Shortstacks
Short Film Prize
Shortstacks - Short Film Prize
Important notice (May 2020): competition postponed to 2021
In light of the current situation, we have decided to postpone the Shortstacks Short Film competition to 2021. The Call for Entries will open in late January 2021.
If you have already submitted your work, your film will be eligible for the competition when it resumes.
If you are part-way through filming your project, we encourage you to continue to work on it for submission. The Library's collection items selected to inspire your short films will remain the same.
We thank you for your support of the Library during these uncertain times.
Calling all filmmakers!
Whether you're an established, emerging or first-time filmmaker, here's your chance to create a short film with a little inspiration from the State Library's extraordinary collection.
Films (of no more than six minutes) can be about anything but must reference one or more items pre-selected from Library's collection. All genres will be considered – fictional, documentary, animation or experimental (eg. timelapse, hyperlapse and drone), and can be produced on any device including mobile phones.
Our judges will select the 10 most engaging, imaginative and innovative entries to be showcased in the Shortstacks Short Film Festival at the Library in June. The winners will be announced on the night by Australian film industry royalty and Shortstacks Judge Margaret Pomeranz.
Before you get started, please read the Guidelines carefully.
Margaret Pomeranz
Margaret Pomeranz AM co-presented The Movie Show on SBS and At the Movies on the ABC for twenty-eight years. She is currently presenting movies on Foxtel as well as co-presenting Screen with Graeme Blundell on Foxtel Arts. She is past President of the Film Critics' Circle of Australia, of Watch on Censorship and was a member of the Advertising Standards Board. She is currently a member of the Board of the Australia Film Institute.
Jason Di Rosso
Jason Di Rosso is RN's film and TV critic and reviewer across a range of RN shows. He was previously the host of the weekly film show The Final Cut. Before becoming RN's chief film specialist, Jason spent six years as associate producer and reviewer on RN's Movietime.
His background in film goes back to the 90s, when he completed a degree in communications at Perth's Curtin University. He tried his hand as a production runner but then began to slowly drift from film to radio, and started making features for RN. Since returning to film, by way of radio, he has interviewed some of cinema's most important talents, from Isabelle Huppert to Mike Leigh.
Outside the ABC, his writing on film and popular culture has appeared in GQ magazine and The Australian. He has participated in public discussions and delivered presentations in a wide variety of forums, including films festivals and universities across Australia. He is currently a doctoral candidate in film at the University of Technology Sydney.
Nick Ward is a teenage filmmaker and musician based in Sydney. Winner of Trop Jr 2017 and Finalist in Tropfest 2018 for Boys Don't Cry which went on to win Best Cinematography. Currently directing music videos for self-released music and working as part of a teenage creative film collective – JUSTN. Nick's work is focussed on starting conversations about male identity, mental health and growing up in the modern age.
Choose your inspiration
Henry Grace, Bird whistles, c 1960
Henry Grace (1884–1966) was a passionate bird watcher and listener.
Edward Curr, E M Curr's Australian Comparative Vocabulary, 1881
The Australian Comparative Vocabulary was compiled during the 1870s and completed in 1881, by squatter, auth
IE496416
Sir Ross Macpherson Smith, Message in a bottle, 10 December 1919
In 1919 the Commonwealth Government announced a prize of £10,000 for the first Australian to fly from England to Aust
John Bokor, Collection Day, 2011
Collection Day depicts Organs Road in Bulli, New South Wales, about halfway up the steep street looking east
Sebastian Münster, Hand-coloured woodcut showing various sea monsters, 1550
This hand-coloured woodcut shows various sea monsters, taken from the 1550 German edition of Sebastian Münster's
Enter Shortstacks now
Past Winners and shortlists
Shortstacks film festival 2019
Shortstacks is the State Library of NSW's inaugural short film prize. Watch the winning, runner-up and shortlisted films of 2019.