Memories of My First Festival
Actor, Writer and Producer Matt Young.
I’m a working-class Australian actor. I’m not a household name, though you have probably seen me in a film, TV show or musical. You can watch me on SBS On Demand, ABC iview, Stan, Prime, Netflix, and sometimes I pop up in an afternoon TV movie. I’m one of the thousands of Australians who are part of the Queensland film industry.
I attended my first Vision Splendid Outback Film Festival in 2023, driving the four hours from Blackall, where I currently live, to Winton. I was a speaker on a panel about wellbeing in the film industry, and with my associate, Fikrte Bushell, I was to present a series of free acting masterclasses for the community.
I didn’t know where I was going to stay—I had my swag in the ute—and I was looking for an adventure.
The festival was incredible. With very little effort, I found myself chatting with film stars like Leah Purcell and Socratis Otto. I met producers, writers, cinematographers and other industry professionals. The streets were dotted with film students finishing short films to be screened on closing night. And the locals welcomed wayward travellers like myself with a hearty, “G’day!”
Matt Young at Breakfast With The Stars in 2023.
There were so many great films across different genres, which I consumed avidly at night. And as I sat in my sling-back cinema chair at the Royal Theatre watching The Drover's Wife, the cinematic night sky extended upward beyond the screen, blending with the starry heavens above as a scene transitioned from day to night.
During the day, not a meal went by without chatting enthusiastically with the assembled cinephiles, learning about the best films to watch, which were the most loved, and what to do next.
The relationships I built that week led to some remarkable projects over the next few years. An interview for Bec Bignell’s You Moved Where? podcast for the Regional Australia Institute. The opening night of David Cook’s Heart of the Man, in which I played a principal role, at the Gold Coast Film Festival. Being hired for an ad produced by Neil McGregor’s Glass Engine Creative Agency. The list goes on.
Matt Young as Joey in David Cook’s Heart Of The Man.
For passionate film creatives like myself, the Vision Splendid Outback Film Festival is where the conversations start. Where the seeds of future films are germinated. And where dreaming slowly evolves into something wonderful.
So... why not attend this year’s festival? You’ve got everything to gain and nothing to lose.