| Genevieve Clay-Smith | |
| Birth Place: | Australia |
| Nationality: | Australian |
| Alma Mater: | Hunter School of the Performing Arts |
| Occupation: | Writer Film director |
Genevieve Clay-Smith (born 1988)[1] is an Australian writer and director. She is an advocate of inclusive filmmaking.[2]
Clay-Smith's career as a writer and a film director began in 2009 when her film, starring a man with Down syndrome, won Australia's largest short film festival,[3] Tropfest. She is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the not-for-profit organisation Bus Stop Films (BSF)[4] and co-founder and Creative Director of the creative agency, Taste Creative.[5] [6]
Clay-Smith grew up in Newcastle and attended the Hunter School of the Performing Arts in Broadmeadow. As an actress in the local children's theatre called the 'Young People's Theatre,’ she was cast as Nancy Cakebread in the Australian feature film, 15 Almore (1998).
She is an alumnus of the Foundation for Young Australians, Young Social Pioneers (YSP) program, where she received a 12-month scholarship to be mentored and trained in social entrepreneurship in 2010.
In 2009 Clay-Smith co-founded the not for profit organisation Bus Stop Films, and she co-founded Taste Creative in 2010. She has been forging pathways for inclusion in the film industry.[7] She has campaigned for the need to incorporate more inclusion and diversity on the film screen and within the media. She has forged a partnership between BSF and AFTRS, facilitating Bus Stop's students with intellectual disabilities access to the film, television and radio industries.
Clay-Smith was a stakeholder and consultant of the 2017 Screen NSW ScreenAbility initiative. She received an AMP Tomorrow Makers grant[8] in 2016 which enabled her to spend 18 months writing Bus Stop Films' Accessible Film Studies Curriculum and turning it into an online resource.
In 2016, Clay-Smith was invited by the NSW Minister for the Arts to join the Arts and Culture Advisory Board Committee,[9] to advise the government and help influence policy on matters pertaining to developing and promoting the arts and culture of NSW.
Clay-Smith has given presentations at the BBC Manchester, the Extraordinary Film Festival in Belgium,[10] Walt Disney Animation Studios HQ in Burbank and the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. In January 2018, she finished her first international project in Japan, titled 'Shakespeare in Tokyo', which combined a workshop and professional work experience for six Japanese people with Down syndrome.[11] Shakespeare in Tokyo was launched at the international film festival Short Shorts Film Festival with the Governor of Tokyo Yuriko Koike.
In March 2018, Clay-Smith was invited to deliver the closing keynote speech[12] at the Toronto International Film Festival – Kids section, where she presented on BSF and the power of inclusive filmmaking.
Clay-Smith released her children's book I Didn't Like Hubert in 2018, with all proceeds being donated to the Humpty Dumpty Foundation.[13]
Clay-Smith won the award of Young Australian Filmmaker at the 2014 Byron Bay International Film Festival for the film The Interviewer. She was the 2014 winner of the Australian Financial Review and Westpac 100 Women of Influence Award, where she was recognised as the overall winner in the Young Leader category for her contribution to creating inclusion within the film industry.[14]
In 2015, Clay-Smith was named the NSW Young Australian of the Year.[15]
In 2017, she was the winner of the Entrepreneurial Award in the B&T 30 under 30 awards. In the same year, she was awarded the Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship[16] to support her professional work. This is an award of given to mid-career creatives and thought leaders.[17]
In 2018, Clay-Smith and her husband Henry Smith accepted the Optus My Business Award as Taste Creative won the Media, Marketing & Advertising Business of the Year award.[18]
| 2018 | Shakespeare in Tokyo | Writer / Director/ Actress | DRAMA An inclusively made project in Japan, which Engaged six people with Down Syndrome in Workshop then work experience on set. | |
| 2017 | I Am Black and Beautiful | Executive Producer & Co-Producer | DOCUMENTARY The inclusive film made through Bus Stop Films documentary film studies program | |
| 2017 | Inclusion Makes the World More Vibrant | Writer / Director | DRAMA A little boy helps his blind mother experience an art gallery in a surprising and unusual way. | |
| 2016 | Under the Sun | Writer / Director | COMEDY - Web seriesDistributed on ABC iview | |
| 2016 | Kill Off | Writer / Director / Mentor | DOCUMENTARY A woman with an intellectual disability forms an unlikely friendship with a Sudanese refugee through their mutual love of KRUMP. | |
| 2016 | Gambling with Minds | Director / Mentor | EXPERIMENTAL The documentary took seven people with complex and persistent mental health issues through a 10-week documentary studies program, through the program the class wrote about their experiences of mental health and together we created this film. | |
| 2015 | Heartbreak and Beauty | Writer / Director / Mentor | 12 people with intellectual disabilities devised this film through a 10-month filmmaking program. The film explores the pain and joyof relationships. | |
| 2014 | Work Mate | Writer / Director | COMEDY An introverted worker tries desperately to avoid his new colleague who is blind. Made for Australia Post | |
| 2013 | I Am Emmanuel | Writer / Director | DRAMA A young Sudanese refugee tries desperately not to let his past define his future. | |
| 2012 | The Interviewer | Writer / Director / Mentor | COMEDY/DRAMA Made inclusively through a 12-month film studies program for people with an intellectual disability. Distributed on Arte TV Germany | |
| 2009 | Be My Brother | Writer / Director | COMEDY/DRAMA A young man's charm and charisma challenge the prejudices of a woman at a bus stop. |
| 2019 | The Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence award for Diversity and Inclusion[19] | Won | |
| 2019 | Telstra Australian Business Women of the Year Awards: National Emerging Leader Award | Won | |
| 2019 | Telstra Australian Business Women of the Year Awards: New South Wales Emerging Leader Award | Won | |
| 2018 | Optus My Business Awards - Taste Creative won Media, Marketing & Advertising Business of the Year | Won | |
| 2017 | Recipient of a Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship | Won | |
| 2017 | B&T's 30 Under 30 Entrepreneur Award winner | Won | |
| 2016 | NSW/ ACT Arts and Fashion Young Achiever Award | Won | |
| 2016 | Human Rights Award for Community Organisation, presented to Bus Stop Films, under the leadership of Genevieve Clay-Smith | Won | |
| 2016 | Australian Directors Guild Award | Won | |
| 2016 | Best Student Film for I Am Emmanuel | Won | |
| 2016 | Screen Australia's Women in Film Gender Matters Project Development Grant recipient | Won | |
| 2015 | NSW Young Australian of the Year | Won | |
| 2015 | Women's Weekly Woman of the Future Award | Won | |
| 2015 | B&T Women in Media award winner for Creative | Won | |
| 2015 | University of Technology Sydney Young Alumni Award Australian Directors Guild Award Best Direction in a student film for 'I Am Emmanuel | Won | |
| 2015 | Human Rights and Arts Film Festival award - Best Film for "I Am Emmanuel" | Won | |
| 2014 | AFTRS and KB Myer Project development grant | Won | |
| 2014 | Westpac and Financial Review 100 Women of Influence Award Winner for Young Leader | Won | |
| 2013 | Human Rights and Arts Film Festival award - Best Film for "The Interviewer | Won | |
| 2013 | Byron Bay Young Filmmaker Award | Won | |
| 2009 | Tropfest - Best Film for "Be My Brother" | Won | |
| 2008 | University of Technology Sydney Social Justice Media Award | Won |