About

Kathryn Millard is a filmmaker, essayist and academic with a passion for big ideas.

Her current project, funded by the Australian Research Council, reinterprets social psychologist Stanley Milgram’s Obedience through the prism of documentary film.

Kathryn publishes articles, reviews and book chapters on a range of topics: screenwriting, film, photography, independent cinema, screen history, visual culture and social psychology on film.

Random 8 (2012) her semi-improvised short feature won awards at Mexico International Film Festival and Lucerne International Film Festival.

Another recent film is The Boot Cake (2008) an AWGIE (Australian Writers’ Guild Award) nominated feature-documentary about Chaplin imitators in India. It was described by Chaplin’s biographer David Robinson as ‘an astonishing testament to the far-reaching influence of silent film.’

Kathryn’s other films include the AFI (Australian Film Institute) award-winning features Travelling Light (2003) and Parklands (1996) with Cate Blanchett in her first film role and the documentary Light Years (1992) about the work of Australian photographer Olive Cotton.

Kathryn’s films have screened in Australia and overseas at: Chicago International Film Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival, Mill Valley International Film Festival, Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival, Brooklyn Art Museum, Sao Paulo International Film Festival, Zlin International Festival for Children and Youth, Kolkota Film Festival, Egypt International Film Festival, National Centre for Performing Arts, Mumbai, Chinh India Kids Film Festival, Mexico International Film Festival, Sydney International Film Festival, Brisbane International Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival.

The National Film and Sound Archive, Varuna Writers’ Centre, Tyrone Guthrie Centre (Ireland) and the NSW Film and Television Office have awarded Kathryn writing fellowships and residencies.

As well as film, Kathryn works as a dramaturg, most notably on Noelle Janaczewska’s award-winning stage plays; Mrs. Petrov’s Shoe (winner, Queensland Premier’s Literary Award, Drama Script 2006) Songket (winner Griffin Playwriting Award 2002) and The History of Water (Sydney Theatre Company 1992) In 2011 Kathryn was Script Dramaturge on Alex Munt’s micro-budget feature LBF, selected for SXSW Festival.

Kathryn has published essays in literary magazines and arts journals including Wet Ink, Art Monthly, Real Time, Island and Theatre Forum, as well as broadcast on ABC Radio National. Her monograph, Screenwriting in a Digital Era is contracted to Palgrave. Kathryn is a Series Editor for Palgrave’s new Screenplay Studies series and a member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Screenwriting.

Kathryn’s work has attracted support from the Australian Research Council, Screen Australia, the NSW Film and Television Office, SBS, SA Film Corporation and the Australia Council.

She holds a Doctorate of Creative Arts (1998) and an M.A. in Applied History (1993) from the University of Technology, Sydney. Her doctoral thesis explored the poetics of film and colour.

Kathryn is currently Professor of Film and Creative Arts in the Department of Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies at Sydney’s Macquarie University.