The Veterans Film Foundation is an ACNC-registered charity, delivering a range of high-impact initiatives to benefit Defence Veterans in the film and television industry.

Our organisation presents Screen Warriors – a national film and TV careers development initiative – providing training and job placements in collaboration with our education partner Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS).

We also host the Red Poppy Film Festival, focusing on recent work by Veterans or films made with Veteran themes. The festival program also includes exhibitions and special events. The inaugural film festival was staged at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra in 2015 where it was held till 2019. In 2020, we hosted a virtual festival, and in 2022 the festival moved to the Entertainment Quarter and AFTRS at Moore Park in Sydney, NSW.

This year in 2026, the iconic Art Gallery NSW will play host to the festival which is an important platform for promoting artists and filmmakers from Australia and around the world.

Within our festival program, VFF also presents mainstream films, gala premieres, and themed screenings, as well as crowd-pleasing events including exhibitions. The festival provides opportunities to meet with veterans, filmmakers and content creators and more.

All films submitted in the official competition are eligible to compete for the coveted Red Poppy Awards, inspired by the poem ‘In Flanders Field’.

Contact the host of Red Poppy Film Festival