IN CONVERSTAION: THE ART OF SCREENWRITTING
Every great film begins with a story. Every great story begins with a voice.
Whether you are an aspiring screenwriter, filmmaker, author, or passionate storyteller, this is your invitation to explore what makes a story truly compelling whether it lives on the page, the screen, or the documentary frame.
Join acclaimed writers, filmmakers, and industry professionals for an intimate and dynamic session where each speaker shares a focused presentation on the craft of storytelling revealing what makes a story resonate, how to build characters that stay with an audience long after the credits roll, and how authentic, distinct voices find their place in an industry hungry for them.
The floor then opens into a candid Q&A, a rare opportunity to go deeper into the realities of navigating the industry, developing your story, and understanding what it takes to get your work noticed, optioned, and ultimately commissioned.
Discover how ideas become stories, stories become scripts, and scripts become the films that shape culture. Walk away with practical tools, honest insights, and the confidence to take your next creative step.
Come curious. Leave inspired.
Your next story starts here.
In partnership with AFTRS with the support of African Caribbean Writers Festival Australia and African Youth initiative
Date: FRIDAY 3 September 2:00 PM-5:00 PM
Venue: Sydney Opera House, Playhouse
Speakers
Ratidzo Mambo
Moderator
Ratidzo Mambo is an award-winning Australian-Zimbabwean actor, writer, and producer with a background in international film and TV distribution. She heads Jacaranda Dreams Productions, where she is developing several funded projects, including a half-hour comedy series supported by Screen Australia and SBS, now acquired by an international streamer.
Her screen credits include Strife, The Gloaming, GLEE, Neighbours, and Escape From Pretoria. She won Best Supporting Actress at the 2023 Houston International Film Festival for Cognitive, and has received multiple accolades across film, theatre, and podcasting—including as the voice of Private Affairs, winner of two 2021 Australian Podcast Awards.
Rati brings a combination of artistic vision and commercial insight, and is passionate about bold, character-driven storytelling that centres outsider perspectives.
Malla Nunn
Speaker
Malla Nunn is the author of four internationally published crime novels set in apartheid era South Africa.
A Beautiful Place to Die, Let the Dead Lie, Blessed Are the Dead and Present Darkness have, between them, received two Edgar Award nominations, a Davitt Award and two Antony Award nominations.
Her debut YA novel, When the Ground is Hardwas short listed for the Prime Ministers Literary Awards and won the L.A Times Best YA novel award.
Her next YA novel, Sugar Town Queens was a notable CBCA notable book of the year.
Her crime novels are currently being developed for television.
Born and raised in Eswatini, Malla now lives and works in a falling down weatherboard house in Sydney, Australia.
Huna Amweero
Speaker
Huna Amweero is an award-winning screenwriter and AFTRS graduate, holding a Graduate Certificate and Diploma in Screenwriting. Raised among diverse artists and activists, her work aims to dismantle oppression while allowing marginalised characters the freedom to be beautifully flawed on-screen.
Huna co-wrote two feature film scripts with visual artist Del Kathryn Barton: Blaze, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and won the 2022 AWGIE for Best Original Feature, and Flower. Together, they earned the 2023 Betty Roland Prize for Screenwriting at the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.
Her digital and television credits include writing and producing the TikTok comedy series Krystal Klairvoyant, which secured over 100,000 views and won Best International Short at SeriesFest. She has contributed to competitive writers' rooms, earning an episodic credit on Netflix’s global hit Surviving Summer and working on season 2 of Stan’s crime drama Black Snow. Previously, she co-wrote the web series Jade of Death and the short Alone.
JENEVIEVE CHANG
Speaker
Jenevieve Chang is a story developer, writer and performer who has worked in the UK, China and Australia. Most recently, Jenevieve was Development Executive at ABC Drama & Comedy . She has also been Development Executive at Screen Australia, Creative Executive at Arclight Films and Senior Course Manager at NIDA.
In Australia, Jenevieve has worked with Malthouse Theatre, Griffin Theatre and Monkey Baa Theatre in the development of new work and in the UK, she has worked with The National Theatre, The Young Vic and Yellow Earth Theatre. As a solo performer, she has toured widely, performing in venues in Germany, Austria, France, Canada, Luxembourg, Slovenia and China.
