Western Sydney-based animator Jayce White was crowned the winner of the inaugural Shortstacks Short Film Prize for his stand-out animated film ‘Comeback’, the State Library of NSW announced tonight. The darkly humorous black & white film won the praise of judges for its “creative innovation, exemplary technical skills, engagement with the audience and relevance to the Library’s signature collection item.” In Jayce White’s ‘Comeback’, a rogue boomerang takes a grim turn, in reference to Don McPhedran’s 1959 image of boomerang makers in La Perouse.
The short film was selected by a panel of esteemed judges: Australian film icon Margaret Pomeranz AM, award-winning filmmaker Michael Caulfield, film and TV critic Jason Di Rosso, and Tropfest’s youngest finalist, Nick Ward.

Margaret Pomeranz declared ‘Comeback’ a “stand-out film” before presenting Jayce White with $15,000 prize money, following the screening of finalists at the State Library. The judges were unanimous in their decision to award a runner-up prize of $5,000 to a team of young filmmakers and AFTRS alumni — Nick Harriott, Nick Spellicy and Ryan Stubbs — for their dramatisation of Herbert Badham’s painting Domesticity (1959). In the film, ‘Domestic’, a young couple is put to the test when they hear sounds through the window that might prove difficult to ignore.
“Shortstacks was established to give filmmakers, including those just starting out, an opportunity to say something new and interesting using the Library’s collection — our finalists did not disappoint,” State Librarian John Vallance commented.
Mr. Vallance explained that Shortstacks has been made possible thanks to the State Library Foundation which, through the generosity of private donors, supports an extensive program of creative awards and research fellowships at the Library.