Frances O’Connor

Western Australian actor and director Frances O’Connor (Wednesday, Emily, Mansfield Park) will return home next month to head up the CinefestOZ Film Prize Jury, which will decide the winner of Australia’s richest $100,000 Film Prize at this year’s festival, running 30 August to 7 September, in the Margaret River wine region.

Prolific actor and director Wayne Blair (Mystery Road, Top End Wedding), Shari Sebbens (Thor: Love and Thunder; The Moogai😉 and Nathalie Morris (Bump, The Twelve) will join Frances and together they will decide which of the four short-listed films – We Bury The Dead, Birthright, Songs Inside and One More Shot – will take home the title of Film Prize Winner and $100,000.

Speaking about her new role as Film Prize Jury Chair, Frances said: “I am so excited to come home to be part of this inspiring festival!”

“I am really looking forward to a week of discussing my favourite topic – film! And I look forward to meeting filmmakers and audiences in WA during this time. It’s great that we have an event like this to support and celebrate our filmmakers!”

CinefestOZ Chair Margaret Buswell said: “The 2025 CinefestOZ Film Prize is one of the highlights of the Australian film festival circuit, attracting Australia’s finest filmmaking talent from both sides of the camera.”

“We are honoured that our 2025 Film Prize Jury – Frances, Wayne, Shari and Nathalie are generously providing their time and expertise, as well as sharing their filmmaking experience and inspiring us at the festival’s special meet the filmmaker events.

“The CinefestOZ Film Prize was established 11 years ago to recognise and reward excellence in Australian filmmaking, and we know that our Film Prize Jury will again have a tough decision with such unique films that traverse drama, horror, comedy and real-life stories.”

The Jury will attend each of the Film Prize red carpet premieres (Wednesday 3 – Friday 5 September) and the special Film Jury In Conversation breakfast at Shelter Brewing (Saturday 6 September), ahead of their announcement of the winner at the Film Prize Celebration in the evening at Sabina River Farm.

Previous year’s Film Prize winners include The Moogai (2024), Shayda (2023), Of An Age (2022), Nitram (2021), H is for Happiness (2019), Jirga (2018), Ali’s Wedding (2017), Girl Asleep (2016), Putuparri and the Rainmakers (2015), and Paper Planes (2014).

The CinefestOZ 2025 Program features over 200 film screenings and events and celebrates its 18th year. The nine-day festival will be held from 30 August – 7 September in Western Australia’s South West and will provide festival-goers with the opportunity to see some of Australia’s best new films first, and connect with filmmakers and visiting talent at the region’s cinemas, boutique breweries, small bars and galleries in Bunbury, Busselton and Margaret River. Alongside the feature and short film programs, celebrate the rich Indigenous culture of the South West as part of the free Deadly Day; support young filmmakers of the future as part of the Cinesnaps schools program; and, learn more about our flourishing screen industry at the dedicated Industry Program.

You can find full details here.

About the Film Prize Jury

Frances O’connell, Chair

Frances O’Connor is an Australian actress, writer and director living in London.

Currently appearing in series 2 of Netflix’s Wednesday series opposite Catherine Zeta Jones and Jenna Otega, Frances also recently starred alongside Sam Neill in series 2 of Binge’s The Twelve and has a long line of TV credits including the ten-part Sky Drama The End created by Samantha Strauss alongside Harriet Walter, SBS anthology series Erotic Stories, ITV’s Mr Selfridge, Troy: Fall of A City for BBC, Cleverman for ABC and Sundance, Iron Jawed Angels opposite Hillary Swank for HBO, and the US series Once Upon A Time. She also starred in the TV series, Madame Bovary and The Missing, both of which earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.

In film Frances is best known for her roles of Fanny Price in Mansfield Park alongside Hugh Bonneville and Harold Pinter, and Gwendolen Fairfax in The Importance of Being Earnest alongside Judi Dench and Colin Firth. Following her critically acclaimed film debut in Emma-Kate Croghan’s Love & Other Catastrophes and award-winning performance in Bill Bennett’s Kiss or Kill, O’Connor’s film credits include Thank God He Met Lizzie alongside Cate Blanchett, Bedazzled starring Brendan Fraser and Elizabeth Hurley and the leading role of Monica Swinton in Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Further film credits include her AACTA award-winning performance in Ana Kokkinos’s Blessed, The Hunter opposite Willem Defoe, Go Karts with Richard Roxburgh, Windtalkers opposite Nicolas Cage, and James Wan’s The Conjuring 2.

Her work on stage includes the West End production of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Brendan Fraser and Ned Beatty, Michael Hastings’ Tom and Viv at the Almeida theatre and the West End production of Florian Zeller’s The Truth at the Wyndham’s theatre.

Frances’ directorial debut film Emily premiered to rave reviews at TIFF. Described as “a thrillingly unconventional watch” – Emily is a stunning, imaginative period drama starring Emma Mackey (Sex Education), who plays Emily Brontë, the author of Wuthering Heights. Frances is a true multi-hyphenate and is already writing her next original feature.

Wayne Blair

Wayne Blair

On television Wayne is best known for his AACTA nominated work in two seasons and a telemovie of Redfern Now for the ABC. Selected TV credits include political drama series Total Control series 2 and 3, Water Rats, All Saints, Wildside, Squinters, The Letdown, Black Comedy, Mystery Road, Wakefield, Irreverent and Aftertaste.

Wayne’s film credits include Emu Runner, The Turning, Wish You Were Here opposite Joel Edgerton and Teresa Palmer, X, The Last Time I Saw Michael Gregg directed by Steven Soderbergh, Blessed, Mullet, Rams, with Miranda Richardson and Sam Neill, Extraction with Chris Hemsworth, Seriously Red by Dollhouse Pictures, and The New Boy directed by Warwick Thornton. Earlier this year Wayne shot Ruben Östlund’s The Entertainment System is Down opposite Keanu Reeves, and Kirsten Dunst.

On stage Wayne has performed in True West directed by Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Tot Mom directed by Steven Soderbergh both for Sydney Theatre Company. Other theatre credits include The Sunshine Club, Inheritance, The Cherry Pickers, The Long Forgotten Dream and Wonnanngatta for the Sydney Theatre Company, opposite Hugo Weaving; Jesus Hopped The A Train, Stuff Happens, Run Rabbit Run, Conversations with the Dead, The Sapphires, The Dreamers, Cloudstreet (International Tour) for Belvoir; Othello and Romeo and Juliet for the Bell Shakespeare Company, and Skin with Bangarra Dance Company.

Wayne has directed three feature films, The Sapphires for which he won the 2012 AACTA Award for Best Direction in Film, Septembers of Shiraz and Top End Wedding. He won the 2020 AACTA Award for Best Documentary for the feature length documentary he co-directed with Nel Minchin called Firestarter. Wayne also directed for multiple television series including Mystery Road, Bay of Fires, Total Control, Plum, Mystery Road: Origin and ABC’s upcoming series Goolagong based on the inspiring true-life story of world champion tennis player Evonne Goolagong.

Nathalie Morris

French-Australian actress Nathalie Morris is a well-known star on Australian and New Zealand screens. Her breakout leading role, Oly Chalmers-Davis in five-seasons of Logie and AACTA nominated series Bump (Stan Australia) won the hearts of audiences worldwide. It is no surprise that she was a 2023 winner of the Casting Guild of Australia award for “potential to break out on the world stage”.

Her major feature film credits include lead roles in acclaimed filmmaker Alena Lodkina’s Petrol, which was a 2022 nominee for the Golden Leopard award at the Locarno International Film Festival, and We Were Dangerous for which director Josephine Stewart Te-Whiu won the Special Jury Award for Filmmaking at SXSW.

Nathalie’s other credits after graduating from New Zealand’s top drama School Toi Whakaari in 2018 include Blumhouse Productions US film Black Christmas starring Imogen Poots, US TV series Almost Paradise, and season 1 and 2 of New Zealand hit show One Lane Bridge alongside GCMs Dominic Ona-Ariki.

Nathalie also played the role of Nina in Auckland Theatre Company’s production of Chekhov’s The Seagull, directed by Eleanor Bishop, which screened online during COVID and was met with worldwide acclaim.

She is a fluent French speaker and advanced swimmer.

Shari Sebbens

Actor, Director and Producer, Shari trained in Aboriginal Theatre at WAAPA and is a graduate of NIDA with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting).

Her recent acting credits for film include The Moogai – winner of the 2024 CinefestOZ Film Prize – along with Australia Day, The Darkside, The Sapphires, Teenage Kicks, Thor: Ragnarok, Top End Wedding. On TV Shari is known for her roles in 8MMM, Black Comedy, The Gods of Wheat Street, The Heights, Redfern Now (for which she was awarded the Logie Award – Graham Kennedy Award for Most Outstanding New Talent), Soul Mates, Ta Da!, Preppers, Return to Paradise S2 for the ABC, Amazing Grace for Channel 9. For SBS: A Chance Affair, Little J & Big Cuz (animation). For Stan: Thou Shalt Not Steal. For Amazon Prime Video: The Office, Top End Bub and Deadloch S2.

On stage, Shari has worked across all main stage theatre companies in Australia. For Griffin: The Bleeding Tree, City Of Gold (Griffin/Queensland Theatre), A Hoax (Griffin/ La Boite). For Belvoir: Back At The Dojo & Radiance. For Black Swan State Theatre Company: Our Town. For Queensland Theatre: An Octoroon. For Sydney Theatre Company: A Cheery Soul, Black is The New White and The Battle of Waterloo. In 2019 Shari was named the Sydney Theatre Company’s Richard Wherrett Fellow, a prestigious pathway for emerging directors. In 2020 Shari marked her directorial debut with Superheroes for Griffin Theatre. In 2021, she directed Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner for Darlinghurst Theatre Company and The Seven Stages of Grieving for Sydney Theatre Company (STC). From 2021 to 2024 Shari was resident artist at STC where she directed the co-production City of Gold for both Black Swan Theatre and STC; A Raisin In The Sun and Fences for STC for which she won the 2024 Sydney Theatre Award for best direction of a mainstage production. She co-directed Is God Is for Melbourne Theatre Company and STC. In 2023 she also directed Blaque Show Girls for another mainstage company, Griffin Theatre.

Shari is also a voiceover artist with work that includes four seasons of the animated series Little J & Big Cuz and numerous audiobooks including The Invisible Women’s Society by Nikki Gemmell, Women and Leadership by Julia Gillard and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Secrets of a Schoolyard Millionaire by Nat Amoore, After Story by Larissa Behrendt, Red Dust Running by Anita Heiss, and DisGraced by Rose Hartley.

This year, Shari began as an Associate Producer for Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of My Brilliant Career.