Elissa Down is an Australian filmmaker, who in 1999 and 2000, was nominated for Young Film-maker of the year at the WA Screen Awards. Her major works are a number of award-winning short films, ''Summer Angst'', ''The Cherry Orchard'', ''Her Outback'', ''The Bathers'', '' Pink Pyjamas'', ''HMAS Unicorn'' and ''Samantha Stewart, aged fourteen''. They have been screened at numerous festivals including Tampere, Locarno Aix-en-Provence, Montecatini, Milan, San Francisco Indie, St Kilda, Brisbane, Revelation, Women on Women, POV and Tropfest. These shorts have also been screened in theatres and broadcast nationally and overseas. Down was one of Australia's upcoming artists featured in the In Progress spread in Vogue (2005). Down's first feature film, the semi-autobiographical, '' The Black Balloon'' was released in Australian cinemas 6 March 2008. It stars

Rhys Wakefield Rhys Wakefield is an Australian actor and director, known for his roles in Australian TV series ''Home and Away'', the feature film ''The Black Balloon'' (2008) and in season 3 of HBO's ''True Detective'' in 2019. Wakefield's debut feature f ...

Gemma Ward Gemma Louise Ward is an Australian model and actress. Born in Perth, Western Australia, Ward was first scouted at the age of 14, and made her Australian Fashion Week debut aged 15. She later became the youngest model to appear on the cover of th ...

Luke Ford Luke Ford (born 26 March 1981) is a Canadian-Australian actor. His career began in television in 2000 and his first film role was in 2006 before being cast in '' The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor'' in 2008. Ford's regular television roles ...

Erik Thomson Erik Thomson is a Scottish-born New Zealand-Australian actor. He is known for playing Hades in the television series ''Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'', ''Xena Warrior Princess'' and ''Young Hercules'', Dr. Mitch Stevens in '' All Saints'' an ...

and Academy Award Nominee

Toni Collette Toni Collette Galafassi (born Toni Collett; 1 November 1972) is an Australian actress, producer, singer, and songwriter. Known for her work in television and independent films, she has received various accolades throughout her career, includ ...

. The film was partially based on herself and family. The world premiere was at the

Berlin International 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 ...

in Germany in February 2008, where the film received a Crystal Bear as the best feature-length film in the ''Generation 14plus'' category. On 6 December 2008 Down was awarded the AFI Best Direction in Film Award and AFI Best Original Screenplay Award for the Black Balloon. The film also won the L'Oreal Paris AFI Award for Best FIlm. Down's other feature film directing credits include ''

The Honor List ''The Honor List'' is a 2018 American drama film directed by Elissa Down and starring Meghan Rienks, Sasha Pieterse, Karrueche Tran and Arden Cho. Cast *Meghan Rienks as Piper Morely *Sasha Pieterse as Isabella Walker *Karrueche Tran as Sophie St ...

'' (2018), starring

Meghan Rienks ''AwesomenessTV'' is an American sketch-comedy reality series based on the YouTube AwesomenessTV, channel of the same name and is created by Brian Robbins. Both seasons contain 20 episodes. On May 1, 2014, Nickelodeon announced that the series h ...

and

Sasha Pieterse Sasha Pieterse-Sheaffer (; born February 17, 1996) is a South African-born American actress, singer and songwriter. She is known for her role as Alison DiLaurentis in the Freeform series ''Pretty Little Liars'' and its spin-off '' Pretty Little ...

and ''

Feel the Beat "Feel the Beat" is a song by Finnish DJ and record producer Darude. It was released as the second single from his debut studio album '' Before the Storm''. It shares many similar musical elements to the first single, " Sandstorm", and achieved s ...

'' (2020) starring

Sofia Carson Sofía Daccarett Char (born April 10, 1993), known professionally as Sofia Carson, is an American actress and singer. Her first appearance on television was as a guest star on the Disney Channel series '' Austin & Ally''. In 2015, she received ...

Awards

* ''The Black Balloon'' Winner Best Feature Film - Berlin International Film Festival, Generation 14+ section, 2008 * ''Summer Angst'' Winner Best Actor Female – Tropfest, 2004 * ''The Bathers'' Winner Grand Prix Split International Festival of New Film, 2003 * ''The Bathers'' Winner Best Fiction Montecatini International Short Film Festival, 2003 * ''The Bathers'' Special Mention Youth Jury – Locarno International Film Festival, 2002 * ''Her Outback'' Winner - State ACS Award (Gold) for Cinematography in a short documentary, 2002 * ''Her Outback'' Winner Best Director and Best Cinematographer - Kaleidoscope Short Film Festival, 2002 * ''Samantha Stewart, aged fourteen Winner'' Best Drama and Best Editing - WA Screen Awards, 2001 * ''Samantha Stewart, aged fourteen'' Commended at the DENDY Awards for the under 15 minutes fiction category, 2001

References

External links

* *
FFC letter of intent reaches WA filmmakers

FTO news about The Black Balloon

ICON Entertainment page about The Black Balloon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Down, Elissa Australian film directors Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) Australian women film directors Living people Curtin University alumni Australian women screenwriters 20th-century Australian screenwriters 20th-century Australian women writers 21st-century Australian screenwriters 21st-century Australian women writers