Penelope McDonald is an award-winning storyteller of screen stories. Based in Mparntwe, her stories stimulate reflection and change. Her most recent documentary Audrey Napanangka was 10 years in the making.
Her career as a filmmaker spans more than 35 years and includes as producer Buckskin, SFF Foxtel Award 2013, My Mother India, SFF Dendy Award 2002, My Mother My Son, My Bed Your Bed SFF 1992, Night Cries Cannes in Competition 1990, and as director Too Many Captain Cooks, Travelling Warlpiris, Kamira: Pina Yanirlipa Ngurrarkurra, and the shorts Life on Earth as I Know It and for television Safe Home.
She has worked with many of Australia’s great First Nations’ storytellers, including Warwick Thornton, Erica Glynn, Rachel Perkins, Tracey Moffatt and Dylan River.
From 2004 to 2016, as the inaugural director of NTG’s Screen Territory she played a pivotal role in movies Sweet County, Rogue, Ten Canoes, Australia, Samson & Delilah, Balibo, Charlie’s Country and Last Cab to Darwin.