BBFF 2026 WINNERS

The 20th edition of the Byron Bay International Film Festival has come to a close. This year's festival was a major success and featured a program packed full of excellent films, Q&As, and special events!

Festival director J’aimee Skippon-Volke said “Our awards are created to celebrate the true spirit of independent filmmaking.” As part of that tradition of celebrating and uplifting independent filmmakers this year's pool of feature film winners was drawn from films yet to find an Australian distributor. These awards represent BBFF’s efforts to bring greater oportunies and audiences to independent films and filmmakers.

This year's festival winners are:

Best Film and Best Dramatic Feature

The Lightkeeper

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BEST MUSIC DOCUMANARY

That Half Barbaric Twang

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BEST SHORT FILM

12 Points

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BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM

Chaortic

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BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

She In Storms

BEST MUSIC VIDEO

Tamara Flores - Chingora

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BEST BYRON BAY FILM

and

BEST DRAMTIC FEATURE: HONERABLE MENTION

Tiber

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YOUNG AUSTRALIAN FILMMAKER OF THE YEAR

Jake James Whitford - The Squaters and The Fairy Princess

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BEST DOCUMANTARY

Crack Me Open

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BEST SURF FILM

Magic Island

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BEST ANIMATION

Ducks

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BEST SCREENPLAY

Hell’s Gate

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: HONERABLE MENTION

A Message From Kahn

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ROB STEWART ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD

Ganibarra

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Byron Bay International Screenplay Contest Finalists Use COVID-19 Downtime to Capture Hearts and Minds with Deeply Immersive Scripts

While the red carpet wasn’t rolled out this year due to COVID-19, it failed to dampen the enthusiasm of talented screenwriters around the globe. Read on to discover the diverse group of 2021 Byron Bay International Screenplay Contest finalists and their deeply moving scripts.

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