AFTRS films continue to join the lineups of major film festivals in Canada, USA, Albania, the UK, NZ and Australia, with world premieres at the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF), Austin Film Festival (AFF), and SXSW Sydney, and screenings at the Tirana International Film Festival (TIFF), the Aesthetica Film Festival and the Adelaide Film Festival (AFF). This year, AFTRS alum Robert Connolly is recognised for his outstanding contribution to Australian screen culture at the Adelaide Film Festival, with the Don Dustan Award.
Goodbye, Fishies, a Bachelor of Arts Screen: Production film, will have its world premiere at Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) this month (October). A meditative journey into Lookpla’s past, this hybrid short film offers an intimate and interrogative portrait of how we examine and reinterpret our memories. Portraying fictionalised versions of themselves, Tara and Saulan find reconciliation through a staged farewell between a granddaughter and her grandmother.
This experimental hybrid directed by Jonathan Zhang explores themes of self-identity. His previous work as cinematographer for the AFTRS production When Dogs Go to Heaven (2024) earned him the Best Cinematography award in the Student Fiction category at the Sony Catchlight Film Festival.
Jonathan said: “To world premiere in VIFF’s MODES, amongst a lineup of other boundary-pushing experimental work, is an incredible honour! This film certainly wouldn’t exist without my small but incredible team. And I’m immensely grateful to AFTRS tutors and mentors for their generous support, for giving us the room to take creative risks, and for trusting us to tell this intimate story through a more improvisational, docu-fiction hybrid approach. I can’t wait to share the film with VIFF audiences this October.”
The Master of Arts Screen film Fracture will have its international premiere at BAFTA-qualifying Aesthetica Short Film Festival next month (November) in the UK, after premiering domestically at CinefestOZ. The short tells the story of an isolated man who meets a woman with a strange secret at a small-town bowling alley in early 2000s Australia.
Solo Un Poco Aquí, also a Master of Arts Screen film, will have its world premiere at the Austin Film Festival this month (October). The film brings to the screen a world where Theo, a young survivor, grapples with the loss of his little brother. When Lucía, a resilient Hispanic woman, insists on joining him for the solemn ritual of burning her friend’s body, Theo reluctantly steps out of his isolated routine.
Interview With a Hero continues its successful festival run, joining the lineup for Adelaide Film Festival (AFF) in October, after its world premiere at Sydney Film Festival (SFF) and screenings at Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF). The Master of Arts Screen short took director Celeste Diep to MIFF’s Accelerator Lab, a director’s development program designed to nurture emerging directors on their journey towards their first feature. The film has seen production designer Nathan Evans awarded the AFTRS Emerging Designer for a Screen Production at the Australian Production Design Guild (APDG) Awards.
This month (October), AFTRS shorts return to SXSW Sydney with Master of Arts Screen film See-Saw having its world premiere in the Bush Shorts program, along with Bachelor of Arts Screen: Production short Tug-O-War, and Not a Documentary About Jorts, playing in the New Wave program.
See-Saw is a coming-of-age drama that follows Jade, a rebellious Torres Strait Islander teenager as she navigates the complexities of school, home and loss. Through this deeply human story, Nazareth explores the universal themes of grief and healing while honouring the legacy of those who paved the way for future generations.
Nazareth said: “Being selected for the SXSW 2025 film festival is a significant highlight of my filmmaking journey. The exposure and connection to such a vibrant film community is invaluable. I am also grateful to my film school, Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). My film, See-Saw, is my 2024 capstone project from my Masters in Directing course at AFTRS. In class, I developed the concept for the film from its ideation period to the development of the script, to the execution of the shoot and to postproduction. AFTRS has been extremely supportive of my creativity throughout my journey at the film school. It has been an amazing journey for me, to tell my stories from my lens, with my authentic voice.”
In the Bachelor of Arts Screen: Production film Tug-O-War, “Mummy” is torn away from creating art by her feral children. After confiscating their much-beloved iPad, her monotonous reality quickly fractures into twisted fantasy.
The experimental documentary Not a Documentary About Jorts, is a fast-paced fashion narrative evaluating the thoughts, feelings and emotions evoked by ‘the jeans short’. The filmmakers point out that the film is not a factual recount, but rather an unearthing of the innate human desire to express creative freedom. Not a Documentary About Jorts has been awarded the Silver Student Cinematography award at the ASC NSW & ACT Awards, for the work of Jake Frazer.
Master of Arts Screen documentary, Bringing His Spirit Home, will screen at New Zealand’s Show Me Shorts Film Festival this month (October), following its world premiere at Sydney Film Festival and receiving special recognition from SCEDI (The Standing Committee on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion), a part of the International Association of Film and Television Schools (CILECT) congress which will take place this month (October) in Mexico.
Another documentary from the Master of Arts Screen class of 2023, The Cop From Wagga, is nominated for Best Documentary, Best Female Director and Best Emerging Director at the Heart of Gold International Short Film Festival, which will take place in Gympie this month (October). The film revisits 1973, when Terry O’Connell was a junior police officer and, during his rounds, was randomly assaulted by a teenage boy. Instead of throwing the full weight of the law at the offender, Terry set out to revolutionise the way crime and punishment were treated by society and law enforcement.
Last year, Withered Blossoms had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in La Cinef, a program that recognises the best emerging talent from film schools around the globe. The film produced by Master of Arts Screen students has recently been awarded Best Film at the Reel Good Film Festival in Melbourne and has screened at the Tirana International Film Festival (TIFF) in September, the festival is an official Academy Awards and European Film Awards qualifying festival.
From the class of 2022, Master of Arts Screen film, Not Yet, and Bachelor of Arts Screen: Production film, In The Cold of the Sun, will both have their world premiere at Byron Bay International Film Festival this month (October), screening alongside Consume, Bőr and Set Menu.
In The Cold of the Sun is set in the fictional Dyrbin cattle station, and takes the audience through a murder investigation after a dead body is found on the family-run station. Station-hand Dalia is spooked, but Nat, her best mate, is fascinated. A trek to a secret cabin on behalf of their boss leads the pair to surprising discoveries. Director Cleo Baldwin is nominated for Young Australian Filmmaker of the Year.
Not Yet tells the story of sisters Emily and Nina as they grit their teeth through their mother Josephine’s extravagant engagement party. Tensions come to a head, and Emily is forced to confront the truth of what is really happening at this party.
Bőr tells the story of a Hungarian mother who struggles to adapt to her new life in 1950s Australia as intense homesickness drives her further away from her young son and husband. The Master of Arts Screen short has previously screened at SXSW Sydney and the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), with director Dylan Ferenc Nyerges being awarded the Emerging Australian Filmmaker award.
Another Master of Arts Screen film screening at Byron Bay is Set Menu, which premiered at SXSW Sydney, Westpac OpenAir Cinema and in the USA screened at the Cinequest Film & VR Festival in the USA, and will also screen again in the US at Newport Beach Film Festival this month (October). In the film, Frances is denied the coveted set menu for dining alone at a famously exclusive restaurant and strikes an unexpected deal with a stranger to access both the menu and a night of peace and solitude.
The Bachelor of Arts Screen: Production and the Master of Arts Screen programs provide the conditions to ignite depth in creative exploration and collaboration, bringing personal storytelling and experimentation to screen. Stay tuned to watch all these gems on the big screen close to you!
AFTRS Alumni are also screening their work at AFF this year with Jimpa, from producers Cyna Strachan and Liam Heyen, screening at the opening night, and Wolfram, from director Warwick Thornton, producer Greer Simpkin, and editor Nick Meyers, screening at the closing night. AFTRS alum Stephen de Villiers’ feature debut, The Run, will also join the selection of alumni work with its world premiere at AFF.
This year, the festival is awarding the Don Dunstan Award to acclaimed filmmaker and AFTRS alum Robert Connolly. The award recognises an exceptional individual who has made an outstanding contribution to Australian screen culture. Robert’s 30-year film career encompasses dozens of films, demonstrating his belief that creators empower themselves and control authorship by being entrepreneurs.
The official selection for AFF includes the following work from AFTRS alumni:
- Birthright
Writer/director Zoe Pepper (Graduate Certificate in Directing Fundamentals, 2012)
- Balibo
Director Robert Connolly (Bachelor of Arts, Producing, 1994)
- Journey Home: David Gulpilil
Producer Rachel Clements (Master of Arts Film & Television – Producing, 2000), cinematographer Allan Collins (Specialist Extension Course Certificate Cinematography, 1996)
- The Run
Director Stephen de Villiers (Graduate Diploma Directing, Fiction and Non-Fiction, 2009)
- Until the Skye Falls Quiet
Editor Izzat Nadeem (Master of Arts Screen: Editing, 2022)
- The Shirt off Your Back
Writer/director David Robinson-Smith (Master of Arts Screen: Directing, 2021) with cinematographer Jaclyn Paterson (Master of Arts Screen: Cinematography, 2021).
