Microwave 2026

Program overview

microWAVE returns in 2026 as a collaboration between UTS Faculty of Design and Society and the Sydney Film Festival, bringing together microbudget filmmaking, creative practice research and industry conversations across UTS and the Festival Hub. The program centres on the forms, aesthetics and practices of microbudget filmmaking internationally and in Australia, and on its capacity to foster new and diverse cinematic voices.  

Across screenings, panels and filmmaker Q&As the program connects filmmakers and audiences in this innovative realm. microWAVE 2026 confronts the shifts in screen culture, from vertical formats to the use of creative AI. Sessions are held at UTS in Ultimo and at the Sydney Film Festival Hub in the Town Hall precinct.

Leads

• Associate Professor Alex Munt 
• Dr Gregory Ferris
• Marcus Eckermann 

UTS campus sessions

Industry session: Vertical Format Screen Stories

Date / time: Thursday 4 June 2026, 2.00 pm–5.00 pm

Venue: CB03.01.005, UTS Bon Marche Studio, 755 Harris Street, Ultimo

Lead: Dr Gregory Ferris, UTS

A hands-on industry workshop exploring vertical-format storytelling and production using mobile devices. Designed for practitioners and students interested in new screen formats, the session is a practical workshop-based activity.

As vertical streaming platforms like DramaBox and iQIYI have pioneered dedicated vertical content, the cinematic frame has evolved. Once a social media construct, the vertical frame has evolved into a filmic language specific to the mobile experience. This workshop transforms smartphones into professional cine-studios. Designed for students and emerging filmmakers, the session introduces the technical and creative tropes of portrait storytelling using mobile devices, moving beyond auto settings while discussing their limitations. Participants will bridge the gap between traditional cinematic craft and the mobile-centric.

Workshop industry technology sponsor – RODE

Get tickets for Vertical Format Screen Stories

Creative Practice Pedagogy, Faculty of Design & Society

 
Date/time: Friday 5 June 2026, 10.00am–1.00pm

Location: CB02 04A Foyer (Broadway Screen)

Keynote Address:  Professor Neil Fox, Sound/Image Cinema Lab, Falmouth University, UK

FDS special guests

• Dean Professor James Bennett
• Associate Dean, Teaching & Learning, Professor Alexandra Crosby

FDS creative practices panel

• Moderator: Dr Gregory Ferris
• Associate Professor Mohammed Makki (Architecture)
• Dr Cecilia Heffer (Fashion)
• Diamond Tat (Screen)
• Dr Andrew Pippos (Creative Writing)

A professional development and teaching-and-learning event focused on creative practice pedagogy. The session features an international keynote by Professor Neil Fox (Sound/Image Cinema Lab, Falmouth University), followed by a Q&A and a panel on the pedagogy of the diversity of creative practice teaching within the faculty. 

Program

10.00am – Welcome & introductions (MC: Associate Professor Alex Munt). Introduction by Dean, Professor James Bennett

10.15am – Keynote: Professor Neil Fox (UK) ‘So many vibrations: Varda, Cassavetes and the communal spirit of the Sound/Image Cinema Lab’. The Sound/Image Cinema Lab is a multifaceted teaching, research and film practice lab that acts as a partner, resource and funder for Cornish and UK independent cinema across forms and genres.

11.00am – Q&A

11.15am – Morning tea

11.30am – Creative Practice Professional Development Panel | Creative Practice Pedagogy Panel, Faculty of Design and Society

12.30pm – Q&A

1.00pm - Lunch

Get tickets for Creative Practice Pedagogy

Creative Screen: Through a First Nation Lens 

Date/time: Friday 5 June 2026, 2.00pm–3.00 pm

Location: CB02 04A Foyer (Broadway Screen)

Special guests

• Moderator: Professor Rachel Landers
• Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt, Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research
• Filmmaker Pauline Clague
• Professor Jason De Santolo, Associate Dean (Indigenous Research)

A panel on filmmaking and moving image production through the lens of creative and industry screen practice at UTS.  

Get tickets for Creative Screen: Through a First Nation Lens

Microbudget Now!

Date / time: Friday 5 June 2026, 3.00 pm–4.00 pm

Location: CB02 04A Foyer (Broadway Screen)

UTS guests

• Dr Gregory Ferris
• Associate Professor Alex Munt

This session traces the pioneering microWAVE symposia's influence and relevance to today's microbudget screenscape. We revisit 2011 and 2013, when mumblecore filmmakers, like Joe Swanberg and Andrew Bujalski, combined DIY energy with DSLRs and crowdfunding models of production. This focus shifted from making do with small budgets to leading with hacked tech, emphasising story and sustainable, gatekeeper-free distribution. Join us to share your experiences and spark ideas in a conversation about microbudget, DIY, indie, and emerging cinema forms.

Get tickets for Microbudget Now!

microWAVE 2026: Social Mixer

Date / time: Friday 5 June 2026, 4.30 pm to 6.00 pm
Location: Abercrombie Hotel, 100 Broadway, Chippendale NSW 2008

SFF Hub sessions

Date / time: Saturday 6 June 2026, from 10.30 am

Rose of Nevada: “I’ve got the whole film in my head”: Scale, ambition and staying true to your roots with filmmaker Mark Jenkin

Date / time: Saturday 6 June 2026, 10.30 am (Guests meet at 10am)

Venue: Sydney Film Festival Hub (Town Hall precinct)

Format: Q&A hosted by Neil Fox (EP on Rose of Nevada)

A conversation with filmmaker Mark Jenkin around Rose of Nevada, exploring scale, ambition and microbudget decision-making — and how to stay true to a distinctive voice under production constraints. Hosted by Neil Fox (EP on Rose of Nevada).

Creative AI for Budget Filmmakers

Date / time: Saturday 6 June 2026, 11.30am

Venue: Sydney Film Festival Hub (Town Hall precinct)

Panel: Chris Ebeling (EPIC Games),  Sandy Cameron (Adelaide University), MEAA A discussion focused on AI and budget filmmaking practices, seeking workable angles for filmmakers and educators at a moment of rapid change. A panel including filmmakers, educators and industry on emerging practice perspectives, in film and animation. 

Microbudget Filmmaking – Aesthetics of the Possible

Date / time: Saturday 6 June 2026, 12.30

Venue: Sydney Film Festival Hub (Town Hall precinct)

Host: Jason Di Rosso (The Screen Show, ABC RN)

A filmmaker panel hosted by Jason Di Rosso examining microbudget filmmaking as an aesthetic and practical proposition: what becomes possible when constraints shape form, collaboration and ambition. 

Panel: Hyun Lee (French Girls, SFF 2026), Anthony Frith (Mockbuster AFF, 2025), Christian Byers (Death of an Undertaker, SFF 2024)

microWAVE 2026 drinks (mixer)

Date / time: Saturday 6 June 2026, 4pm 

Venue: Sydney Film Festival Hub

Networking gathering for speakers, filmmakers, industry guests and attendees, following the Hub sessions.