Claire McCarthy is an Australian

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

, producer, and visual artist.

Early life

McCarthy was born in Sydney, the daughter of Christine, an author and concert pianist, and John McCarthy KC. She attended

Meriden School Meriden, An Anglican School for Girls is an independent Anglican single-sex early learning, primary, and secondary day school for girls, located in Strathfield, an inner-western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 189 ...

in the early 1990s and graduated with honours from the

University of Technology, Sydney The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university was founded in its current form in 1988, though its origins as a technical institution can be traced back t ...

with a Bachelor of Design/Communications majoring in film in 1997. She is a screen directing 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. Opened to students in 1973 as Film and Television School (FTS), after accredita ...

from 2001.

Career

Directing

Claire McCarthy has been making

short films A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

music videos A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

documentaries A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill ...

, and

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

s since 2007. Her films have screened at the following international festivals:

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

, Tunis International Film Festival,

Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) is an annual film festival held in Los Angeles, California. Established by Christina Marouda in 2003, as a nonprofit organization devoted to paving the way for a greater appreciation of Indian cinema< ...

Montreal World Film Festival The Montreal World Film Festival (), commonly abbreviated MWFF in English or FFM in French, was an annual film festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1977 to 2019.New York Film Festival The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center. Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, NYFF i ...

Pusan International Film Festival The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF; ), formerly the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), held annually in Haeundae District, Busan, South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. The first festival, held from ...

Palm Springs International Film Festival Palm Springs International Film Festival (sometimes stylized shortly as PSIFF) is a film festival held in Palm Springs, California. Originally promoted by Mayor Sonny Bono and then sponsored by Nortel,here for Table of Contents it started in 19 ...

, Flickerfest, St Kilda Film Festival,

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 ...

, and

London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the British Film Institute, BFI estim ...

. Her feature debut, ''Cross Life'' (2007), premiered at the

(2007) and the

in Korea (2007) and was nominated for an

Independent Spirit Award The Independent Spirit Awards, originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards, and later as the Film Independent Spirit Awards, are awards presented annually in Santa Monica, California, to independent filmmakers. Founded in ...

at the 2007

Inside Film Awards The IF Awards, formerly known as the Inside Film Awards, Lexus Inside Film Awards, Kodak IF Awards, and Jameson IF Awards, was an annual awards ceremony and broadcast platform for the Australian film industry. Its name derives from its origins at ...

. ''Cross Life'' was a low-budget,

social realist Social realism is work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers, filmmakers and some musicians that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structures ...

multi-plot about Sydney's Kings Cross

red light district A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are partic ...

, starring Paul Caesar, Imogen Annesley and Tony Barry. Her 2008 autobiographical documentary film ''Sisters'' was awarded a Young Filmmakers Fund grant, from the

New South Wales Film and Television Office ---> 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 r ...

. ''Sisters'' is a 52-minute documentary about her journey to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

with her teenage sister Helena, to volunteer with the

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, ; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa or Saint Mother Teresa, was an Albanian-Indian Catholic Church, Roman Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of ...

religious institute In the Catholic Church, a religious institute is "a society in which members, according to proper law, pronounce public religious vows, vows, either perpetual or temporary which are to be renewed, however, when the period of time has elapsed, a ...

, the

Missionaries of Charity The Missionaries of Charity () is a Catholic centralised religious institute of consecrated life of Pontifical Right for women established in 1950 by Mother Teresa, now known in the Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta. , it consisted o ...

, in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

. ''Sisters'' was broadcast on

ABC Television ABC Television most commonly refers to: *ABC Television Network of the American Broadcasting Company, United States, or *ABC Television (Australian TV network), a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia ABC Television or ABC ...

in 2008 and 2009, on the

Compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with No ...

program, hosted by Geraldine Doogue. Building upon relationships she made with fellow volunteers in

, she wrote '' The Waiting City'' – a mystic infused drama about a young Australian couple's journey to Calcutta to

adopt Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

a baby. ''The Waiting City'' was the first Australian feature-length film to be entirely filmed in India. ''The Waiting City'', starring

Radha Mitchell Radha Rani Amber Indigo Ananda Mitchell (born 12 November 1973) is an Australian actress. She began her career on television, playing Catherine O'Brien on the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours'' (1996–1997), before transitioning to working i ...

Joel Edgerton Joel Edgerton (born 23 June 1974) is an Australian actor and filmmaker. He is known for his portrayal of Will McGill on the first two seasons of the Australian drama series'' The Secret Life of Us'' (2001–02), and for playing Owen Lars in t ...

, Samrat Chakrabarti and

Isabel Lucas Isabel Lucas (born 29 January 1985) is an Australians, Australian actress, environmentalist and Model (person), model. She is best known for her roles in ''Home and Away'' (2003–06), ''Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' (2009), ''Daybreake ...

had its world premiere at the

, as part of the prestigious "Special Presentation" section. Chakrabarti was named as one of the "Fresh Faces at TIFF" by thestar.com, for his role. ''The Waiting City'' has also screened at the

Pusan Film Festival The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF; ), formerly the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), held annually in Haeundae District, Busan, South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. The first festival, held fro ...

(2009),

(2010), the Tunis International Film Festival (2010) and the

(2010). The film was released nationally in Australia on 15 July 2010 and release in other territories will be later in 2010. In May 2016 it was announced that McCarthy would be directing an adaptation of The Personal History of Rachel DuPree, which would be produced by

Viola Davis Viola Davis ( ; born August 11, 1965) is an American actress and film producer. List of awards and nominations received by Viola Davis, Her accolades include both the Triple Crown of Acting and EGOT. ''Time (magazine), Time'' named her one of ...

. In September 2016 it was announced that Davis will also star in the titular role, with

Mahershala Ali Mahershala Ali ( ; born Mahershalalhashbaz Gilmore on February 16, 1974) is an American actor. He has received multiple accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Fi ...

as her husband and

Quvenzhané Wallis Quvenzhané Wallis ( ; born August 28, 2003) is an American actress and author. In 2012, she starred as Hushpuppy in the drama film ''Beasts of the Southern Wild'' (2012), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, becomi ...

as one of her daughters.Viola Davis Takes Lead In ‘The Personal History Of Rachel Dupree’ – Toronto
/ref>

Teaching

She has taught screenwriting and filmmaking to masters and undergraduate students at

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a Public university, public research university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the Sydney metropolitan area. ...

. She has also taught screenwriting to special needs students at North Sydney

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE () is the common name in Australia for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational courses. Colloquially also known ...

. In the Australian film ''The Black Balloon'' she had the role of choreographer to a group of

autistic Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing di ...

adults who were starring in the film and also contributed to the musical soundtrack as she also did with ''Sisters'' and '' The Waiting City''.

Personal life

She is married to award-winning

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

Denson Baker ACS. The couple have collaborated on '' The Waiting City'', ''The Black Balloon'', ''Skin'', and other films, as well as Old Man River's ''Sunshine'' music video (set in

Varanasi Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or Kashi, is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.* * * * The city has a syncretic tradition of I ...

). ''Sunshine'' was nominated for an

Australian Cinematographers Society The Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) is a not-for-profit organisation founded in 1958 for the purpose of providing a forum for Australian cinematographers to further develop their skills through mutual co-operation. History The Austral ...

Award in 2008 in the "Best Music Video" category. She divides her time between Sydney and Los Angeles.

Filmography

References

Sources

Adam Fulton, The waiting game in a city of spare children, 7 July 2010, Sydney Morning Herald

TIFF Reviews ''The Waiting City''

External links

* Claire McCarthy's Agent (Sydney
RGM Artists
* Claire McCarthy at the Internet Movie Databas
imdb
* Claire McCarthy Myspace Fan Pag
myspace
* ''The Waiting City'' * Australian Film, Television and Radio Schoo
AFTRS

Inside Film Awards
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mccarthy, Claire Living people 21st-century Australian screenwriters 21st-century Australian women writers Australian screenwriters Australian women film directors Australian women screenwriters Film directors from Sydney University of Technology Sydney alumni Writers from Sydney Year of birth missing (living people)