2014 Host

Aaron Pedersen originally studied journalism before transitioning his career to his acting passion. His television credits include Jack Irish: Black Tide, Jack Irish: Bad Debts, City Homicide, East West 101, The Secret Life of Us, Water Rats, MDA, Grass Roots, BlackJack: Dead Memory and The Circuit, where he became one of the country’s first Aboriginal leads on television. Pedersen has appeared in the feature films Bad Karma (2012) and Darklovestory (2006) for which he won a Melbourne Underground Film Festival Award for Best Actor, Queen of Hearts (2004), Saturday Night (2000) and Dead Heart (1996). He has also directed his own short documentary, My Brother Vinnie (2006), for which he received the Best Short Documentary award at the Melbourne International Film Festival.

One of the most acclaimed and recognised Palestinian actresses working in international cinema today, Hiam Abbass has starred in almost 50 feature films. The talented and multilingual actress, director and writer works regularly in Palestine, Israel, France and the US. Abbass has collaborated twice with Israeli director Eran Riklis, on The Syrian Bride (2004) and on Lemon Tree(2007), for which she won the APSA and the Israeli Film Academy Award for Best Actress and received a European Film Award nomination. In 2012, her first feature film debut as writer/director, Inheritance, screened at the Venice Film Festival.