Gillian Armstrong

Gillian Armstrong
Armstrong at the AACTA awards 2012, Sydney
Born	Gillian May Armstrong (1950-12-18) 18 December 1950 (age 66) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupation	Director
Years active	1970–present
Spouse(s)	John Pleffer
Children	2

Gillian May Armstrong (born 18 December 1950) is an award-winning Australian feature film and documentary director, who specializes in period-drama. Her films often feature female perspectives and protagonists.

Armstrong was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on 18 December 1950. She went to a local high school, Vermont High School (now Vermont Secondary College), and was the middle child of a local real estate agent father and a primary school teacher mother who gave up work to have a family. Armstrong stated in The Australian that her parents were always very supportive of their hopes and dreams, which was not always the way it was for women in the 1960s and 70s. Her father was a frustrated photographer who wasn't allowed to follow his dreams professionally, yet always practised as an amateur. Armstrong reminisces of how she grew up in a dark room, learning all about photography. When she first decided to go to art school, Armstrong didn't have a very firm grasp on what she wanted to do.

Armstrong grew up in the eastern suburb of Mitcham. Armstrong was a technical theatre student at Swinburne College while paying her tuition by working as a waitress. Originally, she attended school to become a theatrical set designer but the school that she attended also offered a film course. After she took it she was enamored by the great names of cinema and decided to enter the film industry. Then she won a scholarship to join the first 12 students at the country's first and only film school, the Australian Film and Television School. While she was in school, the Australian film industry was non existent, and she recalls how weird the accent sounded in new films, because it wasn't American, it was Australian. She attended Swinburne Technical College with the intention of becoming a theatre costume designer, but it was here she became increasingly interested in film. During this time, she was exposed to a range of artistic films that differentiated from the commercial cinema and television she was used to.

After graduating from art school in 1968, Armstrong was set on pursuing a career in film. She began making short films of 2–10 minutes, and started work as an assistant editor in a commercial film house, which lasted a year.