Melanie Ashe (she/her)
Education Coordinator
Melanie Ashe is currently a sessional teacher and researcher in cinema and media based in Melbourne. With a background in screen and cultural studies, she has research interests in environmental media, Australian film, commercial film economies, and teen TV. She has published in Media Industries Journal, Reinvention and Peephole. With a vested interest in screen education, she has developed syllabus, teaching resources for exhibitions, and taught in community-run film programs, such as Montreal's Monstrum Society. She also makes short experimental films in her spare time.
Aarushi Chowdhury (she/her)
Programmer
I’ve always loved film and its ability to affect people beyond the surface. Being on a film set allowed me to realise the importance of creativity in my life and so I value anything that fuels that same innovation. I’m interested in experiencing the film environment with passionate people to continuously learn the beauty of creating.
Anna Debinski (she/her)
Programmer
Anna is a doctoral candidate, sessional teacher and research assistant in Screen and Cultural Studies at the University of Melbourne. Her work lies at the intersection of cinema and disability studies, focusing on the ambivalent political implications of emotive representations of disabled women in film. She is committed to exploring the intersection of disability and gender both on and off screen. She is interested in how films can be made, exhibited, taught and discussed in inclusive and accessible ways, and how we can increase the presence of minority perspectives in all these areas.
Sonja Hammer (ia)
Programmer
Sonja is a diaspora First Nations (Ngati Kahungunu, Kuki Airani-Aitutaki ) woman originally from Aotearoa/NZ, identifying as Takataapui and is Takiwatanga (Autism spectrum). She is an experienced radio broadcaster having produced intersectional community shows and co-founder of the first Australian LGBTIQA+ pop culture advocate organization Queer Geeks of Oz. Sonja is the Secretary and Creative Arts Ambassador for not-for-profit Diverse Indigenous Pasifika LGBTIQA++ organization Pacifique X. Sonja has programmed for the Wairoa Maori Film Festival based in Aotearoa and in Narrm/Melbourne as a volunteer supporter for the Birrarangga Film Festival, having also volunteered for the Melbourne Queer Film Festival (MQFF). Sonja volunteers as short film programmer and writer for the Environmental Film Festival Australia (EFFA) and a short film programmer for the Melbourne Women in Film Festival (MWFF), building Indigenous Pasifika and Maori representation from a female/Hine perspective.
Janice Loreck (she/her)
Festival & Panel Coordinator
Dr Janice Loreck is a Lecturer in Screen and Cultural Studies at The University of Melbourne. Her background is in gender, women's filmmaking and global art cinema in twenty-first century screen culture. She is the author of the book Violent Women in Contemporary Cinema (2016), co-editor of Screening Scarlett Johansson: Gender, Genre, Stardom (2019), and has published in numerous international journals on feminist film theory and international cinema culture. She also works as a film critic for community and commercial radio in Perth and Melbourne.
Whitney Monaghan (she/her)
Festival & Critics Lab Coordinator
Dr Whitney Monaghan is a screen critic and Lecturer in Communications and Media Studies at Monash University. Her academic work engages with queer and feminist media studies. Her current research examines LGBTIQ representation on screen and uncovers Australia's queer TV histories. Whitney is the author of Queer Girls, Temporality and Screen Media: Not ‘Just a Phase’ (2016), co-editor of Screening Scarlett Johansson (2019), co-author of Queer Theory Now (2019), and the founding editor of Peephole Journal, an online magazine devoted to creative screen criticism. She has reported on films, television and film festivals for many publications with international reach.
Sian Mitchell (she/her)
Festival Director
Dr Sian Mitchell is a Lecturer in Film, Television and Animation at Deakin University where she revels in the opportunity to work with the next generation of screen storytellers and creative practitioners. Sian has a PhD in film studies and a Masters in Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies and her research in areas of Australian and women’s screen practice has been published in journals and industry blogs, including Historic Environment, Peephole Journal, NFSA, and the AFI Research Collection. Sian was the 2022 recipient of the Natalie Miller Fellowship, an initiative that supports the professional leadership of aspirational women in all sectors of the Australian screen industry; developing further skills, knowledge and connections through fellowships and programs. Most of all though, Sian loves finding and sharing incredible stories made for the screen with others.
Kirsten Stevens (she/they)
Deputy Festival Director
Dr Kirsten Stevens is an internationally known film writer and researcher working in the areas of film festivals and film exhibition practice. Author of the book, Australian Film Festivals: Audience, Place and Exhibition Culture (2016), she has spent several years tracing the history of Australia's engagement with cinema and the practices that have built the country's vibrant film culture. Now a leading scholar on Australia's film festival history, she has presented her work around the world. Since gaining her PhD in film studies at Monash University in 2013, she has become increasingly involved in Australia's film festival scene, reporting on and volunteering in several festivals, as well as teaching a course on film festival research and practice in 2016. In 2015 and 2016 Kirsten volunteered with the St Kilda Film Festival, gaining invaluable first hand front-of-house experience of the day-to-day running of a large film festival, which further built on her experience in audience research and event management gained through working within the university and at Museum Victoria.
Monica Ouk (she/they)
Programmer
Monica is a current Design and Media Communications student with a specialisation in Screen studies. Coming from within the Khmer diaspora in Melbourne/Narrm, they have a strong focus on the authentic screen representations of refugee, BIPOC and LGBTQI+ experiences. With a background in design and TV production, they have produced youth-led community productions such as C31's The Struggle and spend their time aiding in student-led refugee advocacy groups. As a strong advocate for BIPOC and queer voices, Monica is also a producer of a small podcast called As a Film Student, centering on the deconstruction of cinema from a gender-diverse and intersectional perspective geared towards Gen Z youth. With a deep passion for Screen culture and Asian representation, Monica spends their free time creating experimental short films and visual art to address the intricacies of post-Khmer rouge identity and cultural diaspora in the West.
Chloe Wong (she/her)
Programmer
Chloe is a pharmacist-turned-writer whose work has been published in journals such as Overland and Visible Ink. She has also worked in TV development for companies such as Matchbox/NBCU and Fremantle Australia, and is particularly passionate about queer representation and authentic portrayals of cultural diversity in all forms of media. Her festival experience includes programming for the now-defunct Out Takes: Reel Queer Film Festival in New Zealand, and volunteering at MIFF and AIDC more recently in Australia. In 2020, Chloe was a mentee in the MWFF Critics Lab. She is currently Development Assistant at Princess Pictures.