๐Œ๐„๐‹๐๐Ž๐”๐‘๐๐„ ๐‹๐ˆ๐…๐“-๐Ž๐…๐… ๐…๐ˆ๐‹๐Œ ๐…๐„๐’๐“๐ˆ๐•๐€๐‹ ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ’

"๐‘ช๐’๐’๐’”๐’Š๐’”๐’•๐’†๐’๐’•๐’๐’š ๐’†๐’™๐’„๐’†๐’๐’๐’†๐’๐’•. ๐‘ถ๐’๐’† ๐’๐’‡ ๐’Ž๐’š ๐’‡๐’‚๐’—๐’๐’–๐’“๐’Š๐’•๐’† ๐’‡๐’†๐’”๐’•๐’Š๐’—๐’‚๐’๐’” ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’‚ ๐’ˆ๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’• ๐’๐’‘๐’‘๐’๐’“๐’•๐’–๐’๐’Š๐’•๐’š ๐’‡๐’๐’“ ๐’‡๐’Š๐’๐’Ž๐’Ž๐’‚๐’Œ๐’†๐’“๐’”." โญโญโญโญโญ
๐—ฆ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฎ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น, ๐——๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ/๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ

โญ Lift-Off Season Awards Qualifying
โญ Screenings, Networking, Workshops & Events
โญ In-Competition Online Screenings
โญ Network Hub Access, Focus Groups & more...!

Learn more about the Lift-Off Season
๐Ÿ‘‰ liftoff.network/season

Melbourne embraces culture from all over the globe, which is apparent in its food, characters, and films. An instantly romantic and exciting destination for people from all around the world to screen their projects. In this leg of The Season, Lift-Off Global Network showcases outstanding filmmaking talents during a month-long event comprising online screenings & in-person networking events.

Festival Winners are placed on the shortlist for the Lift-Off Season Awards Nominations to be considered by the Lift-Off Jury. Season Award Nominations are screened at the prestigious John Barry cinema in Pinewood Studios. The Season Awards recognise the best films from across the Lift-Off Season.

Find out more about the Season Awards
๐Ÿ‘‰liftoff.network/seasonawards

You'll find free content on our YouTube Channel, such as live workshops, interviews with filmmakers, news updates, and more. Subscribe!
๐Ÿ‘‰ https://www.youtube.com/c/liftoffglobalnetwork

๐†๐„๐“ ๐…๐‘๐„๐„ ๐’๐”๐๐Œ๐ˆ๐’๐’๐ˆ๐Ž๐๐’ ๐“๐Ž ๐€๐‹๐‹ ๐‹๐ˆ๐…๐“-๐Ž๐…๐… ๐…๐ˆ๐‹๐Œ ๐…๐„๐’๐“๐ˆ๐•๐€๐‹๐’ ๐–๐ˆ๐“๐‡ ๐๐„๐“๐–๐Ž๐‘๐Š ๐Œ๐„๐Œ๐๐„๐‘๐’๐‡๐ˆ๐:

โญ Fee waivers to all Lift-Off Festivals & Showcases (worth $300)
โญ Apply for representation at international film markets, including Cannes, EFM, and AFM
โญ Access to international film jobs
โญ Networking, Workshops & Online Events

Find out more about Lift-Off Network Membership
๐Ÿ‘‰ liftoff.network/membership

Awards & Prizes

๐—”๐—ช๐—”๐—ฅ๐——๐—ฆ ๐—จ๐—ฃ ๐—™๐—ข๐—ฅ ๐—š๐—ฅ๐—”๐—•๐—ฆ

๐Ÿ† Melbourne Audience Choice Award
๐Ÿ† Melbourne Best Film in Category
๐Ÿ† Melbourne Jury's Special Mention
๐Ÿ† Melbourne Best Screenplay

๐‹๐ˆ๐…๐“-๐Ž๐…๐… ๐๐„๐“๐–๐Ž๐‘๐Šโ€™๐’ ๐‚๐Ž๐Œ๐๐„๐“๐ˆ๐“๐ˆ๐Ž๐ & ๐€๐–๐€๐‘๐ƒ๐’ ๐’๐“๐‘๐”๐‚๐“๐”๐‘๐„

The Official Selections are reviewed by the Judging Panel and receive scores from the attending audience throughout the festival. After the festival closes, the weighted scores are combined, and the top-scoring films are promoted into the internal 'Network Round'.

The Network Round is hosted on the Lift-Off Network Hub, where the Lift-Off Jury and Network Hub Members score the films and vote for the winners.

After the festival closes, prizes are awarded, and winning projects are placed on the Season Award Nominations Shortlist. The Jury allocates lift-Off Season Award Nominations based on merit within each category.

Find out more about our awards & judging process:
๐Ÿ‘‰ liftoff.network/awards

๐’๐„๐€๐’๐Ž๐ ๐€๐–๐€๐‘๐ƒ ๐๐Ž๐Œ๐ˆ๐๐€๐“๐ˆ๐Ž๐๐’

Lift-Off Season Award nominations screen at Lift-Off's HQ, the prestigious Pinewood Studios, during the celebration held at the end of the Lift-Off Season. The Season Awards celebrates the best-of-the-best of the projects nominated throughout the Lift-Off Season.

For more info ๐Ÿ‘‰ liftoff.network/seasonawards

Rules & Terms

Melbourne Lift-Off Film Festival Rules & Terms
- All support queries must be sent via. support@liftoff.network
- All submissions are to be sent digitally via FilmFreeway
- Project feedback (where applicable) is sent shortly after the festival closes.
If you pay a submission fee, we will screen your work. Our online programmes are separated into categories based on your content's level of storytelling, production value, impact and acting.
- We have two separate voting committees during the festival - the official judging panel & the general public
- The official jury allocates Season Award Nominations
- Proudly, we have no other restrictions for screening your work. This includes your work's premier status, age, and/or whether your work is available online.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The online festivals are NOT pay-for-vote platforms. Whilst participating filmmakers may invite their team, friends and family to participate & vote, it is encouraged that ALL attending audiences engage with as much of the content as possible and vote accordingly. We are doing our best to invite new and exciting audiences to genuine indie content - if you can encourage your audiences to do the same, we will build a wonderful network of opportunities for all, no matter where you are starting your career.

52 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Murray Enders

    They sent me a stupid amount of the same email, it was almost every single day.

    January 2024
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    Response from festival:

    Hi Murray, we are sorry that you didn't find much value in our daily workshops, if you looked closely you would have seen that each workshop covered a different topic from "How to find a producer" to "How to build your filmmaking brand". We will strive to make the emails look less samey next time. Many thanks!

  • Kale McQuade

    I unfortunately didnโ€™t have a good experience with the Sydney & Melbourne Lift-Off Film Festival. My short film โ€˜ONE BIG TO-DO LISTโ€™ was selected to be screened as part of the 2023 program. I was asked to supply a screener, in which I promptly uploaded, and received a confirmation email from both Dropbox and Typeform, saying that this had successfully gone through. A week had passed and I was yet to hear anything further from the festival. I thought this was strange but I didnโ€™t push it yet, seeing as I had gotten multiple confirmations to my upload, prior. Come the festivalโ€™s launch day, there was still nothing... When I checked their published programme, to my surprise, my film had not been included!

    I emailed the festival about this. They sent me a 2nd screener link and I uploaded my film once again. When my film had eventually been processed, unfairly arriving late as it was, unlike all the other films alongside mine in my category, a full synopsis or credits was not included next to my film, certainly diminishing my filmโ€™s ability to stand out any further.

    Humbly, I donโ€™t care about accolades or awards through Film Freeway, Iโ€™m only wanting to help get my work out there. I believe my project was (although unintentionally,) unjustly sidelined and buried.

    January 2024
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    Response from festival:

    Hi Kale, this isn't good. We have moved a few things around to make sure that this never happens again. Please get in touch with james@liftoff.network - who will help you to find a greater screening experience with us on our platform. We are always looking to improve so this feedback is welcomed. Thank you!

  • Jerรณnimo Cabrera

    Un gran festival que apoya al cine independiente con la oportunidad que tu trabajo pueda ser visto y valorado, gracias.

    January 2024
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    Response from festival:

    THANK YOU!!

  • Gaurav Kulshrestha

    Wonderful experience. Great learning. Beautiful platform for budding film makers who have innovative content to present.
    Recommended to everyone.

    Thanks Melbourne lift off Film Festival team and especially Fest Director.

    December 2023
    Helpful
  • Jackson Ezard

    Scam festival. Do not submit. There isnโ€™t actually a festival. No communication. They claim to have an online festival however it doesnโ€™t exist. They done advertise anything. I tried to buy a ticket to watch my film. Paid for it, and still couldnโ€™t watch it. Avoid!!!!

    December 2023
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    Response from festival:

    Jackson, what happened? As you can see from the other reviews, the festival did happen!! Please make sure that if you get accepted you check your spam regularly and that your filmfreeway email is up to date. We tried so many times to contact you. Please email us right away to address this and see what we can do to help your project. James @liftoff,.network