The Short Film Competition at The Vision Splendid Outback Film Festival in Winton is geared to independent filmmakers from around Australia.
Filmmakers are asked to make a film no longer than 10 minutes.
The Closing Night Short Film Competition sells out every year and we welcome submissions of quality films that address the Festival theme and especially films that are family-friendly and funny.
Finalist films will be screened on the Closing Night at the historic, 105 year old Royal Open Air Theatre at a special awards ceremony with celebrity judges selecting the Best Film and associated prizes.
Feature Film Submissions
We are opening submissions to feature films to highlight our commitment to Independent Australian cinema.
If selected, the feature films will be programmed throughout the nine days of the Festival.
Your film can be fiction or documentary, funny or sad but it has to be memorable, significant and lasting and also family-friendly! Get creative!
Awards & Prizes
The Short Film Competition awards are presented at the Closing Night. The Awards will be announced shortly.
All films screening as Official Selections are eligible for the Audience Award. The award is based solely on audience voting at the film
screening.
The producer whose submission is considered the most engaging, imaginative and formally innovative in content and delivery, will be deemed the winner. The judging panel’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
The prize will be awarded to one nominated producer on the entry form of the short film. If entrants are from a team they must negotiate this between themselves
Rules & Terms
Short Film Competition Guidelines
The event is a juried short film competition open to independent Australian filmmakers.
Please read and carefully consider the following details and guidelines for the Short Film Competition before submitting your short film.
Each year the Festival chooses a theme for the short films to embrace, however in 2023 there will not be a theme. The Festival does encourage and welcome short films that feature the theme of 'celebration' in acknowledgment of the Festival's tenth birthday, however we are not exclusively committed to this theme.
The brief is wide open and is only limited by your imagination. We seek films that explore story telling in a creatively, authentically, novel and exciting manner. We hope that your production process is a joyous experience of realising your dreams.
Submission guidelines
Films must be submitted via FilmFreeway.com
The title, submission ID number, screening format, and running time must be clearly labelled.
The short film can be any genre including, documentary, live-action, animation or a combination of both. You can submit your work that features elements of drama, horror, sci-fi, documentary, musical etc.
Students are encouraged to work collaboratively, however you may enter individually, in groups, or as a class. Film schools (Universities, TAFEs and private institutions) can enter their students work, or individual students from any of the institutions can enter their own work. Each film may only be submitted once.
The Festival committee reserves the right to determine the eligibility of all projects. All qualified entries must be independently
produced and financed. Please do not ask for fee waivers for as a matter of equity all films submitted must fulfil all submission criteria.
Films may be in any language or have no dialogue at all. Foreign-language dialogue must have English subtitles.
The deadline for entries in the 2023 competition must be received by 20 June, 2023. Films uploaded after the designated deadlines have no guarantee of being viewed for Official Selection consideration. If you have any issues with timing please contact enquiries@visionsplendidfilmfest.com.
Ensure that all content in your film (including footage, music, images, props etc) is your own. If you include any copyrighted content you must be able to provide written permission for its uses. Entries containing any unauthorised content will be disqualified.
View our website for more copyright information.
The filmmaker(s) give Vision Splendid Outback Film Festival permission to use all submitted materials, including but not limited to film stills, descriptions, director’s biography in any and all forms of media for the express purpose of festival promotion and publicity. Please note: Vision Splendid Outback Film Festival may petition filmmakers to use clips of one minute or less from Official Selection films for publicity.
