CinefestOZ acknowledges the Wardandi, Piblemen, Menang and Yawuru people, the spiritual and cultural custodians of this land on which we live and work. We honour and respect the significant role First Nations people play in our community and in guiding us and allowing our festival to flourish.
Schools Short Film Competition
In 2023 we celebrated 11 years of the Cinesnaps Student Short Film Competition with a $1000 cash prize!
See below for the winners and runner ups for each age category.
The 2024 competition launches in October 2023, and closes in June 2024. $1000 cash prize will again be up for grabs with Entry Packs available soon!
What is the Cinesnaps Short Film Competition?
Our annual Cinesnaps Short Film Competition encourages young, aspiring regional filmmakers, Youtubers and vloggers to create and showcase original short films of 3-5 minutes.
Now open to two age categories, all secondary students in the South West, Great Southern, Geraldton and Broome are invited to enter! Separate entry packs for Years 7-9 and Years 10-12 are now available and Entry is free. The $1000 cash prize is for the yr 10-12 category, with other prizes for yr 7-9.
The competition aims to showcase the talents of this next generation of filmmakers. Submissions are shortlisted to screen at a glamorous, youth-focused, Grand Finale event during CinefestOZ Festival week. Finalists receive feedback from a panel of high-profile, Australian film industry professionals before the winner and runner-up teams are announced.
Winner Yr 10-12 Joshua Yates and Seth Weadley, with MahVeen Shahraki (Jury), Ron Mutambiranwa (Rio Tinto), Myles Pollard (Jury Chair) and Eddie Baroo (Jury) ,
Runner Ups Yr 10-12 Aysiah Uren, Jordan Lay, Nell Davenport and Dieter Spurgeon with Ron Mutambiranwa (Rio Tinto).
2022 Results
Winners and Runners-up
Year 10-12 Winner: Henry Baker (Great Southern Grammar) with Lemon and the Pelicans
Year 10 -12 Runner-up: Joshua Yates, Seth Weadley and Asher Muir (Margaret River Senior High School) with Alone
Year 7-9 Winner: Colin Ferreira with Mars… Maybe Not
Year 7-9 Runner-up: Edward Baker, Maxwell Cruse and Thomas North with W_FILES
Finalists
Cooper Williams with Aversion
Declan Fahie with The Comical Conquests of Captain Cardboard
Ava Evans, Matilda Cole, Katelyn Bunn, Madi Macartney, Emily Erdmann, and Sophie Anderson with Ruminate
2021 Competition
Taking place for the first time in two categories, the 2021 Cinesnaps Short Film Competition winners have been announced for this year’s theme Treasure.
Cape Naturaliste duo Aiden Gillet and Jake Holland topped a swag of film students from across the South West and Great Southern regions in the 10-12 category. Harvey Senior High School students Jorja Plant, Chloe Basten, Brooklyn Kiddie, Ty Guretti, Liam Thomas, and Neve Mullinger brought home the prize for the Year 7-9 category.
Runner-up for the year 7-9 and 10-12 categories respectively were Cape Naturaliste College students Jordyn Brown and Kaila Byrne, and Great Southern Grammar student Josh Clark.
On 26 August 2021, the general public, students and their families, as well as teaching professionals and film guests attended the Grand Finale youth event. Patrons enjoyed screenings of the finalist short films, and shared in the excitement.
Each film received feedback from the esteemed Cinesnaps Jury Panel, chaired by Australian actor Joel Jackson. Other 2020 jury members were producer Cody Greenwood, and videographer Jaimen Hudson. Completing the event was the announcement of the winning and runner-up teams. We want to extend a huge congratulations to all the students involved this year!
2021 Results
2021 year 10-12 Winner: Aiden Gillett and Jake Holland with their film Treasure Heist
2021 year 7-9 Winner: Jorja Plant, Chloe Basten, Brooklyn Kiddie, Ty Guretti, Liam Thomas and Neve Mullinger with their short film Treasure
2021 Runner Ups: Year 10-12 student Josh Clark with his film One Man’s Trash, and year 7-9 students Jordyn Brown and Kaila Byrne with their film My Treasure
2021 Finalists Year 10-12: Mia Swanepoel – The Treasure of Courage | Henry Baker and Edward Baker – Pillow Dude and the unexpected weird attack of Mr Bellybutton Fluff | Julia Spencer, Darcy Eagles – The Meaning of Treasure | Ella Demarchi – Sincerely H
2020 Results
Winner: Poppy Treloar, from Georgiana Molloy Anglican School for her short film Sandbox
Runner Ups: James Kenworthy and Cooper Warwick for their short film The Decoy
Watch all 7 finalist films – in screening order: Suitcase Story, A Suitcase Story, Lost and Found, In Case, Nonentity, Sandbox, The Decoy
2019 Results
Winners: James Kenworthy & Cooper Warrick, from Cape Naturaliste College, for their film 5 Minute Story
Runner Ups: Skye Allen and Kaila Walz for their film The Watch
Other 2019 finalist films were: Tempus, One in a Billion, Butterfly, Late or Early, The Watch
2018 Cinesnaps Short Film Finalists
Winners: James Kenworthy & Cooper Warwick, from Cape Naturaliste College, for their film Gateway
Runner Up: Jaxon D’Ath, from Manea Senior College, for his film Mirror Dimension
Our other 2018 Film Finalists were: Broken, Agateophobia, Reflective, Critical Reflection
IndigifestOZ Student Short Film Project
In 2015, CinefestOZ expanded its Indigenous content by creating IndigifestOZ, a fantastic program celebrating Community within the overall Festival. Through Cinesnaps and IndigifestOZ, CinefestOZ has a desire to engage more Indigenous youth in filmmaking, and to support them on their journey to becoming strong visual storytellers.
Each year the Cinesnaps IndigifestOZ team has worked with indigenous students across the
South West to create a short film. With the support of their amazing schools, teachers and support staff, students concentrate on ‘the journey’ of filmmaking through the creation of their short film.
2019 saw 2 schools take part in the IndigifestOZ student short film project; Busselton SHS & Harvey SHS. Students at Busselton Senior High School created a satire of the horror genre, while students at Harvey SHS began creating a documentary style piece about a special project done by the Follow the Dream students at the school.
Past projects include:
2016: Window Into Aboriginal Culture
2017: Birthday Wishes and Molly Kicks
2018: Cracked
If you want to be involved, contact our Community Manager at [email protected]