Alex Kelly is an Australian

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

artist, film maker and producer based in regional Australia. Kelly was born in regional

NSW ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and grew up in a farming community near

Wodonga Wodonga (Pallanganmiddang language, Waywurru: ''Wordonga'') is a city on the Victoria (Australia), Victorian side of the border with New South Wales, north-east of Melbourne, Australia. It is located wholly within the boundaries of the City of ...

in regional

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

,Alex Processes the Big Picture
''Artery'', No.6, Autumn 2008, p.13, at

Australia Council for the Arts The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

. Retrieved 23 November 2012. Kelly has worked with diverse communities in Australia and around the world including

Coober Pedy Coober Pedy () is a town in northern South Australia, north of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway. The town is sometimes referred to as the "opal capital of the world" because of the quantity of precious opals that are mined there. Coober Pedy is ...

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and the UK organising and lobbying for

social change Social change is the alteration of the social order of a society which may include changes in social institutions, social behaviours or social relations. Definition Social change may not refer to the notion of social progress or sociocult ...

. She has been involved in

community development The United Nations defines community development as "a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems." It is a broad concept, applied to the practices of civic leaders, activists ...

the arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

media (communication) In mass communication, media are the communication outlets or tools used to store and deliver information or data. The term refers to components of the mass media communications industry, such as print media, publishing, the news media, photograp ...

environmental protection Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment by individuals, organizations and governments. Its objectives are to conserve natural resources and the existing natural environment and, where possible, to repair dam ...

and

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

projects.

Social justice

In the 1990s, Kelly was involved in organising campaign events in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and across Australia. She was involved in the campaign and blockade against the proposed

Jabiluka Jabiluka is a pair of uranium deposits and mine development in the Northern Territory of Australia that was to have been built on land belonging to the Mirarr clan of Australian Aborigine, Aboriginal people. The mine site is surrounded by, but no ...

uranium mine in the

Kakadu National Park Kakadu National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia, southeast of Darwin. It is a World Heritage Site. Kakadu is also gazetted as a locality, covering the same area as the national park, with 313 people recorded liv ...

led by the

Mirrar The Bininj are an Aboriginal Australian people of Western Arnhem land in the Northern Territory. The sub-groups of Bininj are sometimes referred to by the various language dialects spoken in the region, that is, the group of dialects known as Bi ...

people, NTO'Toole, Kate and Tetlow, Mirand
Guestroom – Alex Kelly
Radio 105.7

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

Darwin, 20 September 2011, retrieved 23 November 2012. where she developed an interest in

independent media Independent media refers to any media, such as television, newspapers or Internet-based publications, that is free of influence by government or corporate interests. The term has varied applications. Within the United States and other developed ...

. Back in

, she was involved in the founding collective of Melbourne Indymedia and worked on SKA TV's weekly activist news program ''Access News'' on Channel 31, Melbourne. Alongside her work in environmental conservation,

sustainable development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...

and social justice, she has worked with young people sharing skills in media arts in remote central Australian areas. In 2001, Kelly took part in the

anti-capitalist Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. In this sense, anti-capitalists are those who wish to replace capitalism with another type of economi ...

People's Global Action People's, branded as ''People's Viennaline'' until May 2018, and legally ''Altenrhein Luftfahrt GmbH'', is an Austrian airline headquartered in Vienna. It operates scheduled and charter passenger flights mainly from its base at St. Gallen-Altenr ...

conference and "people's caravan" in

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

. She worked for social justice organisations in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, Spain and Morocco, was co-editor of ''Greenpepper'' (social justice and environmental magazine) in

, participated in organising a technology event with Genderchangers collective in

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

and did grass roots distribution for several Australian independent film makers by travelling around Europe screening their documentaries in social centres, squats, at protests, conferences and gatherings for 6 months in 2002/3. She was in Coober Pedy for the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the first British

atomic test Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine nuclear weapons' effectiveness, yield, and explosive capability. Testing nuclear weapons offers practical information about how the weapons function, how detonations are affected by ...

Emu Field Emu Field is located in the desert of South Australia, at (ground zero Totem I test). Variously known as Emu Field, Emu Junction or Emu, it was the site of the Operation Totem pair of nuclear tests conducted by the British government in Octobe ...

in 1953. In 2004, Kelly settled in Coober Pedy to work on projects and

campaigns Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme *Bl ...

on environmental issues, youth and arts program. She volunteered with the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta – a group of senior Aboriginal women on the 'Irati Wanti–Poison Leave It' campaign which successfully halted a proposed

nuclear waste dump Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons re ...

in South Australia. She also worked as a voluntary

projectionist A projectionist is a person who operates a movie projector, particularly as an employee of a movie theater. Projectionists are also known as "operators". Historical background N.B. The dates given in the subject headings are approximate. Early ...

at the Coober Pedy

Drive-In Cinema A drive-in theater or drive-in cinema is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand, and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, customers can view movie ...

. Kelly has supported the anti-fracking campaigns across the NT for several years, running workshops on Story Based Strategy and visiting communities such as Katherine and Borroloola who are organising against this toxic industry. Alex is supporting the campaigns to end artwashing with a particular focus on getting the annual Darwin Festival to drop their sponsorship agreement with Santos.

Creative Producing

In 2003, she started to work for the acclaimed Australian arts and social change company Big ''h''ART Inc., commencing as a

production assistant A production assistant, also known as a PA, is a member of the film crew and is a job title used in filmmaking and television for a person responsible for various aspects of a production. The job of a PA can vary greatly depending on the budget ...

on the projects ''Knot@Home'' in 2003, ''Radio Holiday'', ''Stickybricks'' and ''Junk Theory'',Butz, Curt: ''The World I Dream Of'', Ropeley: O-Books, 2010, p.240 continuing as Creative Producer of ''Ngapartji Ngapartji'' from 2005 to 2010 and becoming National Producer in 2012. With Big ''h''ART Inc., she collectively developed the large-scale community development and art-making project ''

Ngapartji Ngapartji ''Ngapartji Ngapartji'' was an Australian Indigenous language maintenance/revitalisation and community development project that ran between 2005 and 2010. One of its spin-off projects, a stage production of the same name co-created by Scott Rank ...

'' as creative producer from 2004 to 2010. For the work on ''Ngapartji Ngapartji'', Kelly moved to Alice Springs where she also co-incepted the outdoor cinema 'Lunacine'. In 2006, she worked as NT

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

Arts Reporter.Global Social Change Film Festival & Institute; Filmmaker Bios http://www.socialchangefilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/FilmmakerBios.pdf, retrieved 23 November 2012. After ''Ngapartji Ngapartji'' wrapped in 2009, Kelly worked as community liaison adviser to Senator Bob Brown, leader of the

Australian Greens The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, are a confederation of Green state and territory political parties in Australia. As of the 2022 federal election, the Greens are the third largest political party in Australia by vote and th ...

in Canberra.

Speculative Futures

Since 2015 Alex Kelly has been collaborating with

David Pledger David Pledger (born 1962) is an Australian artist and director. Pledger has won several awards, including the Victorian Arts Centre's 1999 Kenneth Myer Medallion for the Performing Arts, and in 2000 the A$25,000 Sidney Myer performing arts a ...

on the futuring practice The Things We Did Next.

Film

Kelly has worked across film as a producer, impact producer and director. She supported the production of over 75 short

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

s for the ''Ngapartji Ngapartji'' project alongside filmmaker Suzy Bates and

Pitjantjatjara The Pitjantjatjara (; or ) are an Aboriginal people of the Central Australian desert near Uluru. They are closely related to the Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra and their languages are, to a large extent, mutually intelligible (all are vari ...

young people. She co-produced and co-directed ''Globalisation 101'' with Kim Beamish for SKATV and

Friends of the Earth Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of environmental organizations in 73 countries. The organization was founded in 1969 in San Francisco by David Brower, Donald Aitken and Gary Soucie after Brower's split with ...

in 2001. Kelly was producer on the award-winning documentary ''Nothing Rhymes with Ngapartji'' which premiered on ABC TV in 2011 &. The film, directed by Bates, explores

Aboriginal Australian languages The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

, the legacy of the Maralinga atomic tests in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, and the staging of the ''Ngapartji Ngapartji'' theatre show in the remote Aboriginal community of

Ernabella Pukatja (formerly Ernabella) is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands" (the others being Amata, Pipalyatjara, Fregon/Kaltjiti, ...

, in the

APY Lands Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara, also known as APY, APY Lands or ''the Lands'', is a large, sparsely-populated local government area (LGA) for Aboriginal people, located in the remote north west of South Australia. Some of the aṉangu ...

. It was screened at the This is Not Art Festival (

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, Australia), Yosemite Arts Festival (

Yosemite Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

, USA), Radar International Documentary Film Festival (Germany), the International Film Festival (Ireland), Docs Campus ( NZ)''Nothing Rhymes with Ngapartji''
retrieved 23 November 2012. and the Global Social Change Film Festival (Indonesia). The documentary won the El Capitan Award at the 2011 Yosemite Film Festival and was finalist in both the

ATOM Awards The ATOM Awards are a group of awards offered to Australian and New Zealand "professionals, educators and students", honoring achievements in the making of film, television, multimedia, and from 2007 multi-modal productions. The Awards were esta ...

2010 (Best Biography) and Global Social Change Film Festival 2011. In 2011 Kelly worked as production assistant on the drama shoot of PAW Media/ Rebel Films ''Coniston'', about the

Coniston massacre The Coniston massacre, which took place in the region around the Coniston cattle station in the then Territory of Central Australia (now the Northern Territory) from 14 August to 18 October 1928, was the last known officially sanctioned massa ...

. ''Coniston'' won the 2012 Best

Docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typic ...

ATOM Award. In 2012, Kelly directed the 30-minute documentary ''Queen of the Desert'' for 360 Degree Films, showcasing the collaborative work of

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

hairstylist Starlady Nungari and the Areyonga community. ''Queen of the Desert'' was funded by

Screen Australia Screen Australia is the Australian Federal Government's key funding body for the Australian screen production industry, created under the ''Screen Australia Act 2008''. From 1 July 2008 Screen Australia took over the functions of its predecess ...

, Screen NT and ABC TV for the Opening Shot scheme. The film screened at Fist Full of Films Festival ( Darwin 2012), Cockatoo Island Film Festival ( Cockatoo Island, 2012) and had two successful openings in both

and

and premiered on

ABC2 ABC TV Plus (formerly ABC2 and ABC Comedy) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and part of its ABC Television network. The channel broadcasts a range of general entertainment progra ...

on 25 November 2012. From 2013 to 2015 Kelly worked at the Global Impact & Distribution Producer on

Naomi Klein Naomi A. Klein (born May 8, 1970) is a Canadian author, social activist, and filmmaker known for her political analyses, support of ecofeminism, organized labour, left-wing politics and criticism of corporate globalization, fascism, ecofascism ...

and

Avi Lewis Avram David "Avi" Lewis (born May 1967) is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, former host of the Al Jazeera English show ''Fault Lines'' and former host of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) current-affairs programs ''CounterSpin'' and ' ...

' '' This Changes Everything'' project. The documentary film premiered at

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

and was released globally in the lead up to the

COP21 The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21 or CMP 11 was held in Paris, France, from 30 November to 12 December 2015. It was the 21st yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Conve ...

Climate Change meeting in Paris in December 2015. Kelly also co-founded the Something Somewhere Film Festival in Alice Springs in 2015. In 2017 she produced the short film ''The Island'' for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', and in 2018 produced the documentary ''Island of the Hungry Ghosts''. ''Island of the Hungry Ghosts'' premiered at

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

in April 2018, where it won Best Documentary. In 2019 Kelly produced ''Pay the Rent'' with Buzzfeed Australia, and worked on the completion and release of

Maya Newell Maya Newell is an Australian filmmaker, known for the feature-length documentaries ''Gayby Baby'' (2015) and ''In My Blood It Runs'' (2019). She works at Closer Productions in Adelaide, South Australia. Newell had intended to study international ...

's feature documentary ''

In My Blood It Runs Maya Newell is an Australian filmmaker, known for the feature-length documentaries ''Gayby Baby'' (2015) and ''In My Blood It Runs'' (2019). She works at Closer Productions in Adelaide, South Australia. Newell had intended to study international ...

'', which premiered at

Hot Docs International Film Festival The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Canada. In 2022 Alex worked as an Impact Producer on Maya Newell's short documentar
The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone
which premiered on Netflix worldwide in September 2022.

Recognition

Kelly has been on the board of a range of media, arts and political organisations, among others Arid Lands Environment Centre, RedHOT Arts, Engage Media and was artistic consultant to the 'Art at the Heart Regional Arts Conference' (2008). In 2008, Kelly won the

'Kirk Robson Award' & and was a YouthActionNet

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

&, taking part in the 'Global Fellows Retreat' in

Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

(USA, 2008). In 2010, she undertook an

Australia Council The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

residency at in Paris. In 2011, she received the Screen Territory Bob Plasto Fellowship. She was awarded a 2012

Churchill Fellowship Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts (WCMT) are three independent but related living memorials to Sir Winston Churchill, based in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. They exist for the purpose of administering Churchill Fellowships, a ...

to undertake research into social change film distribution, impact and outreach models. Kelly was awarded The Fitzgerald Social Change Award – NT Human Rights Awards in 2016 and in 2015 was part of

Screen Producers Australia Screen Producers Australia (SPA), formerly the Screen Producers' Association of Australia (SPAA) and earlier names, is a national organisation representing film production businesses, emerging producers, service providers and screen industry supp ...

's ''Ones To Watch'' program and was the Kickstart pitch winner for a series in development ''How to Make Trouble and Influence People''. She was a 2016 Sidney Myer Creative Fellow. In 2020 Alex was awarded a Bertha Foundation Bertha Challenge Fellowship.

Miscellaneous

Kelly has been founding member of Malice Springs Roller Derby League. In 2012 she transferred to VRDL ‘

Victorian Roller Derby League The 'Victorian Roller Derby League'' (VRDL or Victoria) is a flat track roller derby league based in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 2007, VRDL provides opportunities for all ages and at all levels to participate and compete in Roller Derby. VR ...

’ where she skates under the name Axle Sparx.Kate O'Toole and Miranda Tetlow "Guestroom – Alex Kelly" www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2011/09/14/3317775.htm, retrieved 23 November 2012. She was crowned 1998 "Miss Camel Cup" at the annual Alice Springs event. In 2010/11, she tour-managed the Australian summer tour of brass band Orchestra Del Sol from

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

(UK).

References

External links

Alex's home pag
echotango
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Alex Australian women film directors Australian documentary film producers Australian reporters and correspondents Australian activists People from Alice Springs Australian women film producers Australian documentary film directors Living people 1979 births People from Albury, New South Wales Women documentary filmmakers