Claire McCarthy
Encyclopedia
Claire McCarthy is an Australia
n filmmaker, screenwriter, producer and visual artist. She is an internationally successful film director who divides her time between Sydney
and Los Angeles
.
, Australia
, the daughter of Christine, an author
and concert pianist, and John McCarthy, a Queen's Counsel
. She graduated with honours from the University of Technology, Sydney
with a Bachelor of Design/Communications majoring in film in 1997, and is a Screen Directing (Fiction & Non-Fiction) graduate of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, 2001.
, Tunis International Film Festival, Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, Montreal Film Festival, New York Film Festival
, Pusan International Film Festival
, Palm Springs International Film Festival
, Flickerfest
, St Kilda Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival
, and London Film Festival
.
Her feature debut, Cross Life (2007), premiered at the Sydney Film Festival
(2007) and the Pusan International Film Festival
in Korea (2007) and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award at the 2007 Inside Film Awards
. Cross Life was a low-budget, social realist multi-plot about Sydney’s Kings Cross red light district
, starring Paul Caesar, Imogen Annesley and Tony Barry.
Her 2008 autobiographical documentary
film Sisters was awarded a Young Filmmakers Fund grant, from the New South Wales Film and Television Office
. Sisters is a 52-minute documentary
about her journey to India
with her teenage sister Helena, to volunteer with the Mother Teresa
’s Order, the Missionaries of Charity
, in Calcutta. Sisters was broadcast on ABC Television in 2008 and 2009, on the Compass
program, hosted by Geraldine Doogue
.
Building upon relationships she made with fellow volunteers in India
, she wrote The Waiting City
- a mystic infused drama about a young Australian couple’s journey to Calcutta to adopt a baby. The Waiting City was the first Australian feature-length film to be entirely filmed in India. The Waiting City, starring Radha Mitchell
, Joel Edgerton
, Samrat Chakrabarti
and Isabel Lucas
had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival
, as part of the prestigious “Special Presentation” section. Chakrabarti was named as one of the “Fresh Faces at TIFF” by thestar.com, for his role. The Waiting City has also screened at the Pusan Film Festival (2009), Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (2010), the Tunis International Film Festival (2010) and the Sydney Film Festival
(2010) and is still travelling the festival circuit. The film was released nationally in Australia
on 15 July 2010 and release in other territories will be later in 2010.
and filmmaking
to masters and undergraduate students at Macquarie University
. She has also taught screenwriting
to special needs
students at North Sydney TAFE. In the Australian film The Black Balloon
she had the role of choreographer to a group of autistic adults who were starring in the film and also contributed to the musical soundtrack
as she also did with Sisters and The Waiting City
.
’s SUNDAY Magazine, 4 July 2010.
, Denson Baker ACS. The couple have collaborated together on The Waiting City
, The Black Balloon
, Skin and other films. The couple also collaborated on Old Man River’s
Sunshine music video
together, which was set in Varanasi
. Sunshine was nominated for an Australian Cinematographers Society
Award in 2008 in the “Best Music Video” category.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n filmmaker, screenwriter, producer and visual artist. She is an internationally successful film director who divides her time between Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
Early life
Claire was born in SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, the daughter of Christine, an author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and concert pianist, and John McCarthy, a Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
. She graduated with honours from the University of Technology, Sydney
University of Technology, Sydney
The University of Technology Sydney is a university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university was founded in its current form in 1981, although its origins trace back to the 1870s. UTS is notable for its central location as the only university with its main campuses within the Sydney CBD...
with a Bachelor of Design/Communications majoring in film in 1997, and is a Screen Directing (Fiction & Non-Fiction) graduate of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, 2001.
Career
Claire McCarthy has been making internationally acclaimed feature films, short films, music videos and documentaries for over a decade. Her films have screened at many international festivals including Toronto International Film FestivalToronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
, Tunis International Film Festival, Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, Montreal Film Festival, New York Film Festival
New York Film Festival
The New York Film Festival has been a major film festival since it began in 1963 in New York. The films are selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center...
, Pusan International Film Festival
Pusan International Film Festival
Busan International Film Festival , held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan , South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia...
, Palm Springs International Film Festival
Palm Springs International Film Festival
Palm Springs International Film Festival is a film festival held in Palm Springs, California. It was started in 1989 and is held annually in January...
, Flickerfest
Flickerfest
Flickerfest is an Australian, Academy Award-accredited short film festival. Founded in 1992 at Balmain High School which is now called Sydney Secondary College Balmain Campus, it is held every January in Sydney. The films then go on tour throughout Australia. The Festival Director is currently...
, St Kilda Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival
Sydney Film Festival
The Sydney Film Festival is an annual film festival held in the Australian city of Sydney and is held over 12 days in June. The competitive film festival draws international and local attention, with films being showcased in several venues across the city centre and includes features,...
, and London Film Festival
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...
.
Her feature debut, Cross Life (2007), premiered at the Sydney Film Festival
Sydney Film Festival
The Sydney Film Festival is an annual film festival held in the Australian city of Sydney and is held over 12 days in June. The competitive film festival draws international and local attention, with films being showcased in several venues across the city centre and includes features,...
(2007) and the Pusan International Film Festival
Pusan International Film Festival
Busan International Film Festival , held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan , South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia...
in Korea (2007) and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award at the 2007 Inside Film Awards
Inside Film Awards
The Inside Film Awards is an annual awards ceremony and broadcast platform for the Australian film industry, a format created by Australian Producer Andrew Dillon...
. Cross Life was a low-budget, social realist multi-plot about Sydney’s Kings Cross red light district
Red Light District
Red Light District may refer to:* Red-light district - a neighborhood where prostitution is common* The Red Light District - the title of the 2004 album by rapper Ludacris* Red Light District Video - a pornography studio based in Los Angeles, California...
, starring Paul Caesar, Imogen Annesley and Tony Barry.
Her 2008 autobiographical documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
film Sisters was awarded a Young Filmmakers Fund grant, from the New South Wales Film and Television Office
New South Wales Film and Television Office
The NSW Film & Television Office is the official screen agency of the New South Wales Government. Its charter says its role is:*to provide financial and other assistance to the film and television industry in carrying out the industry's activities in New South Wales and to disseminate information...
. Sisters is a 52-minute documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
about her journey to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
with her teenage sister Helena, to volunteer with the Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa , born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu , was a Roman Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity and Indian citizenship, who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, in 1950...
’s Order, the Missionaries of Charity
Missionaries of Charity
Missionaries of Charity is a Roman Catholic religious congregation established in 1950 by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, which consists of over 4,500 sisters and is active in 133 countries...
, in Calcutta. Sisters was broadcast on ABC Television in 2008 and 2009, on the Compass
Compass (TV program)
Compass is an Australian weekly news-documentary program screened on ABC Television on Sunday nights. Presented by Geraldine Doogue, the program is devoted to providing information about faith, values, ethics, and religion from across the globe....
program, hosted by Geraldine Doogue
Geraldine Doogue
Dr Geraldine Doogue AO is an Australian journalist and radio and television host.Doogue was the host of Radio National's Life Matters program for 11 years. She received a United Nations Media Peace Prize and two Penguin Awards for her role in ABC TV's coverage of the Gulf War...
.
Building upon relationships she made with fellow volunteers in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, she wrote The Waiting City
The Waiting City
-External links:*...
- a mystic infused drama about a young Australian couple’s journey to Calcutta to adopt a baby. The Waiting City was the first Australian feature-length film to be entirely filmed in India. The Waiting City, starring Radha Mitchell
Radha Mitchell
Radha Rani Amber Indigo Anunda Mitchell is an Australian actress. Her film roles include Finding Neverland, Phone Booth, Man on Fire, Silent Hill, and the The Crazies-Early life:...
, Joel Edgerton
Joel Edgerton
Joel Edgerton is an Australian film and television actor.-Early life:Edgerton was born in Blacktown, Sydney, to a homemaker mother and a solicitor/property developer father, Michael. His brother, Nash Edgerton, is a stuntman and filmmaker...
, Samrat Chakrabarti
Samrat Chakrabarti
Samrat Chakrabarti is a British-American actor and musician of Indian descent.-Early life:Born in London, England to immigrant parents from Kolkata, India, he performed in Indian community functions in Boston, Massachusetts, where he was exposed to music, poetry and the plays of Rabindranath...
and Isabel Lucas
Isabel Lucas
Isabel Lucas is an Australian actress and model perhaps best known for her role as Tasha Andrews on the Australian television soap opera Home and Away...
had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
, as part of the prestigious “Special Presentation” section. Chakrabarti was named as one of the “Fresh Faces at TIFF” by thestar.com, for his role. The Waiting City has also screened at the Pusan Film Festival (2009), Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (2010), the Tunis International Film Festival (2010) and the Sydney Film Festival
Sydney Film Festival
The Sydney Film Festival is an annual film festival held in the Australian city of Sydney and is held over 12 days in June. The competitive film festival draws international and local attention, with films being showcased in several venues across the city centre and includes features,...
(2010) and is still travelling the festival circuit. The film was released nationally in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
on 15 July 2010 and release in other territories will be later in 2010.
Filmography
| Title | Year | Role |
|---|---|---|
| The Waiting City The Waiting City -External links:*... |
2009 | director, writer, co-producer |
| Sisters (documentary) | 2008 | writer, director, camera operator, off-line editor |
| The Black Balloon | 2007 | choreographer |
| Cross Life | 2007 | director, co-producer, co-writer |
| Sunshine by Old Man River (music video) |
2006 | director |
| Skin | 2006 | writer, director, co-producer |
Teaching
She has taught screenwritingScreenwriting
Screenwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is a freelance profession....
and filmmaking
Filmmaking
Filmmaking is the process of making a film, from an initial story, idea, or commission, through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, directing, editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a theatrical release or television program...
to masters and undergraduate students at Macquarie University
Macquarie University
Macquarie University is an Australian public teaching and research university located in Sydney, with its main campus situated in Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of Sydney...
. She has also taught screenwriting
Screenwriting
Screenwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is a freelance profession....
to special needs
Special needs
In the USA, special needs is a term used in clinical diagnostic and functional development to describe individuals who require assistance for disabilities that may be medical, mental, or psychological. For instance, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the International...
students at North Sydney TAFE. In the Australian film 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...
she had the role of choreographer to a group of autistic adults who were starring in the film and also contributed to the musical soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
as she also did with Sisters and The Waiting City
The Waiting City
-External links:*...
.
Quotes
“I don’t know if cinema can save the world. But if it can inspire you to think about things, then it’s not just popcorn. I’d like to do that until I turn grey.” – The Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph (Australia)
The Daily Telegraph is an Australian tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, by Nationwide News, part of News Corporation.The Tele, as it is also known, was founded in 1879. From 1936 to 1972, it was owned by Frank Packer's Australian Consolidated Press. That year it was sold to...
’s SUNDAY Magazine, 4 July 2010.
Personal life
She is married to award winning cinematographerCinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
, Denson Baker ACS. The couple have collaborated together on The Waiting City
The Waiting City
-External links:*...
, 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...
, Skin and other films. The couple also collaborated on Old Man River’s
Old Man River (musician)
Old Man River is the stage name of Australian singer-songwriter Ohad Rein, and the name of his band. In 2009, "Sunshine", co-written by Old Man River, won the 'Blues & Roots Work of the Year' category at the Australasian Performing Right Association Awards.-History:Ohad Rein was born in Sydney,...
Sunshine music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
together, which was set in Varanasi
Varanasi
-Etymology:The name Varanasi has its origin possibly from the names of the two rivers Varuna and Assi, for the old city lies in the north shores of the Ganga bounded by its two tributaries, the Varuna and the Asi, with the Ganges being to its south...
. Sunshine was nominated for an Australian Cinematographers Society
Australian Cinematographers Society
The Australian Cinematographers Society is an Australian organisation established in 1958 for cinematographers to meet and discuss the issues that affected them...
Award in 2008 in the “Best Music Video” category.
External links
Claire McCarthy’s Agent (Sydney) RGM Artist Group- Claire McCarthy’s Agent (Los Angeles) APA Management
- Claire McCarthy at the Internet Movie Database imdb
- Claire McCarthy Myspace Fan Page myspace
- The Waiting City Official Website
- Australian Film, Television and Radio School AFTRS
- Inside Film Awards