What does it feel like to step into another woman’s shoes on the other side of the world for a short minute—to see the world through her eyes and feel the weight of her decisions or the beauty of her life? Welcome to the second annual Voices of Women International Short Film and Script Festival.
We are thrilled to bring you new films and scripts from across Australia, the United States, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, South America and Canada to celebrate International Womens Day.
Curated by an international panel of distinguished actors, writers and filmmakers, and presented by award-winning Voices of Women, the festival brings together a striking collection of short films and scripts in one event that are raw, moving, funny, experimental and deeply human.
In Sydney, the Festival is generously hosted in Sydney by KXT on Broadway, home of BAKEhouse Theatre Company, as part of their enduring support for emerging women artists and for International Womens Day.
In Kenya, the Festival is in partnership with The Theatre Company of Kenya and the Sanaa Room, with Director and conservation specialist at The Elephant Queen, Catherine Enane.
Follow us on @voiceswomenadventure to find out who will win the Festival Awards!
Lliane Clarke, Creative Producer (Australia), Kaye Tuckerman, Creative Producer (USA), Catherine Enane, Creative Producer (Kenya)
If you enjoyed this festival, please consider a donation to support the artists and filmmakers at voiceswomen.com/donate
SCRIPTS AND FILMS
SCRIPT: DON’T TRUST YOUR MIND AFTER MIDNIGHT
Blue struggles to sleep, but a dark, watching figure lurking in the corner turns her restless nights into a chilling fight against fear.
Writer: Rachel Hall. Country: Australia.
I AM SAUMU
From Kenyan music video artist Saumu comes a powerful statement. Dress nicely, be kind, sit up straight or you will get nowhere? But where is that promotion?
Writer and Producer: Saumu Kombo. Director: Jean Ousa. Year: 2025. Runtime: 3 mins. Country: Kenya.
VIENTO
Viento is a Super 8 visual collage set in the Andes, where the wind never rests. Through seven migrant testimonies, two migrant directors weave a shared memory of displacement and belonging, with the Andean wind emerging as the film’s central protagonist.
Writer, Director, Producer: Anais Cordova Paez, Sofía Acosta Varea. Runtime: 5.30 mins. Year: 2025. Country: Ecuador, Mexico, Spain.
SOLE
Sole follows a veteran embalmer in Mexico whose principles are tested when she prepares the body of a young transgender man. Carrying a secret of her own, she must decide: does she honour who he was, or comply with his family demands?
Writer and Director: Ana Berdeja. Producer: Rafael Macazaga, Jose Manuel Mijares, Allan Feder. Runtime: 15 mins Year: 2024 Country: Mexico.
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY
A powerful Brazilian encounter shot in black and white between a daughter and a mother — and the affections that inhabit the underworld of this fierce relationship, exploring motherhood, guilt, oppression and boundaries.
Writer: Isabella Sperotto. Director: Mariana Mello, Isabella Sperotto. Producer: Mariana Mello, Isabella Sperotto. Runtime: 4 mins. Country: Brazil.
THE ELEPHANT QUEEN
A short film about the unique African Elephant Queen conservation education program that uses film and theatre to inspire conversations on human-wildlife coexistence, where human–wildlife conflict is part of everyday life.
Writer, Director, Producer: The Elephant Queen Trust. Runtime: 5 minutes. Year: 2025. Country: Kenya.
If you would like to donate to this essential program, find out more at https://elephant.co.ke/elephant-queen-trust/
JAWAHER
Jawaher worked the land alongside her father as a young girl and has become a beekeeper. For her, beekeeping is a way of enduring. Despite economic instability and climate change she remains steadfast in her livelihood, holding on to it as a means of survival.
Co-Directors: Samar Taher Lulu, Hamdi Khalil Elhusseini. Year: 2025. Runtime: 5 mins. Country: State of Palestine.
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
Behind Closed Doors is a true story told through evocative tonal animation, bearing witness to Greta’s survival of sexual abuse and human trafficking in Switzerland.
Writer: Vivian Waldvogel. Director: Vivian Waldvogel. Producer: Vivian Waldvogel. Runtime: 7 mins. Year: 2025. Country: Switzerland.
CLOUDY DAYS
Cloudy Days is a delightful animated short about a little Polish cloud who lives in her apartment, carefully tending to the tiny world below. When troubles begin to pile up, she struggles to keep her micro world from falling apart.
Writer: Maryana Rudakoval. Director: Maryana Rudakova. Producer: Maryana Rudakova. Runtime: 1 mins. Year: 2025. Country: Poland.
SCRIPT: GOOD MORNING/GUTEN MORGEN
An elderly Jewish woman, sitting in a chair, has dozed off. She is suddenly wakened from a deep sleep, and tries to orient, as she confuses the facility nursing assistant with a confidante from her former life.
Writer: Cynthia Arsenault. Year: 2025. Country: United States.
INTERVAL
SCRIPT: TWENTY ONE
On her twenty-first birthday, a young woman Australian woman uncovers a family secret that shakes the foundations of her inherited womanhood. Confronting silence, expectation, and generational rules, she chooses defiance, igniting a new story for herself.
Writer: Fiona Georgiou Hunt. Year: 2025. Country: Australia and United Kingdom.
FLAME
Flame uses an original pyrography animation that reimagines a classic Polish lullaby to reflect societal pressure on women and their entrapment in toxic relationships.
Writer: Elzbieta Muskietorz. Director: Elzbieta Muskietorz. Producer: Elzbieta Muskietorz. Runtime: 2 mins. Year: 2025. Country: Poland, United Kingdom.
SEE THE CITY
A Native American / Alaska woman has dreams of leaving the safety of her small community and heads to the big city.
Writer: Patsy Tuba, Mia Golden. Director: Mia Golden. Producer: Ana-Maria Butcura, Mia Golden, Beverley Dondale, Patsy Tuba. Runtime: 14 mins. Country: Canada.
WHAT TO EXPECT
It’s hard to choose a life free of motherhood in Italy and Maria can’t escape her friends and their kids parties. In a hilarious twist, she learns that life is unpredictable.
Writer: Guja Quaranta. Director: Guja Quaranta. Producer: Guja Quaranta. Runtime: 14 mins. Country: USA, Italy.
WHAT YOUR EYES ARE TELLING ME
By the stillness of a Luxembourg reservoir, Nina encounters a stranger, sparking an unexpected and powerful connection.
Writer: Alexandra Kurt, Joshua Thil, Director: Alexandra Kurt, Joshua Thil. Producer: Alexandra Kurt, Joshua Thil. Runtime: 6 mins. Country: Luxembourg.
SHE
SHE: Somebody’s Helper for Eternity. A Kenyan plea to close the gap of inequality in our world.
Writer: Purity Karanja. Director: Purity Karanja. Producer: Purity Karanja. Runtime: 5 mins. Country: Kenya.
INHERITANCE
‘Not Muslim enough, not Arab enough, not Woman enough’? A reclamation through dance and music of a woman’s inherited identity as an Arab Middle Eastern Omani Muslim.
Writer: Nada W. Al Kharusi, Director: Fatma Najjar, Nada W. Al Kharusi, Producer: Nada W. Al Kharusi. Runtime: 5 mins Year: 2025. Country: Oman.
SCRIPT: THE BILA
On Wiradjuri Country in Australia, a woman faces the engulfing waters of the Bila, confronting fear and power, and ultimately discovering courage and redemption.
Writer: Shannon Barnes. Country: Australia
