Show Us Your Shorts 2026 provides an opportunity for short film makers to win a significant cash prize and have their work screened at one of Victoria's premier regional film events - the Warburton Film Festival.

We have a focus on encouraging young or emerging film makers and many of our previous winners have gone on to make a career in the industry.

Judges initially will select a list of finalists to be screened at the festival.

Award winners will be announced during the 2026 Warburton Film Festival held on June 12-14 and we hope that film makers submitting films will be able to attend the presentation.

Awards & Prizes


The prize pool is $2000.

The major prize, the Golden Shorts Award for overall best film, is $1000.

Other prizes will be awarded at the discretion of the judges.

Films from both students and budding filmmakers of all ages will be considered for major prizes.

Merit certificates will be issued to those short films selected to be screened during the festival weekend.

Acknowledgement of receipt of entry for all other film submissions will be available.

Rules & Terms

All short films entered must be made by Australian residents.

Films submitted must not exceed 12 minutes in running time.

Films must have been made during the period 2024-26.

All entries must be submitted online through FilmFreeway.

Following judging, all films selected for screening at the festival will need to be provided in a suitable digital screening format (eg. mp4, mov).

Entry fee of $AU10 per film entered.

2 production stills: prints, PDFs or JPGs (if available)

Winning entries will be screened as part of the Warburton Film Festival 2026 and may also be screened at Yarra Ranges Film Society screening nights during the year.
16 Reviews
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  • Yanni Dellaportas

    Totally loved the experience - we had a great weekend in Warburton. Especially grateful to the organisers for awarding me 'Excellence in Cinematography' for my film 'Beautiful Storm'. Everything ran smoothly - we were looked after and taken care of.

    June 2024
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  • Andy Bambach

    A fantastic event - Big thanks to the wonderful committee of this festival and community of Warburton - Our film - These Are The Sounds I Make was screened at Show Us Your Shorts and I was lucky to attend - and I was made to feel so welcome - its a very special creative community feel and I hope to return again !

    June 2024
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  • Ivy Tucker

    This is a wonderful festival with a long history of supporting local filmmakers. Thank you for your ongoing support!
    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

    June 2023
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  • Greg Moran

    Great festival. Very honoured to have our films ‘White Lies’ & ‘Culicidae’ screened at this year’s festival and for Culicidae to get the Golden Shorts Award – Runner-Up prize. Unfortunately we couldn’t be there in person but great communication and very generous prizes. Highly recommended.

    June 2023
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  • Mawrgan Shaw

    An absolutely wonderful festival with a fantastic community. I was honoured to have been awarded the Golden Short Award for my film Forgotten at this year's festival, the first back since the pandemic began. Congratulations to all the filmmakers and to the Yarra Ranges Film Society for their dedication and hard work in bringing such a fantastic festival to life in Warburton.

    July 2022
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