Launching for the first time this past October, the inaugural Cockatoo Island Film Festival delivered a keen cinematic selection, as well as several live music showcases, across five days at Sydney Harbour’s unique island venue.

Funded by the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust and co-presented by The Keystone Group, the debut Cockatoo Island Festival included performances from popular Australian acts like natty rockers Bluejuice, perpetually tremolulous crooner Matt Corby, Melbourne soul sensations Saskwatch, songstress and requent collaborator Gossling, and the return of Arrested Development, celebrating 20 years of vibrant hip-hop.

But despite the impressive lineup, including a film programme stocked with over 80 delights, The Age reports that the funding body are questioning whether to continue the event following organisational mishaps that could lead to the Cockatoo Film Festival being a one-off.

Ahead of a meeting with The Sydney Harbour Trust yesterday, the festival’s co-creative directors, filmmakers Allanah Zitserman and Stavros Kazantzidis described the mood as “very bleak” on their official twitter account.

The particular tweet (that has since been removed) stated: “Harbour Trust meeting in progress — mood very bleak. Looks like Film Festival may be a victim of the ‘curse of Cockatoo Island’.” Referring to the unique location’s history of canned events, including the 2009 World’s Funniest Island comedy festival.“Harbour Trust meeting in progress — mood very bleak. Looks like Film Festival may be a victim of the ‘curse of Cockatoo Island’.”

The concerns first began after the festival’s opening night became a PR nightmare, with mUmBRELLA reporting that hundreds were left stranded outside the opening night screening of Paul Thomas Anderon’s latest opus The Master following overselling overtickets that left over 200 guests locked out, along with complaints of bad signage, confusing programming, and poor transport services to the event.

Tone Deaf’s own reviewer, on ground for Matt Corby’s performance, couldn’t help but highlight the poor ferry services to the island, pointing out the irony of the slogan of the festival being “Transport Yourself.”

Adding: “all the regular ferry services were cancelled and replaced by a private charter running to a different timetable, with tickets that needed to be purchased separately on the island. Anyone familiar with their local ferry timetable that turned up had to wait another half an hour before the charter replacement arrived.”

Co-directors Zitserman and Kazantzidis, who also founded the Dungog Film Festival in the Hunter Valley, have previously acknowledged some of the Cockatoo Film Festival’s teething problems, having already invested $500,000 out of their own pockets towards the $2 million budget of running the event.

The fate of the event rests on the result of the Harbour Trust meeting, which has yet to be revealed, but organisers are already crossing their fingers in the search for other backers or financial sources:

Given the inclusion of such a rich live music program, it would be more than a shame to lose the Cockatoo Island Film Festival before it even had the chance to take flight, hopefully there will be a positive update to the event’s fate shortly. Watch this space.

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