Sydney Lift-Off Film Festival 2020 - Network Round Shorts

Friday 27th November - Sunday 6th December

1.

God of Hope
Dir. Adam Kavanagh
Australia
Logline: See hope portrayed in the smile of a little girl after her heart surgery, in the encouraging faith of a cancer patient, and in the powerful story of light in the darkness. An inspirational documentary that follows the journey of three photographers in their quest to produce art that speaks hope to those in pain.

2.

Australia's Hidden Shame: The truth about roos
Dir. Daniel Clarke
Australia
Logline: More than 10 million kangaroos have died of disease and starvation across Australia in the past five years. So why doesn't anyone know about it? The national emblem is perishing on mass yet no-one seems to care.

3.

Power-Up
Dir. Fabrizio Ferretti
Australia
Logline: ..What if you had superpowers out of your will..?

4.

Lemons
Dir. Luke Oldknow
Australia
Logline: When a man is given just about every lemon life has to give and is at the end of his rope, a stranger turns up to offer some much needed Lemon-aid

5.

Island in the Sky
Dir. Nick Radford
Australia
Logline: A young partygoer, seemingly over his ex-girlfriend, discovers a mysterious but friendly light that helps him overcome his heartbreak in this musical drama by Sydney/NYC indie-rap band, Fallstars.

6.

Coffee Break
Dir. Thomas OBrien
Australia
Logline: Candice begins her first day at work, and as the days go and the repetition kicks in, so does the reality that things may not work out.

7.

Appetite
Dir. Xuemeng Li, Katrin Larissa Kasper
UK
Logline: Steph is a predatory dater. She always insists on paying. When a large bill arrives, she’s nowhere to be seen, for Steph is a serial dine-and-dasher. Wearing elaborate guises, she believes she can slip away from the table and not suffer the consequences. But everyone has to pay the bill in the end./em>

8.

House Guests
Dir. Tori Savage
Australia
Logline: A couple’s weekend away quickly escalates into horror.

9.

SLAG
Dir. Hannah-Rae Meegan, Monique Terry
Australia
Logline: When a video of a young girl having sex is posted on social media, she contemplates whether to reveal what really happened. In a single afternoon she finds out what it’s like when your online and offline worlds meet and how much worse losing your virginity becomes when it’s something to share, like and subscribe to.

10.

Streets of Lagos
Dir. Dom West
Australia
Logline:Shot on location in West Africa, 'Streets of Lagos' provides a rare insight into the lives of Nigeria’s first generation of rollerbladers. What was once a niche sport that saw widespread participation across the globe in the late 90’s has emerged in 2020 as a fringe subculture in the streets of Lagos. Originally used as a way to navigate the city’s dense traffic, today, a select few use their skates as a form of self-expression, something which can be hard to find in one of the toughest cities in the world.

11.

Mourners
Dir. Azita Damandan
Australia
Logline: A young boy is killed in a peaceful protest in Iran. His family can’t afford to pay for the bullet (as the government asks families for) to get his body and bury him. Other mums with the common issue join and…

12.

Way out
Dirs. Azita Damandan
Australia
Logline:  A peaceful protest in Iran turns to an uneven battle of powers, unarmed people vs gunmen bombarding them with bullets. A helpless girl escapes into a bush and there... encounters two guards ...

13.

Clockworkers
Dir. Nelson Dean
Australia
Logline: A clockwork hive rises from the ground. Its inhabitants, a colony of diligent workers, build upwards into the dark sky, all instinctively loyal to their mundane work. One worker is different, and, upon realising the expendability of its peers, ventures to the fiery depths of the hive to tackle the brutal system it is enslaved by.

14.

Vogue: Sixty Years through the Lens
Dir. Anthony Lau
Australia
Logline: 60 years of Vogue Australia (the fourth oldest Vogue in the world after only the US, UK and Paris). The documentary looks at the history of Vogue Australia, the impact and relationships the magazine has held with the rest of the world, and the direction the brand is moving in today, specifically focused around diversity, inclusivity and sustainability.