Nicholas studied at the Victorian College of the Arts majoring in Media Production. During this time, Nicholas collaborated with Melbourne musician, Wendy Rule, on a series of music videos for Full Moon In Scorpio (screened on Rage, ABC TV), Think Of The Day (screened as part of the Melbourne International Festival), Inanna (screened during the Melbourne Underground Film Festival) the video release An Underworld Journey, Three Colours, Penelope and most recently, Half Life (nominated for an ATOM award). He also worked with musicians Kerri Simpson, Craig Patterson, Beki & The Bullets and Monique Brumby.

In 2003, Nicholas completed his first feature film, MAX: A Cautionary Tale that screened at festivals around Australia, USA (screening at Walt Disney World and winning Best New Director at the New York Independent Film & Video Festival) and Europe. Since then, he has been commissioned by the Next Wave Festival to produce a series of shorts entitled 3 Stories High as well as directing the short films, Hollow Bones and Training Wheels. He is currently developing his next feature, The 24 Hour Window, with the support of the AFC. Nicholas also works as an AV Designer for theatre, and is one of Melbourne’s most in-demand DJs.

www.myspace.com/bubbleteen

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Rita completed a Bachelor of Creative Arts at The University of Melbourne in 2002. Over the last five years Rita worked on the productions of many Melbourne film and TV projects that include BoyTown, Noise, Curtin, Lake Mungo, Crackerjack, The Murray Whelan Series and Kath and Kim.

In 2004 she attended the Screen Producers Association of Australia annual conference as part of the Emerging Producers scheme. She formed Standing There Productions with Lorin Clarke in 2003 and they produced two critically and commercially successful stage plays as well as the short film I Could Be Anybody. Rita also produced the short film Hollow Bones with Nicholas Verso and Rachel Bowen while Hugo was pending a funding decision. Rita is currently commencing a Producer’s Attachment on Bright Star with Jan Chapman and is looking forward to producing her first television and film projects with teams like Nicholas and Rachel.

www.standingthere.com.au

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Rachel had her first true taste of dramatic writing while she studied Creative Arts at the Victorian College of the Arts (The University of Melbourne). Addicted, she went on to study Professional Screenwriting at RMIT. She has written several short films, most recently; The Visitor (Raw Nerve Funding Winner - Screened at MIFF 2007), Hollow Bones (screened at NewFest NY USA 2007, Phillyfest PA USA 2007). She has also written for theatre and in 2005 was honoured to win the Saint Martins Young Playwrights’ Competition with her play The Deserters. Rachel currently works in marketing for Hopscotch Films and is developing several film and television projects.

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Laszlo was born in Budapest and begun his career as a camera assistant for the Hungarian Film Company MAFILM. He studied at the Academy of Dramatic and Cinematic Art, Film and Television in Budapest and worked on a number of features, shorts and documentaries before he immigrated to Perth in 1988. Since moving to Melbourne in 1992 he has been DOP on a number of Australian features, shorts and television series including Soft Fruit, True Love and Chaos, Soft Fruit, Roy Hollsdotter Live, Curtin and Noise (Sundance 2007). He was nominated for an AFI Award 2007 for his cinematography on Noise.

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Tim has worked in the model making, special effects, costume and art departments on high-profile feature films that include Star Wars, Queen of the Damned, Matrix 2 & 3, Kingdom of Heave and Ghost Rider. Recently he helped build the miniatures and create the visual effects on Superman Returns, was a Senior Props Maker on Where the Wild Things Are and Model Maker on Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks production The Pacific.

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Charlene graduated with a Diploma in Entertainment Make up from Victoria University and also earned a special commendation recognizing her as the "Outstanding Student of the Year - 2005". In the space of just two years Charlene has steadily built upon a solid body of work with a diverse range of credits to her name including numerous television, commercial and fashion work. Charlene also specializes in prosthetics and special effects make-up.

http://kik.net-model.com/

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Melanie Liertz is a freelance costume and fashion designer who has been keeping Melbourne's artistic community fabulously attired onstage and off for the past six years. Melanie was the Costume Designer for Nick Verso's first feature MAX: A Cautionary Tale and the short film Hollow Bones. Other film credits include, Costume Designer for the feature film Academy (directed by Gavin Youngs), Costume Assistant on The Tank (directed by Julius Avery), Art Department Assistant on The Heartbreak Tour (directed by Ben Chessell). Theatre costume designs include I Start Again, Hamlet (Dancing With Strangers), On Intoxicated Ears (Fringe Festival), Split (La Mama), Darwin's Dangerous Idea (La Mama).

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Marg studied at The University of Melbourne and has since worked as a freelance designer on numerous theatre and short film productions. She won a Green Room Award for Set Design for Test Pattern in 2005, an award for Excellence in Design Melbourne Fringe 2004 for Uninvited Guests in 2004 and Henrietta’s Last Safari in 2000 and in 1999 was given Outstanding Contribution to Theatre – Melbourne University Theatre Board. She worked in Skin creation on the live theatre spectacular Walking with Dinosaurs.

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One of the most talented and experienced film editors in Australia. Credits include: The Tender Hook, The Society Murders, Tom White, Getting’ Square, Crackerjack, Chopper, Proof True Love and Chaos, Love and Other Catastrophes, Malcolm and many others. He has won two AFI Awards, an IF Award and a Film Critics Society of Australia Award for his achievements in Editing.

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Wendy and Craig first began collaborating in 1995 when Wendy embarked upon her first solo album, Zero. Having sung in various jazz outfits since her early twenties, Wendy was already an accomplished performer, but yearned to create original music that would integrate her fascination with ritual, Magic and poetry. Craig brought his training in classical piano and his skills using samplers, synths and computer-based music programs to the team.
They further collaborated on Wendy’s albums, Deity (1998) and World Between Worlds (2000) and toured Australia extensively, including two tours with the legendary 60’s performer, Donovan. They also composed the score for Nicholas Verso’s early feature film MAX: A Cautionary Tale. Since then, Wendy has released several more albums including The Lotus Eaters (2003),The Wolf Sky (2006), Meditations on the 4 Elements (2007), A Night of Jazzwith Wendy Rule & Friends (2004) and Deep Within A Faerie Forest (2004) ­ a collaboration with US ambient musician, Gary Stadler, as well as contributing music to the SBS animation The Magic Drum and Channel 9’s miniseries Little Oberon. With annual tours to the USA and UK, Wendy has established a strong international following. Craig has gone on to work with a diverse range of musicians including Monique Brumby, Emily Davis and the Fry Brothers, working both as a musician and sound engineer.

http://wendyrule.com/

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Emma has worked on over twenty feature films including Noise, Boytown, The Old Man Who Read Love Stories, Innocence and Crackerjack. She was nominated and won AFI and IF Awards in 2007 for her sound design on Noise.

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Sianoa Smit-McPhee, 15, recently starred as DJ, the class chatterbox, in Disney Channel’s Melbourne produced short-form comedy series As The Bell Rings. She landed her first big break as Bree Timmins on Neighbours, a lead role she played for three years. Prior to this, Sianoa made a guest appearance on Melbourne-made drama Blue Heelers and had roles in the short-films All I want for Christmas, Champagne and Blue Tongue.

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Sixteen year old Tessa not only acts, but also sings, plays piano and writes her own music as well as excelling at Jazz, Classical & Ballroom dance. She has been in several plays, her most demanding being the lead role in the Karalyka Theatre production of 100 Year Rock. Tessa has also had primary roles in 3 Alan Dickson plays Tessa has been on several television shows and specials, her most notable being a lengthy 3 month placement and in Neighbours playing the visually impaired character Anne Baxter. Recently Tessa had her big break and starred in the short film Hugo.

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André graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts School of Drama in 2005. His theatre credits include: Crowther in the recent sell-out season of The History Boys, directed by Peter Evans (MTC); Dad in East, directed by John Bolton (LaMama); Felix in Inheritance, directed by Chris Bendall (Full Dress Productions); and Charlie Chaplin, Adolf Hitler and others in Requiem for the 20th Century, also directed by Chris Bendall (Theatre@Risk). Whilst training at the VCA, André developed a passion for transformative physical performance, and appeared in a diverse range of plays. In 2006, André was featured in the independent films The Silent Mangoes and Dance With Me. Hugo is André’s professional film debut.
www.andrejewson.com

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