Mia Wasikowska in Agata the Writer
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Screen Australia has today announced $20.4 million of production and development funding across 91 narrative projects, including the first projects through its new Short Film Production Funding Program.

Among the titles is a new season of the award-winning children’s series Little J & Big Cuz, an untitled Official Australian/Canadian Co-production feature film marking Cody Fern’s directorial debut, animated mystery musical direct-to-audience series The Art of Murder for YouTube, and family film Silver Beach (working title).

Sundowner, The Novelty, Inferno and Lazy Love (Lasagne 365) are the first short films to receive production funding through the new program, marking the agency’s return to direct investment in the format and reaffirming its vital role in the careers of future feature filmmakers. Alongside this support, participating teams will receive professional mentorship from an exceptional cohort of industry directors whose insight will help strengthen skills, elevate projects and support pathways to extended narrative production. Mentors include Beck Cole (High Country, Deadloch), Isobel Knowles and Van Sowerwine (The World Came Flooding In, Passenger), Noora Niasari (Shayda) and Goran Stolevski (Of An Age).

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Screen Australia Director of Narrative Content Louise Gough said, “The range of these 91 projects showcases the depth, diversity and bold creativity of local storytellers, shaped with Australia’s unique blend of humour, style and perspective. We’re particularly lucky to have industry figures of such calibre to mentor the four directors of our Short Film Program, guiding them to hone their unique, imaginative shorts for cinema and festival audiences. No doubt this experience will help the short film teams to grow their craft, build recognition and eventually move toward long‑form storytelling.”

Some of the supported feature film projects include: 

The Laugh of Lakshmi
Writer/Director S.Shakthidharan
Producers John Maynard, Vivek Rangachari
Synopsis Forced apart by the Sri Lankan civil war, a celebrated Bharatanatyam dancer sends her 11-year-old protege son to safety in Sydney and stays to search for her missing husband and daughter. Worlds apart for twenty-five years, she among farming collectives and displaced families, and he in corporate Australia, with a secret love, reclaim what matters – that true strength lies in vulnerability and compassion.

Hot Mother
Writer/Director Lucy Knox
Producers Sarah Shaw, Anna McLeishs
Synopsis In an attempt to reconnect, a mother and daughter visit a remote wellness spa for the weekend, but their time together quickly turns into a physical and psychological fight for survival when they get trapped in a sauna where no one can hear their cries for help.

The Engagement
Director Dacre Montgomery
Writer Jory Anast
Producers Virginia Whitwell, Nick Batzias, Nash Edgerton, Ian Booth

Synopsis On a secluded island for a momentous celebration, two couples confront a conflicting memory that threatens to tear their relationships apart.

Agata the Writer
Writer/Directors Kuba Dorabialski
Producer Alex White
Synopsis A satirical writer goes to Sarajevo to write a “serious” novel about the war, but finds herself tangled in self doubt, an art theft, and the complexity of storytelling.

Twice Over
Director Alena Lodkina
Writers Alena Lodkina, Miles Allinson
Producers Kate Glover, Nathan Lewis, Aidan O’Bryan, Gregory Jankilevitsch
Synopsis Anna, a 36-year-old writer/drifter, arrives in Perth to clear out her estranged-uncle’s apartment. When, by chance, she runs into George, a similarly unattached ex-punk-drummer, a spark from twenty years earlier is rekindled. But is it real, and can it hold when everything in their lives seems so temporary and uncertain?

FOR NOW
Director Samuel Van Grinsven
Writers Samuel Van Grinsven, Jory Anast
Producers Samantha Jennings, Kristina Ceyton

Synopsis As their reckless twenties come to a close, three friends redefine the boundaries of their intimacy and in doing so fall into intoxicating yet uncharted territory, which risks unravelling their bond entirely.

EKA

Writer/Directors Suman Sen
Producers Emmanuel Pappas, Manjari Makijany, Alan McAlex
Distributor Screenxcope Pty Ltd

Synopsis A weathered insurance clerk endures a life of quiet humiliations in a crumbling city obsessed with spectacle. As a colossal, tarpaulin-covered statue of the ‘common man’ rises over the skyline, his mounting shame turns into an act of quiet defiance that fractures the city’s silence, and his own.

Silver Beach (working title)
Creator Rachel Davis
Writer Alix Beane
Producer Joanna Werner
Synopsis A warm, family-friendly tale of friendship, self-acceptance, and the courage to pursue your dreams.

Mercia’s Take
Writer/Directors Ari Wegner, Leo Woodhead
Producers Robert Connolly, Liz Kearney, Ruth Treacy, Julianne Forde, Mairtin de Barra
Synopsis The Black Country, 1870. A coal miner finds gold down the pit, hoping it will save his family from hardship. But his stallmate has other ideas…

Untitled Feature Film
Director Cody Fern
Writers Devon Bostick, Cody Fern
Producers Will Howarth, Nancy Grant, Matilda Comers, Rosalie Chicoine Perreault
Synopsis When famed actress Sandra Bloom summons her estranged family to a reunion, her well meaning but duplicitous sister, April, fights to keep their family’s darkest secret from her unwitting son, Theo.

Murder Ballad
Director Tom Campbell
Writer Adam Spellicy
Synopsis When a musician retreats to a remote house with a dark past to write her second album, she finds herself consumed by the very inspiration she came searching for. Murder Ballad is a propulsive horror examining the thin line between obsession and possession.

Crime Casters
Director Max Miller
Writer Scott Limbrick
Producers Austin Hayden, Max Miller, Monique Mulcahy
Synopsis Claire is a frustrated young journalist whose scheme to produce a true-crime podcast in a small Australian town is derailed when she witnesses a policeman dumping a body. Pulled into a world of conspiracies, dead podcasters, and billionaires, she faces bizarre challenges – all while managing a perfectionist audio engineer.

Jonesy
Writer/Director Aaron McCann
Producers Michael Facey, Kristian Moliere
Synopsis Elliott, an unemployed dreamer, manipulated by his fiancé’s telepathic and murderous cat, spirals into chaos when a simple bird-napping scheme turns into a deadly plot against his future in-laws.

You can find out more about all of the supported projects here.

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