SXSW Sydney has unveiled its short films program for this year.
The diverse slate is set to showcase an incredible collection of stories by filmmakers from around the world, including films by creators from Japan, New Zealand, Canada, and the US.
Highlights include “ILY, Bye,” which follows Siobhan (Meg Stalter), a quirky, socially anxious person who can’t seem to keep a job. Thanks to the help of her best friend Gary (Kanoa Goo), she scores an interview with his boss, Mr. Litchfield (played by “The Office” star Rainn Wilson). When her call to schedule the interview goes to voicemail, Siobhan panics and leaves a series of unhinged messages. Not wanting to lose the interview, she embarks on a chaotic mission to delete the voicemails herself.
From New Zealand, “The Red Room” looks at the unravelling of a shy office worker’s life after he fails to read the terms and conditions at a pseudo-health clinic.
Alice Yang directs “Finding Jia,” a film about Mei, a young immigrant, who yearns for the type of Western way of living she sees on TV, while the Canadian film “Wildmen of the Greater Toronto Area” sees citizens of Toronto begin to renounce their “personhood” en masse to legally become animals, forming a society of Wildmen in the city’s vast ravine network.
Check out the full short films program below. Find more information about SXSW Sydney 2024 here.
| Name | Country | Director | Producer |
| “A Lovely Place” | Australia | Jessica DiCosta | Amanda Browne, Ashlee Russel |
| “Bath Bomb” | Canada | Colin G. Cooper | Colin G. Cooper, Misty Hand, Deirdre Mccarrick, Jeff So |
| “Blood Sisters” | Australia | Muraya Moore | London Hawk, Taylah Cate |
| “Cowboys Doing Laundry” | Australia | Curtis Hill | Will Storr |
| “Don’t Talk to Strangers” | Spain | Imanol Ortiz | Imanol Ortiz López, David Pérez Sañudo |
| “Finding Jia” | Australia | Alice Yang | Maisie Fabry |
| “Fishmonger” | United States | Neil Ferron | Valerie Steinberg, Jordan Willcox, Neil Ferron |
| “Fishtank” | China | Wendi Tang | Philip Yuzhong Ge, Wendi Tang |
| “Gooners” | Australia | Nick Murcott | Nick Murcott |
| “Hi! You Are Currently Being Recorded” | United States | Anna Maguire, Kyle Greenberg | Christina Campagnola, Anna Maguire, Kyle Greenberg |
| “Hidari” | Japan | Masashi Kawamura, Iku Ogawa | Noriko Matsumoto, Sachie Aihara, Masaaki Oikawa, Masami Ouchi |
| “ILY, Bye” | United States | Taylor James | Gabriela Ledesma, Callie Schuttera, Katie White |
| “I’ve Got You” | Australia | Duncan Ragg | Dianna La Grassa |
| “Luna & the Brain Tuna” | Australia | Aaron Lucas | Hugo Koehne, Henry Koehne, Jayden Rathsam Hua |
| “Make Me a Pizza” | United States | Talia Shea Levin | Kara Grace Miller, Talia Shea Levin |
| “Meat Puppet” | United Kingdom | Eros V | Masha Thorpe Leah Draws |
| “Nepotism, Baby!” | United States | Tij D’oyen | Cameron Morton, Rachel Walden |
| “O.C.D.” | United States | Luca Pizzoleo | Luca Pizzoleo and Bridget Sonobe |
| “Puncture” | Australia | Evan Elbeaini-Dixon | Claudia Rose Holmes |
| “See Me Living” | Australia | Jessica DiCosta | Estephania Bonnett |
| “She and Her Good Vibrations” | Singapore | Olivia Griselda | Jerrold Chong, Olivia Griselda |
| “She Stays” | Mexico | Marinthia Gutiérrez Velazco | Marinthia Gutiérrez |
| “Silent Panorama” | Belgium | Nicolas Piret | Delphine Renard, William Henne |
| “That Day I Jumped Off the Pier” | United States | Jai Love | Basia Stefaniak, Leah Moth, Wyatt Weymouth |
| “The Eaters” | Australia | Gemma Salomon | Adam Camporeale & Gemma Salomon |
| “The Old Young Crow” | Japan | Liam LoPinto | Liam LoPinto |
| “The Red Room” | New Zealand | Alex Liu | Jacob Vale |
| “The Scatterer” | Australia | Felix Lovell | Eleanor Somerville |
| “The Shadow Wrangler” | United States | Grace Rex | Bre Thomas, Anne Troup |
| “Thirstygirl” | United States | Alexandra Qin | Alexandra Qin, Brooke Goldman, Esteban Pedraza |
| “Try to Remember, Please” | Australia | Maria Dudko | Maria Dudko |
| “Vivie” | New Zealand | Hewiling Ow | Sara Chen, Mia Maramara |
| “Wildmen of the Greater Toronto Area” | Canada | Solmund MacPherson | Solmund MacPherson, Jesse Padveen, Giran Findlay |