From Kalu Oji & Lucy Coleman to Melissa Anastasi & Jessica Sofarnos, These Are Some of the Upcoming Interviews

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing in depth interviews with established and emerging Australian filmmakers.

Conversations with these storytellers cover their path into filmmaking and storytelling on screen, their work through short films and feature films, and talking about their latest work.

In anticipation of when these interviews are published, we’re sharing some of the short films that make up their growing filmographies.

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Kalu Oji – Director of Pasa Faho

Kalu Oji’s feature film debut Pasa Faho is making its way around Australia with Q&A screenings. This is such a warm and tender debut feature, one that deserves viewing in a cinema. For screening dates and tickets, visit here.

In the meantime, head on over to TenDays.film to view Kalu’s short films. Shot with the same warmth that Pasa Faho is, these shorts invite an understanding of lives we rarely get to see in Australian cinema. I encourage you to dive into his work below. His earliest film, Blackwood, feels narratively tied to Pasa Faho as both explore parent and child relationships, but each of these shorts speaks to the experience of African-Australian lives.

Blackwood - 2019

What's In a Name? - 2022

Madeline Sunshine - actor in Daddy's Little Meatball

Madeline Sunshine is an actor who works between Australia and New York. Their performance in the FlickerFest award winning short, Daddy's Little Meatball, carries a level of maturity that brings the weight and tone of the film to life.

While Daddy's Little Meatball is making its rounds on the festival circuit, where it will no doubt pick up more awards and honours, I want to point you to Madeline's TikTok account which features skits, dances, and everything in between.

Lucy Coleman - Writer/Director of Lean In & Hot Mess, writer of Exposure

This is an interview I've had logged for months, and while it certainly should have been published much sooner than now, it'll finally get released into the world this month. I've talked before about how I feel that Lucy Coleman is one of the most vital voices in Australian film and TV right now, and it's work like her award winning short Lean In that showcases why that's the case.

The interview is still the best I've done, with an open discussion with Lucy about her work, where she sees it situated in Australian film and TV, and what it means to work with her collaborators, like Kartanya Maynard (another essential voice in Australian film and TV).

I stand by Lean In being a minor masterpiece that deserves more recognition, so, give it a squiz here:

Lean In - 2024

Jessica Sofarnos - Writer, Director, Actor of Punctum & Good Grief

I look at the work of Jessica Sofarnos and I see the impact of filmmakers like Lucy Coleman on her work. Whether that's a direct influence or not, the space that Lucy has helped create for women filmmakers to tell stories that are crafted from a lived-in perspective matters.

Jessica's work is varied, with the multihyphenate taking on roles like working behind the scenes on films like Together, all the while forging a filmography which sees her taking control of her narrative future.

These films include shorts like Breaking Up, Good Grief, and Punctum. All are available to view below.

Breaking Up - 2021

Good Grief - 2024

Punctum - 2024

Laura Brogan Browne - Writer, director, actor of Allegedly

Laura Brogan Browne's searing short film Allegedly speaks to the current state of affairs of Australia, where violence against women, grooming, and coercive control lingers in society.

Allegedly is made from a lived-in perspective, inviting viewers to understand what it feels like to be groomed by a predator, in this case a teacher who manipulates his student into a horrible situation.

Allegedly - 2024

Melissa Anastasi - Writer/Director of short films Bonfire, Treading Water, This Feral Life, Anything for Family, Sleepwalking, Chlorine, and Soft Gaze

Over almost two decades, Melissa Anastasi has crafted a filmography worthwhile losing yourself in. From stunning short films like Treading Water to her latest work Soft Gaze, Melissa's work sits alongside the work of David Robinson Smith as being a storyteller bringing underrepresented voices to life on screen.

There's a full library of films to dive into, and I don't mind showing my hand now in saying that her latest film, Soft Gaze, is her finest yet. Dive into Melissa's work below ahead of our extensive interview when that goes live.

This Feral Life - 2014

Chlorine - 2019

All of these interviews, and many more, will be published over the coming weeks.

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