The first full-length animated feature film made in South Australia, Lesbian Space Princess is the only Australian feature film announced to date for the Berlinale in 2025, one of the “big five” annual international film festivals alongside Venice, Cannes, TIFF and Sundance.
Lesbian Space Princess is the second feature film to come out of the Film Lab: New Voices program, a low budget feature film initiative from the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC), Adelaide Film Festival (AFF) and Screen Australia designed to elevate the next generation of diverse and exciting South Australian filmmakers.
The film has been selected for Berlinale’s Panorama section, a program strand celebrating “daring, unconventional and wild” international cinema. Lesbian Space Princess will be eligible for the Panorama Audience Award for most popular feature film, judged by the festival’s largest audience jury, as well as the Berlinale Teddy Award for LGTBQIA+ film.
The Berlinale program selection for Lesbian Space Princess is the latest international festival honour for SA’s screen sector, following last week’s announcement of SAFC supported South Australian film Jimpa, which was also supported by the AFF Investment Fund, and SAFC supported series Never Get Busted! both being selected to premiere at the prestigious 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
Lesbian Space Princess also follows in the recent footsteps of acclaimed and award-winning SA made and SAFC supported films selected for the Berlinale in 2023: Talk to Me from SA’s Danny and Michael Philippou; Ivan Sen’s Limbo; The Survival of Kindness from director Rolf de Heer and SA producer Julie Byrne, which won the FIPRESCI Jury Prize; and Marungka Tjalatjunu (Dipped in Black) from SA director Derik Lynch, co-directed, co-written and produced by Matthew Thorne of Other Pictures and produced by Patrick Graham and Executive Produced by Duncan Graham of Switch Productions, which won both the Silver Bear Jury Prize and the Teddy Award for short film.
Co-funded by the SAFC, AFF and Screen Australia, Film Lab: New Voices offers three South Australian filmmaking teams the chance to develop their first low-budget feature film script through a 12-month skills development program. At the end of the development phase, one team is selected to receive $600,000 in screen production grant funding, with their film to be presented at the Adelaide Film Festival.
The program has proven to be a successful career-accelerator since it was launched in 2021. The first film greenlit for production, sci-fi Monolith, had its international premiere in official selection at the renowned SXSW (South by Southwest) Festival in Austin, Texas in 2023 following its world premiere at Adelaide Film Festival in 2022, and was later released in cinemas in Australia and the US, internationally positioning writer Lucy Campbell, director Matt Vesely and producer Bettina Hamilton as exciting talent to watch. Film Lab: New Voices is now in its third year, with a new crop of three filmmaking teams currently developing their projects to be considered for selection to move into production for AFF 2026.
Lesbian Space Princess wowed critics and crowds alike at the 2024 Adelaide Film Festival in October, where it enjoyed four sold-out “work in progress” preview screenings and won the Audience Award for Feature Fiction.
Arts Minister Andrea Michaels MP said: “Congratulations to the team behind Lesbian Space Princess for being selected to have their world premiere at Berlinale. The directors met with the team from Berlinale at the ‘Made in SA’ showcase at the Cannes Film Festival, supported by the State Government, and it is an incredible achievement to have it screened in front of tens of thousands of people on the world stage. Berlinale is one of the largest public film festivals in the world and such an accolade speaks volumes about the talent we have here in South Australia. Our government will continue to help create opportunities for our remarkable screen industry.”
Lesbian Space Princess writer/directors Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese and producer Tom Phillips said: “We are over the moon that Lesbian Space Princess is heading to Berlinale! We are extremely grateful to the Film Lab: New Voices initiative—this film would not exist without the South Australian Film Corporation and the support of Adelaide Film Festival and Screen Australia. Our small, amazing local team and cast poured so much love and hard work into this project. Having it shown on an international stage at a festival we could only have dreamed of being part of is truly incredible.”
SAFC Head of Production and Development Leanne Saunders said: “We are thrilled to see such significant international recognition for Lesbian Space Princess, the latest exciting film to come out of the Film Lab: New Voices program. Film Lab: New Voices is just one of the ways in which the South Australian Film Corporation is working to grow the capability and diversity of the South Australian screen sector, through boosting and upskilling innovative new filmmaking talent.
“Following the incredible international success of the program’s inaugural film Monolith, we are delighted that this initiative is continuing to demonstrate its strength as a career-launching program. I congratulate South Australian writers and directors Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese and producer Tom Phillips and the entire team on this prestigious honour.”
CEO and Creative Director of the Adelaide Film Festival Mat Kesting said: “Adelaide Film Festival (AFF) is thrilled to see the elevation of new voices in cinema and Lesbian Space Princess is a terrific example of the extraordinary creative talent that exists in South Australia. We are certain Berlin audiences, including market buyers and investors, will be enamoured with this witty, highly creative, and distinctive film as were the audiences at AFF2024 where it was awarded the festival’s Audience Prize.
“The international premiere at the A-list Berlinale film festival is career defining recognition for co-directors Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese, and producer Tom Phillips alongside of all of their talented collaborators. They join other debut teams supported through the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund who, over the last decade, presented their work at the Berlinale – most notably the teams behind 2014’s 52 Tuesdays (dir. Sophie Hyde) and 2022’s Talk to Me (dirs. Danny and Michael Philippou).”
Screen Australia Director of Narrative Content Louise Gough: said “We’re thrilled to see Lesbian Space Princess selected for Berlinale, a reflection of the creativity and innovation emerging from the Australian screen sector. This animated feature, developed through the South Australian Film Corporation Film Lab: New Voices program with Adelaide Film Festival, is an exciting example of how we are nurturing fresh, diverse voices in storytelling. Congratulations to Emma, Leela, Tom and all cast and crew. We are incredibly proud to support projects that push boundaries and capture global attention, and Lesbian Space Princess is a fantastic showcase of what Australian talent can achieve on the world stage.”
Production credit: Lesbian Space Princess is a We Made a Thing Studios Production. Principal production funding from Screen Australia and the South Australian Film Corporation in association with the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund.
