Flickerfest 2026 Jury
INTERNATIONAL JURY
DANIEL NETTHEIM
Daniel Nettheim is an award-winning director of films and TV drama who divides his time between Australia and the UK. Daniel’s feature film The Hunter, starring Willem Dafoe and Sam Neill, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2011. It received worldwide theatrical distribution and screened at dozens of major festivals. The film was nominated for 14 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (AACTAs), including Best Director.
Most recently Daniel directed the series The Assassin for Stan and Amazon Prime UK, released in 2025, as well as Critical Incident for Stan which was released in 2024. Daniel was set up director on ABC series The Messenger for Lingo Pictures, as well as setting up Foxtel legal drama The Twelve (starring Sam Neill) for Easy Tiger. Daniel was nominated for a 2022 AACTA Award for Best Direction for The Twelve, with the series nominated for 10 AACTA Awards in total, including Best Miniseries.
Prior to that Daniel directed The Tourist starring Jamie Dornan for BBC1, Stan and HBO Max, released in 2022. The Tourist was a huge success locally and internationally, breaking audience records for the BBC iPlayer. It won Best Series at the 2022 Monte Carlo TV Festival, was nominated for a TV Week Silver Logie for Most Outstanding Miniseries, and received a nomination for Best Drama Series at the 2022 AACTA Awards. In 2020 Daniel was set up director on the final season of Line of Duty, the BBCs highest rating drama of the past two decades. Other UK television work includes BAFTA nominated seasons of Doctor Who; Broadchurch; Humans; Ripper Street; Whitechapel; and Glue. Daniel was set up director on Harlan Coben’s Safe and directed multiple episodes of the YA fantasy series Cursed, both for Netflix. Daniel’s US credits include Ash Vs. Evil Dead and Hunters. In Australia his other recent credits include the final Logie nominated season of Doctor Doctor; Harrow; Jack Irish (starring Guy Pearce) and political thriller Secret City (starring Anna Torv.)
LOUISE ALSTON
Louise Alston has directed twelve feature films, the most recent being an erotic thriller-horror for The Asylum studio called SOULMATE. Also in 2025 she directed a feature called ALL MY FRIENDS ARE BACK IN BRISBANE based on a play by Stephen Vagg.
In 2024 she directed an adaptation of New York Times bestselling romance novel LICK. Her Lifetime thriller MY HUSBAND’S SEVEN WIVES was released in 2023. Her film BACK OF THE NET was released as a Disney Original in 2019.
JUCY screened at Toronto International Film Festival among other festivals and this film and her breakout first feature, ALL MY FRIENDS ARE LEAVING BRISBANE have gone on to streamer success.
A graduate of the Australian national film school (AFTRS) and the UCLA professional program in screenwriting, Louise has a doctorate in Creative Arts from the University of Technology Sydney where she researched feminist neo noir film.
VONNE PATIAG
Vonne Patiag is a Filmmaker based in Western Sydney, Australia. His recent credits include writing and producing the 4-part TV series ‘The Unusual Suspects‘ for SBS, the feature anthology film ‘Here Out West’, released theatrically in early 2022, and writing on ‘Significant Others‘, a 6-part TV drama for ABC. He was a participant in the TIFF Filmmaker Lab 2021, Talent USA 2022, and the MIFF Accelerator Lab 2024, and is also the Commissioner and Curator for Blacktown Shorts, which screened at the Sydney Opera House in 2024 and 2025.
He show-ran and directed all episodes of comedy series ‘Halal Gurls‘ for ABC iView, and wrote and directed short film ‘Tomgirl’, which premiered on SBS Viceland and had its International Premiere at Palm Springs Shortsfest.
His short film ‘Too Many Ethnics‘, had its World Premiere at Flickerfest Short Film Festival. His latest short, ‘Homo’, was funded by the Short to Feature Fastrack Fund (Screen NSW) and serves as a proof-of-concept for his debut feature, currently in development.
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AUSTRALIAN JURY
HUNA AMWEERO
Huna Amweero is a multi-award-winning screenwriter working across feature films, television, and short form content.
Huna co-wrote the critically acclaimed feature film, Blaze (Causeway Films, 2022), with visual artist Del Kathryn Barton, which had its World Premiere at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, and its Australian Premiere at the Sydney Film Festival. Huna won the 2022 AWGIE Award for Best Original Feature Film Screenplay for her work on the film, going on to also receive the 2023 NSW Premier Literary Award’s Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting.
In 2023, Huna wrote two episodes of the TikTok supernatural comedy series Krystal Klairvoyant, and an episode for season 2 of Surviving Summer for Werner Films and Netflix.
Earlier in her career, Huna was a recipient of the Emerging Filmmakers Fund from Screen NSW for her short script Alone (dir. Erin Good, 2014). That same year, she ranked 8th in the world for the NYC Short Screenplay Challenge. Huna’s short films have screened at numerous festivals including Sydney Film Festival, St Kilda Film Festival and Cleveland International Film Festival.
Huna served as co-writer on the Screen Australia funded web series Jade of Death (dir. Erin Good, 2018) for Last Frame Productions; the story follows a small-town girl who can hear how and when people will die.
Huna was selected to attend the Bunya Productions Engendered Masterclass for Female Genre Writers and Directors which was hosted by Jeremy Podeswa (Game of Thrones, Six Feet Under, The Handmaid’s Tale) and writer and showrunner Raelle Tucker (Supernatural, True Blood, Jessica Jones).
In 2023, Huna was selected by Screen Australia as one of the eighteen recipients for Enterprise People, which saw her placed at Stephen and Hunter Page’s Djali House. Huna has since continued her relationship with Djali House and has multiple features and television projects in active development.
MEGAN SMART
Megan Smart, from the age of five, knew she wanted to act — not in a passing, childhood fantasy sort of way, but with a clarity that shaped the course of her life. By 19, she had earned a coveted place at WAAPA’s prestigious Bachelor of Acting program, leaving behind her hometown of Brisbane to immerse herself in the craft on the other side of the country. Over the next three years, she refined her talent and transformed her voice — a personal triumph that saw her go from a harsh vocal fry to a clear, resonant tone, thanks to hundreds of hours of rigorous vocal training both in and out of the classroom.
Before she’d even graduated, Megan was cast as Karen in Breath, Simon Baker’s film adaptation of Tim Winton’s acclaimed novel. Granted special permission to balance filming with her studies, Megan made her screen debut in a film that went on to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Since then, Megan has built a compelling screen presence across both film and television. She has appeared as a guest of honour at the Sydney Film Festival, an ambassador for Melbourne International Film Festival, and a festival guest at CinefestOZ. Among her most acclaimed performances are her portrayal of a young mother battling postnatal depression in the ABC/BBC drama Wakefield, and her breakout leading role as the sharp-witted Amelia in Amazon Prime’s hit series Class of ’07 — the platform’s first Australian narrative original, which topped national charts for a month following its release.
She also starred in the second season of the critically acclaimed Black Snow (BBC/Stan) alongside Travis Fimmel. This year, Megan takes on the role of Taylor Parkinson, a lung-transplant recipient in the new STAN drama Dear Life.
Most recently, she wrapped filming starring in STAN’s original horror- comedy Gnomes, starring opposite Asa Butterfield (Sex Education), due for release in 2026.
Splitting her time between London and Sydney, Megan blends her love of storytelling with a keen eye for fashion, drawing inspiration from the style and soul of both cities.
CHARLIE FALKNER
Charlie Falkner is the Development Manager for the ABC’s scripted team, overseeing the development pipeline for new scripted projects.
He has held industry roles at Screen Australia, Screen NSW and Token Artists as well as in creative capacities as a producer and playwright.
Charlie’s plays have been produced to acclaim both locally and internationally, and he has developed new work for Belvoir St Theatre, KXT Bakehouse, The Old Fitz and Darlinghurst Theatre Company.
Charlie works closely with writers, producers and industry stakeholders to identify and develop new work for audiences across Australia.
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DOCUMENTARY JURY
GRACIE OTTO
Gracie Otto is an Australian filmmaker whose career spans television, documentaries, features, and commercials.
She directed the pilots for Netflix’s Emmy-winning HEARTBREAK HIGH and the Australian drama LADIES IN BLACK, has helmed over 25 episodes of shows including DEADLOCH (Amazon), THE ARTFUL DODGER (Hulu), and THE CLEARING (Disney+). Her musical dark comedy feature SERIOUSLY RED premiered in Narrative Competition at SXSW.
Documentaries include THE LAST IMPRESARIO, UNDER THE VOLCANO for Universal Pictures, and her latest, OTTO BY OTTO—a portrait of her father Barry Otto—which won the AACTA Award for Best Feature Documentary.
KELRICK MARTIN
Kelrick Martin is a Ngarluma man from Broome WA, and is passionate about advancing First Nations screen stories and creatives. In 2002 he completed his Masters in Documentary Writing and Directing at AFTRS, and in 2007 returned to WA to become NITV’s Commissioning Editor.
He formed Spear Point Productions in 2010 – credits include the multiple AACTA Award nominated Prison Songs. Kelrick was also the Indigenous Manager for Screenwest before joining the ABC as Head of Indigenous in 2016.
His commissions at ABC include Black Comedy, The Dark Emu Story, Total Control S1-3, and End Game with Tony Armstrong.
YAARA BOU MELHEM
Yaara Bou Melhem is a two-time UN Media Peace and five-time Walkley-award winning Australian writer, director and producer who makes films that often tackle the most pressing issues of our time. After 15 years as an investigative journalist and foreign correspondent, she turned to filmmaking releasing feature documentary, ‘Unseen Skies’ (2021) with Participant Media about the artist Trevor Paglen and his mind-bending works that explore surveillance and AI technologies.
She directed and co-produced the ABC TV series ‘The Whiteley Art Scandal’ (2023) about the biggest art fraud trial in Australian history. She has also made shorts about a nascent Syrian democracy springing out of a former ISIS stronghold and about disinformation with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa.
Her latest film, ‘Yurlu | Country’ (2025) is currently on the festival circuit and is a collaboration with First Nations Elder Maitland Parker about his fight to heal his homelands in Western Australia – the largest contaminated site in the Southern Hemisphere. The film won the Edge of Impact award at Doc Edge Festival, Best International Documentary Feature at Buffalo International Film Festival and Best Music in a Documentary award at the APRA AMCOS Screen Music Awards.
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RAINBOW SHORTS JURY
CELESTE DIEP
Celeste Diep (she/her) is a trans director of Chinese-Cambodian descent devoted to making cinema that focuses on the lives of trans/queer people and members of the Asian diaspora, including the not-often seen Cambodian diaspora.
Her film, Interview with a Hero premiered at Sydney Film Festival, MIFF, CinefestOZ and Adelaide Film Festival.
Her film, Happy New Year, Ms. Luna following a trans woman coming out at her annual family Chinese New Year get-together recently won Best LGBTQ+ Film and the Cultural Impact Award (presented by Gold House) at the American Pavilion’s Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the Cannes Film Festival in 2025, and premiered at Mardi Gras Film Festival (winning the audience award), Venezia Shorts, Flickerfest and more.
In 2023, Celeste attended the Apichatpong Weerasethakul Playlabs Creators Lab, and made a film under Apichatpong’s tutelage.
ANDREW UNDI LEE
Andrew Undi Lee is a queer Korean Australian writer, director, and producer whose work spans across film, television, theatre, and webtoons. He is the recipient of the Kenneth B. Myer Award for Exceptional Talent (AFTRS) and the Young Australian Filmmaker Award from the Korean Consulate of Australia.
His film and television credits include , MELON GRAB (Screen Australia), TROPPO (ABC/Amazon), BORN TO SPY (ABC/BBC), The Newsreader (ABC/BBC) and the Korean Australian horror series NIGHT BLOOMERS (SBS) – a show he created, wrote, directed, and produced, which premiered at SXSW Sydney and was awarded an Australian Writers’ Guild Award. Most recently, he completed writing 2 MOONS, a sci-fi feature film commissioned by the Powerhouse Museum, and is currently writing the English-language adaptation of the Korean horror feature film DEATH BELL.
Andrew has also worked with See-Saw Films and Picking Scabs across multiple high-profile projects. He was the writer’s assistant to showrunner Samantha Strauss on APPLE CIDER VINEGAR (Netflix Australia) and GROWN UPS (Netflix UK), and the director’s assistant to Jennifer Peedom’s feature film TENZING (Apple Original Films). Written by Luke Davies and produced by Liz Watts, Emile Sherman and Ian Canning.
Additionally, Andrew was the Australian producer on SAIGON KISS, a German-Vietnamese-Australian co-produced film that was awarded the Special Mention honour by the Queer Palm Jury, currently broadcasting on ARTE TV.
Andrew started his career as a production designer, with short films screening at major festivals that include the Berlinale, Sundance, Venice and Tribeca.
MONICA ZANETTI
Monica Zanetti is an award-winning screenwriter and director. She is the co-creator and director of the series WHILE THE MEN AWAY for SBS which premiered at the 2024 Berlinale.
Monica’s breakout work was the film ELLIE & ABBIE (& ELLIE’S DEAD AUNT) which was based on her stage play of the same name. The film won the 2021 AACTA award for Best Independent Film and is now playing on NETFLIX and other streaming services worldwide.
She was nominated for an Australia Directors Guild award for her work on the SBS series IGGY & ACE.
Her earlier work includes writing on the NETFLIX series SISTERS and the ACORN series MY LIFE IS MURDER. Monica has sold and set up pilots for several major companies including AMAZON STUDIOS and FOX ENTERTAINMENT STUDIOS and currently has several works in development including an exciting adaptation of Paul Jennings’ beloved stories for TV.
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FLiCKERUP JURY
SOPHIE SERISIER
Sophie Serisier (she/her) is a director and writer based in Sydney, Australia. She directed the award-winning short film ‘Oi’, which premiered at Melbourne International Film Festival in 2024.
Oi was selected for Brisbane International Film Festival, Queer Screen Film Festival and Flickerfest International Film Festival, where Sophie was awarded Flickerfest’s ‘Rebel8 Award for Outstanding Emerging Female Director’.
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CARLOS SANSON JR
Carlos Sanson Jr, one of Australia’s leading young actors, is best known for his long-running role as Santiago in the Stan Original Series Bump, which aired for five seasons from 2021 and concluded with Bump: A Christmas Film, released over Christmas 2025. The series received multiple AACTA and Logie Award nominations for Best Drama.
A dual US/Australian citizen with a mixed Cuban, Chilean, and Nicaraguan background, His other credits include the CW series Legacies, Binge’s Mr Inbetween, Paramount+’s Paper Dolls, and the ABC adaptation of Ladies in Black. He has also appeared in the Arena Media feature Sweet As opposite Mark Coles Smith, and Netflix’s Malibu Rescue: The Next Wave. He made his main-stage theatrical debut with Sydney Theatre Company in The Dictionary of Lost Words.
Most recently, Carlos starred in the feature film Primitive War opposite Jeremy Piven and Ryan Kwanten. As a producer, his notable short films include AACTA-nominated Why We Fight, and 5’12, which screened in the official selection at Flickerfest 2025. He is currently producing Kim Farrant’s next feature film, Isa.
Carlos was nominated for the Graham Kennedy Award for Most Popular New Talent at the 2022 Logie Awards, and in 2023 was named one of the Casting Guild of Australia’s Rising Stars.
CHARLI FLETCHER
Charli Fletcher, an accomplished film director, gained ACCTA recognition for her nominated film ‘Don’t Ignore Me’. She made her directorial debut with The Locket; after years of collaborative work on short videos alongside her sister and friends.
Commencing her journey in the industry at the tender age of 12, Charli initially established herself as a content creator, specialising in transition videos for fashion and crafting short horror clips. Her early immersion in filmmaking laid the foundation for her passion and aptitude in the craft. At just 13 years old, Charli was recognised for her directorial debut short film ‘The Locket’, which received acclaim through awards, nominations and positive reviews at respected film festivals. Two years later, at the age of 15, she earned an AACTA nomination for her short film ‘Don’t Ignore Me’, marking a significant achievement in her growing career. These early successes have only strengthened her dedication to filmmaking, as she continues to develop and envision future projects. Beyond her directorial pursuits, Charli indulges in personal artistic endeavours, often found sketching her original characters during moments of leisure.
Her deep seated commitment to the cinematic realm is further evident in her habit of avidly watching and analysing movies, reflecting her continuous quest for inspiration and refinement in her continuous quest for inspiration and refinement in her craft.