Catch the best shorts of the Festival at the red-carpet awards night on Friday 7 August, 7pm at Greater Union cinemas.

MIFF features one of the most highly regarded short film competitions in the southern hemisphere - one of the few in which the winners have the opportunity to be nominated for the Academy Awards.

This year, films are competing for a total cash pool of almost $30,000.

All films in the MIFF Shorts section of the program are in Official Competition, unless indicated otherwise.

Prizes

City of Melbourne Grand Prix for Best Short Film
$7,000 cash prize (Academy-accredited Award)

Melbourne Airport Award for Emerging Australian Filmmaker
$5,000 cash prize + airfare to Berlinale

Film Victoria Erwin Rado Award for Best Australian Short Film
$5,000 cash prize

Cinema Nova Award for Best Fiction Short Film
$3,000 cash prize (Academy-accredited Award)

RMIT University Award for Best Animation Short Film
$3,000 cash prize (Academy-accredited Award)

RMIT University Award for Best Documentary Short Film
$3,000 cash prize

Melbourne International Film Festival Award for Best Experimental Short Film
$3,000 cash prize (Academy-accredited Award)

MIFF Shorts Jury

The Best MIFF Shorts Awards will be adjudicated by:

Jonathan auf der Heide
Director of Van Diemen's Land, showing in this year's program

Deb Verhoeven
Associate Professor, and director of the AFI Research Collection at RMIT University, and deputy chair of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia

Antonio Zeccola
Managing director of Palace Cinemas and Palace Films