MOFA director Jae Morrison wins Best Short Film at the inaugural Avalon Film Festival
Director Jae Morrison, with a passion for storytelling and finding innovative ways to bring ideas to life, has created a film that sits at the intersection of history and technology. The film celebrates a little known story that is part of the history of the Avalon area. The Elephants of Avalon Beach.
Combining archival photography and footage with new material shot specifically for the film, Morrison employed various cutting edge tools to seamlessly bring all these elements together, crafted over a number of joy-filled, sleepless weeks. The result is a film that seems like an impossible marriage of worlds…
Performing the vocals himself, Morrison collaborated with multifaceted artist/producer/audio engineer Aubrie Mitchell to re-record Roxy Music’s ‘Avalon’ for the film, which has also been released on Spotify.
Play Elephant of Avalon here on Spotify
Says Morrison: “I was volunteering at the Avalon Beach Surf Club, when one of the local legends mentioned that circus Elephants used to graze on the sand dunes. I thought he was joking, till I Googled it, then I thought Google was mis-informationing me, so I met with the Avalon Beach Historical Society, and Geoff Searl was kind enough to produce three photos of the real Elephants.
“And the rest is… History?”
META AI summarised what the people were saying: “Viewers praised “The Elephants of Avalon Beach” short film, congratulating the creators on their Palmy d’Or win. Many loved the film’s beauty, creativity, and nostalgic value, with some requesting behind-the-scenes insights into its production. The film’s unique blend of history, imagination, and stunning visuals resonated deeply with the audiences.”
Says Llew Griffiths, EP at MOFA: “Not many conversations at a Surf Club start with elephants and result in a film being made. I am really impressed with the way Jae has taken that inspiration and very cleverly brought it to life. Seeing how he has used different technologies and film making techniques to realise this story and share it with the community has been incredible to see.”
Says Ben Welsh, renowned creative leader, author, former DDB Australia CCO and Avalon Film Festival creator: “Jae’s film embodies pretty much everything we want the Avalon Film Festival to be about – a local story by a local storyteller, and one that celebrates Avalon’s past, present and, via AI, its future.”
To view more of Jae’s work click here or visit Instagram @jaemorrison
For all enquiries please contact Llew Griffiths at llew@mofa.tv
Instagram @mofa.tv_