Now in its fourth year, Sony presents the Catchlight Film Festival to once again celebrate the best short-form filmmaking shot on Sony cameras across Australia and New Zealand. The Festival continues its mission to encourage filmmakers at all levels, from passionate amateurs to industry veterans, showcasing the exceptional talent and abilities of cinematographers and filmmakers who are using the Sony system to capture their stories.

What’s New in 2024?
In 2024, the prize structure for the major categories has been tweaked to better suit the needs of our prize winners. Where previous prize winners would take away $10,000 worth of Sony camera gear, that value is now split into $5,000 worth of gear and a $5,000 filmmaking grant, allowing our winners much more flexibility to make the most of their winnings. In addition, the Student Fiction category prize has been brought in line with the other major categories, now awarding the same split $5,000 gear / $5,000 grant prize pack.

Finally, 2024 sees the debut of the “Cinematic Social” category, designed to recognise striking and beautiful work created specifically for the small screen.
Cinematic Social is for the kind of short form evocative content that has risen to prominence on Social Media in recent years, most often in the form of travel and lifestyle Reels. This content does not follow a typical fiction or non-fiction story line. The sequence of content may follow a theme, idea, location, or concept. The key is the visual identity of the content remains the same which unifies the short film.

Competition Dates
Entries open at 09:00 AM AEDT on Wednesday, 21st February 2024 and close for submissions at 12:00PM AEST on Monday, 24 June 2024.