PATRONS
Emma Booth
Patron
Emma Booth has been a long-time guest and supporter of CinefestOZ. The West Australian-born actress, best known for the TV series Glitch and The Gloaming, became an international success after starring in Clubland, which was screened at the Sundance Film Festival and introduced her to global audiences. Her acting credits include Once Upon a Time, Cloudstreet, Underbelly and Hounds of Love, for which she won the 2017 AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. She also starred in the WA-made feature film H Is For Happiness, which won the $100,000 CinefestOZ Film Prize in 2019.
David Wenham
Patron
Actor David Wenham is a household name in Australia, due to his depiction of an eclectic range of characters in feature film, television and stage productions. His international film credits include roles in Lord of the Rings, Cosi, Moulin Rouge, Van Helsing and Public Enemies. His directorial debut was one of the 17 interconnected stories filmed as The Turning, which premiered in WA at CinefestOZ in 2013. David’s involvement with CinefestOZ since 2011 and role as Patron since 2012, has been pivotal to the Festival’s success.
Myles Pollard
Patron Cinesnaps Schools Program
Myles has a Bachelor of Arts in Education (Secondary) from Edith Cowan University and a Bachelor of Dramatic Art in Acting degree from NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art). He has appeared in many Australian television series including McLeod’s Daughters, Packed to the Rafters, Underbelly and Rescue Special Ops. His feature film credits include Wolverine, Drift (which he also produced), The Turning, The War That Changed Us and has just completed a role in the feature film Looking for Grace starring Richard Roxburgh and Radha Mitchell. Myles has worked as an actor with respected Australian theatre companies including Ensemble, Black Swan and Bell Shakespeare, a company he also teaches for Australia wide. Myles is currently directing short films for the Creative Arts Initiative, a Murdoch University program that aims to develop positive aspirations for WA high school students.
Kelton Pell
Koorda
Kelton Pell has built a reputation for being one of our finest indigenous actors. He has enjoyed an illustrious theatre career over the last twenty years performing all around Australia. On the big screen, Kelton has appeared numerous feature films including Red Dog: True Blue, Looking For Grace, Bran Nue Dae, Blackfellas and Australian Rules. This year he will be seen in Three Summers, directed by Ben Elton, a CinefestOZ 2017 Film Prize Finalist. Kelton’s work in television includes Redfern Now, The Gods of Wheat Street, Cloudstreet and The Circuit.
AMBASSADORS
Alex Williams
Ambassador
Alex is a very good looking and humble actor/ writer from Perth WA. He played the lead role of Romeo in the Bell Shakespeare Company’s 2016 production of Romeo and Juliet and Damis in the BSSTC/QTC production of Tartuffe. His television credits include his Logie nominated performance in the title role of Julian Assange in the movie UNDERGROUND. He also featured in NEVER TEAR US APART: THE UNTOLD STORY OF INXS, CATCHING MILAT, BROCK, FRIDAY ON MY MIND and THE UNDERBELLY FILES: CHOPPER. Alex appeared on 2 seasons of THE HEIGHTS and PLAYING FOR KEEPS. Alex’s film credits include THE RECKONING and PAPER PLANES. .
Sophia Forrest
Ambassador
Sophia Forrest is one of Australia’s most exciting new performers. Sophia trained at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) graduating in 2016. There she performed in various productions including Les Liaisons Dangereuses which toured to Hong Kong and Coriolanus which toured to Hydra Festival in Greece. After graduating from WAAPA, Sophia made her television debut on the hit Nine Network Series Love Child as ‘Debbie Hampshire’. Sophia’s feature film credits include Reaching Distance, Warner Bros Aquaman and Ride Like A Girl, opposite Teresa Palmer.
Travis Jeffrey
Ambassador
Travis is best known for his roles on acclaimed miniseries Gallipolli, Universal Pictures’ Unbroken, directed by Angelina Jolie and Sony’s Spin Out- which premiered at CinefestOZ. Some of his recent works include Top End Wedding which had its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival, Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan, Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and AMC series The Preacher season 4. Travis had his stage debut in 2017 when he performed in Sport Jove’s One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, playing Billy Bibbit, followed by the highly acclaimed Tonsils and Tweezers which he received a Broadway World ‘Best Actor’ nomination. Released in 2020, Travis played Finnish twins Gael and Gideon in horror comedy Bloody Hell, which is set to become a trilogy. Travis starred in 2021 war epic Before Dawn.
Lynette NARKLE
Bunbury Ambassador
Lynette Narkle is an Indigenous Australian theatre and film actor and director. She started in theatre in 1979, with Indigenous playwright Jack Davis. Narkle worked for Screenwest increasing the engagement of Indigenous filmmakers with screen culture and was an associate director at Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company from 2002 to 2006. Narkle was on the Board of the Australia Council for the Arts Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board from 2008 to 2010. Narkle was on the Board of the Yirra Yaakin Aboriginal Corporation from 2003 to 2007 and a WA representative on the Australia Council for the Arts Community Cultural Development Fund from 1996 to 1999. She is the recipient of 2017 Red Ochre Award, Australia Council for the Arts and the 2018 Honorary Doctor of Arts, Edith Cowan University
Karla Hart
Albany Ambassador
A proud Noongar woman, Karla was raised on Goreng country in the Great Southern, taking her determination in telling First Nations stories to our screens. Hart has a great deal of experience in the industry producing Yokayi Footy once more this season in collaboration with the AFL. In 2021 being recognised as Aboriginal West Australian of the Year for her connection to country and the arts. Her project Virtual Whadjuk came to CinefestOZ in 2021 and will return this year.
Joel Jackson
Albany Ambassador
Joel Jackson is a CinefestOz Ambassador, Logie and Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts award winning actor, writer and producer. Best known for his TV role in Peter Allen; Not the Boy Next Door, Joel’s numbering TV credits include Deadline Gallipoli, Hyde & Seek, The Wrong Girl, Safe Harbour, Mystery Road 2, The Claremont Murders and Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries. Joel’s feature film credits include I Met A Girl, CinefestOz award winner H is for Happiness, Jungle, Just A Farmer and the upcoming adaptation of Craig Silvey’s award winning book Runt and the feature Kangaroo Island. As writer and producer, Joel’s short film Stranger has won multiple awards internationally and screened at Flickerfest and the St Kilda Film Festivals. For the stage, Joel has appeared in Barracking for the Umpire, The Pool, The Glass Menagerie (Black Swan State Theatre), Cyrano (Black Swan & Melbourne Theatre Company) and Born Yesterday (MTC). His podcast Journey by Joel Jackson features original fictional short stories and short stoic gems, listened to in over 50 countries.