Proudly presented and produced by the City of Port Phillip, the St Kilda Film Festival supports the Australian film industry by showcasing its best short films in a tightly curated program that includes more than 100 ‘in competition’ works. These films, made by emerging and accomplished industry professionals, are in with a chance to share in a massive prize pool; and as an Academy Awards qualifying event, award-winning films from the Festival are also eligible for consideration in the Short Film Awards and Documentary Short sections of the Oscars®.

St Kilda Film Festival provides Australia’s most comprehensive survey of the national short film industry, screening the top short film entries alongside a rich program of special events, international screenings and a packed free filmmaker development program.

Submissions for ‘Under the Radar’ (St Kilda Film Festival's youth competition for filmmakers under the age of 21) can be entered here: https://filmfreeway.com/StKildaFilmFestival-UnderTheRadar

A message from Festival Director, Richard Sowada:
The St Kilda Film Festival is Australia’s longest-running short film festival and represents a key annual event on the national screen culture calendar.

Each year, the Festival receives hundreds of entries from around the country, and it’s this diversity that makes the St Kilda Film Festival one of the most dynamic, significant and vital celebrations of the short form in Australia.

The event features screenings and live performances in cinemas and bars; creative collaborations; moving image art exhibitions; games platforms; and professional development opportunities right across the creative suburbs of St Kilda and South Melbourne. For our 41st year, there'll also be a sack full of surprises and we'd love to see your work in the mix.

For the program, your film will be assessed by a panel of SKFF alumni and all submitted films are viewed by me (as Director) personally. In the awards all films selected for screenings are automatically eligible. All eligible films are viewed by a jury of industry experts, so even though we may not meet in the flesh, your film will forge connections with filmmakers and industry professionals in ways you may not think.

We look forward to seeing your inspired creations and being part of the life of you and your film.

Awards & Prizes

The Short Film Competition has a huge prize pool of cash and in-kind craft awards, including a $10,000 prize for Best Short Film. Other awards include Best Director, Best Achievement in Screenplay, Best Documentary and Best Achievement in Cinematography.

Rules & Terms

St Kilda Film Festival Terms and Conditions

1. The St Kilda Film Festival short film competition only accepts Australian-made short film entries.

The Festival also accepts Australian co-productions where:
- a significant proportion of key crew are Australian, OR
- significant pre and postproduction occurred in Australia, OR
- the film received significant funding from Australia

Australian co-production eligibility details must be detailed at the time of submission and the Festival has final decisions on eligibility. If you are unsure of eligibility, please contact the Festival office at FILMFEST@portphillip.vic.gov.au

If you are an Australian Producer-Director, but your film does not meet the Australian co-production criteria above, you may submit to the Festival via the separate submission category ‘Australian Expats (out of competition)’. If programmed, your film will appear out of competition and will not be eligible for any awards prizes or Academy accreditation. If entering this component, please briefly explain your Australian connection.

St Kilda Film Festival accepts all fiction and non-fiction film genres including music video and experimental works.

As per Academy guidelines, films submitted must be no longer than 40 minutes, inclusive of credits.

The submitter grants St Kilda Film Festival the rights to:

(a) Screen to a physical audience in a programmed session (dependent on public health restrictions). Screening locations are to be determined but are likely to include both traditional and non-traditional screening venues. Some special programs outside of those selected in this process may take place online. Permission from filmmakers will be sought prior to these being scheduled if indeed they are.

(b) Utilise a portion of the entered film for promotional purposes such as the festival trailer.

(c) For selected films, exhibit the film for an extended period (the week following Closing Night) available for streaming in the Encore Showcase, which may be paywalled. Selected films will be screened at the Victorian Regional Tour that follows the festival.

Please note: all of the above opportunities may not apply / are not guaranteed to all selected films.

2. The Producer (submitting filmmaker) warrants to the St Kilda Film Festival that they have obtained all the necessary permissions to enter this film and that the film does not infringe the rights, including copyright, of any third party. This includes use of music and literary material.

3. All films screened at 2026 St Kilda Film Festival Top Short Competition must have been completed within 2 years of the entry closing date.

4. Entries cannot be withdrawn after Sunday 1 March 2026. By submitting your film to the St Kilda Film Festival for consideration, you acknowledge this condition of entry and waive your right to withdraw your film from the Festival after this date.

5. If your film is selected for the Festival, you will be sent an email confirmation by Sundy 12 April 2026.

6. The Festival strongly requests that selected films are removed from public viewing on other platforms and do not appear at other public screenings for the duration of the Festival campaign. This does not apply to existing agreements to other Festivals or with streaming platforms.

7. The St Kilda Film Festival has a commitment to ensuring equitable participation and inclusion. The Festival offers film submission waivers for films where the Director and/or Producer identify as being:
• First Peoples
• A person with disability
If this applies to your submission please email filmfest@portphillip.vic.gov.au to receive your waiver code prior to completing your submission.

8. Selected films will be required to provide sidecar closed caption files (usually .srt files) along with their film prior to screening. (Filmmakers can generate these files automatically via Adobe Premiere Pro Speech to Text or Vimeo).

9. The festival also requires that if selected, films should be supplied as hi-quality digital file (Pro-res or similar quality). If selected, the Festival may ask for a copy of the submitted film in other formats as well (such as DCP) depending on the film's screening location.

10. All submitted films will be assessed by an independent panel of industry professionals, including alumni from previous iterations of the Festival and the Festival Director. This panel will shortlist the Top Short Films, which will be screened at the 2026 St Kilda Film Festival.

11. If Shortlisted, award-eligible films will be judged, nominated, and awarded by a jury of three screen industry professionals independent of the Festival (the Festival Director is not included on the jury). Nominations will be publicly announced during the Festival, and Award Winners will be announced on Closing Night.

56 Reviews
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  • Good Gravy Media

    An incredible film festivals that celebrates all filmmakers and their contributions to our industry. The festivals communicates really well throughout the whole process and makes everyone feel involved. The Q&As at the end of each session with the filmmakers gave great insights into the filmmaking process and a platform to discuss their films

    June 2026
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  • David Craig Williams

    Thank You to the St. Kilda Film Festival for including our animated comedy short "Retrieving Roadie" in this year's selections! Our director, Luke Stone, and Maxine Carey-Gorey (Animator/Visual Effects and Rigging) are Australian, so having our film screen in a festival on their home pitch was incredibly rewarding. Luke's dad and Maxine were on hand for the screening and had the best time. Festival communications and festival promotion were friendly, timely and informative. Congratulations to the winners, participants and festival team! I give St. Kilda Film Festival my highest recommendation!

    June 2026
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  • Braiden Asciak

    A huge thank you to St Kilda Film Festival for the hospitality, support and love they showed to our genre short film "Headphones", which was selected for the 2026 edition. Our team were absolutely thrilled to win Best Achievement in Sound Post Production and Best Achievement in Production Design, the two awards we were nominated for. Additionally, this being our Australian Premiere and hometown screening meant so much more to our local cast and crew.

    June 2026
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  • Michael Becker

    I had a blast at St Kilda this year. I was there from opening to closing, saw heaps of amazing shorts, met a lot of great people and loved the vibe of the whole festival. Great hospitality by all the staff and volunteers. Would highly recommend submitting your next short here and getting to the festival if you can! I'll certainly be submitting my next short!

    October 2025
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  • Rebecca parker

    Great festival with enthusiastic audience!

    July 2025
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