Danielle MacLean is an Australian filmmaker. She is known for her writing on television series such as ''

Little J & Big Cuz ''Little J & Big Cuz'' is an Australian animated television series first screened on the NITV network in 2017. The 13-part series is directed by Tony Thorne and produced by Ned Lander and developed with the Australian Council for Educational Re ...

'', ''

8MMM Aboriginal Radio ''8MMM Aboriginal Radio'' (''8MMM''), pronounced "8 Triple M", is a 2015 Australian television comedy series. Synopsis The six-part series is set in a remote radio station whose Aboriginal crew air the day-to-day preoccupations of Alice Spring ...

'' and ''

Redfern Now ''Redfern Now'' is an Australian drama television series featuring the lives of Aboriginal Australian families living in Redfern, New South Wales, Redfern, Sydney, that first aired on ABC1 in 2012. A second season followed in 2013, and the ser ...

''.

Early life

MacLean is of the

Luritja The Luritja or Loritja people, also known as Kukatja or Kukatja-Luritja, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory. Their traditional lands are immediately west of the Derwent River, that forms a frontier with the Arrernte p ...

and

Warumungu The Warumungu (or Warramunga) are a group of Aboriginal Australians of the Northern Territory. Today, Warumungu are mainly concentrated in the region of Tennant Creek, Northern Territory, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs. Warumungu language call ...

peoples of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

of Australia.

Career

MacLean started work at

Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association The Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) is an organisation founded in 1980 to expose Aboriginal music and culture to the rest of Australia. It started with 8KIN-FM, the first Aboriginal radio station in the country. Based in ...

(CAAMA) Productions as a production assistant, later moving on to writing and directing, working under

Erica Glynn Erica Glynn (born 1964) is an Indigenous Australian filmmaker, known for directing, producing and writing documentary film, documentaries and other films. Early life, education and family Glynn was born in 1964. She is the daughter of photogra ...

. She originally wanted to be a

stills photographer A unit still photographer (or simply still photographer) creates still photos specifically for use in publicity and marketing of feature films and television productions. In addition to creating photographs for the promotion of a film, the still ...

. She lived in

Central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Australia. In its narrowest sense it describes a region that is limited to the town of Alice Springs and ...

working on a TV documentary series called ''Nganampa Anwernekenhe'' which means "ours" in the

Pitjantjatjara The Pitjantjatjara (; or ) are an Aboriginal people of the Central Australian desert near Uluru. They are closely related to the Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra and their languages are, to a large extent, mutually intelligible (all are v ...

and

Arrernte language Arrernte or Aranda (; ), or sometimes referred to as Upper Arrernte (Upper Aranda), is a dialect cluster in the Arandic language group spoken in parts of the Northern Territory, Australia, by the Arrernte people. Other spelling variations ar ...

s The series started in 1987 and comprised 187 half-hour episodes. which was shot in the bush communities and broadcast on

Imparja Television Imparja Television (IMP) is an independent Australian television station servicing over , across six states and territories: Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania. It is based in Alice Spri ...

. In 1997, she was supported by

Screen Australia Screen Australia is the Australian Federal Government's key funding body for the Australian screen production industry, created under the ''Screen Australia Act 2008''. From 1 July 2008 Screen Australia took over the functions of its predecess ...

's Indigenous unit to act as both writer and director of a short drama film, ''My Colour Your Kind'', about an

albino Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and reddish pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albinos. Varied use and interpretation of ...

Aboriginal teenager attending a convent boarding school in

Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...

. The film was selected for showing at several international

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online. Films may be of recent ...

s, and nominated for several awards. Steven McGregor was producer on the film. She left CAAMA in 1999, becoming a freelance writer and director. In 2001 she wrote and directed ''For Who I am – Bonita Mabo'', a documentary about

Bonita Mabo Ernestine Bonita Mabo (née Neehow; – 26 November 2018), was an Australian educator and activist for Aboriginal Australians, Torres Strait Islanders, and Australian South Sea Islanders. She was the wife of Eddie Mabo until his death in 1992. ...

. She wrote and directed ''Queen of Hearts'', a drama, released in 2004. In 2012 MacLean wrote an episode of the acclaimed drama series, ''

''. In the same year, she wrote and produced ''Croker Island Exodus'' a documentary film which screened

Sydney Film Festival The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize. , the festival's director is Nashen Moodley. Histo ...

and the

Melbourne International Film Festival The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venic ...

, and was broadcast on

ABC Television ABC Television most commonly refers to: *ABC Television Network of the American Broadcasting Company, United States, or *ABC Television (Australian TV network), a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia ABC Television or ABC ...

. MacLean wrote and directed ''Blown Away'', released in 2014, an hour-long documentary about

Cyclone Tracy Severe Tropical Cyclone Tracy was a small but destructive tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, in the Northern Territory of Australia, in December 1974. The small but developing easterly storm was or ...

which caused extensive damage to Darwin in 1974. The film shows previously unrecorded responses by Indigenous Darwinians to the disaster. The film features Aunty

Kathy Mills Kathleen Mary Mills (née McGinness; 6 April 1936 – 24 April 2022), also known as Mooradoop and Aunty Kathy, was an Australian community leader, singer, Aboriginal elder and activist in the Northern Territory of Australia. She had a large fam ...

, Dr

Ella Stack Ellen Mary Stack (4 May 1929 – 19 May 2023) was an Australian medical doctor and the first female Lord Mayor of an Australian capital city. She was the mayor of the City of Darwin, Northern Territory, from 1975 to 1979, and lord mayor from 1 ...

, General Alan Stretton, Mayor Tiger Brennan, Prime Minister

Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from December 1972 to November 1975. To date the longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), he was notable for being ...

, publisher and writer

Sophie Cunningham Sophie Cunningham may refer to: * Sophie Cunningham (writer) * Sophie Cunningham (basketball) {{hndis, Cunningham, Sophie ...

, and politician (later NT Human Rights Commissioner)

Dawn Lawrie Alline Dawn Lawrie (born 3 November 1938) is an Australian former politician. She was the independent member for Nightcliff in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1974 to 1983; in the First Assembly, she and fellow independent Ro ...

. She wrote three episodes of the

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

comedy series, ''

'', which aired on

ABC2 ABC Family is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and part of its ABC Television network. The channel broadcasts a range of family and teen entertainment programming. The channel oper ...

in 2014. She wrote episode 5 of the second series of ''

Mystery Road Mystery Road may refer to: * ''Mystery Road'' (film), a 2013 Australian neo-western crime film * ''Mystery Road'' (TV series), an Australian television drama series beginning in 2018 * ''Mystery Road'' (album), a 1989 album by Drivin N Cryin * '' ...

'', which went to air in 2020.

Collaborations

MacLean collaborates frequently with Steven McGregor, and has also worked with

Warwick Thornton Warwick Thornton is an Australian film director, screenwriter, and cinematographer. His debut feature film '' Samson and Delilah'' won the Caméra d'Or at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and the award for Best Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awar ...

, her cousin

Beck Cole Beck Cole is an Australian filmmaker of the Warramungu and Luritja nations. She is known for her work on numerous TV series, including ''First Australians'', ''Grace Beside Me'', ''Black Comedy'' and '' Wentworth'', as well as documentaries a ...

Trisha Morton-Thomas Patricia Morton-Thomas, usually credited as Trisha Morton-Thomas, is an Australian writer, producer, director, and actor. Her first role in a feature film was in ''Radiance'' (1998), the first feature film by director Rachel Perkins. Morton-Th ...

and sound recordist David Tranter. She directed one of the segments of the anthology film '' We Are Still Here'', which premiered as the opening film of the 2022

. McLean also wrote for the Australian TV drama mini-series, ''True Colours'', which was produced for SBS Television and NITV and aired in 2022.

Awards and nominations

*1998–2000: ''My Colour Your Kind'' – Nominations for an

AFI Award The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television industry, ...

(Best Screenplay in a Short Film, 1998); an Australian Film Critics Association Award; a Gold Award for

Flickerfest Flickerfest is an international short film festival held annually in January at Bondi Beach, Sydney. It is an Academy and BAFTA recognised short film festival for both international and Australian film makers. History The festival originated ...

99, 8th International Film Festival (1999); and Best Cinematography, 8th

Festival of Pacific Arts The Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture (FestPAC), also known as the Pacific Arts Festival, is a travelling festival hosted every four years in Oceania. It was conceived by the Pacific Community as a means to stem erosion of traditional cultu ...

(2000). *2004: ''Queen of Hearts'' – AFI Award for Non-Feature Screenplay (writer and director) *2008: '' Double Trouble'' –

AWGIE Award The AWGIE Awards are annual awards given by the Australian Writers' Guild (AWG), for excellence in screen, television, stage, and radio writing. History The AWGIE awards were conceived in 1967, with the first event being held in 1968. Bettina ...

for

screenwriting Screenwriting or scriptwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is often a freelance profession. Screenwriters are responsible for researching the story, dev ...

*2014: ''Blown Away'' – Best Documentary, Capricornia Film Awards at

Darwin International Film Festival Darwin may refer to: Common meanings * Charles Darwin (1809–1882), English naturalist and writer, best known as the originator of the theory of biological evolution by natural selection * Darwin, Northern Territory, a capital city in Australia, ...

; Best director (Documentary) at the ADG Awards.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:MacLean, Danielle Living people People from the Northern Territory Indigenous Australian filmmakers Australian women film directors Australian film directors Year of birth missing (living people)