Megan Spencer (born 1966) is an Australian broadcaster, film critic, journalist, media maker, and teacher.

Biography

Spencer studied

Speech pathology Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if they are th ...

in Melbourne before pursuing interests in film and radio. In the 1980s, as a volunteer, she co-produced 'Eeek!' a

3RRR 3RRR (pronounced "Three Triple R", or simply "Triple R") is an Australian community radio station, based in Melbourne. 3RRR first commenced broadcasting in 1976 from the studios of 3ST, the student radio station of the Royal Melbourne Institut ...

cultural theory radio show, hosted by

Philip Brophy Philip Brophy, born in Reservoir, Melbourne 1959 is an Australian musician, composer, sound designer, filmmaker, writer, graphic designer, educator and academic. Music In 1977, Brophy formed the experimental group → ↑ → more often writte ...

and

Bruce Milne Bruce Milne (born 1957) is an Australian radio presenter and music journalist. He co-founded Au-Go-Go Records and the cassette magazine ''Fast Forward'', and was owner of The Tote Hotel. Career Milne began his career in the 1970s hosting m ...

. She later studied Media Arts at

RMIT University RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city ...

and completed her first documentary film: ''Heathens'' in 1994. Spencer has been a guest speaker at various film events around Australia. She has broadcast regularly on

ABC Radio National Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors an ...

, Sydney and Melbourne metro ABC radio, and regional ABC radio. She has worked as a film programmer (

RMIT RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1887 by Francis Ormond, RMIT began as a night school offering classes in art, scienc ...

, VCA, Kingston Arts Centre), and taught documentary and film theory and practice (Melbourne University, VCA, RMIT, AFTRS Melbourne). She has written for publications ''IF Magazine'', ''Real Time'', ''documenter'', ''The Eye'' and ''Like''. From 1996–98 Spencer Co-founded, programmed and ran the VCA Documentary Film Society at the

Victorian College of the Arts The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus of the ...

. In 1999 she joined ABC Radio's

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 ...

national youth network as resident film critic and journalist. In 2002 she co-founded Triple J's annual Framebreaks National Youth Short Film Festival, and was a member of the

MIFF MIFF may refer to: Film festivals * Listapad, aka Minsk International Film Festival, held each November in Minsk, Belarus *Maine International Film Festival, held in Waterville, Maine *Melbourne International Film Festival, held in Melbourne, Aus ...

Film Critic's Jury. In 2004 she completed her MA in Media Arts (Documentary) at RMIT University, and from 2004–06 was a film critic on

SBS Television The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from the Australian Government. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS World ...

's ''

The Movie Show ''The Movie Show'' is an Australian film review program which was broadcast on SBS TV. Its history is divided into three parts, until it finally wound up in 2008. History The original format, which ran from 30 October 1986 to 12 May 2004, had ...

''. In 2007 Spencer was the Guest Director of the Revelation Perth International Film Festival, and in 2008 became a radio presenter on 105.7 ABC Darwin. In 2010 she moved to Bendigo, and in 2013 was a radio presenter for ABC Central Victoria. Spencer has been a judge for

film festivals A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...

and competitions across Australia, including

Sydney Film Festival The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize. the festival's director is Nashen Moodley. Histo ...

, Shoot Out, St. Kilda Film Festival,

Brisbane International Film Festival The Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF) is an annual film festival held in Brisbane, Australia. Organised by the Screen Culture unit at Screen Queensland, the festival has taken place since 1992, with the program including features, doc ...

, Melbourne International, Underground and Fringe Film Festivals, Real Life on Film Documentary Festival, Queensland's Pandanus Film Festival, the SA Zoom Fest, Melbourne International Queer Film Festival, SPAA Fringe and the annual AFI Awards. She is also a teacher of meditation. In the 2000s Spencer lived in Berlin, returning to Melbourne in 2015.

Filmography

* ''Heathens'', 1994 * ''Hooked on Christmas'', 1997 * ''Strange Hungers'', 2002 * ''Lovestruck: Wrestling's No. #1 Fan'', 2005 * ''Brent'' * ''The Band'', 2009

References

External links

*
The SBS Movie show

Triple J

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Megan Australian documentary filmmakers Australian film critics Australian women film critics 1966 births Living people RMIT University alumni