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Micro-Fiction Texts

Introducing the SF3/Spineless Wonders Microlit Film Award

Are you a short filmmaker on the lookout for great plot ideas for our SF3 Mini Category? You are in luck. Publisher, Spineless Wonders has curated a selection of microliterature for a brand new SF3 award. These half-page texts are written by contemporary Australian writers. These fully-rounded narratives are packed with interesting characters and themes. They are mini-stories just waiting for you to turn them into engaging mini-films.  

Each author has given permission for their work to be included in the SF3 awards. The film you create could be an adaptation which sticks closely to the original text or it could draw on aspects of the text as inspiration. The only requirement to use one of the texts is that you include the author and title of their piece in your film’s credits.  For instance, ‘Adapted from…’/ ‘Based on…’ / ‘Inspired by…’. 

If your film is judged best entry in this category, both you and the author will receive a prize generously donated by SF3’s sponsors and the Spineless Wonders Team.

Steps:

  1. Pick a micro-fiction text from the list below.
  2. Adapt it into a screenplay for our Mini Category.
  3. Shoot your film. Remember all films for SF3 Mini must be 3 minutes or less. 
  4. Enter it into our SF3 Mini Category by midnight September 1st, 2023 and be in the running for amazing prizes including our brand new Micro-Fiction Awards. 

“Her text message sounded as the flight to Tokyo skidded a little on the runway before starting to accelerate. They had spent two days discussing their unexpected meeting in her hotel room, and now she said, ‘see you in some future world or time zone’.”

Texts by Paul Hetherington

“‘the wifi exceeded expectations’ 

& now I’m stuck for anything else to say. I’m trying to write this review before checking out, sitting on a bamboo mat on a floor in Yogyakarta.”

I Don’t Normally Leave Reviews for my Airbnb Hosts, but Since They Insisted by Dominic Symes

“I hear it’s sunny in the lounge this time of year. We don slippers and dressing gowns, grab coffee on the way, bask in sofa’s morning glow.”

Resort by Scott-Patrick Mitchell

“We were sipping blue morpho cocktails of rum, lemon, curaçao and maracuya. It was just before the rain season at the edge of Tambopata.” 

Blue Morpho at the Edge of Tambopata by Mube Nalbant

“The pool in Zadar is full of soldiers. Shouts echo off cracked blue tiles, shiver off dry cement. Heartbeats like war-drums, you imagine attack.” 

The Dogs of War Play Frisbee in an Empty Hotel Pool by Danielle Baldock

“Casper’s mum, Marina, was tall and skinny as a mast. Shoulders wide, hips narrow. As she walked, she swayed like a majestic galleon on the waves. Pale hair billowing, canvas sails. Casper and his mum read pirate stories and made sailing ships from wood and string.”

Casper’s Galleon by Dettra Rose

“I thought it was a social media post and I was writing a brief word of encouragement. I didn’t know I was buying a ticket to Vegas. Didn’t know there would be trapeze artists in the hotel foyer or I’d be dancing in tassels at the bar. That down the road, Elvis and Lady Gaga would share the stage.”

COVID Travel by Shady Cosgrove

“Bertie, in seventh place, wondered how his garden and IT servers at home were holding up against irritating bugs.

 First-placed Adam, meanwhile, realised he loved Evelyn. ‘This magnificent prize,’ he announced to disappointed supporters, ‘becomes a punishment if I win.'”

Last Place by Rananda Rich

“April Fool’s Day, 1841. Two dozen Marys, a score of Elizabeths; several Margarets, Sarahs and Janes. They’re part of a consignment of 180 disgraced women drawn from the far reaches of Britain and herded on board the Rajah, bound for Van Diemens Land.”

One Hundred and Eighty by Brenda Proudfoot

“Zeus snapped the reins of the chariot and the horses sped towards Olympus. Zeus felt restored to himself after the unpleasantness with Hera, satisfied with the afternoon’s ravishing. He chuckled.”

See What You Made Zeus Do (Part 1) by Josephine Taylor

“He waited patiently. A butterfly, singular and beatific, lay thumping in his belly. He sighed. Hannibal was late. Texted to say he was picking up a Chianti. Bill had replied with a thumbs up despite knowing he wouldn’t find one at this hour.”

When Hanni Met (Buffalo) Billy by Anne Booty

“Dad’d go bushwalking alone. Mum’d say Everyone should be careful in bad weather. That’s for sure. It was a grey, wet day when he vanished. The police scoured the tracks and gullies. Nothing.”

‘Bad Weather by Rosanna Licari

“I arrived at work to an all-staff email telling us that we had to move offices. It was the second time this year. I hadn’t noticed any water leaks or cracks, but the scaffolding out the front was starting to feel permanent.”

Meat Tower 9 by Sam Elkin

“She doesn’t know what she really wants for Christmas, or any other time really (including what to do with her life in general) yet she’s disappointed when she ends up with a bar of soap for her latest job’s Kris Kringle after she went to so much trouble and spent more (as usual) than the requisite ten dollars.”

Soap by Gayelene Carbis

The submission deadline for the 9th Annual SmartFone Flick Fest is 11:49PM AEST, September 1, 2023.

How to Enter SF3

Enter using our submission form, or if you prefer to pay in US dollars then submit via Film Freeway.

 

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