Midsumma Movies: Australian Shorts

As part of Midsumma Festival, Melbourne Queer Film Festival will bring a selection of short films from its 2026 program to the Big Screen, showcasing bold queer stories from Australian filmmakers.

This package reflects MQFF’s commitment to screening the very best locally made content, putting a spotlight on emerging directors and lifting up stories that reflect Australia.

FILM PROGRAM

After Party (2026)
13 minutes | Director: Isabelle Broadbent

Before they can enjoy their afterlife festivities, the prideful Jade and her timid friend Elle must realise their deadly sins while confronting their romantic feelings for one another in an eccentric underworld.

An Elephant (2026)
15 minutes | Director: Mansoor Noor

When Amir brings his boyfriend home under the guise of ”friendship”, tension builds as he tries to conceal the truth from his traditional Middle Eastern parents.

How to tie a tie
2 minutes | Director: Cooper Dalbo

Adeline, who identifies as non-binary, tries to learn how to tie a tie for the first time, only as the simple demonstration of gender affirming care leads them to a site of low-cost satin polyester carnage when a YouTube tutorial misgenders them.

Inheritance
15 minutes | Director: Mohammad Awad

After the news of his father’s passing, Ameen must face old demons when he returns to the family home he was kicked out of as a teenager.

Late Bloomer
14 minutes | Director: Vivian Nilan

A queer man who’s deeply connected to plants undergoes a strange transition when he begins speech therapy.

Souvenir
15 minutes | Director: Renee Marie Petropoulos

While stuck on a family vacation, a young closeted teen, Keira, must confront the unnerving hold her girlfriend has over her after she takes unwarranted photos of her during sex.

Spiders on my lashline
9 minutes | Director: Grace Tan

Following an attack, genderqueer pole dancer Ash takes shelter in a church, where childhood memories resurface and help them find strength again.

The Holding
13 minutes | Director: Stevie Vickery

In this Australian Gothic-Western short, a young woman grieving the ending of her relationship finds herself stranded in a relentless wilderness where memory and time blur, forcing her to face herself and make the choice: to move on or wander the wilderness forever.

Yuletide
15 minutes | Director: Adam Coutts & Brandon Bentley

Officially recognised at A Night of Horror International Film Festival for Best Unproduced Short Film Screenplay, Yuletide follows a young non-binary person returning home for Christmas, bracing for the cold sting of their family’s intolerance. But beneath the tree lurks something far more sinister – a mysterious present that swells with every cruel remark, waiting to unleash its dark secret.

Baby Talk
13 minutes | Director: Lizzie Cater

In the crushing heat of summer in 1992, Leo and Amy drive the final leg of a road trip home. The best friends have stolen a precious day to find a wedding dress to fit Leo’s pregnant belly, as the wedding to the father of the unborn child looms. It’s a Thelma-and-Louise-kind-of trip: Amy and Leo bicker and laugh, share the driving shifts, and sing at the top of their lungs as they whizz down the highway. From a distance it’s platonic; but up close, electricity buzzes between them. Trapped in an era when it’s impossible to be themselves, the spectre of a husband-to-be haunts their get away — because when they return home, they’ll return to the closet. Based on a true story.

This event is presented as part of Open Air at the Square.