Welcome to STUFFit Student Film Festival, an international film festival run by high-school students, for high-school students.
What is STUFFit?
We're an international student film festival based in Sunshine Coast QLD, run primarily by high-school students, for high-school students. Each year we receive upwards of a hundred short-film entries from students all over the world aged 12-18, spread across dozens of categories including Junior and Senior Scripted, Documentary, Experimental and many more, with cash prizes backed by local sponsors.
Our festival season ends with a one-night-only Screening Event and Awards Ceremony right here on the Sunny Coast, where our winners and runners-up get to see their films on the big screen, and we get to celebrate you - the young filmmakers who make this all possible with your passion, creative thinking and hard work. It's an event to remember, and we'd love to see you there!
STUFFit isn't just about the films though: Over its 14 years, we've grown from an after-school program into a functioning business run primarily by high-school students. Operating alongside training organisation Cultivate The Chaos Pty Ltd, STUFFit acts as a safe learning environment for students to expand their skills and find community, providing practical event management experience and memories that last a lifetime.
If you're a parent or student interested in the educational aspect of what we do, head over to Cultivate The Chaos.
Want to get involved?
Here’s what’s coming up:
STUFFit Festival Season 26Crew
Duration: Commences 4th February 2026 and finishes 4th November 2026 with several school-holiday team/work sessions.
Schedule: Every Wednesday 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM during school terms + two school-holiday 3-day team/work sessions.
Age Group: 15 to 19
Description: This comprehensive course encompasses the entire process of planning, marketing, and delivering our established international student film festival.
The 26Crew gain invaluable real-world experience in event management, including the responsibility of managing the festival's budget of $14,000. This practical application of event skills is a unique aspect of the course, providing students the opportunity to develop ‘relational capital’ within the creative industries.Qualify your experience: Through our collaboration with Learning Coach (RTO45570), students will have, if all requirements are met, the opportunity to be assessed for a Certificate III in Events (SIT30522). See course brochure for details.
Course Fees: $5000 for the full season (we are working to secure part-funding for students with limited financial resources)
Location: 37 Howard Street, Nambour
STUFFit Screening Crew-build
Date: 1st and 2nd October 2026
Description: A three day long intensive program where participants form the 2026 Screening Crew as we set-up and run the 15th annual STUFFit Student Film Festival. You’ll work with our crew and professionals from events company QuEvents to design the venue setup, coordinate lighting and sound design, manage hospitality, and work with camera and recording equipment, and you’ll have an important role in running a real-life event This intensive is designed to give students a taste of what real event management is like, while also fostering friendships and having lots of fun.
Cost: $50 + booking fee
Open to: People aged 14 to 19 with a get-the-job-done attitude and the capacity to follow directions.
Venue: TBA
Registrations currently closed, but watch this space
STUFFit Screening Event
Date: 3rd October 2026
Description: A one night only Screening Event and awards ceremony for the winners and runner ups of this year’s STUFFit Student Film Festival. Join us for a night of fantastic films and a panel discussion with industry experts, and enjoy a selection of food and drinks at the snack bar. This event is family friendly, and one you won’t want to miss.
Tickets on sale in August 2026
Open to: All welcome
Venue: TBA
Footage courtesy of Hing Ang, AesopMedia
What are all of your categories?
At STUFFit, we’ve got a range of categories you can enter your film into. We want to make sure different styles of film (such as documentaries and music videos), and films made by students in different age groups are judged as fairly and accurately as possible.
Most adult film festivals with a ‘youth’ category judge everything by the same criteria, meaning an animation could be pitted against a horror trailer, or a film made by an 18 year old could be judged the same as one made by a 13 year old still learning the craft. We think that’s pretty unfair!
Right now our categories are Senior Scripted, Junior Scripted, Senior Animation, Junior Animation, Experimental, Trailer/Commercial, Music Video, Documentary, International Scripted and International Animation.
I’m a young filmmaker - how can I enter?
If you've made a short film, we'd love to see it! All of our entries are submitted through an industry-standard platform called FilmFreeway. You can check out our FilmFreeway page to have a look at our terms and conditions, entry requirements and FAQs.
To enter a film, you and your crew need to be between the ages of 12 and 18 and still be in high-school (or homeschooling). Your short film needs to be under 10 minutes long, have no copyrighted music in it, and it has to have been made in the last 12 months. Have a look at our FilmFreeway page and make sure your film fits all requirements before submitting.
Remember: STUFFit is about supporting young people as they create and learn. Whether you’re a first time filmmaker or you’ve been doing this for a while, we’re here to champion you and your film.
The STUFFit Experience
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As one of the runner-ups it was an honour to see my submission on the screen and seeing all of the other finalists work was so inspiring. STUFFit's team is clearly dedicated to their work and everybody was so kind and welcoming. If you have a student short film to submit, this is absolutely my top recommendation!
Dorian Locke, emerging filmmaker
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Our students were thrilled to be a part of STUFFit!!!!! Respectful, courteous and puts kids first.... All the way from across the world, we of the Downriver Detroit Student Film Consortium Thank you!!!!
Scott A. Galeski - Downriver Detroit
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This festival is one of the best festivals for high school students in Australia. Our students and their parents had a great time at the event and they loved seeing their work up on the big cinema screen. Great communication from the festival organisers. We're looking forward to next year already!
Kylie Agnew - Mansfield State High
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I had such a lovely time and met a lot of lovely people. I think it is a really nice community you have created and I will definitely be coming again. The films were all beautiful and I am so glad I got to watch them.
Audience member, STUFFit Screening Event 2025
Showcasing the 2025 Crew
This team has successfully led STUFFit through its 14th year, their innovation and hard work making the 2025 festival season one to remember!
25Crew (left to right) - Arafin Koch, Lincoln Knight, Chloe Ford, Sharn Gorisenn, Rae Gunn, Robyn Cook, Tylah Hoffman, Mahli Hoffman.
Not pictured - Amber Ohlmann, T Smith
Image courtesy of Hing Ang, Aesop Media
Meet your 2026 leaders!
In 2026, Lincoln Knight (age 19) and Rae Gunn (age 16) will take the reins as Festival Director and Deputy Festival Director, marking the first time in STUFFit’s 15-year history that the festival is entirely youth-led.
Lincoln and Rae are both passionate about the events and film industry and can’t wait to step into 2026, bringing dedication and fresh new ideas to the festival team.
Our 2025 Partners and Sponsors
Technical Partner
STUFFit Student Film Festival is grateful for the continued support of Quentin, Riley, Kayla, and the QuEvents team.
Our partnership enables us to provide a professional, hands-on experience for young filmmakers and event crew, helping build meaningful connections between the events and screen industries on the Sunshine Coast.
Screening Partner
STUFFit Student Film Festival is thrilled to welcome the Sunshine Coast Screen Collective as our 2025 Screening Partner.
The Screen Collective are a vital part of our industry and community, sharing in our educational vision to provide young people the opportunity to develop their careers in the screen industry.
Venue Partner
Thank you to Sarah and Norm for your continued hospitality. Our student crew loves working in the amazing venue you have at Light Industry, and seeing our festival come together within the space.
Our Category Sponsors
Sponsorships from local businesses and organisations on the Sunshine Coast allow us to keep STUFFit thriving. Your partnership and involvement helps us support young filmmakers and grow our creative community - and we’re incredibly grateful.
Thank you to each of our sponsors - we couldn’t do this without you.
A few words from our sponsors
“We chose [to sponsor] Documentary because we should be encouraging our young people to document real life and to tell stories about real people. ”
“This is our second year of sponsoring STUFFit and the growth that we’ve seen is incredible and we hope to support this for many more years to come.”
“I’m the owner of QuEvents and we deliver events across Queensland. I’d like to acknowledge the important work of Robyn Cook in the local events space. Robyn has created employment pathways for youth considering a career in events and as a local employer I find this very exciting for my own selfish reasons; you are creating my future workers.”
Why is supporting young filmmakers important to you?
“It’s what we do! Continuing to build capacity will set us up for larger projects and work in the future.”
“Our species uses story-telling to form groups. [It's] important for young people to learn how to use this medium for telling stories that matter to them because there will be other young people who will benefit from seeing those stories..”
“Because I have been a young person in the industry myself, and both my children have aspirations.”
Become a STUFFit Sponsor in 2026
Are you keen to support student filmmakers?
Enable a teen’s future career in the creative industries by becoming a category sponsor with STUFFit Student Film Festival.
In return, you’ll receive prominent brand awareness and highlights on our STUFFit social medias, printed signage on our red carpet/media wall, and 2x tickets to our one night only Screening & Awards event in October.
We’d love to work with your business in 2026.
STUFFit Student Film Festival
a pocket history 2011 to 2021
STUFFit Student Film Festival was founded in 2011 by Bernadette Natoli, Kathryn Kiernan-Molloy and Jasmine McCaul at St. John’s College Nambour. Over the next ten years over 170 students worked on the management team. STUFFit had received over 1600 original short films made by teenagers in over 20 countries.
