There’s no place like home, and Northern Rivers high school students will learn they don’t need to leave theirs to pursue a career in the creative industries at the Bangalow Film Festival.
As part of SAE University College’s proud sponsorship of the local film festival, which will be celebrating its fifth consecutive year, Department Coordinator of Audio, Music, Film, Games, Animation and Creative Industries Dirk Terrill will be giving a workshop for high school students on May 1, on the creative process behind two award-winning SAE films made in the region.
Bangalow showcases the best of international and Australian feature films and award-winning documentaries with a program boasting more than 20 exclusive premieres, special screenings and industry panels across the ten-day run from April 30 to May 4.
The festival was initially scheduled for March 2025 but delayed due to the impacts of Cyclone Alfred. With new dates, high school students will still be able to get a hands-on look at what happens behind the camera, when Dirk Terrill presents his workshop which will explore how the internationally acclaimed short films from SAE students were made.
“We will be discussing the processes for creating two films which were recognised at the SAE International Awards, both created at SAE’s Byron Bay campus,” he said.
“We’ll be taking an in-depth look at the processes required to get to that end, to show those students what’s possible within the few years that occurs straight after high school.”
The animated games trailer Trinket by SAE students Jarmila Sustrova, Crystal Wilkes and Alisha Doherty-Hough, alongside Chasing the Breeze, a documentary on two Ballina kitesurfers by Noah Malin, will be the two films featured.
“I think these films show the high school students what’s possible,” Dirk said.
Dirk will also dive into the role of AI in the creative industries and how SAE incorporates the developing technology into its teaching, and what roles it does, and doesn’t, have in creative production.
“AI doesn’t assist very well in storytelling, it’s not a storyteller – that’s who we are as humans,” he said.
“But my gosh, has it helped us with some of the pre-production processes and production processes that we’ve found previously tedious.”
“We’re big proponents of the use of AI, but always disclosing, giving credit and making sure that we’re not claiming that work to be our own because it is just not.”
