WHO ARE WE?
LEAH PELLINKHOF
Leah Pellinkhof brings to playhead over 15 years of experience as an acting and filmmaking teacher having taught at many performing arts schools including NIDA, NIDA Open, New York Film Academy, Sydney Theatre School, The Performance Workshop, The Actors Conservatory, SAE and AIM. Her wealth of experience as an acting teacher has given her a keen eye for the nuances of performance and the ability to direct emerging actors with clarity and ease. Leah has completed an Advanced Diploma in Acting (The Actors Conservatory) , A degree in Film and Television production (JMC) ,a Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Performance (NIDA) and a Graduate certificate in Directing (AFTRS).
Leah is also an accomplished theatre and film director who’s experience is varied from theatre productions like Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' for the Queensland Shakespeare Festival to ‘Poo Shame, Vagina Curiosity & Other Things That Won’t Kill You ’’ at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, several short film’s, music videos, the feature film 'Killer Smile’ and the critically acclaimed web series “Thirty”.
Over the past decade Leah has been writing and directing her own original theatre & film productions. She is the creator, writer and performer in the TAFF Award winning short film ‘Chook and Maureen’ and the web series ‘QueersLand’ the short film “Count the Ways” which won her martini awards for best Director and best editor. Her many theatrical productions include the Dell'Arte award winning play 'The Works of William Shakespeare (BY CHICKS)' for World Shakespeare 2006, the Matilda award nominated 'My Pet Human' which also scored her a Dell'Arte Award for favourite playwright.
Leah is formally the artistic director of Front Row Theatre Company and is an artistic director and founding member of the Queer film collective. She is currently serving as an associate on the board of directors at Queerscreen and is passionate about story telling and developing emerging actors and filmmakers.
SAMUEL FOSTER
Samuel Foster is a Sydney based all-rounder focusing mainly within the fields of Directing, Cinematography and Editing. Responsible for countless promotional, documentary and corporate videos, Samuel has also personally written and directed over a dozen short films notably the horror-comedy short Grace (2016) and was the DOP and colourist for the award winning series 'Thirty' (2017). Often called in to fix the 'un-fixable,' Samuel's varied technical expertise and creative approach have cemented his reputation among colleagues and peers as resident problem solver.
Samuel started professional work as a videographer while completing a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Screen Arts) at the University of Sydney in 2014 and continued to work as a freelance filmmaker over the following years. Throughout this period Samuel gained industry experience in an array of different technical positions within the film industry; from videographer-editor to colourist and sound technician. Seeking to further develop his repertoire, Samuel completed a Graduate Certificate in Directing at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in 2016.