Rachel Perkins (born 1970) is an Australian film and television director, producer, and screenwriter. She directed the films ''

Radiance In radiometry, radiance is the radiant flux emitted, reflected, transmitted or received by a given surface, per unit solid angle per unit projected area. Radiance is used to characterize diffuse emission and reflection of electromagnetic radiati ...

'' (1998), ''

One Night the Moon ''One Night the Moon'' is a 2001 Australian musical non-feature film starring husband and wife team Paul Kelly, a singer-songwriter, and Kaarin Fairfax, a film and television actress, along with their daughter Memphis Kelly. The film was dire ...

'' (2001), ''

Bran Nue Dae __NOTOC__ ''Bran Nue Dae'' is a 1990 musical set in Broome, Western Australia, that tells stories and of issues relating to Indigenous Australians. It was written by Jimmy Chi and his band Kuckles and friends, and was the first Aboriginal Austra ...

'' (2010), and ''

Jasper Jones ''Jasper Jones'', is a 2009 novel by Australian writer Craig Silvey. It has won and been shortlisted for several major awards including being shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. The novel was selected by the American Librar ...

'' (2017). Perkins is an

Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Australi ...

and Kalkadoon woman from

Central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Australia. In its narrowest sense it describes a region that is limited to the town of Alice Springs and i ...

, who was raised in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

by Aboriginal activist Charles Perkins and his wife Eileen.

Early life and education

Perkins was born in

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

in 1970. She is the daughter of Charlie Perkins, granddaughter of

Hetty Perkins Hetty Perkins ( – 8 December 1979) was an elder of the Eastern Arrernte people, an Aboriginal group from Central Australia. Several of her descendants have had prominent careers in various fields, both in the Northern Territory and in other ...

, and has

, Kalkadoon,

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

, and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

ancestry. Her siblings are Adam and

Hetti Perkins Hetti Kemerre Perkins (born 1965) is an art curator and writer. She is the eldest daughter of Australian Aboriginal activist Charles Perkins and German Eileen Munchenberg, a granddaughter of Hetty Perkins, sister to film director Rachel Perkins ...

, an art curator, and her niece is actress

Madeleine Madden Madeleine Madden (born 29 January 1997) is an Australian actress. She is best known for playing Egwene al'Vere in the Amazon Prime series ''The Wheel of Time''. Early life Madden grew up around Redfern, a Sydney inner city suburb, and attended ...

. For schooling she and her sister attended Melrose High School. At the age of 18 Perkins moved to

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 ...

and entered into a traineeship at the

Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association The Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) is an organisation founded in 1980 to expose Aboriginal music and culture to the rest of Australia. It started with 8KIN-FM, the first Aboriginal radio station in the country. Based in A ...

Career

In 1992, Perkins founded

Blackfella Films Blackfella Films is a Sydney-based documentary and narrative production company, founded in 1992 by Rachel Perkins. The company produces distinctive Australian short and feature-length content for film and television with a particular focus on ...

, a documentary and

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller (ge ...

production company creating distinctive Australian content for television,

live theatre Live Theatre, formerly Live Theatre Company, is a new writing theatre and company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. As well as producing and presenting new plays many of which go on to tour nationally and internationally, it seeks out an ...

, and online platforms, with a particular focus on

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 ...

stories. Its productions have included multi-award winning seven-part documentary series ''

First Australians ''First Australians'' is an Australian historical documentary series produced by Blackfella Films over the course of six years, and first aired on SBS TV in October 2008. The documentary is part of a greater project that further consists of a ...

'', television film '' Mabo'', and TV series ''

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 ...

''. She served as

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

with the

Australian Film Commission The Australian Film Commission (AFC) was an Australian government agency was founded in 1975 with a mandate to promote the creation and distribution of films in Australia as well as to preserve the country's film history. It also had a producti ...

from 2004 to 2008, and since 2009 has been on the board of

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 ...

. She was also curator for the 2009

Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival Message Sticks Festival, also known for some time as Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival, was an arts festival celebrating the culture of Aboriginal Australians, based at the Sydney Opera House, between 1999 and 2013. It focused on film fo ...

. This tenth anniversary of the festival held at the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

featured the premiere of ''

Fire Talker ''Fire Talker'' is a 2009 documentary film by Australian filmmaker Ivan Sen. It is a documentary biopic about Aboriginal Australian political activist, footballer and administrator, Charlie Perkins. It premiered at the 10th Anniversary of the M ...

'', a documentary film about her father Charlie Perkins by Australian filmmaker

Ivan Sen Ivan Sen (born 1972) is an Indigenous Australian filmmaker. He is a director, screenwriter and cinematographer, as well as an editor, composer and sound designer. He is co-founder and director of Bunya Productions. Early life Ivan Sen was born ...

. Since 2015, Perkins has been the president of the

AIATSIS The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...

Foundation, which is part of the

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...

. She has continued to make award-winning films and TV series (see below). In 2019, she was invited to give the

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 ...

's annual Boyer Lecture, which she titled ''The End of Silence'', and broadcast on

ABC RN 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 ...

in November and available as a

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

Personal life

Perkins has a son with her ex-husband filmmaker Richard McGrath.

Selected filmography

*''

Blood Brothers (film series) ''Blood Brothers'' is a 1993 four-part Australian documentary series that tells the stories of three different Aboriginal Australian men and an Aboriginal ceremony. Overview Broken English "Broken English" is about Arrernte man Rupert Max Stua ...

(1993) – producer, director, writer *''

'' (1998) – director *''

'' (2001) – director, writer *''Flat'' (2002) – producer *''Mimi'' (2002) – producer *''

'' (2008) – producer, director, writer, narrator *''

'' (2010) – director, writer *'' Mabo'' (2012) – director *''Black Panther Woman'' (2014) – director *''First Contact'' (2014) – producer *''

'' (2017) – director *''The Prospector'' (TBD) – director * ''Mystery Road'' (2019 & 2020) TV series * ''Total Control'' (2019) TV series * ''

The Australian Wars ''The Australian Wars'' is a three-part 2022 documentary series about the Australian frontier wars by Indigenous Australian filmmaker Rachel Perkins made for SBS Television. Using interviews, re-enactments, archaeological research, and origina ...

'' (2022), a three-part documentary series about the Australian frontier wars 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 ...

– director, producer and presenter

Awards

Australian Film Institute The Australian Film Institute (AFI) was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry. It is responsib ...

*1998 – AFI Award Best Achievement in Direction: ''

'' (1998) (nominated) *2002 – Byron Kennedy Award

Australian Writers' Guild The Australian Writers' Guild (AWG) is the professional association for Australian performance writers for film, television, radio, theatre, video and new media. The AWG was established in 1962. The AWG is a member of the Australian Council of ...

*2001 – Awgie Award Television – Television Original: ''

'' (2001) *2001 – Major Award: ''One Night the Moon'' (2001)

Canberra International Film Festival The Canberra International Film Festival (CIFF) is an annual film festival held in Canberra, Australia. It is a cinema celebration across an 11-day program in October/November each year. It is a showcase of films from Australia and around the gl ...

*1998 – Audience Award: ''Radiance'' (1998)

Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards The Film Critics Circle of Australia (FCCA) is an association of cinema critics and reviewers. It includes journalists in "media, television, major national and state papers, radio, national and state, online and freelance writers, Australian ...

*2002 – Special Achievement Award: ''One Night the Moon'' (2001)

IF Awards The Inside Film Awards (now known as the IF Awards) is an annual awards ceremony and broadcast platform for the Australian film industry, developed by the creators of Inside Film Magazine, Stephen Jenner and David Barda, and originally produced fo ...

*2001 – IF Award Best Direction: ''One Night the Moon'' (2001) (nominated)

Melbourne International Film Festival The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venice Film Fest ...

*1998 – Most Popular Feature Film: ''Radiance'' (1998) New York International Independent Film & Video Festival *2001 – Genre Award Best Feature Film – Musical: ''One Night the Moon'' (2001)

AACTA Awards The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television industry, ...

*2019 - Best Television Drama Australian Directors' Guild Awards *2019 - Best director in a television drama series, for '' Mystery Road'', Series 1 Tudawali Film and Video Awards *1994 – The Tudawali Award: ''Blood Brothers'' (1993) *2000 – Best direction: ''Radiance'' (1998)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Perkins, Rachel 1970 births Living people Australian film producers Australian film directors Australian women film directors Australian television producers Australian women television producers Australian television directors Indigenous Australian musicians Australian screenwriters Indigenous Australian filmmakers Arrernte Australian people of Irish descent Australian people of German descent Australian women television directors