ASPERA 2019 Conference

Dr. Alex Munt is a screenwriter and director. In addition, he works across artists’ moving image, photography and VR in a contemporary art context. He has published on cinema, fashion, design, screenwriting, contemporary art and emerging media. His work has been screened, distributed and exhibited in Australian and abroad including at: SXSW, Sydney Film Festival, Vivid: Festival of Light, Music & Ideas; ISEA: Vancouver Art Gallery, Mosman Art Gallery, Galerie Pompom and Alaska Projects. Alex is a Senior Lecturer in Media Arts and Production, School of Communication, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney.

Dr Andrew Taylor is a Senior Lecturer in the Media Arts Program at University of Technology, Sydney. He is a cinematography graduate at the Australian, Film, Television and Radio School, and has a BA (Monash) and a Doctorate of Creative Arts (UTS). He has worked as both a director and cinematographer.

Recently, Taylor has focused on his work as a documentary-maker. In 2009, he completed Siberia, a short lyrical documentary based on photos he took in Russia in the early 1990s. Siberia has since been selected to screen at over a dozen International events including the Oberhausen and Edinburgh Film Festivals and as part of a curated season at the Pompidou Centre (Paris). Andrew’s most recent film, First Person Kodachrome (2014), screened nationally on ABC TV. The film combines a history of Kodachrome with a personal memoir exploring family photos, memory and loss.

Arezou Zalipour (PhD, UKM; PhD, Waikato), Associate Professor in Screen Production and Cultural Studies, School of Communication Studies, Auckland University of Technology

Arezou is a researcher-practitioner who loves learning, thinking, theorising and making. She has worked in a variety of roles in higher education in different countries for more than 19 years. Her research interests cluster around diasporas and socio-cultural diversity in New Zealand, practice-oriented research, creativity and imagination, and the relationship between the screen and the viewer. Arezou’s past project offered an innovative insight into New Zealand film through the first conceptualisation of ‘Asian New Zealand cinema’ inaugurating diasporic film and filmmaking in New Zealand. Arezou is currently working on production of a documentary about non-profit social agencies in New Zealand.

Dr. Bettina Frankham is a creative practice academic researching and teaching digital media arts and production in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, UTS. She has a background of industry experience spanning multiple forms of media including television, radio and web production. Her moving image projects have screened at international media arts festivals and she has published scholarly journal articles and book chapters. Her research interests include art and documentary intersections, expanded documentary practice and the impact of digital culture on creative media production. She is currently the Vice President of ASPERA and a member of the ASPERA Research Sub-Committee.

A TELLER OF STORIES

Uncle Bruce Pascoe is an award-winning Australian writer, editor and anthologist. He is of Bunurong, Yuin and Tasmanian heritage.

His career has spanned teaching, farming, bartending, writing, working on an archaeological site, and researching Aboriginal languages. Uncle Bruce has written more than 20 books. His non-fiction book, Dark Emu (2014), won the Book of the Year and Indigenous Writers’ Prize in the 2016 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, and in 2018 he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature from the Australia Council for the Arts.

Uncle Bruce’s other books include Night Animals, Fox, Shark, Nightjar, Ocean, Bloke, Convincing Ground: Learning to Fall in Love with Your Country and Fog a Dox and the recently released children’s version of Dark Emu, Young Dark Emu.

Uncle Bruce is featured in the upcoming AFTRS’ podcast series Talk Talk: Indigenous Language and Storytelling to be released in July.

Uncle Bruce is the inaugural Elder in Residence at AFTRS and lives on Country looking after the land.

Christine Rogers is a writer and filmmaker. She has multiple screen credits in drama, educational film and digital stories that have screened at local and international festivals. Her fiction and non-fiction writing has been published in anthologies, newspapers and blogs. Christine also creates web content for Briarbird.com. She is currently undertaking a PhD at RMIT University, where she is the recipient of The Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship. For her PhD she is exploring her Ngāi Tahu ancestors through short videos and embroidery, and her short film Looking Forward, Walking Down, recently screened at Ethnografilm Festival in Paris.

Professor Craig Batty is Head of Creative Writing at the University of Technology Sydney. He is the author, co-author and editor of ten books, including Writing for the Screen: Creative and Critical Approaches (2nd ed.) (2019), Screen Production Research: Creative Practice as a Mode of Enquiry (2018) and Screenwriters and Screenwriting: Putting Practice into Context (2014). He has also published over 50 book chapters and journals articles on the topics of screenwriting practice, screenwriting theory, creative practice research and doctoral supervision. Craig is also a screenwriter and script consultant, with experiences in short film, feature film, television and online drama.

Currently Acting Director of Curriculum & Student Registrar, David Balfour joined AFTRS in 2014 as the Head of Teaching and Learning. Prior to working at AFTRS, David was Film Department Co-ordinator and Lecturer at SAE Melbourne, and the Director of Undergraduate Programmes at the Met Film School, London. He is a Graduate of the National Film & Television School in the UK with an MA in Producing.

Elizabeth Hoyle is a graduate of Swinburne Film and Television School and Victorian College of The Arts Film and Television. She has worked in various roles from camera department, researcher and writer/director. Currently teaching in the Department of Screen Production at Auckland University of Technology teaching nonfiction and fiction writing and production, multicamera production and alternative approaches to screen production. Her research interests include documentary animation, mobile and interactive filmmaking.

Elizabeth’s current projects include: I am Geena – A Longitudinal study of a transgender woman; and Help Me Find the Story – Interactive First-Person work shot on mobile and created through EkoStudio.

Dr. Felicity Fenner has curated over 40 exhibitions of contemporary art. Her latest book, Running the City: Why Public Art Matters, was published by NewSouth Publishing in 2017. Felicity’s research focuses on aspects of place and curatorial place making, encapsulated in exhibitions such as Once Removed, Australia’s group exhibition at the 2009 Venice Biennale. She brought to Australia Richard Mosse’s multi-channel work The Enclave, named by ABC Arts as one Australia’s top three visual arts presentations in 2014, and in 2017 Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s data visualisation, EXIT. Her international video-based exhibition, People Like Us, has recently completed a three-year national tour.

Filmmaker and visual artist Georgia Wallace-Crabbe completed a Doctorate of Creative Arts at UOW in 2016 with The Earth and the Elements – an immersive, five-channel work, using Daoism as a metaphoric frame to explore ecological issues arising from the extraction and flow of minerals from Australia to China – exhibited UNSW Galleries 2016 and Samstag Museum 2017. She also created a series of multiscreen videos, Memories of the Struggle, for the Museum of Australian Democracy, Canberra, now touring South African museums.

In 2017 Georgia produced OTTO, by video artist Laurent Grasso for the Sydney Biennale and the documentary Cultivating Murder (SBS). She teaches Media Arts and Visual Communication at UTS.

Gerard Reed is a Senior Lecturer in Screen Business at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) and has experience in economic development with an emphasis on entrepreneurial and innovative screen business practices developed through post-graduate studies at The University of Adelaide’s Entrepreneurship, Commercialisation and Innovation Centre (ECIC), and involvement with the South Australia Department of State Development and across industry.

In his professional capacity, Gerard has experience as a producer, director, writer, director of photography, editor, narrator and researcher for factual programming, with a specialisation in documentary produced formats, across platform and broadcast television applications. He has completed scripting for television documentary programming funded by the South Australian Film Corporation, Screen Australia, Foxtel and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Gerard holds a PhD in Entrepreneurship and a Master of Entrepreneurship degree from ECIC, a Master of Arts degree from The University of the Arts, London, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the UNSW, Australia.

Dr. Gregory Ferris works across a variety of media formats, including film, video, installation, interaction, and immersive media. His PhD research included the projects Eavesdrop and Conversations, which were world firsts in the areas of panoramic, interactive, multi-linear narrative filmmaking. Recent Virtual Reality projects include Only at the air, only at each other (SFF 2017) and Sympathetic Threads (2018), which has its international premiere at the Sci-Fi London Film Festival (May 2019). His most recent immersive work The Falls will premiere as part of the 2019 Sydney Film Festival. He is represented in Australia by the Kronenberg Mais Wright Gallery.

James entered the New Zealand film and television industry in the early 1980s, working in camera, sound and editing departments on productions which included feature films, commercials, documentaries and TV series. He has been a lecturer at AUT University since 1993, specializing in the design and teaching of production courses, and is the current Curriculum Leader of Screen Production in the School of Communication Studies. He received his MA from Auckland University in 2014, focusing his research on the deployment of voices in documentary film. His current teaching includes documentary and short film production, scriptwriting and multi-camera studio production.

James Thompson is a filmmaker based in Melbourne, Australia. His work has featured in festivals such as Palm Springs International ShortFest (2016), Austin Film Festival (2016, 2017) and received awards from the Zed Fest Film Festival and Screenplay Competition. He is currently completing a practice led PhD at MADA (fine arts) Monash University. His research is focused on the cinema works of Jean Epstein conceptions of photo-genie.

Jane is the Faculty Development Consultant at AFTRS, where she has designed and facilitates a program of professional development and support for teachers across all of the AFTRS course offerings. Jane holds a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Education, majoring in performance studies.

Initially a high school teacher, she has worked extensively in state government, not for profit and arts sectors as an educator and VET specialist, with curriculum design and compliance being her two key areas of experience and interest. Jane previously worked at NIDA as the Manager of Vocational Studies. In this role she designed, delivered and managed four new – and revamped several existing – VET programs for the national drama school; managing student matters, tutor workload and budgeting/staffing/resourcing for all programs.

Jane is currently undertaking her Master of Education (Learning and Leadership) at UTS.

With a background in Film and Installation Art, Jessica also has an extensive career at SBS, Network Ten, Foxtel & Fairfax and has worked on a number of ward-winning short films. She has a BFA from UNSW School of Art & Design, and a Graduate Diploma in Producing from AFTRS.  Jessica co-produced the web series BLIND, and has managed the WOW and For Film’s Sake Festivals & been Vice-President of WIFT. In 2017 Jessica was the recipient of the Create NSW Emerging Producer placement and worked on Bruce Beresford’s Ladies in Black. IN 2018, Jessica received the ART Bites initiative through ABC Arts, Screen Australia and Create NSW. She recently joined Allanah Zitserman’s production company LUMILA Films.

Dr. Jill Holt is a Senior Lecturer in the Bachelor of Film and Television (Honours) at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. The focus of her teaching and research is postproduction and editing. In her professional career as freelance film editor, Jill worked across all areas of postproduction including feature films, short films, documentary and lifestyle TV. She has a Master of Design in Multimedia Design (Swinburne University, 2005) which had a short documentary outcome titled The Utzon Tapestry, designed as an installation piece for the Sydney Opera House. Jill completed her PhD in 2015 as Practice-based Research producing the artefact/ teaching resource, The Art of Editing: Australian screen editors discuss creativity in editing, that leads to new insights into creativity in editing and the pedagogy of editing practice.

Julia Avenell is an eLearning Consultant at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). With over 17 years’ experience in Screen Education Support she works directly with faculty and students to build their online courses and support their educational technology needs. She holds a Bachelor of Creative Arts (Macquarie University), a Graduate Certificate in Screen Studies (AFTRS), and a Graduate Certificate in eLearning (university of New England). Julia is passionate about film and design and has published articles on Screen Design for Unfolding Florence in Metro Screen magazine and Design Skills for Screen Education magazine. She is a past Vice President of Women in Film and TV (WIFT) where she helped manage 3 World of Women (WOW) film festivals. Julia recently presented at Moodle Moot 2018 in Brisbane on Teaching Creative Practice Online. She lives to travel but most weekends can just be found walking her dogs around Sydney or at the cinema with a choc top in her hand.

Sydney-based media artist, producer and academic (WSU), Kate Richards’ art works and collaborations have leveraged most new media platforms and channels, from generative software to interactive projections and VR. She has exhibited at the ACMI (Melbourne), Performance Space, the Blake Prize, Australian Centre for Photography, Centre for Contemporary Photography Melbourne, International Symposium for Electronic Art Sydney, Belfast and Helsinki, Experimenta, Art Gallery of NSW and Sydney Opera House. Kate has also produced multimedia projects for a variety of clients including Badanami Centre for Indigenous Education, Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, Sydney Olympic Park, Australian War Memorial, Museum of Sydney and the Police and Justice Museum.

Dr. Kath Dooley is a filmmaker, Senior Lecturer and Discipline Lead for the Discipline of Theatre, Screen and Digital Media at Curtin University, Western Australia. She completed a creative Ph.D. exploring the screenwriting approaches and production methodology of contemporary French directors, with a specific focus on portrayals of the body. Kath has written a number of short and feature-length screenplays, and has directed several award-winning short films and music videos. Her research interests include screen production methodology for traditional and immersive media, screenwriting and screen education.

Krista Jordan is Head of Animation at AFTRS. She has over twenty years professional industry experience in creative and commercial filmmaking. Her professional film credits include The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, Rabbit- Proof Fence, Moulin Rouge and the Academy Award-winning Happy Feet.

In recent years, Krista’s focus has shifted to learning, leadership and strategic development. As Learning and Development Manager at Animal Logic, Krista was a pivotal member of the leadership team and drove program and curriculum development, mentorship, industry, education and government engagement. Krista worked with the curriculum development team to establish the UTS Animal Logic Academy Master of Animation and Visualisation degree in 2017.

Krista is an experienced and highly gifted presenter and learning facilitator and has lectured, facilitated and run masterclasses for both external professionals, students and internal employees. She has an extensive professional network in the local and international industry and across educational providers, government and corporate bodies.

Margaret McHugh is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and is currently doing her PhD at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). She was a lecturer in documentary film at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS) before joining UTS as a tutor and curriculum designer for the Media Arts & Production Programs. Margaret’s PhD research explores how gendered narratives of women in documentary film, and the underlying values they represent, might be critiqued using an intersectional feminist approach and screen production research.

Dr. Margaret McVeigh is Head, Screenwriting & Contextual Studies at the Griffith Film School, Griffith University. She is a member of the ASPERA Executive, ASPERA Research Sub-Committee and the SRN (Screenwriting Research Network International) Executive. Margaret holds a Masters of Screenwriting by Creative Practice and a PhD in Film and New Media Narrative. She has extensive national and international industry experience in Public Relations and Post-Production, and has worked as Commissioning Editor for Wiley publishers and writer for the Australian National Broadcaster’s ABC Splash. Margaret is co-editor of Transcultural Screenwriting: Telling Stories for a Global World (2017).

Associate Professor Marsha Berry is an ethnographer, writer and artist who teaches creative practice and media in the School of Media and Communication, RMIT University. She is author of the book, Creating with Mobile Media (2017, Palgrave Macmillan) as well as over 40 book chapters and articles in internationally prestigious academic journals and co-editor of two volumes on mobile media. Her art practice includes filmmaking, participatory art projects and her work has been exhibited in Australia and internationally in spaces such as the Directors Lounge in Berlin and the Queensland Centre of Photography.

Max Schleser (B.A. Hons, M.A., Ph.D.) is Senior Lecturer in Film and Television at Swinburne University of Technology (Melbourne, Australia), Adobe Education Leader, Co-Founder of the Mobile Innovation Network & Association and Screening Director of the International Mobile Innovation Screening & Festival. Max’s research expertise are Immersive Media and Creative Arts 4.0 with a focus on Cinematic VR and interactive filmmaking. His research explores Screen Production, Emerging Media and Smartphone Filmmaking for community engagement, creative transformation and transmedia storytelling. Max’s experimental films, moving-image arts and cinematic VR projects are screened at film festivals and exhibited in galleries and museums. His community engaged documentaries are broadcasted on TV and online.

Dr. Megan Heyward is an academic and media artist whose creative practice is at the intersection of storytelling and digital technologies. Working across interactive narrative, electronic literature, locative media and augmented reality, she has created digital narratives for mobile, tablet, desktop and other platforms. Her works have been exhibited in Australia and internationally, including Europe, Japan, Canada and the US. Megan continues to investigate emerging formats, exploring the storytelling and artistic potentials of smartphone apps, AR and VR. She is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney, teaching into the Media Arts and Digital and Social Media programs

Merilyn Fairskye is a Sydney-based artist whose recent work explores the realities of nuclear sites and their relationship to human vulnerability and environmental disaster. This has taken her to Chernobyl, to a Soviet atom bomb test site in Kazakhstan, to Dungeness and Sellafield in the UK, to Los Alamos, New Mexico, Ranger Uranium Mine, Kakadu, and Maralinga. It has resulted in an artist’s film, video installations and photographic series that have been exhibited widely in Australia and internationally in film and video festivals and art museums and galleries. Her work is represented in numerous Australian and international public collections. www.fairskye.com

Monica Davidson is an award-winning expert on the creative industries. She was a freelance journalist and filmmaker before starting the social enterprise Creative Plus Business Group in 2015, an organisation dedicated to educating creative practitioners about business skills. Monica is a regular guest lecturer at AFTRS and NIDA, the Australian author of Freelancing for Dummies, and a renowned speaker. In 2014 Monica completed her Master degree in Screen Business at AFTRS, and was appointed as the first NSW Creative Industries Business Advisor. She was also named one of Westpac’s 100 Women of Influence for her work in creative industries.

Dr. Natalie Krikowa is a media scholar and practice-led researcher at the University of Technology Sydney. Her work problematises and discusses issues surrounding media representation and identity politics in screen studies, popular culture, and transmedia, with a feminist, Queer, and gender studies focus. She currently researches and teaches in digital media, and researches in participatory and fan culture. In addition to this, she works as the Creative Director of Zenowa Productions, writing and producing queer female focused works including The Newtown Girls (2012) and All Our Lesbians Are Dead! (2017).

Dr. Patrick Kelly is a Lecturer in Media in RMIT University’s School of Media & Communication. He is a filmmaker, media producer, and artist interested in the impact of new technologies on screen production, and he collaborates with queer and indigenous communities on films, mobile apps, and other media projects. He completed a PhD in Creative Media at RMIT University in Melbourne in 2013. Patrick’s media practice has screened at international festivals, such as the Queensland New Filmmakers Awards, Canada International Film Festival, Tropical Alternative Film Festival, Sightlines: Filmmaking in the Academy, and the International iPod Film Festival.

Professor Pauline Clague is Associate Professor, Manager of Cultural Resilience Hub, Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education & Research at the UTS. A Yaegl woman from North Coast NSW she has worked as a storyteller and producer in film and TV for 25 years. She is founder and Artistic Director of Winda Film Festival in Sydney, a programmer for imagineNATIVE media +arts festival in Toronto and co-creator of NativeSlam a 72 hour Indigenous film challenge held at Maoriland Film Festival in Otaki.

A writer, producer and executive producer for a many national and international companies, among them Crawford Productions, PBL Productions, Taffner Ramsay, Beyond International and Granada, Peter began his career writing and producing for television classics such as Cop Shop, The Sullivans, The Flying Doctors, The Comedy Company and Acropolis Now. He produced the inaugural Comedy Festival Charity Gala in 1992 and created The World Comedy Tour in 2000. He also produced The 34th Annual TV Week Logies, and he has created or co-created a number of series, among them Skirts, The Comedy Sale! The Agency, Parties, FAQ, and The Big Wig for Sky1 in the UK. Working with Caroline Aherne of The Royle Family, he co-created, co-wrote and produced the BBC2 comedy series, Dossa and Joe. Other credits include the Network Ten production, Unreal TV, a sitcom Sit Down, Shut Up, as well as the tonight show, The Big Schmooze and a number of other productions at thecomedychannel for Foxtel, and script editing on the Lindy Chamberlain mini-series, Through My Eyes and the feature Perfect Victim.

Peter has taught at a number of universities in screen business, creative industries and producing. He is currently Head of Screen Business and Producing at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS).

Dr. Phoebe Hart is a writer, director and producer of documentaries, factual content and children’s television. Dr Hart is also a lecturer in film, television and digital media at the Queensland University of Technology, and principal of Hartflicker, a video and film production company. She is known particularly for her autobiographical road trip movie, Orchids: My Intersex Adventure. Hart completed her film studies at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in 1995.  She has worked for Network Ten and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In 2009 Hart was awarded her doctorate from Queensland University of Technology, of which Orchids was a central element of her doctoral studies.

Professor Rachel Landers is a filmmaker with a PhD in history. Her films have screened all over the world and won a number of prestigious awards. In 2011/12 she received the NSW Premier’s History Fellowship and was appointed Head of Documentary at AFTRS. In 2015, she released the ABC/DVA/Screen Australia documentary Lest We Forget What? for the centenary of World War 1. She published her first non-fiction book Who Bombed the Hilton? with New South Books in 2016 for which won the 2016 national Nib award. In 2018 she was appointed head of Media Arts and Production at UTS.

Dr. Rachel Wilson is a Senior Lecturer in the Bachelor of Communication (Media) program at RMIT University, past ASPERA board member (2007-2013) and president (2010-2011). Rachel is heavily involved in local screen and media culture in Melbourne and sits as a director on the 3RRR community radio station and was a short documentary selector for the Melbourne International Film Festival from 2006-2018 inclusive. Rachel’s research focuses on the student experience, moving image archival practices and the media representation of trauma.

Sandra Sciberras is Senior Lecturer and Head of VCA Film and Television, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music University of Melbourne. She was Post Graduate Convenor working closely with the graduates of the Master programs, including screenwriters, directors, and producers. Having established long relationships with industry as a professional screenwriter and director, Sandra also works through her film company Three Feet of Film in both development and production. Her commitment to nurture filmmakers from all walks of life are a primary focus for her and is an extension of her desire for a healthy, diverse Australian film and television industry.

Like many modern-day creatives, Sophie Renae works across a number of areas within the Film & Television Industry. Sophie studied at the Actors Centre Australia, MET Film School (London, UK) and the International Screen Academy, and has attended countless workshops & short-courses throughout the years. Since graduating in 2016, Sophie’s professional experiences have been colourful and varied. She has worked as an Actor, Assistant Director, Associate Producer, Locations Coordinator, Talent Wrangler, Chaperone and, yes, even as a Runner. Sophie is currently a Development Coordinator at Stan, casually crews on Film & TV sets and is Producing an exciting new kids series with CJZ; all while continuing to pursue her Acting career.

Dr. Stuart Bender is Early Career Research Fellow in the School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry at Curtin University. His research and teaching focus on the aesthetics, postproduction and affective impact of digital media including immersive VR, AR and digital cinema. His media works, including VR and AR productions, have screened internationally and his creative-research practice has resulted in publications that appear in Text Journal, Media Practice and Education, Projections and many more. His third monograph, Virtual Realities: Case Studies in Immersion and Affect (with Mick Broderick) is in press with Palgrave Macmillan for 2019.

Sue Maslin AO is one of Australia’s most successful film producers with a track record of producing award winning feature and documentary films. Her most recent is the smash hit The Dressmaker, one of Australia’s all time highest grossing films winning five awards at the 2015 AACTA Awards.

Sue is committed to engaging and empowering audiences with ideas that matter. Her innovative company, Film Art Media established in 2008 produces and distributes film, television and digital content. Her most recent documentary Jill Bilcock- Dancing The Invisible received the Greater Union Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2016 Adelaide Film Festival and Best Documentary in the 2018 ATOM Awards.

Sue’s outstanding 35-year contribution to the Australian screen industry has been recognised in numerous ways. In 2012 she received the inaugural Jill Robb Award for Outstanding Leadership, Achievement and Service to the Victorian Screen Industry. Reflecting her commitment to advocacy for women, Sue was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2018. Sue is President of the Natalie Miller Fellowship, an organisation dedicated to inspiring women’s leadership in the screen industry.

In 2019 Sue was appointed as an Officer (AO) of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the Australian film industry as a producer, and through roles with professional bodies.

Associate Professor Susan Kerrigan (University of Newcastle, Australia) is a screen production scholar, who specialises in creative practice research methodologies. She was co-investigator on the Filmmaking Research Network grant, funded by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council, and has held an Australian Research Council Grant investigating the creative industries. Susan has professionally produced and directed Australian television programs, including Play School.

Susan Norrie is a Sydney-based artist whose practice utilises art, documentary and film genres. Her projects are concerned with the environment, human rights and survival. Norrie represented Australia at the 52nd Venice Biennale (2007); she participated in the Yokohama Triennale (2011) with her project TRANSIT, later acquired by the Tate Modern, London. She has been an artists’ representative on the boards of ACCA and the MCA. In 2011 Norrie received the Solrun Hoass Documentary Award for TRANSIT. She has had numerous international residencies: including at ZKM,Germany (2001). In 2016 she was commissioned by the Australian War Memorial Museum and deployed to Iraq. She has received the Australia Council Visual Arts award 2019.

Dr. Susan Thwaites is a Lecturer in Film Production, and Discipline Lead for the Film Major in the Faculty of Arts and Design at University of Canberra. She trained as a cinematographer at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School and has worked in the industry shooting drama, music clips and documentary. Her cinematography has gained AFI and ASC awards and nominations. She has a Masters in Writing (Thesis) UTS. Her research interests led her to writing screenplays, and she has been nominated for an Australian Writers’ Guild Monte Miller Award (long form).

Susan also has a passion for teaching Australian national cinema, and allowing these films to inform and inspire the screenplays and films of her students. Her PhD (ANU) looked at the role of key production crew, the screenwriter, cinematographer and director, in the adaptation of novel to screen.