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The 29th Flickerfest International Short Film Festival is thrilled to announce the full list of short films officially selected into the Academy® qualifying and BAFTA recognised competitions for 2020. Over 10 thrilling days, Flickerfest, a beloved Sydney summer institution will once again delight audiences with the very best in short films from Australia and around the world, screened under the stars at the iconic Bondi Pavilion in January.

A record 3,500 entries from over 100 countries have been received for Flickerfest 2020; a testimony to the fact that Flickerfest is one of the world's leading and most respected platforms for short film. From this large entry field only around 200 of the very best most creative and inspiring shorts will be screened at the Festival across 17 competitive programmes and four showcase programmes all guaranteed to make you laugh, cry and gasp with delight. view 2020 Programme here

The shorts in competition at Flickerfest are fiercely vying for a number of prestigious prizes including the Flickerfest Award for Best International Short Film, the Yoram Gross Award for Best International Animation, the Flickerfest Award for Best Australian Short Film and the Flickerfest Award for Best Documentary- All are Academy® Qualifying. Plus, a host of other hotly contested prizes, which recognise the various craft areas inherent in making a great short film.

The Flickerfest jury of film industry luminaries in 2020 includes multi-award winning and Academy nominated cinematographer Don McAlpine, actress and writer/director Gracie Otto, award winning writer/director Dylan River and award-winning Australian director Samantha Lang.

The Australian program includes some brilliant entries for 2020 with key highlights including the Australian premiere of Chicken by Papuan-Australian director and writer, Alana Hicks. The Australian Premiere of The Diver a film by Michael Leonard and Jamie Helmer which had its world premiere at Venice Film Festival, Backpedal by Dani Pearce which has been selected for Sundance and the world premiere of Closed Doors written and directed by Hunter Page Lochard and Fred Carter Simpkin featuring an all-star indigenous cast including award winning actor and director Wayne Blair.

The International program will feature the Australian premiere of all of the following films, fresh from Cannes in competition White Echo, the third short film project which American actress Chloë Sevigny, has written and directed, The Marvelous Misadventures Of the Stone Lady by Portuguese director Gabriel Abrantes which was highly commended this year at Cannes Directors Fortnight, French/American film Talk starring William Baldwin, award winning actress Clemence Poesy's (Harry Potter, Gossip Girls) The Tear's Thing and a special EU showcase screening of the new short film Nimic by Oscar nominated Greek Director Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite, The Lobster).

Flickerfest is Australia's largest short film competition dedicated to showcasing the very best short films from Australia and around the world from live action to documentaries and animation. In addition to being BAFTA recognised, there are three Academy-qualifying competitions plus a number of showcases and regional competitions including a new ASEAN region competition for 2020 in partnership with DFAT and Australian now ASEAN, The Best of EU competition in partnership with the European Union to Australia, our celebration of amazing LBTQI films in competition from across the globe (Rainbow Shorts) and special showcases of kids and family friendly films (FlickerKids), films about relationships (Love Bites), and hilarious comedy films (Short Laughs).

In 2020 our SAE FlickerUp competition also returns celebrating filmmakers 18 and under from across Australia.

The festival culminates with the prestigious awards presentation held under the summer starts at Bondi Pavilion in celebration of the world's most innovative short form filmmaking and storytelling.

Following the Bondi season, Flickerfest hits the road for a massive, 5-month national tour from January to May of the very best films from the festival. The tour will reach 50+ metro and regional venues across all states, bringing the joy of Flickerfest to the rest of the country! Flickerfest has been a major launching pad for some of Australia's and the world's most celebrated filmmakers.

flickerfest.com.au