When Jeffrey Andersen wrote a story in high school about an author who jumped inside the worlds he wrote about, he had no idea that the concept would one day come to life on screen at the most prestigious film festival in the world.
The 22-year-old QUT film and television graduate resurrected his high school story for a final year university short film project last year. With a team of classmates, he pitched the idea to his lecturer and the concept was one of a few to be selected for production.
"It was a bit of a gamble on the lecturer's part I guess," Mr Andersen said, referring to the fact it was a 'steam punk' film - a sub-genre of science fiction which involves a world where steam power is still used, reminiscent of Victorian-era England.
The gamble certainly paid off - the 12-minute film, titled The Fall of Erebus, ended up receiving one of the highest marks for the year level. That was exciting enough. But when Mr Andersen found out the film had been selected for the Short Film Corner at the Cannes Film Festival in France, taking place from May 11 - 22, he was ecstatic.
Mr Andersen will be accompanied on the trip to Cannes by Felicity-Rose Harris, the film's producer, who started to work at Brisbane-based post-production house The Post Lounge when she completed her QUT studies at the end of last year.
"In the Short Film Corner at Cannes, there will be screening booths where people can put on headphones and view our film on demand," she said.
"Jeff and I will also go along to meet and greets, attended by producers and media buyers from around the world. I'm really looking forward to it, and I hope to get some advice about my future career."
The short film, which featured live action as well as animation, cost $7,000 to make, which Mr Andersen said was expensive for a student production.
In the end, the short film format didn't allow enough time to recreate the story of an author falling into the worlds he'd created, so the student team decided to focus on one of those worlds - Erebus - and tell its story.
"The film is about a massive city that's powered by a machine underground. The machine is dying, so a scientist from the city proposes a new one to the city's leader. Little does he know that the leader will use it for malicious purposes. The scientist teams up with his brother, an ex-soldier, to uncover the leader's evil plot," Mr Andersen said.
Mr Andersen and Ms Harris worked with a team of around 30 QUT students to make the film. Key crew members Christopher Jowsey, editor and visual effects; Goldie Soetianto, director of photography; Ethan Waghorn, art director; and Tanika Pratt, sound designer are all sharing in the excitement of the Cannes selection.
"Being at Cannes gives us a lot of credibility which is the main thing we're after with this. We're really happy to get exposure and to get the experience," Mr Andersen said.
"Since entering Cannes we've had two offers from other French film festivals and one from the Netherlands.
"Felicity has been to New Zealand, but I've never been overseas before, so we're both pretty excited.
"What better way to take your first overseas trip than go to France to the biggest film festival in the world to see your film play? We dropped everything to go."
Media contact: Michaela Ryan, QUT media officer, 07 3138 4494 or michaela.ryan@qut.edu.au
**Excellent high resolution photos from the set of the film, as well as individual photos of Ms Harris and Mr Andersen are available for media use.
