Catriona McKenzie is an Australian filmmaker. She is known for her film ''

Satellite Boy ''Satellite Boy'' is a 2012 Australian adventure drama film about a young Aboriginal boy struggling to maintain the traditions of his heritage in the modern world when a mining company expands into the region. Written and directed by Catriona Mc ...

'' and television series ''

Kiki and Kitty ''Kiki and Kitty'' is an Australian comedy series released through ABC Television's streaming service, iview, in 2017 and then screened on ABC Comedy. Synopsis The series follows the adventures of Kiki, the good black girl in a bad white worl ...

'' (written by Nakkiah Lui) and ''

Wrong Kind of Black ''Wrong Kind of Black'', originally titled ''Maybe Today'', is an Australian four-part comedy drama series released as a telemovie, web series, and on streaming services. It was created, written and narrated by the Aboriginal Australian author ...

''. Her production company is called Dark Horse.

Early life and education

McKenzie is an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

woman of the Gunai/Kurnai people of south-eastern Australia. She is a graduate of the

Australian Film, Television and Radio School The Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) formerly Australian Film and Television School, is Australia's national screen arts and broadcast school. The school is a Commonwealth Government statutory authority. History Establishe ...

(AFTRS), with one of her graduate films being the short film ''The Third Note'' (1999). She graduated with Honours in 2001, and afterwards studied

screenwriting Screenwriting or scriptwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is often a freelance profession. Screenwriters are responsible for researching the story, devel ...

at the

New York University Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the ar ...

Career

''Satellite Boy'' (2012) was McKenzie's first

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

, produced by

David Jowsey David Jowsey is an Australian film producer, co-founder of Bunya Productions. He is known for producing many films made by Indigenous Australian filmmakers. Bunya Productions' co-owners are Indigenous filmmaker Ivan Sen, and Jowsey's wife Gre ...

. The film was selected for screening at the

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 earned a Special Mention at its European premiere in the Generation section of the 2013

Berlin Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

. It was nominated for the

AACTA The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) is a professional organisation of film and television practitioners in Australia. The Academy's aim is "to identify, award, promote, and celebrate Australia's greatest achievements i ...

Award for Best Film, and in 2014 was selected by the

Australian Directors Guild The Australian Directors' Guild (ADG) is an industry guild representing the interests of film, television, commercials and digital media directors, including documentary makers and animators, throughout Australia. With its headquarters in Sydney ...

for entry to the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merge ...

Directors Finder Series The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film director, film and television director, television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Dire ...

. She has also worked on numerous other TV series, including '' The Walking Dead'', ''

Tidelands Tidelands are the territory between the tide line of sea coasts, and lands lying under the sea beyond the low-water limit of the tide, considered within the territorial waters of a nation. The United States Constitution does not specify whether ...

'', '' Harrow'', '' The Warriors'', ''

Dance Academy ''Dance Academy'' is an Australian teen-oriented Dramatic programming, television drama produced by Werner Film Productions in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and ZDF. Series one premiered on 31 May 2010, and series tw ...

'', '' The Circuit'', ''

Redfern Now ''Redfern Now'' is an Australian drama television series, that first aired on ABC1 in 2012. The program follows the lives of 6 Aboriginal Australian families living in the urban hub of Redfern, Sydney. The series provides insight into contempo ...

'' and ''

The Gods of Wheat Street ''The Gods of Wheat Street'' is an Australian television drama series that screened on ABC TV from 12 April 2014. The six-part series tells the stories of the Freeburn clan, an Australian Aboriginal family. Synopsis Odin Freeburn, head of the f ...

''. She is the first

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

woman to direct a TV series in the US (the supernatural drama ''

Shadowhunters ''Shadowhunters'', also known as ''Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments'', is an American supernatural drama television series developed by Ed Decter, based on the book series ''The Mortal Instruments'' written by Cassandra Clare. It premiered ...

''). In 2018 McKenzie founded her own production company, Dark Horse, which she hopes will be a vehicle to provide opportunities for new, diverse voices. She believes that there are hundreds of stories to be told "about the impact of white colonial Australia on Aboriginal culture and Aboriginal people”. The first film is planned to be ''Stolen'', co-written with

Patricia Cornelius Patricia Cornelius is an Australian playwright and co-founder of Melbourne Workers Theatre. Plays Cornelius has written more than 20 plays, which include ''Slut'' (2008, Platform Youth Theatre), ''The Call'' (2009, Griffin Theatre Company), '' ...

. The comedy series ''Kiki and Kitty'', written by Nakkiah Lui and directed by McKenzie, won two awards at Series Mania in France in 2018.

Other roles and activities

McKenzie was appointed as a Film and Television Industry Advisory Committee Member under

Screen NSW ---> Screen NSW, formerly known as the New South Wales Film and Television Office, or FTO, and before that the New South Wales Film Corporation, is a brand name that is part of Create NSW, an agency of the Government of New South Wales that is re ...

's Sydney City of Film initiative, initially until 31 December 2019, and then reappointed to 31 December 2022. She is a member of the

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McKenzie, Catriona Australian women film directors Australian women screenwriters Australian women film producers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Australian film directors Australian film producers 21st-century Australian screenwriters 21st-century Australian women writers Indigenous Australian filmmakers Indigenous Australian writers Tisch School of the Arts alumni