SHORT FILM CATEGORY
SARA AZIZ ALI
AS DASDEH DADAN (FROM MY GIVEN HANDS)
2024
FILMMAKER STATEMENT
Placing trust in a political structure is inherently paradoxical. After the introduction of the White Revolution by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, many saw Iran as the ‘Europe of the Middle East,’ but was the country truly ready? As Dasdeh Dadan (From My Given Hands) follows a young bride about to be wed, exploring how she envisioned her life before the country's drastic changes began to unfold.
BIO
Coming from a Kurdish Muslim background, Sara Aziz Ali believes the true authenticity of her art is rooted in the cultural, political and religious contexts that have shaped her identity. Specifically working with Film and Photography, creating a story that represents the inner workings of her mind and culture, serving as an ode to the generations that came before her.
ALIA ARDON
KALITUS (WORKING TITLE)
2024
FILMMAKER STATEMENT
Kalitus (Working Title) explores the idea of understanding history through ecosystems rather than paper archives. Inspired by a forest of eucalyptus trees seen on the way to my grandmother’s house in Morocco, it investigates ecological imperialism and the journey of eucalypts from so-called Australia to Morocco.
BIO
Alia Ardon is a Moroccan-French-Australian filmmaker and artist with a deep interest in history, particularly ecological imperialism and diverse historical narratives. Her notable works include co-directing Safdar Ahmed’s Border Farce (2023) commissioned by Documenta 15, and most recently, researching the history of eucalyptus in Morocco during her 2024 residency at the Bouanani Archives in Rabat.
JULIETTE BURGESS
STRICTLY BARN DANCE
ARTIST STATEMENT
Using an amalgamation of so-called 'australian' kitsch references, Juliette dances a traditional Scottish barn dance against the backdrop of their classic Eora (Sydney) share house. The dance was adapted as a classic colonial australian barn dance in 1934. Reminiscing on an adolesence spent learning barn dances in a public primary school, Juliette attempts to learn the dance, subverting traditional preconceived notions of gender and sexuality.
BIO
As a queer, trans artist interested in the notions of desire, cognitive overload and the so-called ‘australian’ identity, Juliette Burgess uses their own imagined fantasies and mythologies as a springboard for their multidisciplinary practice rooted in performance, drag, sculpture, the moving image and textiles. In subverting traditional art-making practices and materialising their gender fluidity, they delve into the concept of reification, specifically engaging in the exchange between the immaterial experience of queerness and transness and the material manifestations of this.
IRA FRIEDBERG
THE HOTTEST DAY ON PLANET EARTH
ARTIST STATEMENT
the hottest day on planet earth is an experimental essay film and a meditation on the uncomfortable pleasures of the climate crisis. In an entropic six minutes, it reflects on nature, architecture, and art, questioning if recording and aestheticising the current world makes one implicit in its ongoing destabilisation.
BIO
Ira Friedberg is a writer and filmmaker working on Gadigal and Wangal land. He spends time across mediums: creative and critical, word and image. He is close to completing an Honours degree in English, having stretched out his undergraduate career for as long as possible.
AUGUSTO GARCIA
TERRA INCOGNITA
ARTIST STATEMENT
Terra Incognita is an adventure bushranger historic drama. Set in colonial Australia in 1861, we explore the story of the Victorian Exploring Expedition lead by the Irishman Robert O’Hara Burke, on their last four months, after the party find themselves abandoned at Coopers Creek and the perils they go through before meeting their tragic ending. The story of the expedition is intertwined with the story of a local clan of Indigenous people from the Yandruwandha nation that tries to make sense of the arrival of the ‘white ghosts’ and wants to find a way to understand the transgressors of their land. In Terra Incognita, two different cultures meet and clash, and the repercussions drive us to the climax of the story, the death of Burke and Wills, leaving with us a lasting reflective mood about one of the most important moments in Australian history that shaped and still affects our present days.
BIO
Augusto born in San Juan, Argentina at the foot of the mighty Cordillera de los Andes. His life got a plot twist when his family moved to Australia where he found his passion to tell stories at 24 fps. His lingering roots of his Argentineans origins feeds his creative World and his romantic and passionate sensibility always push his stories towards the challenges of understanding the human heart.
ISABELLA HENDERSON
SCHEHEREZADE
ARTIST STATEMENT
This short film is a surreal exploration of the sublime, existence, desire, and destruction. Inspired by Richard Siken's poem, which reimagines the folktale One Thousand and One Nights, where Scheherazade uses storytelling as a means of survival to delay her execution by the king each night.
BIO
I’m a final-year student at USYD, studying politics and international relations with a major in visual arts. My artistic work delves into the connections between place, land, and emotions, using different mediums as a dialogue to deepen my understanding of myself and this life.
TING-JEN (TJ) KUO
RUINS
ARTIST STATEMENT
Why do abandoned places intrigue us? Both drawn together and forced apart by them, they confront their shared and diverging memories.
BIO
Ting-Jen Kuo and Adrian Naracita are aspiring creatives studying Media and Architecture at USyd.
JIAXI LI
OBSESSION
ARTIST STATEMENT
The short film explores the intense emotional connection between two girls, set against the video style of Hong Kong. The director express the sticky summer nights, immersing viewers in the rich atmosphere. Through intimate moments and striking visuals, the film delves into themes of love, longing, and the complexity of relationships.
BIO
I am the director and major in Film and Screen Arts. Actually I prefer many Chinese film like Wang Kar Wai's, Edward Yang's, and so on. My own film almost about feminist and relationship between people.
LAUREN MACCOLL
MY MOVING VLOG (SEABIRD SEABIRD)
ARTIST STATEMENT
Documenting the artist’s months-long journey of moving out of their family home into the city, the video traces flickering memories of place and strings of identity, weaving together an intimate narrative of growth, change and ultimately, acceptance. Just like killer whales, and seabirds on their way home, decked in striped pants and white socks under blue skies and rainy days. With unfamiliar blankets, purple flowers and green bushes, one is drawn to accordion boxes, flattened spoons and an afternoon kitchen disco. In Red House (the one with double the bins as the last), I don’t like cars meets Hama bead figure on the door. A new IKEA floor lamp with my favourite couch on the sidewalk, the red stairs appear to be chipped all the way up. Your two cents of possum fur nipple warmers, and greeting from Wales, harmonies from miss Angie sitting beside the evening candlesticks- somehow Teddys spot under the kitchen bench (back scratches) is feeling heavier than usual. A Lego head, tartan laundry bags and the last day in Wisteria picking lemons. Four little paws to keep me company. Oh god turn me into a flower.
BIO
Pulling from an enmeshed personal archive of nostalgic material, Lauren Maccoll’s practice plays with the tensions of growth, love and change. Currently studying a BVA at the University of Sydney, working as an emerging artist, Lauren works from subliminal influences and interests, using art as a vessel to tell stories and uncover deeply personal narratives. Playing across all mediums, Lauren explores the inner workings of art-making processes to uncover organic textures and embrace the beauty in often perceived mistakes to actively unravel unresolved notions of identity and the home.
MCKENZI SCOTT
SHAPE
ARTIST STATEMENT
SHAPE is an experimental short film that examines the intricate and often unnoticed conditioning of human life within urban environments. By adopting an observational stance, this project documents the daily ebb and flow of Sydney's city life, capturing fragments of moments that, when pieced together, reveal the subtle ways in which urban landscapes shape and regulate human behaviour.
BIO
SHAPE is produced by Yi Su, and directed by Sida Wang, who have both just completed a Master's Degree in Social Science and Arts at the University of Sydney. Mckenzi Scott, who created the sound and music for this film is a 2nd-year student in the Digital Music and Media Program at The Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
ELIJAH SETO
THE JOB IS MINE!
ARTIST STATEMENT
The film is an absurdist comedy that follows Wesley, an alien posing as a human, in their cunning plan to perfect the nuances of social interaction and pass a job interview. What unfolds instead are a series of over-the-top mental preparations and subsequently botched executions, which only get harder to watch. This alien’s comical effort to be human, however, echoes what it's like to have social anxiety.
BIO
Elijah Seto is a first-year Media/Marketing student at USYD with a passion for film and music. Typically a behind-the-scenes enthusiast, Elijah found his on-screen collaboration with fellow USYD student Ethan Koman to be thoroughly enjoyable. He hopes you enjoy their work just as much!
WENDY THOMPSON
ONE OF US WON’T MAKE IT TO THEIR 30S
ARTIST STATEMENT
This work is about resilience and precarity in my queer community. It is about existing in spaces built upon loss and preemptively mourning further deaths that are far more likely than they should be. It is about finding joy, community, solidarity, and political struggle together nonetheless.
BIO
Wendy Thompson is an international student studying a Bachelor of Visual Arts and Advanced Studies with a second major in music. You might find them around campus drawing comics, animating, practicing clarinet, or organizing in the fight for queer rights.
BEE WALKER
REPARATE FOR
ARTIST STATEMENT
Reperate for explores my relationship with my body and performing an idyllic unrealistic version of myself through femininity. I am an artist with autism and have spent most of my life masking in order to fit in, this film represents the dysphoria this caused within me.
BIO
Bee Walker is a multidisciplinary artist living on Gadigal Lands with a recent focus on sculpting and fibre arts. Their works cover a range of themes including self image and mental health. They like to make their audience uncomfortable with their work and lean towards unserious creations.
MUSA YAWARI
ECHOES OF THE SEA
ARTIST STATEMENT
The documentary explores the traumatic memories of surviving a 2001 boat disaster while travelling to Australia. Through intimate stroytelling and evocative imagery, the film reveals the profound impact of those three harrowing days at sea, highlighting immigrant's resilience and ongoing quest for healing.
BIO
Musa Yawari, an MFA student at the University of Sydney and former BBC Video Journalist, explores survival, identity, and trauma in his documentaries on war and migration. His work highlights resilience and justice, fostering empathy through compelling storytelling.
JIYANG ZHANG
JIYANG’S GAMBIT
ARTIST STATEMENT
I made this movie all alone during the lockdown in China in 2022. It was a boring and lonely time then I came up with an idea of making a short film. It's more like a Chinese Pandemic Version of Pixar's short animation Geri's Game and a funny comedy about loneliness.
BIO
I am Jiyang, a super cinephile, an idealist and a passionate artist. Currently I am making some experimental and super low budget short films but trying to make a movie that can express my perspective of life and relationship.