Michele (Mitch) Torres.

Jub Clerc, Taryne Laffar, Danielle MacLean, Kelton Pell, Ngaire Pigram, Mark Coles Smith, Mitch Torres and Tasma Walton are just some of Australia’s finest First Nations filmmakers who will be celebrating WA’s inaugural First Nations Film Festival when it kicks off this Thursday, November 3 to Sunday, November 6.

“To celebrate our first year of CinefestOZ Broome – presented by Goolarri Media – we’re excited that locals and visitors will have the opportunity to ask questions and hear first-hand from some of Australia’s finest First Nations filmmakers at one of the many informal events that are part of the festival program,” said Goolarri Media CEO, Jodie Bell.

“Last week we announced the talented Mark Coles Smith as CinefestOZ Broome Ambassador and I’m delighted to now also welcome Mitch Torres as Ambassador. know Mark and Mitch, along with our other special guests, are looking forward to sharing their knowledge to help grow our film industry and protect our culture in beautiful Broome,” Ms Bell continued.

CinefestOZ includes ticketed feature film screenings of Loveland, We Are Still Here and Sweet As – and gala events at Sun Pictures, short film screenings and after-parties at the Gimme Gimme Bar, special In Conversation dining events at Broome hotspots Wild Flower and Kimberley Sands.

There’s also the Free Community Days on Friday 4 and Saturday 5 November at the Broome Civic Centre where audiences can engage with Indigenous short films and filmmakers and explore different formats and aspects of filmmaking, including Virtual Reality, Visual Effects, Audio and Stunts.

Rebel Art is just one of the films that make up the anthology, We Are Still Here.

Ambassador Profile

Michele (Mitch) Torres
Producer; Writer; Director; Researcher; Journalist; Broadcaster; Playwright; Presenter; Actor

Mitch began her career in the media industry more than 35 years ago.

A lover of dance she studied at the AIDT (Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre) in Sydney where she landed her first acting role in The Fringe Dwellers before securing a role in the seminal docudrama Babaqueria.

SBS’s first Indigenous Presenter in 1988, Mitch did her cadetship with ABC TV Perth, and then was the first presenter and field journalist for GWN’s long running magazine program Millbindi.

Mitch then began a successful period as a broadcaster for Indigenous radio stations: Goolarri in Broome and WAAMA 6NR in Perth before settling back with ABC Kimberley as the morning show’s presenter and producer.

In the mid 1990’s Mitch turned her talents to visual storytelling and made her first short drama ‘Promise’ for the Shifting Sands Short Drama Initiative (SBS TV) and then award winning documentaries like Jandamarra’s War, and the heartbreaking ‘Whispering in our Hearts’ a historical documentary about the Mowla Bluff Massacre in the West Kimberley.

An award-winning filmmaker, Mitch has directed and written a range of dramas and documentaries and theatrical plays with Yirra Yaakin, and continues to write in collaboration with other First Nations and non-First Nations film makers. In 2021 Mitch was presented with an Honorary Doctorate.

You can find out more about CinefestOZ Broome here.