Of An Age won the $100,000 Film prize at CinefestOZ in 2022. Photo by the very excellent Court McAllister.

Australia’s premiere destination film festival CinefestOZ is excited to announce that film submissions for the 2023 event are now open, held in the South West of WA in August (29 August- 3 September).

Filmmakers are encouraged to make submissions for the Official Selection and Short Film Program for contention in both the CinefestOZ Albany (27 – 30 April 2023) – hosted in WA’s Great Southern region in April – and CinefestOZ Film Festival in August (29 August- 3 September 2023 ) , which has taken over the South West region for the past 16 years. First Nations content submitted will additionally be considered for CinefestOZ Broome (26-29 October 2023).

Submissions are also open for the annual CinefestOZ Film Prize award, Australia’s richest film prize of $100,000AUD (applicable only for the August event in the South West).

CinefestOZ continues its expansion across WA’s breathtaking regions in 2023, engaging cinema audiences in iconic and picturesque locations, with the best of new Australian storytelling.

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CinefestOZ CEO Malinda Nixon said the festival would return with an ambitious line-up of films expected to reflect the highest quality of filmmaking talent from across the country.

“We are thrilled to see the wealth of Australia’s filmmaking expertise contending for our prestigious accolades in 2023,” Mrs Nixon said.

“Every year we are amazed by the diversity and creativity and we look forward to viewing each submission.”

CinefestOZ would like to stress that selection for the Albany festival will not discount entries from the August Festival and will not impact a film’s premiere status.

Submissions for all categories are now open online and close on 1 June 2023.

Categories in 2023 will include: Feature categories; Film Prize and Official Selection, Short Film categories; Best Short Film, CineWest Best WA Short, Best Indigenous Short, Best Director, Best Screenwriter, Best Lead Actor, and Audience Choice, as well as General categories and VR/XR expressions of interest.

You can find out more about submitting your film, Film Prize, Official Selection, and Short Film categories here.