FLICKERFEST: Best of International Shorts

BEST OF INTERNATIONAL SHORTS 2026

This programme is a specially curated selection of highlights from Flickerfest’s International Academy Award® Qualifying competition programmes in Bondi 2026.

Flickerfest, celebrating 35 years bringing you the Best of International Shorts.
‘The Cream Of Short Films!’

Radix

Two creatures meet on a tree. Their encounter goes deep down to the roots and beyond.
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Director: Anne Breymann
Writer: Anne Breymann
Producer: Anne Breymann
Runtime: 4min
Year: 2025
Country: Germany

A Friend Of Dorothy

A lonely widow’s quiet life is upended when a teenage boy accidentally kicks his football into her garden.
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Director: Lee Knight
Writer: Lee Knight
Producer: James Dean, Max Harlow, Scottie Forte
Runtime: 21min
Year: 2025
Country: UK

Katti

In a vibrant, multi-generational Indian household, 8-year-old Bittoo finds herself sidelined after the birth of her baby brother. A tender, unsettling portrait of girlhood, sibling bonds, and the first sting of systemic gender bias. It explores how children absorb silence, how they internalize worth, and how, despite everything, they still reach for love.
WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Kanishka Aggarwal
Writer: Akshita Namjoshi, Kanishka Aggarwal
Producer: Wenfeng Li, Kanishka Aggarwal
Runtime: 14min
Year: 2025
Country: India, US

Dancing Sober

Bullied by wife and daughter and mistreated at work, Herman escapes with boozed up dancing alone in the middle of the night…until a drunken dance floor takeover at an office party turns him into a viral sensation and sparks a long overdue rebellion.
WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Kristian A. Söderström
Writer: Kristian A. Söderström
Producer: Josefine Green
Runtime: 15min
Year: 2025
Country: Sweden

A Sisyphean Task

Follows Lucy, a 23 year old newly qualified teacher, through her first year of teaching. A bright yet unflinching glimpse into the British school system, all set within the walls of Lucy’s classroom.
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Director: Gus Flind-Henry, George Malcher
Writer: Gus Flind-Henry, George Malcher
Producer: George Telfer
Runtime: 17min
Year: 2025
Country: UK

They

As townsfolk rage in their fog of negativity, our hero and his dog aim to encourage a return to better days! The opposite effect leads to an unexpected calamity which galvanizes the masses.
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Director: Renée Zellweger
Writer: Renée Zellweger, Paul Smith
Producer: Tora Young
Runtime: 8min
Year: 2025
Country: UK

My Plastic Mother

Eki, living by the landfill, searches for a memento to honor his late mother. Battling the relentless rain, landslides, and looming threats from scavengers and machinery, he fears her memory could be lost beneath the waste forever.
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Director: Amar Haikal
Writer: Amar Haikal
Producer: Michael Rainheart
Runtime: 19min
Year: 2025
Country: Indonesia

The Singers

A genre-bending film adaptation of a 19th-century short story written by Ivan Turgenev, in which a lowly pub full of downtrodden men connect unexpectedly through an impromptu sing-off. With a cast comprised of first-time actors from the unlikeliest corners of TikTok and YouTube, the film is a celebration of diamonds in the rough and a testament to the power of vulnerability through art.
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Director: Sam Davis
Producer: Simon Rayka Zehtabchi, Charlie Cohen, David Breschel, Jack PiattSpitzer
Runtime: 18min
Year: 2025
Country: US

*This programme contains mature themes & is not recommended for children under 15.
Classification: Children under 15yrs must be accompanied by an adult.

Screening: On Tour | Running Time: 116 min | Classification: Under 15yrs to be w/adult