Fabulous long weekend down in Sydney visiting my darling little sister Rosie and lapping up the delights of Flickerfest (which the clever thing programmed). My first film festival since Cannes 2009 and a world away, but what’s not to like about watching the world’s best short film, outdoors, on Bondi Beach? Amazing stuff.
I saw loads of wonderful shorts. My highlight was Brick Novax’s Diary, whereby penniless former international super legend Brick (with only weeks to live), records his amazing tales as an astronaut, movie star, corporate CEO, and famous musician to preserve his legacy as the coolest guy in the history of the universe.
As well as Flickerfest I drank deep from the cultural cup over the opening weekend of the Sydney Festival, enjoying Sir Norman Jay, Gurrumul and Manu Chao at the Festival First Night in the Domain, plus Brook Andrew’s Travelling Colony, the Barefoot Divas and I Am Eora at Black Capital in Redfern’s Carriageworks.
And, being in Sydney, I wasn’t going to miss Bronte and Tamarama, the Royal Botanical Gardens and a few languid laps of Andrew Boy Charlton Pool. Plus Picasso at the Art Gallery of NSW, House at the Museum of Sydney and Mapping Antarctica at the Mitchell Library.
Mental stimulation of the highest order for this poor, starved Far North Queensland culture vulture.
If there’s a prettier city in the world than Sydney, I’ve yet to see it.