Al Cossar
Al Cossar is a Melbourne-based film curator and screen culture professional born in New Zealand. He is currently Artistic Director of the Melbourne International Film Festival.
After graduating from the University of Auckland in Film and Marketing, Al continued to train as an editor, working locally in post-production supervision. Since moving to Melbourne in 2004, he has worked across a wide array of screen culture locations, working within Public Programs at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), as Program Director for the Portable Film Festival, as a founding Programmer and subsequent Board Member for the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival, and as Festival Manager for Flickerfest, among others. He has also previously been a television film critic for ABC News Breakfast.
Al has been Artistic Director of the Melbourne International Film Festival, one of the largest and longest-running film festivals in the world, since its 2019 edition. He has worked at the festival across multiple roles since joining in 2011.
Roles
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and present. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.