My Queer Career Winners for MGFF25!

My Queer Career is Australia’s richest queer short film prize with over $17,000 worth of cash and support to be won. Celebrating Australian LGBTIQ+ short films since 1994, the ceremony at Queer Screen’s 32nd Mardi Gras Film Festival was full of joy celebrating our wonderful queer artists and their careers in film.

You can see the full photo library from our 2025 My Queer Career night here, thanks to our friends at The Aperture Club!

Want to relive My Queer Career it is streaming on demand from Feb 28 – Mar 10! Get Your Tickets Now! 

My Queer Career 2025 Winners

Die Bully Die, directed by Nathan Lacey and Nick Lacey, received the Best Film award in My Queer Career. It also picked up Best Screenplay for Matthew Backer and Drew Weston, as well as the Audience Award. 17 years since high school, Max catches up with his former bully in a fancy restaurant where Max’s grudge against Adam begins to manifest in horrific ways.

With Love, Lottie director Lily Drummond received the Emerging Filmmaker award and lead actor Bedelia Lowrenčev was bestowed with the award for Emerging Performer. When a disabled teenager fears she will never find love, she enlists her friends as mentors in the unpredictable world of dating – and discovers that love can come in many unexpected ways and forms.

The winner of Best Film ordinarily receives automatic entry to the international Iris Prize for the Best Film winner, but as Die Bully Die screened in the 2024 Iris Prize late last year, With Love, Lottie will be entered this year instead.

Best Film

Die Bully Die
Director: Nathan Lacey, Nick Lacey
Producer: Nathan Lacey, Nick Lacey, Nicole Thorn, Matthew Backer, Drew Weston

• $3,000 cash from The Stephen Cummins Film Trust
• $2,000 worth of legal advice from JP Media Law
• Flexi pass 10 to Mardi Gras Film Festival 2026, valued at $190

Best Screenplay

Matthew Backer, Drew Weston – Die Bully Die

• $1,000 cash from Event Cinemas George Street
• Flexi pass 10 to Mardi Gras Film Festival 2026, valued at $190

Emerging Filmmaker

Lily Drummond – With Love, Lottie

• Panavision camera hire, valued at $5,000
• Automatic Entry in the Iris Prize, the world richest prize for LGBTIQ+ short film
• Flexi pass 10 to Mardi Gras Film Festival 2026, valued at $190

Emerging Performer

Bedelia Lowrenčev – With Love, Lottie

• NIDA 2-day Essentials Course, valued at $400
• Flexi pass 10 to Mardi Gras Film Festival 2026, valued at $190

Audience Award

Die Bully Die
Director: Nathan Lacey, Nick Lacey
Producer: Nathan Lacey, Nick Lacey, Nicole Thorn, Matthew Backer, Drew Weston

• $5,000 worth of Editing Support from Spectrum Films

• Flexi pass 10 to Mardi Gras Film Festival 2026, valued at $190

My Queer Career 2025 Jury

Jill Bennett

Jill Bennett is a Los Angeles-based producer, writer and actor who first gained recognition with the viral hit We’re Getting Nowhere, hailed as “the video blog that started it all” for LGBTQ new media. Her diverse producing credits include award-winning micro-budget projects Second Shot and We Have to Stop Now, which premiered at international festivals and achieved worldwide distribution. She is currently developing Fair Play Films, a low-budget production initiative focused on building a sustainable business model to support underrepresented filmmakers.

Nick Hayes

Nick Hayes is Head of Sales and Acquisitions at Umbrella Entertainment, one of Australia’s leading independent distributions companies. Prior to Umbrella, Nick had been Head of Sales and Acquisitions at Icon Films for a decade. He has also been Head of Dendy Cinemas and held senior management roles at the Sydney Film Festival and Hoyts Cinemas. Nick has also served as a board member of Independent Cinemas Australia from 2010-2023 and Vice President of the Australian Independent Distributors Association 2017-2023.

Nina Oyama

Nina Oyama is a comedian, writer, director and actress who scored her first TV writing job at age 19. As a stand up comedian and on-screen presence, Nina is best known former AACTA Award-nominated performances in Deadloch and Taskmaster Australia, playing ditzy receptionist Courtney on Utopia, doing comedic reporting on Tonightly with Tom Ballard and The Weekly and performing stand up on Just for Laughs Sydney. She has also racked up an impressive amount of writing credits including You’re Skitting Me, The Chaser’s Election Desk, Squinters, Love Me, Yolo Crystal Fantasy and Koala Man. Alongside Angus Thompson she co-created ABC Comedy’s The Angus Project, and with journalist Emma Myers they created SBS Digital Original Latecomers, a groundbreaking disability-led rom-com.

My Queer Career 2025 Finalists

Ballad
Dir. Roe Bonnici
A lonely woman on the Australian frontier has a chance encounter with an injured bushranger. They find an unlikely connection and kinship, until the law comes knocking.

Bathers
Dir. Theresa Roberts
Whilst grieving the loss of her father, Tess discovers herself amongst a community of female surfers.

Die Bully Die
Dir. Nathan Lacey, Nick Lacey
17 years since high school, Max catches up with his former bully in a fancy restaurant where Max’s grudge against Adam begins to manifest in horrific ways.

Hold Still
Dir. Emily Dynes
A tradie and a dancer meet during a lilting summer in a rural town, two young people on the edge of something big.

Joan the Kid
Dir. Kat Silverosa, Grace Hackney
When her detention project comes to life, Jo is taken on a whirlwind trip through history by the not-so-saintly Saint, Joan of Arc.

Oi
Dir. Sophie Serisier
When a turbulent teenage girl undergoes a traumatic experience, she must face her own violent bravado head-on.

Pleasure
Dir. Jasper Caverly
Two teenage boys must split up on a sweaty summer night after they’re caught graffitiing a train in Melbourne’s inner-west, until a moment of unexpected intimacy brings them closer together.

With Love, Lottie
Dir. Lily Drummond
When a disabled teenager fears she will never find love, she enlists her friends as mentors in the unpredictable world of dating – and discovers that love can come in many unexpected ways and forms.