Award Winners Announced at the 33rd Mardi Gras Film Festival

As the 33rd Mardi Gras Film Festival enters its final week, with the On-Demand program running until 9 March 2026, the festival is proud to announce this year’s award winners, including the recipients of My Queer Career and the Queer Screen Completion Fund. Don’t miss the final weekend of the Mardi Gras Film Festival On-Demand program, featuring 11 feature films and 10 shorts packages from across the different strands of this year’s festival. Highlights include “Summer’s Camera”, directed by Divine Sung, a contemporary queer coming-of-age story exploring self-discovery through the intersections of past and present, and “Second Nature”, directed by Drew Denny, a documentary exploring the diversity of gender and sexuality in the natural world that is rarely taught in schools. The On-Demand program also features 10 of this year’s short film packages, which proved highly popular during the in-person festival. If you missed them on the big screen, now is your chance to catch up before they’re gone. Highlights include “Trans and Gender Diverse Shorts”, “Bi+ Shorts”, “Gay Shorts”, and “Women Loving Women Shorts”. 2026 Queer Screen Completion Fund Recipients Since 2016, the Queer Screen Completion Fund has aimed to provide Australian LGBTIQ+ filmmakers with financial support to complete production on narrative features and documentaries. This year’s recipients were selected by a jury including Bobby Romia, producer and former Head of Development at Screen Australia; Kath Shelper, producer; and Greg Waters, screenwriter, producer and script editor. The winners of the Completion Fund are “Cooee”, directed by Toby Morris, and “How Quickly Clouds Move”, directed by Armin Džafić, Richard Jamze, and Natalie Rose. Each project will receive $5,000 to support the completion of its narrative feature film. “Cooee” is a sci-fi coming-of-age set twenty years in the future, in small-town Australia, where there’s no work, no hope, but a whole lot of hopeless teenagers out to drive fast, hunt roos, get laid and escape into a virtual wonderland. “We’ve all grown up watching images of a futuristic America in films like “Blade Runner” and “Interstellar”; “Cooee” responds, ‘meanwhile, in Jindabyne’. We cannot wait to be able to share this wild, strange and unabashedly queer vision of Australia’s future with the world,” said director Morris. “How Quickly Clouds Move”, directed by Armin Džafić, Richard Jamze and Natalie Rose, follows two estranged childhood friends who reunite during a chance drug deal. As the struggling dealer and an addicted realtor catch up, their night morphs into a confronting look at family, culture and sexuality. Co-director Armin Džafić said, “We’re so thankful to Queer Screen for giving independent queer films like ours a chance. We’re also deeply honoured to join the lineup of amazing films that Queer Screen has supported over the years.” My Queer Career My Queer Career is Australia’s richest LGBTIQ+ short film prize, with this year’s prize pool valued at over $16,000 in cash and in-kind support, with awards including Emerging Performer, Emerging Filmmaker, Best Screenplay, Best Film and the Audience Award. The jury for the 2026 My Queer Career competition is Blahboom Wisarut, Thai actor (“A Useful Ghost”), influencer and entrepreneur; Tianna Roberts, a senior film and television executive, producer and sales-focused strategist; and Vic Zerbst, an award-winning comedy actor, writer and director working on Gadigal land. Eight short films competed in this year’s My Queer Career; the lineup included “Baby Talk”, directed by Lizzie Cater; “Billie and Jesse”, directed by AP Pobjoy; “Boyish”, directed by Scarlett Scherer; “The Dysphoria”, directed by Kylie Aoibheann; “Howl”, directed by Domini Marshall; “I’m the Most Racist Person I Know”, directed by Leela Varghese; “If/When”, directed by Courtney Westbrook; and “Inheritance”, directed by Mohammad Awad. My Queer Career 2026 Winners Emerging Performer — Luke WiltshireEmerging Performer was awarded to Luke Wiltshire, who starred in “Boyish”, directed by Scarlett Scherer, about Josh and Cam who test the boundaries of their life-long friendship when Josh asks Cam to kiss him, to find out whether he’s a bad kisser. The Emerging Performer award provides a NIDA 2-Day Essentials Course, valued at $410 and a MGFF27 Flexipass, valued at $180. Emerging Filmmaker — Mohammad AwadEmerging Filmmaker was awarded to Mohammad Awad, for his film, “Inheritance”. 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 – his kind-of-sort-of boyfriend (Zoe Terakes, “Talk to Me”) in tow. The Emerging Filmmaker award provides a Panavision Camera hire, valued at $5,000 and a MGFF27 Flexipass, valued at $180. Best Screenplay — Billie and JesseBest Screenplay was awarded to Ziggy Resnick and AP Pobjoy, for their work on the film “Billie and Jesse”, directed by AP Pobjoy. The film is about Billie and Jesse, “the perfect lesbian couple” who hit a bump when Jesse begins transitioning and realises he’s attracted to men. Anencounter with Brad forces them to confront some uncomfortable truths. The Best Screenplay winners take home $1000 cash from Event Cinemas George St and a MGFF27 Flexipass, valued at $180. Best Film Award & Audience Award — I’m the Most Racist Person I KnowWinning both the Best Film Award and the Audience Award is I’m the “Most Racist Person I Know”, directed by Leela Varghese. When a public romantic gesture backfires, Lali unexpectedly finds herself offered a pity date by Ana. But when the conversation takes an unexpected turn, Lali must confront her internalised prejudices. The Audience Award includes $5,000 in post-production support from Spectrum Films and an MGFF27 Flexipass, valued at $180. The Best Film Award features $3,000 cash from the Stephen Cummins Film Trust, $2,500 worth of legal advice from JP Media Law, automatic entry in the Iris Prize, the world’s richest prize for LGBTIQ+ short film and a MGFF27 Flexipass, valued at $180. Tags:A Useful GhostBlahboom WisarutDivine SungMardi Gras Film FestivalSummer’s Camera