The smell of popcorn wafted through the theatre as 100 geocachers descended on the Knox Community Arts Centre on Saturday. The candy bar was alive with conversation as the cachers stocked up on choc tops, popcorn, lollies and slushies in preparation for the movie madness that was about to begin.
Film enthusiasts pondered what cinematic wonders were ahead in the 2023 Geocaching International Film Festival (GIFF), while others grappled with the critical decisions of boysenberry or mint.
The excitement was building (spilling over in the image below) as everyone took their seats in the plush theatre. The lights slowly dimmed, and the reel began.
18 amazing short films made the finals. Some serious, some hilarious, some unusual, but all based on the activity we all love – Geocaching. A significant amount of work having gone into each and every one of them. Congratulations to all of the finalists.
There was however one film the crowd were eager to see, “Geocare – Home for the Aged Geocacher”. The movie marvel from Victoria’s very own chooknchunk. With the director and producer in the room, and many of the cast and crew in the audience, expectations were high.
As the title flashed up on the screen a silence fell over the crowd. It lasted for all of a microsecond as the cheers began, followed by 3 minutes of laughter as the antics of the residents of Geocare played out. As the curtain closed there was a resounding round of applause. I think the crowd loved it – so much so there was an encore at the end. Congratulations!
The audience voted on their favourite movie (no prizes for guessing the most popular). The top 5 crowd favourites are listed below. When the Peoples Choice winner is announced by Geocaching HQ, those that voted for the winner during the event will go into a random draw to win a Geocaching Victoria prize pack.
If you haven’t voted in the Peoples Choice Award yet, scan the QR code or click it to follow the link to the voting form.
Thank you to the Geocaching Victoria committee and the band of volunteers who helped pull this event together. A very special thank you to Kristysadventures and muggle Lauren for all of their efforts to ensure the GIFF event was a huge success.
There were lots of snaps taken of the event, with a selection shown below.
