An independent film studio building worlds you can step inside.

Two films from Bondi Beach, Australia. HOLD, a psychological short now in production, and THE NIGHT MARKET, a dark fantasy now in pre-production.

Two productions, two distinct worlds: a taut psychological short and an expansive dark fantasy, each made to stay with you long after it ends.

Films

HOLD

Psychological shortIn productionCompleting 2026Sydney, AustraliaWritten & directed by Michelle Avery

A psychological short about two people, a room that will not let them leave, and time that refuses to move. Stillness turns unbearable, and the smallest details begin to feel wrong. Precisely written and performance-led, Hold is in production in Sydney and due for completion in 2026. Its screenplay won Best Minimalist Script at the Cannes Script Festival, and was shortlisted at the Austin and Berlin Lift-Off festivals.

HOLD — two figures seated in a bare, symmetrical room
Hold2026
Austin Film Festival — Script Competition Second Rounder, 2026 Official Selection — Cannes World Film Festival, 2026 Official Selection — Cannes Script Festival, 2026 Official Selection — Berlin Lift-Off Film Festival, 2026

THE NIGHT
MARKET

Dark fantasy shortIn pre-productionDue late 2026 or early 2027Written & directed by Michelle Avery

Drawn away from the familiar world, a young woman named Mara discovers an impossible market hidden deep in the forest: lantern-lit, wrapped in mist, beautiful and quietly unnerving. Its stalls trade in objects that feel less like merchandise than fragments of lives. A dark fantasy short in pre-production, due for completion in late 2026 or early 2027.

The Night Market — the lantern-lit forest market
The Night MarketIn pre-production

The studio

An independent Bondi Beach studio making atmospheric films that pull you in and won't let go.

Studio2026 is an independent film and television production company based in Bondi Beach, Australia. We make atmospheric, character-led films that take big swings on the scale of a short.

We care about the things that outlast any format: a world you believe in, a performance you feel, and a story that keeps working on you after it ends. Two productions are underway now, with more to come.

2
films
4
festival selections
2026
Hold completes
Bondi Beach
where we work

Approach

Story first, always.

Every film begins on the page. Tight writing, true performances and characters worth following are the things we will not compromise, whatever the scale we are working at.

Worlds you can believe.

We build atmosphere from the ground up, layering light, texture and detail until a place feels real enough to step into. The strangeness comes from the accumulation of small, believable things.