Winner of Best Australian Short Documentary, 2019:

HAPPY ANDROID

Directed by Jaina Kalifa | 2019 | Australia | 24 min

Street performer Paul Cooper has an unlikely ally in his ongoing battle with anxiety and depression – his robot, Tubby.

200 Pages of Solitude

Darrin Baker | 2019 | Australia | 26 min

A man is given the task of reading the entire Terms and Conditions of the Amazon Kindle, out loud. All 73,198 words of it. The film follows his journey into reading hell, and asks the bigger question: does anyone ever read them?

By the River

Dan Braga | 2019 | Australia | 25 min

Stretching along the river Ganges is the holy city of Varanasi, a place where devout Hindus go to die in hopes of being liberated from the cycle of rebirth. Several so-called ‘death hotels’ accommodate believers who abandon their lives and come to wait for death – some for as long as 40 years.

Champion Girls

Hilary Balmond | 2019 | Australia | 30 min

Three generations of women and girls reveal their vital connection to the Australian underground dance phenomenon, Physie.

The Day I Got My Dad Back

Michi Marosszeky | 2018 | Australia | 5 min

When Hisham was 13, his father disappeared. Being the oldest male in the family, he thought his childhood had ended, as his mother would need help. This is the story of what Hisham realised on the day his father returned.

The Hammerstone

Christopher Nelius | 2019 | Australia | 7 min

An atmospheric documentary about memory, artefacts, and the generations of stories of a single farm in rural Canada.

The National Game

Richard Welch | 2019 | Australia | 7 min

Set against the backdrop of Brexit, The National Game reveals the good, the bad, and the ugly that can come from a simple game of football.

No Distance Between Us

Vera Hong | 2018 | Australia | 11 min

No Distance Between Us reveals the Aboriginal spiritual connection to the largest human fossil trackway in the world, told through the candid voices of the Traditional Custodians of the Willandra Lakes Region, the Mutthi Mutthi, Barkandji, and Ngiyampaa communities. (Pictured)

Take

Victoria Hunt | 2019 | Australia | 9 min

A dancer enters the liminal spaces between history and emotion to retell the story of her ancestral Maori meeting house, Hinemihi o te Ao Tawhito. Weaving mana wahine (female knowledge), dance and archival materials, Take unfolds a story of origins, traumatic events and colonial violence.

Thomas Banks’ Quest for Love

Pip Kelly | 2019 | Australia | 30 min

Thomas Banks is a young, gay playwright with cerebral palsy on a quest to find true love. He looks for love in all the wrong places, struggles to find someone who will commit, and crosses many hurdles to come to terms with his vulnerabilities. Will he learn to love himself by his work’s opening night?

Warburdar Bununu: Water Shield

Jason De Santolo | 2019 | Australia | 30 min

A young leader is devastated when Borroloola Town Camps receives water contamination notices, but rediscovers hope in the healing power of culture.