The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) has announced the recipients of the 2023 MIFF Shorts Awards presented by Campari, which reward filmmakers with a prize pool worth $50,000. An in-person ceremony was held at ACMI on Saturday evening with seven out of the 75 films in the program accoladed by a jury consisting of filmmaker Alena Lodkina (Petrol, MIFF Premiere Fund 2022; Strange Colours); curator and artist Kate ten Buuren; and Head of Production and Partner from Good Thing Productions, Virginia Whitwell. Traversing a mammoth 42 countries, and including a special suite of Canadian films, the 11 packages in this year’s MIFF Shorts program span animation, documentary, experimental, Australian and international fiction shorts, and the works of famed auteurs, while the MIFF Accelerator short film programs feature exciting works by emerging local filmmakers from Australia and New Zealand. One of the most highly regarded short-film competitions in both the Asia Pacific region and the Southern Hemisphere, the 2023 MIFF Shorts Awards recognised diverse works from Australia, Iran, USA, France, Qatar and beyond. This year’s winning shorts explored a range of themes including connections to homeland and ancestral heritage, the dynamics of multi-racial families and the perspective of children, the emotional impact of migration and displacement, and the intertwining of pleasure, tragedy, and history.




MIFF Program Coordinator Liam Carter explained that winners of the 2023 MIFF Shorts Awards include: Fox Maxy’s F1ghting Looks Different 2 Me Now (USA); John Harvey’s Katele (Mudskipper) (Australia); Annelise Hickey’s Hafekasi (Australia); Morad Mostafa’s I Promise You Paradise (Egypt, France, Qatar), Matthew Thorne and Derik Lynch’s Marungka Tjalatjunu (Dipped in Black) (Australia), Flóra Anna Buda’s 27 (France, Hungary) and Maryam Tafakory’s Mast-del (Iran, UK). “MIFF is indebted to these filmmakers for challenging the expectations of the format to produce wholly original but opposite narratives,” Carter commented “A commonality amongst the winners is a search for belonging and comfort, which I believe is indicative of what we’re all yearning for in increasingly uncertain times.”
“Supporting the next generation of creatives has always been an integral part of Campari’s DNA. Whether it’s through our work with MIFF, our sponsorship of the Shorts Awards or our Posters to Production initiative, supporting grassroots communities is and continues to be our focus. We’re beyond thrilled through our sponsorship we’ve been able to spotlight and support emerging filmmakers. The winners have a bright future – this is only the beginning – we can’t wait to see what they do next.” Paolo Marinoni, Campari Managing Director commented.

2023 MIFF Shorts Awards Winners 

• City of Melbourne Grand Prix for Best Short Film | $12,500 cash prize
  F1ghting Looks Different 2 Me Now
• VicScreen Erwin Rado Award for Best Australian Short Film | $7,500 cash prize
  Katele (Mudskipper)
• Award for Emerging Australian Filmmaker |$6,000 cash prize Hafekasi 
• Award for Best Fiction Short Film | $6,000 cash prize I Promise You Paradise 
• Award for Best Documentary Short Film | $6,000 cash prize Marungka Tjalatjunu (Dipped in Black) 
• Award for Best Animation Short Film | $6,000 cash prize 27 
• Award for Best Experimental Short Film | $6,000 cash prize Mast-del