Black garb a nod to film premiere

With the opening night of the CinefestOZ festival just weeks away, some of the event’s leading women got into character recently, paying tribute to Ladies in Black — one of the four film prize finalists.

The 11th annual festival will kick off on Wednesday, August 22, with opening night festivities including a red carpet event before the premiere screening of Ladies In Black followed by an evening of canapes and entertainment at the Festival Hub.

Jirga, 1%, and The Merger are also in the running for the $100,000 film prize, with the winner to be decided by the film prize jury chaired by award-winning Australian feature film, television and theatre actor Sigrid Thornton.

Festival patron David Wenham will again join the festivities, along with Logie-winning actor Tasma Walton, writer, actor and singer Lucy Durack, Logie-winner John Howard, indigenous actor Kelton Pell and actor Emma Booth.

The festival will present 11 world and 18 Australian premieres, presenting a blend of documentaries, feature films and short films.

The line-up of world premieres include Lift - a seven part series written by Lucy Durack, Roll With It - a documentary following the Australian men's wheelchair basketball team on their two year journey to the 2014 World Championships, and the mystery thriller Reaching Distance starring WAAPA Graduate Sophia Forrest, Morgan Griffin and Matt Day.

Audiences are invited to explore a diverse program including more than 150 film screening and event options as part of the festival from Wednesday, August 22 to Sunday, August 26.

For the full festival program, visit cinefestoz.com.