This year’s North Bellarine Film Festival is to screen the biopic of British singing powerhouse Amy Winehouse as its opener.
The film Back to Black will open the festival on November 15 in Portarlington, coinciding with the 18th anniversary release of Winehouse’s iconic album.
Originally released 2006, Winehouse’s highly influential and Grammy-Award winning Back to Black album was a commercial and critical success, ultimately becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time.
The 2024 feature film, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson OBE and starring 2023 Screen International Star of Tomorrow Marisa Abela as Winehouse, follows the tragic true story of the singing powerhouse before her
untimely death at 27 in 2011.
Now in its eighth year, the NBFF has become the Bellarine Peninsula’s premier event for watching feature and short films, drawing an audience of film lovers and filmmakers from across the region, Victoria, and interstate.
The two-day program at Portarlington’s Parks Hall will encompass an exciting selection of feature and short films, and special guest talks, from established and emerging filmmakers.
“The North Bellarine Film Festival is a popular event on the City’s arts and culture calendar and has been delivering high quality cinema to residents and visitors to the region since its inception in 2017,” festival chair Bill Lussier said.
The festival opens Friday 15 November at 7.30pm with a ‘Women in Film’ program stream highlighting true stories of remarkable women by female directors. Screening alongside Back to Black is the multi award-winning short, Daisy, by St Leonards actor/producer/screenwriter Cassidy Krygger, about her great-grandmother’s pursuit of true love in defiance to the societal conventions of 1930s Australia. A Q&A with Cassidy will follow.
Saturday’s program features both Short Film and Emerging Artist program streams, with three awards – the Emerging Filmmaker Award, the Emerging Documentary Award and the People’s Choice Award – presented to Victorian filmmakers aged 25 or younger.
More information and tickets northbellarinefilmfestival.org
