Inspiring and bringing together young artists film at a time: A glimpse into Sydney's own See Thru Film Festival.
See Thru Film Festival was a lively gathering of creative minds in Sydney's inner west. Founders Lottie, Alex and Ziggy carefully selected a diverse range of short films that left attendees with fresh ideas, lingering questions and newfound inspirations in mind. Ziggy Tow gives us insight into the festival's formation whilst emerging Sydney filmmaker, Joseph Michael, discusses his work 'The Mould on the Wall' and why collaboration is key.
Who are you and why are you here tonight?
Hi, I’m Ziggy! I co-setup this event with Alex and Lottie. Big shoutout to them!
What was your reason for putting tonight on?
We just felt like there was a space that could be filled by Sydney culture. There wasn’t really an Inner West-specific film scene and we wanted to fill that gap. Our biggest inspiration was Garden Reflexxx. I don’t know if you’ve heard of them, but they’ve done a bunch of short film screenings similar to this. They’ve moved on to Melbourne now.
How did you come across so much emerging talent?
Well, life is about making friends. Most of the people that made films tonight are just friends of mine that wanted to share their stuff. There were also a lot of random entries too, I’m not actually too sure how they came across it, probably just from people sharing stuff.
still from Perfect Marble.
You had two of your own films shown tonight. Are you a filmmaker?
Guilty, guilty! Yeah, I have 2 short films in there. One of them uses early forms of ai generation in a multimedia sort of way. The other is Alex and I's short film, 'Perfect Marble' which plays with the split screen format.
Where did you pull inspiration from for your films?
I get inspiration from a lot of places, but more specifically, the music video 'Sugar Water' for Cibo Matto by Michel Gondry was a huge inspiration for our film. Michel Gondry in general is a big inspiration for me.
What's next for See Thru Film Festival?
2024 we’re doing one! Tonight seems like it had a pretty good outcome.
Who are you and why are you here tonight?
Hi, my name is Joseph! I’m at See Thru Film Festival because I really wanted to support Ziggy Tow. I adore independent film festivals and the diverse talent they showcase. Ziggy was also kind enough to act in my film, and so I wanted to give back that support. He gives a wonderful performance in it, and so I was eager to get a bit of an audience reaction to the film and the awesome cast we assembled.
Could you tell us a bit about the film you were a part of?
I wrote and directed a little short film called ‘The Mould on the Wall’. It takes inspiration from a real-life fungus known as Cordyceps, which mind controls species such as bull ants and eventually kills its hosts. I wanted to fuse that with the vibe of a Sydney share-house.
What are three words to sum up the general feel of your film?
Fun, crazy and eerie. It speaks for itself I think.
still from The Mould on the Wall.
Why do you think events like tonight are important for the local community?
Events like this are really important for people who want to say something and tell a story. I think an audience is really why we make art in the end. For Ziggy and his team to be able to put on and host something like this, where people can get together and discuss so many diverse films, makes for a really fun night. It's also quite thought-provoking as well.
What does collaboration mean to you in your craft?
I could not have made ‘The Mould on the Wall’ without so many different people involved. It’s so important for a team to come together and make something amazing. What I think is even more important is for people our age to collaborate. We are the workforce that’ll be the future right? They always tell us that at Uni. I feel like the network I’m creating is just people I love and people I want to work with. Hopefully in the years to come we can become the creatives that we currently admire. I just hope we all are successful but true to ourselves in what we make.
