Shirley Barrett

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).