Last year, then-19-year-old filmmaker from Austinmer, Ollie Birt, had his short film Rumours short-listed as a finalist in the Straight 8 international competition. One of just eight films selected worldwide in the prestigious contest, which is part of Cannes Film Festival, Rumours was on show in front of industry leaders from across the world. This incredible achievement was a surreal moment for the young talent, who says he was “stoked but also extremely nervous,” when he found out his movie would be premiered in Cannes.

We chatted to Ollie about Rumours, starring Wombarra-local Billy Fisher, and what he’s up to now…

Have you been always been interested in filmmaking?
I’ve been making films for a quite a while now. I started mucking around with my family camcorder and doing stop motion with LEGO and clay. I really enjoyed watching films as a kid, but it wasn’t until I’d spent a whole lot of time experimenting with filmmaking that I began to watch my favourite films again and be aware of what was happening on screen. I became obsessed with the all the technicalities involved with making movies and wanted to be a part of it.

Tell us about the process of making the short film?
Straight 8 is an international competition where entrants must shoot a short film on one roll of super 8 film, with no retakes or post-production. This restriction was a huge challenge as you’re basically shooting a film “blindfolded” with every bit of footage you shoot ending up in the final film. I recorded the narration with the talented Wil Rahmann first as a digital audio file, then used that to plan the film down to the second, to make sure the image and audio stayed in time. I spent a day making the props with Billy Fisher and Eloise Cochrane, then all four of us shot the film over two days at Tarrawanna Fish Shop, Retro Wombat in Thirroul and a few other local spots. We then bubble wrapped it, popped it in a parcel and sent it to London. The competition organisers’ process the film so the first time the we saw the film was together with the audience at the Cannes Film Festival.

What was the inspiration for Rumours?
Rumours was really just trying to capture that ‘small town feeling’. It is a hyperbolised version of the funny stories that used to spread amongst the kids in our suburb.

What an achievement being a finalist at Cannes! How did you feel when you found out?
It was pretty surreal. I felt like I needed to go to Cannes with some fresh ideas or scripts, but I wasn’t prepared, so I was kind of overwhelmed. I ended up going with eight of my friends, which was an awesome experience. I’d love to be back there soon.

What are you working on now?
I just started my first year at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in Sydney and I’m super excited to get into that. I’ve been directing a few music videos in the last few months, which has been a ton of fun and I’m writing two feature films with a mate of mine, which has been a great way to stay busy during isolation!

Watch Rumours and spot the local landmarks!