The winners of the annual MIFF Shorts Awards 2026 have been announced in a major ceremony taking place at Melbourne Town Hall. The awards are part of the Melbourne International Film Festival, which runs to 23 August across the city, and celebrate excellence in shortform screen storytelling, including fiction, documentary, animation and experimental filmmaking.
Filmmakers from around the world able to submit their works for consideration, all vying for recognition on a global stage. As shared by organisers, this year’s winners reflect ‘the strength’ of filmmaking in Australia and New Zealand, with an array of local short films winning prizes. In fact, six of the seven awards – comprising a total prize pool of $56,500 – went to filmmakers from these two regions.
That’s from a pool of 108 short films submitted from around 50 countries, as the MIFF Shorts Awards grow in stature and in their ability to ‘champion emerging voices’ worldwide.
MIFF Shorts Awards 2026 – quick links
Highlights from the MIFF Shorts Awards 2026
The winner of the prestigious City of Melbourne Grand Prix for Best Short Film was Lion Rock by New Zealand filmmakers Nick Mayow and Prisca Bouchet. The film charts a ‘shifting balance of power’ between a son (Anton Falstie-Jensen) and his mother, with New Zealand serving as an ‘active presence’ rather than just a backdrop.
The VicScreen Erwin Rado Award for Best Australian Short Film went to Our Choir Has Always Been Travelling, from Judith Pungarta Inkamala, Marjorie Williams and Nelson Armstrong. This film tells the story of the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir through the voices of members past and present.
ScreenHub: All the highlights from the Melbourne International Film Festival
The inaugural Armani Beauty Talent of Tomorrow Award, recognising an ‘outstanding’ filmmaker from the MIFF Accelerator Lab, went to Andrew Dang and Jak Scanlon for Last Chance to Evacuate Earth, which follows two friends reconnecting on an unexpected trip.
‘Short films have a rare freedom: they can bend form, sharpen feeling and build a complete cinematic logic in only a few minutes,’ said MIFF short film programmers Mia Falstein-Rush and Raphë Lafleur in a joint statement.
‘These winners are works of real precision and imagination; films with their own pulse, their own texture and grammar, opening a world far larger than their running time.’
The full list of winners from the MIFF Shorts Awards 2026
Here’s the full list of all the winners from the MIFF Shorts Awards 2026, including the official jury statements on each film.
City of Melbourne Grand Prix for Best Short Film
Lion Rock (directed by Nick Mayow and Prisca Bouchet) – ‘From its opening frame, Lion Rock draws us completely into a world of striking natural beauty and quietly mounting unease. Within a beautifully contained dramatic structure, Prisca Bouchet and Nick Mayow craft a subtle yet deeply affecting portrait of the shifting balance of power between a son and his mother.’
VicScreen Erwin Rado Award for Best Australian Short Film
Our Choir Has Always Been Travelling (directed by Judith Pungarta Inkamala, Marjorie Williams and Nelson Armstrong) – ‘Our Choir Has Always Been Travelling is a moving testament to the power and beauty of making art together, and to the connections that art can create between those closest to us and people we may never have imagined reaching.’
Armani Beauty Talent of Tomorrow Award
Last Chance to Evacuate Earth (directed by Andrew Dang and Jak Scanlon) – ‘Beginning with two friends reconnecting on an unexpected trip, Jak Scanlon and Andrew Dang’s Last Chance to Evacuate Earth develops into something increasingly mysterious and emotionally charged. The strong performances create a compelling sense of closeness and tension, drawing us further into the shifting dynamic between the characters.’
Award for Best Fiction Short Film
Souvenir (directed by Renée Marie Petropoulos) – ‘Led by compelling performances from Tanzyn Crawford and Emily Grant, Souvenir is a nuanced and emotionally perceptive exploration of consent and the subtle power imbalances that can emerge within a young romance.’
Award for Best Documentary Short Film
Intersecting Memory (directed by Shayma’ Awawdeh) – ‘In Intersecting Memory, Shayma’ Awawdeh brings together home video recordings and news footage from the Second Intifada, accompanying these images with a letter addressed to her mother. Awawdeh, who was six when the conflict began in 2000, recalls her childhood through vivid fragments: falafel and fried cauliflower; the pride of wearing a new school uniform in a refugee camp; and her family singing “Happy Birthday” at 3am while soldiers occupied their home for the night.’
Award for Best Animation Short Film
Daughters of the Late Colonel (directed by Elizabeth Hobbs) – ‘Brimming with director Elizabeth Hobbs’s distinctive wit, Daughters of the Late Colonel is a captivating adaptation of Katherine Mansfield’s 1920 short story. Hobbs’s richly textured animation gives the film a spare and rhythmic quality, using movement, repetition and visual detail to reveal the inner lives of its two sisters.’
Award for Best Experimental Short Film
Body, remember… (directed by Matthew Berka) – ‘Matthew Berka’s Body, remember… is a concentrated meditation on touch and the liminal ache of desire that surrounds it. Shot on luminous 16mm, the film uses extraordinary macro photography to transform the body into an intimate, shifting landscape, while its precisely layered sound design heightens every gesture, texture and point of contact.’
