UNDER THE WATER
Short film | Aus | 2023 | 10'21“ | Colour | Dolby Atmos (and 5.1) | English
In a quiet coastal town, eleven-year-old Olivia faces constant misogynistic harassment from the boys and men around her. She finds solace in an old picture book; a tale of sirens who rise from the crashing waves to fight back against their captors. As strange signs draw her toward the sea, she follows a spectral woman into the depths. What begins as a retreat into fantasy becomes a radical act of reclamation, as Olivia emerges with a voice sharpened by rage and ancient power.
SCREENINGS
Official Selection, Lytham Film Festival, 2025
Official Selection, Valkyrie Film Festival, 2025 (Nomination: Best Fantasy Film)
Official Selection, Sunrise Film Festival, 2025
Official Selection, Setting Sun Film Festival, 2025 (Winner: Best Film By A Female Director)
Official Selection, Female Voices Rock Film Festival, 2025
Official Selection, Sydney Women’s International Film Festival, 2025 (Nomination: Best Student Film)
Official Selection, Vierte Welle Film Festival, 2025
Official Selection, Wench Film Festival, 2025
Official Selection, Dunedin International Film Festival, 2025
Official Selection, Chicago Women’s Film Fest, 2024
Official Selection, Milan Indie Film Festival, 2024
Official Selection, Women in Film and Television, Cyprus, 2024
Official Selection, Australia Independent Film Festival, 2024 (Nomination: Best Student Film)
Official Selection, The Bay International Film Festival, 2024 (Winner: Best Student Film, nomination: Best Music)
Official Selection, Cyprus International Film Festival, 2024
Official Selection, Atlanta Women’s Film Festival, 2024 (Nomination: Best Cinematography)
Official Selection, Los Angeles Women in Film Festival, 2024
Official Selection, Toronto International Women Film Festival, 2024
Official Selection, Montreal Women Film Festival, 2024
Official Selection, Flickerfest 33rd International Short Film Festival, 2024 (Premiere)
Semi-Finalist, Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, 2023
AWARDS
Winner: Best Film By A Female Director, Setting Sun Film Festival, 2025
Nomination: Best Fantasy Film, Valkyrie Film Festival, 2025
Nomination: Best Student Film, Australian Directors Guild Awards, 2024
Winner: Best Student Film, Nomination: Best Music, The Bay International Film Festival, 2024
Winner: Best Student Film, Chicago Women Film Fest, 2024
Nomination: Best Cinematography, Atlanta Women’s Film Festival, 2024
Nomination: Best Student Film, Australia Independent Film Festival, 2024
Nomination: Best Student Film, Toronto International Women Film Festival, 2024
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
UNDER THE WATER is a strange tale focused on the exploration of female empowerment. When an eleven-year-old girl is confronted with misogynistic taunts and violence from the boys in her town, a series of strange happenings lead to her revisit a storybook about the sirens of the sea. Inspired by these creatures, she finds the power in herself to push back.
Through the making of this film, I wanted focus on an important contemporary issue - violence against women. Our society is rife with learned assumptions and habits that are normalised; cat-calling, stalking and aggression, for example. In 2025 we have seen terrifying evidence that violence against women is still an issue globally. With the film as a transformative force for social change, my creative process was guided by a desire to provoke reflection and resonance; I wanted focus on the types of behaviours that have been normalised within my own experience, in the hope that it may ring true for others.
The film is intended as a lyrical exploration of the insidious undercurrent of misogyny that many women are faced with in everyday life. The work is framed through a series of interactions between a young girl and men of different ages. Fascinated by the power of myths to conceal the horrors of the real world through metaphor, I drew on the symbolism of the sirens to reflect our protagonist’s own journey to empowerment.
We worked with a diverse team to bring UNDER THE WATER to life. 51% of the cast and crew identified as female, non-binary or gender diverse. Many of our team members identified as part of the LGBTQIA+ community also.
UNDER THE WATER premiered at the Flickerfest 33rd International Film Festival in January 2024, selected from 3400 entries. It has gone on to screen at more than twenty film festivals. It was nominated for Best Student Film by Australian Director's Guild in 2024, and won Best Student Film at the Bay International Film Festival in 2024.
Isabella Andronos, Writer/Director
