Producer

As the Head of Unscripted at Tilt Media Media Sam most recently produced the ground-breaking children’s series Fizzy & Suds for ABC Kids. At Essential Media she executive produced the popular documentary series Going Country (2021); feature documentary Araatika: Rise Up! (2021, Sydney Film Festival, MIFF, CineFest Oz, Brisbane International Film Festival); Beyond the Boundary: The Battle for the Women’s Ashes (2019); the feature documentary Shane (2021) and successfully developed After the Night (2020).

Sam was an investment manager at Screen Australia for six years (2011 – 2017), where she was involved in the development, funding and management of a slate of award-winning feature documentaries, nationally-significant television series, and emerging filmmaker initiatives.

Before moving back to Sydney in 2010, Sam lived in New York for 15 years where she spent 10 years as a Supervising Producer, overseeing production of hundreds of hours of internationally-distributed fashion and arts factual content.

Sam began her career in the print media and has written for The Sydney Morning Herald, and various magazines and online platforms. She regularly consults for state and international screen agencies, is a moderator/panellist at documentary festivals and conferences, and mentors emerging filmmakers. She has a Bachelor of Design (UTS) and Master of Screen Arts & Business (AFTRS).

Director / Writer / Co-Producer

Wendy Champagne creates films and stories that are off-beat, personal and unafraid. She looks for threads that bring us all together, exploring disparate human experience and hidden lives.

Starting as a freelance radio and print correspondent in South-East Asia, Wendy was increasingly drawn to larger format storytelling, becoming a published author, screenplay writer and a documentary filmmaker all while welcoming her first child in Nepal.

On both large and small screens around the world her films have found enthusiastic audiences and won major awards. Her stories revolve around themes of exile and belonging, justice, redemption, spirituality and social change. Among others, her latest film Aquarius is an ode to hippies and keeping up the “good” fight. ‘Women of the Earth’ introduces Indigenous women elders, ‘Taxi’ follows the lives and fortunes of immigrant taxi drivers at a Montreal Taxi School. ‘Love Under Cuban Skies’ explores the blurred lines between love and sex tourism for women visiting Cuba and ‘Bas!’ follows a young sex traffic victim as she returns to the Mumbai determined to bring her trafficker to justice.

Wendy’s fiction and non-fiction writing has appeared in magazines, newspapers, books and TV series in Canada, Australia and around the world.

Executive Producer

Chris Hilton is one of Australia’s most prolific and award-winning producers and has made films and television across most genres with many of the world’s major broadcast platforms and distributors. Previously co-founder and CEO of the Essential Media Group and a founding partner and managing director of Hilton Cordell Productions, Chris has financed, executive produced or produced over 500 hours of content. With an office in L.A. for the past decade he has produced for clients internationally including Disney, Fox, Discovery, National Geographic. ViacomCBS, A&E Networks, PBS, BBC, Channel Four and Arté France as well as all Australian television networks.

Executive Producer

Rhoda Roberts AO is a Bundjalung woman from northern New South Wales, and a producer, director, writer, broadcaster, performer and arts executive. The daughter of politically active parents, Roberts grew up in Lismore and has recalled experiencing discrimination from a young age. Discouraged from undertaking the Higher School Certificate, she left school after Year 10 and moved to Sydney to study nursing, graduating in 1979. She co-founded the Aboriginal National Theatre Trust in 1988. In 1990 she joined SBS as a presenter on Vox Populi, and between 1992 and 2012 she was a producer and broadcaster for the national radio program Deadly Sounds. In addition, she held roles with Network Ten and ABC Radio and wrote, produced and directed several documentaries including In The Gutter? No Way (1989) for SBS. Roberts has also served on the boards of organisations such as the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board, Australia Day Council, Actors Equity and the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association. From 2012 - 2021, she was Head of Indigenous Programming at the Sydney Opera House. She is currently First Nations consultant at NIDA and Elder in Residence at SBS

Executive Producer

Tom Zubrycki has been making documentaries for over 45 years. He has won many awards for his work and his mentorship on behalf of the industry. As director Tom’s documentaries have a distinctive observational story-telling style, and have focused around a personal response to the issues of the day. Films like THE DIPLOMAT (2000), MOLLY & MOBARAK (2003), THE HUNGRY TIDE (2011) and HOPE ROAD (2017). As producer and executive producer Tom has worked both with experienced and also new and emerging directors. Recent films include FAIR GAME (2017), UNDERMINED – TALES OF THE KIMBERLEY (2018), THE WEATHER DIARIES (2020). MY REMBETIKA BLUES (2021), ABLAZE (2021) and SENSES OF CINEMA (2022, co-producer). Tom is an original Aquarian who attended the Festival in 1973.

Writer | Editor

Karin Steininger is one of Australia's most talented and awarded editors. She has worked extensively both in the UK and edited a range of internationally recognized documentaries including:

A Time Traveller’s Guide’, winner Best Series at Jackson Hole Science Media Awards, ‘The Cold War‘, nominated for a British Academy Award (BAFTA) for best documentary series, and ‘Anne Frank Remembered’, winner of an Academy Award (Oscar) and an Emmy for best feature documentary.

Cinematography by

Justine Kerrigan ACS has worked for many years across award-winning films, documentaries, tvcs, and music videos. Originally a stills photographer, she graduated in cinematography from the Australian Film Television & Radio School. Films she has shot have featured at many international film festivals and been nominated for an Academy Award. She is a strong advocate of a collaborative approach to her craft. She has been awarded Gold and Silver Distinctions from the ACS on numerous occasions. In 2021 she received accreditation from the ACS.

Composer

Damien Lane is a film composer known for his distinctively eclectic scores. He also works as a producer, arranger and performing artist.

Among his notable collaborators is Caitlin Yeo, with whom he co-wrote the score for The Dark Emu Story, which was awarded ‘Best Score in a Documentary’ at the 2024 AACTA Awards.

He has also collaborated with Amanda Brown, the photo media artist Tamara Dean and with Jodi Phillis (The Clouds), whose most recent album he produced (We Need to be Free).

Damien is currently composing the score for Tilt Media’s feature documentary Aquarius.

Co-Producer

Oren Siedler was born in New York City, and immigrated to Australia as a child with her 'alternative' parents who settled in the ‘rainbow region’ of the far north coast of NSW. Siedler's work is heavily informed by her two fathers - the twin poles of male influence in her life. The first was a hippie stepfather who took Oren and her mother on a spiritual quest through the Middle East and India, bringing her in contact with the Dalai Lama. The other was her birth father; a Zen-like con-man who could have been dreamed up by Jack Kerouac. Oren graduated with an Arts Degree in Communications from the University of Technology Sydney, with a major in Film & Video Production/Direction and Screen Studies. After directing several TVCs she directed an AFC-funded documentary, Red Sand Blue Seas which premiered at IDFA in 1998. It subsequently sold to Discovery, NatGeo and NITV. Oren wrote, directed and co-produced 'Bruce & Me', a Canadian/Australian official co- production (ABC TV + Life Network) which premiered at IDFA and screened at numerous international film festivals and was broadcast on television in Australia, Canada, USA and Europe. She now lives in the hinterland of Byron Bay with her family.