Travis Cludy Hengsen

VicScreen, National Indigenous Television (NITV) and Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), today announced the four distinctive projects that have been selected for Sovereign Shorts.

The four Victorian-made short documentaries exploring Treaty are set to premiere at MIFF 2026 on Wednesday 19 August.

The joint initiative by VicScreen, NITV and MIFF was announced following the historic signing of Victoria’s Statewide Treaty with First Peoples in 2025.

The initiative provides mentorship and resources for First Peoples screen storytellers to produce a 10–15-minute documentary exploring Treaty as lived experience.

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The selected Sovereign Shorts films will have a gala world premiere screening at the 74th Melbourne International Film Festival in August.

Sovereign Shorts will also screen at MIFF venues following the premiere and be available to stream for free on MIFF Online, from 20-30 August. MIFF runs 6–23 August 2026.

Following MIFF, the films will be broadcast on NITV and available to stream via SBS on Demand.

The four projects are currently in production; the successful teams and their projects are:

Tracey Rigney

Dya (Country)
by writer/director/producer Tracey Rigney (Wotjobaluk) and co-producers Desiree Cross and Joel Boyd
A regional First Nations filmmaker explores the Wotjobaluk Nations’ underdog fight for recognition, revealing Treaty as a complex mosaic with deeply local, lived realities unfolding far from Melbourne.

Tammy Lee Rock

Queens to the Front
by writer/director Tammy Lee Rock (Pakana) and producers Carter Looker and Sophie Somerville
Queens to the Front is a dialogue between filmmaker Tammy Lee Rock and public figure Senator Lidia Thorpe, revealing insights into the personal impact of treaty and sovereignty.

Talia Liddle

Protest on the Dancefloor
by writer/director Talia Liddle (Arrernte and Luritja) and producer Travis Cloudy-Hensgen (Torres Strait – Ugar, Iama, Erub)
Protest on the Dancefloor explores how Blackfellas in Melbourne use music and dancefloors to create spaces of sovereignty, connection, and liberation amidst an ever-changing political climate.

Theo McMahon

Slow Hours
by writer/director/producer Theo McMahon and co-producer Lucie McMahon
Through the poetic, hopeful lens of Amelia, a young Indigenous teenager, we encounter the intertwined lives of three women, each embodying a different stage in the fragile evolution of First Nations hope in Victoria’s fight for sovereignty.

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