The Travelling Film Festival is back at Orange’s Odeon 5 this August 15–17 with nine of the best flicks from the Sydney Film Festival screening over three days.

Travelling Film Festival (TFF) Manager Beatrix Brady said they have worked hand-in-hand with the Orange Film Society to craft a very special program for Orange audiences

“We are absolutely spoilt for choice in the films we’re bringing to Orange this year,” Ms Brady said.

“When building a program like this, you’re always looking for balance, and finding films that will challenge and illuminate, as much as they entertain and delight.

Ms Brady said they have everything from charming crowd-pleasers to dystopian science-fiction and uproarious comedy.

“We pick the very best to bring to Orange!” she said.

One film that’s sure to be a hit is hilarious Aussie documentary 'The Golden Spurtle', which tells the story of the the annual world porridge-making championships held each year in the sleepy Scottish Highlands community of Carrbridge.

'Orange City Life' was fortunate enough to sit down with director of 'The Golden Spurtle', Constantine Costi to talk about this soon-to-be Australian classic.

Thank you for taking the time to chat with us, Costi. You have had a remarkable career that spans film, opera and theatre. Tell us a little bit about how you came to find yourself in the industry?

I was just one of those kind of kids who always loved playing music and directing little plays and acting in little shows at school. It was always just a passion of mine. I just continued putting on plays and making short films for fun with mates and then I was kind of tapped on the shoulder and realised that potentially there was a career in this. I was encouraged to go to UTS to study film and encouraged to go to NIDA to study directing and I feel really lucky that I've been able to stay afloat in what can be a fickle but very joyful industry. I feel very, very privileged.

How long have you been in the industry for now?

Directing opera and making films doesn't really feel like a career to be honest! It feels like I get to go to playgroup every day, but it’s been twelve years since I graduated, which is kind of daunting to say.

So tell us a little bit about your latest film, 'The Golden Spurtle'.

The film is set in this really beautiful, picturesque Highland Village with a population of no more than 700 people. About 30 years ago they decided to put the village on the map and bring in some tourism and some hype with a porridge competition, and so the “Golden Spurtle” was born -- a spurtle being the wooden stick that you used to stir porridge in the traditional Scottish way. What's emerged is this amazing, charming, and kind of hilarious phenomenon of people coming from all around the world to Carrbridge Village Hall to compete. I went to the village to meet the people who organise it all and become completely enamoured by them. I found a whole bunch of really charming stories about village life.

How was it you heard about the world of porridge-making championships and decided to make this documentary?

One of our leading characters in the film, Toby Wilson, is an Australian competitor. He and I have a mutual friend and he told me about this competition. I went to Carrbridge on my own and started knocking on doors and meeting people and found these amazing characters and fell in love with the place. I went back with my cinematographer and we shot some test footage. We managed to get co-production with Hopscotch UK, and Screen Australia came on board, and suddenly we had this team of 10 people sitting in the village hall filming this documentary.

Tell us about some of the other characters you came to love while making this film?

One of the most special takeaways from the film was getting to know Charlie Miller, who is the chieftain of The Golden Spurtle -- he kind of runs the show and is the centre of The Golden Spurtle circus year after year. I got to know Charlie really well and he is really funny, the epitome of dry Scottish wit, but his origins are really interesting. He comes from quite a poor working class area of Glasgow and wanted to be an artist, but that just wasn’t practical. Now, later in his life, he views The Golden Spurtle as his canvas to create this magical and fun event that has his trademark eccentricity and charm painted all over it. We just caught him at a time where, due to various health reasons, he had to step down from that position (chieftain). The fate of The Golden Spurtle hangs in the balance on whether he can find someone to take on the mantle.

And there is the Australian competitor, Toby Wilson, who I understand will be in Orange for the film screening. Tell us a little bit about how Toby came to be in the competition?

It’s great to have a local hero. Toby runs a Mexican restaurant called Rico's Tacos. The film starts in Toby’s backyard in Marrickville, in Sydney, planes running overhead, Toby talking about this porridge competition and how he decided to throw his hat in the ring. Little did he know it would become an eight-year obsession with him honing his porridge recipe. In the film, we really follow Toby on his journey from suburban Sydney to regional Scotland.

Carrbridge makes for a unique setting. What was it like filming in this little village in the Scottish highlands?

Dimitri Zaunders is one of the great, young cinematographers in Australia at the moment. He and I really wanted the whole thing to reflect the way we felt about the village, which is that it’s so beautiful, it almost feels like a storybook -- beautiful cottages, fields, and old buildings. Dimitri’s cinematography feels more like painting than camerawork, but his unique skill is also to make that very human. You fall in love with his characters and the way he frames them and shoots them. It is a feast for the eyes.

What do you think it is about the film that is captivating Australian audiences?

I think it’s ultimately a very optimistic film. I think at its heart, it’s about community. There is this hopeful message that when a small group of people band together with a shared passion, anything is possible! Even something as absurd as a porridge-making competition! It’s totally eccentric, but everyone in the film is kind of in on the joke of it all and that only makes it more pleasurable as a watcher. It’s a deeply human story and one I’ve been really proud to showcase in this film.

Thank you again for your time, Constantine.

The Travelling Film Festival returns to Orange, August 15-17. For more information and the full program visit: www.sff.org.au