Bait – a fisherman's tall tale by Mount Warrigal filmmaker Beau Ritchie – is one of 22 finalists in Flickerfest’s youth shorts competition set to screen at Bondi Beach this Saturday, January 25.
Beau wrote, directed and produced Bait last year for Creative Wollongong’s Short Film Festival, which challenged young filmmakers to create films with a theme of ‘water’.
“Making a film for a festival is always good because if you have free rein over the story – it could go anywhere," Beau says.
With a runtime of five minutes, Bait focuses on a fisherman, inspired by and played by Beau’s father, Jaye Ritchie.
“My dad, he’s a very big character with a big personality,” Beau says.
“He once went down to the lake and brought a fish from the store, to pose with it. He just wanted to show off to Facebook like he’d caught this fish. And then the comments revealed that this fish couldn’t be caught in lake Illawarra,
“It’s a funny story. It doesn't take ages to tell, so I thought it would be a good one to make into a film.”
Beau’s mum, local artist Melissa Ritchie, encouraged him to make a film in his final year of high school, to strengthen his resumé ahead of further education.
“My mum is the creative one in the family. When I was young, she would make these little home videos and that’s what introduced me to the film medium,” he says.
“I’ve always been supported by my parents and my family in my work. And it’s given me this sense of confidence in my work. I think confidence is one of the strongest skills you can have as a creative.”
Bait will be Beau’s second film to screen at Flickerfest. His short film The Diet was awarded “highly commended for film editing” at the 2021 festival.
“I didn’t take filmmaking seriously up until a certain point. Then I made The Diet, a parody of The Shining," Beau explains.
“I didn’t know anything about film festivals, my mum sent them out and The Diet got into Flickerfest! At the time, I didn’t realise how big of an opportunity that was.”
“From that year on, I sent all of my films to Flickerfest and none of them got in... until this one.”
Bait was also recently awarded first place in the ‘Best Secondary School Film’ category at the Blue Heeler Film Festival.
“I whipped up the script [for Bait] in like five minutes. I just wanted to get this film done early in the year so that I could dedicate my time to school and HSC.”
In 2024, Beau completed year 12 at Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts (WHSPA), where he learned to compose music on piano.
“Some short-filmmakers just have no music, or use stock music, and they don’t get the sound that they’re looking for. It really helps that I can make my own music," Beau says.
“There’s no dialogue in the film, so this was a chance for me to test out my music skills –to see if the music can convey the emotion and enhance the expressions on my dad’s face.”
Beau was recently accepted into the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS), where he'll start studying this year.
“It was all very exciting. All in the span of the past month, I threw a party for my 18th, I got into AFTRS, Bait got selected for Flickerfest … I’m so happy and so excited for 2025."
Bait will screen at Flickerfest in the FlickerUp Youth Shorts competition program for ages 18 and under on Saturday, January 25 at 4pm.
