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SA made films in the spotlight at Adelaide Film Festival 2026
16 September 2026
South Australia is set to shine on screen once more at this year’s Adelaide Film Festival (AFF), with the newly unveiled 2026 program featuring a huge selection of South Australian made films, including 10 SAFC supported feature films and nine shorts.
The festival’s 2026 program, which was revealed at a special launch event last night at the Capri Theatre, showcases an exciting array of outstanding SA made and SAFC supported productions across feature films, documentaries and shorts.
Closing Night Gala – Hell Has No Fire Escape
AFF’s Closing Night Gala will be the world premiere of Hell Has No Fire Escape, co-directed and co-written by Georgina Savage and SA’s Matthew Bate, and produced by SA’s Rebecca Summerton, Bate and Sorcha Baron.
This compelling feature documentary follows 63-year-old widow Pastor Ina Dry, who has inherited her late husband’s evangelical rehabilitation centre deep in the South African desert. But while attempting to heal people struggling with addiction, Ina yearns for a new life and the possibility of love, drifting away from God and towards TikTok, fantasy television and an online romance with a man posing as Jason Momoa. Can she save the failing rehab while pursuing her own desires?
Supported through the SAFC’s SA PDV Rebate, and by the AFF Investment Fund (AFFIF), Hell Has No Fire Escape is edited by SA’s Emma McGavisk and features post sound delivered by Adelaide Studios-based Artisan Post Group.
Tickets are on sale now — book here.
30 years of Shine
The SAFC is proud to co-present this special AFF presentation of Shine, celebrating the 30th anniversary of one of South Australia’s most iconic and renowned films.
Directed and co-written by SA’s Scott Hicks and starring Geoffrey Rush and Noah Taylor, the film tells the extraordinary story of pianist David Helfgott, tracing his remarkable journey from a gifted young musician and troubled relationship with his father to his triumphant return to the concert stage.
Supported by the SAFC and filmed in Adelaide, Shine was an international box office sensation on its release in 1996 and earned global critical acclaim. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including two for Hicks for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay (shared with Jan Sardi), with Rush winning the Best Actor Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA and AFI Award. Shine was also nominated for 11 other AFI Awards, winning nine including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay.
This special anniversary presentation will see the premiere of the film’s new 4K restoration, with concert pianist Simon Tedeschi AM – who played young Helfgott’s hand double in the film – performing a pre-screening piano recital.
Tickets are on sale now — book here.
Also marking the 30th anniversary is the release of Hicks’ new book SHINE: Persistence of Vision, documenting the 10 years it took to bring the film to life. Celebrate the book’s launch with a special In Conversation with Hicks, hosted by ABC’s Deb Tribe on 21 October at the Mercury. Register for free at themercury.org.au
Lucrum leaves the Lab
Don’t miss the world premiere of Lucrum, the feature film debut of SA filmmaking team writer Piri Eddy and Yankunytjatjara writer Pearl Berry, Yankunytjatjara producer Lilla Berry, and director Johanis Lyons-Reid.
The haunting folk horror is the third film to come out of the Film Lab: New Voices feature film development program co-funded by the SAFC, AFF and Screen Australia, elevating new SA filmmaking talent. Lucrum (formerly titled The Debt) is also breaking ground as the first feature film to be made by a South Australian First Nations led creative team with major state government support.
With an all-Australian cast led by Sophie Lowe, Tahlia Sturzaker and Nathan Page, the film follows June (Sturzacker), a young girl who is adopted by Anna (Lowe), a renowned pianist living on a sprawling estate. But this place harbours secrets, and June soon discovers she’s merely a pawn in a deadly covenant.
Tickets are on sale now — book here.
KUMARANGK tells untold stories
Combining new interviews with archival footage from the 1980s and 1990s, the world premiere of this extraordinary new South Australian documentary charts the story of the Ngarrindjeri women’s decade-long fight against the desecration of sacred sites on Hindmarsh Island.
From Ngarrindjeri/Wotjobaluk director Tracey Rigney and SA producers Ngarrindjeri man Josh Trevorrow and Carolyn Johnson, KUMARANGK: Sacred Women’s Business is produced by Country Arts SA with funding from the SAFC and the AFFIF.
Tickets are on sale now — book here.
Aftermath reckons with truth
SA director Jared Nicholson blurs the line between filmmaker and subject in the world premiere of Aftermath. When Jared meets Port Arthur massacre survivor Wendy Scurr, the two fall down a rabbit hole of conspiracy and paranoia in a desperate search for the truth.
Produced by SA’s Scott Baskett of Run Wild Productions and supported by both the SAFC and the AFFIF, this feature documentary delves into one of Australia’s darkest days.
Tickets are on sale now — book here.
The Fox returns
Following its world premiere at AFF 2025 and international premiere at SXSW 2026, SA writer/director Dario Russo‘s debut feature film The Fox is back for another round of screenings on the AFF program ahead of its official Australian cinema release.
Featuring an all-star cast headed by Jai Courtney and Emily Browning, with the voices of Olivia Colman and the late Sam Neill in one of his last performances, The Fox is a darkly comedic folktale about an ordinary bloke and the fox who offers to solve all his problems.
Produced by frequent SA collaborators Sam Jennings and Kristina Ceyton of Causeway Films and SA producer Carly Maple, the SAFC and AFFIF supported film has had a whirlwind year of festival screenings and awards, including the Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature at Calgary Underground Film Festival, the Audience Award for Best Australian Feature at SFF and Best Australian Director Award at MIFF. Don’t miss this one!
Tickets are on sale now — book here.
Ruby, Ruby – a haunting tale
The world premiere of SA writer/director Ursula Dabrowsky’s latest horror promises a thrilling fight for survival.
Filmed in the Adelaide Hills last year with support from the SAFC in association with Headgear Films and SA’s Arterial Films, Ruby Ruby marks the fourth horror project for Dabrowsky, a pseudonym of Barossa Valley screenwriter, director and producer Sue Brown.
Sarah Jeavons (The Shadows of Trust, Smashed) and SA’s Luca Sardelis (RFDS, The Hunting) star as Ollie and Hannah, two friends who awaken a deadly curse when they find themselves trapped in a haunted cemetery with a malicious predator, thrusting them into a nightmarish battle for survival against evils, both supernatural and human. The film is inspired by the SA urban legend of 18-year-old Ruby Bland, who died in 1909 in Kapunda – with claims her ghost haunts the town’s St John’s Cemetery.
Tickets are on sale now — book here.
It’s All Going Very Well for Tilda
The moving feature directorial debut of SA actor and filmmaker Tilda Cobham-Hervey, It’s All Going Very Well… is an exploration of grief, connection and creativity.
Made in Adelaide with both development and production funding from the SAFC, and with support from the AFFIF, the film sees Cobham-Hervey write, direct and star as Audrey, a young artist teetering on the edge of a quiet collapse, who finds solace and understanding through a profound connection with Harold (Jonathan Pryce), an elderly resident at the care home where she works.
Cobham-Hervey also produces, alongside Liam Heyen (Jimpa, Latecomers), Dev Patel (Lion, Monkey Man) and Jomon Thomas (Hotel Mumbai, Monkey Man).
The film will have its premiere in March 2027 as part of the Adelaide Festival program, in partnership with AFF.
Tickets are on sale now — book here.
SA’s post scene on screen
South Australia is an internationally renowned centre for PDV – visual effects and post-production – with Adelaide-based companies working on some of the world’s biggest screen productions across film and TV, supported by the SAFC’s 10 per cent SA PDV Rebate.
The SAFC is proud to have enabled South Australian post and visual effects work on a number of films on this year’s AFF program, showcasing the state’s world-class PDV sector, including:
- Pressure – the latest film from SA director Anthony Maras, Pressure stars Brendan Fraser and Andrew Scott in a WWII drama exploring the role weather played in the Invasion of Normandy. PDV was completed in South Australia by Artisan Post Group and Studio 508. Book tickets here
- Wicker – following its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival and fresh off a sold-out run at MIFF, this off-kilter romance has everyone talking! Starring Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård, Wicker is written and directed by Adelaide-born and raised Eleanor Wilson and Alex Huston Fischer and features PDV work from SA’s KOJO and Studio 508. Book tickets here
- Hell Has No Fire Escape – AFF’s closing night gala from co-directors Georgina Savage and SA’s Matthew Bate features post sound delivered by Adelaide Studios-based Artisan Post Group. Book tickets here
- The Fox – Dario Russo’s award-winning black comedy features PDV work from SA’s KOJO and Studio 508. Book tickets here
Made in SA shorts showcase
The Made in SA shorts showcase features six short films from exciting South Australian filmmakers, including two supported through the Mercury’s 2025 Quicksilver intake, funded by the SAFC:
- Shadowland — director Kaius Potter
- Delia — writer/director/producer Madeleine Parry, producers Essie Randles and James Ward
- The Magpie — writer/director Jarrah Murphy, producer Jack Langford
- Ananab Ananab — writer/director Emily Steel, producer Rebecca Elliot (Quicksilver short)
- Forget Me, Not — writer/director Tamara Hardman, writer Sophie Morgan, producer Sarah Wormald (Quicksilver short)
- Wet Feathers — writer/director Bryce Kraehenbuehl, producer André Donadio
Tickets for Made in SA are on sale now, with two dates to choose from.
Other SA made shorts in the program include Lost in the Water from SA filmmaker Allison Chhorn, screening as part of the World Shorts showcase; Eternals and Returns also from Allison Chhorn, screening as part of Super 8 & 16 Experimental Shorts; and SCUM ’87 from SA writer/director Gabriel Bath, which screens before feature film Chronovisor.
More SA program highlights
Also on AFF’s packed 2026 program you’ll find a range of talks and Q&A sessions including:
- Extended Q&A with the team behind Kumarangk: Sacred Women’s Business – following the October 17 screening
- Documentary Talk: Filming Up Close — panel includes SA director Jared Nicholson
- Screen Industry Breakfast – We Interrupt This Broadcast: Big Ideas Forum live at AFF – hosted by SA producer and industry leader Kirsty Stark
And of course, the program also features a huge range of exciting new films from around Australia and the world!
The Adelaide Film Festival runs from 14 to 25 October, 2026. Tickets to all sessions are on sale now — go to adelaidefilmfestival.org for more information.
The SAFC is proud to be Industry Partner of the Adelaide Film Festival 2026.