Experienced producer Rachel Gardner has joined the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) board.
Gardner is creative director Curio Pictures and has nearly 40 producing credits to her name, including Thomas M Wright’s The Stranger, Warwick Thornton and Brendan Fletcher’s vampire hunter series Firebite, John Maclean’s 2015 adventure drama Slow West, Sam Strauss’ dramedy series The End, and both seasons of Netflix original The New Legends of Monkey.
She is also an executive producer on Foxtel’s upcoming mystery/thriller series High Country.
Her career includes a seven-year sting at See-Saw Films, where she spent time as head of drama, a role she also held at the New Zealand-based Great Southern Film and Television, which she co-owned.
Gardner said she was “delighted” with the board appointment.
“In 2021 I spent five incredible months living and working in Adelaide where, driven by the SAFC, the screen sector was thriving despite the national and international impacts of COVID,” she said.
“My own experience in producing film and television content in South Australia has made me the most passionate supporter of the South Australian screen industry, and I look forward to supporting the excellent work of the SAFC through my role on the board.”
Gardner will work alongside existing board members Brian Hayes, Angela Heesom, Lauren Hillman, Shouwn Oosting, Miriam Silva, and Austin Taylor in serving under president Mike Rann.
Rann was pleased to have someone of Gardner’s expertise on board.
“Rachel’s expertise in screen production, along with her extensive national and international experience, network and connections, will be invaluable assets in the SAFC’s continued work to support and grow the South Australian screen industry,” he said .
SA Arts Minister Andrea Michaels agreed, noting Gardner would bring “invaluable” international and national screen production knowledge and insight to the SAFC’s “already highly credentialled” board.