Australian Shorts Showcase

Short film program /158 mins/R18+ AUSTRALIAN SHORTS SHOWCASE CLICK TO WATCH Fifteen of the most hair-raising homegrown horror tales in one epic session! Australia’s hot new blood is showcased for your nightmarish pleasure, and YOU get to vote for the one that will be crowned with the awesome Panavision Audience Choice Award. Prepare to be knocked dead by the local talent.

JANE

Dir: Noel Vinson/12 mins

Mr. Gordon, an invalid, struggles to make sense of his carer, Jane, who intrudes on his daily life. As Gordon’s behaviour causes Jane to reach her breaking point, memory lapses become the least of the old man’s worries.

GOLEM

Dir: Ryan Cauchi/4 mins

Nazi-occupied Prague, 1939. A group of German soldiers search for a fugitive rabbi in the basement of an abandoned synagogue, unaware of the horror awaiting them.

BARNACLE FACE

Dir: Jean-David Le Goullon/6 mins

His friends are early, the bathroom isn’t clean, and Karl has something under his skin…

THE WRITER

Dir: Margaret M. MacDonald/6 mins

CORRIDOR

Dir: Kenny Foo/4 mins

WOULD NEVER DIE

Dir: Shaun Hume/5 mins

Florence and Sandra are closing up the school for the night, but dark forces are at work. A young man recalls his recent visit to a mysterious and decrepit seaside town.

SMILE

Dir: Natalie Simonov/15 mins/episode 6 in a six-part web series

Faith is a young woman with disturbing secrets. Powerless to stop the terrible discipline her parents inflicted on her beloved sister Grace, abuse that she herself used to suffer, she scrambles to find peace in her isolation… but she snaps.

EXQUISITE CORPSE

Dirs: Amelia Foxton, Kirsty McKenzie, Rebekah Mowbray, Chiara Gizzi, Sylvia Keays, Erin Connor, Kya Stewart, Lauren Hamilton Neill/16 mins

These are the eight volatile guises of Lilac, an isolated novelist deep in the existential throes of writer’s block.

REMEMBRANCE

Dir: Miguel Nieto Montenegro/8 mins

Emotionally numb, Matthew goes through the motions, day after day, when one afternoon he finds a bloody, unconscious body on the floor of his home, and, in shock, he dials the emergency line.

A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND

Dir: Alex Dona/12 mins

A couple, deep in love, make quite unusual requests of one another.

PREY SCHOOL

Dir: Angus Middleton/7 mins

Join Adam and Lucy as they learn to count, that it's okay to be scared, and how to live through a global pandemic.

ANOXIA

Dir: Alex Linder/5 mins

A young woman relives her worst experiences with the murky, recurring phenomenon known as sleep paralysis, as she descends deeper into the recesses of her mind.

EFFIGY

Dir: Connor Clarke/8 mins

What happens when cryptid internet predators evolve to use this technological dependence against the keyboard warriors who hide in the dark! Be careful who you are online.

THE STRAWMAN

Dir: Jamie Zin/17 mins

Whilst taking care of their vegetative father, Ada, and her half-sister Fay, will find themselves in a fight for survival when their dad unwillingly transforms into a horrifying scarecrow.

THE FAMILIARS

Dir: Millicent Malcolm/16 mins

When a sceptical teenage girl inherits a mysterious heirloom she must decide whether to use it to protect herself from her destructive mother.

I CALL UPON THEE

Dir: Michael Anthony Kratochvil/14 mins

Two sisters from a broken family chant a summoning ritual in the hope it might improve their bleak lives, but they do not anticipate the irreversible consequences of what they summon.