Stranger With My Face International Film Festival is based in Hobart, Tasmania. Deriving its name from the young adult novel by Lois Duncan, it promotes discussion around genre and gender, from ghost stories to gore, from art house to exploitation. SWMF has a particular focus on female directors working in horror and related genres and aims to highlight bold new work by independent filmmakers.It is a filmmaker-focused festival that goes out of its way to make programmed filmmakers feel welcome and important and values their presence at the event, where they will mingle with other filmmakers and industry professionals, artist working in other disciplines and members of the public.

Selected filmmakers will be encouraged to attend the festival and may be eligible for professional development and workshop opportunities, such as the Attic Lab, a mentoring and support program for women genre directors. Your support of the event is valued and, in return, Stranger With My Face strives to support its past filmmakers and their projects where possible.

“Nothing short of magical. It was transformative for me. I think what is being done there, and celebrated there and made possible as a result, is the best I have seen at any fest… I want to be there every year.”—Jennifer Lynch, guest filmmaker

“This event fills a gap that has been largely ignored by other film festivals….” —Screen Hub

Stranger With My Face was voted in the Top 5 Coolest Women’s Film Festivals in the world by MovieMaker Magazine 2013.

Awards & Prizes

Best Feature
Best International Short
Best Australian Short

Rules & Terms

To qualify your film must be:

1) Directed by a woman, or featuring a woman in a significant creative role (only films with a female director are eligible for awards).

2) Produced after January 1, 2016

3) A horror or horror-related film (broadly defined, includes dark fantasy, thriller, Gothic melodrama, dystopian sci-fi, animation, experimental and horror-related documentary)

IMPORTANT: While films by male directors will be considered to screen out of competition there are very limited slots for these films. If in doubt as to whether your film is suitable to submit, contact the festival.

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  • Festival Formula

    A superb niche festival that has a great message, and is brilliant with communication. We are always ecstatic when we get clients accepted here because these folks really do care about their programming. Top work!

    May 2017
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