The Filmmakers
SUE CLOTHIER; producer
Sue Clothier is recognised as one of Australia’s leading factual production executives and creative producers. In a career spanning more than two decades in the entertainment industry, Sue has produced or overseen the production of hundreds of hours of original broadcast programming. In 2010, Sue started Northern Pictures, a specialist factual production company. The new company co-produced the critically acclaimed 3-part series ONCE UPON A TIME IN CABRAMATTA for SBS TV, nominated for four 2013 AACTA Awards and the internationally successful blue chip 4-part series KAKADU for ABC. Current productions include the Good Pitch 2015 theatrical documentary films WHITELEY and BLUE. Sue’s career highlights include the feature docu-drama directed by Gillian Armstrong, UNFOLDING FLORENCE: THE MANY LIVES OF FLORENCE BROADHURST; Australia’s only official selection at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, the Logie-nominated drama-doc series DARWIN'S BRAVE NEW WORLD, the Walkley-awarded CRONULLA RIOTS: 10 DAYS THAT SHOCKED THE NATION and the Emmy nominated LIFE ON THE REEF.
JAMES BOGLE; director, writer
James Bogle has co-written and directed four feature films, CLOSED FOR WINTER (2009), IN THE WINTER DARK (1999), MAD BOMBER IN LOVE (1993) and STONES OF DEATH (1989) and is in development on his fifth, based on the award-winning novel 'Strange Objects' by Australian writer Gary Crew. He has directed more than 50 episodes of television drama including THE CIRCUIT II (his episode nominated for Best Direction of a TV Drama by Australian Directors Guild, 2011), and 14 episodes of LOCKIE LEONARD I & II, (Winner, Best Children’s Drama Series Logie 2008, Winner Best Children’s Drama Series, AFI Awards 2007). More recently he directed an episode of James completed work on a four-hour documentary series for ABC TV, THE WAR THAT CHANGED US, which was nominated for Logie Award for Most Outstanding Factual Program. James served as a board member at Western Australia’s state film funding body, ScreenWest from 2001-4, and as an Executive Committee Member for the Western Australian Branch of the Australian Directors Guild from 2010-12. James also directs television commercials, teaches tertiary film studies and works as an industry consultant and script editor with a special interest in the development of young and indigenous filmmakers.
Lawrie Silvestrin; editor
Lawrie has worked as a drama and documentary picture and sound editor and post production supervisor for more than thirty years. During that time he has been nominated for seven Australian Film Institute (now AACTA) Best Editing Awards and a Golden Reel Award - winning the 2014 AACTA Award for Best Editing in a Documentary and an AFI Award for Best Sound Editing. Many of the films he has edited have gone on to win awards all over the world. His documentary credits include WHITELEY and DESERT WAR, for which he won the AACTA Award for Best Editing as well as the ASE Ellie Award for Best Editing in a Doco Series. It was also nominated for Best Documentary at the 2014 AACTA Awards. Lawrie has also edited eight other films that have been nominated/won major Australian and International Awards: JANDAMARRA’S WAR – Winner of Best Documentary 2011 AACTA Awards, THE MAN WHO JUMPED – Nominated for Best Documentary 2012 AACTA Awards, SINGAPORE 1942 – Nominated for Best Doco Series 2012 AACTA Awards, LEAKY BOAT – Nominated for Best Documentary 2011 AACTA Awards, THE BLACK ROAD – Winner of Best Documentary and Best Film of Festival 2006 Mumbai International Film Festival, PLAYING THE GAME - Nominated for Best Documentary 2001 AFI Awards, PAYING FOR THE PIPER – Nominated for Best Documentary 1998 AFI Awards, SERANGOON ROAD – Nominated for Best Drama Series 2013 AACTA Awards.
VICTOR GENTILE; writer
Since graduating from AFTRS in 1986, Victor Gentile has worked as a producer, writer and script developer on projects ranging from short films to documentaries, children’s drama, telemovies and feature films. As an independent producer and overseen some dozen television documentary projects including the ABC's FACES OF WAR series, Megan Simpson Huberman's WAR OF DISTANCE, CENTOTAPH by Chris Tuckfield, David Caesar’s Convictions, and THE GOLDEN PIG for SBS. He created a pilot tv series CONSPIRACY (director, Brendan Young) for Network Ten with Alex Proyas and Andrew Mason as producers. Along the way, he has also produced the short films Urn, by director Miro Bilbrough, and Peter Rasmussen’s The Picture Woman amongst others. He was a founding director of the film production company, Oracle Pictures, and the sound post-production studio, Counterpoint Sound, and was Project Development Manager at Western Australia's screen funding and development agency, ScreenWest. In recent years, Victor has written on children’s TV series such as STREETSMARTZ, PARALLAX and STORMWORLD for Western Australian producer Paul Barron as well as for Electric Pictures developing, researching and writing various TV documentary projects from concept to production. He has worked as a freelance writer, researcher, developer and consultant for companies as varied as Perth-based Taylor Media and Andrew Mason’s Sydney-based City Productions for whom he has recently written a feature film (SPIKE) soon to be shot in Beijing in Mandarin.
PETA AYERS; co-producer
Peta Ayers has specialised in the production of high end long-form documentary for over a decade. In 2005, she co-produced THE PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE with Mark Lewis at Radio Pictures (4 x 1 hours, PBS and ABC). Following that, she continued with Radio Pictures to develop and associate-produce Australia’s first ever independent 3D feature documentary, CANE TOADS: THE CONQUEST. The critically acclaimed feature premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010. In 2011, Peta joined Northern Pictures for production of ONCE UPON A TIME IN CABRAMATTA, an award-winning series and ratings hit for SBS. Peta has since spent a year in the wilderness for the production of blue-chip Natural History/Obs Doc hybrids KAKADU and LIFE ON THE REEF for ABC and PBS. For WHITELEY, Peta was co-producer and researcher, responsible for unearthing a plethora of archival materials.