An Otford film-maker is in line to win an award from a prestigious Australian film organisation.
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Anya Beyersdorf’s film Vampir is one of the finalists in the drama category of Social Shorts competition.
It’s a film about a strange man who comes to a new town and all the local kids think he may be a vampire.
The Social Shorts competition is run by the Australian Film Institute (AFI) and the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA).
“Winning an AACTA award, it’s probably the biggest film award you can win in Australia,” Ms Beyersdorf said.
“So it’s quite exciting to be in the running for the award.”
The competition is online and the winning film is the one with the most likes.
Ms Beyersdorf said having the films online meant they could receive a wider audience that normally afforded to short films.
“Usually your short film goes to a few festivals and a few hundred people will see it, even if it’s incredibly successful,” she said.
“It’s not really until you open up the access and put it online that everybody can see the film.
“I’m actually really enjoying having random people write to me and tell me how much they enjoy it.”
If Ms Beyersdorf were to win the drama category it would be the film-maker’s second big win of the year.
In June, she was one of the winners of a Lexus Australia Short Film Fellowship, which gives her $50,000 to make a film.
She described the win as “a huge surprise”.
“I was feeling pretty good until I saw the list of everyone else who was shortlisted and I thought, ‘okay, everyone on there was incredibly talented and had been awarded at other big festivals’,” she said.
“So I was just happy to be in the running for it.”
The film script she entered was for How The Light Gets In, which she is now making.
That $50,000 was vital in bringing the film to life.
“It makes a huge difference - there was no film and now there’s going to be a film,” she said.
“Not only is there a film it’s also got a guaranteed screening at the Sydney Film Festival next year
“It’s hard to raise the money to make a film, then making a film is incredibly hard, editing it is incredibly hard but the hardest thing is actually getting it in front of people.
“So be given this opportunity to make a film that is definitely going to be in front of an audience at the State Theatre in Sydney at one of the biggest and best film festivals in the world is incredible.”
Ms Beyersdorf’s Social Shorts entry film Vampir can be viewed and voted on at socialshorts.com.au/drama.
Voting ends on Sunday, August 7.