Big wins for Aussie filmmakers

Almost all of the award winning films at this year’s Melbourne Queer Film Festival were locally made, with three out of the four winners coming from Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

It’s a coup for Melbourne’s Lee Galea and his film, Monster Pies, which is the first Australian film to take out the festival’s Audience Choice for Best Feature.

It reduced crowds to tears but Galea and his team walked away with the coveted audience choice ticket and $2000 after its world premiere in Melbourne on Sunday, March 24.

There has only been six Australian feature films screened at MQFF in the past 15 years.

The Audience Award for Best Documentary went to Call Me Kuchu, directed by Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall.

It investigated proposed laws in Uganda to make homosexuality punishable by death and followed a small band of local activists who defied persecution.

Sydney director Christopher Stollery’s short film, Dik, took out three of the six awards at this year’s festival, including Audience Choice Award for Best Film and Australian Best Film, and Jury Award City of Melbourne for Best Australian Short film.

His nine-minute short follows a six-year-old boy who brings home a piece of schoolwork which provokes his parents to question his sexual orientation.

Brisbane’s Luke Mayze won the Jury Award for Best Film in the short film screening, Celluloid Casserole, for his film Silver Stiletto.

Galea told the Star Observer he was still in shock a day after being told the good news.

“I’m still in shock… I couldn’t believe it because I just thought I saw some of the quality at the festival and I didn’t think we had a chance,” he said.

“It was very unexpeceted and surprising and I nearly broke down into tears on the phone.”

He said the audience’s response was overwhelming, receiving unexpected laughs and a long applause once it had finished.

“Even at the Q&A afterwards, I didn’t think it was going to be that well received, I was expecting a few suggestions or negative comments but there was nothing.”

Galea said he had initially hoped Monster Pies would be as good as the 1996 British film, A Beautiful Thing, and added he felt it was “nearly on par”.

Monster Pies will be screening again at ACMI on April 9 and 18 from 7.30pm.

Monster Pies Trailer from Lee Galea on Vimeo.