Director Stephen Kararis has taken out top prize in the Greek Australian Film Festival Australian Shorts with his short film, Maiden.

Set in 1970s Brisbane, the film looks at a Greek greyhound trainer, Mick (Russel Dykstra), desperate to give his family a better life.

The film was one of ten shortlisted for the Shorts Australian selection, and was awarded $1000.

Judges George Donikian, Dora Kitinas-Gogos, Ange Arabatzis, Olivia Nikou, George Makris, Odette Joannidis and Paul Capsis felt the movie spoke to the heart of Greek Australian cinema, and selected it above the rest.

In his acceptance speech read by Shorts curatorial member, Katerina Kotsonis, Mr Kararis said the film was a labour of love and was developed on a very small budget.

Ms Kotsonis said she was amazed at this year’s selection of films saying she was “impressed at both the number and the quality of films” that were submitted. All films showed a diverse Australia, with wide ranging themes to love, death, music and poetry.

One of the crowd’s favourite was By This River by Melissa Anastasi, that melded ancient mythology and the Australian outback. The story focused on family mourning the loss of their mother.

Another was Who is He? directed by Costa Athanasiou that followed the story of a Greek Australian family dealing with their son’s disability.

The Short Film Festival continues this weekend, with the International Shorts Session being held in Melbourne on Saturday October 25, at Palace Cinema Como at 4pm.

Full list of International Shorts to be screened: A Single Body (French/Australian) directed by Sotiris Dounoukos, Man in a Box (Greece) by Elias Papastamatiou, Anna (Cyprus) by Spiros Charalambous, The Immortalizer (Cyprus) by Marios Piperides, Nicoleta (Greece/UK) by Sonia Liza Kenterman, Afterwardness (Greece/UK) by Rafika Chawishe, 5 Ways to Die (Greece) by Daina Papadaki, and Percephone (USA) by Louis Mandylor.

Full list of Australian Shorts finalists:
Shabd directed by Tony Nikolakopoulos, ROR by Natalie Cunningham, Let Go by Colin Budds, Maiden by Stephen Kanaris, Allure by Christopher Kezelos, By This River by Melissa Anastasi, Who is He? by Costa Athanasiou, Love According to Wogs directed by Koraly Dimitriadis and Nathan Little, Dope to Dalai Lama by Jason Raftopoulos and Two Devils by Jonathan auf der Heide.

For more information, visit http://greekfilmfestival.com.au/