Coastal Surge Film Festival

16/11/2024

Announcing the 2024 Coastal Surge International Film Festival WINNERS!

What an exciting event across two nights! We couldn’t have been more excited about this year's programme, the awesome vibe of our wonderful audiences and the fantastic support offered by Creative Art Central, Central Coast Council, Avoca Beach Theatre, Everglades and Love Central Coast, The Lakes Festival and Central Coast Digital Media.

Congratulations to all the winners and to every storyteller who had their work screened during the event.

SHORT FILM AND DOCUMENTARY WINNERS

Best Film
WHAT A CATCH by Thomas Pickering

Best Regional Film
SYMPTOMS MAY INCLUDE DEATH by Dean Russell

Best Documentary
BENEATH THE SOIL by Peter Hartwig

Best Actress
Angela Kyle for THE LAST DRESS

Best Actor
Adam Johnson for JOSELINE

Best Cinematography
Angus Lowe for PLACES, PLEASE

Best Music
Jake Bourke for A GRIM TALE: THE CULT OF BALOR

MUSIC VIDEO EVENT WINNERS

Best Music Video
‘Love Again’ by Ruby Archer

Imagineer Award - best visual design
‘Nocturna’ by GabzaK

Showmanship Award - Best performance
‘If You Want It’ by LACE

Don’t forget to Follow on Instagram and keep an eye on our Facebook for more news and events -
https://www.instagram.com/coastal_surge_film_fest/
https://www.instagram.com/filmsandfeathers/

Tell your friends, share the word and let’s make this even bigger next year!

Amelia Foxton & Glenn Fraser
Festival Directors

Photos by the fabulous Phillip Maenpaa

12/11/2024

Musicians and filmmakers came together for the second night of Coastal Surge International Film Festival last weekend, for the Central Coast's first ever Music Video Awards, hosted at the iconic Everglades!

Amazing works were programmed and screened to an enthusiastic audience, with a fabulously supportive and joyful vibe in the room. We can't wait to do it again next year!

The winners of the evening were:
Showmanship award - Best Performance in a Music Video (trophy and $500 cash) to LACE,
Imagineer Award for Best Visual Design in a Music Video (trophy and $800 cash) to GazbaK, and
Best Music Video (trophy and $1000) went to Ruby Archer for her song 'Love Again'.

Special thanks to the team at Everglades for hosting and cash prizes, and to Central Coast Council, Creative Art Central and Love Central Coast, for their support, and to Central Coast Digital Media for the fabulous red carpet photos!

11/11/2024

The Coastal Surge International Film Festival Narrative and Documentary event at Avoca Beach Theatre last Thursday was a huge success!

The proof was in the audience reaction, a packed house and a sublime reaction to the heart, humour and horror on display on the screen.

It was such an incredible outpouring of love from the community, film lovers and artists - it really did demonstrate what we can all do so brilliantly here on the Coast. We couldn't have been more proud of the works on display and - with your support - we can't wait to do it all again next year.

Special thanks to Creative Art Central, Central Coast Council, Love Central Coast, The Lakes Festival, Central Coast Digital Media, Avoca Beach Theatre and morleysrecipes.

01/11/2024

CONGRATULATIONS to the officially selected music video creators! Your music videos will be screened at the Music Video Event on Friday 8th of November at the Everglades in Woy Woy, and you are also in the running for one of our amazing cash prizes! Details below.

Get your tickets to the event here:
https://www.ninthcircleentertainment.com/coastal-surge

What to expect on the night:

COASTAL SURGE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
presents the inaugural MUSIC VIDEO EVENT
Friday November 8th @ the Everglades in Woy Woy

From 6pm: Red carpet photos, a mixer with musicians, casts and crews and our judges panel of music industry professionals.

From 7pm: The selected music videos from local and national musicians and bands will be screened with a total run time of approx 1.5 hours. Our judges will select the winners on the night and the Awards Ceremony will take place after the screenings.

AWARDS

BEST MUSIC VIDEO - The best overall music video wins $1000 cash and a trophy

IMAGINEER AWARD - The best visual design wins $800 cash and a trophy

SHOWMANSHIP AWARD - The best performance in a music video wins $500 and a trophy

Food will be available from the bistro and drinks from the bar.

Grab your tickets now and spread the word!

Your hosts for the evening are Coastal Surge festival directors, Amelia Foxton and Glenn Fraser. Red carpet photos by Central Coast Digital Media.

Kindly supported by Creative Art Central, Love Central Coast, Central Coast Council and The Lakes Festival. Thanks to our judges Joe Foxton, Space Rock Inc and Kyle Horsley.

31/10/2024

The Coastal Surge SHORT FILMS & DOCOS EVENT takes place on Thursday November 7th from 6pm at Avoca Beach Theatre!

📽 Congratulations to all the filmmakers who have been selected to have their films screened at the event! We’re looking forward to seeing you there!

🎉 Spread the word and get your tickets here: (link in bio) https://www.ninthcircleentertainment.com/coastal-surge

On the night -

From 6pm:

Get your 📸 photos taken on the red carpet and mingle with our local and interstate filmmakers and VIPs, like Bill Bennett, Susan Prior, Tony Bonner, Stephen Hunter, Rob Carlton and many more!

🍲 Delicious hot food will be available by Alive - Plant Based Festival favourite, Morley's Recipes!

🎶 Show-stopping live tunes by Jemima and fabulous hosting by our friends at Avoca Beach Theatre, making it a night to remember!

From 7pm:

The selected films will be screened in the cinema, with a total run time of about 1.5 hours, followed by the Awards Ceremony, where the filmmakers whose films have been selected by our judges panel to win awards will receive their trophies.

Your hosts for the evening are festival directors, Amelia Foxton and Glenn Fraser.

Special thanks to Creative Art Central, Love Central Coast, NSW Australia, Central Coast Council and The Lakes Festival for their support.



Jake Frazer, Lucas Fatches, Andi Dyson, Steve Cooper, John Hresc, Yantra de Vilder, Damon van der Schuit, Tom Pickering, David Liam, Dean Russell, Peter Hartwig, Paul K Rye, Luca Blades, Ben Campbell, Stephen Jenner

23/10/2024

Get your tickets for Coastal Surge International Film Festival! https://www.ninthcircleentertainment.com/coastal-surge

Short Fiction & Documentary Event
Thursday, November 7th
Avoca Beach Theatre
https://events.humanitix.com/coastal-surge-film-festival-2024
From 6pm: Red carpet photos, live music and a mixer with casts and crews.
Screening from 7pm: An assortment of short films from local, national and international filmmakers. Screening time approx 1.5 hours, followed by awards ceremony.

Music Videos Event
Friday, November 8th
Everglades, Woy Woy
https://kingdomsounds.oztix.com.au/outlet/event/c733c120-dcd8-4f8f-b07c-a77ac7279101
From 6pm: mixer with musicians, music enthusiasts and industry professionals
Screening from 7pm: An assortment of music videos from local and national musicians and bands, run time approx 1.5 hours. The judges will select the winners on the night and the awards ceremony will take place after the screenings.

See you there!

Coastal Surge International Film Festival is presented by Amelia Foxton and Glenn Fraser of Ninth Circle Entertainment, and kindly supported by Creative Art Central, Love Central Coast, and Central Coast Council

15/10/2024

Fresh from their incredible success with THE WAY, MY WAY and its record-breaking 20-week run at the Aus/NZ box office, we are honoured to present the powerhouse couple of Bill Bennett & Jennifer Cluff to intro the Narrative & Documentary session of our Coastal Surge International Film Festival.

7 pm Thursday, November 7 @ the historic Avoca Beach Theatre.

Grab your tickets on the site below to join us for a unique celebration of short film, complete with a red carpet (from 6 pm), sensational hot food & fabulous live tunes.

https://events.humanitix.com/coastal-surge-film-festival-2024

ABOUT OUR GUESTS

Bill Bennett and Jennifer Cluff are perhaps Australia’s most enduring and respected producing partners. Married for forty-two years, they have been making films together for nearly all that time. From early award-winning dramatised documentaries, (The Cattle King – winner, Sydney Film Festival, Best Documentary) to their groundbreaking Outback film noir, Kiss or Kill - (winner, Australian Film Institute Awards for Best Picture and Best Director), their body of work over four decades includes films that have been distributed by most of Hollywood’s major studios, and won awards from some of the world’s most prestigious film festivals.

Bill has had two films in Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival, he’s had four films screen at the Toronto Film Festival, a film at Sundance and the New York Film Festival. He’s won the Crystal Globe for Best Picture at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, he’s won Best Picture at Italy’s Film Noir Festival, Best Picture, Audience Award at the Palm Springs Film Festival, and his work has been screened at the New York Museum of Modern Art, and the Chicago Institute of Art.

Bill Bennett, as a director, has been described by The Melbourne Age as one of the world’s great film realists.

07/10/2024

While Hollywood is wringing its hands at the 'unexpected' losses encountered by THE JOKER sequel, all of our amazing filmmakers entering their works at the Coastal Surge Film Festival - Short Drama & Documentary Session are trying to imagine what marvels they could conjure on the coffee budget on that film.

Trust that when you read the awesome programme of short works we've curated for your viewing pleasure on the night of Thursday, November 7 at Avoca Beach Theatre, there will be no audience disappointments delivered from this side of the Coast!

This programme is a banger, with our delicious selections to be released any day now!

'Joker: Folie à Deux' is bombing at the box office with a $39M opening.

20/09/2024

🎬 "Make movies", they said. "It'll be fun", they said. "You'll make new friends", they said. This post is dedicated to all the all of our submitting filmmakers who have survived the rough and tumble to get their films to us so far.

🎟 We know it's hard work, but we're all on the same page. So enjoy a little Friday schadenfreude and know that we love you equally for your obsessions. 😍

📽 And if you haven't entered your short fiction, narrative or music videos to Coastal Surge yet, get to it for the October 1 deadline. Entry to FilmFreeway in on the front page and in Comments below...

18/09/2024

Greetings, filmmakers and film lovers! For our next judge overseeing your fine works, let us introduce you to the esteemed Stephen Jenner. We are thrilled to announce that this cinephile, creative guru and US studio communications maestro Stephen Jenner will be joining us to bring a bit of real Hollywood glamour to our glorious Central Coast.

Stephen is the Vice President, Communications, of the Asia-Pacific Region for the Motion Picture Association International whose global mission is to advance and support the film, television and streaming content industry. Stephen manages all communications, public relations and educational outreach projects, with the objective of promoting and protecting the commercial and creative interests of the MPA’s represented studios and Asia’s screen communities.

Prior to his role with the MPA, Stephen worked as a special projects and communications consultant for screen industry associations throughout the Asia-Pacific region. He has also been involved in the film and television industry, both as a writer and producer for a number of television series, screen novelizations, short films, documentaries, and television commercials, winning the Australian Film Institute (AFI) Byron Kennedy Award in 2000 for establishing Inside Film Magazine and the Inside Film Awards.

Stephen has worked with large global media organizations, including Getty Images and image.net Ltd. in various senior regional roles. He held the position of Managing Director of Inside Film Magazine and Executive Producer Inside Film Awards from 1996 to 2001.

Stephen graduated from the University of Leicester in the UK with degrees in English and Philosophy. The MPA Studios include: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Netflix Inc., Paramount Pictures Corporation, Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., Universal City Studios LLC, and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

🎬 Enter your short fiction, docos and music videos now, deadline October 1! Get making, get entering, and get seeing your work on the big screen! ,

📽 Screenings of shorts on 7 Nov @ Avoca Beach Theatre and 8 Nov for music videos Everglades

05/09/2024

Dark Nights Film Fest program launch at the Ritz Cinemas in Randwick last night was epic and the Coastal Surge team was thrilled to join their fantastic sister fest in the flesh. We saw THE TUNNEL, THE OTHER SIDE OF DARKNESS, the documentary that explores the making of the epic Australian horror film THE TUNNEL, by Enzo Tedeschi and Julian Harvey, directed by Carlo Ledesma.

What a fabulous documentary and an epic evening.

Also announced last night was the line-up of the feature-length and short films showing at the Dark Nights Film Fest this year, from October 11 to October 13. Glenn and Amelia Foxton can’t wait to be there and hope to see you all there too!

13/08/2024

We’re excited to be on the radio on Friday morning ABC Central Coast Radio talking about all things filmmaking and the with the ever fabulous Scott Levi.

Filmmakers Amelia Foxton and Glenn Fraser will be live on the Arts Program at 6:45 am (!!) to talk about the upcoming film festival and what you can do to get your short films and music videos seen by the big crowds on the Central Coast as part of the Lakes Festival

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31/07/2024

Welcoming the first of our esteemed judges for this year's festival, the esteemed cinephile Dov Kornits. We're extremely grateful to have such a noted critic and distributor because we realise that - as filmmakers - making the film is only part of the battle. Getting your fine work seen, is really the cherry on top.

Come and meet Dov on the night of the screenings at the historic Avoca Beach Theatre on Thursday November 7!

A bit about Dov...

Dov Kornits co-founded Australia’s longest running consumer movie magazine Filmink in 1997 and continues to oversee it today.

In 2017, Dov worked as Head of Theatrical for Umbrella Entertainment, releasing films such as Rhiannon Bannenberg’s Rip Tide, Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here and Greg McLean’s Jungle into cinemas in Australia.

Dov founded film distributor Filmink Presents in 2019, releasing an eclectic slate, including Talking About Trees, Use Me, Hot Mess, The Killing of Two Lovers, Crock of Gold and The Legend of the Five.

In 2022, Dov exited Filmink Presents (aka as Pivot Pictures) and founded Screen Inc, which has released films such as Ingvar Kenne’s THE LAND, RED SHOES: THE NEXT STEP, STREETS OF COLOUR, IT ONLY TAKES A NIGHT, A ROYAL IN PARADISE and THE KOALAS.

In 2023, Dov co-curated the inaugural Inner West Film Fest in Sydney, which saw growth of 2000% in 2024.

29/07/2024

📽 Our venues are locked, our nights are booked and we're so excited to have your entries rolling in!

🎬 The Central Coast has such a huge community of talented artists, we want to ensure that no one misses out! Our next deadline is September 1, so get your short films, docos and music videos ready to show the world!

🎤 Special thanks to Creative Art Central, Central Coast Council & Love Central Coast, NSW Australia for their support of this event. Share the good news, artists!

🎟Enter your work here

Set on Australia's picturesque Central Coast, this boutique short film festival is now in its sophomore year. Supported by the Central Coast Council, Coastal...

08/07/2024

Welcome back to the Central Coast's biggest film festival! This time with trophies, prize money and a tonne of exposure.

For films up to 15 minutes (narrative and documentary) and an epic new music video clip competition open to Hunter residents and Coasties, we are thrilled that your films have already started rolling in!

Playing across two nights at the Avoca Beach Theatre and Everglades in Woy Woy as part of The Lakes Festival in November, we're thrilled to bring you the best visions of the Coast!

Entries are open now via FilmFreeway and is super easy to be part of. Enter here: https://filmfreeway.com/CoastalSurgeInternationalFilmFestival

Proudly supported by Central Coast Council and Love Central Coast, NSW Australia.

Follow us on Insta at and for any questions, drop us a line at [email protected] and find more info at www.ninthcircleentertainment.com/coastal-surge

04/07/2024

We are going global - musos, bands and filmmakers - it's gonna be heady! Head on over to FilmFreeway and enter your work! https://filmfreeway.com/CoastalSurgeInternationalFilmFestival

Screenings across the Central Coast on November 7 and 8 as part of the The Lakes Festival and supported by Central Coast Council. ,