Marc Fennell is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal ...

film critic Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, magazines and other popular mass-media outl ...

technology journalist Technology journalism is the activity, or product, of journalists engaged in the preparation of written, visual, audio or multi-media material intended for dissemination through public media, focusing on technology-related subjects. Technolog ...

radio personality A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a rad ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garner ...

. Fennell is a co-anchor of '' The Feed'' and the host of '' Mastermind''.

Career

Film critic

In 2002, Fennell was a winner of the first AFI Young Film Critics Competition. He then became the film critic and reporter for Sydney radio station

FBi Radio FBi (call sign: 2FBI) station is an independent, not-for-profit community radio in Sydney, Australia. FBi places a heavy emphasis on local emerging music: it has a policy that at least 50 per cent of its music content is to be Australian, of ...

from 2003–2006. During this period Fennell was selected as one of four presenters of SBS's ''

The Movie Show ''The Movie Show'' is an Australian film review program which was broadcast on SBS TV. Its history is divided into three parts, until it finally wound up in 2008. History The original format, which ran from 30 October 1986 to 12 May 2004, ha ...

'' in mid-2004. Fennell remained with the show until June 2006, when the show went on hiatus, returning in a different format (and with a different team) in 2007. Fennell covers cinema across the ABC Radio Network including

ABC Local Radio ABC Local Radio is a network of publicly owned radio stations in Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ABC Local Radio stations broadcast across the continent using terrestrial transmitters and satellites. Its program ...

and the national youth broadcaster

triple j Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greater emphasis on broad ...

. Fennell presented a weekly film segment on '' triple j tv'' for its run on

ABC1 ABC TV, formerly known as ABC1, is an Australian national public television network. It is owned and operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and is the flagship ABC Television network. The headquarters of the ABC TV channel a ...

and

ABC2 ABC TV Plus (formerly ABC2 and ABC Comedy) 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 general entertainment prog ...

. He presented the weekly movie segment on the

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

morning program '' The Circle'' from 2010 until it was axed in August 2012. Fennell carried on his weekly segment on Network Ten's '' Breakfast'' program. Fennell also regularly produces digital video projects exploring cinema culture including ''Bollywood For Beginners'': a series for

SBS Television The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from the Australian Government. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS Wor ...

about the history of

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

. He also co-produces a web series about movie trailers, ''Coming Sooner'', with Nick Hayden and Nicholas McDougall. Fennell's first book, ''That Movie Book'', was published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...

in December 2011.

''Hungry Beast''

Fennell presented and reported on ''

Hungry Beast ''Hungry Beast'' (originally ''Projext NEXT'') was an Australian television comedy and current affairs program that was broadcast on ABC Television. Format The show was a half-hour program and is structured as a hybrid between a current affai ...

'', aired on

. He primarily covered digital media,

popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in ...

, gaming and

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, scie ...

. Fennell was one of nine members of the team to be selected by Denton to develop online content for

Zapruder's Other Films Andrew Christopher Denton (born 4 May 1960) is an Australian television producer, comedian, Gold Logie-nominated television presenter and former radio host, and was the host of the ABC's weekly television interview program '' Enough Rope'' a ...

. Prior to the ''Hungry Beast'' Fennell had worked with another of the presenters, Dan Ilic, developing a YouTube parody of the Freeview launch as part of their live comedy show ''Massage My Medium'' at the 2009

Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the second-largest international comedy festival in the world. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typical ...

Technology journalism

Fennell hosts the ABC's technology radio program ''

Download This Show In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar system. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a rem ...

'' which examines the latest developments in social media, consumer electronics, digital politics, hacktivism and online privacy. The program airs on

Radio National Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors an ...

, ABC Local Radio Digital and throughout Asia Pacific on

Radio Australia ABC Radio Australia, also known as Radio Australia, is the international broadcasting and online service operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Australia's public broadcaster. Most programming is in English, with some in T ...

. Fennell has also regularly produced reports on technology for programs on

ABC News 24 ABC News (formerly ABC News 24; also referred to as the ABC News channel) is an Australian 24-hour news cycle, 24-hour News broadcasting, news channel launched and owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The channel replaced the forme ...

including ''

News Exchange News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to even ...

'' (ended), '' The Drum'', ''Weekend Breakfast'' and the '' Technology Quarter'' (ended).

''The Feed''

Since May 2013, Marc Fennell has been one of the main presenters on the live

SBS Viceland SBS Viceland (stylised as SBS VICELAND) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). It began as SBS TWO on 1 June 2009, and was branded as SBS 2 between 2013 and 2016. On 8 April 2017, SBS ...

current affairs program, The Feed. In addition to his main role co-hosting, Fennell's prerecorded segments have become a feature of the show, most notably his interviews with film and television stars.

Podcasts

In 2019 Fennell created ''It Burns'', a podcast series covering the race to grow the hottest pepper. Fennell and

Jan Fran Jeanette Francis (Arabic: جانيت فرانسيس), better known as Jan Fran, is a Lebanese-Australian journalist and presenter. She has worked with the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), and served as co-host of current affairs and satire ...

feature in the podcast ''The Few Who Do'' commenced in 2019 through SBS "where we hear personal stories from Australians who are advocating for change and tackling society's big issues."The Few Who Do

Special Broadcasting Service The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from the Australian Government. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS Wor ...

with

CGU Insurance CGU Insurance Limited is an Australian intermediary-based insurance company and forms part of Insurance Australia Group (IAG). CGU Insurance was formed through the global merger of Commercial Union plc and NZI's parent company, General Acci ...

, accessed 2019-09-28

''Mastermind''

In 2021, Fennell began hosting the Australian version of '' Mastermind'', replacing

Jennifer Byrne Jennifer Victoria Byrne (born 5 March 1955) is an Australian journalist, television presenter and former book publisher. She hosted the monthly ABC television program ''The Book Club'', originally titled ''First Tuesday Book Club''. Early lif ...

Personal life

Fennell attended the

University of Technology, Sydney The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Although its origins are said to trace back to the 1830s, the university was founded in its current form in 1988. As of 202 ...

, but left after eight weeks to join an SBS youth show. His mother, a school teacher, is Indian-Singaporean and his father, a photographer, is Irish. He attended secondary school at Trinity Grammar School and later St George Christian School. He is married and has two children.

References

External links

*
Fennell on Triple J

Download This Show programme page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fennell, Marc 1985 births 21st-century Australian male writers 21st-century Australian non-fiction writers ABC radio (Australia) journalists and presenters Anti-bullying activists Australian anti-racism activists Australian film critics Australian film producers Australian game show hosts Australian human rights activists Australian humorists Australian journalists Australian male non-fiction writers Australian podcasters Australian people of Indian descent Australian people of Irish descent Australian people of Singaporean descent Australian radio presenters Australian satirists Australian television presenters Australian YouTubers Cultural critics FBi Radio presenters Living people Media critics Social commentators Social critics Triple J announcers University of Technology Sydney alumni