Shirley Barrett
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
This young Australian director and screenwriter worked for years in TV and short films before making the leap to features in 1996. Born and educated in Melbourne, Barrett began writing, directing and producing shorts after leaving college in the late 1980s. While attending the prestigious Australian Film Television and Radio School in Sydney, one effort, "Cherith" (1988), a comedy about a female fundamentalist preacher, won much notice and several festival awards. Barrett toiled away in Australian TV, directing episodes of the series "Boys from the Bush," "A Country Practice," "Police Rescue," "Heartbreak High" and the well-received rodeo documentary "Chainsaw 327" (1990).
All the time, she was working on her own script, inspired by her husband's small northwest Victoria hometown, Robinvale. Producer Jan Chapman ("The Piano") had seen Barrett's work and committed to the feature "Love Serenade," which premiered in Cannes and earned the helmer the Camera d'Or. The dark comedy, which had its US premiere at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival, concerned two naive sisters and their dual romance with a new neighbor who takes over the small local radio station, shaking up the town with his 70s soul music. Shot in Robinvale, the film was lauded for its melancholy use of small-town Australian locale and for Barrett's ironic humor--as well as the film's surprise ending.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Film Production - Unit (Feature Film)
Life Events
1988
Short film "Cherith", about a female fundamentalist preacher, won notice at film festivals
1996
Feature film debut as screenwriter and director, "Love Serenade"
Family
Companions
