A brand new short film festival, created by women, for women, is coming to Australia.
The Australian Women’s Film Festival (AWFF) will launch on Sunday, March 14, 2021, at Event Cinemas AACTA Bar and Cinemas at Bondi Junction in Sydney, in line with International Women’s Day.
According to an official announcement, the AWFF “will support, encourage, and ultimately celebrate female storytellers and leaders within the film industry by giving them the platform to showcase their talent both in front and behind the camera”.
AWFF is the brainchild of Australian producers and filmmakers Kelly Tomasich and Tahyna MacManus who told her story in the 2020 Stan documentary, MuM – Misunderstanding of Miscarriage Documentary.
The all-female judging panel includes actor and director Rachel Griffiths (Muriel’s Wedding, Ride Like a Girl), producer of The Dressmaker, Sue Maslin, actor Teresa Palmer and the CEO of Event Hospitality and Entertainment, Jane Hastings.
“I am so excited to be a member of the AWFF judging panel in its inaugural year. It’s an amazing opportunity for filmmakers to showcase, and audiences to celebrate, the phenomenal work being done by women both in front and behind the camera,” Griffiths said in a statement.
A condition of entry to AWFF is that three of five key creatives (Writer, Director, Producer, DOP and Editor) must be female, and it must also pass the Bechdel test.
The Bechdel test is a measure of the representation of women in fiction and asks whether a work features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man.
“The Bechdel Test was included to encourage filmmakers to consider their portrayal of women in film and transcend traditional character stereotypes,” the announcement read.
The festival will also honour editor Jill Bilcock (Moulin Rouge), who will receive the AWFF Trailblazer Award and producer Bruna Papandrea will receive the AWFF Groundbreaker Award for her extraordinary contributions to the film industry in the last year.
Awards will be given for Best Drama, Documentary, Comedy and Animation with the major prize awarded for Best Film. Individual categories will also be recognised.
For more information and award categories please head to AWFF.