LOCAL film director Nicholas Verso’s short film Hugo hit the screen for the first time at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne last Wednesday.
More than 300 people turned up to the special preview.
The film cost about $120,000 to make, with funding from the Australian Film Commission, and has been one of the biggest productions the 27-year-old has worked on to date.
“It was really nice to have a good turn-out, and it’s always scary because you don’t know how people are going to respond,” Mr Verso said.
“And this is the screening where the opinions really matter because they are the people who have worked on it, my friends, family, so it means a lot to me.
“But everyone seems to have been enchanted by it … which was the goal. We wanted to make something magical and slightly nostalgic,” he said.
The storyline is a simple one, but the film is a riveting, dark fairytale fantasy all the same – kudos to director of photography Lazlo Baranyai, and lead actors Sianoa Smit-McPhee and Andre Jewson.
Hopefully, the public will be able to catch Hugo at the Melbourne International Film Festival in July.
“Now we’re submitting it to festivals … and the main one we’re aiming for is the Melbourne International Film Festival,” Mr Verso said.
But Hugo is essentially a kids’ film, and whether it gets chosen will depend on what festival organisers are looking for, he said.
“There are so many short films around at the moment, and you never can tell what people are going to like … especially because a lot of adults go to these films.
“So hopefully they like it, and they see that adults will get something out of it, too,” Mr Verso said.
“But there are others, like the St Kilda Festival, Fitzroy Shorts … so we’ll definitely have more Melbourne screenings,” he assured.
There are also plans to go overseas with Hugo later this year, Mr Verso said.
“There are so many interesting film festivals in Europe … so we’re going to start sending it over there, and it’ll be interesting to see what the response is, because Europe really is the home of the fairytales,” he said.
Apart from promoting Hugo, Mr Verso, who grew up in Williamstown and had his first brush with the acting world when he was eight under the tutelage of local drama teacher Diana Greentree – also cast in this film – hopes his overseas stint will give him greater exposure to the industry.
“I want to do some work overseas before I come back to work on my next film, which hopefully, we’ll start shooting at the end of this year, or next year,” he said.
But Mr Verso remains tightlipped when pressed for details about his next film.
“I can’t talk too much about it yet, but hopefully everything works out,” he says, with a smile.
