Winner of Best Australian Short Documentary, 2016 (Tied):

HEART OF THE QUEEN

Matthew Walker | Australia | 2015 | 26 min

A honky tonk singer is besieged by the fallout of trying to realise her dream.

 

Winner of Best Australian Short Documentary, 2016 (Tied):

Lightning Ridge: The Land of Black Opals

Alena Lodkina | Australia | 2016 | 20 min

An insight into the lives of the miners who search for Australia’s famous black opals.

 

1001 Nights in Fairfield

Zanny Begg | Australia | 2015 | 17 min

1001 Nights in Fairfield engages with the politics of storytelling, combining documentary, imaginary sequences, and improvised fictions to explore the pressure, and power, of telling a story to survive.

 

Bright Spots

Jilli Rose | Australia | 2016 | 8 min

A poetic portrait of scientist Nick Holmes and his work preventing extinctions on islands. Part nature documentary, part fairy tale and chock full of blindingly beautiful, big-hearted science.

 

Ðàn Bâu Lullaby

Jakeb Anhvu | Australia | 2015 | 9 min

Nguyễn Thanh Tùng is a respected đàn bầu (monochord) player from Hanoi, Vietnam. Both he and his sister were born with disabilities resulting from their father’s exposure to a toxin known as Agent Orange.

 

For the Kids

Alejandra Canales | Australia | 2016 | 11 min

In NSW, Aboriginal kids continue to be over represented in out-of-home care. For the Kids shines a light on the incredible role played by Aboriginal grandparents and foster carers, Eddie and Rose Vale, through foster care agency Burrun Dalai.

 

The Great Forest

Marli Lopez-Hope | Australia | 2016 | 13 min

An ancient Australian forest invites us into her rapidly changing world where rare life is discovered and inevitable death unfolds.

 

How History May Come

Olesya Mazur | Australia | 2016 | 10 min

A poetic and journey told through childhood memories to reveal the story of Maria and Efim, the filmmaker’s great-great-grandparents, and their sacrifice during the USSR’s Great Famine of 1932–1933.

 

Marrow

Stevie Cruz-Martin | Australia | 2015 | 3 min

Marrow is a daring, exciting and poignant film about desire and sexuality. Daniel Monks strips for the camera.

 

New Australian

Dirk de Bruyn | Australia | 2016 | 8 min

Found footage document that explores the implicit racism inside the 1950’s term “New Australian”, used to describe migrants to Australia in the 1950s.

 

Pup Culture

Elle Marsh | Australia | 2016 | 11 min

Elle Marsh’s documentary about the delightfully odd ways that dogs are part of life in Melbourne, Australia.

 

Strudel Sisters

Peter Hegedus, Jaina Kalifa | Australia | 2016 | 7 min

Ilona and Erzsébet are sisters living in the small Hungarian town of Tura. They make “big strudels on small tables” in much the same way their beloved mother did when they were children during the communist era. (Pictured)

 

Two Heads Are Better Than One

Ludwig El Haddad | Australia | 2016 | 4 min

Auburn-based visual artists, Carla and Lisa Wherby, are winners of numerous local art prizes, and twin sisters. Carla has anxiety and related physical disability, and Lisa is her carer and artistic cohort. Together they bicker and collaborate on vivid works of art that comment on current social issues.

 

When I Was Young I Danced Like Crazy

William Suen | Australia | 2016 | 4 min

It’s painful, he’s tired, he doesn’t want to do it anymore… but he keeps doing it anyway.