Sally Riley and Erica Glynn (pictured left) are the recipients of the Australian Directors’ Guild Cecil Holmes Award 2011 for their invaluable work in the Indigenous branch of the former Australian Film Commission (now the Indigenous Department of Screen Australia).
Both women are experienced filmmakers in their own right, with a number of titles on ASO including Shifting Sands – My Bed Your Bed (1998), Minymaku Way: There’s Only One Women’s Council (2000) and Confessions of a Headhunter (2000).
Ray Argall, president of the ADG, credited the women and their team with 'giving directors a creative voice’, working to 'support and foster the talents of directors at a critical point in their development’.
Together, the women and their team have been responsible for nurturing talented filmmakers including Ivan Sen (director of Beneath Clouds, 2002), Warwick Thornton (director of Samson and Delilah, 2009) and Kath Shelper (producer of Samson and Delilah, Green Bush, 2005, and the Bit of Black Business short films, 2007).
Riley is currently working as the Head of ABC TV Indigenous.
The award will be presented during the ADG Conference in Adelaide (February 27 – March 1). Read a Portrait of the man for whom the award is named, Cecil Holmes.
