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Beck Cole | |
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| Born | Australia |
| Occupation(s) | Screenwriter, film director |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Partner | Samuel Cole (2016–c.2017) |
| Children | 1 |
Beck Cole is an Australian filmmaker of the Warramungu and Luritja nations. She is known for her work on numerous TV series, including First Australians , Grace Beside Me , Black Comedy and Wentworth , as well as documentaries and short films. She is based in Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory.
Cole grew up in Adelaide and around the Port Adelaide area. [1]
Cole started working in media as a journalist when she got a cadetship at Imparja Television, when still at school. She gained experience in both writing and presenting stories, and also worked as a news and weather presenter. [1]
She graduated from Charles Sturt University with a BA in Communication and Sociology, and soon afterwards started work in the Indigenous Unit at ABC Television, where she started her filmmaking career. [1] In 2001, Cole graduated with a Master of Arts (Film & Television) Documentary from the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS), [2] where she was exposed to a number of Australian documentary filmmakers. [1]
Cole was mentored by photographer and filmmaker Michael Riley, who co-founded Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperative, until his death in 2004. [3]
While at AFTRS, Cole worked on and off for the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA), with whom she has had an association ever since. [1]
Her early short documentary and drama films were mainly focused on Aboriginal culture and family, [1] including Flat (2002; co-produced by Rachel Perkins and Darren Dale [4] ) and Plains Empty (2005 [5] ) premiered at Sundance, and Flat also screened at the Edinburgh Film Festival. [6]
Cole established a working as well as a personal relationship with cinematographer Warwick Thornton, [1] and along with producer Kath Shelper they called themselves "the trinity" since working together from 2004. [7] Wirriya: Small Boy (2004) is a short film about an eight-year-old boy who lives in Hidden Valley, an Indigenous town camp near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, with his foster mother. [8]
Cole worked as a writer-director on First Australians (2008), the acclaimed documentary television series about the history of Indigenous Australians, along with Rachel Perkins and Louis Nowra. [1]
In 2009 she wrote and directed Making 'Samson and Delilah', a 55 minute documentary on the making of the feature film Samson and Delilah , directed by Thornton. [6]
Her debut feature film was the drama Here I Am (2011), [3] which stars prominent activist and academic Marcia Langton.
She directed several episodes over three series of the Black Comedy , which won a 2015 AACTA award for Best Direction in a Light Entertainment or Reality Series. [6]
After working on a number of series on Indigenous themes, she collaborated with Leah Purcell on several episodes of the popular prison drama series, Wentworth , between 2019 and 2021, and with Bevan Lee on the Seven Network series Between Two Worlds , which premiered in 2020. [3] [6]
Cole was voice director for all three seasons of Little J & Big Cuz , and wrote two episodes of the series. [3] [6]
As of 2019 Cole was working on a horror film set in Alice Springs, based on a true story told by Aboriginal children who lived in a residential care home, where they were attacked by an evil entity. [3]
Cole and Sam Paynter workshopped ideas with local elders and young people to produce ideas for the storyline of the 2020 children's TV series Thalu , which was commissioned by National Indigenous Television and ABC Me. [9] She also co-wrote the screenplay for the series along with Paynter, Nayuka Gorrie, David Woodhead, and Donald Imberlong. [10]
Cole directed one of the segments of the anthology film We Are Still Here , which premiered as the opening film of the 2022 Sydney Film Festival. [11]
In 2020 Cole was co-presenter, with Warwick Thornton, of a five-day development workshop called the Aboriginal Short Film Initiative, held at South Australian Film Corporation's Adelaide Studios. [12]
Cole was one of seven filmmakers featured in the 5th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art at the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) in Brisbane [6]
Cole was formerly married to director Warwick Thornton, [5] whom she met in 1999. [16] They have a daughter. [16] [17] The couple shared a personal as well as professional relationship. [7] By 2018 Thornton and Cole had separated. [18]
She is a cousin of filmmaker Danielle MacLean. [19]
[Reproduced from] RealTime issue #74 Aug-Sept 2006 pg. 19.
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