Associate Professor Phoebe Hart

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Associate Professor, Faculty of CI, Education & Social Justice

Doctor of Philosophy (Queensland University of Technology), Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice (Queensland University of Technology), Bachelor of Business (Queensland University of Technology)

Phoebe Hart is an inspiring film educator and globally acknowledged expert bridging academia and industry as a "pracademic." A successful documentary filmmaker and widely published researcher, her interdisciplinary outputs investigate creative practice, diversity on/off screen, and screen education to disrupt representations of marginalised groups. She is particularly for her autobiographical road trip movie, Orchids: My Intersex Adventure.

In 2009, Hart was awarded her doctorate from Queensland University of Technology, of which Orchids was a central element of her doctoral studies. In 2024, she published a monograph entitled Crafting Contemporary Documentaries and Docuseries for Global Screens: Docu-mania, which explores the industrial and personal challenges faced by filmmakers in bringing the current worldwide craze for documentary films and series to screens small and large.

Dr Hart's Career Timeline:

  • 1995 Phoebe gains undergraduate degree in film and television production at the Queensland University of Technology.
  • 1998 Dr Hart is a finalist in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's (ABC) race around the world.
  • 1999 The Full Kombi screens on the ABC. Phoebe is one of the producers.
  • 1999 Phoebe joins Network Ten's top rating children's factual program Totally Wild.
  • 2002 Dr Hart works with Ten's documentary department as a researcher, writer, coordinator and producer.
  • 2004 Phoebe begins freelance for various production companies and to produce documentaries and short films for inclusion in film festivals under the banner of hartflicker.
  • 2004 Dr Hart's acclaimed mini-doc Dumpster Divers is a finalist for the Wild Spaces Pro-Cam Award and screens at the Other Worlds Are Breathing Film Festival at the World Social Forum (WSF) in India.
  • 2004 Traje: Women and Weaving in Guatemala showcases at the WSF in Brazil, 2005, and has since tours the world at various festivals. Phoebe also coordinates an Australian screening of the festival at the QUT's Creative Industries Precinct.
  • 2005 Phoebe commences a scholarship-funded PhD project at QUT's Creative Industries Faculty.
  • 2008 Phoebe writes and co-directs a primetime four-part documentary series on the state of higher education in Australia for SBS called Downunder Grads.
  • 2009 Dr Hart directs a standalone documentary for ABC1 on a group of women who play the rough-and-tumble sport of roller derby entitled Roller Derby Dolls
  • 2009 Phoebe completes her PhD at QUT entitled Orchids: Intersex and Identity in Documentary.
  • 2010 Orchids: My Intersex Adventure premieres at the Brisbane International Film Festival where it is voted the number one film of the festival by audiences, and goes on to win an ATOM Award, ADG Award, the Audience Award at the Divergenti Film Festival Italy, a Gold Kahuna Award at the Honolulu Film Awards, the John Deen Memorial Award at the Spokane International LGBT Film Festival, Most Outstanding Documentary at Queer Fruits Film Festival and Best Documentary at Mix Copenhagen, among many other honours.
  • 2012 Orchids: My Intersex Adventure is broadcast on ABC1 in Australia in 2012, appears in more than 50 film festivals internationally, and is broadcast in Switzerland, Poland, Sweden, Israel, Spain, France, Russia, Germany and North America.
  • 2013 Phoebe associate produces for Wildbear and ABC1's factual entertainment series, Save Your Life Tonight.
  • 2013 Phoebe is editor of video installations for Queensland Museum's "What Do You Collect?" and the Lost Creatures exhibitions
  • 2015 Phoebe consults with the Safe Schools Coalition on the resource All of Us.
  • 2016 Dr Hart directs and produces Mudskipping, which combines 3D film, dance and music.
  • 2017 Phoebe raises AU$41,556 in crowdfunding for the documentary feature project Handbag.
  • 2017 Dr Hart co-authors landmark human rights joint consensus statement, The Darlington Statement.
  • 2018 Dr Hart writes TV pilot script Ordinary Pain.
  • 2018 Phoebe coordinates the launch of a digital archive of QUT film graduate works.
  • 2019 Dr Hart co-produces award-winning short film Thomas Banks' Quest for Love.
  • 2019 Phoebe writes a chapter for popular anthology Growing up Queer in Australia. The chapter is relicensed for the definitive Growing up in Australia.
  • 2020 Phoebe executive produces a COVID-19 web-series From Home.
  • 2021 Bloody Sun, directed, produced and edited by Phoebe Hart premieres at Nightmares Film Festival - the "Cannes" of Horror.
  • 2022 Hart joins the Australian Screen Production, Education and Research Association (ASPERA) Research Subcommittee.
  • 2023 Handbag: The Untold Story of the Fag Hag, a feature documentary produced by Phoebe Hart, is broadcast on SBS Viceland, SBS On Demand and OUTtv.
  • 2024 Phoebe publishes a monograph entitled Crafting Contemporary Documentaries and Docuseries for Global Screens: Docu-mania.

Additional information

  • Phoebe has worked with many production companies and television networks, including Network Ten, Wildbear Entertainment, Freshwater Pictures, Vizible Entertainment, Octagon CSI, Beyond, Turner Entertainment Inc., Brisbane International Film Festival and Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  • Her work has been broadcast on Showtime, OUTtv, ARTE Germany/France, Special Broadcasting Station, Nine Network, Schweizer Fernsehen, Televisión Española, UR (Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company), DBS Israel and ArtMedia (Eastern Europe).
  • Phoebe coordinated the Other Worlds are Breathing (Australia) – A Film Festival on Alternatives at the QUT Creative Industries Precinct and is a board member of Film Fantastic, the organisers of the Brisbane International Film Festival and Gold Coast Film Festival.
  • She has presented at popular events such as the Australian Women's Leadership Symposium, Ideas Festival, BIFF Industry Days and TEDx.

Dr Hart in the media:

Type
Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
Reference year
2013
Details
MujerDoc International Festival of Documentary Cinema on Gender - Best Short Documentary
Type
Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
Reference year
2012
Details
Australian Director's Guild Awards - Best Direction in a Documentary (Stand Alone Category)
Type
Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
Reference year
2012
Details
Chéries-Chéris Film Festival - Prix Spécial du Jury du Film Documentaire
Type
Fellowships
Reference year
2012
Details
Ormond College, University of Melbourne - Robson Fellow
Type
Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
Reference year
2011
Details
John Dean Memorial Award
Type
Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
Reference year
2011
Details
Copenhagen Mix Film Festival Awards - Best Documentary
Type
Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
Reference year
2010
Details
Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM) Awards - Best Documentary
Type
Publicly commissioned Artworks
Reference year
2010
Details
Orchids: My Intersex Adventure - Television Documentary
Type
Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
Reference year
2009
Details
Dean's Commendation for Thesis - Orchids: Intersex and Identity in Documentary
  • One tattoo, two worlds: Stories of Indigenous Samoan fa'afafine, non-Indigenous Samoan women and the Samoan malu
    PhD, Principal Supervisor
    Other supervisors: Dr Leah King-Smith
  • Wide Shot for Sound: Understanding, and improving the impacts and use of atmospheric
    PhD, Principal Supervisor
    Other supervisors: Dr Sue Cake
  • Locating Choreographic Empowerment with Soft Participation
    Professional Doctorate, Principal Supervisor
    Other supervisors: Dr Steph Hutchison