Australia’s longest-standing and publicly owned short film festival, St Kilda Film Festival, has today announced this year’s award nominees who are in the running for more than $50,000 worth of cash and prizes across 16 categories.

As an ACADEMY AWARDS® qualifying event, the winners of this year’s Best Short Film and Best Documentary are eligible for consideration in the OSCARS® Short Film and OSCARS® Documentary Shorts Award categories.

The 2015 St Kilda Film Festival’s most prestigious title of Best Short Film will see one of four nominees take home a $10,000 cash prize courtesy of the City of Port Phillip. This year’s nominees for Best Short Film are A Single Body, Grey Bull, Rabbit and The Wonderful.

This marks the first time in the St Kilda Film Festival’s 32-year history that the winner for Best Documentary will be considered for the esteemed international awards and nominees include Junked, King of the Forest, Simulacrum, The Eagle and The Last Mirror Maker.

Competition will also be fierce in the Best Director category with some of Australia’s most talented film directors listed as nominees including Sotiris Dounoukos – A Single Body, Erin Good – The Wonderful, Matt Holcomb – Flat Daddy and Antony Webb – The Fan.

City of Port Phillip Mayor, Cr Amanda Stevens says the St Kilda Film Festival proudly showcases 100 of Australia’s top short films featuring talent from across the country.

“The City of Port Phillip is committed to supporting arts, music and culture with events like the St Kilda Film Festival to celebrate emerging and acclaimed Australian film talent,” said Cr Stevens.

The St Kilda Film Festival’s Top 100 films are judged by a panel of industry professionals.

Festival Director, Paul Harris is delighted to present Australia’s most talented short film professionals with a variety of awards.

“The St Kilda Film Festival continues to attract a strong calibre of competition with talented filmmakers covering a wide range of genres and crafts.

“Every year, we are proud to showcase the innovative and exciting work of Australia’s best filmmakers across different disciplines and look forward to unveiling the 2015 St Kilda Film Festival winners at the Closing Night Awards later in the week,” said Mr Harris.

The St Kilda Film Festival’s program continues to showcase exceptional films from emerging and acclaimed artists until Saturday 30 May 2015 at The St Kilda Town Hall.

The 2015 winners will be announced at the St Kilda Film Festival’s Closing Night Awards on Saturday 30 May at the St Kilda Town Hall.

2015 ST KILDA FILM FESTIVAL NOMINATIONS: 

Best Short Film
A Single Body
Grey Bull
Rabbit
The Wonderful

Craft Award
Grey Bull
Injury Time
The End of the Earth
The Fan

Best Director
Sotiris Dounoukos – A Single Body
Erin Good – The Wonderful
Matt Holcomb – Flat Daddy
Antony Webb – The Fan

Best Screenplay
Eddy Bell – Grey Bull
Sotiris Dounoukos – A Single Body
Dannika Horvat – The Summer of ABC Burns
Julian Vincent Costanzo – Falling

Best Editing
Agnes Baginska – Milkmaid
Ceinwen Berry – Pocket Money
Antonio Mestres – The Witching Hour
Antony Webb – The Fan

Best Cinematography
Ella Gibbins – The Wonderful
Simon Morris – Alone
Jeremy Rouse – Blood Pulls A Gun
Ari Wegner – Baby Baby

Best Comedy
Bunny New Girl
Handyman
The End of the Earth
The Fan

Best Actor
Lynette Curran – A Priest in the Family
Nicholas Denton – Rabbit
James Fraser – Nineteen
Simon Maiden – Love Notes
Daniel Webber – Eric

Best Sound Post Production
Russell Alexander – Injury Time
Pawel Blaszczak; Tomasz Gruszka – Milkmaid
Ant Bohun – Between Trees
Paul Pirola – Scission

Best Visual Effects
George Arnold; Jack Mason – Scission
Fir Sudema – A Peaceful Man
Antony Webb; Siamese; Last Pixel – The Fan
Evan Whiteside – The Witching Hour
James Yoshida – Simulacrum

Best Animation
Oddbots
Teagan
The Story of Percival Pitts

Best Original Score
Tiernan Cross – The Wonderful
Guy Gross – Flat Daddy
Jack Moffit; Basil Hogios – Blood Pulls A Gun
Bruce Smeaton – Love Notes
Michael Yezerski – Baby Baby

Best Documentary
Junked
King of the Forest
Simulacrum
The Eagle
The Last Mirror Maker

Best Indigenous Film
High Tide
Karroyul
On Stage
The Eagle

Best Young Actor
Majdi Slaibi – Pocket Money
Eliza Wishart – Acts of God
Odessa Young – The Tender Dark

Under the Radar; Best Youth Short Film
Alienation
Off Track
Rolling Stoned
Stolen