About
2023 Judges
Louis Nowra
Playwright, screenwriter & author
Louis Nowra was born in Melbourne. He is the author of such plays as Inner Voices, Visions, Inside The Island, Sunrise, The Golden Age, Capricornia, Byzantine Flowers, The Watchtower , Summer Of The Aliens, Cosi, Radiance, The Temple, Crow, The Incorruptible, The Jungle, The Language Of The Gods And The Boyce Trilogy. He has written the non-fiction works The Cheated, Warne‘s World, Walkabout, Chihuahuas, Women And Me (Essays), Bad Dreaming, Kings Cross, A Biography and its companion volume, Woolloomooloo, A Biography. His fiction includes The Misery Of Beauty, Palu, Red Nights, Abaza, Ice, Into That Forest And Prince Of Afghanistan. His memoirs are The Twelfth Of Never And Shooting The Moon. Some of his radio plays include Albert Names Edward, The Song Room, Sydney, The Divine Hammer, Far North, Jez and the Light of Darkness.He was the principal writer of the documentary series First Australians and created the TV series The Last Resort and The Straits.
Besides writing libretti and the telemovies Displaced Persons, Hunger and The Lizard King, his screen credits includeMap Of The Human Heart, Cosi, Heaven’s Burning, The Matchmaker, Radiance, K-19: The Widowmaker And Black And White. He lives in Sydney and is married to the writer Mandy Sayer.
Sandra Alexander
Line Producer
Sandra Alexander has been line producer or production manager on feature films and high-end television drama including RETURN TO EDEN (The Series), HILLS END, SPIT MACPHEE, MISSION TOP SECRET, LIFT OFF, SINGAPORE SLING, FRAUDS, SOFT FRUIT and SEPTEMBER, and on international productions shooting in Australia – THE JUNCTION BOYS, BLIND AMBITION and COLD FEET. She was Production Associate on the ABC series EAST OF EVERYTHING, and has produced short films and documentaries. She was a Project Manager at the Film Finance Corporation (now part of Screen Australia) and regularly consults to the major film agencies on budgets and production and on offset applications.
She has had substantial engagement with emerging filmmakers as a lecturer and mentor for AFTRS students, as a lecturer at other Australian an international film schools, as director of the Media Centre at UTS and as co-ordinating editor for the 2007 edition of The Satchel, the Australian industry’s production bible. She is member of the National Executive Committee of The Society of Australian Cinema Pioneers and was “Cinema Pioneer of the Year 2021”.
Jack Brislee
Writer
Jack Brislee is a Sydney based writer. He has a wide range of writing interests, including historical dramas, biographies, crime stories, sporting stories and comedy.
For six years he taught screen dialogue twice a year in Karel Segers’ screenwriting seminars.
He was commissioned to write Maryang San, and Bratva, and to co-write Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan.
Danger Close is Australia’s biggest budget war movie. It was released in 2019 and received 4-star reviews.
Jack has completed 18 other screenplays, two plays and one novel.
Jack is an active member of the Australian Writers’ Guild and is the current chair of the AWG New South Wales Membership Committee.
When not writing Jack is involved in property development and motel broking through his company, Pacific Rim Business Brokers Pty Limited.
SOPHIA CHRISTOPHER
COMPOSER
A passionate collaborator, Sophia is a multi-instrumentalist and talented vocalist who combines a deep love of storytelling with musical experimentation, and an innate sense of curiosity to find the unique musical fingerprint for each project she works on. Her musical versatility sees her shine in contemporary music with a foundation in traditional film scoring narrative techniques.
She has a Masters in Film Scoring from the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) and is a graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston, studying Songwriting and Music Production, where she was awarded a highly contested scholarship.
Sophia’s unique musical versatility and passion for storytelling and collaboration sees her as one of Australia’s most exciting screen music composers with a healthy 2023 composing slate spanning film, documentaries, TV, and stage/film musicals.
Megan Riakos
Screenwriter & Director
Megan Riakos is a dynamic filmmaker bringing a distinctive female lens to the world of genre filmmaking.As the writer/director/producer of the thriller Crushed, she was behind the film’s innovative Australian release becoming one of the most successful cinema-on-demand screening runs in the country and acquisitions by Qantas and Channel 10. She is the creator and producer of Australia’s first female horror anthology Dark Whispers – Volume 1 which premiered locally at Cinefest OZ and internationally at Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival and is now available on SBS On Demand, iTunes, Google Play and other major platforms. She is also the writer/director of an episode of the upcoming Deadhouse Dark horror series which screened at Canneseries and has just been released on Shudder as a Shudder Original. Megan is an innovative, collaborative and driven filmmaker and she compliments this with her work as a mentor and teacher, having taught filmmaking and screen business at UNSW, AFTRS, QUT, NIDA and ACA.
Find out more on Megan’s website.
Alan Nurthen
Actor, Writer, Producer & Director
Alan trained at New Theatre and then spent the next eight years performing in a variety of film and television productions before starting his own acting school, the Screen Actors Workshop, in 1988.
In 1991 Alan was one of only nine industry professionals chosen for the first Industry Program Advanced Screen Directors Certificate course at AFTRS.
Since then, Alan has produced and directed over sixty short films, numerous corporate videos for clients as diverse as MYOB and the Queensland Department of Primary Industries, along with the international hit documentaries, Funnel Webs (7 Network; Beyond Distribution) and Boomers and Slackers (GDTV South Africa.)
Alan has trained numerous Gold and Silver Logie winning actors, and his production students have won some of Sydney’s most prestigious film festivals, including Tropfest (twice) and The Short Black Film Festival.
The Screen Actors Workshop won Outstanding Educational Service at the Small Business Awards in 2010 and again in 2012, further recognition for Alan’s passion for training brave and creative screen actors for the Australian film and television industry.
Alan is currently working in front of the camera again, playing the bad guy Josefa the Intoner in director Greg Perano’s second feature film, Prufrock & Co.
Find out more at Screen Actor’s Workshop.
Pieter de Vries
ACS Director of Photography
From the heights of the Space Shuttle to the depths of the North Atlantic ocean, from ancient land turtles on the Galapagos Islands to sublime performances of the music of Vivaldi, travelling through ninety five countries, internationally recognised cinematographer Pieter de Vries has been there with his camera.
He has received world-wide recognition and numerous awards for his cinematography which has featured on NBC, BBC, History, Discovery and National Geographic Channels, ZDF Germany, NZBC and ABC Australia.
As an ACS accredited Director of Photography, Pieter has reached the highest levels of his craft. He has been a recipient of the Australian Cinematographer of the Year Award, and for his photography of National Geographic documentaries, received an Emmy nomination. He as contributed to much loved programs hosted by David Attenborough and collaborated with Canadian director James Cameron filming the wreck of the Titanic in IMAX 3D.
His current project is a feature documentary, “Women in Blues” — the story of the Mississippi Delta music and the women who sing the blues, being filmed in Chicago, Mississippi and Louisiana.
Find out more on Pieter’s website.
Serhat Caradee
Award Winning Filmmaker, Writer & Director
An award winning Australian filmmaker, Serhat’s films have screened at over 50 local and international film festivals, winning numerous prizes and awards. His recent feature ‘A Lion Returns’ was released to critical acclaim and made it onto numerous best Australian films of 2020 lists. It also received an AACTA nomination. His first feature ‘Cedar Boys’, won the Audience Award at 56th Sydney Film Festival, screened at many international film festivals and garnered nominations and accolades in Australia, including AWG, ADG, IF and an AACTA nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Currently attached to direct the film adaption of best selling American author Michael Prescott’s book ‘Mark of Kane’. The true crime story ‘Killer Country’ inspired by Sandra Lee’s book ‘Beyond Bad’. Also working on numerous other projects all in various stages of development through his company Bonafide Pictures with support from Screen NSW, Screen Australia and other production companies. Serhat also comes from an extensive background in theatre, drama and performing arts studies. His vast array and experience covers all aspects of working on stage, TV and film. His acting credits include the award winning Australian TV series ‘East-West 101’ and ‘The Principal’, also the 2016 U.S Sci-Fi series ‘Hunters’, produced by Gale Anne Hurd (‘Terminator’ 1 & 2) and created by Natalie Chaidez (‘Heroes’). An AFTRS Directing graduate, Serhat also teaches casually at UNSW, Sydney Theatre School and NIDA.
Anthony Montes
Actor, Writer, Producer & Teacher
Anthony is an Actor, Writer, Producer, Acting Coach and Teacher and Father, and the Founder and Artistic Director of The Artist Theatre Group. With his group he has produced 90 plays, acted in over 60 and directed over 30. He has published 13 books available on amazon.com. In the past 1.5 years, he has written and starred in two feature films, The Last Night Inn and The Last Train, in which he also stars. He has also written/directed/produced and starred in his one-man show, Outta The Darkness Into The Light.
He is the Founder of The Montes Method acting technique.
Anthony also worked on Playhouse for James Franco, as well as acted in Holy Land, which James Franco wrote and produced.
Anthony continues to teach with The Artist Theatre Group as well as Internationally where he has taught in, Mumbai, Paris, Berlin, Stockholm, Istanbul, Mexico City and Cape Town. He would like to make his way to Australia to teach as well. He also teaches for James Franco’s Studio 4 in LA. For over three years he taught acting to inner city kids as well as kids in juvenile hall. His hope is to continue teaching and putting up theatre with an ensemble of actors, living truthfully under the imaginary circumstances. His desire is to continue to encourage actors to take control of their destinies. Anthony is also on the judging committee for Mini Cinema TV.
Subscribe & join Anthony for videos on acting and inspirational quotes on his YouTube channel and on IGTV @MontesMethod. Also check out his website.
Ros Gentle
Actor & Teacher
Graduate of NIDA with a Bachelor of Dramatic Art from the University of NSW Ros has 35+ years experience in all areas of the performing arts including coaching, producing and directing. Theatre credits include The Sum of Us, Big River, The Wizard of Oz, All’s well That Ends Well, Othello, Bitter Sweet, The Seagull, Escape From Happiness and The Arab Israeli Cookbook plus four one woman shows: The Bridal Suite, Face of an Angel, The Ladychapel and Still Life.
In Australia Ros worked predominantly in television appearing in such shows as the upcoming Picnic at Hanging Rock, Neighbours, Home and Away, GP, Mother and Son, A Country Practice, Land of Hope, Carson’s Law, and most notably as a multiple personality in Prisoner. In the US where she has lived for the past 20 years Ros recently appeared in a recurring role in American Crime Story: The People Vs OJ Simpson. Other TV includes HBO’s Hello Ladies, Agent X, Santa Sent me to the ER, Tabloid, LAX, Outrageous 911 Calls, Tattoo Nightmares and more. Films include Suing the Devil (alongside Malcolm McDowell), as well as Remember When, Sienna’s Choice, The Method, Discarded and the award winning Australian film Winning Formula. She was also part of the ‘loop troup’ for Saving Mr. Banks.
Alongside her acting, Ros has been teaching actors for the past 30 years and is currently an Instructor at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles where she has been coaching young actors and filmmakers for the past 6 years.
While her love is acting, her passion is helping to create a Better World for future generations. Ros believes the arts and media are profoundly influential in this endeavor.
Find out more on Ros’s website.
Sue Smithers
Actress
Sue Smithers, is an Australian actress who trained at The Ensemble Theatre and Stellar Adler and Marcel Marceau. Sue founded her own acting agency in the 90’s and worked with The International Denver Film Festival. She is a seasoned professional of film, television and stage.
Sue has featured in many productions such as Certain Women, Homocide, Division 4, The Last Shift, Dangerous Women, The Restless Years, feature films Sweet Dreamers, Tiny Tim art film Martin Sharp, The Rocky Horror Show, The Mound Builders, and The Vagina Monologues. She also performed live in The Monty Python Show in Glasgow and recorded with George Harrison of the Beatles.
Stephanie Pringle
Casting Director & Owner of Chicken & Chips Casting
Stephanie Pringle is Australia’s most dynamic casting director. With credits spanning across film, tv and big brand advertising, her focus is on emerging talent and advocating for inclusion and authentic representation on screen and stage. When starting out, Stephanie cut her teeth on big brand advertising campaigns with international directors such as David Fincher, Jean Pierre Jeunet and Bobby Farrelly. In 2018 she was the first Casting Director to win B&T’s 30 under 30 Award. She is a proud member of the Casting Guild of Australia, sitting on their Diversity Committee. She co-found Chicken and Chips Casting with Alison Fowler in 2015 and is mentored by Casting Director, Fiona Dann.
Her recently wrapped film projects include Australian pioneer film The Flood directed by Victoria Wharfe McIntyre, Ellie & Abbie (and Ellie’s Dead Aunt) directed by Monica Zanetti, Deadhouse Dark Anthology created by Enzo Tedeschi, Blood Sisters directed by Madeleine Dyer, factual program Stargazing produced by the BBC and Chlorine directed by Melissa Anastasi and Deluge directed by Cloudy Rhodes – both of the latter premiered at the 2019 Sydney Film Festival. In 2019, Stephanie cast her first theatre show – an all female appropriation of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet produced by the SheShakespeare Theatre Company.
Stephanie enjoys casting unique and authentic characters and prides herself on being Australia’s most diverse Casting Director – her work speaks for itself. She is drawn to scripts that allow her to cast blindly and authentically.
Contact:
stephanie@chickenandchips.com.
Insta – @itsstephaniepringle // @chickenandchips_
Twitter – @misspringle88
Facebook – Chicken and Chips Casting
Alison Fowler
Casting Director & Owner of Chicken & Chips Casting
Al is an ex-actor turned advertising suit and now, as one of Australia’s emerging Casting Directors, Al gets a kick out of the very unique smile you get from a happy director and discovering & casting unsurfaced talent. Al’s credits span across Commercial Brand campaigns, short and feature length films.
Launching Chicken and Chips became her platform for advocating for change and diversification within the casting industry and for future female entrepreneurs. So much so she now proudly displays her 2018 B&T 30 Under 30 Award for the Entrepreneur category at CnC HQ.
Find out more about Alison and Chicken & Chips casting on their website.
Joe Ochman
Actor
Joe Ochman has acted professionally in films, television, stage, commercials, video
games, animation, anime and recorded books for over thirty years. For a TV-addicted,
movie-cartoon-avid-reading-comic-book-sci-fi freak, it’s been the perfect way to make a
living.
On TV, Joe has guest starred on Bones on Fox, Showtime’s House of Lies and Weeds,
Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior for CBS and Best Friends Whenever on Disney Channel. Joe recurred as a guest star on CSI and Sleeper Cell. He has shown up on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lois & Clark, Seinfeld, Will & Grace, House, West Wing, NYPD Blue, Desperate Housewives, That’s My Bush and many others. He recurs on the animated series Doc McStuffins and Miraculous: Tales Of Ladybug And Cat Noir.
In film, he has worked on Joker, Blumhouse’s Truth Or Dare and The Purge:Anarchy,
Never Been Kissed, Space Jam, and a bunch of indie films: Saving Lincoln, House of the
Rising Sun, Black And Blue and Donald And Dot Clock Found Dead In Their Home,
among others. Recent animated films include the Oscar-nominated Ernest & Celestine and the National Film Award winning Delhi Safari. His voice can be heard in 2019’s Oscar-winning short documentary Period. End Of Sentence.
In the gaming world, Joe had the honor of voicing Jiminy Cricket in Kingdom Hearts 3
and 2.5 Remix. He voiced William Price in Life Is Strange, voiced AND motion-captured
Professor MacDougall in Red Dead Redemption and its Undead Nightmare DLC. He also
voiced various roles in Final Fantasy VII Remake, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, World of
Warcraft: Battle For Azeroth, Fallout 4, Dishonored 2, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare,
The Evil Within, Diablo III, and many more.
Joe’s voice has been heard in diverse roles all over the anime universe, in Jojo’s Bizarre
Adventure, Hunter x Hunter, Kengan Ashura, Digimon, Naruto, Mobile Suit Gundam,
Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Wolf’s Rain, Cowboy Beebop, Mon Colle Knights and
many, many more.
The stage has always been Joe’s first love, though, and he has fulfilled that romance in
dozens of plays as actor and award-winning director. He also writes for film and TV, and
coaches acting to an eclectic celebrity clientele (including Guardians Of The Galaxy’s
Dave Bautista).
IMDB PAGE http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0643703/?ref_=sr_1
TWITTER: @joeochman
FACEBOOK: joeochmanactor
Anthony Kierann
Producer
Anthony is currently the Chief Operating Officer of one of Australia’s leading performing arts institutions, Actors Centre Australia. Anthony is an Ambassador and Jury member for SF3 Smartphone Film Festival; he sits on the Board of Directors for Australia’s Largest Film Festival, The Alliance Franchise French Film Festival. Recently Anthony launched a new Teachers Academy with a Global partner partnered with ACA.
Anthony worked as the General Manager of Australia’s Number one film location at Event Cinemas George Street. Winning a company award across New Zealand, Germany and Australia. Subsequently Anthony moved further into Film Exhibition, programming, creating initiatives and programs within Event Cinemas nationally. As General Manager of Film Festivals, Australian Cinema and Programs, Anthony created programs such as the popular National In the House program hosted by Jabba Davis and David Quinn, Niche505, Outta The Box, Hollywood Classics, JFF Fringe and The Artists Room conversation series in collaboration with Screen NSW and AFTRS with Phillip Noyce, Gillian Armstrong, David Wenham and other Australian industry artists, hosted by Margaret Pomeranz and Luke Buckmaster.
Anthony championed Event Cinemas co-sponsorship of the inaugural Create NSW 360 Virtual Reality Film Conference. He has a passion for community, developing partnerships, growth opportunities for emerging filmmakers and festival expansion. He initiated the Award for Best Short Screenplay Award for Mardi Gras Film Festival – My Queer Career, the Best Australian Short Screenplay award with Sydney Film Festival, and award partnerships with South Australian Screen Association, Tropfest Kids and most recently ACA partnerships with SWIFF, My Queer Career, Northern Territory Arts, Bus Stop Films, WIFT, Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival. Festival groups Anthony has closely worked with include some of the largest and culturally prominent, Adelaide Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival, Russian Film Festival, Mardi Gras Film Festival, Japanese Film Festival, Winda International Indigenous Film Festival, SF3 Film Festival, Documentary Foundation Australia, Gold Coast Film Festival, Queer Fest, International Adelaide Kids Film Festival, Monster Fest and the Jewish Film Festival.
Anthony has been a Short Film jury member for AACTA, Gold Coast Film Festival SIPFEST, SF3, a keynote speaker at NSW Public Schools Film Festival symposium and was on the advisory panel for the City of Sydney Council for three years.
Anthony implemented the ACA Masterclass series working with Samantha Lang, Kriv Stenders, Damon Herriman, Alex Proyas, Monica Zanetti, Rosie Lourde, and Joanna Murray Smith. ACA on the road, taking Master classes around the country to regional and other areas allowing the community to experience Actors Centre training. Anthony produced the ACA “in Conversation” series with guests Hugh Jackman, Scott Hicks, Georgia Parker, David Wenham, Susan Prior and other industry guests. West End Pictures a new film program came to life furthering film collaborations with ACA hosted by film critic Garry Maddox. Collaborative associations with writers, directors, producers, and industry organisations have been included within ACA corridors.
In collaboration with Bus Stop Films, and supported by the Australian Government, a new devised acting program for people living with disability is a welcome addition to ACA. The program is workshopped and designed by ACA teachers in collaboration with Bus Stop Films students, culminating with a public performance.
Thomas Duncan-Watt
Screenwriter
Thomas Duncan-Watt is a three-time AWGIE Award winning screenwriter and show runner who has worked across genres. Starting his career as a comedy writer on shows like Good News Week and Newsjack, his screen credits include episodes of the Emmy Award-winning Beat Bugs for Netflix, The Deep for the ABC, Winston Steinburger for Teletoon, and Dennis the Menace and Gnasher for the BBC, where one of his scripts earned the show its first ever BAFTA nomination.
In 2018 Thomas earned his first Head Writer role on Space Nova, a 26×1/2 hour animated sci-fi series that has already won the AWGIE award two years running for ‘Best Animated Script’, as well as winning ‘Best Animated Series’ at the AACA Awards and being nominated for SPA and AACTA awards.
Currently, Thomas is working on Space Nova’s planned second season, while developing an original series with a US team that includes Emmy-Award winning director Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Crown). He has also recently become a freelance screenwriter on the iconic Australian serial, Home and Away.
Roxanne Prophet
Filmmaker
Roxanne Prophet was born in Nairobi Kenya and has been fortunate to live in some beautiful and stimulating places across the globe. She discovered her love of film at a young age and when she was 16 she started volunteering on any film set that would take her. She officially started her career at Rural Media as a trainee for a lottery-funded project called Shoot Out. She travelled the English and Welsh countryside shooting films about community and teaching teenagers how to make films. She developed lasting relationships with these young creatives and has enjoyed watching them mould their careers and inspire others as she did. Since then she has always had a passion for community-run and community action films.
Roxanne received a First Class Honours Media Arts Degree majoring in Producing from Royal Holloway, University of London. She initiated and ran a film society that now runs a film festival every year.
Straight out of University she landed a coveted Talent Management position at Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) in London. Here she worked on movies such as The Martian, Spectre, Star Wars The Force Awakens, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Deepwater Horizon, Doctor Strange and Star Wars; Rogue One. At ILM she achieved one of her life’s ambitions, being part of a Star Wars movie!
Roxanne is now an Artist Manager at Animal Logic. She has the opportunity to hire and manage all the wonderfully creative and astonishingly talented people who make animated family features like the Lego Movies and Peter Rabbit.
In her spare time, she runs Film Championships, a small online community motivating filmmakers around the world. She creates short and inspiring challenges that are designed for anyone to try, professional and amateur alike. The challenges are specifically time restricted to encourage a focus on the theme and creation of a finished product.
Currently, she is now taking on the biggest challenge of her life: breaking a Guinness World Record in film! She hopes to create a 75min feature that breaks the “Highest Body Count in a Slasher Movie”.
Callum Pritchard
Student Filmmaker
Callum Pritchard is a filmmaker and student from Melbourne. Having only just graduated from Year 12 in 2020, Callum has moved on to pursue his passion by studying Film and Television at Swinburne University of Technology.
Callum has maintained a relationship with SF3 in recent years, first entering the competition in 2016 with a shortlisted film in SF3 Kids. The following years his short films ‘Behind Closed Doors’ and ‘Forgive Me’ were selected as the winner of SF3 Kids, with the latter even being chosen for the Official Selection Gala Event and winning runner up for Best Cinematography. He has always prided himself on the mature themes inn his films despite being so young, such as domestic violence and teenage drug abuse.
For his final Media project in high school, Callum created a music video which was selected for Top Screens 2020; a selective collection of the best VCE Media films from the whole of Victoria. Callum is also doing freelance videography work for a range of clients, offering promotional marketing content under his business Pritchard Productions. You can check out his YouTube channel here.
Talin Agon
Actor, Producer, Writer & Director
Talin Agon is an actor, writer, producer and private tutor from Sydney’s Northern Beaches. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Australian Catholic University, majoring in Theatre and Performance and Literature. She then completed her post graduate Master’s degree in English Literature at Macquarie University.
In 2010, she was awarded a scholarship by The New York Film Academy to study acting in Los Angeles. She has further honed her skills via Paul Michael’s The Network in New York, The Actor’s Pulse in Sydney, and vocal coaching with Bill Pepper. Talin continues to study acting, and is currently completing classes at the Sydney Acting Studio in Redfern.
Talin has appeared in a number of stage plays, commercials, and feature films, including “Life of the Party” (2017) “Life Class” (2016). More recently, she was cast in the upcoming feature film “Public Eye” (2021). She has also appeared in several short films, such as “Fenced” which took home the AACTA social shorts award for its heartfelt portrayal of the refugee experience in Australia.
Talin is the founder of Queen of the Jungle, her production company, which has produced the short films “The Paper Rose”, “The Ghost of Kelly Winters”, “Upsold” “Touch/Screen” and “Wrath.” Her films have won awards and been included in over 20 festivals collectively. She is currently co-writing her first feature film and producing three shorts set to go into production in 2021 and 2022.
Outside of her projects, Talin is the founder of her education company Study Sphere, which offers English, Math and Acting tuition to school students across Sydney. Most recently, Talin has been coaching teens at NIDA open and has joined the SF3 team as an Associate Producer and Judge.
YOLANDI FRANKEN
PRODUCER
Yolandi Franken (NSW JP #254106) is a Film and TV Producer, TV-host and industry all-rounder and has been in showbiz since the turn of the century. She produced three feature films; Turbines (Amazon Prime), Tabernacle 101 (USA Cinema release, Amazon Prime, Tubi, Google Play, Apple TV, Hulu) and Streets of Colour, two TV series; The Fast Lane (South-East Asian Broadcast) and Miss Multiverse Australia (Amazon Prime, Tubi), a three-part documentary series called Yols Discover, and hundreds of shorter format stories. Her works got accepted into many prestigious film festivals and received over thirty festival wins.
Her project, Carmen & Bolude, which was written by Michela Carattini and Bolude Watson, received financial support from the National Film Body, Screen Australia and was accepted into the 2021 MIFF (Melbourne International Film Festival)’s 37°South Market. The film, which she produces with Michela, was also the only Australian film from the 41 films accepted into the 2021 Ontario Creates International Financing Forum (IFF) at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
She joined WIFT (Women in film & Television) Australia and is currently the Board Secretary, NSW Board Member, Co-Chair of their NSW Events Committee and Chair of their Virtual Arm. Apart from her duties on the board, she is involved in organising face-to-face and virtual events and workshops with industry leaders, educators, suppliers, funding bodies and guilds. She personally had the privilege to work with Disney, Niki Caro, Mandy Walker ASC ACS, Steph Power, Jill Bilcock, Bonnie Elliott, Arri, Panavision, APRA-Amcos, all he film guilds and many more.
She is currently also the Editor in Chief for Film Central Magazine, an online and print magazine that bring film news to film lovers.
In 2014 Yolandi started a charitable film festival called Cause Film Festival which she ran for three years before passing on her role as Festival Director. The festival is still running and has housed some of Australia’s most talented filmmakers and actors.
Katharine Ruth Rogers
PRODUCER, FILMMAKER & AUTHOR
Katharine is an award-winning writer/director. Her films have screened at many homegrown and international film festivals, including Flickerfest, Aesthetica Short Film Festival, and St Louis International Film festival. As well as receiving theatrical distribution in Australia, and the US. And screening on Virgin Inflight entertainment two years in a row.
Katharine is also a digital producer for ABC Kids. She has directed the 20-episode series Story Salad screening on iview and numerous promos for broadcast on ABC2. She was also a Development Producer on the Story Salad and Gardening Buds podcasts for ABC Kids listen. She is the curator of the Family Films Program at Sydney Film Festival.
Katharine’s debut picture book, Cockatoo Magic, is being published by Loose Parts Press in July 2022.
Karishma Mathur
EDUCATOR, ACTOR & CASTING ASSISTANT
Karishma is a high school Drama (and English) teacher and actor. She has a double degree from University of New South Wales in Bachelor of Arts (Major: English and Theatre) and Bachelor of
Education. Karishma has also participated in extensive workshops from National Institute for Dramatic Arts (NIDA), Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP), Institute of Advance Acting and Behavioural Studies (Mumbai), and Stella Adler (Los Angeles) to name a few.
Wayne Tunks
FILMMAKER, WRITER & ACTOR
Wayne Tunks is an award-winning filmmaker, actor, writer, director, acting coach and broadcaster from Sydney. He began making theatre in 2000 and since then has had his work performed all over Australia, the most recent production was in Launceston for ‘The Bridesmaid Must Die!’, which won 4 awards in this year’s Tasmanian Theatre Awards. Wayne’s other successful plays have included, ‘The Subtle Art of the Flirting’, ‘We’ll Always Have Wagga’, ‘Everything I Know I Learnt From Madonna’, ‘Silvertop Ash’, ‘The Girlie Show’ and ‘Hell Hath No Fury’.
As a filmmaker, Wayne’s web series, ‘After Nightfall’ has won awards all over the world; including trophies from the NYC Web Fest, New Jersey Web Fest, Asia Web Awards, British Web Awards and Baltimore Web Fest. His shorts, ‘Arlo’ and ‘Overcaterers Anonymous’, have also screened around the world and won many awards. He is currently shooting his new web series, ‘Spook Siblings’, a horror / comedy web series about aging monster hunters. Wayne has also directed CMT number one music videos for Amber Lawrence and Christie Lamb, as well as clips for Kylie Gale and Arna Georgia.
Wayne’s first novel. ‘Normal or Nothing Like It’, was released in 2021, and his new novel, ‘Electricity’ is out in July 2022. Wayne is a former storyliner on TV’s, ‘Neighbours’ and has been teaching acting to children and teens for the past 20 years in both Sydney and Melbourne. Wayne is also the breakfast announcer on 80s radio station, My88.
Currently Wayne can be seen in the feature horror film, ‘Apparitions’, which is winning awards and screening internationally. Wayne is a proud LGBTQ+ activist and music enthusiast.
Oladipo O’Fresh
SMARTPHONE FILMMAKER & EDUCATOR
Michèle Jedlicka
SMARTPHONE FILMMAKER & EDUCATOR
Jordon Briggs
FILMMAKER, WRITER & PODCASTER
Adrian Jeffs
FILMMBREAKER, STORYTELLER & HUMAN
Living in the beautiful Yarra Valley in Victoria Australia, Adrian is a late bloomer in the filmmaking scene as it wasn’t until he was in his mid 40’s that he was introduced to the wonderfully accessible world of smartphone storytelling.
Since making his first film ‘A good day to die” in late 2016 he has achieved success both locally and internationally and was honoured with winning Best Documentary at MoMo in 2017 and having his second film with his dear friend Mark, premiere at The Sydney Opera House at SF3 in 2018. He was also the winner of the SF3 & Luma Touch Finished on Mobile Award in 2020.
He is passionate about telling stories with heart and shining a light on those that may be living in the shadows that need their stories heard.
Mobile filmmaking has allowed Adrian to follow his dreams and join amazing communities like SF3, MINA and FILMBREAKER to help the next wave of smartphone filmmakers reach their goals.
Dannie Spenxer
FILMMAKER, STORYTELLER, SINGER, SONGWRITER, ACTOR, MUSIC PRODUCER & TECHNOLOGIST
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