Shining a light on the bold, brilliant and beautifully diverse voices of Australian queer cinema, the MQFF36 Australian Short Film Package celebrates the stories that bring us together, challenge expectations and illuminate new perspectives. From intimate moments of connection to big feelings, unexpected discoveries and unapologetic queer joy, these homegrown stories capture the richness of LGBTQIA+ life across Australia. Featuring a vibrant mix of emerging and established filmmakers, this collection invites you to laugh, feel, reflect and see the world a little differently. Come celebrate the next generation of queer storytelling, right here at home.
Isabelle Broadbent | Australia | 2026 | 13 mins
Before they can enjoy their afterlife festivities, the prideful Jade and her timid friend Elle must realise their deadly sins while confronting their romantic feelings for one another in an eccentric underworld.

Lizzie Cater | Australia | 2026 | 13 mins
In the crushing heat of summer in 1992, Leo and Amy drive the final leg of a road trip home. The best friends have stolen a precious day to find a wedding dress to fit Leo’s pregnant belly, as the wedding to the father of the unborn child looms.
It’s a Thelma-and-Louise-kind-of trip: Amy and Leo bicker and laugh, share the driving shifts, and sing at the top of their lungs as they whizz down the highway. From a distance it’s platonic; but up close, electricity buzzes between them. Trapped in an era when it’s impossible to be themselves, the spectre of a husband-to-be haunts their get away — because when they return home, they’ll return to the closet. Based on a true story.
Cooper Dalbo | Australia | 2026 | 2 mins
Adeline, who identifies as non-binary, tries to learn how to tie a tie for the first time, only as the simple demonstration of gender affirming care leads them to a site of low-cost satin polyester carnage when a YouTube tutorial misgenders them.
Mohammad Awad | Australia | 2025 | 15 mins
After the news of his father’s passing, Ameen must face old demons when he returns to the family home he was kicked out of as a teenager.
Vivian P Nilan | Australia | 2026 | 14 mins
A queer man who’s deeply connected to plants undergoes a strange transition when he begins speech therapy.

Renée Marie Petropoulos | Australia | 2025 | 15 mins
While stuck on a family vacation, a young closeted teen, Keira, must confront the unnerving hold her girlfriend has over her after she takes unwarranted photos of her during sex.
Grace Tan | Australia | 2026 | 9 mins
Following an attack, genderqueer pole dancer Ash takes shelter in a church, where childhood memories resurface and help them find strength again.
Stevie Vickery | Australia | 2025 | 13 mins
In this Australian Gothic-Western short, a young woman grieving the ending of her relationship finds herself stranded in a relentless wilderness where memory and time blur, forcing her to face herself and make the choice: to move on or wander the wilderness forever.
Adam Coutts, Brandon Bentley | Australia | 15 mins
Officially recognised at A Night of Horror International Film Festival for Best Unproduced Short Film Screenplay, Yuletide follows a young non-binary person returning home for Christmas, bracing for the cold sting of their family’s intolerance. But beneath the tree lurks something far more sinister – a mysterious present that swells with every cruel remark, waiting to unleash its dark secret.

Mansoor Noor | Australia | 2026 | 15 mins
When Amir brings his boyfriend home under the guise of ”friendship”, tension builds as he tries to conceal the truth from his traditional Middle Eastern parents.
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