Natalie Miller Explained

Natalie Rona Miller is an Australian film distributor, exhibitor and producer. She is known as the founder of film distribution house Sharmill Films, and the Melbourne theatres Longford Cinema and Cinema Nova.

Film industry career

Miller studied at Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne, and then completed an arts degree at the University of Melbourne. She began her career working in journalism and public relations at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, then entered the film industry working on public relations for the Melbourne Film Festival for 17 years.^[1] In the mid-1960s, she was so impressed by Luis Buñuel's surrealist film The Exterminating Angel, which had shown at the festival, that she purchased the Australian distribution rights herself and exhibited it at the Palais Theatre in Melbourne to give the film a wider audience. Following the success of her first foray into film exhibition, Miller founded Sharmill Films in 1967, which specialises in the distribution of arthouse films in Australia.^[2]

Miller also founded two cinemas in Melbourne: the Longford Cinema in South Yarra, which closed in 2005 after Village Cinemas opened a multiplex at The Jam Factory; and Cinema Nova, an arthouse cinema in Carlton (co-founded with Barry Peake) which began with two screens and has now expanded to 16.^[3]

Honours and awards

• Medal of the Order of Australia (2001): For service to the Australian film industry, particularly the production, distribution and exhibition of quality film.^[4]
• Chevalier dans L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2003): For services to the promotion of French culture in Australia.^[5]
• In 2011, the Natalie Miller Fellowship was founded, which awards a $10,000 fellowship to women working in the film industry in Australia.^[6]
• Officer of the Order of Australia (2013): For distinguished service to the film industry through promotion of screen culture, as a mentor to emerging film-makers, particularly women, and contributions to advisory and professional organisations.^[7]
• Screen Producers Australia Lifetime Achievement Award (2015)
• Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2017)^[8]

External links

• Sharmill Films
• Natalie Miller Fellowship

Notes and References

1. News: McKay . Holly . Australia Day gong for movie queen . 6 May 2019 . The Leader . 26 January 2013 . en.
2. News: Ross . Annabel . Melbourne Story: Natalie Miller . 6 May 2019 . The Sydney Morning Herald . 27 March 2012 . en.
3. News: Coslovich . Gabriella . Last to leave, turn out the... . 6 May 2019 . The Age . 21 August 2005 . en.
4. Web site: Miller, Natalie Rona OAM . Australian Honours Search Facility . Australian Government . 6 May 2019.
5. Web site: Screen Producers Australia announces Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Natalie Miller AO and Business of the Year finalists for 2015 . Screen Producers Australia . 6 May 2019.
6. News: Boland . Michaela . Pioneer honoured with fellowship . 6 May 2019 . The Australian . 13 July 2011.
7. Web site: Miller, Natalie AO . Australian Honours Search Facility . Australian Government . 6 May 2019.
8. Web site: 2017 Victorian Honour Roll of Women Commemorative Booklet . Her Place Museum . 6 May 2019.