After a highly successful 10-day festival at Bondi, the 34th annual FLiCKERFEST International and Australian awards were announced this evening at a star-studded ceremony at Bondi Pavilion, Bondi Beach.
Attended by celebrated guests from the Australian film industry, filmmakers and jury, the Closing Night ceremony honoured the esteemed entrants in this year’s competition and FLiCKERFEST’s Academy® Qualifying Awards, including the Flickerfest Award for Best International Short Film, Yoram Gross Award for Best International Animation, Panasonic LUMIX Award for Best Australian Short Film & Flickerfest Award for Best Documentary.
The Flickerfest Short Film Awards continue to cement the festival’s global position as a leading International Short film festival on the world stage. Following the ceremony, a selection of award-winning films screened before the Closing Night Party took place.
Flickerfest now hits the road on a 40+ venue national tour to all states &territories across Australia.
And the winners are:
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION AWARD WINNERS
Flickerfest Award for Best International Short Film (Academy® Qualifying)
‘Changing Rooms’ (France)
Writer/Director: Violette Gitton | Producer: Jules Reinartz
Yoram Gross Award for Best International Animated Short Film (Academy® Qualifying)
‘Beautiful Men’ (Belgium)
Writer/Director: Nicolas Keppens | Producer: Emmanuel Alain Raynal
Highly Commended International Animation
‘Maybe Elephants’ (Norway, Canada)
Director/Writer: Torill Kove
Producer: Lise Fernley, Maral Mohammadian, Tonje Skar Reiersen
EU In Australia Award for Best EU Short Film
‘The Boy With White Skin’ (France, Senegal)
Writer/Director: Simon Panay | Producers: Rafael Andrea Soatto, Laëtitia Denis, Kévin Rousseau, Souleymane Kébé, Maud Leclair-Névé
Flickerfest Special Jury Award
‘Ebb And Flow’ (Lebanon)
Director/Writer: Nay Tabbara | Producer: Isabelle Mecattaf
Special Mention of the Jury for International Short Film
‘A Summer’s End Poem’ (China)
Director/Writer/Producer: Lam Can-zhao
Writer: Yupeng He, Shutong Xu
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION AWARD WINNERS
Flickerfest Award for Best Documentary Short Film (Academy® Qualifying)
‘Recomposing Earth’ (UK)
Director: Christian Cargill | Producers: Christian Cargill, John Bannister
Flickerfest Special Jury Award for Documentary Short
‘Nelson The Piglet’ (Netherlands)
Director: Anneke de Lind van Wijngaarden | Producers: Nienke Rispens, Maarten Kuit, Jeroen van den Idsert
RAINBOW LGBTQI COMPETITION AWARD WINNERS
Azure Productions Award for Best Rainbow Short
‘Holy Curse’ (United States)
Writer/Director/Producer: Snigdha Kapoor | Producer: Neeraj Churi
EU In Australia Award for Best EU Rainbow Short Film
‘Chico’ (France)
Writer/Director: Theo Abadie | Writer: Louise Courvoisier | Producer: Pauline Attal
SPECIAL MENTION OF THE JURY FOR RAINBOW SHORT FILM
‘Dragfox’
Director: Lisa Ott | Producer: Owen Thomas
AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AWARD WINNERS
Panasonic LUMIX Award for Best Australian Short Film (Academy® Qualifying)
‘Marcia And The Shark’
Writer/Director: Sam Ferris Bryant | Writer/Producer: Hugo O’Connor
Spectrum Films Award for Best Direction in an Australian Short Film
Director: Riley Blakeway for ‘A Thousand Odd Days’
Yoram Gross Award for Best Australian Animated Short Film
‘The Fix-It-Man And The Fix-It-Wooman’
Director: Cornelius Ebatarinja, Nelson Armstrong | Writer: Rhonda Sharpe, Courtney Collins Producer: Sophie Wallace
AFTRS Award for Best Screenplay in an Australian Short Film
Writer: Claudia Osborne for ‘Rash’
John Barry Award for Best Cinematography in an Australian Short Film
Cinematographer: Jason De Ford, Victor Ng for ‘A Good Boy’
Avid Award for Best Editing in an Australian Short Film
Editor: Samuel Inglis for ‘Not Yet’
Avid Award for Best Original Music in an Australian Short Film
Composer: Josh Barber for ‘Asian Male, 60’s, Lead’
Rebel8 Award for Outstanding Emerging Female Director In honour of Samantha Rebillet
Director: Sophie Serisier for ‘Oi’
Highly Commended Outstanding Emerging Female Director
Director: Claudia Osborne for ‘Rash’
Specsavers Award for Best Australian Comedy Short Film
‘Over’
Director/Writer: Duncan Ragg, Anna Phillips | Producer: Isabella Debbage
FLiCKERUP YOUTH COMPETITION AWARD WINNERS
AFTRS FlickerUp Award for Best Youth Short Film
‘Bubblegum and Bunyips’
Director: Kellyville High School | Producer: Fabio Caprarelli
Yoram Gross FlickerUp Award for Best Youth Animated Short Film
‘The Apartment’
Director: Year 7 Doveton College Students | Producer Gene Geoffrey
Avid FlickerUp Award for Best Editing in A Youth Short Film
‘Mind The Gaps’
Wr/iDir: Lucia Carman Murray
Karma FlickerUp Jury Award for Youth Short Film
‘More Than Milk’
Writer/Dir/Prod: Abigail Rain Knight
FLiCKERFEST’s Festival Director BRONWYN KIDD says: “We are thrilled that the 34th Flickerfest 2025 has been such a success, with many filmmakers present to introduce their films, passionate crowds and great enthusiasm expressed for the programmes screened. It’s been great to see short films so warmly embraced by audiences across our ten-day event. I would like to congratulate all of the films selected for Flickerfest in competition this year, our jury for their dedication and all of tonight’s award winners.”