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The Moorabool News – 8 March, 2022 Page 5
Jack Sillitoe received an award at the North Bellarine Film Festival. Photos - submitted
The next Tarantino?
By Lachlan Ellis An 18-year-old Moorabool man has taken out the ‘Emerging Filmmaker Award’ at the North Bellarine Film Festival, with the skilful cinematography and gritty story impressing the jury. Jack Sillitoe from Bacchus Marsh won a trophy and a $500 prize for his 12-minute film ‘Fixity’, which follows an investigative journalist being stalked by a criminal, who threatens him not to publish evidence of a murder. Fixity had a budget of just $500, and stars Jack as ‘The Journalist’, while his brother Max stars as ‘The Unknown Man’ stalking him. Craig Sillitoe, Jack’s father, is the film’s cinematographer. Mr Sillitoe thanked the organisers of the Film Festival, and said it was a wonderful surprise to receive the award. “I’d just turned 18, I was feeling great – and just to top that off, I got told I’d won this massive award, I was really
excited. For my family the excitement was double mine, I told my mum first because she was the only one home. She screamed, she knew I’d worked so hard on the film,” he told the Moorabool News. “I’ve been interested in filmmaking since about 2018, I started watching Tarantino films and from there, watched more and more films. First, I just enjoyed watching them, then I saw the structure of how they were made…at that point, I felt like I wanted to make one for myself, and understand how they work.” It’s Mr Sillitoe’s dream to start a career directing full feature length films, taking particular inspiration from artful directors like David Lynch and Akira Kurosawa. To any aspiring young filmmakers who weren’t sure how to begin, Mr Sillitoe said it all starts with picking up a camera. “I’d say just do what I did, I picked up a camera, went along with my mates, and just filmed anything and tried to make a story out of it. Recently I filmed a drive with my dad and
I, we do photography work and drive to Melbourne all the time,” he said. “We stopped a few times, I filmed some farms and sheep… so I’d say just go out there and film anything, then go back and edit it, try to make something out of it.” He is continuing to work on his portfolio, with the screenplay for a film called ‘Racquet’ currently in the works, set only on a tennis court. The Emerging Filmmaker Award was established in 2019 to recognise Victorians 25 years of age and under, who show excellence, talent, and commitment to filmmaking. Submissions for the 2022 Emerging Filmmaker Award open in April. To watch Mr Sillitoe’s award-winning film, visit his YouTube channel, ‘JackTheUnusual’, or type in ‘Fixity short film’ on your preferred search engine.