CLOSING NIGHT

HOMEGROWN

Monday 23rd March, 7pm
105 mins, Cinema 2, ACMI

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This session is Unclassified 15+.

The Melbourne Women in Film Festival is proud to showcase the work of women and gender diverse filmmakers and storytellers. This means that we sometimes include films or panel topics that may explore difficult subjects and be confronting for some audiences. Our aim is to ensure our audience has a safe and enjoyable experience when coming along to our festival and so we have included content warnings, classification and cultural information throughout the program.

Please take the time to read the film synopses below to determine whether the session is suitable for you.

Join us for the closing of the 10th Melbourne Women in Film Festival — a celebration of exceptional screen stories crafted by Victorian filmmakers. This special selection of short films showcases the remarkable talent within our own community, highlighting the creativity that makes our local film scene thrive.

  • In the Trees

    World Premiere

    Blood, bones, war, violence, fish guts, wooden swords, this is the story of Sasha the Great and Rory the Brave. Two leaders of opposing forest fort gangs, whose relations so far have been exclusively on the battlefield, but now their mums are friends…After shared vulnerability and secrets exposed, Rory and Sasha bond over their shared interest in medieval warfare. This gets tricky once they return to their respective gangs and are forced to betray their newfound alliance. The story ends where it starts, on the battlefield, where Rory and Sasha learn that being friends doesn’t mean the sacrifice of their favourite interest, war.

    Australia, 2024, 13 minutes
    English
    Director: Andy Jadwiga LayClark
    Writer: Andy Jadwiga LayClark
    Producer: Andy Jadwiga LayClark

  • Little Hands

    Australian Premiere

    A pregnant woman and her Nonna reunite over the preparation of gnocchi, putting their linguistic and cultural differences aside to lay to rest their intergenerational trauma.

    Australia, 2024, 9 minutes
    English, Italian
    Director: Tess Emmerson
    Writer: Olivia Simone
    Producer: Tess Emmerson, Mark Overett, Olivia Simone

  • 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 bushfires, a pandemic, and race riots through dance, but how else are these kids going to make sense of our crazy world?

    Australia, 2024, 14 minutes
    English
    Director: Lisa Smithies
    Writers: Nyrée Alexander, Lisa Smithies
    Producers: Nyrée Alexander, Lisa Smithies

  • Dawn in Paradise

    Mrs Dawn Willetts waits in the Paradise Meadows shopping centre car park, hoping to be rescued. She doesn’t know their names, but yes, she says that they are definitely coming for her this time.

    Australia, 2024, 12 minutes
    English
    Directors: Alice Bishop, Craig Reasons
    Writer: Alice Bishop
    Producer: Alice Bishop

  • Gore Street, Fitzroy

    "Gore Street, Fitzroy" traces the history of Gore Street, in Fitzroy, Melbourne’s oldest suburb. Through a series of interviews with longstanding residents, filmmaker Zoe Coldham, who grew up on Gore Street, paints a picture of the street and reflects on a community transformed through waves of gentrification.

    Australia, 2025, 25 minutes
    English
    Director: Zoe Coldham
    Producer: Tobias Willis

  • Mother

    World Premiere

    Tasked with the spiritual salvation of a couple struggling to conceive, a devout nun faces a profound crisis of faith when she herself falls pregnant.

    Australia, 2024, 12 minutes
    English
    Director: Koko Crozier
    Writer: Koko Crozier
    Producer: Koko Crozier

  • Smokescreen

    As Teddy sparks a cigarette, fellow soldier Frank appears. Older and less worn by the war, Frank has come to say farewell one last time. For the pair, this means lighting a cigarette in the comfortable quiet. As the truth of their relationship comes out, they share an embrace cloaked by the darkness of a tunnel. As all things must, the tunnel comes to an end, and so does Teddy and Frank's time together.

    Australia, 2023, 9 minutes
    English
    Director: Courtenay Crimeen
    Writer: Courtenay Crimeen
    Producer: Harrison Rook

  • Rage

    As Julie Mac and her gang of Sharpies fight their way through their turbulent teenage years, Julie reflects on the unexpected bond between herself and the Italian tailor who crafts her iconic ‘Connie’ cardigan; a symbol that will firmly establish her within the Sharpie subculture and strengthen her sense of identity.

    Australia, 2024, 9 minutes
    English
    Director: Renee Kypriotis
    Writer: Renee Kypriotis
    Producer: Kasia Silva