Rebecca Thomson is a Tasmanian based writer/director who lives in Hobart with her husband, three kids, chooks, bees and extensive costume collection.
Rebecca has directed ten short films to date, including cult hits CUPCAKE: A ZOMBIE LESBIAN MUSICAL and SLASHED. Rebecca’s films have screened at more than seventy film festivals worldwide including Frameline San Francisco, Rio de Janeiro International Short Film Fest, New York City International Film Festival, and have won numerous awards along the way. Following a successful festival run Rebecca’s action/comedy film THE JELLY WRESTLER was selected to be part of the feature anthology 7 FROM ETHERIA produced by Etheria Film Night which has just been released in the USA on Amazon (watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2cOFhmOeLM).
In 2013 Rebecca won the Holding Redlich Pitch at the Screen Producers Association of Australia Conference with her pitch for a Zombie Lesbian Musical feature film, where judge Stephen Garrett (Executive Producer Spooks, Life on Mars) described Rebecca's pitch as 'a tour de force of a pitch' and 'stunning'.
As well as WOMEN OF THE ISLAND Rebecca is currently involved in developing a number of other exciting film projects including an all female directed horror feature anthology with Unicorn Films, and a low budget comedy feature film through Screen Tasmania’s Pitch Plot Produce program.
When not making films Rebecca can be found looking for her children’s missing shoes, organising the school fairs or running a film festival set in her very own backyard!
Lara is a writer, director, camera operator, producer and editor and has been involved in the production of over 50 short films and documentaries, working in the television industry for over 20 years.
She is focused on creating stories that engage, entertain and educate. Her latest role was as an ABC Open Producer / Community Engagement Producer with the Australian Broadcast Corporation. Her work was broadcast on ABC Local radio, Radio National, ABCNews24, Weekend Breakfast, Landline, Australia Wide, ABC iView and extensively through the various social media accounts of the ABC, such as ABC Open, ABC TV, ABC News and ABC Local radio station accounts.
Her work is always of broadcast standard and presented to reach the highest audience possible. An example of this would be a recent film shared on social media 2.6 million times. Other examples can be found here
Lara's documentary 'Palestine, Beer & Oktoberfest Under Occupation' won Best Australian Documentary and People's Choice Award at the WOW Film Festival 2010 and has officially screened at Dungog Film Festival, International Film Festival Ireland, Global Peace Film Festival and Queen's International Film Festival. It is currently being distributed through IndieFlix
Her short documentary ‘Nik & Ned’ was nominated for best documentary at the St Kilda Film Festival and has screened all over Australia.
She recently edited the critically acclaimed, Walkley Award nominated feature documentary, 'Mary Meets Mohammad', which screened in cinemas, with a cutdown version screening on ABC’s Compass.
Lara worked with Sarah Simmons to create 15 profiles of women along the Murray and Darling rivers called 'The Murray Darlings' which was a web series, but has also had screenings at festivals, with audio airing on ABC radio as well as online through the ABC. This project was partially funded through Regional Arts Victoria and privately funded by Ross Lake at TASCO.
Lara’s career began at Foxtel, working as a promo producer and she has since worked for companies such as SKY and creative agency Bruce Dunlop and Assoc. in the UK, National Geographic Channel in Sydney, and MBC in Dubai. Lara also freelanced as a promo producer for the Commonwealth Games and Showtime.
Promo work can be found here. TVC work can be found here. Films can be found here.
Ninna Millikin is a writer, director, camera-woman and editor. These are the tools of her calling as a storyteller and her passion is conveying stories that progress social and environmental issues.
Ninna has produced dozens of short promo films for a range of clients and causes and these can be enjoyed here.
Ninna's most recent film Plan Bee (10min) tracks a group of former refugee English language learners, getting their hands sticky beekeeping and learning the importance of bees in our world. An excerpt screened on ABC TV, ABC Online and at Flickerfest 2015.
Her art documentary Piercing Silence (10min) explores the nuances of three womens' very personal experiences of abortion and was made through Wide Angle Tasmania’s Raw Nerve initiative with funding from Screen Australia. It won the best short film category at Breath of Fresh Air Film Festival and screened at Flickerfest in 2013. In 2012 it was nominated for Best Experimental Film at Byron Bay International Film Festival and screened at World of Women Film Festival.
Her short film Plastic Shoreline – Cleaning up Tasmania’s Coastal Wilderness (10min) won both the audience choice and best of the festival at Under the Sea Film Festival 2012 and was a runner up for Best film at the Tasmanian Eco Film Festival 2015.
Ninna was the media producer for enviro-education group The Bookend Trust from 2009-2013 and worked closely with Heidi Lee Douglas and Dark Lake Productions between 2011-2013.
In 2010 she facilitated digital storytelling project Sharing Stories in remote aboriginal communities across Northern Australia. She has a graduate diploma (UTAS) in Communications and was host and producer for Edge Radio's current affairs program in 2009/2010.
Ninna's freelance clients as a producer of web clips and TVC’s include Getup! TAFE Tasmania, The Tasmanian Writers' Centre, The Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies UTAS, The Tasmanian Land Conservancy, The Tasmanian Greens and Recognise.