Orlando Short Film Award

The Orlando Short Film Award is an annual celebration of Australia’s best lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex short films. Through this award the NFSA aims to recognise the nation’s cultural diversity and the role screen culture plays within the broader community.

The selection process is organised through a network of artistic directors representing Australia’s pre-eminent queer film festivals. Each director is invited to nominate one film from their respective festival, this then forms a short-list for final judging by an appointed panel of NFSA staff and externally qualified experts.

Orlando Short Film Award recipients

Eligibility

Films that the NFSA accepts:

• Australian in origin, with key crew, cast and other associated personnel being Australian-born and/or Australian-based
• reflective of the Australian or Australian-relevant queer experience (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex)
• 27 minutes or less in duration including all credits
• any genre including dramatised, experimental, animated, documentary, and music video
• films produced in any moving image format for which a preservation master exists, and which can be delivered to the NFSA in that form for long-term preservation and access purposes
• must be entered in accordance with published guidelines and using the approved nomination form

Judging criteria

Films are judged on the basis of criteria that will include, but which will not be limited to:

• the impact with which they reflect the Australian or Australian-relevant queer experience (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex)
• their ability, in ways including but not limited to the above, to ‘speak to’ an audience through story, subject theme, images and soundtrack
• innovation dramatically, stylistically, and/or technically

The final decision as to what constitutes gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex lies with the Judging Panel.