Rachel Perkins’ is a member of the Arrernte nation whose lands surround Alice Springs and the Kalkadoon people from the MT Isa region. Rachel has served on a number of federal agencies including Screen Australia, the Australian Film Commission, and the Australian Film Television and Radio School. She was a founding board member of NITV, which she was instrumental in establishing. She has also served on the boards of various Aboriginal organisations and industry associations, including Bangarra Dance Theatre. She currently serves on the board of the Australian Heritage Commission. Her company Blackfella Films, established in 1993, is a leader in the creation of Indigenous content, including the series First Contact (2016), Redfern Now, First Australians (2008), Ready For This and its latest production DNA Nation. Her work as director includes documentaries such as Freedom Ride (1993) and the more recent Black Panther Women (2014) as well as movies Radiance (1998), Bran Nue Dae (2009), One Night the Moon (2001), Mabo (2012) and Jasper Jones (2017). She also works in the cultural sector, directing festivals, such as the Yeperenye Festival for the Centenary of Federation. She researched and published The Black Book, a director of Indigenous people working in the cultural sector. In more recent times she has focussed on the development of Arrernte culture, the first project being an Arrernte Women’s Camp, which recorded and revived the repertoire of Arrernte women’s traditional musical heritage.

Accolades

Rachel Perkins and Vincent Sheehan
Best Youth Feature Film, 2017

Jasper Jones

Best Youth Feature Film, 2017

Jasper Jones

Adapted from Craig Silvey’s bestselling Australian novel of the same name, Jasper Jones is the story of Charlie Bucktin, a bookish 14-year-old boy living in a small…

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Robyn Kershaw and Graeme Isaac and Rachel Perkins
Best Children's Feature Film, 2010

Bran Nue Dae

Best Children's Feature Film, 2010

Bran Nue Dae

It’s the summer of 1967 and young Willie is filled with the life of the idyllic old pearling port Broome, in the North of Western…

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Films

Jasper Jones
2017

Jasper Jones

Australia
2017

Jasper Jones

Adapted from Craig Silvey’s bestselling Australian novel and featuring a stellar cast including Toni Collette, Hugo Weaving, Levi Miller, Angourie Rice, Dan Wyllie and Aaron…

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Bran Nue Dae
2010

Bran Nue Dae

Australia
2010

Bran Nue Dae

It’s the summer of 1967 and young Willie is filled with the life of the idyllic old pearling port Broome, in the North of Western…

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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.

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