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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.
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]
References
- ^ a b c d "Catriona McKenzie". Sydney, City of Film (Screen NSW). New South Wales Government. 31 December 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ "Staff Pick: The Third Note (1999) – Catriona McKenzie". YouTube. AFTRS. 13 November 2020.
- ^ "David Jowsey". Asia Pacific Screen Awards. 25 August 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
- ^ a b c 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Catriona Mckenzie launches production company ahead of LA Festival screening of Kiki and Kitty". FilmInk. 12 September 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
- ^ Lang, Jamie (5 May 2018). "'On the Spectrum' Tops 2018 Series Mania". Variety. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
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