Screen Australia has announced the cohort for this year’s Talent USA: New York program, designed to facilitate connection between Australian creators and leading screen figures in the US.
Colin Cairnes, Ra Chapman, Lucy Gaffy, Sara Khan, Alena Lodkina, Neil Sharma, Tig Terera, and Keir Wilkins will attend the Australian International Screen Forum (March 24-28) for a week of industry roundtables, panel discussions, mentoring, strategic consultations and networking sessions with a selection of New York-based screen professionals.
They follow in the footsteps of previous delegates such as Heartbreak High creator Hannah Carroll Chapman, Shayda writer/director Noora Niasari, writer-director Belinda Chayko, and Echoes and Eden creator Vanessa Gazy.
Find out more about this year’s delegation below:
- Colin Cairnes is an award-winning writer/director known chiefly for his filmmaking collaborations with his brother, Cameron. Their debut feature, the cult horror-comedy 100 Bloody Acres, was nominated for two AACTA awards in 2014, including Best Original Screenplay. The brothers’ latest cinematic offering, Late Night with the Devil, is a nightmarish ode to the talk shows and horror movies of the ‘70s. Described as “absolutely brilliant” by horror legend, Stephen King, the film played on 1500 screens in the US, becoming IFC Films’ highest-grossing opening weekend ever.
- Ra Chapman: A Korean-Australian writer and actor whose work spans film, television, and theatre. Ra garnered an Australian Writers Guild (AWGIE) Award nomination for her TV comedy series White Fever, which she created, wrote, and starred in. The series is currently streaming on ABC iview. Chapman is an alumnus of the Besen Writers Group at Malthouse Theatre and the recipient of the 2018 Hot Desk Fellowship from the Wheeler Centre. Her play K-Box earned the 2021 Patrick White Playwright Award and had its debut at Malthouse Theatre to critical acclaim. Her television work includes recent SBS horror series Night Bloomers, which earned her another Australian Writers Guild (AWGIE) Award nomination.
- Lucy Gaffy is an award-winning filmmaker who has just completed the 4-part mini-series Mix Tape for Binge/Foxtel, which will have its worldwide premiere at the 2025 SXSW Festival. In 2023, Lucy was the set-up Director for the Stan/Sundance production Totally Completely Fine, and in 2022 Lucy Directed five episodes of the series Irreverent for Netflix. In 2021, Gaffy directed the opening chapter We, the Spiders for the anthology feature film Here Out West which went on to have its world premiere as the Opening Night Film of the Sydney Film Festival before being nominated for Best Film at the 2022 AACTA Awards. In addition to her active directing work, Lucy is also developing several projects for the screen with the Director’s collective GOONO.
- Sara Khan (She/Her) is a proud Wailwan, Gomeroi, Pakistani woman. Sara has written for Gold Diggers (ABC), Paper Dolls (Paramount+), and the highly acclaimed anthology series Erotic Stories (SBS). Her episode for Erotic Stories was selected for a worldwide premiere at SXSW Sydney. She has since written for the second season of the International Emmy-nominated series Heartbreak High (Netflix). More recently, she was successful in securing Screen Australia funding for her original series, Big Noters.
- Alena Lodkina is a Russian-born Australian filmmaker. Her debut feature film Strange Colours was produced through the Venice Biennale College and premiered at Venice Film Festival 2017. The film toured the international festival circuit, won The Best Australian Independent Feature Film Award at Gold Coast International Film Festival 2018, was nominated for the AACTAs, and had a cinematic release across Australia. Her second feature Petrol premiered at Locarno Film Festival and in the inaugural competition at Melbourne International Film Festival in 2022, before touring the festival circuit. The New Yorker named it a stand-out at New Directors/ New Films Festival 2023 and it was released in cinemas in Australia in 2023. Lodkina was a MacDowell fellow in the fall/winter 2023-2024 developing her next project.
- Neil Sharma is a Sydney-based director. Mentored by Oscar-winning auteur Taika Waititi and acclaimed director Jeffrey Walker, his work includes the International Emmy Award-winning reboot of Heartbreak High for Netflix; Strife Season 2 for Binge; The psychological drama Critical Incident for Stan; Mother and Son for the ABC, and the SBS Digital Original Series Appetite, which premiered at the 2023 Canneseries Festival as the only Australian project invited into competition. He has also been nominated for an AACTA Award, two Australian Director’s Guild Awards, and a Rose d’Or Award. Sharma is represented by HLA in Australia and Emily Rose (Mosaic) in the US.
- Tig Terera is a Zimbabwean-born, Australian-raised writer and director. He began his career with self-funded short films, including Chenge, 3121, and Tinashé, which earned a Special Mention at Berlinale 2022. In 2024, he was selected for the Writers Club at Cannes and premiered his debut TV series, Swift Street at Canneseries (SBS & Magpie Pictures), which he created, wrote, and directed (eps 1-4). Tig has also directed episodes of an upcoming Netflix series. His work is deeply rooted in youth culture and social impact, crafting stories that resonate with authenticity and heart.
- Keir Wilkins: An accomplished screenwriter, Keir most recently penned episodes for seasons 2 and 3 of Netflix ANZ’s Heartbreak High, as well as serving as script producer on season two. Before that, he wrote on the Stan/Sundance series, Totally, Completely Fine for Fremantle, earning him an Australian Writer’s Guild Award nomination for Best Television Drama Screenplay. He also wrote on two seasons of Netflix series, Surviving Summer, for Werner Film Productions, and was a co-creator and writer on the ABC ME series The Disposables for Photoplay Films, which was nominated for an AACTA Award and selected for SXSW Sydney. He is currently developing projects for Fremantle, Jungle, Werner Film Productions, and Maximo Entertainment/Cineflix.