2025 PORT SHORTS FINALISTS
OPEN FILMS
Stranded
Open Film
Stranded
When Kelly dumps Brian, his world comes crashing down‚ again. Just like when their cruise ship sank, leaving them as the only two survivors stranded on a deserted island. Brian is left adrift in a sea of misery, while Kelly thrives. After several unlikely encounters, Brian realises he needs to get his life afloat.
Directors: Reilly Archer-Whelan, Michael Whyntie
Country: Australia
Duration: 15:00 min
BRIDGE - My Little Friends
Open Film
BRIDGE – My Little Friends
I’ll bring Shiro to you.I promise!” Jin, the cat, made this promise to Mugi, who is deeply sad about losing her beloved dog, Shiro.’Jin loves Mugi very much and, after hearing the story of the “Rainbow Bridge” from his owner Aki, he decides to take Mugi to meet Shiro at theRainbow Bridge!
Director: Kazuyuki Ishihara
Country: Japan
Duration: 9:30 min
Half Past Midnight
Open Film
Half Past Midnight
A chance encounter outside a movie theatre forces two strangers to confront their romantic pasts.
Director: Daniel Bibby
Country: Australia
Duration: 10:49 min
Eddie Ray - That Guy Without a Smartphone
Open Film
Eddie Ray – That Guy Without a Smartphone
In the not-too-distant future the world is completely controlled by the internet, with AI ruling the planet humans are stuck in a constant loop of TikTok videos, unable to escape the machines clutches. Can we be saved? Is there a weapon strong enough to destroy the machines?
Director: Mark Gray, Aimee Gray
Country: Australia
Duration: 8:33 min
2020 Vision
Open Film
2020 Vision
2020 was a clusterfluff of a year that had a lasting impact on our kids. One brave Aussie dance school decided to do something about it! 2020 Vision goes behind the scenes as they create a glittering routine to honour the year 2020. Sure, it’s wildly inappropriate to celebrate bush fires, a pandemic, and race riots through dance, but how else are these kids going to make sense of our crazy world?
Director: Lisa Smithies
Country: Australia
Duration: 14:24 min
The Ranch Motel
Open Film
The Ranch Motel
An old rundown motel built in the 1960’s is the only crisis accommodation centre on the Mornington Peninsula (Victoria, Australia). Its 12 small rooms provide a home for a tiny percentage of our homeless… but soon they will be evicted as the site is demolished to make way for a new development.
Director: Damian McLindon
Country: Australia
Duration: 12:00 min
With Love, Lottie
Open Film
With Love, Lottie
When a disabled teenager fears she will never find love,
she enlists her friends to become her mentors in the unpredictable world of dating and discovers that love can come in unexpected ways and different forms.
Director: Lily Drummond
Country: Australia
Duration: 13:35 min
Anangu Way
Open Film
Anangu Way
Keenan, a Noongar and Spinifex man travels 10 hours from his home to connect with his father. Where he teaches him how to make a woomera, and he learns more about his father and the Anangu Way of life.
Director: Tace Stevens
Country: Australia
Duration: 12:00 min
Super
Open Film
Super
Convinced they’ll get better care in jail than an aged care facility, Marg and Jerri hatch a plan to get arrested.
Director: Jannah Dryden
Country: Australia
Duration: 10:30 min
The Mediator
Open Film
The Mediator
It’s 2009, Mick Gatto is at the height of his powers. If you take his business card at face value, he’s arguably one of the world’s best negotiators. He’s also the last-man-standing after Melbourne’s brutal gangland wars. What did he have to do to survive the carnage? And what has he had to do to stay alive?
Director: Roman Anastasios
Country: Australia
Duration: 11:45 min
The Kelp Collector
Open Film
The Kelp Collector
Sandy Webb lives in Williamstown, at the top of Port Phillip Bay. After a lifelong career in science she spends her spare time collecting and cataloguing the algae in her local area. Creating the most wonderful pressed specimines of seaweed.
Director: Jack Breedon
Country: Australia
Duration: 5:00 min
The Hoist
Open Film
The Hoist
Based on an outrageously true story, we follow local inventor, Bill, in his efforts to protect the most important thing at the annual bush dance… the supper. But will the chaotic entrance of an uninvited guest ruin everything?
Director: Janneke Williamson
Country: Australia
Duration: 10:00 min
MUSIC VIDEO
Dancing2
MUSIC VIDEO
Dancing2
Official Music Video – Keli Holiday – DANCING2 drops us inside a Lynchian fever dream, where intimacy and desire bleed together.
Director: Ryan Sauer
Country: Australia
Duration: 4:39min
TIME
MUSIC VIDEO
Time
The lead single on alt-pop artist GLVES debut EP, ‘TIME’ invites you into a space between memory and imagination, movement and stillness.
Director: Rhianna Malezer
Country: Australia
Duration: 3:32 min
LOCAL FILMS
CLONES
LOCAL VIDEO
Clones
The Clones are back!
Director: The Clones
Country: Australia
Duration: 4:00 min
Unfollow
LOCAL VIDEO
Unfollow
Myra goes the extra mile to check on a friend who has deactivated their social media accounts.
Directors: Liz Christensen, Garth Edwards, Dane Hallam
Country: Australia
Duration: 4:00 min
Spliter 2000
LOCAL VIDEO
Spliter 2000
Spoof Ad of an invention for splitting wood.
Director: Darroch McMonnies
Country: Australia
Duration: 1:30 min
Thai Kai Cafe
LOCAL VIDEO
Thai Kai Cafe
A tourist stumbles across an interesting Thai restaurant in Kuranda.
Director: Scott Anderssen
Country: Australia
Duration: 4:00 min
2025 Port Shorts Film Festival, Port Douglas, Australia