AUSTRALIAN SHORT FILM TODAY returned to Houston for a screening of its 2018 program at the Asia Society Texas Center on November 29, 2018.

 

The line-up included AN EXERCISE IN DISCIPLINE: PEEL, a retrospective screening of Jane Campion’s student film that won the Palme d’Or for best short film at Cannes in 1986. She also had her first feature film, SWEETIE, accepted for Cannes in 1989. 

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The diverse lineup also featured the Academy-Award nominee THE ELEVEN O’CLOCK, a comedy in which a psychiatrist’s patient thinks he is the psychiatrist; ADELE, a drama about a 14-year old African schoolgirl in Australia in an arranged marriage imposed on her by family tradition; KILL OFF, a comedy/drama in which a girl with an intellectual disability forms an unusual friendship with a Sudanese man based on their shared interest in rap; HICCUP, a 3-minute comedy in which a simple cure may have unexpected complication; LOST PROPERTY OFFICE, a stop-motion animation in which Ed, the custodian, may not be what he seems to be; WELCOME HOME ALLEN, a drama in which Viking warriors return from war to a world they don't recognize; THE UNICORN, a drama set in Paris in which a young couple is about to make love when a phone call sends their night into disarray; and LIBRARY OF LOVE, a musical comedy about a librarian who reads too many romance novels.

 

After the screening there was a Q&A with Kristian Salinas, Executive Director of QFest in Houston, and Chris Beale discussing and taking questions about the films. A reception followed.

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The 2018 Audience Award at Australian Short Film Today in Houston went to THE ELEVEN O'CLOCK directed by Derin Seale. The Runner up as ADELE directed by Mirene Agwabi.