Beck Cole

Cole grew up in Adelaide and around the Port Adelaide area.{{cite interview |interviewer-first=Lisa |interviewer-last=Stefanoff| first=Beck| last=Cole| title=A filmmaking life | website=RealTime Arts | url=http://www.realtimearts.net/article/issue74/8163 | access-date=22 November 2021|quote=[Reproduced from] RealTime issue #74 Aug-Sept 2006 pg. 19.}}

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.

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. In 2001, Cole graduated with a Master of Arts (Film & Television) Documentary from the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS),{{cite web | title=AFTRS Alumni Works Nominated for the 2020 Screen Diversity and Inclusion Network Award | website=Australian Film Television and Radio School | date=11 June 2021 | url=https://www.aftrs.edu.au/news/2021/aftrs-alumni-works-nominated-for-the-2020-screen-diversity-and-inclusion-network-award/ | access-date=21 August 2024}} where she was exposed to a number of Australian documentary filmmakers.

Cole was mentored by photographer and filmmaker Michael Riley, who co-founded Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperative, until his death in 2004.

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.

Her early short documentary and drama films were mainly focused on Aboriginal culture and family, including Flat (2002; co-produced by Rachel Perkins and Darren Dale{{cite web | title=Flat | website=Blackfella Films | url=http://blackfellafilms.com.au/project/flat/ | access-date=27 August 2024}}) and Plains Empty (2005{{cite interview| first= Beck|last= Cole| interviewer-first=Miguel |interviewer-last=Gonzalez | title= Here is Cole|date=2 June 2011| website=Australian Screen|publisher=National Film and Sound Archive of Australia | url=https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/wirriya-small-boy-ricco | access-date=23 November 2021}}) premiered at Sundance, and Flat also screened at the Edinburgh Film Festival.

Cole established a working as well as a personal relationship with cinematographer Warwick Thornton, and along with producer Kath Shelper they called themselves "the trinity" since working together from 2004. 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.{{cite web | title= Wirriya: Small Boy - Ricco| website=Australian Screen|publisher=National Film and Sound Archive of Australia | url=https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/wirriya-small-boy-ricco | access-date=23 November 2021}}

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.

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.

Her debut feature film was the drama Here I Am (2011), which stars prominent activist and academic Marcia Langton.{{imdb title|1764358| Here I am}}

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.

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,{{imdb name|1503405}} and with Bevan Lee on the Seven Network series Between Two Worlds, which premiered in 2020.{{cite web| url=https://www.if.com.au/writer-director-beck-cole-blithely-moves-between-two-worlds/| title=Writer-director Beck Cole moves between two worlds| first= Don |last=Groves| date =21 May 2019| website=IF Magazine| access-date=22 November 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nida.edu.au/productions/in-conversation/videos/beck-cole-and-liz-hughes-thursday,-22-october-2020|website= National Institute of Dramatic Art| title=Beck Cole and Liz Hughes – Thursday 22 October 2020|access-date=23 November 2021}}

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

As of 2019 Cole was working on a horror film set in Alice Springs, based on a true story told by Aboriginal children who lived in a residential care home, where they were attacked by an evil entity.

Cole and Sam Paynter workshopped ideas with local elders and young people to produce ideas for the storyline of the 2020 children's TV series Thalu, which was commissioned by National Indigenous Television and ABC Me.{{cite web | last=Tan | first=Teresa | title=Kids TV show Thalu works with Pilbara community to create positive role models | website=ABC News | date=1 August 2020 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-02/kids-tv-show-thalu-pilbara-community-stars-aboriginal-kids/12467926 | access-date=20 August 2024}} She also co-wrote the screenplay for the series along with Paynter, Nayuka Gorrie, David Woodhead, and Donald Imberlong.{{cite web | title=Thalu: get ready for a bold new children's show | website=NITV | date=26 March 2020 | url=https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/thalu-get-ready-for-a-bold-new-childrens-show/594mw7cte | access-date=20 August 2024}}

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.Sandy George, [https://www.screendaily.com/news/indigenous-anthology-feature-we-are-still-here-to-open-sydney-film-festival-2022/5170090.article "Indigenous anthology feature ‘We Are Still Here’ to open Sydney Film Festival 2022"]. Screen Daily, 4 May 2022.

In 2020 Cole was co-presenter, with Warwick Thornton, of a five-day development workshop called the Aboriginal Short Film Initiative, held at South Australian Film Corporation's Adelaide Studios.{{cite web | title=Filmmakers selected for Aboriginal Short Film Initiative | website=SAFC | date=20 January 2020 | url=https://www.safilm.com.au/latest-news/filmmakers-selected-for-aboriginal-short-film-initiative/ | access-date=25 August 2024}}

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

• Wirriya: Small Boy (2004): winner of best film at Women on Women Film Festival in Sydney and the Jury Award for Best Short Documentary at ImagineNative Film + Media Arts Festival
• Here I Am (2011): winner of Best Dramatic Feature at the ImagineNative Film + Media Arts Festival;{{cite web|website= IMDb| url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1764358/awards/?ref_=tt_awd| title=Here I Am: Awards| access-date=22 November 2021}} nominated for the International Feature award at the 2011 Adelaide Film Festival;{{cite web | title=Adelaide Film Festival: Awards | website=Screen Australia | date=23 April 2019 | url=https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/festivals-and-markets/festival-profiles/adelaide-film-festival/11029 | access-date=23 November 2021}} in competition for the Golden Zenith Award at the Montréal World Film Festival{{cite web | title=Montréal World Film Festival 2011 | website=MUBI | url=https://mubi.com/awards-and-festivals/montreal?page=2&year=2011 | access-date=23 November 2021}} and
• Black Comedy: winner, 2015 AACTA Award for Best Direction in a Light Entertainment or Reality Series

Cole was formerly married to director Warwick Thornton, whom she met in 1999. They have a daughter, Luka May,{{cite web | title=The Crew: Beck Cole, writer/director | website=Here I Am | date=10 November 2010 | url=http://www.hereiamfilm.com/?page_id=129 | access-date=23 November 2021}}{{cite web | title=Finding salvation in film | website=The Sydney Morning Herald | date=25 April 2009 | url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/finding-salvation-in-film-20090426-aiwt.html | access-date=23 November 2021}} an actress also known as Luka Magdeline Cole or Luka May Glynn-Cole.{{imdb name|10035682|Luka Magdeline Cole}} The couple shared a personal as well as professional relationship.{{cite web | last=Delaney | first=Colin | title=Here I Am’s Beck Cole, Kath Shelper and Warwick Thorton are here to stay | website=Mumbrella | date=15 June 2011 | url=https://mumbrella.com.au/here-i-am-71477 | access-date=23 November 2021}} By 2018 Thornton and Cole had separated.{{cite web | last=Maddox | first=Garry | title=Director Warwick Thornton's film Sweet Country is a bold new take on the Western | website=The Sydney Morning Herald | date=4 January 2018 | url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/director-warwick-thorntons-movie-sweet-country-is-a-bold-new-take-on-the-western-20171219-h07h5b.html | access-date=23 November 2021}}

She is a cousin of filmmaker Danielle MacLean.{{cite web | title=Danielle MacLean proudly carries the flag for Indigenous storytelling | website=IF Magazine | date=13 June 2019 | url=https://if.com.au/danielle-maclean-proudly-carries-the-flag-for-indigenous-storytelling/ | access-date=29 April 2022}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://aso.gov.au/people/Beck_Cole/ Beck Cole on Australian Screen Online]
• {{IMDb name|1503405}}

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Category:Living people

Category:People from the Northern Territory

Category:Indigenous Australian filmmakers

Category:Australian women film directors

Category:Australian film directors

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Charles Sturt University alumni