Winning Films

Best Overall Film

SUBSTRATUM by Harvey Abrahams

A young heir to a dictatorship navigates an isolated world of power and control. A solitary gesture of peace leads to tragic revelations in this stark allegory of inherited violence and the urgent need for empathy.

Best Acting

MIYU by Reggie Azwar

Miyu, a successful and established Architect, is given her childhood home from her parents as they are no longer able to live alone and take care of the house. Miyu returns back to her childhood home and is confronted by all the memories of her childhood and her relationship with her family after returning for the first time in over 10 years. She battles with the dilemma whether to sell the house and move on or keep the house and refurbish it.

Best Cinematography

Eat Sand by Liam Macmillan

After fighting for years to be the Sand Crawling Champion of the outback town Winton, two feuding athletes butt heads in a final showdown of grit and mouthfuls of sand.

Best Documentary

Understorey by Claire Riverland

Capturing the passion of Sarawak's driven conservation community, understorey explores the adversity and hope in this field. The short documentary encapsulates the constant uphill battle to preserve the magnificent rainforests of Malaysia and its array of creatures, big and small, which inhabit them.

Best Indigenous Film

The Gap by Ada Tuna

The Gap follows Nikyah Hutchings, a young Wiradjuri/Wonnarua-Gringai woman, as she navigates themes of generational trauma, privilege and systematic racism in the lead-up to Australia's 'Voice to Parliament' referendum.

Best Editing

More of This by Oliver Ivin-Poole

Isi spends one last night with her lover Joel, before he moves to the other side of the world.