EXCLUSIVE: The Australia Youth Film Festival (AUYFF) is returning in 2025, with the competition to take submissions from “film-centric” destinations like Perth.
The festival’s founder, Ryan Chow, said after a successful first year the event expand to better “empower” young filmmakers nationwide.
“In our inaugural year, we received 733 entries from around the country. This year we’re aiming to further diversify our pool of entrants, and hoping for increased participation in particular from Victoria, along with the two film-centric destinations of Perth and the Gold Coast,” the Canadian-born filmmaker said.
Mr Chow phoned into the Plugged In podcast, on Thursday, telling Hannah-Jade Keppler and Declan Scott that the festival is “dedicated to anyone between the ages of 15 and 24”.
“We are dedicated to anyone between the ages of 15 and 24, so young, aspiring Aussies,” he told listeners.
There’s a range of categories including Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Documentary, Best Animation, Best Acting, Best Under-18 Filmmaker, and Best Overall Film.
“What we do at our festival is we accept short films, music videos, documentaries, anything up to 20-minutes in length. What we’ll do is we’ll work with our judges to identify and find short films and other projects that stand out. We’ve got categories that (nominees) will be nominated for,” he told Hannah-Jade and Declan.
Prizes vary from a Canon camera to other sorts of equipment.
Entries are open now, but close at the end of May. Click the button below to enter.
Hear more details by clicking play.


