About

Liz Thompson is a photographer, writer, radio producer and documentary filmmaker. Liz recently completed Sharing Our Stories, a two-part series of fourteen books created in collaboration with indigenous communities in Australia. The books built around a traditional story from each community are illustrated by community children and include extensive photographs and quotes. The series won the 2009 Australian Awards for Excellence in Educational Publishing and Best Primary Teaching and Learning Package.

Liz wrote, directed and co-produced The Last Magician, shot in the Trobriand Islands of Papua New Guinea and nominated for four AFI Awards including Best Documentary and Best Direction. She directed and wrote Breaking Bows and Arrows, for SBS TV, a documentary film following reconciliation ceremonies in Bouginvaille after the civil war. The film won The United Nations Australian Media Peace Award for Best Television, The AIBD World Award for the promotion of conflict resolution and the Grand Jury Prize at the 3rd International Festival of Oceania Documentary Film (FIFO). She also directed Cave in the Snow, a documentary exploring the life and work of British born Buddhist nun Tenzin Palmo and gender inequity in religious organisations.

Liz has published feature articles and photography for Australian Geographic, GEO, The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Good Weekend Magazine, The Independent, Art Review and numerous other national and international publications. She has produced radio features for ABC Radio National and Radio Australia for over twenty years as well as multi media photographic and audio visual content for ABC Online.

She has published over thirty books. Living with the Land is a series of four educational books about indigenous food, medicine and relationship with country in collaboration with senior members of four indigenous Australian communities. Fighting for Survival - The Ngaanyatjarra Community was nominated for ‘The Australian Awards for Excellence in Educational Publishing’ and ‘The Children’s Book Council’s Information Book of the Year Award’. The Promised Land, a photographic essay, looks at the experience of the West Papuan people in the face of Indonesian rule. Liz is director of SharingStories, a digital storytelling project through which Indigenous young people are taught how to use digital media to tell their own stories. The program provides an online platform for sharing content and is designed to facilitate creative self-representation, develop skills and build bridges between young people from diverse social and cultural backgrounds through creative dialogue and storytelling. www.sharingstories.org. Liz is Director and CEO of SharingStories Foundation www.sharingstoriesfoundation.org which works to support cultural maintenance projects and to facilitate self represenational media production with Indigenous Australians.

Liz has a Phd in Media Arts from La Trobe university. Her research was based on an exploration of best creative practice for supporting self-sustainable, self-representational digital storytelling in a remote Indigenous community context.

AWARDS

2012 SharingStories with Wugularr Upper Primary - Winner of Best Youth Video at the National Remote Indigenous Media Festival.

2009 Overall Winner Australian Awards for Excellence in Educational Publishing. Sharing Our Stories Series 1.

2009 Australian Awards for Excellence in Educational Publishing. Winner Best Primary Teaching and Learning Resource. Sharing Our Stories Series 1.

2006 FIFO Pacific International Documentary Film Festival – Winner Grand Jury Prize. Breaking Bows and Arrows.

2005 AIBD World TV Awards. Winner Best TV Documentary. Breaking Bows and Arrows.

2002 United Nations Media Peace Award for Best Television. Breaking Bows and Arrows

1998 Shortlist The Children’s Book Council of Australia Information Book of the Year Award. Fighting for Survival, The Ngaanyatjarra of the Gibson Desert.

1998 Shortlist. The Australian Awards for Excellence in Educational Publishing. The Ngaayatjarra of the Gibson Desert.

1995 AFI Awards Shortlist - Best Documentary. The Last Magician

1995 AFI Awards Shortlist - Best Direction. The Last Magician.

GRANTS AND SCHOLARSHIPS

2010 Australia Council for the Arts recipient of Creative Producers Grant.

2009 Australia Council of the Arts recipient of Public Outcomes Grant for www.sharingstories.org

2008 Australia Council of the Arts recipient of Community Partnerships Development Grant for www.sharingstories.org

2008-2011 UTS/La Trobe Scholarship - PhD Media Studies.

2008 Australia India Council Grant to establish SharingStories in Varanasi, India.

ONLINE INTERVIEWS

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/sharing-our-sto...

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/lifematters/stories/2009/2576654.htm