GOFF Team
Karen Pickering, Festival Director
Karen is the director and co-founder of GOFF. She is the creator and host of Cherchez la Femme, Melbourne’s monthly feminist talkshow in the pub, held on first Tuesdays at the Duke of Wellington, and a four-time organiser and MC of SlutWalk Melbourne. She has written about gender, activism, politics, pop culture and current affairs for The Guardian, The Age, The Drum, Crikey and New Matilda, and has appeared at the Wheeler Centre, MWF, EWF, NYWF, ACMI and on The Project, Radio National and ABC 774. She’s in love with movies and women and feminism and directing a festival celebrating all three is a dream come to life.
Madonna Prior, Festival Manager
Madonna has more than fifteen years experience managing projects and events, ranging from concept design, curated gallery space, and large-scale music events, with a specialist expertise in hospitality, design and facilitating artistic performance. Her background in operational management makes her perfect for the role of Festival Manager at GOFF. Her first cinematic experience was when her mum took her to see The Italian Job and she hasn’t looked back.
Rohan Spong, Associate Director
Rohan is an Australian born independent filmmaker whose work spans film, music video, photography and projections for theatre. His films include feature length documentaries T is for Teacher (2009) and All the Way Through Evening (2012), and a narrative short for Sisters Grimm’s Green Room award winning stage production The Sovereign Wife (2013). He is currently in production for a new documentary entitled Winter at Westbeth, which considers the colourful occupants of a rent controlled artists housing complex in New York City’s West Village.
Gus Berger, Associate Director
Tara Judah, Festival Writer and Curator
Feminism and film are important to Tara. She is a member of the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC), Programming and Content Assistant at Melbourne’s Astor Theatre, committee member of the Melbourne Cinémathèque, Contributing Editor to Metro, Editor for FIPRESCI, freelance writer (Overland, Senses of Cinema, Fandor’s Keyframe) and radio critic (Triple R, JOYFM).
Simone Flanagan, Festival PR
Simone has been involved in community arts for over 15 years, having held a variety of production roles at numerous festivals and independently produced shows in Melbourne and Perth. In 2012-13 she was the General Manager of the Other Film Festival, Australia’s only international disability film festival. More recently she has held marketing and communications positions at the inaugural Lorne Film festival, Melbourne WebFest and Women with Disabilities Victoria. Simone is the director of Hollaback! Melbourne a crowd sourced movement working to end street harassment. She is a passionate advocate for equality and is a strong believer that appearances do not define someone’s worth.
Ben McKenzie, Festival Producer
Ben is a freelance writer, performer, game designer and producer. His live games company Pop Up Playground is currently working on #TrueRomansAll with Bell Shakespeare, and he is also a producer, writer and star of the upcoming science-fiction comedy audio series Night Terrace. He has worked as Production Manager for the Freeplay Independent Games Festival, been an organiser for SlutWalk Melbourne and an associate producer for Cherchez la Femme. Though more a classic nerd than a film buff, Ben is proud and excited to be part of a diverse festival celebrating feminism. (Photo by Robert Young.)
Maria Chetcuti, Associate Producer
Maria is an events manager, arts organiser, designer and writer. She has over 5 years experience staging a variety of community and arts events including the Parkes Elvis Festival and programming events for Sydney Living Museums members. Maria is a genre obsessed film geek and has contributed writing and design skills to the Mardi Gras and Perv film festivals. A fierce feminist and film fan, she is proud to be an associate producer at GOFF.
Ally Oliver-Perham, Festival Designer
Ally is a Melbourne-based designer, artist and educator. She has worked for the Victorian Women’s Trust, one of Australia’s most progressive feminist organisations, for over five years. She is the co-creator of Rosie, an online info hub for teenage girls, with tips, links and videos all centred around a theme of respect. She was also the co-creator of Ocular Spectacular, an independent music and visual arts event. Ally has a deep, deep hatred of Times New Roman and a big, big love for fun design projects like GOFF. Favourite film: Harold & Maude. Favourite cinematic prop: choc top.
Bree Dunbar, Festival Photographer
Bree is a Melbourne-based photographer who counts herself lucky to spend her days with camera in hand, capturing moments of joy and love and laughter for her clients. She is currently the official photographer for Rosie, an online info hub for teenage girls developed by the Dugdale Trust for Women and Girls. She is thrilled to be joining the amazingly creative GOFF team in her role as the Official “Festy Tog” and is looking forward to eating her body weight in buttered popcorn over the course of the festival.
Ashley Carr, Relationship Manager
Ashley is a community-loving writer and editor from Melbourne’s west. After several years as a mental health case worker, Ashley decided to take her passion for people and her knack for connecting and gathering stories in a completely different direction, going back to uni to study writing and editing, and penning a book about the things that inspire her – people making change creatively. That’s why she loves GOFF and the people that have come together to make it happen. Ashley’s communication skills and ability to connect with a wide range of people make her just the right person to help connect GOFF to other organisations and businesses who also believe that women should be equally represented in film and life in general. You can also find Ashley at The Squee. (Photo by Belinda from elsieandjoan.com.)
Cassie Bone, Social Media Co-ordinator
Cassie is studying a Masters Degree with a specialisation in the Moving Image at Melbourne Uni, and has a particular interest in gender representations in cinema and body genres. As well as having experience in the film distribution industry, she is known to voyage across state and country borders catch the latest gems at the big film festivals, all for the love of it.