The St Kilda Film Festival, running over ten days from May19-28, will program four specialty programs unveiled before the full program launch later this month.
A specially curated program direct from the 2015 Palm Springs International ShortFest will be showcased on May 28.
In addition, the chief content officer of online platform Fandor Jonathan Marlow will join this year’s festival, co-curating a program of Fandor's films.
Taking a step-back in time, the festival is showcasing a collection of vintage comedy with the Nostalgia program in partnership with the National Sound and Film Archive (NSFA).
The festival will also host an indigenous retrospective, featuring short films by directors such as Tracey Moffatt, Warwick Thornton and Richard Frankland.
“It’s important to highlight our indigenous and overseas contributors among our emerging and established talent", City of Port Phillip Mayor Bernadene Voss said.
"Each year the Festival goes from strength to strength, and this year is no exception with special guest Jonathan Marlow, our relationship with Fandor and reinforcement of our partnerships with the NSFA and Palm Springs International ShortFest."
The full festival program including Australia’s Top 100 Short Film Competition, the SoundKILDA Music Video Competition and free filmmaker development program will be announced April 27.
The Academy-accredited festival is Australia’s longest running publicly owned short film festival with a prize pool that totals over $50,000.