No films at film fest Sydney Film West 1996 is the world's first film festival not to screen any films and to use the internet as its actual launching site this year. With a high noon switch on on 24 June.

The launch, at the computer facilities of University of Western Sydney, "is in keeping with the content of the festival - electronic artists surfing the new wave," said festival director Hunter Cordaly.

The event is organised by the University of Western Sydney, where Cordaly is lecturer in visual communication.

The title of this year's event, Kahanamoku and Beyond, is a word-play tribute to the Hawaiian 'Duke' Kahanamoku who came to Australia in 1915 bringing a surfboard carved from solid log, introducing Australia to surfing.

The third Film West, which runs from 12-26 July, is also a satellite event of the 10th Biennale of Sydney, and is being run from two galleries 40 kilometers apart, linked by microwave.

Four computers in each of the two galleries will offer examples of CD ROM works by a selection of artists, which Cordaly describes as "spectacular"; interactive www sites from places as varied as Cologne and Japan, connected to projectors that show the enlarged images on the gallery walls.

"We're doing this to show people the possibilities of new technologies," said Cordaly, "and we're selling the catalogue: a disc which contains the sounds, the images and some essays, which can all be downloaded onto your computer". Next year, he promised, "we will do something even more challenging."

The address is http://www.uws.edu.au/filmwest.

Andrew L Urban

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