The film makers also commented that they were impressed with the good-old fashioned country hospitality, as were more than 200 other movie lovers from Western Victoria, Melbourne and South Australia.

Director of documentary Indonesia Calling: Joris Ivens in Australia, John Hughes and director of photography for Lake Mungo, John Brawley both attended the Festival to introduce their respective films and chat with film festival patrons.

``These well-respected film makers were greatly impressed with the high standard of commercially unreleased films and to find them being shown in the heart of the Grampians,'' Festival Coordinator, Janet Witham said.

``These thoughts were also conveyed by dozens of new festival patrons who were visiting for the first time. They loved the friendly atmosphere and the beautiful setting of Halls Gap.''

Mrs Witham said that the Festival, which was presented by Halls Gap Film Society and Halls Gap Tourism, featured something for everyone.

``Lake Mungo, which was filmed near Ararat, was definitely one of the crowd favourites, as were the silent documentaries provided by the National Film and Sound Archive,'' she said.

``The top three favourite films were a good mix of foreign, Australian and documentary films. Interestingly, those films reflect the variety of genres we aim to screen each year. It's good to know that after 30 years we still have that winning formula.''

Guests were also extremely impressed by short films created by Stawell Secondary College and Halls Gap Primary School - which was recently awarded runner-up in the Goethe Institute German Film Festival.