Frequently Asked Questions

All-Inclusive Film International Network.

A nomination at an IMDb-Qualifying festival, which you may list as "Nominated (nom)". Your official AFIN laurel. A certificate of nomination, available from your film's page once your category has been revealed. A permanent page for your film on our website, with your credits and your result, which does not come down. And 1 free screening ticket per nominated project, valued at $21, yours to use however you wish, for yourself or for someone from your cast, crew or family. None of these depend on you attending the Awards Night.

Your certificate of nomination is on your film's page on this website, ready to download and print, from the moment your category is revealed. It is A4 landscape and names your film, your award category and the people credited for it. Performance nominees receive a certificate in their own name. Your laurel comes to you with your IMDb project details and submission status after the event. If your category has not been revealed yet, your certificate is already made and will appear on your page on the day it is announced.

Please wait for us. We reveal categories one at a time in the lead-up to the Awards Night, and each reveal is a moment we build an audience around for the films in it. If you announce ahead of your category, your film gets the news out with none of that behind it, and the nominees revealed alongside you lose theirs. Once your category is public, please share it as loudly as you like, and tag us so we can amplify it.

Finalist: close to being nominated, but no further progression. Not IMDb-Qualifying. Nominee: nominated for an award, and remains a nominee if it does not win. IMDb-Qualifying. Award Winner: wins the award, transitioning from Nominee status. IMDb-Qualifying. Only projects that reach Nominee or Award Winner are eligible for IMDb listing, because a Finalist was not nominated for an award. Our current festival has these three results only. We awarded Honourable Mentions in earlier years, so past recipients may still hold one, but we no longer use that tier, and we have never had semi-finalists, quarter-finalists or official selections. We audit IMDb listings for accuracy and will request corrections for any incorrect entries. When adding yours, use the correct award and year, and choose "Winner (1)" for an Award Winner or "Nominated (nom)" for a Nominee.

As soon as we have processed all films we move very quickly, and some categories are revealed earlier than others. FilmFreeway is updated to "Nominee" if you are nominated for at least one award, and only changed to "Award Winner" after the Awards Night. If you made finalist only, your project is updated to "Finalist".

No, and the two are decided separately. A nomination is the result of adjudication; the screening programme is curated, and we can only screen what fits three nights. A film that is not screening is exactly as nominated as one that is, and can win its categories either way. Our screenings run 15 to 17 September 2026 at Dendy Cinemas Portside, Brisbane, and the full lineup is announced once every category has been revealed.

Films chosen to screen are a curated selection of award-nominated films suitable for a diverse audience. Curation generally begins in this order: 1) the number of nominations a film has, 2) how well the film screens, 3) film length, and 4) how the film sits within the lineup and the experience for the audience across the night. We screen as many as we can, every year. To be eligible for selection a film must be available to screen during the festival and must have provided a promotional image with its application.

Your film needs to be delivered to our DCP specification and tested by Monday 7 September 2026. The specification, the four things that most often go wrong, and guidance on whether to have a DCP made professionally or do it yourself are all on our DCP page. If anything about the specification is unclear, ask us early rather than close to the deadline, because a file that fails testing in the final week is difficult to fix in time.

Every nominee receives one free screening ticket per nominated project, valued at $21, for our screenings at Dendy Cinemas Portside on 15 to 17 September. It is yours to use however you wish, for yourself or for someone from your cast, crew or family. We will contact nominees with how to claim it once the screening programme is announced. It does not cover the Awards Night, which is a separate ticketed event.

No, and there is no nominee discount. What every nominee receives instead is 1 free screening ticket per nominated project, valued at $21, for our screenings at Dendy Cinemas Portside on 15 to 17 September. Those tickets do not cover the Awards Night, which is a separate ticketed event. Worth saying that the Awards Night ticket is not an entry fee: it is your dinner, the red carpet and its photography, the performance and the ceremony itself, all listed under "What is the Awards Night actually like?" below. On our side the price is simply what the evening costs to run: the waitstaff, the SunPAC technicians, our own filming crew and the rest of the team who work the night. AFIN is independent and receives no government funding or major sponsorship. We would rather give every nominee the same thing than offer a rate to whoever asks.

No, and we would genuinely ask you not to put us in the position of saying no. We do not disclose or hint at results before they are announced, to anyone, including nominees who ask us directly, and we will not discuss it informally or off the record. Every request has to be refused, they arrive individually and at all hours, and refusing people you are glad to be celebrating is the least pleasant part of running this festival. This is not us being secretive. Every nominee in a category is in the same position when the envelope opens, and that is exactly what makes an AFIN nomination worth listing on IMDb and in a funding application. A result that leaks early is worth less to everyone who has ever won one. If you are deciding whether to travel, please decide on the evening itself rather than on the outcome, because you do not need to be in the room to win.

We would love you there. Tickets are already selling, a good number of this year's nominees have booked, and several are travelling from overseas for it: a real red carpet, dinner with the people who made the other films, and your work on the SunPAC screen in front of them. But no, you do not need to be there. Attendance has never affected the outcome. If you cannot make it, record an acceptance speech video and send it to us by Saturday 5 September 2026 and we will play it for any award you are nominated for. Your film still goes up on the screen and your name is still read out.

Congratulations on your win! Attendance is not compulsory to be eligible to win, and if you or a representative cannot collect your trophy in person, we can ship it out to you at your cost. We will confirm the postage with you before sending anything.

Yes. The Awards Night ceremony is livestreamed for your cast and crew, your writers and their families, anywhere in the world, so the people who made the film with you can watch it as it happens. We send the link closer to the night, and it is for them rather than for posting: please do not share it publicly or anywhere it can be picked up. Combined with recording an acceptance speech video and having a trophy shipped at cost, nobody who cannot make the trip is left out of their own result.

It is a red carpet event at SunPAC, Sunnybank, on Saturday 19 September 2026. The red carpet opens at 5:00 pm with professional photography that goes into the AFIN gallery, seating opens at 5:50 pm and the show begins at 6:00 pm, with formal proceedings concluding at 10:00 pm. The ticket covers a two-course seated dinner served alternate drop, a three-hour soft drink package with a cash bar for guests 18 and over, red carpet photography, a live performance, and Q&As with selected filmmakers. 21 awards are presented on the night, in pristine K9 crystal. Our tickets page has the full run sheet, the menu, the dress code and the accessibility and dietary answers.

No. Being promoted on social media does not indicate official selection or any outcome from adjudication. In the lead-up we share and promote submissions to support filmmakers and to foster relationships between AFIN applicants and the industry, and that is all it means.

Absolutely, with the exception of explicit pornography and anything made for the purpose of selling a product or service to audiences. Anything above an Australian Classification rating of R cannot be entered. We accept shorts and features, including animation, and web series.

No. Only completed projects are allowed.

No. Your film may be nominated in multiple categories for a single entry fee. Our panel watches every film on submission regardless, so charging more for multiple categories does not seem fair to us.

We are afraid not. Film submissions must be made with the filmmaker and content creator's approval.

Every entry can choose to add on Standard Feedback: scoring insights and potentially high-level comments.

Films and screenplays submitted to AFIN are viewed by a panel of film industry professionals. We are an equal and fair festival: our awards, nominations and placings are entirely the result of adjudication, and all submissions that do not break the rules are welcome. AFIN seeks films that strive for excellence in storyline, cinematography, writing, performances, originality, production values, globally distributable ideas, and unique and important stories, with special consideration for diversity and for the specific awards. Award winners are celebrated per category with an AFIN award made from pristine quality K9 crystal. Prizes may also be attached to certain awards and are advertised closer to the date.