Richard Featherstone

R

While there is no denying from me that The Arts Centre Gold Coast is a lovely venue to host the annual Gold Coast Film Festival, I was a little bit sceptical about the decision to choose that location compared to the usual shopping centre option of previous years (Eg. Pacific Fair / Australia Fair). However, while they may not have had the sheer traffic of people to promote the festival to this year, this did not correlate to a decline in patronage. In fact, the opposite is true. This year the Gold Coast Film Festival had two main venues: The Arts Centre Gold Coast where many main screenings were held, and the Birch Carroll and Coyle Cinemas in Coolangatta which had a few unique screenings of its own alongside several simultaneous and repeat screenings. With 75 films on offer, multiple lectures from experts in the film industry and multiple other free/paid events on offer; there was clearly something to suit almost every taste.