The Aussie women conquering Hollywood

For too long, women have been under-represented in the world of film but a generation of inspiring creatives is changing that, and many of the industry’s most exciting talents are Australian.

- GENEVIEVE GANNON

Unjoo Moon Director

“I was always drawn to telling stories when I was a child,” says I Am Woman director Unjoo Moon. “I was always the kid at school putting on plays. I was always looking for outlets like that. But the path of becoming a storyteller or a filmmaker was not clear for me, and it wasn’t encouraged either.”

Unjoo was born in Korea but grew up in Australia in the ’70s and ’80s.

“When you are from a migrant family, your parents really want you to succeed in a way they understand and think is going to give you a comfortable, safe life,” she says. So, Unjoo did what she thought was expected of her and went to law school. But she also studied theatre. “I was down in the theatre department always putting on a show. I really had my foot in both camps.”

Eventually it became clear to her she was never going to be a lawyer and she had to leave law school. It was a difficult decision. “In Korea, family duty is incredibly important,” she says. And there were other obstacles. “I never had any role models. Not only were there no directors who looked like me, there were just very few women directing at all.”

But Unjoo persevered. She enrolled in film school, where she met her husband, cinematographer Dion Beebe, before moving to LA. She and Dion both found success and she said her parents saw that she had made the right choice.