Melbourne, Australia — The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) has announced this year’s nominees for its prestigious Best Australian Director prize and The Uncle Jack Charles Award, setting the stage for next month’s celebration of cinema.
Leading the nominees for the $50,000 Blackmagic Design Best Australian Director Award is James J. Robinson, who is also in the running for the $140,000 Bright Horizons Award for his film, First Light. He is joined by Zoe Pepper (Birthright), Samuel Van Grinsven (Went Up the Hill), and Sophie Somerville (Fwends). The winner will be selected by an esteemed jury that includes filmmaker Charlotte Wells, actor Tamala, and several other prominent figures in the film industry.
The award for Best Australian Director comes with a state-of-the-art URSA Cine 12K camera, valued at $27,500, intended to support emerging talent in the Australian film industry. The jury, which will evaluate this year’s contenders, also includes Alex Ross Perry, Athina Rachel Tsangari, Col Needham, Nam Le, and composer Caitlin Yeo.
In addition to the Best Australian Director Award, MIFF will present The Uncle Jack Charles Award for the second time. This award, previously known as the First Nations Film Creative Award, honors an exceptional Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander screen creative. The 2025 recipient will receive a $20,000 cash award along with $25,000 worth of tailored financial services from the Kearney Group.
Nominees for The Uncle Jack Charles Award include actor Mark Coles Smith (Beast of War), director William Jaka (Faceless), and co-directors Jack Manning Bancroft and Tyson Yunkaporta for their work on Imagine. Other nominees include Trisha Morton-Thomas for Journey Home, David Gulpilil, and the art directing team behind The Fix-It-Man And The Fix-It-Wooman.
An independent jury composed of interdisciplinary artist Reko Rennie, filmmaker Jub Clerc, and last year’s recipient, digital artist and director April Phillips, will select the winner of The Uncle Jack Charles Award.
This year’s festival will also feature the MIFF Shorts Awards, now in its 64th year, which offers a total prize pool of $50,000. Winning films in key categories will be eligible for consideration for both the 98th Academy Awards and the 2026 BAFTA Film Awards. Winners will be revealed during a ceremony on Friday, August 15, at ACMI.
Additionally, the MIFF Schools Youth Jury Award will empower three young filmmakers from the 2025 Top Screen program to choose a winner from the MIFF Schools initiative, with a $10,000 cash prize at stake. The Audience Award allows festival attendees to vote for their favorite films, with participants entering a draw for a chance to win a trip for two to Japan.
Among the films competing for this year’s Bright Horizons Award alongside First Light are titles such as If I Had Legs by Mary Bronstein, Diego Céspedes’ The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo, and Urchin by Harris Dickinson. Other contenders include A Useful Ghost by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, Sound of Falling by Mascha Schilinski, The Rivals of Amziah King by Andrew Patterson, A Poet by Simón Mesa Soto, April by Dea Kulumbegashvili, and Renoir by Chie Hayakawa.
The Melbourne International Film Festival is set to run from August 7 to August 24, with the MIFF Awards scheduled for August 23 at Rydges Melbourne.
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