Elissa Down
2021Her major works comprise of a number of award winning short films, Summer Angst, The Cherry Orchard, Her Outback, The Bathers, Pink Pyjamas, HMAS Unicorn and Samantha Stewart, aged fourteen. They have been screened at numerous festivals including Tampere, Locarno Aix-en-Provence, Montecatini, Milan, San Francisco Indie, St Kilda, Brisbane, Revelation, Women on Women, POV and Tropfest. These shorts have also been screened in theatres and broadcast nationally and overseas. Elissa was one of Australia's upcoming artists featured in the In Progress spread in Vogue (2005).
Elissa Down's first feature film, the semi-autobiographical, The Black Balloon was released in Australian cinemas 6 March 2008. It stars Rhys Wakefield, Gemma Ward, Luke Ford, Erik Thomson and Academy Award Nominee Toni Collette. The world premiere was at the Berlin International Film Festival in Germany in February 2008, where the film received a Crystal Bear as the best feature-length film in the Generation 14plus category. On 6 December 2008 Elissa Down was awarded the AFI Best DIrection in Film Award and AFI Best Original Screenplay Award for the Black Balloon. The film also won the L'Oreal Paris AFI Award for Best FIlm.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Curtin University.
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The Black Balloon
Elissa Down
Toni Collette, Rhys Wakefield
Thomas is turning 16. His dad's in the army and they've just moved to a town in New South Wales; his mom is pregnant; his older brother, Charlie, who's autistic, has his own adolescent sexual issues. Thomas finds Charlie an embarrassment in public, so when Thomas is attracted to Jackie, a girl in his swim class, Charlie presents any number of obstacles when she drops by their house, when the three of them go for a walk, and during a family birthday dinner. Can Thomas find a way to enter the world of teen romance and still be his brother's keeper, or is Charlie's disability going to prove more than Thomas can handle?
The Black Balloon
Ivy and Bean
Elissa Down
Keslee Blalock, Madison Skye Validum
Ivy and Bean never expected to be friends. Ivy is quiet, thoughtful and observant. Bean is playful, exuberant and fearless. However, sometimes an adventure reveals that opposites can become the best of friends.
Ivy + Bean
The Honor List
Elissa Down
Meghan Rienks, Sasha Pieterse
Four girls sink a time capsule in a lake with a list of things they want to do before graduation, but they all go separate ways before graduating. When a tragedy strikes, they reunite to find the capsule and complete the bucket list.
The Honor List
HMAS Unicorn
Elissa Down
Liz Sideris, Jimmy Jack
In the summer of 1964 three unusual incidents took place on Lake Grace. The first two were totally unexplainable. The third, and most disturbing one, provided one clue... Based on the journal of sixteen-year-old Gwendolin Howard.
HMAS Unicorn
