July 2009

Beck Cole (Luritja/Warrumunga), writer and director from Alice Springs, Australia, began her career as a journalist with Imparja Television in Central Australia. Since graduating from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in 2002, Cole has directed the majority of her documentaries and short films in Alice Springs, often working with the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA). Cole was one of the outstanding indigenous directors of the SBS documentary series First Australians which won the 2009 Logie Award for Outstanding Documentary. Her film Wirriya—Small Boy won Best Australian Film at the 2004 Women on Women International Film Festival in Sydney. Cole’s other works include Plains Empty (2005) and Flat (2004), both of which screened at the Sundance Film Festival. In addition to her career in film, Cole has worked on various projects for Australian television, including serving as a writer for the SBS seriesThe Circuit, and for the children’s show Double Trouble. Cole also directed the documentary Making Samson and Delilah, about the feature film directed by Warwick Thornton (Kaytetye) that won the Camera d’Or award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Screened by NMAI

Here I Am (2011) director, writer
Making of Samson and Delilah (2009) director
First Australians: A Fair Deal for a Dark Race (2008) director
Lore of Love (2005) director

Image credit: Beck Cole - cortesy of Blackfella Films

Screened by NMAI

Warwick Thornton

Participant, 2009 At the Movies