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Accelerator Classic Participants with short films at MIFF 2013
AIDEE WALKER (Friday Tigers): A graduate of Auckland’s UNITEC School of Performing and Screen Arts, Walker acted in New Zealand TV series OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE. After returning to NZ from years abroad, she wrote and performed her own work and transitioned to writing and directing film. Her first short, The F.E.U.C., screened at NZ’s Show Me Shorts Festival and the Palm Springs International Shortsfest, and her second short was the NZ Film Commission Fresh Shorts-funded Friday Tigers. She had acting roles on NZ TV series Sunny Skies and film HOW TO MEET GIRLS FROM A DISTANCE. Her third short film is BREAK IN THE WEATHER.
CATHERINE BISLEY (Wide Eyed): A writer and director based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Bisley’s short films include UNTITLED GROPING REVENGE FAIRYTALE (2017), CETOLOGY (2023), and GARAGE STORIES: A STRANGE COLLECTIVE EXPERIENCE OF ISOLATION (2020). Her films have played at MIFF, Sydney Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival, Key West Film Festival, and Wairoa Māori Film Festival.
COLIN HODSON (Maul): Hodson’s first two films were the micro-budget improvised features SHIFTER (2000) and OFF. (AKA .ON.) (2002/2006). He completed three other shorts: KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK, WETLANDS and FOXLAND.
JAMES VAUGHAN (You Like It, I Love It): Vaughan’s 2013 short film You Like It, I Love It was selected for competition at the Berlin, Clermont-Ferrand and Melbourne film festivals. At MIFF 2013, he won the Emerging Australian Filmmaker Award. In 2014 he completed feature documentary Several Occupations with co-director Isaac Wall. Vaughan completed Screen Australia’s Talent Escalator program and is the curator of the Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art’s Contemporary Film series.
JORDAN PROSSER (Hungry Man): A Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) graduate, Prosser’s HUNGRY MAN won the VCA Awards for Best Screenplay and Best Honours Production and screened at dozens of local and international festivals. His 2016 short, TANGLEWOOD, received Screen Australia’s Hot Shots funding. In 2018, he co-wrote the screenplay for Justin Dix’s BLOOD VESSEL, released worldwide in 2020. In 2022, he was selected for the Imagine Impact screenwriting program, where he worked with writer Shaun Grant (SNOWTOWN, TRUE HISTORY OF THE KELLY GANG) on a new original feature. Jordan’s debut novel, BIG TIME, will be published in 2024 by UQP.
MARGARET HARVEY (The Hunter): An actor by trade, Harvey switched to creating and directing theatre and film. She continues to collaborate with her brother John Harvey on film and theatre projects through Brown Cab and worked on a live performance project with the Saibai people in the Torres Straits.
MAT GOVONI (The Misfortune of Others): A dual-graduate of the Australian Film TV & Radio School, Govoni previously worked in the camera department and VFX. His DELEGATE music video for artist David Bridie won a Nevada International Film Festival Platinum Reel Award. Govoni’s 2014 short documentary on transgender youth, IN MY SHOES (co-directed with Monique Schafter), screened in Australian Parliament, ABC1 and the Human Rights and Arts Film Festival. In 2019, he co-produced the Screen Australia and MIFF Premiere Fund-supported feature LONE WOLF starring Hugo Weaving and Tilda Cobham-Hervey. LONE WOLF premiered at the 2021 Rotterdam International Film Festival. His new film, LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL, premieres at SXSW in 2023.
MATTHEW MOORE (The Amber Amulet): Matthew made his debut as writer/director with the short films Julian and The Amber Amulet, which won back to back Crystal Bears at The 62nd and 63rd Berlin International Film Festival. SVOD and Network Television directing credits include the Emmy and BAFTA-winning comedy series The Great for Hulu and MRC Entertainment (Matthew was also part of the writers room for season 2); Outlander: Blood of My Blood for Starz and Sony TV; Colin From Accounts for Paramount+ and CBS Studios; Diary of an Uber Driver for ABC which Matthew set up and directed all 6 episodes; Bump for Stan; and Offspring for Network 10. Awards include the AACTA Award for Best Short Fiction Film, The AWGIE award for Best Short Screenplay, selection at Les Cesars Golden Night of The Best Short Films of the Year in Paris and the Oscar Qualifying Grand Prix from the Heartland Film Festival. Matthew has also been nominated for four ADG Awards from the Australian Directors Guild.
BEC PENISTON-BIRD (Summer Suit): See 2014.
ROMAINE MORETON (The Oysterman): A Geonpul Jagera and Bundjalung woman, Moreton is a transmedia artist and poet who works in film, theatre, digital media, performance and poetry. Her ‘Poems from a Homeland’ was one of 100 notebooks published as part of dOCUMENTA (13), held in 2012 at Kassel, Germany. Her first two scripted films, REDREEMING THE DARK and CHERISH, were selected for the fringe program of the Cannes Film Festival. A third film, A WALK WITH WORDS, based on Moreton’s poetry and experience, won the award for Best International Short Film at 2000’s World of Women Film Festival. She is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Newcastle’s Umulliko Education Research Centre, interrogating western media-making systems from within an Indigenous worldview. She wrote and directed the award winning The Farm (2009), screened on ABC-TV in the “New Blak” series, and The Oysterman (2014).
SAM DIXON (Old Mate): After completing a Fine Arts Degree in Film & TV at Queensland University of Technology, Dixon worked on short films and music videos in various roles that have been shown in many film festivals. He completed a Masters in Screenwriting at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) in 2014.
SOPHIE HAYWARD (The Zoo): Hayward studied Creative Arts at La Trobe University, Writing and Art History at the UK’s University of East Anglia and a BA in Film and TV (Honours) at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). She has directed theatre, music videos and short films, which won her a scholarship and awards. Since her graduate film The Zoo played at MIFF 2013’s Accelerator strand, she has worked as an art director and completed short film The Cosmonaut.
TENIKA SMITH (Thanks for the Ride): Smith studied filmmaking at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) where her graduating film Thanks for the Ride received the Panavision Award for Outstanding Script and premiered at MIFF in 2013. She has worked in advertising; directing TVCs, online ad campaigns and content, while also working on and developing narrative projects. Her television directing credits include Neighbours (10 Peach/Channel 5 UK), The Heights (ABC/BBC) and ITCH (ABC Me/BBC) and most recently she was the set-up director on Rock Island Mysteries (Nickelodeon/10Shake). She was nominated for Best Direction in a Drama Serial at the ADG awards for her work on Neighbours and The Heights.
TYMON LANGFORD (Thylacine): Langford was awarded the 2004 Sydney Theatre Company Young Playwrights’ Award and has a Bachelor of Media and Communications from the University of Sydney (majoring in Film Studies and Art History). He has also studied at the Australian Film TV & Radio School (AFTRS) and the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) for a Masters in Film and TV (Narrative). Since THYLACINE played at 2013’s MIFF Accelerator, he has completed two more short films, EAST OF ZERO and FINDER.
2013 Accelerator Express Selected by Screen Australia Springboard
CHISTOPHER WEEKES: An actor, writer and director who trained with the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) and the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA), Weekes made his feature debut when he wrote, directed and starred in Bitter & Twisted, which had its US premiere at Tribeca Film Festival. His 2009 script The Muppet Man, about the life of Jim Henson, is setup at Disney. He has also acted on TV series PUBERTY BLUES.
DARLENE JOHNSON: Johnson, from the Dunghutti people of NSW, started her writer/director career with the 1996 short film Two Bob Mermaid and continued mainly in documentaries from International EMMY Award-nominated STOLEN GENERATIONS to STRANGER IN MY SKIN and the “making-of” Phillip Noyce’s RABBIT-PROOF FENCE and GULPILIL-ONE RED BLOOD. Ten years later, Johnson made her second short, CROCODILE DREAMING, and RIVER OF NO RETURN (MIFF 2008). She has produced documentaries for ABC-TV’s “Message Stick” series and her next documentary was THE REDFERN STORY. In 2016, her award-winning short film BLUEY was produced via the Screen Australia’s Springboard Initiative and won Best Director (short film) at the Australian Directors Guild Awards.
HANNAH MOON: Melbourne-based Moon’s Screen Australia Springboard-funded short Dario premiered at MIFF 2014 and had international screenings including Palm Springs Shortfest and Arizona International, where it won Best Global Comedy Short. She is a member of Boomgate Films, which also launched Screen Australia-supported web-series Altruman. Launched on ABC iView in 2014, it won at LA’s Independent Series Awards. Her other short films include Hamish and Screen-Australia funded Raw Nerve film Bored Girls.
SAM MCKEITH: McKeith’s short films, including RAIN (2011), CONVENIENCE (2012) and A FAREWELL PARTY (2014), played at film festivals including Berlin, Telluride and Busan. A graduate of the Australian Film TV and Radio School, McKeith also has a Bachelor of Laws and Arts from The University of Sydney.
TOM MCKEITH: McKeith’s short films have played at film festivals including Berlin, Telluride and Busan. In 2011, he received production funding through Screen NSW’s Emerging Film-Makers’ Fund and in 2012 his feature screenplay Boxer was selected for Screen NSW’s Aurora script development workshop and is now part of Screen Australia’s Springboard development program. McKeith, who has a Graduate Diploma in Screen Directing from the Australian Film TV & Radio School, has a Bachelor of Laws & Arts from Sydney University majoring in English.
