In the summer of 2012, a group of Sydney students screened short films in a Redfern backyard, creating the Chippo Film Festival. After moving through backyards, vans, tree houses, pubs, and even car parks, this year the Festival be held in the USU’s Courtyard.
The Festival is dubbing the venue a “return to its spiritual home”, less than a kilometre away from its inaugural location. The theme is “homecoming”, to match the new venue. The USU will roll out a (literal) red carpet, with invitations asking visitors to dress “as sharp as possible”.
“We were lucky enough to secure the support of the University of Sydney Union,” Oliver Sullivan, a co-founder of the festival, told Honi.
He said that finding a venue was difficult because the Festival was being “stifled by prohibitive restrictions and costs to hire out public spaces”.
The event is expected to draw more than 400 guests to Courtyard. The USU suggested that the space could be used as an outdoor cinema in its 2012 development application, which saw to the creation of Courtyard Café.
All proceeds from the event will go to the Women’s and Girls’ Emergency Centre. The refuge centre provides much needed accommodation to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault and those experiencing homelessness.
The Chippo Film Festival will take place from 6pm on Saturday 14 July, at Courtyard. Entry is free.