Are you a passionate filmmaker searching for your next great story? Unforgettable short films begin with a spark. Spineless Wonders invites you to explore a selection of their best micro-fictions to find that spark of inspiration for your entry into the 2025 SmartFone FlickFest. Emerging publisher, Ren Topfer takes a peek behind some of the stories we have on offer, below.
SmartFoneFlickFest – or SF3 – is one of the world’s leading smartphone film festivals. They are open to anyone with a smartphone or tablet and a great idea for a short film. But if you’re struggling to find that great idea, we here at Spineless Wonders might have what you need to get started.
We’ve curated a selection of micro-fictions for aspiring filmmakers to draw inspiration from for entries into the SF3 Mini comp. (There are also some , if you want to enter the .) Each author has given their permission for their work to be included in this year’s SF3 – the only requirement is that you include the author and title of their piece in your film’s credits. The best part is, if your film wins in its category, both you and the author will receive a prize.
Let’s take a look at some of the micro-fictions available for this year’s competition – and meet some of their authors!
anchor | loose ends | outlet by Susan McCreery
Susan McCreery is a writer from Thirroul in New South Wales. Her micro-fiction has been published in numerous Spineless Wonders’ microlit anthologies as well as in the collection, Loopholes (Spineless Wonders, 2016). Her poetry and short fiction have also appeared in Best Australian Poems 2009, Sleepers Almanac, Going Down Swinging, Hecate, Five Bells and Island.
Offering up three pieces of her micro-fiction for adaptation, McCreery’s pieces loose ends, anchor and outlet each capture a unique point of view – a teenage boy out for a run, a man in a café contemplating his recent unemployment, a woman writing a letter to her estranged father – vividly describing the complicated sensations and emotions of the moment. You can find out more about outlet and how it could be adapted in this video below created by emerging publisher, Tiffany Crowden
Killer Night by Jude Bridge
Jude Bridge is a comedian and writer who has been published in The Big Issue, indigo and in a number of anthologies, including some by Spineless Wonders. She has toured with and written for a range of stand-up comedy performers. In 202, her comedic monologue ‘The Joys of Menopause’ was recorded and performed by Baggage Productions.
In Killer Night, Bridge’s startling and funny descriptions (‘She had a scarf over her hair and a body so hot that if you pissed on her, she’d still be steaming in the morning’) leave you wondering if what you’re reading is real or just a joke. Emerging publisher, Lynette Hanlon Nix shares ideas on how to adapt this satirical piece in this video:
The Rock by Bella Li
Bella Li is a Chinese-born Australian poet based in Melbourne. Her poetry has appeared in Meanjin, Cordite and other literary journals, and she is the winner of both the Victorian Premier’s and the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards 2018 for her full-length collection Argosy. Her 2022 collection Theory of Colours was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and the Small Press Network Book of the Year.
In The Rock, Li captures a moment in time in a grocery store, ‘somewhere between the laundry aisle and the junk food section’, evoking the power of ‘90s post-rock bangers and mistaken identities. Emerging publisher, Sarah Tindall shares her thoughts on this fun piece here:
The submission deadline for the 11th Annual SmartFone Flick Fest is 11:49PM AEST, October 1, 2025. Check out the rest of the micro-fiction here and find more info about entering via the 2025 SF3 here. And discover more tips on how to interpret and adapt this year’s microfiction on Spineless Wonders’ Instagram.
Looking to sink your teeth into longer narratives? Check out this post by Cindy Jones on the short stories on offer for the first time this year.
Photo credit: commonslibrary.org