Australian Shorts and Awards

Shining a light on the bold, brilliant and beautifully diverse voices of Australian queer cinema, the MQFF36 Australian Short Film Package celebrates the stories that bring us together, challenge expectations and illuminate new perspectives.

From intimate moments of connection to big feelings, unexpected discoveries and unapologetic queer joy, these homegrown stories capture the richness of LGBTQIA+ life across Australia.

Featuring a vibrant mix of emerging and established filmmakers, this collection invites you to laugh, feel, reflect and see the world a little differently. Come celebrate the next generation of queer storytelling, right here at home.

Awards

• City of Melbourne Award for Best Australian Short Film ($5000)
• Shaun Miller Award for Best Australian Documentary Short ($1000 dollars)
• MQFF Iris Prize Nomination
• MQFF Best International Short Award ($1000 dollars)
• MQFF Best First Feature Documentary ($2500 dollars)
• MQFF Award for Best First Feature Narrative ($2500 dollars)
• MQFF Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film ($1000 dollars)

Short Films

After Party

Isabelle Broadbent | Australia | 2026 | 13 mins

Before they can enjoy their afterlife festivities, the prideful Jade and her timid friend Elle must realise their deadly sins while confronting their romantic feelings for one another in an eccentric underworld.

Baby Talk

Lizzie Cater | Australia | 2026 | 13 mins

In the crushing heat of summer in 1992, Leo and Amy drive the final leg of a road trip home. The best friends have stolen a precious day to find a wedding dress to fit Leo’s pregnant belly, as the wedding to the father of the unborn child looms.

How to Tie a Tie

Cooper Dalbo | Australia | 2026 | 2 mins

Adeline, who identifies as non-binary, tries to learn how to tie a tie for the first time, only as the simple demonstration of gender affirming care leads them to a site of low-cost satin polyester carnage when a YouTube tutorial misgenders them.

Inheritance

Mohammad Awad | Australia | 2025 | 15 mins

After the news of his father’s passing, Ameen must face old demons when he returns to the family home he was kicked out of as a teenager.

Late Bloomer

Vivian Nilan | Australia | 2026 | 14 mins

A queer man who’s deeply connected to plants undergoes a strange transition when he begins speech therapy.

Souvenir

Renée Marie Petropoulos | Australia | 2025 | 15 mins

While stuck on a family vacation, a young closeted teen, Keira, must confront the unnerving hold her girlfriend has over her after she takes unwarranted photos of her during sex.

Spiders On My Lashline

Grace Tan | Australia | 2026 | 9 mins

Following an attack, genderqueer pole dancer Ash takes shelter in a church, where childhood memories resurface and help them find strength again.

The Holding

Stevie Vickery | Australia | 2025 | 13 mins

In this Australian Gothic-Western short, a young woman grieving the ending of her relationship finds herself stranded in a relentless wilderness where memory and time blur, forcing her to face herself and make the choice: to move on or wander the wilderness forever.

Yuletide

Adam Coutts & Brandon Bentley | Australia | 15 mins

Yuletide follows a young non-binary person returning home for Christmas, bracing for the cold sting of their family’s intolerance. But beneath the tree lurks something far more sinister, waiting to unleash its dark secret.

An Elephant

Mansoor Noor | Australia | 2026 | 15 mins

When Amir brings his boyfriend home under the guise of 'friendship', tension builds as he tries to conceal the truth from his traditional Middle Eastern parents.