Surf Coast youth encouraged to enter short film fest

THE Anglesea Shorts Film Festival landed on the Surf Coast for the first time earlier this year. Now it’s back, and organisers are calling for teens to enter.

Presented by the Anglesea Movie Club, the festival invites anyone 18 years of age and under with a connection to the Surf Coast to create a three-minute original film.

Participants can focus on any genre within the film and can work individually or in groups of up to three producers.

Anglesea Movie Club president Evelyn Wuchatsch said the first event was an enormous success in their eyes, and the festival’s return aimed to get even more participants.

“We found it extremely difficult to engage with teenagers, our senior category is 14 to 18, so we started the launch earlier this year to try and get the older kids before school finishes.”

In support of the initiative, the Anglesea Move Club sponsored a filmmaking course during the school holidays, run by the festival’s judges.

“I think all of them put their hand up and said they were going to put a movie into the festival,” Ms Wuchatsch said.

“So they’ve learnt a bit more about the theory of it, the other benefit for filmmakers is because the judges are professional, we’ve got some fairly explicit judging criteria.

“When applicants register their interest, they will be sent out an information pack that has got tips about the actual filming settings, but it’s also got the judging criteria so they can see what the film would be judged on.”

The film festival will include six finalists from each of the two age group categories which will be screened, and winners will be presented with a trophy and a cheque.

Prize money for the junior film winner is $500, while the senior winner will receive $1,500. All finalists will also be awarded $100 each.

Film submissions close on January 11, 2026 with the festival screening taking place on February 15.