Ten finalists for the prestigious Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films will screen in the Festival. Australia’s longest running short film competition is now in its 52nd year and has been sponsored by Dendy Cinemas since 1989.
Finalists will compete for three coveted prizes: The Dendy Live Action Short Award, The Rouben Mamoulian Award for Best Director and the Yoram Gross Animation Award, announced at the Festival’s Closing Night.
Finalists:
- DWARF PLANET | 2020 | Australia | Director, Screenwriter: Adrian Chiarella. This is a minimalist coming of age, coming out story, where birthday boy hires an escort to celebrate the occasion with the end of celibacy
- FREEDOM SWIMMER | 2021 | Australia | Director, Screenwriter: Olivia Martin-McGuire. Superb animation tracking two stories of two generations who find themselves adrift on the ebb and flow of geopolitical upheaval.
- LIFEBLOOD | 2021 | Australia | Director, Producer: Nicholas Tory
Exquisite pictorial representation of the Bourke Shire, its geography, flora, fauna, and ancient folklore, a vivid, entrancing story of ecological and cultural resilience.
- THE MOOGAI | 2020| Australia | Director, Screenwriter: Jon Bell
A genuinely creepy story of post natal paranoia, writer director Jon Bell draws on traditional tales of families terrorised by a child stealing spirit. Starring Shari Sebbens and Meyne Wyatt as the parents warding off a malevolent and predatory presence, THE MOOGAI is a dark dream-time nightmare.
- OFF THE RAILS | 2021 | Australia | Directors, Screenwriters, Producers: Bel Holborow, Isabelle Coury
Amazing high saturation animation about two besties separated on the Russian rail system
- PEEPS | 2020| Australia | Director, Screenwriter: Sophie Somerville Smart, sassy essay into schoolgirl culture
- SHARK| 2021 | Australia | Director, Screenwriter: Nash Edgerton
Larrikin dark comedy that pricks prankster’s penchant for the practical joke. A silly stunt comes back to literally bite him.
- THE STRANGER | 2020| Australia | Director, Screenwriter: Jenny Hicks
Steve Bisley and Fiona Press star as a couple of rural homesteaders who give succour to a young swaggie with an unsettling presence.
- TINASHÉ | 2021 | Australia | Director, Screenwriter: Tig Terera
Good hearted look at teenage angst, of being kicked out by your family, picked up by your friends, and navigating the first flush of romantic love.
- tough| 2021 | Australia | Director, Screenwriter: Taylor Ferguson
TOUGH depicts the fragile and volatile relationship between a single father and his daughter, examining that taut tightrope between discipline and abuse.
TICKETING & VIEWING
The Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films finalists will screen together at Event Cinemas George Street from 2PM on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 November 2021.
Tickets on sale now:
- Adults: $21
- Concessions: $18
- Youth (15-17 Years): $14
- Group 10+: $15.50
Flexipasses are also on sale and can be redeemed for the Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films finalists:
- Flexipass 10: $165
- Flexipass 20: $310
- Flexipass 30: $435
- Youth Pass 6 (15-24 Years): $75
Flexipasses and subscriptions to Sydney Film Festival 2021 are on sale now.
Call 1300 733 733 or visit sff.org.au for more information.
Richard Cotter