Samantha Lang, Writer/Director

Samantha Lang is a director known for intimate dramas with compelling performances. Working in Australia and Europe, her films have screened at major international festivals including Cannes, Sundance, Toronto and Locarno. Her debut feature “The Well”, a taut psychological thriller, screened In Competition at the Cannes Film Festival,1997. Samantha met producers John Maynard and Bridget Ikin whilst a student at AFTRS. They collaborated on her second feature: the adaptation of Dorothy Porter’s female-centric detective novel in verse “The Monkey’s Mask” (2000). Her third feature “L’Idole” (2002) was made in French: a collaboration with French screenwriter Gerard Brach for an original psychological story. Samantha has also directed television drama, commercials, and, recently her first VR film. “It All Started With A Stale Sandwich” is her first feature documentary.

John Maynard, Producer

Veteran film producer, John is well known for his eye for talent, producing the award-winning debut feature films from (amongst others) Jane Campion “Sweetie” (1989), Vincent Ward “Vigil” (1984), Rowan Woods “The Boys” (1998), Robert Connolly “The Bank” (2001), Richard Roxburgh “Romulus my Father” (2009) and Kasimir Burgess “Fell” (2014). John has a long career in the visual arts. He was the foundation director (1970) of the public art museum, Govett-Brewster in New Zealand, which now houses the works of pioneer filmmaker and kinetic sculptor Len Lye. For many years, John was the Director of the Len Lye Foundation – at the same time producing feature films. John has presented 3 films In Competition in Cannes (an unrivalled Australian record). Most recently, he produced “Jirga” (2018), which premiered at Toronto Film Festival, and won the CineFestOz Award, 2018. His career as a distinguished producer of arthouse cinema is punctuated by significant documentaries. He produced “The Dream of Perfection” (2013) for the 40th anniversary of the Sydney Opera House (ABC broadcast). He also produced Lynette Wallworth’s award-winning “CORAL: Re-kindling Venus” (2012) for fulldome cinema, fusing art+ science to share the precarious beauty of coral.

Justine Kerrigan, Cinematographer

Justine Kerrigan has worked for many years across award-winning films, documentaries, and music videos. Originally a stills photographer, she graduated in cinematography from the Australian Film Television & Radio School. The films she has shot have featured at many international film festivals with the short film “Inja” (2002) nominated for an Academy Award. She prefers to work with natural light and is a strong advocate of a collaborative approach to her craft.

Elliot Magen, Editor

Elliott Magen is a film, television and video editor/artist based in Sydney. He has a passion for projects with a social conscience that challenges conventional modes of storytelling. He works across feature films, documentaries and multi-screen video installations. His documentary credits as editor include Steven McGregor’s Servant or Slave (2016), Erica Glynn’s documentary Truth Be Told and Kate Blackmore’s 6-part web series The Glass Bedroom for which he was awarded the 2017 Australian Screen Editors’ Digistor Award for Best Editing in Open Content. Elliott has edited video works for artists such as Jonathan Jones, Deborah Kelly and Lynette Wallworth, including her immersive feature fulldome film, CORAL: Rekindling Venus which screened at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

Liam Egan, Sound Designer

Liam has had a long career in sound design for film, documentary and television, with more than forty feature film credits as sound designer/sound supervisor. In recent years, he has also contributed to the sound for a variety of screen-based artworks (including a number of works for Angelica Mesiti, wok work ASSEMBLY for the Venice Biennale 2019 included), virtual reality films and fulldome cinema.

Munro Melano, Composer

Melbourne-based composer and musician, Munro Melano has created a contemporary score for the film using a mix of string quartet, saxophones, piano and brass. Previously he composed the full jazz score for the music-heavy experimental feature film “[CENSORED]” (2018) and also a synth and live string score for the ABC documentary “Paper Trails” (2017). He also recently completed his ambitious debut solo album.