Flickerfest International Short Film Festival Sydney 2019

Overview

There's something rather cool about being ahead of the curve when it comes to cinema; watching the latest and greatest flicks unfold on silver screen well before anyone else. Well, at Flickerfest Short Film Festival you can do just that. Yep, break out the popcorn, the internationally acclaimed festival is back at Bondi Pavilion from Friday, January 11 to Sunday, January 20, and there's a swag of world premieres on the bill.

This year, the folks at Flickerfest received 2700 entries from more than 100 countries around the world, making the 2019 program a real doozy. Around 200 creative and inspiring shorts will screen throughout the ten-day festival, with a whopping 47 percent of films directed by women.

Standout shorts from the homegrown lineup include Desert Dash — a film written, directed and starring formidable Australian artist Gracie Otto, which questions what life would be like in the Aussie outback if it was all just a game (spoiler: it's slightly twisted) — and the Australian premiere of Ghost Bear, a touching animation for kids by comedic heavyweight and Flickerfest alumnus Paul McDermott (that funny guy from Good News Week).

The international program is as equally impressive, featuring a host of humdingers from our overseas friends. See Wes Anderson's favourite frontman Jason Schwartzman in a Norwegian comedy To Plant a Flag or dive into a gripping French drama about a ballerina navigating her dark and complicated life, starring renowned French actress Catherine Deneuve.

But it's not all fun and games — the selected films are vying for various Academy-accredited awards, including Best International Film, Best Animation and Best Australian Film. And after the ten-day festival is done and dusted, the top flicks will hit the road, stopping off at more than 50 destinations across Australia, for an annual tour between January and May.

To see the full Flickerfest 2019 program and grab tickets, head to the website. Plus, we've got ten double passes to give away. Enter with your details below, cinephiles.