Sydney Film ‘Picketpockets’ Wins Best Comedy Vanguard at Austin Film Festival

Pickpockets – “a love letter to screwball romances and crime capers from across the world” – has won the Comedy Vanguard Feature Award for best comedy at the 2026 Austin Film Festival.

Pickpockets was directed, edited, and co-written by Sydney based, D.C. Fairhurst. The film also stars D.C. Fairhurst, as well as co-writer and producer Lucy Green, Zoe Terakes, and Time Minchin.

Both D.C. Fairhurst and Lucy Green attended the festival in Austin, Texas.

“After seeing the sheer quality of the other comedies at the festival, when our name was called I was a little blindsided,” D.C. Fairhurst said in a press release.

“All the other writers had written speeches… In comparison – my voice immediately cracked, I got teary and started rambling about how much I love our cast and crew.”

“It’s such an incredible honour to have won the comedy feature award at THE screenwriter’s festival. It’s been a dream of mine to come to Austin Film Festival ever since I started writing, and now to walk away with the typewriter trophy… It’s unbelievable,” Lucy Green said.

“I’m thrilled that we get to bring home the trophy. And I’m even more thrilled that we get to bring our film home to Aussie audiences this November.”

The Australian release

Pickpockets is going to be released in selected cinemas across Australia from November 9, the premiere will be held at Randwick Ritz.

There will also be a national Q&A screening tour with D.C. Fairhurst, Lucy Green, and Tim Minchin.

Confirmed Q&A screenings with the cast will be at Randwick Ritz, Hayden Orpheum, and many more across the country

Find tickets to all screenings here.

About the Austin Film Festival

This year was the Austin Film Festival’s 33rd year, a not-for-profit foundation founded in 1994, the festival has the mission to “further the art and craft of storytelling by inspiring and championing the work of writers, filmmakers, and all artists who use written and visual language to tell a story.”