Australia Independent Film Festival Palace Cinemas James Street.
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Located in Brisbane in one of Australia’s coolest venues within one of Brisbane’s coolest art precincts is the internationally acclaimed Australia Independent Film Festival. Located at Metro Arts one of Australia’s coolest venues within one of Australia’s coolest art precincts is Brisbane’s very own Australia Independent Film Festival. Known passionately as “the filmmaker’s festival,” AIFF is on
track to become Australia's premiere short film and screenplay festival and is consistently ranked in the top 100 Best Reviewed Film festivals on FilmFreeway. Founded in 2017 AIFF has grown from strength to strength and is now a prominent event on the domestic and international film festival circuit. Our programming focuses on high quality independent shorts, from a diverse group of film makers. We make sure to select films that have not had a huge amount of publicity already - with a specific focus on QLD made films and the traction that those films have already received.
17/12/2025
Thanks to our major prize sponsor Kodak Motion Picture Film, "What We Wished We Could Be," our 2025 Best Motion Picture winning film, will premiere on the Kodak YouTube channel tonight AU. We once again congratulate the entire team and wish them great success with their online release at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6myWLJO18Y.
A couple affected by the contaminated blood scandal face a difficult decision when an offer of life-saving treatment threatens their dreams for the future. B...
As 2025 comes to a wrap, the team at Australia's Australia Independent Film Festival and Queensland's Future Stars Film Festival would like to thank our sponsors, our entrants, and the film lovers of Brisbane who have all played a very important part in making our festival what it is today. We take this opportunity to also wish everybody a very Merry Christmas and the very best for 2026.
Screen Queensland Palace Cinemas Brisbane City Council Write Brothers Blackmagic Design The Black List Kodak Motion Picture Film Panavision Audio-Technica Australia Dragon Image - Photo & Video Equipment Solutions
11/12/2025
2026 is looking bright for Queensland high school students!
The Future Stars Film Festival (FSFF) is a Brisbane-based film festival exclusively for Queensland high school students. Established in 2023 by the internati...
10/12/2025
The Australia Independent Film Festival is proud to announce that our Future Stars high school screening session will become a standalone festival in 2026. Excitingly, this will allow for the continued expansion of AIFF and for Future Stars Film Festival, to grow to become Queensland's largest high school film festival. Full details at www.filmfreeway.com/fsff
Screen Queensland - Brisbane City Council - ATOM Queensland
The Future Stars Film Festival (FSFF) is a Brisbane-based film festival exclusively for Queensland high school students. Established in 2023 by the internati...
03/12/2025
We can't wait to welcome the world in 2032! Here at the Australia Independent Film Festival we'll be doing our part too!
Believe, Belong, Become.
29/11/2025
The AIFF25 Best International Short Film Winner: Don’t Be Late, Myra earns Oscar® qualification and joins the 98th Academy Awards® race. We wish the entire team the very best of Australian luck!
26/11/2025
AT AIFF25 the owner of a Brisbane graphic design company and husband of one of the attending filmmakers struck up a conversation with our Co-Director Jeremy Rigby. We would love to track you down and continue the conversation. Any assistance in a name would be greatly appreciated.
25/11/2025
AIFF26 Sponsor Announcement. We would like to thank our long-time festival partner Write Brothers for once again joining us in 2026.
At AIFF26, they will provide each of the following category winners a digital download of their highly acclaimed Movie Magic writing software:
Best Screenplay
Best High School Short Film
Best Student Short Film
Best Queensland Short Film
Best Australian Short Film
Best International Short Film
For more information on their must-have software, please visit -
Movie Magic® Screenwriter™ is an award-winning screenwriting software that formats movies, television, novels, stage plays and even comic book scripts, making it the only program for all types of...
25/11/2025
Our Co-Founder Jeremy Rigby sneaking into a photo with one of Queensland's most notable film producers, Georgina Pope.
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The Australia Independent Film Festival was founded in February 2018 by Brisbane filmmakers Richard Lawton and Jeremy Rigby. They had a shared dream of creating a film festival built on trust, openness and communication that would showcase and celebrate the very best in independent cinema and screenplays from around the world.
On the 24 of November 2018 AIFF showcased 32 incredible shorts at Metro Arts in Brisbane. These included both Australian and international short dramas, as well as documentaries, animations, music videos and experimental films. Filmmakers from Ireland, Russia, the United States and all corners of Australia made their way to the festival, along with some film loving locals ready to get their eyes peeled for some quality cinema.
One of many highlights was a Q&A with Grammy award winning Broadway producer and filmmaker Jhett Tolentino. At the grand awards ceremony that same night fifteen trophies were presented to the very best films of the festival.
In March that year the festival opened for entries. By the end of the submission period the festival had received a massive array of submissions from over 20 countries.
In January 2019 the official call for entries for the second festival was made. Within one month entries have doubled in submission rate compared to 2018. In 2019 the festival spread over three days and will include many exciting new additions including more screenings and expanded networking opportunities.
Attracting global attention, the Australia Independent Film Festival is going from strength to strength. The Australian Independent Film Festival has also gained the support of the Queensland Government through Screen Queensland and is consistently a top 100 ranked film festival on FilmFreeway from reviews and out our over 7,000 listed festivals.
