Sydney’s Queer Screen Film Festival has just finished a successful season and announced the winners of their awards.
The 12th Queer Screen Film Fest (QSFF) took place at Event Cinemas George Street from 27 to 31 August 2025, filling five days with energy, excitement and packed cinemas.
With four sold-out sessions and strong audience engagement, organisers say the festival once again proved itself as a vital platform for connection, celebration and exchange between filmmakers and audiences.
This year marked the inaugural Emerging Narrative Feature Competition, showcasing six outstanding works: Plainclothes (Carmen Emmi), Love Letters (Alice Douard), Cactus Pears (Rohan Parashuram Kanawade), Lucky Apartment (Kangyu Ga-ram), Outerlands (Elena Oxman) and Sauna (Mathias Broe).
The jury brought together three acclaimed voices from across film and culture. Fadia Abboud is an award-nominated filmmaker whose work spans drama, comedy and documentary, most recently directing the hit series House of Gods and acclaimed projects such as Here Out West and Concern for Welfare.
Michael Sun is a culture critic and essayist with bylines in The Guardian, The Monthly and Australian Book Review, recognised for his sharp insights into film, music and art.
Samuel Van Grinsven is the director of the festival-winning Sequin in the Blue Room and the upcoming feature Went Up the Hill, cementing his place as one of the most exciting voices in contemporary queer
cinema.
On Closing Night, the $2,500 AUD Emerging Narrative Feature Competition prize was awarded to Love Letters, directed, written and produced by Alice Douard, alongside producers Marine Arrighi de Casanova and Marie Boitard.
Out of eleven feature films in competition for the Audience Award, Love Letters also claimed the top honour, taking home the Audience Award at this year’s Queer Screen Film Fest.
The festival also continued its support of emerging talent through the popular Queer Screen Pitch Off short film pitching competition, with a combined prize pool of $20,000 AUD, in partnership with Screen Australia’s Gender Matters Taskforce.
The Queer Screen Pitch Off prize ($10,000 in production funding) was awarded to cam?, from writer-director Michail Mathioudakis and producer Juliette Beck. The project follows closeted teenager Chris, who grapples with his emerging sexual identity by retreating into internet chat rooms and cam-sex. When he meets fellow teenager Gabe, Chris’ online exploration develops into a powerful real-world connection.
The $5,000 Gender Matters Taskforce Professional Development Prize was awarded to Celeste Diep, with the judges praising her proposal as “comprehensive” and recognising its strong potential to support her practice and career.
The $5,000 Gender Matters Taskforce Best Screenplay Prize went to Under One Condition, written by Lilah Benetti and Maxine Ellah.
This moving drama tells the story of a woman who unexpectedly becomes the guardian of her girlfriend’s baby when her partner realises she no longer wants to be a mother – despite the legal and emotional challenges of having no rights to the child.
The judges also gave a Highly Commended mention to Bottomless Brunch, written by Lily Drummond, a witty comedy of manners about the fallout from a lesbian couple’s break-up.
The Pitch Off jury featured three distinguished industry leaders. Rosie Braye, Screen Investment Manager at Screen NSW, Marc Smolowitz, a multi-award winning filmmaker and founder of the San Francisco-based company 13th Gen, and Toni Stowers, Investment Manager in Screen Australia’s Narrative Content Department.
Images by The Aperture Club and Queer Screen.
