Mentor, Speaker
Susannah is a Lecturer of Game Design and Digital Media at the University of South Australia. She is currently completing her PhD in game design and her research interests focus on video games and digital media for education and social change. Susannah is involved with several projects in this area, including ‘Hannah’ – an interactive narrative game that helps family and friends provide support to those experiencing Domestic Violence.
Susannah is committed to promoting diversity in the games industry and is an International Women in Games Ambassador. As an Ambassador she helps to support and encourage women and girls in understanding the games industry and the opportunities there are within it.
Mentor
During his childhood Stephen Murphy developed a fascination with film, television and sound that has been with him ever since. On leaving high school he made this his life work, commencing with study at the Australian Film Television and Radio School. Entering the industry he first worked on commercials, corporates and short films, and within a few years moved on to telemovies, mini-series and feature films. He has worked on location and in post-production, and has also spent many years teaching and training others. For 16 years Stephen worked for Dolby Laboratories as a sound consultant, and he has taught at TAFE NSW, was Head of Teaching and Post-Production at International Film School Sydney, and Head of Film and Animation at International Screen Academy.
Stephen is currently the President of the Australian Screen Sound Guild, and Head of Sound at the Australian Film Television and Radio School.
Mentor, Roundtables
Stephen is a producer/director who has made more than 20 narrative films. Throughout his career, he is privileged to have worked with some of South Africa and Australia’s top actors, including Ian Roberts (Tstosi), Sean Cameron Michael (24, Black Sails) and Socrates Otto (Wentworth).
An alumnus of the directing program at AFTRS, his most successful narrative film to date, ‘Super Sounds’, screened at over 50 festivals, winning awards and nominations at many, including San Francisco International FF, Giffoni, Flickerfest, and was selected by Virgin for their in-flight entertainment. His broadcast credits span documentary and drama and he is currently in active development on his first feature, with equity finance secured from the private sector.
In a commercial capacity, Stephen has been directing for all screens full time for 12 years, with his work taking him to over 20 countries on five continents.
He recently directed a half-hour broadcast documentary about the life and legacy of Australian war hero and sporting legend, Bob Quinn and has recently completed his latest short, Butterfly, which he co-directed wth his wife, Chloe Gardner and which is scheduled to premiere at the world’s largest Children’s film Festival, Giffoni.
Speaker
Sheila is a producer with a background in entertainment law. She has worked as a producer with Matchbox Pictures since 2015, producing the award-winning feature film Ali’s Wedding (2017, Madman Entertainment), which won awards at all the major Australian film festivals before being acquired by Netflix. She also produced the acclaimed ABC series Stateless (2020) for Matchbox Pictures and Cate Blanchett’s production company Dirty Films, which won 13 AACTA Awards. Most recently, she produced alongside Co-Curious the feature anthology HERE OUT WEST to be released in early 2022. Sheila has worked across the Matchbox Pictures’ features slate as development producer and currently has a slate of high-end television series in development with Matchbox. She has previously worked in development at Scott Free, Ridley Scott’s London-based production company, and also as a Development Executive for Create NSW and Screen Australia. She is a company director of the boutique film production company Emerald Productions, established in 2009, a company that works with some of Australia’s most exciting emerging writers and directors, with a particular focus on telling ground-breaking diverse stories.
Mentor, Roundtables
Samantha is the Founder and CEO of Femflix, an SVOD subscription service dedicated to bringing audiences the very best curated content created by women from Australia, New Zealand and around the world. The service is focused on ensuring fair, transparent & accelerated revenue streams for rights holders while aligning with UN Women’s goal to achieve economic empowerment by closing the gender pay gap. Samantha was recently nominated as a Top 3 Finalist for the Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards 2021 as an Emerging Entrepreneur.
Prior to launching Femflix in 2020, Samantha worked with Screen Queensland as a Content Director and in 2019 was appointed (Acting) Executive Vice President – Content, responsible for overseeing the management and operations across all funding programs which apply to film, TV, multi-platform and games projects. Samantha has previously worked as a Producer, Creative Executive, and in physical production in the Australian and North American film and television industry.
She produced a feature documentary “Built to Fail” documenting the history of streetwear in America which premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival. She has produced multiple short films including “The Boggabilla Bus” winning festival awards and securing international distribution through Flickerfest, most recently being screened throughout ASEON (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) within a program initiated by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. She’s previously volunteered as proxy to the Chair of WIFT Australia and was also a member of the steering committee of WIFT Queensland advocating equality for all women in the Screen Industry.
