Swinburne University filmed Tales from Yarriambiack Shire

Tales from Yarriambiack Shire, is a joint project between Yarriambiack Shire Council, local residents, and Swinburne University of Technology and will premiere at the 2021 Dublin Smartphone Film Festival on Saturday, January 30.

Senior lecturer and filmmaker at Swinburne University, Max Schleser, said the project consisted of five short films shot entirely on smartphones in the town.

"We were commissioned by Yarriambiack Shire Council to create five short stories about the community. One of the films also featured a 360 degree interactive video component," he said.

Mr Schleser worked with research fellows from Swinburne University on the project, and said filming took them to several locations around Yarriambiack Shire, including the Murtoa stick shed, the Farming Heritage museum, and Hopetoun.

"They were shot in a very much collaborative way," he said.

"We had lots of discussions with community members to find out who to interview and where to film.

"We were really keen about letting the stories develop through the community perspective. So there was a lot of consultation about what the stories should be and where they should be filmed."

The short film shot in Minyip focused on the Flying Doctors television series and the impact it had on the town.

Mr Schleser had planned to showcase the films to the Yarriambiack community alongside workshops to inspire amateur filmmakers in the area but due to COVID-19 however, the workshops had to be cancelled.

Instead he submitted the films to film festivals around the world, where they have been positively received. In 2020, they were screened at St Kilda Film Festival New York University's Cellphone Film Showcase.

The Minyip short film will be online from January 30 to February 6.

To see the five films in full, visit http://bit.ly/YarriambiackTales.