JOY’S HOUSE FILM FESTIVAL
About the Joy House Film Festival
Founded in 2013, the Joy House Film Festival is Australia’s only short film festival with the central theme of JOY and a strong focus on diversity. Created to spotlight emerging filmmakers, the festival offers a vibrant platform to celebrate creativity, originality, and positive storytelling.
Each year, the festival honours outstanding contributions with awards including Best Film, the Cultural Impact Award, and the Changemaker Award for Women.
Over the years, Joy House Film Festival has proudly showcased remarkable talent. Notable alumni include Jacob Frey, whose short film The Present—a heartwarming tale about a boy and an injured puppy—captured the attention of Disney, leading to a job offer. Another standout is Joy & Heron, a delightful 4-minute animated film by Kyra & Constantin, which has since garnered international acclaim. Gervais Merryweather, whose film Buy Buy Baby was featured in the festival’s debut year, is now working with Walt Disney Animation on Moana 2.
In 2023, Bird Drone by Radheya Jan Jegatheva won Best Film. This touching story about a seagull who falls in love with a drone went on to win multiple awards, including Australia's Best Short Film in 2024.
The 2024-25 festival was a sold-out event at Randwick Ritz. This year’s winners included Celeste Diep (Happy New Year, Ms Luna) for the Coles Joy House Film Festival Award, Angela Blake (Career Fight) for the Stephen Wong Photography Cultural Impact Award, and Madeleine Wighton, who received the Pepe Saya Changemaker Award for Women. Celeste Diep’s film has since been selected for Cannes 2025.
Joy House Film Festival remains committed to uplifting diverse voices and spreading joy through storytelling. It is proudly supported by the Diversity Committee of the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, co-founded by festival director Joy Hopwood.
Upcoming Event: Sunday 9th February 2025
Time: Doors open 5pm
Venue: Randwick Ritz
5.25pm Acknowledgement to Country
5.30pm-6.30pm Short Films
Awards & Prizes
Up to $1000 worth of prizes. Prizes include -vouchers (Coles), movie tickets, show bags, Haribo lollies etc.
Prizes for Best short film, Best diversity short film & Best Female Filmmaker film.
Supported by Actor's Equity Australia's Diversity Committee.
Rules & Terms
Light entertainment short films. Short films must be made within 5 years and they must have a scene of JOY (happiness) in the short film. Open to drama, comedy, animation, stop animation, music video, action etc.
If selected, the short film must be submitted for exhibition in Mp4 or mov (formatted 25 frames / p.s / or 24 frames /p.s only ) mp4
https://filmfreeway.com/JoyHouseFilmFestival
FILM SUBMISSIONS
JOY’S FILM HOUSE
Joy's Film House is a new series featuring interviews with award winning filmmakers, a spin-off branch of Joy House Film Festival, now in its 11th year.
Episode One features 2023-4 Joy House Film Festival winner Radheya Jegatheva, for Bird Drone, which has gone on to win 16 awards including 2 Academy award qualifying festivals. Bird Drone is about a seagull who falls in love with a drone, a touching story and one of Joy House Film Festival favourites.
An insightful interview about the making of Bird Drone, with filmmaking tips and what’s next for Radheya, a very talented filmmaker; one to look out for. I believe he will be an Oscar winner in the future.
Episode two features Bina Bhattacharya, award winning filmmaker who wrote, directed & produced, From All Sides. It is one of eight Australian films in the Goes to Cannes program, where seven festivals are invited to present five works-in-progress to the Marché du Film. The market, which runs concurrently with the festival's glamorous world premieres, is Cannes's business side, where sales, financing and distribution deals are made. Its motto is "the heart of the film industry".