Jub Clerc facts for kids

Jub Clerc, also known as Suzanne Jub Clerc, is an amazing Indigenous Australian artist. She is an actor, a writer for plays and movies, and a film director. She has been working in film, TV, and theatre since the early 2000s. She is most famous for her first movie, Sweet As, which came out in 2022.

Growing Up and Learning

Suzanne Jub Clerc is a Nyulnyul and Yawuru woman. These are two Indigenous groups from Western Australia. Her mother, Sylvia Clarke, was also an actress.

Jub Clerc grew up in Port Hedland, a town in the Pilbara region. Her family has lived in the Pilbara for many generations.

When she was 14, her teachers encouraged her to go on a photography trip. This trip was for teenagers in the Pilbara area. She later said this trip changed her life. It helped her see new possibilities outside her hometown.

Right after the trip, she went to Broome. Her mother was rehearsing for a musical play called Bran Nue Dae. Jub Clerc sang backstage and toured with her mother for four years.

When she was 18, she joined a special theatre program. This program grew from the Bran Nue Dae musical. In 1997, she finished a three-year acting course. She graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.

Her Creative Work

Jub Clerc enjoys writing comedies, or "dramedies." These are stories that mix drama with humor, even about serious topics. She started writing because she wanted to create roles for Indigenous people. She wanted these roles to be written and directed by Indigenous people themselves.

Working in Theatre

In 2010, Jub Clerc sang in Pecan Summer. This was the first opera written by an Indigenous Australian, Deborah Cheetham Fraillon. It also had an Indigenous cast. Jub Clerc will also help direct the show for its 10th anniversary.

She wrote a play called The Fever and the Fret. It was first shown in Perth at Yirra Yaakin theatre. This play won the 2017 Kate Challis Award. Later, in 2018, another version of the play was shown in Sydney.

Working in Film and TV

Jub Clerc's first time directing a film was with Storytime in 2007. This was a short thriller movie. It was shown at film festivals in Sydney, Melbourne, and Canada. The story was based on old Nyul Nyul/Yawuru tales. These stories were about a spirit woman who lived in the mangroves and took children.

Jub Clerc also helped with a project called Deadly Yarns. This project helped Indigenous filmmakers. She wrote and directed a short documentary called Music Men in 2009.

She has worked in many different roles in TV and film. She has been a casting director, helping to find actors. She has also helped with writing and producing. She worked on many well-known projects, including:

• Bran Nue Dae
• Mad Bastards
• Satellite Boy
• The Circuit
• Jasper Jones
• Mystery Road (Season 1)

She also acted in some of these films, like Mad Bastards, Satellite Boy, Jasper Jones, and Mystery Road.

Her first time directing a full-length film was a short part of The Turning in 2013. She also directed other short films, like Min Min Light. She has directed episodes for TV shows such as:

• The Heights (2019)
• Turn Up the Volume
• Total Control (Season 3)

In 2020, Jub Clerc hosted an online talk for filmmakers. She interviewed the famous actor Aaron Pedersen.

In September 2020, Jub Clerc was chosen for a new writing and directing project. This project was called RED. It helped eight Indigenous women create short films. These films would be part of one longer movie. The goal was to tell stories from an Aboriginal female point of view.

She directed a half-hour music documentary called Struggling Songlines. It showed the band The Struggling Kings. This documentary was shown on NITV in 2022.

Her most famous work is her 2022 movie, Sweet As. This is a coming-of-age film, meaning it's about a young person growing up. It is partly based on her own life experiences. It is the first feature film directed by an Indigenous Australian person from Western Australia. The movie was shown at many important film festivals and won several awards.

Jub Clerc is also working on turning her 2007 short film Storytime into a full-length movie. It will be a supernatural thriller. Her newest project is a comedy TV series called Warm Props, which finished filming in July 2024.

Awards and Achievements

Jub Clerc has won many awards for her amazing work:

• 2013: Nominated for an AACTA Award for Best Direction for The Turning.
• 2014: Nominated for Best Screenplay by the Australian Film Critics Association Awards for The Turning.
• 2017: Won the Kate Challis Award for her play The Fever and the Fret.
• 2022: Won the Innovation Award at the Melbourne International Film Festival for Sweet As.
• 2022: Won the NETPAC Award at the Toronto International Film Festival for Sweet As. This award is for the best film from the Asia/Pacific region.
• 2022: Nominated for the Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Youth Film for Sweet As.
• 2023: Won the Crystal Bear in the Generation Kplus section at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival for Sweet As.
• 2023: Nominated for Best Direction in a Debut Feature Film at the ADG Awards for Sweet As.
• 2024: Nominated for an AACTA Award for Best Direction at the 13th AACTA Awards for Sweet As.

Her Personal Life

Jub Clerc's family totem is the Jinda-Bidirbiddir, which is a Willie wagtail bird. She is related to actors Mark Coles Smith and Ngaire Pigram. Both of them acted in her movie Sweet As.

She has one child.