The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) has announced the recipients of the 2022 MIFF Shorts Awards, which reward filmmakers with more than $63,500 in prizes. An in-person ceremony was held at ACMI on Thursday evening with seven out of the 78 films in the program accoladed by a jury consisting of filmmaker Tiriki Onus (Ablaze), director James Vaughan (Friends and Strangers), and film writer Jourdain Searles.
The much-loved and internationally acclaimed MIFF Shorts program highlights the art of saying more with less. Showcasing the best short films – from Cannes prize winners to local discoveries – this year’s selection includes animation, documentary, experimental, and Australian and international fiction shorts; a special suite of short films from and about Africa; and several pre-feature shorts. The MIFF Accelerator short film programs feature exciting and diverse works by emerging filmmakers from Australia and New Zealand.
Winners of the 2022 MIFF Shorts Awards include: Sohil Vaidya’s Murmurs of the Jungle (India); Lachlan Pendragon’s An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It (Australia); Rudolf Fitzgerald- Leonard’s Tremor (Germany); Nuhash Humayun’s Moshari (Bangladesh); Shuli Huang’s Will You Look At Me (China); João Gonzalez’s Ice Merchants (Portugal, UK, France); and Maryam Tafakory’s Nazarbazi (UK, Iran).
“The quality of contenders this year was incredibly strong,” says Shorts co-programmer Mia Falstein-Rush. “It’s a real testament to the future of cinema, and I can’t wait to see what’s next for these filmmakers.”
Co-programmer Liam Carter, adds: “It’s great to see different modes of filmmaking be recognised in some of the major awards this year – to have so many young filmmakers at the helm of these remarkable projects is encouraging.”
MIFF features one of the most highly regarded short film competitions in both the Asia-Pacific region and the Southern Hemisphere. Now in its 61st year, and presented by ST. ALi, the MIFF Shorts Awards are Academy Awards® accredited. The 2022 winners of the Best Short Film, Best Australian Short Film, Best Documentary Short Film and Best Animation Short Film awards are eligible to submit their films for the 95th Academy Awards® in 2023.
Lachlan Ward, Co-CEO and co-owner, ST. ALi, says: “ST ALi has long been a supporter of the arts and after a difficult few years for the industry it’s exciting to be back in action and in-person. As partners of MIFF Shorts and the Awards, it feels good to play a role in recognising fresh talent and we send our congratulations to all the winners.”
