Shortwave x Music in Exile

An evening of new and recent short films, curated in collaboration with Music In Exile – a not-for-profit record label creating equal opportunity for culturally and linguistically diverse musicians in Australia.

Shortwave x Music in Exile will include the premiere of the new Shortwave commission by Fetle Wondimu Nega (Nū) and Kalu Oji (Pasa Faho), and a program of music films from The Resonant Heart, Ausecuma Beats, Maryam Rahmani, Ashkan Shafiei, Mindy Meng Wang, Tim Shiel, Sui Zhen, Jarabi Band and Alcides Neto.

Shortwave is an annual commissioning program from Sydney Opera House, which invites Australian artists to explore their relationship with the screen. Since 2021, Shortwave has commissioned over twenty short films, each centred on the interplay between art, performance and screen, showcasing radical, innovative and experimental approaches to filmmaking.

For the 2026 Shortwave season, Sydney Opera House will collaborate with organisations from across the Australian independent arts sector to both commission films, and to curate special screenings of short films in the Playhouse. Each screening will feature the premiere of a new Shortwave commission alongside a selection of short films, highlighting the ways in which a new breed of Australian artists is reimagining their creative relationship with the screen.

Presented by Sydney Opera House and Music in Exile

Program

• Mirror Flower 镜花水月 by Mindy Meng Wang + Tim Shiel

• Amuleto by Alcides Neto

• The Resonant Heart by Olive Moynihan

• Hunter by Ashkan Shafiei

• Djamana by Jarabi Band

• A BEING, OF COURSE by Fetle Wondimu Nega & Kalu Oji 

• Encanto by Maryam Rahmani 

• Watch My Mum Dance by Mindy Meng Wang & Sui Zhen

• JUTNA: The Making of Gama by Mackenzie Randall