Elissa Down is an Australian filmmaker. In 1999 and 2000 Elissa was nominated for Young Film-maker of the year at the WA Screen Awards.

Her major works comprise of a number of award winning short films, Summer Angst, The Cherry Orchard, Her Outback, The Bathers, Pink Pyjamas, HMAS Unicorn and Samantha Stewart, aged fourteen. They have been screened at numerous festivals including Tampere, Locarno Aix-en-Provence, Montecatini, Milan, San Francisco Indie, St Kilda, Brisbane, Revelation, Women on Women, POV and Tropfest. These shorts have also been screened in theatres and broadcast nationally and overseas. Elissa was one of Australia's upcoming artists featured in the In Progress spread in Vogue (2005).

Elissa Down's first feature film, the semi-autobiographical, The Black Balloon

The Black Balloon (film)

The Black Balloon is a 2008 Australian|British AFI award-winning dramedy feature film which stars Toni Collette, Rhys Wakefield, Luke Ford, Erik Thomson, Gemma Ward as well as a cast of newcomers. It is directed by first time feature film director, Elissa Down.The film was released in Australian...

was released in Australian cinemas 6 March 2008. It stars Rhys Wakefield

Rhys Wakefield

Rhys Wakefield is an Australian actor. He is best known for portraying the main character Thomas in the 2008 film The Black Balloon., for the 2011 film Sanctum, and portraying Lucas Holden in the long-running TV series Home and Away.-Biography:Before appearing as Lucas in Home and Away, Wakefield...

, Gemma Ward

Gemma Ward

Gemma Louise Ward is an Australian fashion model turned actress.-Early life:Gemma Ward was born on 3 November 1987 in Perth, Western Australia, the second of four children of Gary Ward, a doctor, and Claire, a nurse. She has an older sister, Sophie , and younger twin brothers, Oscar and Henry...

, Luke Ford

Luke Ford

Luke Ford is an American writer, blogger, and former pornography gossip columnist known for his disclosures and traditionalist Jewish religious views.-Personal:Ford moved to California in 1977...

, Erik Thomson

Erik Thomson

Erik Thomson is an actor known for playing Hades in the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Dr. Mitch Stevens in All Saints and Dave Rafter in Packed to the Rafters...

 and Academy Award Nominee Toni Collette

Toni Collette

Antonia "Toni" Collette is an Australian actress and musician, known for her acting work on stage, television and film as well as a secondary career as the lead singer of the band Toni Collette & the Finish....

. The world premiere was at the Berlin International Film Festival

Berlin International Film Festival

The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...

 in Germany in February 2008, where the film received a Crystal Bear as the best feature-length film in the Generation 14plus category. On 6 December 2008 Elissa Down was awarded the AFI Best DIrection in Film Award and AFI Best Original Screenplay Award for the Black Balloon. The film also won the L'Oreal Paris AFI Award for Best FIlm.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Curtin University.

Awards

• The Black Balloon Winner Best Feature Film - Berlin International Film Festival, Generation 14+ section, 2008
• Summer Angst Winner Best Actor Female – Tropfest, 2004
• The Bathers Winner Grand Prix Split International Festival of New Film, 2003
• The Bathers Winner Best Fiction Montecatini International Short Film Festival, 2003
• The Bathers Special Mention Youth Jury – Locarno International Film Festival, 2002
• Her Outback Winner - State ACS Award (Gold) for Cinematography in a short documentary, 2002
• Her Outback Winner Best Director and Best Cinematographer - Kaleidoscope Short Film Festival, 2002
• Samantha Stewart, aged fourteen Winner Best Drama and Best Editing - WA Screen Awards, 2001
• Samantha Stewart, aged fourteen Commended at the DENDY Awards for the under 15 minutes fiction category, 2001

External links