December 2011 - Mornington Peninsula Business Online

Peninsula Space for Short article.... Film ? Festival
Rosebud’s former Broadway cinema roared back to life with
the inaugural Peninsula Short Film Festival [PSFF]. 500 cinema
patrons, who came from across Melbourne and interstate were
entranced with a variety of short fi lms from all genres.
Over 100 entries were submitted, and of the top ten fi nalists
seven were Mornington Peninsula entrants. Themes covered
comedy, environment, mental health, modern life, living in a
marginalised world, and social media. The standard of entries was
sensational and augurs well for future contributions.
The organisers of the PSFF have big plans for the event in
future years and the Business Development Team will be again
supporting the organisers in their quest. The Film Festival fulfi ls
a key date in the Shire’s events calendar that will hopefully
grow into a nationally recognised event. Secondly, the PSSF will
encourage budding fi lm makers, writers, producers and directors
into the entertainment arena. This is an industry with great
potential and there is opportunity for new entrants to make a
mark even on the international stage.
Jayco Herald Sun Tour
The MPS sponsored the Queens Stage of this year’s Jayco Herald
Sun Tour cycle race from Sorrento to Arthurs Seat. The gruelling
134 kilomtre race included 3 ascents of Arthurs Seat and this
proved to be a decisive stage of the race and it is an ideal site to
create a special major event..
The carnival atmosphere on Arthurs Seat was fantastic with
several thousand spectators lining the hill just like its famous big
brother Alpes d’eus of the Tour de France. SBS2 covered the
race live with direct feed throughout Australia into New Zealand
and Asia. The social Blog Sites were absolutely enthusiastic about
the event and we hope to create the Mt Panorama of Cycling on
Arthurs Seat. The JHST will emerge as Australia’s pre-eminent
stage cyle race and more importantly be an attractor for cyclist
tourism, an emerging high yied tourism market segment.
Just like the Tour de France, thousands of cyclists will precede, or
follow the route and these cycling tourists are high yield tourists
who will stay in the region and purchase our local produce.
The major winners in the fi rst year were:
1st IPhone Warfare by George & Luke Arnold
2nd Go, Go, Go by Frank Magree
3rd Kevin Is by Matt Mirams
Film buffs, students, families and the general public joined
celebrity judges including Samuel Johnson, Lachy Hulme, David
Reyne, Nash Edgerton, Kaarin Fairfax, Sally Ballieu and John
Molloy to view the 10 shorts selected as fi nalists, with the
winning entry Iphone Warfare by George and Luke Arnold
winning the overall $3,000 prize.
To complement the event the SBS coverage highlighted the
regions attractions surrounding the race route, and the Tourism
Team were responsible for organising the commentary. Many
positive testimonials have been received about the TV coverage
and commentary.
The start of the race in Sorrento became a part of the weekend
festival, and there is great potential to showcase the famous
village in conjunction with the JHST.
Congratulations to all the organisers, Hinterland Tourism
Association for running the Scarecrow Festival, Sorrento
Chamber of Commerce and Beachside Tourism Association for
making the inaugural event such a success and for establishing
the platform to build the event. The pictures clearly show the
family friendly atmosphere that everyone helped to create and
next year will be even better.
Peninsula Prospects December 2011 Page 3