Jane Oehr

Directing

Birthplace: Melbourne, Australia

Jane Oehr travelled from Melbourne, Australia, to study overseas as an actress before joining BBC TV as a Trainee Director in London. There she made documentaries about the cinema including a film about French director, Agnes Varda. She returned to Australia to work as an independent director, making Tamu - The Guest about the life of Australian painter Donald Friend in Bali. Later Jane travelled through Niugini and the Trobriand Islands to direct Niugini Culture Shock which won the Rouben Mamoulian Award for Best Film in 1975 at the Sydney Film Festival. Her next film, Stirring, is a controversial feature documentary about corporal punishment in a Sydney boy's school. It was banned from public screening for years but went on to win an AFI Award. Seeing Red and Feeling Blue is a film about women's bodies and menstruation that broke through many myths. Jane has gone on to write and direct drama including the low budget features On the Loose and Heads 'n Tails. She wrote and directed The Journey, a telemovie, for the Childrens' Television Foundation and ABCTV. In 2002 she made a feature length intimate portrait of her mother MUM AT 88 which revealed hitherto unknown aspects of her mother's life. In her time as a Project Manager with the Australian Film Commission she has also supported many emerging filmmakers. As a documentary filmmaker Jane continues to pursue the study of people and behaviour that has characterised her films as well as their political and controversial content. She works closely with her subjects, to produce highly intimate films about human beings and their thought processes and emotions and how they impact on our sense of place in the world.