General News
9 September, 2025
Short films in spotlight for Karumba's Outback by the Sea Festival
Karumba will bask in the magic of short films this weekend, with the free Outback by the Sea Festival returning for its fifth year.
Karumba will bask in the magic of short films this weekend, with the free Outback by the Sea Festival returning for its fifth year.
The four-day festival will run from Friday, September 12, to Monday, September 15.
The drawcard is the Ocean & Outback Film Festival on Friday, run by Screen Queensland and to be held outdoors at the Karumba Recreation Club from 6pm.
It will screen about a dozen short films by Australian and New Zealand filmmakers – including entries from local residents – and will also include food and market stalls.
For aspiring movie auteurs and film buffs, Australian actor Steve Bastoni will be holding a free film-making workshop on Sunday from 10am to 2pm at the Les Wilson Barramundi Centre, where people will be able to learn more about the art of creating short films.
Mud crab workshops will be held on Saturday and Monday from 10am, which will cover how to handle and tie crabs, as well as their life cycle.
On Saturday from 9am, there’ll be arts and crafts and a painting workshop at the Normanton Library, as well as a Colour Fun Run at Karumba State School from 12 noon.
The Outback by the Sea Concert will be held on Saturday from 6pm at the Rec Club and will feature Australian singer-songwriter Caitlyn Shadbolt – who performed on the sixth season of The X Factor Australia – as well as country artist Wesley Dean, and country-rock trio The Buckleys.
Rounding out the event, on Monday from 5pm there'll be a prawn-peeling and -eating contest, and a kids’ ice-cream-eating competition, both to be held at Ash’s @ The Point.
Carpentaria Shire Council Community Development, Tourism & Regional Prosperity director Amanda Farraway said the inaugural film festival was held last year and had received a lot of positive feedback.
“To see that much interest in it was really good,” Ms Farraway said.
“Outback by the Sea was previously held in the winter months, however council decided to host it in September, as a way to try and increase the shoulder season and create more of an economic boost for the community.
“We are going to have a courtesy bus running from Normanton to Karumba as well, on Friday and Saturday.”