Rock The Boat Film Festival was created with the vision of helping underrepresented communities share their voice so they can be seen, heard and witnessed creatively.
The festival enables anyone of any age, ability, experience, and using any equipment, to have equal opportunity to share their voice and have their story be seen at the cinema.
This festival aims to prove that the stories of “everyday” people can leave as much of an impact upon the audience as anything else on the silver screen.
With this approach to a film festival, we are ‘rocking the boat’ to open the door to the ‘silver screen’ regardless of filming device, or filmmaking experience. We’re not looking for blockbuster SFX, we’re keen to witness authentic and well-formed stories. To encourage maximum participation, submissions into this film festival are free up until the deadline of 31st August, and participants can submit as many different entries as they like. The only prerequisite for submitting an entry is knowing how to upload it to either our dedicated FilmFreeway Submissions Page. Anyone still requiring assistance with the submission process can contact us to request assistance at any time.
In order for any entry to be eligible in 2024, the central element of the short film or documentary must be filmed in one of the specified regions for the festival.
The festival will bring together different age groups and cultures from within the local community and the Perth metropolitan area, effectively acting as a platform for those whose stories have been told, but not heard. A community event of such a scale will play an important role in helping shape the cultural identity of, and strengthen unity within our community.
No matter the camera, from Super 8 film, analogue to digital, it’s the story that counts. To ensure everyone has equal opportunity, you can use any filming device and entry into the competition is free!
If you know how to upload a video to the internet and use a mobile phone – great! For those who need it, a video tutorial on how to upload your project to our Film Freeway website has been created and can be found on the “How-to-upload-to-Film-Freeway” page of this website.
As individuals and teams brainstorm short film or documentary ideas, researching the specified regions and its people, they may unveil newfound knowledge and understanding. In developing their projects and filming within the designated regions for this year’s festival, their short films will form part of an archive of footage for the area. In turn, they themselves, now become a part of documented local history and will help shape each respective region and its identity into the future.
We acknowledge the Whadjuk people of the Noongar nation, the traditional custodians of the land on which our office stands. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters, and community. We pay our respects to their cultures, and to Elders past, present, and emerging. We extend this respect to all Indigenous language groups.