Brisbane film director Nick Waterman started off producing music videos and filming fashion shows, but for his most recent project he spent four days documenting the "surreal kingdom" of the Mount Isa rodeo.

He began filmmaking at school before moving to London and working for the same agency representing Kate Moss and other supermodels.

This led to Waterman, 31, shooting London Fashion Week before moving to Sydney and continuing his fashion film interests.

Having spent the first 15 years of his career in fashion, he transitioned into music videos and television commercials before working on feature films and then short films.

In the process, Waterman moved to Brisbane and produced his first short film in 2010.

His third piece of work in the category will premiere in Queensland on Saturday night at Flickerfest Brisbane, the country's leading competitive short-film festival.

After The Smoke started as a documentary telling the story of a remote outback mining station gathering for their annual rodeo, before morphing into more of a fictional film exploring the appeal of the rodeo and its representation of Queensland masculinity.

"Rodeo is its own surreal kingdom. The spectacle, rider and animals somehow all interconnect in a strange way," Waterman said.

"I was thinking what the hell were these riders doing, what possessed them to get on a wild beast and tame it?

"What were the animals thinking? They went from being caged to having a person on them, being set free and trying to buck them off.

"And what was exciting for the crowd?

"It makes you think of the colluseum, but I didn't understand the appeal. However, I still felt compelled to try to capture it."

The film is narrated by the fictional character of a young cowboy trying to find his place in the community, with documentary-style footage woven through.

Waterman promised a new perspective on Queensland masculinity through the representation of a cowboy, as the character tried to make sense of his environment in a "coming of age" story.

The director also hinted at a strong theme of coming to terms with death, which was close to his heart as his mother died when he was five years old.

"Death is embedded in my first memories," Waterman said.

"I'm fascinated about how tragic events can come and go and reappear at different points in your life and that you can be processing the loss throughout your life.

"The character is haunted by something he saw and is trying to come to terms with it."

Flickerfest Brisbane will be held at Palace Centro Cinemas in Fortitude Valley on Saturday, with tickets available on the website. Doors open at 7pm and films start at 7.30pm.