Three years in a row Neville Hiatt has been selected as a finalist in the FocusOnAbility Short Film Festival.
For the past two years he had a short film in both the documentary and the open film categories. This year he has focused all his efforts on a single film entitled F.O.A. in the Australian Open category.
It wasn’t possible to create the film he originally wanted to for this year’s competition and now Neville hopes to complete it next year.
While living with the possible disappointment of not entering this years competition he penned the lyrics that became the song featured in his film with the same name, F.O.A.
With opening lines of “You can focus on disabilities, or you can focus on your abilities, one will cripple you in time, the other can cause a ripple, that shreds misconceptions, you have the power to, rewire their presumptions”, F.O.A. embodies the theme of the short film festival.
“Focusing on people’s abilities rather than their disabilities, something we can all do a little more of each day,” Neville said.
After producing the song with Ambria Bella who hopes to have their debut album out later this year, Neville was pondering how to visually represent the song.
Having seen a half finished artwork by Victorian mosaic mural artist Bev King in the weeks prior, he asked her if he could bring it to life. She had never had her artwork repurposed by another artist but after hearing the song agreed to her mosaic mural being used as the set for the film.
Drawing from a childhood inspired by Wallace and Gromit and Pingu, Neville shot his first stop-motion film.
Fighting his own body’s limitations, he managed to get it submitted in time and on seeing it completed Bev King said “a heartfelt song that fits mosaics perfectly. Well done Nev.”
Neville now waits to share it with the public. Voting opens today and finishes on Tuesday, August 5, at FocusOnAbility.com.au.
There is a public screening in Melbourne on Tuesday, October 7, before the awards day in Sydney on November 16.
