Rachel Perkins
Perkins at the 2012 AACTA Awards in Sydney
Born1970 (age 53–54)
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Occupation(s)Producer, director, writer
Years active1998–present
SpouseRichard McGrath (divorced)
Children1
Parent
RelativesHetty Perkins (grandmother)
Hetti Perkins (sister)
Madeleine Madden (niece)

Rachel Perkins (born 1970) is an Australian film and television director, producer, and screenwriter. She directed the films Radiance (1998), One Night the Moon (2001), Bran Nue Dae (2010), and Jasper Jones (2017). Perkins is an Arrernte and Kalkadoon woman from Central Australia, who was raised in Canberra by Aboriginal activist Charles Perkins and his wife Eileen.

Early life and education

Perkins was born in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory in 1970. She is the daughter of Charlie Perkins,[1] granddaughter of Hetty Perkins, and has Arrernte, Kalkadoon,[2] Irish, and German ancestry.[3] Her siblings are Adam and Hetti Perkins, an art curator, and her niece is actress Madeleine Madden.[4][5] She and her sister attended Melrose High School.[6]

At the age of 18, Perkins moved to Alice Springs and entered into a traineeship at the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association.[2]

Career

In 1992, Perkins founded Blackfella Films, a documentary and narrative production company creating distinctive Australian content for television, live theatre, and online platforms, with a particular focus on Indigenous Australian stories. Its productions have included multi-award winning seven-part documentary series First Australians, television film Mabo, and TV series Redfern Now.[7]

She served as Commissioner with the Australian Film Commission from 2004 to 2008, and since 2009 has been on the board of Screen Australia.[7]

She was also curator for the 2009 Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival. This tenth anniversary of the festival held at the Sydney Opera House featured the premiere of Fire Talker, a documentary film about her father Charlie Perkins by Australian filmmaker Ivan Sen.[8][9]

Since 2015, Perkins has been the president of the AIATSIS Foundation,[10][11] which is part of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.

She has continued to make award-winning films and TV series (see below).

In 2019, she was invited to give the ABC's annual Boyer Lecture, which she titled The End of Silence, and broadcast on ABC RN in November and available as a podcast.[3]

Personal life

Perkins has a son with her ex-husband, filmmaker Richard McGrath.[12][13]

Selected filmography

Awards

Australian Film Institute

  • 1998 – AFI Award Best Achievement in Direction: Radiance (1998) (nominated)
  • 2002 – Byron Kennedy Award

Australian Writers' Guild

  • 2001 – Awgie Award Television – Television Original: One Night the Moon (2001)
  • 2001 – Major Award: One Night the Moon (2001)

Canberra International Film Festival

  • 1998 – Audience Award: Radiance (1998)

Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards

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

IF Awards

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

Melbourne International Film Festival

  • 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

  • 2019 – Best Television Drama

Australian Directors' Guild Awards

Tudawali Film and Video Awards

  • 1994 – The Tudawali Award: Blood Brothers (1993)[20]
  • 2000 – Best direction: Radiance (1998)

New South Wales Premier's History Awards

References

  1. ↑ Bagshaw, Eryk (13 November 2013). "Two of us: Rachel and Hetti Perkins". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  2. 1 2 "Perkins, Rachel". in The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in the Twentieth Century [Creative Commons International 4.0]. 2012. Retrieved 20 November 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. 1 2 Perkins, Rachel (16 November 2019). "Director Rachel Perkins calls for 'end of silence' on Indigenous recognition in ABC Boyer Lecture". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 20 November 2019. ...an edited extract from the first of Rachel Perkins's Boyer Lectures. Her complete series of lectures, titled The End of Silence, will be broadcast on ABC RN.
  4. ↑ "Aboriginal teen 'stoked' after speech". The Age. Australian Associated Press. 25 October 2010. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  5. ↑ Dobbie, Phil (6 November 2010). "An Employment Pool of Eager Aussies". CBS MoneyWatch. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  6. ↑ Celebrating the Achievements of our Past Students, ACT Government, archived from the original on 30 January 2017, retrieved 31 January 2017
  7. 1 2 "Blackfella Films". Official site. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  8. ↑ "SBS Film – Spreading the message by Mary Colbert". 4 May 2009.
  9. ↑ "ABC Sydney – What's on This Weekend – SATURDAY 9 May – FILM FESTIVAL". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 11 September 2009.
  10. ↑ Slattery, Claire (18 October 2016). "Foundation launches million-dollar plan to record Australia's songlines". ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 27 October 2016.
  11. ↑ "A Foundation for all Australians". The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS). 14 May 2015. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
  12. ↑ Dow, Steve (28 January 2017). "Rachel Perkins on Jasper Jones and Indigenous activism". Saturday Paper.
  13. ↑ Mengel, Noel. "Hurt and healing voiced". Courier Mail.
  14. ↑ Munro, Kate (28 November 2014). "First Contact producer Rachel Perkins: 'Prejudice often comes from ignorance … people can change'". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
  15. ↑ Dow, Steve (28 January 2017). "Rachel Perkins on Jasper Jones and Indigenous activism". The Saturday Paper (Australia). Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  16. ↑ Windsor, Harry (13 February 2017). "Screen Australia backs new projects from Jocelyn Moorhouse, Leah Purcell". If Magazine (Australia). Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  17. ↑ Payne, Anne Maree; Norman, Heidi (21 September 2022). "In The Australian Wars, Rachel Perkins dispenses with the myth Aboriginal people didn't fight back". The Conversation. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  18. ↑ Maddox, Garry (6 May 2019). "Sweet Country wins top prize at the Directors Guild Awards". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  19. ↑ Knox, David (7 May 2019). "Australian Director's Guild Awards 2019: winners". TV Tonight. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  20. ↑ "Aboriginal Australia : 1994 highlights [Catalogue entry]". AITSIS. Mura Collections Catalogue. Retrieved 20 November 2019. ...covers the Tudawali Film and Video Award. Rachel Perkins' entry 'Freedom Ride' won the award and Rachel discusses the film and using the visual media as a tool to help tell Indigenous stories
  21. ↑ "NSW Premier's History Awards". State Library of NSW. 25 March 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2023.

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