Short Film
FAYE
Directed by 
Rose Newland
AFIN 2026 Nominee · 2 nominations
- 2026
- 14m
-
Australia - English
- PG
- Fantasy
Stills
9 frames 
Still in the running. Winner announced at Awards Night, 19 September 2026.
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Credits
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Synopsis
When PR executive Faye has a breakdown while trying to spin her company’s toxic waste scandal, they send her to their forest retreat to recover.
But forest guardians transport her into an infected woodland scarred by the toxic waste, and then into the fey realm itself.
Confronted by two fey, Fern and Flora, Faye must reckon with her role in the damage being done - and her capacity to help heal it. Faye learns she was once one of them and has abandoned her mission to help humans reconnect with and heal the Earth.
Through surreal encounters, fractured memories, and absurd humour, she reclaims her fey powers and returns to the human world determined to push her company toward real change.
FAYE is a quirky fantasy short with an eco-heart, blending satire and wonder to explore eco-anxiety, burnout, and collective resilience through a distinctly cinematic lens.
Director's Statement
Faye is a whimsical fantasy born from my desire to explore eco-anxiety through imagination rather than despair. Tonally, it sits between FernGully and Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. The film is designed as a sensory experience, using heightened mise-en-scène, expressive sound design, extreme camera movement, practical effects, and fourth-wall breaks to remind the audience they are watching a constructed world. In a Brechtian way, these techniques support the film’s message without taking themselves too seriously. The fey realm location - my childhood rainforest home - is a huge source of inspiration. It was a place of magic growing up, but also where I’ve witnessed the effects of climate change first-hand. Faye explores this tension: loving the natural world while feeling overwhelmed and helpless at the damage being done. We also filmed in a local endangered ecosystem, as a condition of support received from Council. What began as a constraint turned into narrative strength. Magically transporting the protagonist into this contrasting “infected” forest tied the story to a real, threatened landscape. It was wonderful to use the film's local press to raise awareness on this. While Faye is my directorial debut, it’s the product of years working behind the camera. I am driven to tell stories with a deeper meaning, but I believe that fantasy can open difficult conversations without overwhelming audiences. The film doesn’t offer answers, but a reminder that we are all in this together - and that choosing hope is still possible.
What makes this one special
- Nominated in 2 AFIN categoriesBest Australian Short Film · Best Australian Lead Performance
Director's Biography
Rose Newland Director
Rose Newland is a director and cinematographer with over eight years of professional experience across films, television drama, commercials, and documentary. Her work combines creative visual storytelling with technical precision. Rose honed her craft through years of camera assisting on large-scale feature films, working under ACS-accredited cinematographers and alongside leading creatives and technicians in the Australian film industry. Her work has been recognised with Best Cinematography nominations from the NSW Australian Cinematographers Society Awards and the Women’s Comedy Film Festival in Atlanta for the short film TOBY. Her short film Faye was also a winner of the Screen Illawarra and Creative Wollongong Short Film Script Competition. Alongside her screen practice, Rose is a permaculture gardener with a deep interest in ecological regeneration, extending this work through both filmmaking and educational online videos. This perspective informs her latest writing/directing work Faye, a fantasy short exploring eco-anxiety, burnout, and collective resilience through a distinctly cinematic lens.
Trailer
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FAYE was an official Nominee for Best Australian Short Film and Best Australian Lead Performance at the AFIN International Film Festival 2026, a Top 100 Best Reviewed and IMDb-qualifying festival.
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