Entries are open for:

• Shorts:
  • Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films, prizes include;
    • The Dendy Live Action Short Award for best Australian short film ($7,000*)
    • The Rouben Mamoulian Award for best Australian short film director ($7,000)
    • The Yoram Gross Animation Award for best Australian animated short film ($7,000*)
    • The AFTRS Craft Award for demonstrated excellence by a craft practitioner in an Australian short film ($7,000)
    • The Event Cinemas Rising Talent Award recognising an emerging short filmmaker who has had no more than five short film credits. Open to film creatives, directors and screenwriters. ($7,000)
  • FLUX: Art+Film International Shorts under 15 minutes in length
  • Freak Me Out International Shorts under 15 minutes in length
• Features (40 mins+):
  • Australian Features (Fiction)
  • International Features (Fiction and Documentary) 
• Any length:
  • Documentary Australia Award acknowledging excellence in Australian documentary production of any length ($20,000*)
  • Sustainable Future Award for a narrative or documentary film of any length that deepens our knowledge and awareness of the impact of the global climate emergency ($40,000)
  • Screenability Program. We also welcome entries of any length to the festival’s Screenability program from filmmakers living with disability.
  • First Nations Program. We encourage submissions (features, documentaries and shorts) to the festival from First Nations filmmakers from around the world.

All feature length films selected for the Festival are considered for inclusion in the Official Competition and compete for the Sydney Film Prize ($60,000).

*The winning films in the Dendy Awards Live Action and Animation categories, and the winner of the Documentary Australia Award are eligible for Academy Award nomination.

Closing date for all entries is 1 March 2024. 

Head to the Sydney Film Festival FilmFreeway page for full eligibility criteria, prize details and submission details.

The 71st Sydney Film Festival will take place from 5 to 16 June 2024.

For submission queries, read our Frequently Asked Questions or email the Program Coordinator at justin.martyniuk@sff.org.au.

Frequently Asked Questions