The Mental Health Foundation Australia’s Multicultural Mental Health Film Festival invites film submissions from the 9th of August to October 1st, with the awarding and closing ceremony scheduled for October 31st.

This festival hopes to be a force that recognises, acknowledges, and showcases the way that mental illness can affect and appear in multicultural communities. We hope to use film to detail, educate and promote awareness of multicultural mental health issues within Australian communities.

We hope that through this showcase of multicultural mental health stories, we can assist in removing mental health stigma, as we bring communities together to support each other; and support better mental health for all. Mental illness can come in many forms: addictions, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, insomnias, OCD, PTSD, personality disorders, phobias, and schizophrenic disorders.

This festival seeks submissions from filmmakers who have lived experiences or wish to present fictitious or real stories about those suffering from mental illness in multicultural communities.

The Mental Health Foundation Australia is seeking films that range from horror, comedy, science-fiction, romance, surrealism, and all other genres and sub-genres.

We seek films from Australia's largest ethnic and cultural groups, the Chinese, Filipino, German, Greek, Indigenous-Australian, Italian, Jewish, Lebanese, Punjab, Spanish, and Vietnamese to name a few communities.

To ensure that young, emerging multicultural filmmakers get a chance at showcasing their work, we have capped the age limit of the filmmakers to 35 years old.

The Categories for the films will be as follows:
- Best Live-Action Short Film (Narrative and Non-Narrative)
- Best Animation Short Film
- Best Documentary Short Film (Non-Fiction)
- Best Cinematography

Awards & Prizes

The judging process will focus on the film's relevance to the festival's criteria, and only a handful of films per category will be chosen for screening during the awarding ceremony.

Successful films will receive laurels to promote their official selection across their social media and their relevant websites. The winners of each category will receive an engraved trophy and the winner of Best Live-Action Short Film will receive a $500 cash prize.

The winner of Best Cinematography will receive a free one-year membership to the Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS), and have their film co-judged by a member of the Society.

Rules & Terms

Entrants must provide details about their age, cultural/language background, and the mental health theme explored in their film, along with a brief maximum 150-word summary and filmmaker biography.

The festival welcomes entries in all languages but we do require that your screener be subtitled in English. To ensure that these emerging filmmakers get a chance at showcasing their work, we have capped the age limit of the filmmakers to 35 years old, with each participant limited to one film not exceeding 10 minutes.

As stated above the submissions will be open from the 9th of August to October 1st, with the awarding and closing ceremony scheduled for October 31st. Submission can be completed through FilmFreeway. Digital format submissions are required, allowing for consideration of iPhone and VHS-shot films meeting specified format requirements (analog film, DVD, or Disc formats will not be accepted). All films must have a resolution of 1920x1080.

The rules in short:
• Entrants must provide details about their age, cultural/language background, and the mental health theme explored in their film, as well as a brief filmmaker biography.
• Filmmakers must be 35 years old or younger.
• The film must not exceed 10 minutes.
• Only 1 film per entrant.
• Films must be submitted by 1 October 2023 at 11:59 pm. Late submissions are not accepted.
• English subtitles are required if the language of the film is not English.
• Submissions must be digital and be capable of 1920x1080 resolution.
• Films made by filmmakers under the age of 18 must be submitted by a parent or a guardian
• Entrants hereby acknowledge that their biography will be used to support their entry.
• Entrants must be from Australia, currently reside or have resided in Australia, or are Australians living overseas.
• Films are recommended to comply with a G to MA15 rating
• Unless you tell us otherwise via the e-mail presented, photographs, videos or recordings of you and/or your child may be used by the MHFA in formats that are accessible to the public, including social media channels (Twitter, YouTube, Tik Tok, Facebook, Instagram) websites and any other publications promoting the MMHFF. Children under the age of 18 will be identified by first name only (or not named at all).

If you have technical questions or difficulties submitting your film, please contact Matthew Keisoglu at matthew.keisoglu@mhfa.org.au

By submitting a film to the Multicultural Mental Health Film Festival, you accept these Terms.