Rachel Perkins facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Rachel Perkins
Perkins at the 2012 AACTA Awards in Sydney
Born	1970 (age 54–55) Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Occupation	Producer, director, writer
Years active	1998–present
Spouse(s)	Richard McGrath (divorced)
Children	1
Parent(s)	Charles Perkins (father)
Relatives	Hetty Perkins (grandmother) Hetti Perkins (sister) Madeleine Madden (niece)

Rachel Perkins (born in 1970) is an Indigenous Australian filmmaker. She is a director, producer, and writer for film and television. Rachel also started and led the film company Blackfella Films for many years.

Blackfella Films made First Australians (2008), a famous documentary series. This series is still the most popular educational show in Australia. Rachel Perkins believes it is her most important work. She has directed many films, including Radiance (1998), One Night the Moon (2001), Bran Nue Dae (2009), and Jasper Jones (2017). She also directed the TV movie Mabo (2012). Blackfella Films also created the TV drama series Redfern Now. Rachel directed two episodes and the movie that finished the series, Promise Me (2015).

Rachel Perkins is an Arrernte and Kalkadoon woman. Her family comes from Central Australia. She grew up in Canberra. Her father was the well-known Aboriginal activist Charles Perkins.

Growing Up and Learning

Rachel Perkins was born in Canberra, Australia, in 1970. Her father was Charlie Perkins. Her grandmother was Hetty Perkins. Rachel has family roots from the Arrernte, Kalkadoon, Irish, and German cultures. Her sister, Hetti Perkins, is an art curator. Her niece is the actress Madeleine Madden.

Rachel and her sister went to Melrose High School in Canberra.

After school in 1988, Rachel wanted to learn about her grandmother's culture in Alice Springs. She applied for a job at the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA). She hoped to get a free flight there. She didn't get the job, but she was offered a training position at Imparja Television. There, she learned how to make TV shows, including editing and sound recording.

In the early 1990s, Rachel won a scholarship. She went to the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS) in Sydney. She studied film production there. She also met and worked with other filmmakers like Warwick Thornton and Ivan Sen. She finished her studies in 1995.

Making Films and TV Shows

After her training, when Rachel was 21, she became a leader at SBS Television. She was in charge of the Indigenous unit.

In 1992, Rachel Perkins started her own company, Blackfella Films. This company makes documentary and story-based films and TV shows. They focus on telling Indigenous Australian stories. Most of Rachel's film work was done through Blackfella Films.

Rachel wrote and directed a 55-minute documentary called Freedom Ride. It was about her father's famous 1965 bus trip into country New South Wales. This trip was known as the "Freedom Ride". The film was part of a 1993 series called Blood Brothers. Rachel said making the film helped her understand her father better. It also showed her how important filmmaking is for sharing Australian history.

In 1998, Rachel directed her first feature film, Radiance. It took a long time to find the right actors, like Trisha Morton-Thomas, Rachael Maza, and Deb Mailman. They practiced for six weeks before filming.

In 2001, she co-wrote and directed the TV movie One Night the Moon. It featured musicians Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody.

First Australians was a seven-part documentary series. It was shown on SBS Television in 2008. Rachel said this was the most important project she would ever work on. It was a chance to tell the Indigenous story in a full way, from an Indigenous point of view, covering 200 years. It took six years to make. As of 2024, it is still the best-selling educational title in Australia.

Rachel directed Bran Nue Dae, a film based on a popular musical. It was released in 2009.

In 2009, Rachel helped organize the Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival. At this festival, a documentary about her father, Fire Talker, was shown for the first time.

Her TV movie Mabo was shown in 2012. It was a drama about Eddie Koiki Mabo, who fought for land rights.

Also in 2012, Rachel directed two episodes of the TV series Redfern Now. One episode, "Pretty Boy Blue", was about a death in police custody. She also directed the longer film that ended the series, Redfern Now: Promise Me (2015).

Rachel was an executive producer for First Contact (2014). This TV show challenged non-Indigenous people to learn about Indigenous Australians.

In 2014, she finished a documentary called Black Panther Woman for SBS. She also directed the feature film Jasper Jones, released in 2017.

In 2022, Rachel wrote, directed, and presented a three-part documentary series called The Australian Wars. It was shown on SBS and NITV. This series looked at the Australian frontier wars that happened when British settlers arrived.

Rachel has said that she enjoys editing the most. She feels it is the most creative part of filmmaking. She also feels a strong duty to use media to tell her people's stories and help bring about change.

Blackfella Films

Rachel Perkins started Blackfella Films in 1992.

Darren Dale joined the company in 2000 and became a co-director. Their series First Australians won many awards and was sold in other countries. Other works include the TV movie Mabo and the TV series Redfern Now. In 2022, Rachel Perkins left Blackfella Films.

Other Work

Rachel Perkins has been a Commissioner with the Australian Film Commission and is on the board of Screen Australia. She has also been on the boards of other film and media groups. She says she joins these boards to help guide government decisions.

In 2015, she helped raise money for the Arrernte Women's Project. This project aims to record traditional songs and knowledge of Arrernte women. This helps create an archive for future generations.

Rachel became president of the AIATSIS Foundation in 2015. She has also served on the Australian Heritage Council.

In 2019, she gave the ABC's yearly Boyer Lecture. It was called The End of Silence.

In 2023, she supported a "yes" vote in the 2023 Australian referendum. This vote was about creating an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

In March 2024, Rachel Perkins became the chair of AFTRS. She is the first Indigenous filmmaker to hold this position in the school's 50-year history. She also teaches masterclasses for Indigenous film students in Alice Springs.

Awards and Recognition

Rachel Perkins has received many awards for her work.

Personal Awards

• 2002: Byron Kennedy Award for her wide range of work as a filmmaker and for inspiring others.
• 2011: Stanley Hawes Award for her important work in documentary filmmaking.
• 2017: Lifetime Achievement Award at the National Dreamtime Awards 2018 for her contributions to film and culture.
• 2023: Finalist for the National NAIDOC Awards.

Film and TV Awards

Her films and TV shows have won many awards, including:

• 1994: The Tudawali Award for Blood Brothers – Freedom Ride.
• 1998: Winner of the Most Popular Feature Film at the Melbourne International Film Festival for Radiance.
• 2001: Winner of two AWGIE Awards (Australian Writers' Guild) for One Night the Moon.
• 2009: Many awards and nominations for First Australians.
• 2013: Winner of the ADG Award for Best Direction in a TV Drama Series for an episode of Redfern Now.
• 2013: Winner of the Deadly Awards for TV Show of the Year for Redfern Now.
• 2019: Winner of the AACTA Award for Best Television Drama Series for Mystery Road, Series 1.
• 2023: Winner of the Digital History Prize for The Australian Wars, Episode 1.

About Her Life

Rachel Perkins has a son with her ex-husband, Richard McGrath.

She has said that besides filmmaking, music is her other great passion.

As of March 2024, she lives in Alice Springs.

Selected Films and TV Shows

• Blood Brothers – Freedom Ride (1993) – producer, director, writer
• Radiance (1998) – director
• One Night the Moon (2001) – director, writer
• First Australians (2008) – producer, director, writer, narrator
• Bran Nue Dae (2010) – director, writer
• Mabo (2012) – director
• Black Panther Woman (2014) – director
• Jasper Jones (2017) – director
• Mystery Road (2019 & 2020) – TV series
• Total Control (s1, 2019) – TV series
• The Australian Wars (2022) – writer, director, presenter, and producer

See also

In Spanish: Rachel Perkins para niños