Entries are now open for the 70th Sydney Film Festival in 2023, in cinemas from June 7—18.  The 2023 Festival will have the largest prize pool for filmmakers and their films in the festival’s history, including doubling the prize for Best Australian Documentary from $10,000 to $20,000, thanks to support from Documentary Australia.

Each year, Sydney Film Festival presents a diverse slate of features, documentaries and short films from around the world at venues across Sydney.

Entries are open to features, documentaries and short films in all categories of the festival program, including for:

Shorts:

o Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films, prizes include;

• The Dendy Live Action Short Award for best Australian short film ($7,000)
• The Rouben Mamoulian Award for best Australian short film director ($7,000)
• The Yoram Gross Animation Award for best Australian animated short film ($5,000)
• The AFTRS Craft Award for demonstrated excellence by a craft practitioner in an Australian short film. ($7,000)
• The Event Cinemas Rising Talent Award. ($7,000)

o FLUX: Art+Film International Shorts under 15 minutes in length
o Freak Me Out International Shorts under 15 minutes in length
o Family International Shorts under 15 minutes in length

Features (40 mins+):
o Australian Features (Fiction)
o International Features (Fiction and Documentary)

Any length, open to Australian and international productions: 
o Documentary Australia Award acknowledging excellence in Australian documentary production ($20,000)
o Sustainable Future Award for a narrative or documentary film of any length that deepens our knowledge and awareness of the impact of the global climate emergency. ($40,000)
o Screenability Program. We also welcome entries of any length to the festival’s Screenability program from film creatives living with disability.
o First Nations Program. We encourage submissions (features, documentaries and shorts) to the festival from First Nation filmmakers from around the world.

All feature length films may also be considered for inclusion in the Official Competition and compete for the Sydney Film Prize ($60,000).

The Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films and the Documentary Australia Award for Best Australian Documentary competition are open exclusively to Australian productions.

Before entering, festival organisers urge all entrants to review the submission requirements closely, to ensure all entries meet premiere status and broader eligibility requirements. A small fee applies.