Lisa French is professor and dean in the School of Media and Communication at

RMIT University The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (abbreviated as RMIT University) is a public research university located in the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia., section 4(b) Established in 1887 by Francis Ormond, it is the seventh-o ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia. She is the author of ''The Female Gaze in Documentary Film: An International Perspective'' , co-author of ''Shining a Light: 50 Years of the Australian Film Institute'' and ''Womenvision: Women and the Moving Image in Australia'' and the editor of ''Womenvision: Women and the Moving Image in Australia.''

Career

French spent three years as the director of the

St Kilda Film Festival St Kilda is an inner seaside suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, southeast of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. St Kilda recorded a population of 19,490 at the 2021 ...

and nine years as a non-executive Director of the

Australian Film Institute The Australian Film Institute (AFI) was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Cinema of Australia, Australian film indu ...

(AFI). She is currently a member of the Federal Government agency

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 Gender Matters Taskforce. She holds the role of co-chair of a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

global network of 19 universities working on media, gender and ICTs and in that role advocated at the Commission for the Status of Women at the United Nations in New York in 2019, influencing the agenda to increase women's access to media. French is the dean of the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University in Melbourne. She conducts research on women in film and television. She edited the anthology ''Womenvision: Women and the Moving Image in Australia'' (2003) and co-authored ''Shining a Light: 50 Years of the Australian Film Institute'' (2009). She produced the film ''Birth of a Film Festival'' (2003), a documentary about the first

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 ...

Selected awards and honours

* 2005 - Awarded (in recognition of service) a lifetime membership of the

(AFI) * 2006 - Granted industry practitioner accreditation (writer/critic category) for the Australian Film Institute AFI Awards (now

AACTA Awards 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 cinema of Australia, film and ...

) * 2016 - Invited member: The Australian Academy of Cinema & Television Arts (AACTA) International Chapter * 2016 - Awarded a lifetime membership of Women in Film & Television (WIFT, Vic.)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Lisa Living people Academic staff of RMIT University Australian film producers Australian women academics Year of birth missing (living people)