Thank you to all the filmmakers who participated in the 2025 Sydney Lift-Off Film Festival!
The festival platformed hundreds of films, each project worthy of recognition and celebration. We want to extend a giant thank you to everyone who took part and a special congratulations to all the incredible talent that went into making these projects.
The judges' scores have been combined with the audience's choices, and after careful scrutiny, it's our pleasure to announce the Sydney Lift-Off Film Festival winners!
Winners: Sydney Network Round Shorts
Home of Salmon
Director/Writer/Producer: Notin Nuoding Wang
Producer: Howard Chen
Country of Origin: Australia
Genre: Shorts
Synopsis: Home of Salmon is a Chinese drama mainly tells the story of Zhou Zhou, a Chinese young man born and raised in Australia, who had a dispute with his father in the process of questioning his self-identity.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Short Narrative, Best Art Direction, Best Actor (Xin Ocean)
Feel It From My Words
Director: John RG Lacey
Producer: Anna Groot
Country of Origin: New Zealand
Genre: Documentary, Adventure, Geopolitics
Synopsis: Surviving the horrors of bombings and gunfire, musician and producer Mushtaq Hussain is forced to flee his war-torn homeland. In search of safety, he embarks on a treacherous journey that leads him into the dangerous underworld of human smuggling. In a raw, personal performance, Mushtaq speaks directly to the audience, immersing them in his harrowing story. As he says, “You will feel it from my words,” the film takes you deep into the heart of his struggle, where survival means navigating a world of unimaginable risks.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Short Documentary
millie
Director/Writer: Pedro Greig
Producer: Jane Liscombe
Country of Origin: Australia
Genre: Short Narrative
Synopsis: With her family slowly breaking apart, a vibrant, spirited 10-year old girl escapes to a strange, magical world that helps her navigate the turbulence at home.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best First-Time Filmmaker, Best Cinematography
Chookas
Director: Nicholas Hooker
Writer: Gabrielle O'Keeffe
Producer: Tahlia Kelleher
Country of Origin: Australia
Genre: Short, Drama
Synopsis: An unexpected discovery brings catastrophe to the opening night of a play at a local theatre company.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Acting Ensemble
Guts
Director: Jane Maree Abernethy
Producers:Amy Upchurch,Vanessa Batten
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Genre: Animation, Short
Synopsis: For Dieuwke, silence is golden: no sleep means no explosive breakdance moves. Yet the dog of her antisocial neighbor keeps her awake, night after night. Fatigue eats away at her relationship, her body protests, and her dreams falter — until she decides that decency has its limits too.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Animation
DREA! What Have You Done?
Director/Writer: Jennine Heymer
Producer: Lucy Ratz
Country of Origin: Australia
Genre: Drama, Fiction
Synopsis: Drea is trying to make a ‘fresh start’, but her world unexpectedly implodes when she starts hearing a strange sound. As it systematically infiltrates every aspect of her life, Drea realises she is being watched by a group of unassuming bystanders.
Desperate to escape her ever-present past and the sound that haunts her, Drea realises she must decide whether or not to put her trust in the unlikely group of strangers. All of this leads Drea into a world where the edges of reality blur, and she finds herself walking right back to where she started.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Director
After the Spread
Director/Writer: Ash K Tysowsk
Writer/Producer: Jared Fontaine
Country of Origin: Canada
Genre: Animation, Music Video
Synopsis: After sneaking out late one night to attend a party with his friends, a teenage boy tries to find himself and finds out what camaraderie means to him. Set to soundtrack by the Idea of machines.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Music Video
Fangs & Fur
Directors:Monique Bryson,Nick Bradshaw,Maria De La Ossa
Writers: Jacob Sgouros, Cooper Savva
Producers: Roelene Coleman,Natasha Cheng
Country of Origin: Australia
Genre: Supernatural, Comedy
Synopsis: When a supernatural lockdown is imposed, a narcissistic vampire and an introverted werewolf are begrudgingly forced to become housemates, all while trying to deal with their personal life problems.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Web Series/Episodic
Winners: Sydney Network Round Features
Pizza Under Fire
Director/Writer: Adrian Pennink
Producer: Harry Matthew Stourton
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: The film goes on the road with a brave group of international volunteers who take their converted truck into Ukraine’s Eastern frontline villages to cook and hand out free pizzas to the traumatised communities wo were under Russian occupation. It is a brief moment of respite and joy for brutalised people in these forgotten places. It is also the story of the cumulative psychological stress the villagers….and volunteers are under. And it all takes place against the reminders of a war that is ever present as the Russian offensive closes in.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Feature Documentary
In the House of the Bad Man
Director/Writer/Producer: Solomon Fleming
Country of Origin: Australia
Genre: Feature Documentary
Synopsis: When Leo, a fresh high-school graduate, convinces his brother to invite two girls he doesn’t know very well to a small party, buried insecurities soon emerge among the other boys in attendance. Failed seductions, misplaced bravado, and one-upmanship all come to the surface, made worse by the fatal error of the friendship group’s regular scapegoat, Jim, openly mocking Leo. In a series of serious misjudgements, Leo initiates a cruel game on Jim, one whose consequences turn out to be far more serious than any of them could have anticipated.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Feature Narrative
16th Annual Lift-Off Season Awards
The Lift-Off Season Awards is an annual event that celebrates the very best of indie film. Following each Lift-Off film festival, films that have excelled in their respective category are short listed for a Season Awards Nomination. At the end of the year, once all the 12 city-based festival have taken place, the shortlisted nominated films are reviewed again by the jury and Official Nominations are designated. Click here for more information about the Lift-Off Season Awards.