The Adelaide Film Festival (AFF) has announced that writer, director and actor Leah Purcell AM as the recipient of the annual Don Dunstan Award, awarded by AFF’s Board and presented in 2026 in partnership with Adelaide University.
Opening Night special guests walking the Pink carpet will include the 2026 AFF Feature Competition Jury, announced today as Cameron Bailey, CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival; internationally acclaimed South Australian Xavier Samuel (Send Help, Elvis); Malaysian filmmaker and academic Sandeep Ray; Adelaide-based writer, director and actor Tilda Cobham-Hervey (I Am Woman, Apple Cider Vinegar); and Adelaide-based producer Anna Vincent (Golda, I Am Mother).
Don Dunstan Award recipient Leah Purcell, an extraordinary voice in any medium, refuses to work within anyone else’s limits.
A proud Goa-Gunggari-Wakka Wakka Murri woman from Queensland, Leah’s debut feature film as a writer, director, producer and lead actor The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson premiered at SXSW 2021. Her adaptation of The Drovers Wife – The Opera premiered at QPAC Brisbane in 2025 followed by a season at the Sydney Opera House in August 2026.
As one of Australia’s most in demand actors, Leah has appeared in films such as The Last Cab to Darwin (2015), Lantana (2001), Jindabyne (2006) and The Proposition (2005) and in TV series Wentworth (2018-2021), Police Rescue (1996), Redfern Now (2012-2013), Janet King (2016), The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (2023) and High Country (2023-2024).
“I am beyond honoured to be the recipient of the 2026 Don Dunstan Award,” said Leah.
“Knowing a little bit about the person that this award is named after, Don Dunstan, he was ahead of his time with cultural and social beliefs and a progressive supporter of the arts, especially in the 1970s. The legends that have come before me as recipients of this award are people I’ve worked with in the past and hope to work with in the future. All great humans and very special filmmakers and collaborators.
“I am immensely proud of this award; it is right up there with anything I’ve ever achieved or done in my career thus far.”
AFF runs October 14 – 25, 2026. Details here.
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