechange Films Facebook page for information about the release of its current project.
Julia Driscoll
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times for seven years. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings. Career highlights have involved environmental stories - bringing the plight of the little known endangered Manning River helmeted turtle to the attention of the public, resulting in wide-spread knowledge in the community and conservation action; and breaking the news of the Manning River ceasing to run for the first time in recorded history.
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times for seven years. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings. Career highlights have involved environmental stories - bringing the plight of the little known endangered Manning River helmeted turtle to the attention of the public, resulting in wide-spread knowledge in the community and conservation action; and breaking the news of the Manning River ceasing to run for the first time in recorded history.
