Rising WA filmmaker Alexandra Eftos’ good fortune

Australia’s largest Short Film Festival, Flickerfest, rolls into town this week, with a hand-picked selection of films from the festival’s record 3,200 entries, screening at Camelot Outdoor Cinema in Mosman Park (get more info and tickets here). Kicking off on Thursday, February 23, Flickerfest begins with a night of the best new Australian short films from across the country and from right here in WA. This includes the world premiere of locally-made comedy Good Fortune, in which after a break-up, a heart-broken woman seeks out a psychic in the hopes of figuring out if there’s a cosmic plan for her. BRAYDEN EDWARDS spoke to Director Alexandra Eftos to find out that Good Fortune was the culmination of the collective talent, and passion, of an amazing team and local filmmaking scene she is thrilled to be part of.

It’s exciting to have the world premiere of your short film Good Fortune at Flickerfest 2023! Has this project been in the works for some time?

It is so exciting to have our world premiere at Flickerfest! We were ecstatic when we found out! Yes this project has been in the works for quite some time. It was first conceptualised at the beginning of 2021 and it took a long time to find the right cast and crew, but we shot it in May 2022 and were in post-production until the end of last year.

Your connection to Flickerfest goes right back to high school when you were a finalist in their FLICKERUP competition. What’s something that’s changed since you created your first ever film projects, and something that hasn’t?

Yes, that was back when I was in Year 11 at school. Getting into FLICKERUP was actually one of the things that pushed me to pursue a career in filmmaking! One thing that’s changed is working in much bigger crews who are highly specialised in their roles. In the past I used to do most things myself or with a very small crew. Also learning more in-depth directing techniques and processes is a skill I’ve learned and am still refining.

Something that hasn’t changed is my creativity and passion for filmmaking and also having fun and collaborating with friends.

Where did the idea for the film come from? Were you inspired by any filmmakers in particular? Or even real life events?

The idea actually came from my friend Lata Periakarpan who wrote the film! She came to me one day and told me about a very odd and disheartening experience she had with a psychic, which included her being told to curse her ex by putting a basket of fruit in the ocean. I thought this was hilarious and said she needed to write this story into a script and the rest is history.

And who have you enlisted to bring this film to life? What made the members of this team a great fit for this project?

I enlisted some of the most talented people I know in Perth who also happen to be some of my closest friends such as, Gabrielle Butler who is the most amazing production designer and Saxon Wright who went above and beyond with the editing and really bought his comedic flare into the film, to name a few. I knew my whole crew would be a great fit for the project as we are all good friends who regularly work together and are also extremely professional and talented. I was confident that my team would be able to elevate the humour and quirkiness of the film and they really achieved that.

You have built your craft working on video clips for some Perth bands too? What are a few of these we might be familiar with?

I actually have mostly assistant directed on music videos, but have had moments of being able to direct on them. Most recently I assistant directed Adrian Dzvuke’s Wassup music video. One of my aims this year is to direct music videos, so I am on the lookout for some great local artists to collaborate with.

What’s in the pipeline for the rest of 2023 and beyond? Anything coming up we can look out for?

I have a few projects that will be coming out in 2023, one of them is a live music video with Perth artist Grace Sanders and another is an artist profile with oil painter Kim Mints. I’ll also be developing a web series with Lata Periakarpan so keep an eye out for that in the future!