Jury
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Melbourne Webfest
Jury
Robert Cawsey (UK)
Writer/actor
Robert is a multi-award-winning writer and actor. He has recently worked in writers’ rooms for HBO, Disney, Amazon and NBC, alongside working with Bad Robot Robot and JJ Abrams on a script commission from Warner Bros. His comedy double act Guilt & Shame with Gabriel Bisset-Smith performed four live comedy shows at Edinburgh Fringe to sell out audiences and critical acclaim. All shows transferred to Soho Theatre in London as well as playing festivals all over the UK. His debut solo comedy / theatre show The Fantasist was produced by Soho Theatre and directed by Vicky Jones. Following this, their podcast ‘Guilt & Shame’ with Gabriel and Vicky developed a large international audience. Rob has also developed ideas with many UK production companies including, Working Title, Monumental, Roughcut, Objective Fiction, BBC Studios and Channel 4. His online series about gay hook-ups Right Now has been selected for film festivals all over the world, being nominated for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Writing’ (NYC Webfest 2020) and winning multiple awards including ‘Best International Spotlight’ at Melbourne WebFest 2020, Best Actor at UKOWF (UK Online Web Fest) 2021 and Best Actor at Santa Monica Web Fest 2021. The series can be found at: www.robertcawsey.com
Katherine Fry (AUS)
Producer
Katherine is a producer and script producer who is driven by storytelling and committed to working with female identifying, queer and diverse writers to tell their stories. A highly empathetic collaborator, Katherine gravitates towards work that is bold and playful. Katherine recently completed work on WHITE FEVER, a 6 x 1⁄2 hour comedy for the ABC, a Series that she co-developed, script produced and produced over a period of 4 years. Katherine has held development positions at Every Cloud Productions, the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) and South Pacific Pictures and she was a recipient of Screen Australia’s sought-after Enterprise People initiative, which supported her to develop her skills as a creative producer Recent script editor credits include KA WHAIWHA TONU which premiered at Sydney Film Festival 2024, and JUNIPER, starring Charlotte Rampling, a film she championed when it was in its nascent stages while working at the NZFC. Katherine regularly assesses projects for funding agencies, including the NZFC, Screen Tasmania and the New Zealand Writers Guild, and she has mentored several writers through New Zealand’s Script to Screen programs.
Max Robins (AUS/FRANCE)
Editor
Max Robins is a French-Australian editor, motion designer, post-production supervisor and former Melbourne Webfest General Manager and Program Director, having worked with the festival from 2017-2021. Max has extensive experience in short form narrative, branded content and advertising, editing major national and global campaigns for the likes of Mazda, 7-Eleven and Samsung. He is currently cutting his teeth on longform as the Post-Production Supervisor Attachment on the Matchbox Pictures and Tony Ayres limited series The Survivors, for Netflix and NBCU. Fueled by dark coffee, dark edit suites and the darkness within, he’s passionate about shining a light on the magic of post, the meeting of creative minds and ideas that are unique to those spaces, and the mentorship of a diverse future workforce to the the benefit of all the stories we have yet to tell.
Alan Khoi Nguyen (AUS)
Filmmaker
Alan Khoi Nguyen is an international-award-winning filmmaker, artist and transdisciplinary researcher. He writes for TV and streaming (Disney+, Apple TV, NBCU, ABC, SBS), live performance (Melbourne Theatre Company, Arts House) and works with and designs new and emerging technologies (EyeJack, Australia Council for the Arts). Alan was a Best Miniseries double nominee for the Australian Film Institute’s AACTA Awards and the Australian Writers Guild’s AWGIE Awards for his writing on the 4 x 1 hour series Hungry Ghosts (NBC Universal/ SBS Australia/ Matchbox Pictures) now available on Apple TV. His most recent screenwriting is on the Disney+ dramedy series Last Days of the Space Age, to be launched in 2024. You can read more about his work at www.alannguyen.net/
Hamid Taheri (IRAN/AUS)
Screenwriter
Hamid is a professional and award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker with twelve years of experience, and a PhD candidate in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT. His script for the short film Amir Ali won best screenplay at the Sarvenaz Festival. His Master’s degree project, the short film Matilda was officially selected for 8 festivals, was a semi-finalist or finalist in 3 others, and won Best Student Short Film at the Life after Life Film Festival in 2019. He co-created the Iranian TV series Dar Jostojooie Aramesh (In Search of Tranquility) which earned him a nomination for Best TV Writing at the prestigious, annual Hafez Awards for achievements in cinematic excellence (2018). His feature film The Lower Ground was released in January 2024.
Lauren Colosimo (AUS/UK)
Producer
Lauren Colosimo is a documentary and lifestyle producer/director. She has produced a range of documentary TV series, including ‘The Eco Show’ and ‘Rediscover Victoria’, now streaming on SBS on Demand. She was previously the Head of Production for Channel 31 Melbourne where she mentored and supported emerging content creators and oversaw all of the station’s content development, with a focus on live TV and unscripted programs. Lauren is also a former Festival Director of Melbourne WebFest and was the Communications Manager prior to that, she began working on the festival in 2014 and has been involved ever since. She is participating as a Jury member for the first time this year and is excited to see what the 2024 program has in store!
Jacinta Parsons (AUS)
Broadcaster, writer and public speaker
Jacinta Parsons is a broadcaster, writer, and public speaker. She currently co-hosts The Friday Revue with Brian Nankervis on ABC Melbourne. She has written two books Unseen (Affirm Press 2020) & A Question of Age (Harper Collins/ABC Books 2022)