By ALESHA CAPONE
THE Zakanj family are still flying high after their animated movie, featuring a cheeky and clever cockatoo, won a prize at the 2012 Sunshine Short Film Festival.
Presently the family are making another film to enter in the 2013 SSFF contest, which will be held on 11 September at the Village Cinemas in Sunshine.
Last year, the Zakanj’s three-minute movie The Bird won the ‘school’ section of the competition.
Parents Rebecca and Robert – along with Thomas, 13, Mary 12, Jessica,10, Holley, eight-year-old Holley and Lilly, aged five – collaborated on the project.
Their stop-motion film, set at the Sunshine train station, featured 1886 separate camera shots.
“We were surprised at how many shots we had to take,” Mrs Zakanj said.
The family stayed up until 4am some nights to finish The Bird, which featured Plasticine characters voiced by Mr and Mrs Zakanj, and Jessica.
Lilly, the youngest child, played the role of chief camera operator.
Thomas said his siblings were excited to win at last year’s film festival.
“Mary jumped up, I sat up and down and then we all went on stage,” Jessica said.
Mr Zakanj said with mobile phones, iPads and the apps available on them, movie-making has become more accessible to the general public.
“Everyone is surprised when we say that we won a short film festival,” he said.
“We were very surprised to win. It was very surreal.
“Just for the children to see their own film in the cinema in front of all those people was reward enough.”
Mr Zakanj encouraged other Brimbank residents to enter their own short films in this year’s festival.
Entries are due by 1 September. The Sunshine Business Association has invited everyone to submit films which run no longer than five minutes.
See www.sunshinefilmfestival.com.au for competition categories. Star News Group and Brimbank City Council are proud sponsors of the festival.
