It's been a telling year for Australian cinema in 2025. The mainstream films continue to be tepid, whilst the independent films are as vibrant as they've ever been, thanks to a bevy of Gen Z creators in particular, and a growing number of them (unlike my list from last year, there are many short films in this year's list, from up-and-coming filmmakers).

Adelaide leads the way again, with filmmakers around the moviejuice network. Since 2023, they have been at the forefront of alternative filmmaking in Australia, and in the first months of 2026 new films by Gabe Bath (his 2nd feature), Emily Pottinger and Daniel Tune will be released.

There are signs of life in Melbourne and Brisbane too, with iconoclasts like Adam C. Briggs and Nick Murcott set to release new features next year.


Top 10 Australian films of 2025

1. Industrial Side-Walk in the Mid-Afternoon
(Adam Lemmey/Ella Burton/Nicole Schoen, 2025, 5 mins)

Created as part of Bryce Kraehenbuehl's 16mm Wombat Workshop, this is a powerful short film. The combination of portraiture (of an incandescent Lauren Koopowitz), formal experimentation (zooming), eerie music, and meta-footage (behind the scenes) works amazingly well. A cinematic gem.

2. A Grand Mockery
(Adam C. Briggs/Sam Dixon, 2024, 105 mins)

Brisbane maverick filmmaker Adam C. Briggs is on a grand roll with his burgeoning career currently, a 4th feature to be released next year (see also entry No.7 below). A Grand Mockery, co-directed by lead actor Sam Dixon, is a masterpiece of murk and disassociation. Shot on Super-8 and black as a grave, and also black with its humour, it creates a world of characters that are perverse but also oddly human. Surely an Australian underground classic.

3. Tail of Cinema
(Gabe Bath, 2025, 11 mins)

The mercurial Gabe Bath premiered two short films in 2025, both of them (see entry No.10 below) shot in Hong Kong. Tail of Cinema is is a delirious, kaleidoscopic, psychedelic film, full of brilliantly alchemical visual effects, centred on a Cat Man (played by Bath) walking around and petting cats. The second half of the film is calmer, as Bath becomes the Immigrant Cat, now in Adelaide, and forlorn like a Wong Kar-wai character.

4. Clock Watchers
(Luke Skineki, 2025, 18 mins)

Inspired, visionary debut short film by Luke Skineki, a young multi-disciplinary artist. Taking his cues from David Lynch, horror films and trash cinema, Skineki has carved a nightmarish but also absurdist tale of a harried video store employee simultaneously drudging through his job and also keeping tabs on the monster living in the attic. Shot on grainy Super-8, it's both hilarious and other-worldly.

5. Echoes of Tangled Light
(Pierah Summers, 2025, 10 mins)

Another great debut short film (see entry No.4 above), Pierah Summers paints a beautifully swirling picture of nature, childhood, womanhood, and sisterhood, bridging the gap between the characters' childhoods (pure and fleeting) and their adulthoods (uncertain and threatening). Wordless, the film highlights bodies and interactions and the lyrical movements of dancing and laughing. A delicate and moving film.

6. We Are Not Powerless
(Jolyon Hoff/Muzafar Ali, 2025, 90 mins)

A well-made and moving documentary about Afghani refugees in Indonesia, as they attempt to re-settle wherever they can in the world. Great footage in Indonesia as the Afghani community go DIY and guerilla to establish a school for their kids, and a sense of community for the adults. The good side of Australia is on display too, as our heroine Nagina and her husband Muzafar are accepted for permanent residency in Australia.

7. Boogie Bobby
(Adam C. Briggs, 2025, 80 mins)

Adam C. Briggs (see entry no.2 above) unveiled his 3rd feature this year, the downbeat realist observational study Boogie Bobby. His only digital feature thus far, in muted colour tones, it is a paean to friendship and alcoholism. And, no matter how ugly the proceedings get, there is real love and tenderness between these characters. Surely Briggs currently stands as Australia's best filmmaker, all his work is distinctive and strong.

8. Now Look at the Pictures
(Emily Pottinger, 2025, 4 mins)

Now Look at the Pictures is a bricolage film, with images of pop culture items and found items, the images treated with visual effects and then combined with a layered, experimental soundtrack. Pottinger's film has a dark and nightmarish tone to it at times (with images of skulls and hand-cuffs), but at other times it is a tender and sad capturing of fleeting moments (with old family photos intermingling with all the detritus of Hong Kong).

9. Guttercat
(Aubrey Winslow, 2025, 12 mins)

Flinders Uni Honours work from Winslow, with a vibrant lurid trash punk aesthetic informing it, complete with great textural effects with the images and sounds, Guttercat is a tale of murder and regret in a veritable B-grade manner. Beyond the slasher moment however, there is a moment of reflection for our lively heroines, as they contemplate what they have done. Winslow shows great control over this mix of elements.

10. Young Lady Gets Her Suitcase Stolen in Hong Kong
(Gabe Bath, 2025, 5 mins)

More Hong Kong collage (see entry No.3 above) by Gabe Bath, but this time the snap-shots of HK city life, together with images of print ads/flyers, are enlivened by a chase comedy featuring animated cut-out figures of Bath and Emily Pottinger. It's a delightful film, but in typical Bath fashion, the soundtrack has simple street sounds rather than zany music, creating a disquiet.

Bill Mousoulis is a Greek-Australian independent filmmaker, a programmer of Australian indie films, and an occasional writer on film.