Submissions

Shorts

• Dendy Award 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 for recognising a short, emerging filmmaker, who has had no more than five short film credits, and is 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

• Australian Features (Fiction)
• International Features

Any Length

• Documentary Australia Award acknowledging excellence in Australian documentary production of any length ($20,000)
• Sydney Film Festival First Nations Award for a narrative or documentary film of any length written and directed by a First Nations filmmaker that demonstrates unique vision and authentic storytelling for First Nations cultures and communities ($35,000)
• 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.

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).

Closing date for all entries: 28 February 2025.

Head to filmfreeway.com/SydneyFilmFestival for full eligibility criteria, prize details and submission details.