Sit Down, Shutup and Watch Festival Returns To the Barossa This Month

Sit Down, Shutup and Watch (SDSW), the first disability-led screen festival in the Southern Hemisphere, makes its triumphant return to Nuriootpa in South Australia's Barossa region this month.

Held at Nuriootpa Soldiers Memorial Hall from Thursday 22 to Saturday 24 October, this year's stacked program includes more than 25 short films from six countries made by, with or for people with disability and neurodivergent people.

13 of the flicks are from Australian creatives, with works from the United Kingdom, Spain, Argentina, France and Canada also featured.

Exploring a vast range of genres, from sci-fi and comedy to drama and animation, highlights of this year's program include James Di Martino's Baby, about a young woman with Down syndrome determined to become a mother; Rebecca Eglinton's digital animation Pieces of Memories, about German settlers in the Barossa and Ray Jacobs' Our Circle in the Storm, which follows disabled climate refugees caught in a devastating storm.

This year, SDSW will also host Consensus, a free creative workshop that asks participants: how do you want to be counted?

Working with guest artists from Capital Waste Pictures, those involved will have the opportunity to "explore identity, belonging and community through drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, digital media and animation".

These artworks will then be turned into short animations and combined to create one large collaborative work for the screen.

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This year marks the 15th anniversary and 7th biennial edition of SDSW, which gives learning disabled and neurodivergent creatives the chance to tell their story through film.

"Fifteen years after SDSW began, we remain committed to our mission: giving storytellers a screen festival rather than a label," explains SDSW Chairperson Sarah Egarr. "My brain simply works differently from other people's, and I choose not to label myself. SDSW are proud to be regionally based, and in 2026 we are excited to host three days of films from Australia and around the world here in the Barossa Valley"

Past participants say the festival has changed their creative lives.

"Through the festival I went on to win awards at international film festivals in Berlin, Canada and the UK," said filmmaker James Kurtze. "I still make films and now make video games and 3D film and VR. All this is because of Tutti and SDSW."

"If it didn't exist, I would never have learnt how to use the internet, and how to mix music on the iPad… I've grown confidence and independence," said James Bull.

Sit Down, Shut Up and Watch Screen Festival 2026 takes place at Nuriootpa Soldiers Memorial Hall from Thursday 22 to Saturday 24 October. More information is available at sitdownshutupandwatch.com.