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Jeni & Xenia Natalenko (Grethel) To the Other Shore

Jeni Thornley is a documentary filmmaker. Her widely distributed, award winning films include: Island Home Country (2008), To the Other Shore: a diary film about motherhood (1996), the co-directed feature documentary For Love or Money: a history of women and work in Australia (1983) and Maidens: four generations of an Australian family (1978). She was a Contributing Director on Australia Daze (1988).

Jeni was a pioneering member of the Sydney Women’s Film Group and an active member of the Sydney Filmmakers Co-operative where she also worked in film distribution, exhibition and as a writer with the Film NewsCollective. She worked on many independent films as an actress and as a collaborator, including Film For Discussion, Still Life, Men and Women Living Together, Woman’s House, Secret Storm, Two Daughters, Apartments and Quite a Long Development. Jeni also worked as a camera assistant at Film Australia and on independent films, includingJourney Among Women and Climbers. She was Manager of the Women’s Film Fund and Project Co-ordinator  Documentary Development, Australian Film Commission.

Jeni currently works in film as a writer, director, script editor, researcher, film assessor and as a film and video valuer for film archives and the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program. She also lectures in documentary film, focusing on the history of documentary, changing forms and ethics at University of Technology, Sydney, where she has also completed her doctorate. See the Issues in Documentary facebook page.

Follow Jeni on Twitter.