Sydney Film Festival accepts entries 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 ($5,000*)
    • 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. Open to film creatives, directors and screenwriters who have had no more than five short film credits. ($7,000)
  • FLUX: Art+Film International Shorts under 15 minutes in length
  • Freak Me Out International Shorts under 15 minutes in length
  • Family 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 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 may also be 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.

Entries for Sydney Film Festival 2023 have closed. 
Head to our FilmFreeway page for full eligibility criteria, prize details and submission details.

The 70th Sydney Film Festival will take place from 7 to 18 June 2023.

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

Frequently Asked Questions