CLOSING NIGHT: COME HOME A tribute to lost souls - three shorts. More films to be announced. Bird, a 5 minute short fiction film, directed by Melanie Brunt. ‘Bird’ was shot on anamorphic 35mm by Simon Ozolins, edited by Maryjeanne Watt, with sound design and music composition by Roberto Salvatore. It is a story about a female junkie, her isolation, addiction and the brief bond she forms with an injured budgie. She sees herself in the little bird – helpless and broken. The film depicts the drug addict in an ugly yet vulnerable state. She is thoughtless, selfish and yet manages to commit a surprising act of compassion. Melanie Brunt graduated with 1st class Honours from the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), School of Film & Television in Melbourne Australia, where she made 3 short films – “Inheritance”, “Hindsight” and “Rain”, which she wrote, directed and edited. Her short films screened in competition at international film festivals in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Chile, France, Japan & Australia, including the Palm Springs International Short Film Festival and the Melbourne International Film Festival. “Rain” won Best Short Film at the In The Bin Short Film Festival in Queensland. Dugong by Erin White A loner and his dog return home on the day of his brother's wedding to repair the past, but he learns in order to make amends he must leave a piece of himself behind. Playground by Eve Spence Making friends can be a dangerous venture. Two young brothers trespassing on a building site are chased and cornered by a guard dog. Rescued by the dog’s unlikely master, Floyd, the boys enter his worldly ‘playground,’ where a fragile friendship is formed and tested. Eve studied filmmaking at the University of Technology, Sydney, then at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, Australia. She has worked extensively as a Script Supervisor in film and television in both Australia and the UK. Her previous short films “Memento” 1998, and “Six O’Clock Swill” 2000 have screened at numerous international festivals. Eve is developing a number of long form projects and is currently based in the UK.