Shirley Barrett

Shirley Barrett
Born	1961 Melbourne, Australia
Occupation	Film director Screenwriter
Years active	1988-present

Shirley Barrett (born 1961) is an Australian film director and screenwriter. Her film Love Serenade won the Caméra d'Or at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. She is best known for her films Walk the Talk (2000) and South Solitary (2010), both of which she wrote and directed. Barrett's script for South Solitary was awarded multiple prizes, including the Queensland Premier’s Prize and the West Australian Premier’s Prize.

Barrett was born in Melbourne in 1961. At a young age, Shirley Barrett "was a child with a creative bent.” In 1985, she moved to Sydney, where she began studying at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS). Her interests lead her to enroll in scriptwriting, “but soon discovered a knack for directing as well.” In 1988 during her final year at the AFTRS she made a short film titled Cherith that won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Short Fiction.

After graduating from the AFTRS, she was given the opportunity to make her directorial debut on the television series Boys in the Bush, A Country Practice and Heartbreak High. She continued doing production work and directing television series until in 1992, “she found time to write her first feature.” As it is for many filmmakers, Barrett's transition from television into film was not a simple task, but in 1996, at age 35, her film Love Serenade, which she had written and directed was released. While the film did not reach box-office success in Australia, it sparked the interest of audiences and critics abroad, particularly those in, “France and the United States.” In the United States, critics like Roger Ebert praised her “special gifts as a storyteller.” As an independent filmmaker, the American interest in Love Serenade would prove crucial in facilitating the making of her next film.David Geffen, a major American film executive and producer “took a shine to the quirky comedy.” Geffen decided to offer her $5 million to fund her next film project with the freedom to realize it according to her own visions. This allowed her to write and direct her second feature film Walk the Talk in 2000.

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