Kauthar Abdulalim is an Australian Muslim filmmaker and producer based in Naarm, Melbourne. Her achievements include her compelling, award-winning short film The Ninth Tower, a film based on the hard-lockdown incident that premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival, won the award for Best Short Film at the 2022 VMC Film Festival and is currently streaming on SBS OnDemand. Kauthar secured production funding from entities like Screen Australia, VicScreen, and TikTok for the second season of her TikTok rom-com series #MATCHED, as well as securing production funding for her YouTube comedy series, Salma’s Season, courtesy of Screen Australia and VicScreen, with an international streamer and distributor.  Kauthar’s professional journey also encompasses substantial contributions to documentary productions. She played vital roles as an Impact Producer in ABC’s You See Monsters and Production Manager in SBS’s Our African Roots and Who the Bloody Hell Are We? Driven by her creative vision, Kauthar established her own independent production company, Blacksand Pictures which received Screen Enterprise Business funding from Screen Australia in 2023. Kauthar used this to establish her company in Kenya and build strong relationships in the MENA region, working closely with entities such as the Saudi Film Commission to launch the inaugural Saudi Film Nights in 2024.

Louise Cocks is an Investment and Development Manager at Screen Australia in the Online Department. She joined the Online team in 2019, having previously worked as a Film Programmer for Village Cinemas Australia and as a creator/actor in web series, theatre shows and more. Her role includes managing development, production and completion funding for multiple online projects across YouTube, Facebook, ABC iView, SBS OnDemand, as well as VR projects. Series she Louise has worked on have been selected for Content London, SXSW (Austin and Sydney) and CanneSeries. She has worked across initiatives with partners such as SBS, YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat, including Digital Originals, Every Voice, Skip Ahead and more. Louise is passionate about supporting writers, producers, and other creators to get their start in the industry and to produce work which resonates with an international audience.

Lachlan and Austin Macfarlane are multi-disciplined filmmakers and content creators, whose creative work has amassed hundreds of millions of views online. After a few years working in the film and television industry, Lachlan and Austin took to social media to translate their filmmaking skills into engaging and shareable content. They have travelled the world working with brands such as Warner Bros, Sony Pictures and Amazon Prime, represented Australia at Cannes after winning the 2023 Cannes Young Lions Film category and were awarded Most Influential 2023 Creator by the Australian Influencer Marketing Council Awards. In the ever-evolving landscape of digital entertainment, Lachlan and Austin Macfarlane are navigating the intersection of social and traditional media.  

Sara Taghaode is a producer and business owner based in Meanjin (Brisbane), best described as someone who thrives in challenging the status quo. Sara is Co-Owner and Executive Producer at Kiosk Films, a multi-pillared production company established in 2013.  Kiosk has a proven track record  producing television commercials, arts based screen content, short films and television programs including stage to screen interpretations The Brothers’ Book Club (ABC iview), Demolition: Staging A Protest (ABC and Film Festivals globally), documentaries Plant Delicious (SBS) and Ageless (Premiered BIFF 2022) and a catalogue of screen dance and fashion films, that have screened globally at hundreds of film festivals to critical acclaim. Sara and the Kiosk team are utilising AI technology to further break ground in this screen/arts intersection. Sara is a producer for the hit children’s YouTube Channel, Rainbow Bop, where four puppet best friends change your mood with music. The Rainbow Bop Show will launch to the channel’s 50,000 subscribers on YouTube in 2025 with support through Screen Australia’s Skip Ahead program. Sara’s comedy web series Lets Break Up created by TikTok superstar Anisa Nandaula (250,000 followers, 18 million likes) has been developed through the Digital Originals initiative and Screen Australia Generate funding, with production proposed to start in early 2025.  

Bobbi-Lea Dionysius is an award-winning creative producer and impact producer, focusing on social impact documentaries and multi-platform 360-immersive projects. A passionate advocate for gender equity and diversity, Bobbi-Lea is the current Chair of the WIFT QLD Chapter (Women in Film & TV), and a member of the Equality, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Council at Griffith Film School. She also held the role of Festival Director of WIFT V-FEST online women’s film festival. Her producing credits include the award-winning Sorella’s Story, a 360-immersive short film which premiered in-competition at the prestigious Venice International Film Festival and is currently leading a very successful impact campaign; ,the AACTA nominated feature documentary To Never Forget, and the broadcast documentary In Their Name (Compass, ABC). She just completed her second 360-immersive film We Were Children Once, and is currently in post-production for the feature doc A Light in the Slaughterhouse shot over 15 years in Bangkok, and is in development with Screen Queensland’s support for the feature doc Lethal Autonomous Weapons on Trial, which is about the use of artificial intelligence in civilian policing and military warfare.

Camilla Mazzaferro is currently the Managing Director of independent production company Finch No Worries and a producer on the 2024 Sundance U.S Documentary Grand Jury Prize Winner, Porcelain War. She began her career at PWC and RadicalMedia, producing a prolific number of award-winning commercial campaigns, music videos, and short films such as Homebodies which premiered at SXSW in 2016. Her other producing credits include feature documentaries My Sister Liv (Karlovy Vary, Doc NYC 2023), A Fire Inside (Sydney Film Festival 2021), Machine (MIFF 2019), and Netflix Original Chef’s Table. Other projects include The Meddler – El Metido (MIFF 2020), Uluru & The Magician, The Swimmer with Ian Thorpe and Girls Can’t Surf (Tribeca Film Festival 2021). 

Malinda Wink is the Executive Director of Minderoo Pictures, the social impact film enterprise of Minderoo Foundation. Malinda was Executive Producer of the climate documentary, 2040, The Final Quarter about champion First Nation‘s AFL player, Adam Goodes, and Big Deal: Is Our Democracy for Sale? She is a highly regarded leader within the global screen industry and not-for-profit sector. Before joining Minderoo Pictures, Malinda was Doc Society’s Global Director of Good Pitch and launched their Australian programs, including the ABC’s Climate and Environment Shorts initiative. She was previously Executive Director of Good Pitch Australia whose films included That Sugar Film, Gayby Baby, The Opposition, Blue, Frackman, and In My Blood It Runs, and Executive Director of Ian Darling’s Shark Island Institute. 

Leah Purcell AM is an internationally acclaimed actor, director, producer and writer on stage and screen and a proud Goa-Gunggari-Wakka Wakka Murri woman from Queensland, Australia. Leah stars opposite Sigourney Weaver in the recent Amazon Prime Video limited series The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (Amazon Studios/Endeavor Content/Made Up Stories). She also stars in both the drama series High Country (Curio Pictures/Foxtel/Binge), and the feature film Shayda (Executive Producer, Cate Blanchett) which had its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Leah’s debut feature film The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson––based on her award-winning play of the same name––had its world premiere screening in competition at SxSW 2021 and was released theatrically in the US by Samuel Goldwyn Films. Leah produced, directed, wrote and stars in the film, winning the 2022 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Award for Best Lead Actress in Film, 2022 Australian Directors’ Guild Award for Best Direction in a Feature Film, 2023 Film Critics Circle of Australia Award (FCCA) for Best Actress, 2021 Asia Pacific Screen Award Grand Jury Prize and 2021 Australian Screen Industry Network Award (ASIN) for Best Writer/Screenplay. 

Mitch Stanley is a Wiradjuri producer who started his producing career with ABC3 Kid’s show, Move It Mob Style, then four series of Colour Theory with Richard Bell and Tony Albert. He wrote and produced Servant or Slave and produced Warwick Thornton’s documentary television series, The Beach. Mitch also produced the first Indigenous official co- production between Australia and New Zealand, We Are Still Here, which opened the Sydney Film Festival, was selected for the Toronto International Film Festival and went on to win the Best Narrative Feature film at ImagineNative Film Festival. Mitch recently produced societal thriller and psychological horror, The Moogai with Director Jon Bell and Causeway Films (The Babadook) and was officially selected for competition in the Midnight Section of the prestigious Sundance Film Festival for 2024 and won the audience award for Best Australian Feature at the Sydney Film Festival in 2024. 

Tanya Denning-Orman, a proud Birri and Guugu Yimidhirr woman from Central and North Queensland, has led National Indigenous Television since it joined SBS in 2012, and became SBS’s first Director of Indigenous Content in 2020. Tanya manages NITV as a channel dedicated to Indigenous voices, overseeing its diverse and innovative multiplatform content. She also plays an instrumental role in the development and delivery of First Nations storytelling across the SBS network. With over 20 years’ experience working in media, Tanya has previously held positions as a journalist and producer for ABC and SBS, and a number of different roles at NITV since its inception in 2007. As a champion for strong Indigenous media, she has also held a number of industry Board positions including with Media Diversity Australia, First Nations Media Australia, and currently with the World Indigenous Television Broadcast Network. 

Clare Sladden is a Meeanjin/Brisbane-based writer with a passion for female-driven stories. In 2020, Clare was selected for the prestigious SPA Ones to Watch program, in 2021 she was chosen as the successful participant of Screen Queensland’s Bradford Winters Lab, a program specifically designed to facilitate emerging showrunners, and in 2022, Clare was named on Inside Film’s Rising Talent list. Her credits include NCIS: Sydney (ESA for Paramount+) and Eden (Every Cloud Productions for Stan), while most recently, Clare worked as a staff writer under American showrunner John Quaintance on his series Good Cop/Bad Cop (Jungle Entertainment and Future Shack for The CW Network, Roku and Stan). She also wrote on Sunny Nights (Jungle Entertainment and Echo Lake Entertainment for Stan) and has been awarded Screen Australia development funding for her feature Sophie Next Door, which she’ll write, direct and co-produce. 

In 2013 Josh Tanner co-wrote and directed the short film The Landing, an ambitious period drama/sci-fi, which had its world premiere at the 46th Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival, going which went on to win over 15 awards at international festivals After its run on the festival circuit, The Landing had a successful online release, gaining Vimeo Staff Picks and receiving over 1,000,000 views to date between Vimeo and YouTube. In 2016 Josh received funds through Screen Australia’s Hot Shots program to make Wandering Soul, a Vietnam War-set supernatural horror executive produced by the Spierig Brothers. The film earned Josh a 2017 ADG Awards nomination for Best Direction in a Short Film. In its online release, Wandering Soul went on to gain Vimeo Staff Picks and gained almost 2,000,000 views to date between Vimeo and YouTube. Josh is currently in early pre-production on his debut feature film, set to go into production Q4 2024.  

Amy Parry is an independent filmmaker and creative producer with 20 years of experience across theatre, screen, and digital media. Her recent credits include directing and producing the music/medical documentary Waiting Room, executive producing ABC’s A League of Her Own, and Audible’s top trending scripted podcasts Beyond Strange Lands and Winding Road. She directed the award-winning comedy short film Cult Following and created the children’s YouTube channel Rainbow Bop, which has had over 2.5 million views since January 2023, and is a recipient of support from Screen Queensland and Screen Australia’s Skip Ahead initiative in partnership with YouTube. A participant in Screen Producers Australia’s Ones to Watch program for 2023/24, Amy received a Screen Australia Screen Internship with the UK’s Eleven Films (Sex Education, Ten Pound Poms). She is currently working in development with the Australian children’s show Bluey and has a slate of scripted series and features in development through her new company Sun Screen Pictures.  

Sean Lynch has spent many years working in the Australian film, television and theatre industries as a writer, director and actor. His credits include the first 13-part police action/drama series Eagle Four for Afghan television, filmed entirely in Afghanistan, which Sean co-wrote and co-directed. The series went on to win several international television awards. Sean’s other writing and directing credits include horror/comedy series The Abominable Flatmate for ABC, comedy series Profiles for Starchild Media, 8-part dramedy series The Tour commissioned by Movie Network and the award-winning web series The Road to Tropfest for Movie Network. Sean has written and directed multiple award-winning short films including Ground Hero, Tropfest best comedy and best screenplay winner, Aimez Filmez Equipage, winner of best film at Avid film Awards, Looking for Heroes, New York Comic Con short film awards and others. Sean has received development funding from screen agencies for several projects, including the comedy/action female superhero series Magpie & The Pigeon, a children’s sport series and a dramedy based on his own experience making television in Afghanistan. Currently Sean is working on several feature film and television projects.  

With over 20 years of experience in the Australian screen industry, Amanda Duthie is a passionate advocate for Australian storytelling. Amanda is the Head of Stan Originals, encompassing scripted series and features, entertainment and factual features and series content. Stan Originals has commissioned critically acclaimed and award-winning fiction content including Black Snow, Bump, Population 11, The Tourist, Bad Behaviour, Prosper, Caught, Ten Pound Poms and Wolf Like Me. Across the Revealed slate of feature documentaries, titles include Renee Gracie: Fireproof, Otto by Otto, Danielle Laidley: Two Tribes, Amongst Us: Neo Nazi Australia and The Cape. Amanda has been Head of Arts & Entertainment at ABC TV, Head of Drama SBS, Head of Production, Development and Studios at the South Australian Film Corporation and Creative Director/CEO of the Adelaide Film Festival, leading both the festival and its investment fund and Creative Director/CEO of Adelaide Festival of Ideas. 

Deirdre Brennan has extensive experience as an executive in the domestic and international screen sector. Prior to joining Screen Australia in 2024, Deirdre was the Chief Operating Officer of WildBrain, a global independent media entertainment company spanning content production, distribution and brands licensing. Previously, Deirdre worked at BBC Worldwide Australia as the Director of Television, General Manager and Director of Content. Her former roles include Head of Children’s Television at the ABC TV and General Manager of Universal Kids at NBC Universal.

Todd Fellman is one of Australia’s leading producers with over 30 years’ experience in the financing and physical production of feature films. His Brisbane-based company, Story Bridge Films has produced a diverse slate of projects, credits include; Restraint, Daybreakers, Under the Sea 3D IMAX, Bait 3D, A Few Best Men, Mental, Guardians of the Tomb, Jungle and At Last. He also consulted as supervising producer on Hotel Mumbai, directed by Anthony Maras and starring Dev Patel and Tilda Cobham-Hervey. The American-born creative graduated in 1991 from Tulane University in New Orleans, with a Bachelor of Mass Communications, before moving down under to take up an internship with Village Roadshow Pictures. Most recently, he produced Black Site with Thunder Road Pictures, starring Jason Clarke and Michelle Monaghan and The Portable Door alongside The Jim Henson Company, starring Christoph Waltz and Sam Neill.  

Paul Wiegard co-founded Madman Entertainment in 1996, a leading independent distribution and rights management company for feature film with offices in Melbourne, Auckland and Berlin. Films distributed by Madman include over 100 Academy Award® nominees and winners, headlined by 2020’s historic Best Picture win for Parasite. On the home front, Madman has distributed over 20 AACTA-nominated films for Best Feature Film including Nitram, High Ground, Jasper Jones, Snowtown, The Hunter, Animal Kingdom, Noise and Kenny; and Best Documentary Film winners including Gurrumul, The Australian Dream, That Sugar Film, Mountain and River. In New Zealand films distributed by Madman rank amongst the highest grossing local films of all time including Hunt for the Wilderpeople, What We Do In The Shadows, The Breaker Upperers and Savage, recently adding classics Siones Wedding and Whale Rider to the catalogue. Paul has executive produced more than 40 feature and documentary films, established streaming VOD platform DocPlay, a curated documentary platform and is a Graduate of the AFTRS Master of Screen Art and Business. Currently he is President – Australian Independent Distributors Association (AIDA), Board Member of Screenrights, Australian Centre of The Moving Image (ACMI) and Co-Chair of Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC).