Meet The 10 Young Australian Filmmakers of The Year

The imagination and technical proficiency of Australia’s emerging filmmakers never ceases to amaze the BBFF programming team, whose challenging job is to select just 10 films from all those submitted by these visual storytellers for entry into the Festival’s Young Australian Filmmaker of the Year Competition. The competition, which has run every year since 2007, is designed to encourage fledgling filmmakers and reward those artists whose work embodies the boldness, intelligence, sensitivity, and flair that bode well for their future in the demanding, competitive—and endlessly rewarding—world of cinema. It has proved a launchpad into the industry for innumerable young creatives.

The lineup of talented filmmakers in this year’s Festival—the 18th—has once again impressed the BBFF team with their display of precisely those qualities, creating cinematic experiences that go beyond entertainment to become art. Urgent contemporary issues as well as age-old mysteries of the human condition are explored with wit and no little wisdom in this selection. Among them are the matters of death and grieving, sexual identity (and bullying), the creative impulse, loneliness, mental health, peer pressure, and the challenges faced by migrants.

Georgia Brogan (22)

Georgia hopes her film, Period Party, will help to destigmatize eating disorders with its blend of absurdist humor and poignancy. The 22-year-old from Stanmore, NSW, was a successful photographer before venturing into film; her strong cinematic visual style made her the youngest ever winner of the Australian Life Photo Prize in 2021. Period Party had its Australian premiere at the Academy Awards-qualifying St Kilda Film Festival in June this year, screening in competition in the Top Shorts category on opening night.

Aarushi Chowdhury (24)

Hints of horror and some slapstick humor help this coming-of-age story imaginatively explore family dynamics and a child’s creative response to isolation and her attempts to fit in. Writer-director Aarushi’s debut film premiered at SXSW in Sydney, and she is currently in pre-production for a proof-of-concept developed through AFTRS and Screen Australia’s Talent Camp. She recently wrote research for Tony Ayres Productions.

Hayden Flynn (22)

Getting older in a fickle, trend-driven art world is the basis of unfashionable sculptor Em’s angst in Hayden Flynn’s Chook Shed, a plaintive and witty satire on ageism and the whims of the art market. Hayden, 22, says that Em’s struggle to stay relevant and marketable reflects his own personal fears regarding the fragility of his artistic identity. Chook Shed nevertheless reflects his passion for grassroots storytelling, holistic narrative/production style, and firm foundation in documentary works, as well as his multidisciplinary background in music and design.

Matheus Healey (21)

The two young protagonists in Dogshift, from Melbourne-based Matheus Healey, are not so much out of time as out of place—in a foreign landscape, slaving in a thankless job in a stressful inner-city restaurant kitchen lorded over by a bullying chef. VCA graduate Matheus, 21, has worked as a director and cinematographer on a range of projects, from his own narrative work to commercials and music videos. The son of an immigrant family, he says Dogshift is personal to him, and he wanted to explore the outsider’s struggle to find meaningful relationships, especially in an age when we are all inextricably ‘connected’ through technology.

Tom Lawrence-Doyle (22)

Tom wanted to show what can lie beneath the surface of Australia’s most macho athletes. His film, Bulldog, tells the story of two country footy club players discovering an attraction to each other, and how they each deal with their vulnerability and fear of discovery. A student in Creative Arts: Screen at Flinders University, and an emerging writer and director, Tom says film has always been a big part of his life, an escapist comfort, but Bulldog is an honest and up-close look at what is terrifyingly real for many young people. The film has screened at the Adelaide Film Festival, FlickerfestBondi, and the Perth Queer Film Festival.

Felix Lovell (22)

Brisbane-based Felix, made his directorial debut in 2020 with his short film, Malingee, and has since directed three shorts to domestic and international acclaim. While studying Film and Screen Media Production at Griffith Film School, Felix co-founded the hybrid art gallery, Misplaced Curiosities, with producer Eleanor Somerville. Felix is an award-winning director of photography, collecting recognition from the Australian Cinematographer’s Society for his work on Solidago (2022).

Muraya Moore (24)

Muraya, 24, is a Japanese-Australian woman seeking to foster a more diverse and inclusive film sector. Muraya’s short films Lemons and Prima have screened widely at festivals around Australia. Prima was nominated for Best Tertiary Short Fiction at the ATOM awards and won Best Cinematography at the Gold Coast Film Festival in the Emerge Showcase. She directed and produced the interview series, Power Nadeshiko, and has directed several music videos for Australian artists.

Rachael Porthouse (22)

The Receptionist, received a Special Mention in the Best Fiction Category at the Media Arts and Production Showcase 2024. A creepily compelling case study in male power and harassment in the workplace, and gaslighting at home, is the second film featured in the Showcase from the Sydney based writer, director, and Bachelor of Communication (Honours) graduate from UTS. Her third-year capstone piece, Funeral Walk, also earned a spot in 2023. Rachael is deeply committed to making films focused on women’s stories and experiences.

Tahlia Magistrale (25)

Australia’s bushfires have cost many lives, but for some, the threat of losing their home and memories is worth the risk of staying behind. Former Northern Rivers resident Tahlia Magistrale, 25, looks at what lies behind such decisions. Tahlia is not a newcomer to the Byron Bay Film Festival, where her film Swings & Roundabouts was shortlisted in 2022 and went on to win the Student Fiction category at the Sony Catchlight Film Festival. A 2022 Media Arts and Production graduate from UTS, Tahlia currently works in Sydney across a range of film, television, and advertising projects.

Yianni Rowlands (24)

Yianni, has experience as a writer and director of short films, commercials, music videos, and video art. He began early, garnishing accolades for his stop-motion animation at Trop Jr in 2012 and 2016. He is also a musician, collaborating with the likes of punk rock band Amyl and the Sniffers and conceptual artist Marco Fusinato. A Victorian College of the Arts graduate in Fine Arts in Film and Television, he has several short films to his name and more in the pipeline.

Join BBFF in celebrating this exhilarating showcase of human experience, a testament to the power of cinema and its ability to connect, challenge, and inspire, and evidence that the future of Australian cinema is in good hands. The BBFF2024 Young Australian Filmmaker of the Year screening takes place at 2.40pm on Saturday, October 19 at Byron Palace, with many of the nominees in attendance.