SXSW Sydney has announced the short film line-up for its screen festival, with 33 titles to feature across four programs.
Of those selected, there are 26 from the Asia-Pacific region, including 17 from Australia, six from First Nations creators, and five directors identifying as part of the LGBTQIA+ community.
The films come under the pillars of Short Visions: Future Present Perfectly Wrong, Short Visions: Crazy Fun , Short Visions: Tell Me A Story, and Short Nightmares. An additional Bush Shorts program, curated by Pauline Clague, will be announced in September.
The projects feature contributions from comedians Diana Nguyen and Tommy Dassalo, journalist Lee Lin Chin, and actors Adele Perovic, Catherine Van-Davies, and Shirong Wu, as well as musician Amy Taylor from Amyl and the Sniffers.
US actress Cricket Arrison forms part of the international contingent for the program with her autofiction comedy/horror, Some Day All This Will Be Yours.
Shot in her childhood home in Providence, Rhode Island, the story follows an unhinged pregnant woman who gives a house tour to her unborn child. The house is crumbling, full and empty at the same time, and covered in a riot of decaying 1970s interior design. As she explains everything that her child will inherit, saccharine tropes of motherhood, home, and family legacy twist into something deeply unsettling.
Arrison, who submitted her film for consideration at the encouragement of a friend involved with the event, said she was “so grateful and so excited” to be included in the program.
“I made this film alone in my childhood home and I thought maybe 100 friends would see it,” she said.
“So having an Australian premiere at SXSW Sydney is beyond my wildest dreams.”
The shorts announcement coincides with the news that Telstra has come on board as the major sponsor of the screen festival, which will take place October 15 to Sunday, October 22.
Opening with a red carpet premiere of Kitty Green’s The Royal Hotel, the event will also include the world premiere of Sally Aitken’s Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles, as well as a First Nations Screen Festival and an XR Showcase.
Find out more about how to purchase SXSW Sydney 2023 Screen Festival wristbands here.
The shorts premiering as part of the festival are below:
● Aikane (US), directed by Dean Hamer, Daniel Sousa and Joe Wilson
● Architect A (South Korea), directed by Jonghoon Lee
● Bald Future (AU), directed by Reilly Archer-Whelan and Michael Whyntie
● Basri & Salma in a Never-Ending Comedy (Indonesia), directed by Khozy Rizal
● Clown (AU), directed by Aarushi Chowdhury
● Compound Eyes of Tropical 熱帶複眼 (Taiwan), directed by Zhan Zhang Xu
● Dark (Singapore), directed by Alistair Quak
● Development (AU), directed by Rebecca Metcalf
● Eating Late (AU), directed by Lewis Attey
● Eid Mubarak (Pakistan), directed by Mahnoor Euceph
● Epicenter (South Korea), directed by Hee-yoon Hahm
● Eyestring (US), directed by Javier Devitt
● F1ghting Looks Different 2 Me Now (US), directed by Fox Maxy
● False As A Beach (AU), directed by Stephanie Jane Day
● Fix Anything (Vietnam), directed by Lê Lâm Viên
● Fuck Me Richard (AU/US), directed by Lucy McKendrick
● Hyperconnect (AU), directed by Jim Muntisov
● I Have No Legs, and I Must Run (China), directed by Li Yue
● IMOAN (AU), directed by Catherine Kelleher
● Memorabilia (AU), directed by Ceridwen Dovey and Rowena Pott, voiced by Matilda Ridgway
● On Film (AU), directed by Emma Hough Hobbs
● Pairing (AU), directed by Matthew Burns
● Pasifika Drift (AU), directed by Alana Hicks
● Pixels of the Orient (Canada), directed by Warren Chan
● Record. Play. Stop. (India), directed by Neeraj Bhattacharjee
● Rival Dealer (AU), directed by John Angus Stewart,
● Someday All This Will Be Yours (US), directed by and starring Cricket Arrison
● Sugarag (US/AU), directed by Jai Love LaPan
● Sweet Juices (AU), directed by Seion Im and Will Suen, starring Shirong Wu and Cat VănDavies
● The Krewd Party (AU), directed by Alice Taylor
● This Is Not Here (AU), directed by Charlotte Mungomery
● Tongue (Canada/Japan), directed by Yoshida Kaho
● We Used To Own Houses (AU), directed by David Robinson-Smith, starring Thom Green