I have never been to such a packed film festival as The Heart Of Gold in Australia.

If it’s not meeting journalists and having your pic taken, then it’s a radio interview, or a fantastic seminar, or a screening of your film, or the temptation of all the other films on offer, or a drink with new mates, and finally, maybe some sleep! And it’s all in walking distance too!

I am so behind on the video Webisode because of all these incredible opportunities, but I am on it now, and it’s going to be a good one for sure. The pic here is of the guys who attended the Guerilla Film Makers Masterclass that was hosted by Heart Of Gold, so you can see it was a big group. They were also incredibly diverse too, with near first timers all the way to seasoned pros who had been working in the business for 40 years. This made for a very energetic two days.

It also gives you a real window into the kind of people at the festival, alongside the town folk of Gympie, and that diversity is why it’s been such a wonderful place to visit. I know I have mentioned her before, but I need to say it again – Angela Vogt, the festival publicist, has done such an incredible job. On the one side, I am exhausted from the endless barrage of interviews and photo ops, but on the other side, I know just how essential this is to the festival and also all of our movies, and I also know how most other festivals pay lip service to PR but never really deliver on the promise.

Angela and Toni are like an Australian dynamic duo and one of the reasons why Heart Of Gold is destined to become a major festival, albeit an unlikely one given it is in Gympie – but you know, maybe being in Gympie, or a town like Gympie, is exactly what a festival needs to keep its feet on the ground. So many other festivals I have been to have become a little self important and pretentious, but I could never ever see that happening with Heart Of Gold.

This evening I was whisked out of the whirlwind by G’Fisher AP Simon VanDerSpeol, to meet his family for a BBQ and the authentic Australian experience. And yes, the steak was lovely.

Right, I must get to sleep, I have a lot of editing to do tomorrow.

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author

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