About the Festival

Proudly presented and produced by the City of Port Phillip, the Festival supports the Australian film industry by turning the spotlight on a wide range of fascinating works that may not otherwise see the light of day. Exceptional films by both emerging talent and short works by accomplished industry professionals are shown on the big screen, where they look their shiny best.

Accredited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the St Kilda Film Festival is an Academy Awards® qualifying event, with award-winning films from the Festival eligible for consideration in the Short Film Awards and Documentary Short sections of the Oscars®. The Festival has screened films that went on to be Oscar winners and nominees, and Palme d’Or winners at Cannes. A short roll call of filmmakers whose earliest works found a home at St Kilda Film Festival includes Adam Elliot (Harvey Crumpet), Matt Saville (Noise), Kriv Stenders (Red Dog), Cate Shortland (Somersault), Jane Campion (The Piano, Bright Star) and Richard Lowenstein (Dogs In Space).

St Kilda Film Festival provides the most comprehensive overview of the national short film industry, screening a diverse selection of short films from around the country alongside a rich program of International showcases, special screenings and events plus a free Filmmaker Development Program.

The Festival also supports youth filmmakers and has incorporated the Under The Radar Short Film Competition into the Festival program. (See the Under The Radar Terms & Conditions here.)

Entries for the 2019 St Kilda Film Festival closed on 22 February 2019.

Film Festival Details

What's a Short Film?

New to the Film Festival and not sure what this short film business is all about?

A short is a film that has a duration shorter than 40 minutes.

Since the beginning of film, this artistic form of entertainment was short. Features and longer films have grown and become popular over the years since the expansion of equipment, software and technology.

Whilst short film may now not be so popular with commercial cinemas, it is still today a much loved pastime of film lovers, artistic lovers and Melbournian’s.

We look forward to hosting you at the Festival and sharing our love of short film!

About Festival Director, Paul Harris

Paul Harris fell in love with the movies at an early age. As a pimply-faced kid, his appetite was enormous. He developed a broad taste in cinema, discovering world movies and short films while attending Melbourne’s fine film festivals, including the then modest event in St Kilda, which he would later steer into the digital landscape of the 21st Century.

Paul has been lucky enough to indulge his overriding passion by continually working in his ‘field of dreams‘. He began hosting Film Buffs Forecast in 1982, and became Director of the St Kilda Film Festival in 1999. Every now and then over the course of his career, Paul has been asked to appear in films. He can be spotted in Melbourne-made classics including Dogs In Space, Nirvana Street Murders and Love And Other Catastrophes. In between these bouts of acting, Paul has written movie reference books, worked in the film distribution/exhibition sector (Fox, Columbia, GUO, Roadshow), operated a cinema (Liberty, Brunswick) and worked in various capacities at the Australian Film Institute.

He has also conducted oral histories for the National Film and Sound Archive, been a regular movie reviewer for over twenty years and taught film at RMIT, VCA and Swinburne University.

In his spare time, Paul studies the art of verbal wordplay.

The Festival has screened films that went on to be Oscar winners and nominees, and Palme d’Or winners at Cannes. A short roll call of filmmakers whose earliest works found a home at St Kilda Film Festival includes Adam Elliot (Harvey Crumpet), Matt Saville (Noise), Kriv Stenders (Red Dog), Cate Shortland (Somersault), Jane Campion (The Piano, Bright Star) and Richard Lowenstein (Dogs In Space).