Short Film Fund - Applications Now Open
The Jewish International Film Festival (JIFF) and the Jewish Australian Screen Fund (JASF) are thrilled to announce an expanded return of the JIFF Short Film Fund for 2025.
The Short Film Fund was established by JIFF in 2017 to provide funding to Australian filmmakers for the creation of a Jewish-themed short. This year, JIFF is partnering with the recently established JASF on the biggest grant pool in its history, with a total of $30,000 on offer.
“JIFF is proud to be a catalyst of the challenging and magical film creation process. We welcome the partnership with the talented Jamie Bialkower and the JASF which will serve to catapult the short film fund to greater heights and become a major contributor to Australian film culture.” – JIFF Artistic Director Eddie Tamir.
This year's funding will exclusively support narrative projects that address any aspect of the post-October 7 landscape for Australian Jewry. Director of JASF, Jamie Bialkower, points to the challenges of the current climate as a creative opportunity for filmmakers to explore. “We want this year’s applicants to offer an artistic response to the events we have lived through over the past 16 months, illuminating our shared experience in whatever shape or form this theme is interpreted.”
In previous years, the JIFF Short Film Fund awarded local filmmakers Karen Pearlman and Joel Kohn for their films “I want to make a film about women” and “The Mirror”. 2017 winner “Noch Am Leben", directed by Anita Lester, screened at film festivals globally and was licensed by Yad Vashem as part of their digital exhibition.
Building on a 30 year history of Jewish film festivals in Australia, JIFF has established itself as one of the world’s biggest and most successful Jewish film festivals. Cementing its reputation for delivering international cinema of supreme quality, the festival is proud to showcase a diverse and world-class slate of film and event programming: from award-winning documentaries and dramas, to comedies and short films.
This year, the festival looks forward to continuing its support of Australian filmmakers with its Short Film Fund: a monetary funding initiative that aims to create opportunities for emerging filmmakers in Australia, and to encourage and support the production and exhibition of short films on themes that engage with Jewish life, history and culture. JIFF is committed to supporting and championing local filmmakers, and stories reflecting the global Jewish experience.
JASF was established by Jamie Bialkower in 2024 as part of his Jump Street Films label. JASF was initiated due to the lack of Jewish narratives being financed in Australia, the lack of support that Jewish artists are receiving at structural and institutional levels, and to counter antisemitism through representation of Jewish stories on screen. Funding will exclusively go towards works that advance the depiction of Jewish Australians on screen, by Jewish Australian creatives, with emphasis on authenticity and visibility.
Applications are now open to all Jewish Australian filmmakers at the following link, and will remain open until Monday March 10:
www.jumpstreetfilms.com.au/short-film-applications
All projects must be at script stage when applying and finished films must be under 20 minutes.
Winners will be announced on Friday April 4, with final delivery of films required in September for a JIFF 2025 premiere.