Beck Cole
Born
Australia
Occupation(s)Screenwriter, film director
Years active2000–present
PartnerSamuel Cole (2016–c.2017)
ChildrenLuka May Glynn-Cole (Luka May)

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 and short films. She is based in Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory.

Early life, education and early career

Cole grew up in Adelaide and around the Port Adelaide area.[1]

Cole started working in media as a journalist when she got a cadetship at Imparja Television, when still at school. She gained experience in both writing and presenting stories, and also worked as a news and weather presenter.[1]

She graduated from Charles Sturt University with a BA in Communication and Sociology, and soon afterwards started work in the Indigenous Unit at ABC Television, where she started her filmmaking career. After a few years she did a year's film directing course at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS), where she was exposed to a number of Australian documentary filmmakers.[1] Cole was mentored by photographer and filmmaker Michael Riley, who co-founded Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperative, until his death in 2004.[2]

Career

While at AFTRS, Cole worked on and off for the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA), with whom she has had an association ever since.[1]

Her early short documentary and drama films, starting with Flat (2002/3), were mainly focused on Aboriginal culture and family.[1] Flat and Plains Empty (2005[3]) premiering at Sundance Flat also screening at the Edinburgh Film Festival.[4]

Cole established a working as well as a personal relationship with cinematographer Warwick Thornton,[1] and along with producer Kath Shelper they called themselves "the trinity" since working together from 2004.[5] Wirriya: Small Boy (2004) is a short film about an eight-year-old boy who lives in Hidden Valley, an Indigenous town camp near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, with his foster mother.[6]

Cole worked as a writer-director on First Australians (2008), the acclaimed documentary television series about the history of Indigenous Australians, along with Rachel Perkins and Louis Nowra.[1]

In 2009 she wrote and directed Making 'Samson and Delilah', a 55 minute documentary on the making of the feature film Samson and Delilah, directed by Thornton.[4]

Her debut feature film was the drama Here I Am (2011),[2] which stars prominent activist and academic Marcia Langton.[7]

She directed several episodes over three series of the Black Comedy, which won a 2015 AACTA award for Best Direction in a Light Entertainment or Reality Series.[4]

After working on a number of series on Indigenous themes, she collaborated with Leah Purcell on several episodes of the popular prison drama series, Wentworth, between 2019 and 2021,[8] and with Bevan Lee on the Seven Network series Between Two Worlds, which premiered in 2020.[2][4]

Cole was voice director for all three seasons of Little J & Big Cuz, and wrote two episodes of the series.[2][4]

Cole has been working on a horror film set in Alice Springs, which is based on a true story told by Aboriginal children who lived in a residential care home, where they were attacked by an evil entity.[2]

Cole directed one of the segments of the anthology film We Are Still Here, which premiered as the opening film of the 2022 Sydney Film Festival.[9]

Recognition and accolades

Cole was one of seven filmmakers featured in the 5th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art at the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) in Brisbane[4]

Film awards

Personal life

Cole was formerly married to director Warwick Thornton,[3] whom she met in 1999.[13] They have a daughter, Luka May,[14][13] an actress also known as Luka Magdeline Cole or Luka May Glynn-Cole.[15] The couple shared a personal as well as professional relationship.[5] By 2018 Thornton and Cole had separated.[16]

She is a cousin of filmmaker Danielle MacLean.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Cole, Beck. "A filmmaking life". RealTime Arts (Interview). Interviewed by Stefanoff, Lisa. Retrieved 22 November 2021. [Reproduced from] RealTime issue #74 Aug-Sept 2006 pg. 19.
  2. ^ a b c d e Groves, Don (21 May 2019). "Writer-director Beck Cole moves between two worlds". IF Magazine. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  3. ^ a b Cole, Beck (2 June 2011). "Here is Cole". Australian Screen (Interview). Interviewed by Gonzalez, Miguel. National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Beck Cole and Liz Hughes – Thursday 22 October 2020". National Institute of Dramatic Art. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  5. ^ a b Delaney, Colin (15 June 2011). "Here I Am's Beck Cole, Kath Shelper and Warwick Thorton are here to stay". Mumbrella. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  6. ^ "Wirriya: Small Boy - Ricco". Australian Screen. National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  7. ^ Here I am at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  8. ^ Beck Cole at IMDb
  9. ^ Sandy George, "Indigenous anthology feature ‘We Are Still Here’ to open Sydney Film Festival 2022". Screen Daily, 4 May 2022.
  10. ^ "Here I Am: Awards". IMDb. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  11. ^ "Adelaide Film Festival: Awards". Screen Australia. 23 April 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  12. ^ "Montréal World Film Festival 2011". MUBI. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  13. ^ a b "Finding salvation in film". The Sydney Morning Herald. 25 April 2009. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  14. ^ "The Crew: Beck Cole, writer/director". Here I Am. 10 November 2010. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  15. ^ Luka Magdeline Cole at IMDb
  16. ^ Maddox, Garry (4 January 2018). "Director Warwick Thornton's film Sweet Country is a bold new take on the Western". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  17. ^ "Danielle MacLean proudly carries the flag for Indigenous storytelling". IF Magazine. 13 June 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2022.

External links

Authority control databases
Categories