Wendy Dent is an independent film-maker with a diverse range of short and feature length films and creative roles to her credit. "Kissed By A Crocodile" , Official Selection at over 10 international film festivals & markets to date and GOLD AWARD Winner at Worldfest Houston 2003 (Texas USA), marked her debut onto the international film festival circuit.

Just one year later, while Kissed By A Crocodile was still attracting interest around the world, Wendy Dent followed up this success with another Worldfest Houston GOLD AWARD winning feature documentary, Girls From Ipanema which again proved popular to audiences and critics alike at numerous international film festivals.

Then just one year later again she repeated her success, with the release of yet another GOLD AWARD winning feature documentary, Dear Juliet - which scooped a GOLD SPECIAL JURY AWARD at the 38th Worldfest Houston (screening in the Film As Art program) just days after its world premiere at the 10th Palm Beach International Film Festival, followed by the 'Golden Angel' award for Best Producer at the International Audiovisual Festival of Azerbaijan!

(See Film Festival press release for further details and for premiere photos see WireImage.com and Getty Images, plus Dear Juliet premiere 2005 and photo gallery- premieres for red carpet portraits).

Wendy also reviews films and film festivals for Filmfestivals.com and Viva Magazine, models for Scwharzkopf, has has been invited to guest lecture on film making at New York City College, the University of Southern Florida, G-Star Collage (the USA's only high school of Film and TV), and she has twice been a special guest lecturer at Macquarie University, speaking to students of African Politics and to students of Human Rights Law about the political situation in Zimbabwe and the making of 'No News From Harare'.

She has also featured as a special guest at several film festival gala awards, and on many TV and radio programs across Australia and the USA. Her work has been profiled in feature articles published in The Age, The Bulletin and The Canberra Times in Australia, in L'Arena (Verona, Italy), and in countless articles in local papers from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe about her film festival screenings.

Wendy was born and lived in Papua New Guinea (her father working as a volcanologist, and mother working for a crocodile farm) until her ex-pat parents returned to Australia. She began writing volumes of poetry and short stories as soon as she learnt to write - and by the age of 12 was granted a scholarship to join Canberra's Stage Coach Theatre School.

Wendy then spent 6 years from age 12 to 18 studying acting, performing and stage managing for Stage Coach Theatre School.

By age 17 she was working for Stage Coach teaching children's drama workshops and marketing the schools' activities to the press and public. Whilst completing her Higher School Certificate she was also writing her own solo play NOBODY , writing reviews for local arts magazines and devising and performing solo childrens' entertainment shows under commission by the National Gallery of Australia.

All this while she excelled in her high school certificate with marks in the top of the state.

At age 18 Wendy was nominated and won several national awards for her academic and artistic accomplishments, including being named Canberra's Best Public Speaker in 1991, and state finalist with high commendations in the 1991 Rotary-Lions Australian Youth of the Year Quest and Australian Young Achiever Awards.

Wendy then worked actively in the Melbourne independent theatre scene from age 18 to 21. She quickly became well known for her daring solo production about youth suicide and homelessness, "NOBODY" - a headlining act of the 1994 Melbourne Fringe Festival.

While working as assistant to the manager of 'Unspeakable Acts' (a music managment company representing prominent Australian performers Vika and Linda), Wendy also was 'moonlighting' as a professional fairy!

She quickly established herself as one of Melbourne's foremost children's entertainers, including contracts with (Australian TV celebrity) Humphrey B. Bear, performing her popular storytelling shows as "Stardust the Fairy"! Wendy also established a tradition of fairy-story telling in the gardens of Melbourne during summer school holidays which, 7 years later, still continues today as an organised event by the City of Melbourne.

In 1996 Wendy Dent began her film degree at Sydney's University of Technology. Her film-making career began in early 1997 after just one year of her film degree, when Wendy's first short film 'Silent Night' was selected for 'Matinaze', a special curated exhibition of experimental film at Sydney's Art Gallery of NSW.

Two years and 10 films later, she graduated with a Bachelor of Communications (Film and video) degree from the University of Technology Sydney (including studies under renowned Australian screen-writing author and teacher Linda Aronson).

To date Wendy Dent has now independently written, produced, directed, filmed and edited 25 of her own films, with more feature projects soon to be released. Her diverse body work has covered documentary, dramatic comedy, experimental / drama, music DVDs and corporate videos (including profiles for Kellogg's and the multinational market research corporation TNS).

 

In development she also has numerous more feature documentary projects, to be filmed in Papua New Guinea, USA (and yes even Australia ) and several feature dramas, which Wendy sees as her next focus.

 

Wendy has now returned to her dramatic roots, and in 2009 she is focusing on writing four feature film drama scripts; three have been completed to first draft, and she's already half way through the first draft for her fourth feature.

 

As well as creating her own work independently, Wendy Dent has also worked collaboratively as a valued part of the production team on several other professional projects, from editing to production management work - including production management for "The Comeback Kings", featured at the 2003 Melbourne International Film Festival.

[See Filmography for further details]

 

Aside from her film-making, photography and writing passions, Wendy has a wander-lust for travel, and a spirit for dance.

Wendy Dent won awards for excelling in her dance studies in high school and was highly recommended by internationally renowned dance-theatre artist Meryl Tankard during her work experience at the Meryl Tankard Company (then based in Canberra) at the culmination of her studies.

Wendy has trained in flamenco dancing with acclaimed flamenco-artist and teacher Diana Reyes since 2001, and also loves dancing forro, rueda, salsa and tango at every opportunity.

Wendy has made films in English, French, Italian and Portuguese, and is also now enjoying learning Spanish.

Between her work and study commitments Wendy Dent has traveled widely throughout more than 50 countries across Asia, Europe, the Pacific, North and South America and Africa. Her extensive photo gallery of travel imagery on this website provides just a glimpse of some of her adventures.

 

She plans to continue exploring a new country of the world each year, finding inspiration for new stories and experiences to capture on film.

 

 

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