Adelaide Film Festival and Pride Foundation Australia Short Film Initiative

AFFIF and PFA will fund the production of one new Australian short film, with a $60,000 grant, which will then have its World Premiere at the Adelaide Film Festival 2027.

This is the second year of the initiative with previous projects funded include The Night Mosses Died, Producer Mimo Mukii, Director/writer Lilah Benetti and writer Maxine Ellah.

AFF and Pride Foundation Australia are committed to increasing equity for LGBTQIA+ Australians to tell their stories. Priority will be given to applicants who are LGBTQIA+ and in at least one of the following groups – First Nations, newly arrived migrants, forcibly displaced people including refugees, and people from CALD backgrounds and/or regional and rural communities to develop their screen storytelling craft and build their professional careers. Scripts that include the use of First Nations languages are encouraged.

“AFF is grateful to Pride Foundation Australia for partnering with us to help enable new voices in cinema and support a diversity of screen stories to be told. We’re proud to premiere the inaugural commission, The Night Moses Died as part of the upcoming 2026 Adelaide Film Festival, 14-25 October and can’t wait to support another great project to be made from this new call out,” said Mat Kesting, AFF CEO and Creative Director.

“The World Premiere of the selected short film at the Adelaide Film Festival will lead, we hope, to the creative team going on to make many more screen projects – which one day may also be Adelaide Film Festival World Premieres.”

“We are so excited to continue our partnership with the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund to support under-represented filmmakers and less amplified voices. This investment will not only benefit individual career development but will also benefit LGBTQIA+ people and allied communities in Australia through seeing themselves represented on screen. This is part of our greater mission to advocate for systemic change for the most marginalised LGBTQIA+ communities,” said Ruth McNair AM, Chair of Pride Foundation Australia.

Fully formed teams of writer, director and producer can apply and must identify as LGBTQIA. The writer and director can also be a writer/director.

The writer and director can be at any career stage but must demonstrate a commitment to screenwriting and/or have a body of writing or directing work of short films and/or web series.

Applications open September 1 and close on October 7.