Australia’s leading short filmmakers are preparing for one of the biggest nights on the local screen industry calendar, with the St Kilda Film Festival announcing the nominees for its 2026 Top Shorts competition.
The annual awards recognise outstanding achievement across directing, screenwriting, cinematography, documentary, animation, acting and other filmmaking disciplines, with more than $40,000 in prizes on offer, including a $10,000 award for Best Short Film.
Leading this year’s nominations is dark comedy Writers In Love, directed by Joan Wischusen Giles, which received seven nominations across multiple categories. Close behind is David Robinson-Smith’s The Shirt Off Your Back, earning six nominations. The dark fairy-tale follows two brothers who retell the same encounter through very different eyes and has been recognised across directing, cinematography, editing and sound.
Other standout contenders include Robin Kalus’ drama Fracture, Annelise Hickey’s Stranger, Brother and Ben Bouvier-Farrell’s dark comedy Question 57, which each received four nominations.
The nominations come after a record-breaking year for the festival, which received 960 submissions from filmmakers around Australia — seven per cent more than the previous year. Following assessment by a panel of industry professionals, shortlisted films were screened throughout the festival before being judged by a jury of festival alumni and screen industry experts.
This year’s Best Short Film category features five finalists:
- Trading Cards
- Writers In Love
- Feral
- Fracture
- Stranger, Brother
The Best Documentary award will be contested by:
- Bringing His Spirit Home
- While We Still Have Time
- River Town People
- Dark Matter
Several films appear across multiple categories, including Fracture, The Shirt Off Your Back, Writers In Love and Question 57, while Dark Matter has been recognised in both the documentary and innovation categories.
The festival will also celebrate achievements in Indigenous filmmaking, animation, production design, original score, editing, screenplay and acting, highlighting the breadth of talent emerging from Australia’s short film sector.
Winners of both the Best Documentary and Best Short Film awards will receive Academy Awards® accreditation, adding further significance to this year’s competition.
The winners of the Top Shorts competition, along with the festival’s youth program Under the Radar, will be announced at the St Kilda Film Festival Awards Ceremony and Closing Night Party on Sunday 14 June.
Hosted by Brian Nankervis, the free event will take place at St Kilda Town Hall and marks the official conclusion of the 2026 festival.
St Kilda Film Festival Awards Ceremony & Closing Night Party
Date: Sunday 14 June 2026
Time: 7pm–10pm
Venue: St Kilda Town Hall
Cost: Free
For full festival details and bookings, visit the St Kilda Film Festival website.
