The Young Australian Film Festival (YAFF) has announced its 2026 program, with 125 short films set to screen across Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide. The South Australian screening will take place at The Mercury (13 Morphett Street, Adelaide) on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, from 6:00 pm.
YAFF was founded in 2023 by Alexander Dymalovski, Sebastian Catalano and Kellie Palatino, with the goal of giving emerging Australian filmmakers an accessible and supportive platform to screen their work, connect with industry and build their careers.
“It is incredibly difficult for young filmmakers to get their work seen,” says Festival Director, Alexander Dymalovski, “so we wanted to create a platform that bridges that gap and creates a community of filmmakers”
YAFF will be exhibiting films created by young australians nationwide (Under 28). The
festival also has international categories and will feature films from other countries as
well as Australia, with all the categories for outstanding excellence as below:
– Directing
– Acting
– Youth Acting
– Writing
– Cinematography
– Production Design
– Editing
– Sound
– Documentary
There will also be Special Awards open to creatives from any fields to celebrate films
that explore diversity and the ideas of storytellers who haven’t had as strong a platform
to express their voices:
– Under 18s Award
– Women’s Category
– LGBTQIA+ Category
– Music Video Category
– Animation
The South Australian screening will showcase a diverse selection of independent works, primarily by filmmakers from South Australia including:
- When We Were Here (Directors Brandon Boyer, Allie Burns)
- Lipstick on a Pig (Director Isla Grace Bentham)
- Out Of The Coffin (Director Mitchell Kell)
- Have Your Cake and Eat It (Directors Sarah Burdon, Megan Adrain)
- Magic Bibs (Director Hannah Roxby)
- Kick Ons (Director Luke Botha)
- The Boy Who Caught the Sun (Director Mackinley Jack Watson)
- I’D Do Anything (Music Video) Director Anisa Raisi
- Little Wanderer (Directors Veronika Vitlov, Georgiana Lockerbie)
- Rapid Bay – The Town That Was (Director Joshua Buscumb Vance)
- Fight Like a Girl (Director Kiaya Hessler)
- Time Between Us (Director Ayden Trinder )
- The Bunny (Directors Isaiah Supadi, Oscar Smith)
- Double Lines (Director Tea Van de Burgt)
- Pambula (Director Lindsay K M Davies)
- Tips (Directors Jak Scanlon, Andrew Dang)
Further information about the YAFF is available here; https://www.youngaustralianfilmfestival.com.au/
Tickets and booking information for the South Australian screening are available here: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1633122
