Shortlisted Finalists

The 2025 Shortlisted Finalists Are:

OVATION
By Oliver English and Tom Bizzell, Australia

OVATION is the dawn of a new era in performance – a transformative suite of creative Al tools designed for both the stage and the rehearsal room. From live performance engines to script analysis tools, OVATION transforms the artistic process at every stage. By responsively injecting light, sound, imagery and instruction in real time, it forges an electrifying bond between human impulse and algorithmic response – making each show a singular, unrepeatable event, pulsing with risk, presence, and artistic electricity. Combining their backgrounds in the arts and software, Oliver English and Tom Bizzell put forward a living dialogue between human instinct and digital imagination. OVATION redefines what theatre, movement and storytelling can become in the age of intelligent creation.

Flow Through the Eternal Realm
By Supawich Weesapen and Kanokwan Sutthang, Thailand

Inspired by the feeling of using “free energy” while interacting with AI and the massive water usage of AI data centres, this project aims to explore the relationship between AI data centres, cooling system water, and natural water sources by blending facts, abstraction, and human belief. We will create an installation that presents water’s coexistence with the eternal cybernetic realm and the impermanence amidst eternity through ambient sound, interactive mechanism, natural phenomena, and temperature, inviting the audience to explore the connection between nature, technology, abstraction, and themselves as they merge into one atmosphere in the exhibition.

The Virtual Architecture of Empathy: Rohan
By Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson, Australia

Can the power of art be a tool to harness empathy? Does it require one to physically be in the realm? Do we need to ‘exercise’ the act of witnessing in order to fully comprehend the meaning of displacement? The Virtual Architecture of Empathy: Rohan explores the empathic power of immersive cine-theatre, fusing performance, and living memory into a story you don’t simply watch – you carry it, shape it and are changed by it. Audiences traverse across two expansive worlds, shifting from passive bystanders to active authors. We realise one cannot exist without the other. It reimagines empathy not as an after effect, but as the architecture of the entire experience.

Retreat Corporate
By Vishesh Kalra, Australia

Imagine Harry Potter’s “Room of Requirement” for the rat-race. Imagine stepping away from the corporate jargon, the co-worker chuckles, and being able to reconnect with yourself at any time of the working day.  Retreat Corporate provides those disconnected from their creative self, who view the arts as a ‘hobby’ or ‘misguided passion’, to participate in an interactive installation that shows how art is deeply personal and communicated every day in countless ways. 

Promise (Best Of)
By Kalu Oji, Australia

A docu-fiction experiment that blurs the lines between truth and fiction. Framed as a series of ‘unearthed’ recordings, this project presents a fragmented portrait of contemporary Australia through a mix of fabricated conversations and authentic cultural reflections. It takes the language of traditional documentary – its aesthetic, structure, and tone – but twists it into a hybrid form that reflects our modern media landscape where truth and performance are increasingly indistinguishable. 

The Next Stage in Character Costume Mask Technology
By Daniel MacKenzie, Singapore

A development in the technology for controlling facial expressions on worn character costumes which would allow the freeing of the costumed actor from any external control of their character’s facial expressions. Whether from puppeteers or from limited hand controls in their suits, the masks would be developed to read the performer’s facial expressions and directly mimic them on the character mask, regardless of the size of the mask, allowing for an engaging, escapist performance with the spontaneity of the actor being allowed to react and engage with an audience naturally.

Meet the Judging Panel

Sarah Christie

Sarah is the Head of Australian Originals at Amazon MGM Studios, where she oversees all creative aspects of development, production and post-production across the originals slate. At Amazon, Sarah has worked across Class of ’07, Deadloch, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, The Office and the upcoming series Narrow Road to the Deep North, Top End Bub and Deadloch 2.

Kris Nelson

Following a six-and-a-half year stint as Artistic Director and CEO at the prestigious London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT) and over a decade spent living and working in the UK and Ireland, Kris Nelson has relocated to Sydney and will deliver his first program as Sydney Festival Director in January 2026.

Kyas Hepworth

As the Head of Screen NSW, Kyas spearheads the state’s film and production strategy and advances NSW’s position both in digital games and as one of the leading national and international screen and post-production destinations. Kyas leads a dedicated team to deliver innovative funding programs, services and initiatives that champion storytellers and creative workers in the screen and digital games industry.

Jason Phu

Jason is an artist working across a wide range of mediums including painting, robotics, animation and performance. His work references folk tales, family history and funny jokes. In 2023, he presented an operatic choir of robotic toys at Dark Mofo and in 2021 he was awarded the Mordant Family Moving Image Commission and created a feature length montage film for ACMI.