Oscars a ‘dream come true’ for Brisbane student filmmaker

Brisbane director Lachlan Pendragon’s short film, which he made as part of his studies at Griffith Film School, is up for an Oscar.

Lachlan Pendragon’s film is in the running to take out Best Short Film. Picture: Greg Doherty.

Brisbane student filmmaker Lachlan Pendragon can’t quite believe he is going to the Oscars.

Australian superstar Cate Blanchett and legendary designer Catherine Martin were both limbering up over the weekend to add to their already multiple Academy Awards, and Baz Luhrmann was still in the hunt to get a Best Picture win for his biopic Elvis.

But in the past week, it’s 27 year-old Pendragon who has been on a life-changing tour of Los Angeles – attending events, taking meetings, talking on panels, visiting universities, hanging out with the cast and crew of Elvis, and going to his fair share of glamorous parties.

It’s all in the lead-up to the 95th Academy Awards being held in Los Angeles on Sunday night (Monday, 11am AEDT for ceremony start), where his film, An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It, is in the running to take out Best Short Film.

Elvis director Baz Luhrmann. Picture: Greg Doherty.

Lachlan Pendragon with the crew from Oscar-nominated animated film Marcel the Shell With Shoes On.

“It’s a lot to get your head around,” Pendragon tells The Australian of his time in Los Angeles. “It’s all very spread out and there’s lots of running to different places. It’s fun and at the same time exhausting.”

He says it’s been an “out of body” experience. “So often during this past week, I’ve told myself that I have to remember this. It’s all going by so quickly, I really need to remember this so I can look back on it.”

An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It – for which Pendragon wrote the screenplay, directed, and acted in – is an absurd 11-minute short film that tells the story of an adrift toaster telemarketer who is plunged into an existential crisis after a mysterious talking ostrich tells him his universe is actually a stop motion animation.

The film was made as part of his studies at Griffith Film School in Brisbane. It took him three years to build the sets, make storyboards and pen the script.

It was originally supposed to be filmed at the school, but those plans were interrupted by the pandemic. For 10 months, Pendragon filmed it in his mother’s living room.

For Pendragon, whether the film takes out the Oscar prize is inconsequential.

“For student film, it feels like it’s a win already. Getting a nomination is miraculous,” he says.

“It’s the kind of thing that you dream of that you didn’t think you’d have to consider so soon after leaving film school. It is that amazing ‘dream come true’ kind of thing.”

Although he’s “had to put the Oscars out of my mind until now”, he feels prepared. His suit is ready, and his mum will be by his side.

“It’s such a bizarre thing, I don’t know what to expect. I’ve never done anything like it before. It’s going to be exciting to walk alongside my heroes.”

He hopes to meet Pinocchio director Guillermo del Toro, Steven Spielberg andEverything Everywhere All at Once directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.

Screen Queensland CEO Courtney Gibson and Lachlan Pendragon.

But he also admits to being an introvert: “I don’t know what’s going to happen. If I’m going to freeze up or something like that. We’ll see.”

“I guess being a nominee kind of gives you that licence to go up to people. So far, everyone’s really nice.”

While he’s not ruling out basing himself in Los Angeles, he has a special fondness for Australia. “There‘s a lot of cool stuff happening here.”

“It feels like I have more opportunities, and it’s going to be a very interesting next year figuring that all out.”