A dynamic slate of South Australian short films is moving into production, backed by more than $150,000 in Mercury Quicksilver Production Funding from SAFC.
WHAT’S HAPPENING
News & Events
17 December 2025
After a highly competitive submissions round, six original short films from 14 diverse South Australian screen creatives have been chosen to go into production through The Mercury’s Quicksilver Production Fund. The selected teams will share in $157,500 in funding plus professional mentoring support.
Funded by the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC), the Quicksilver Production Fund supports emerging and early‑career South Australian talent by enabling them to produce a short film and access mentoring, script development, production support, filmmaking equipment, and post‑production facilities.
This year, Country Arts SA via the Country Arts Foundation added support, expanding opportunities for regional filmmakers and First Nations creators.
The Quicksilver initiative has a strong track record of fostering local talent and bringing South Australian stories to audiences across Australia and beyond.
Notable projects and achievements among Quicksilver alumni include:
- I’m the Most Racist Person I Know (writer/director Leela Varghese; producer Suriyna Sivashanker), which premiered at SXSW in Austin, won the Special Jury Award, and has since collected numerous awards including the 2025 South Australian Screen Awards Grand Jury Prize and Best in Show at the Boston LGBT Film Festival; it’s also been nominated for a 2026 AACTA Award for Best Short Film.
- Dragon’s Breath (writer/director Melanie Easton; producers Lisa Bishop, Poppy Fitzpatrick) won the 2025 AWGIE Award for short film and was selected for Flickerfest.
- Finding Jia (writer/director Alice Yang; producer Maisie Fabry) was officially selected for SXSW Sydney and won the Flinders University Short Film prize and the Audience Award at the 2024 Adelaide Film Festival.
The 2025 Quicksilver slate spans a wide range of genres and styles, including a genre‑blending theatre piece adapted for the screen, a live‑action First Nations adventure‑fantasy set 60,000 years in the past, and a moving observational documentary that examines the migrant experience through an entirely new lens—hoarding.
The six selected teams for 2025 include two projects led by majority First Nations creatives: Battle of the Ancestors, from writer/director Natasha Wanganeen and producer Isaac Coen Lindsay; and Vermin, from writer/director Travis Akbar and producers Sierra Schrader and Travis Akbar.
Other recipients include Alice Yang (the writer/director of Finding Jia, which was part of the 2024 Adelaide Film Festival lineup) with the documentary One Man’s Treasure (producer Stephen de Villiers), and 2025 Hanlon Larsen Screen Fellowship recipient Hannah Moore with Hera.
The Mercury’s CEO, Sarah Lancaster, said: “We’re proud to back an impressive lineup that showcases bold imagination and stands out in the competitive world of short filmmaking. These works continue the national and international success of projects supported by the Quicksilver Production Fund. We’re thrilled to champion such talented teams and dynamic collaborations, delivering compelling stories that entertain, challenge, and offer truly original experiences. We’re also grateful to the SAFC for their ongoing support of The Mercury and for creating essential opportunities for emerging talent to break into the industry.”
SAFC CEO Kate Crosser added: “The SAFC is proud to nurture the growth of emerging South Australian screen creators through our partnership with The Mercury and the Quicksilver program. Initiatives like Quicksilver are vital for developing the next generation of South Australian storytellers, giving platforms to fresh voices and fostering collaboration among talent from diverse backgrounds. Congratulations to all the creative teams chosen.”
Quicksilver Production Funding Recipients
Astro Gato
- Producers: Manuel Ashman and Justina Ashman
- Director: Reginald Ashman
- Writers: Reginald Ashman and Manuel Ashman
- Logline: When an incoming asteroid threatens all life on Earth, only a street‑racing cat has the skills to save the planet.
Hera
- Producer: Jarrah Murphy
- Writer/Director: Hannah Moore
- Logline: A woman chainsaws a fallen tree in the South Australian bush as she has countless times before, except this time she chainsaws her own hand, off at the wrist.
One Man’s Treasure
- Producer: Stephen de Villiers
- Writer/Director: Alice Yang
- Logline: A Chinese migrant’s dream of a better life is challenged by the burden of what he cannot throw away.
The Fish Rots from the Head
- Producers: Alex O’Neil and Nick Muecke
- Writer: Luca Sardelis
- Director: Nick Muecke
- Logline: Six days before her parents return from holiday, Eugenia discovers she has negligently killed their beloved pet fish. She tries to explain why things turned out the way they did.
First Nations and Regional Grants
Battle of the Ancestors
- Producers: Natasha Wanganeen and Isaac Coen Lindsay
- Writer/Director: Natasha Wanganeen
- Logline: Two Aboriginal sisters, separated for decades to protect their people, reunite for a mythic journey across ancient Australia, where they must harness celestial origins and ancestral knowledge to confront a dark force threatening their culture, family, and land.
Vermin
- Producers: Sierra Schrader and Travis Akbar
- Writer/Director: Travis Akbar
- Logline: Aboriginal ranger Jarrah ventures deep into remote Country to check motion cameras, only to uncover footage of a murder and then confront a deadly killer, forcing a fight for survival.
