Our Team
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Allanah Zitserman - Festival Director. For Allanah Zitserman, the love of film is in the blood. Being one of only two women to own a distribution company Australian Film Syndicate (AFS) in Australia and founder of the Dungog Film Festival, Allanah is unsurprisingly passionate about Australian film. She has a strong background in business and event management, including creating Barbarella in the late 1990s, one of Sydney’s most successful nightspots of the time, while studying a Bachelor of Business at UTS. Allanah made her first film debut at the ripe age of 22, with the romantic charmer and box office hit Russian Doll, which earned her an AFI Award for Best Original Screenplay. She then followed this up with the black comedy Horseplay (2003) starring Abbie Cornish. Touring around the globe with her films, Allanah also event managed international festival functions at the Marrakech and Cannes Film Festivals before returning to Australia with plans to set up a film festival of her own. In 2007, Allanah founded the Dungog Film Festival and is responsible for its overall creative vision. |
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Stavros Kazantzidis - Managing Director Stavros has a wealth of experience in the screen industry, not only as an award-winning screenwriter, but also as a respected Director and Producer. He has made some of Australia’s most outstanding independent films, including AFI winner Russian Doll and the international hit Love and Other Catastrophes. As Managing Director of DFF, he creatively drives the festival and oversees all programming. He also directed the original trailer, which has garnered several awards. |
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Laura Macdonald – Screen Programmer
Laura moved to Sydney in 2010 to join the dynamic team at the Dungog Film Festival as Screen Programmer. After attending film school in Boston, she began her career at Filmmaker Magazine in New York, then moved to London and into film production. She assisted producer Norma Heyman with her slate (Mrs Henderson Presents, Gangster No. 1, Dangerous Liaisons) before moving on to collaborate with writer/director Martha Fiennes throughout her second feature (Chromophobia, Onegin). Laura then took up the position of Creative Director for the online filmmaking network Filmaka.com and worked alongside producer Deepak Nayar (The Walker, Lost Highway, Bend It Like Beckham). Laura is also a screenwriter, producer and journalist. |
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Elizabeth Kleinberg – Production Co-ordinator Liz is a UTS graduate with a Bachelors Degree in Communications (Media Arts & Production). Liz has previously worked in television commercial production and more recently as location assistant on the third series of Underbelly. Liz joined the Dungog Team in 2010. |
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Robyn Pinkstone - Community Relations and Program Support Robyn is an Arts graduate with many years of experience in secondary education and curriculum writing. In her role at DFF, she indulges her passions for Australian film, writing and communicating. As a resident of Dungog, she is involved in community relations and brings local knowledge to the festival team. Robyn has been actively involved with DFF since 2008, having been “blown away” by the success and excitement of the first great Aussie film festival in Dungog in 2007. |
