Jane Castle is a multi-award-winning filmmaker and cinematographer. She’s shot feature films, documentaries and a vast range of music videos for performers such as Prince, U2, Mary J Blige, Usher and INXS. Among her awards she has won the Stockholm, Kodak and Australian Cinematographers Society awards for Best Cinematography. From 1990 to 1995 Jane lived and worked in the US and in 1993 became the second ever woman to be accredited by the Australian Cinematographer’s Society. Jane’s directing work includes the award-winning short, Roadside Café, the SBS TV documentary Sixty Thousand Barrels and her first feature documentary, When the Camera Stopped Rolling. Jane combines her filmmaking with environmental activism, producing and directing campaign videos for groups such as Greenpeace and the Total Environment Centre.

Cinematographer Erika Addis is, in 2022, the first woman to be President of the Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS). She previously served as National Vice-President and Queensland State President. In 2012 she was the founding Chair of the ACS Women’s Advisory Panel, which evolved in 2021 to become the Diversity, Inclusion and Reconciliation working group.

Most recently she was the inaugural Head of Cinematography at Griffith Film School and in this time, she was a founding member of the Standing Committee on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion of CILECT (the international Film School Association). She has served as President of Women in Film and Television (WIFT) both nationally and in NSW, and mentored numerous emerging cinematographers and filmmakers.

Erika is widely recognised for her work behind the camera and also in the classroom, and, in an area still heavily dominated by men, she has been a trailblazer and mentor for women in camera for some 40 plus years.

Erika started her career in cinematography as a clapper loader working with Geoff Burton ACS on Stormboy, and went on to study cinematography at the Australian Film and Television School (AFTRS) in the late 70s.

Soon after completing her studies, she was busy filming on 16mm long form documentaries including For Love or Money, experimental films such as This Woman Is Not A Car and With Inertia and dramas including My Life Without Steve made on a tiny budget with Australian Film Commission funding and shot almost entirely on 35mm short ends. Her early documentary projects included Tokyo Rose North, Something Creative, The Tightrope Dancer and Kylie Tennant.  She combined producing with cinematography on the widely acclaimed Serious Undertakings before returning to focus solely on cinematography.

After assisting on drama features, she chose to specialise in documentaries, and has shot all over the world from Antarctica to Eritrea to Mongolia. She has filmed state and national leaders, internationally acclaimed artists and ordinary people with extraordinary tales to share. These works include Emily’s Eyes, For All the World to See, My Own Flesh and Blood, Father’s Footsteps, Mama Tina, Hatred, Mao’s New Suit, Speak Quiet Speak Strong, Brazen Hussies, The Children in the Pictures and many more.

She aims to makenstrong stories about passionate people that engage and move audiences and hopefully help to make the world a little better place.

Cathy Henkel is Director of the WA Screen Academy at Edith Cowan University. She worked as a documentary producer/director and writer for over 30 years and is founding director of Virgo Productions. Her work is focused on inspiring, positive, global stories with cross-platform delivery, engaging audiences through cinema, television, online and education platforms.

Cathy’s credits include The Burning Season (ABC, BBC, CBC, PBS, National Geographic, IF Award for Best Documentary 2008, nominated for an Emmy), I told you I was ill: Spike Milligan (ABC, BBC1, RTE) and The Man who Stole my Mother’s Face (Broadcast in 26 countries, IF Award and Tribeca Film Festival Award for Best Feature Documentary 2004). She has won numerous other awards including SPA Documentary Producer of the Year (2009), an ACS Award, an Emmy, AFI, ADG and SPA nominations.

Cathy’s latest film, Laura’s Choice, co-directed with Sam Lara, won the inaugural WA Screen Culture Innovation in Feature Documentary Award (2021). It was broadcast on ABCTV in March 2021 and is currently on iView.