TAFE students Mike Packham (left), Tessa Jessop and Kristy Miller prepare for the film festival. Picture: ROBERT PEET

A still shot from Mike Packham's Helping Hands, which is part of The Night Falls Short Film Festival.

Budding Illawarra filmmakers will hit the big screen tonight, as Wollongong TAFE hosts its inaugural film festival.The Night Falls Short Film Festival will showcase the talents of TAFE's media and screen students, with an array of work being shown on a giant 8m by 5m inflatable screen.The event, at Wollongong TAFE's auditorium, is being hosted by Elektric Events, a not-for-profit event company established by second-year event management students.

Watch the short film Helping Hands "It's a two-way street," Night Falls project manager Tessa Jessop explained."The media students are helping us out, but we're also helping them out by getting their work out there."Ten event management students were responsible for co-ordinating the event, which is open to the public.The auditorium holds 144 people, or if the weather is good the event will be held outside."We're hoping this can become an annual event, all of the teachers are really excited about this."Screen and media student Mike Packham's short film, Helping Hands, will be one of the feature pieces vying for the $500 first prize."It's a stop-motion animation; an older technique seen in Gumby, or Wallace and Grommit," Mr Packham said."I shot it at home on a little domestic still camera. It's just like taking photo after photo and incorporating models and toys into the shots."

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A star is born: Illawarra film festival makes debut

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