Aftertaste, Mentor, Speaker
Rebecca is a producer and is co-owner of the award-winning screen production company Closer Productions. Her feature film credits include break out low budget feature 52 TUESDAYS, which won the directing award for World Cinema at Sundance and the Crystal Bear at Berlinale, and feature documentary SAM KLEMKE’S TIME MACHINE which premiered at Sundance and in Official Selection at HotDocs and Rotterdam. Her most recent feature, ANIMALS, is an official Irish/Australian co-production based on the acclaimed novel, which premiered at Sundance 2019.
For television, Rebecca has made numerous documentaries including Dendy Award-winning I WANT TO DANCE BETTER AT PARTIES and 3-part Arts series HANNAH GADSBY’S OZ. Her television drama credits include the 6-part online series F*!#ING ADELAIDE, which premiered at Series Mania and was the most watched ABC iView Original in 2018. She also produced THE HUNTING, a 4 x 1 hour drama series which premiered on SBS Television in August 2019 and was SBS’ most successful commissioned drama ever. Rebecca recently completed AFTERTASTE a new 6 x 30 comedy drama for the ABC which premiered on ABC TV in February 2021. Rebecca also sits on the Board of the South Australian Film Corporation.
Aftertaste, Mentor, Speaker
Matt Vesely is a South Australian writer/director. He works with award winning creative collective Closer Productions. Often combining his love of science fiction with a sincere view of human relationships, Matt has directed a number of successful shorts and worked as a writer across TV & film.
Matt has worked in writers’ rooms with Closer Productions, Matchbox Pictures, Bunya Productions, the ABC and SBS. He was a part of the writing team for the ABC’s flagship iView series, the post-apocalyptic sci-fi WASTELANDER PANDA, and wrote an episode and was a staff writer across the entirety of Closer’s award-winning comic drama for ABC, FUCKING ADELAIDE. In 2014, Matt was the recipient of the Colin Thiele Scholarship for Creative Writing. In 2018, his feature script OVERHEATER – a dystopian romantic comedy – was shortlisted for the Australian Writer’s Guild’s John Hinde Award for best unproduced science fiction screenplay.
Matt works as Closer’s Development Manager under the mentorship of Sophie Hyde and Rebecca Summerton, and was the script producer for Closer’s 4 part series THE HUNTING (SBS), starring Asher Keddie and Richard Roxburgh. In 2021, he script produced and wrote for Closer’s comedy series AFTERTASTE (ABC), starring Erik Thomson.
Matt continues to lead Closer’s writers’ rooms and develop his own television projects, including a series based on OVERHEATER, supported by Screen Australia and the South Australian Film Corporation. SYSTEM ERROR, his new proof of concept short for OVERHEATER, was selected to have its world premiere at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
Aftertaste, Speaker
Matthew Bate is a multi-award winning writer, director and producer. His 2011 feature Shut Up Little Man! premiered in competition at the Sundance Film festival before screening theatrically across the U.S and being bought by Netflix. His follow up feature Sam Klemke’s Time Machine premiered at the 2015 Sundance New Frontiers Program, winning Doc Aviv’s Artistic Spirit Award and an AWGIE for best screenplay. In 2013 Mathew wrote and directed the Dendy Award winning film I Want to Dance Better At Parties. Matthew’s Virtual Reality work Summation of Force, made with Magnum Photographer Trent Parke, was selected for Sundance’s New Frontier Program and won the inaugural VR Award at the ‘Imagine Film Festival’ Amsterdam. In 2020 Matthew was a co-creator, co-writer and co-producer of the comedy TV Series Aftertaste, starring Rachel Griffiths and Erik Thomson. Matthew is the co-founder of the South Australian film company Closer Productions.
Aftertaste
Julie De Fina is the co-creator, executive producer and writer of the critically acclaimed ABC comedy series Aftertaste. Starring Erik Thompson and Rachel Griffiths the series was produced by Closer Productions. She has worked as a writer on projects for companies including ABC, Channel 7, Essential Media, Fremantle, Bunya and Endemol. In 2015 Julie was the co-creator and writer of the comedy pilot “Fully Famous”, which was optioned by Kapital Entertainment. In 2018 she co-created a half hour comedy “Something Old” which was optioned by Kronicle Media. Julie studied film and theatre at UNSW before continuing her training at The Second City in LA. She is currently in development on a number of her own projects.
