Catriona McKenzie

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Catriona McKenzie is an Australian filmmaker. She is known for her film Satellite Boy and television series Kiki and Kitty (written by Nakkiah Lui) and Wrong Kind of Black . Her production company is called Dark Horse.

Contents

Early life and education

McKenzie is an Aboriginal Australian woman of the Gunai/Kurnai people of south-eastern Australia. [1] She is a graduate of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS), with one of her graduate films being the short film The Third Note (1999). [2] [3] She graduated with Honours in 2001, and afterwards studied screenwriting at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts. [1]

Career

Satellite Boy (2012) was McKenzie's first feature film, [2] produced by David Jowsey. The film was selected for screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, and earned a Special Mention at its European premiere in the Generation section of the 2013 Berlin Film Festival. [4] It was nominated for the AACTA Award for Best Film, and in 2014 was selected by the Australian Directors Guild for entry to the Directors Guild of America's Directors Finder Series. [1]

She has also worked on numerous other TV series, including Supernatural , The Walking Dead , Tidelands , Harrow , The Warriors , Dance Academy , The Circuit , Redfern Now and The Gods of Wheat Street . She is the first Indigenous Australian woman to direct a TV series in the US (the supernatural drama Shadowhunters ). [5]

In 2018 McKenzie founded her own production company, Dark Horse, which she hopes will be a vehicle to provide opportunities for new, diverse voices. [5] She believes that there are hundreds of stories to be told "about the impact of white colonial Australia on Aboriginal culture and Aboriginal people”. [6] The first film is planned to be Stolen, co-written with Patricia Cornelius. [7]

The comedy series Kiki and Kitty, written by Nakkiah Lui and directed by McKenzie, won two awards at Series Mania in France in 2018. [8]

Other roles and activities

McKenzie was appointed as a Film and Television Industry Advisory Committee Member under Screen NSW's Sydney City of Film initiative, initially until 31 December 2019, and then reappointed to 31 December 2022. [1]

She is a member of the Directors Guild of America. [5]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Catriona McKenzie". Sydney, City of Film (Screen NSW). New South Wales Government. 31 December 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  2. 1 2 Dawson, Nick (10 September 2012). "Five Questions with Satellite Boy Director Catriona McKenzie". Filmmaker Magazine . Archived from the original on 12 February 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  3. ↑ "Staff Pick: The Third Note (1999) – Catriona McKenzie". YouTube. AFTRS. 13 November 2020.
  4. ↑ "David Jowsey". Asia Pacific Screen Awards. 25 August 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 Keast, Jackie (2 October 2018). "Catriona McKenzie's new company Dark Horse to be a platform for diverse voices". IF Magazine . Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  6. ↑ Keast, Jackie (19 July 2018). "Catriona McKenzie on the 'brain cracking' Boori Monty Pryor and 'Wrong Kind of Black'". IF Magazine . Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  7. ↑ "Catriona Mckenzie launches production company ahead of LA Festival screening of Kiki and Kitty". FilmInk. 12 September 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  8. ↑ Lang, Jamie (5 May 2018). "'On the Spectrum' Tops 2018 Series Mania". Variety . Retrieved 7 June 2021.
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