Maritime museum to host film fest event

June Negri, President of the Queenscliffe Maritime Museum, and Bill Lussier, President of North Bellarine Film Festival. (Ivan Kemp) 326907_07

The North Bellarine Film Festival (NBFF) and the Queenscliffe Maritime Museum will partner to screen classic Australian film The Dressmaker at the iconic Gil Allbutt Boat Shed on Thursday 27 April at 7:00 PM.

The feature film will be preceded by three short films, two of which were shortlisted as finalists for the NBFF’s Emerging Filmmaker award in 2022.

NBFF chair Bill Lussier said the event was the first of more to come as the festival sought to expand viewing opportunities for audiences on the Bellarine.

“The festival’s been going for seven years now, and our main festival event is in November, but we know there’s a real interest among people on the Bellarine in seeing really good, quality films,” Mr Lussier said.

“So we thought this was a good opportunity for us to get the festival out there a little bit more, rather than being just a once a year event.

“We have a couple of our committee members who are involved with the Queenscliffe Maritime Museum, and they said, wouldn’t this be a fantastic venue?

“(The Gil Allbutt Boat Shed) is such an atmospheric place, and it’s set up beautifully for showing films; the acoustics are excellent, and there’s not a bad seat in the place.”

June Negri, Queenscliffe Maritime Museum president, said she was looking forward to the event.

“The Queenscliffe Maritime Museum has been exhibiting artefacts and educating the public about our region’s rich maritime history since the 1980s,” she said.

“We are thrilled to be screening The Dressmaker in the Museum’s boat shed, which was designed by legendary Queenscliff boat builder and jazz drummer Gil Allbutt and built by volunteer labour under Gil’s direction.”