Essie Davis in The Babadook by Jennifer Kent - Umbrella EntertainmentThe 2022 theme for International Women’s Day is Break The Bias, and if there’s ever a bias that needed breaking, it’s the one saying only men direct genre films. Here’s some fantastic genre films we’ve loved, and upcoming releases we can’t wait to see, all directed by Australian women.The Babadook  by Jennifer Kent (horror)An incredible feature debut from Aussie director Jennifer Kent, this horror stars Essie Davis as a widowed mother trying to care for her erratic six-year-old son, who fears a pop-up book monster called the Babadook will kill ...

End of year greetings from Melbourne, the most locked-down city in the world - six lockdowns totalling 263 days since March 2020. So momentous we even bought the T-shirt.The whole lockdown thing, in some ways, was business as usual. It takes time to develop projects – they say on average seven years to get a feature film up, most of mine took four. So following 18 months of “development hell” after my sabbatical at Film Victoria, I officially re-launched Cathartic Pictures in November 2020. What else do you do in a pandemic?There were two big issues that dominated our ...

Cathartic Pictures is working with producer Tony Ginnane and director Mark Hartley on thriller feature The Girl at the Window, starring Radha Mitchell, Ella Newton and Vince Colosimo. Cathartic’s Cathy Rodda jumps on board as line producer, Maz Komba on a producer placement, and Naomi Ball for social media content. Described by Tony as a blend of Rear Window and Disturbia, the film is a female-led, taut thriller, about a mother and daughter dealing with an ambiguous and uncertain threat that binds them closer together. Director Mark says the film boasts a strong, resourceful heroine and a bounty of ...

Geskeva (Maz) Komba joins Cathartic Pictures on a six-month Producer Placement supported by Film Victoria’s Key Talent Program. Maz will hit the ground running, working in the production office of feature film The Girl at the Window through August/September. She will be delving into the full range of producing tasks - development, financing, marketing and production - across Cathartic’s diverse slate of features, series, fiction and factual. A recent graduate of the VCA Master of Producing, Maz is an alumni of Cinespace Story Lab and Story Lab 2.0, where she expanded her theatre, spoken word and music storytelling skills ...

Michelle Lee’s Next Big Thing  is one of 28 recipients of development funding from Screen Australia. The 6 x ½ hour series follows a hot young director who is offered her first big break in a prestigious theatre company BUT she has to start the job five months’ pregnant and with her inner doubt literally following her around. Michelle works across theatre, live art, audio and screen. Her works explore otherness, Asian identity and found families, usually through contemporary narratives that privilege the experiences of women and people of colour. Cathartic’s Cathy Rodda is aboard the project as producer, Rachel ...

The best zombie films not only have you on the edge of your seat, white-knuckled as you grip the armrests preparing for the next gory blow. They also show us something about ourselves and society – the corruption within and the promise that we can (hopefully!) rise above. The choice for me to reboot Cathartic Pictures, was not dissimilar in purpose. After years in the trenches of feature producing with my most recent being zombie-western Bullets for the Dead, and then a sabbatical working at Film Victoria, it was time for me to return to storytelling. This time with ...

Cathartic Pictures’ Cathy Rodda and Brooke Daly are working with Documentary Australia Foundation to build their impact and philanthropic fundraising skills in the lead up to New Stories for Climate Action – a live pitching event to be held online on 19 November. Through a range of workshops as part of DAF’s Environmental Incubator, Cathartic is developing an impact strategy around A Tree is for Life, our documentary feature film and series Why Trees Matter. Cathy says they’re excited to work with DAF who are experts in leveraging the power of storytelling to create collective impact. “Trees and forests are ...

Cathartic Pictures’ blue chip documentary A Tree is for Life (aka The Trees Project) has been invited into Documentary Australia Foundation’s Environmental Incubator. The incubator program “supports upcoming documentaries to increase public understanding of an action on climate change”. Along with five other projects, we will be working with DAF to develop our impact strategy and learn the ins and outs of raising philanthropic funds to further our cause. Read more at atreeisforlife.com and support the project at documentaryaustralia.com.au. ...