Stranger With My Face 2012 featured the inaugural 10 By 10 Short Script Challenge. The 10 By 10 Short Script Challenge returned in 2013, and with registered participants, from Tasmania, around Australia and countries including the USA and Canada, the UK, Mexico and Switzerland. A new part of the festival in 2013 was the 48-Hour Tasploitation Challenge, in which teams were given 48 hours to make a short horror film.

In 2014 the !0 By !0 Challenge has become a 48-hour comp as well and has been renamed the Tasmanian Gothic Short Script Challenge.

The Tasploitation Challenge returns for a second time this year after 2013’s popular, sell-out screening.

Stranger With My Face values both of these aspects to the festival, as they generate ideas and encourage production and new collaborations. While the main festival focuses on films directed by women, both of the challenges are open to both male and female participants, in line with the festival’s overall goals of inclusivity and exchange.