Patrons & Board

Patrons

AFF is honoured to have Australian screen industry legends Margaret Pomeranz AM and David Stratton AM as our Festival Patrons. 

After spending 27 years on television as Australia’s most beloved film critics, Margaret and David retired from hosting At the Movies in 2014. Their contribution to the Australian screen industry was acknowledged by AFF in 2018 when they were awarded the Don Dunstan Award. Margaret and David continue to be a much loved and hugely respected voice in the Australian screen landscape, and their continued support of the Festival is tremendously appreciated.  

David and I are proud and excited to be part of the always fabulous, always interesting and always challenging Adelaide Film Festival. No wonder it’s ranked amongst the top 50 festivals in the world.

– Margaret Pomeranz AM 

In 2021, Adelaide actor, screenwriter and director Tilda Cobham-Hervey was the AFF Youth patron for the inaugural festival.

Board

Anton Andreacchio is a South Australian producer and entrepreneur, working across new screen technologies and applications and is the founder of studio Jumpgate. Jumpgate has sponsored and supported the AFF since 2015, along with the International Film Festival and the Adelaide Symphony, in which saw the revolutionary integration of VR/AR technologies. Mr Andreacchio holds a diversity and wealth of industry experience and knowledge and has worked on over 400 successful projects, forming both inter-and-cross industry relationships in the drive of the development and success of the SA industry. Mr Andreacchio is also currently a member of the Entrepreneurship Advisory Board.

Hugo Weaving is one of the most recognised Australian actors. Internationally acclaimed Mr Weaving has played roles in over 100 films. These include The Matrix trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, V for Vendetta, Captain America as well as numerous Australian films including; The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Proof and Babe. Mr Weaving has won an array of awards in support of his success as an actor including seven Australian Film Institute Awards, an MTV Award and Satellite Award. Mr Weaving has also served on industry boards, including the Australian Film Finance Corporation.

Josh Fanning is an experienced company director and entrepreneur with a demonstrated history of founding and building media brands, successfully selling two out of three, one of which being CityMag in 2018 with over 600,000 readers. Mr Fanning is the youngest board member of the Art Gallery of South Australia, was a founding board member and director of the Committee for Adelaide, is a member of the Institute of Community Directors, and undertook the Australia Council Arts Governance Program in 2017. Mr Fanning is currently the Group Creative Director for KWP! overseeing the creative output of companies across advertising, production, technology, branding, media, and social media.

Marianna Panopoulos has a Bachelor of Commerce from Flinders University, is a certified practicing Accountant and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD). She also holds a Master of Business Administration from Deakin University. As CFO and Company Secretary, Ms Panopoulos managed the Australian Human Resources Institute Limited’s accounting, reporting, risk management, governance and regulatory compliance and is current serving on the Adelaide Film Festival Audit and Risk subcommittee.

Martha Coleman brings with her domestic and international experience in both physical and executive production of films and television. Her producing career began with the seminal award winning film Praise (Fipresci, TIFF, 1999). For 8 years Martha was based in London, where she was head of development at Icon and head of creative affairs/ Executive Producer at Newline/ EFD joint venture company Material Entertainment. In 2009 Martha returned to Australia to take up the role of head of development at the newly formed federal agency Screen Australia, where she was responsible for the strategic direction of the department and sat on the production investment and producer offset committees until she left in 2014 to return to producing, setting up production company Revlover in partnership with commercials production company Revolver. Revlover has film and television projects in development with eOne, Transmission Films, all3media the ABC and Stan and was awarded Screen Australia Enterprise Funding in 2016. The company has just completed Diary of an Uber Driver, a comedy drama television series for ABC and all3media, which will air in 2019.

Rebecca Cole is a prominent Aboriginal screen writer and director of drama and documentaries, Ms Rebecca Cole is a graduate from the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS), who commenced her career as a TV journalist for Imaparja television, working for ABC TV and then Central Australian Media Associations (CAAMA). Ms Cole’s award-winning work has screened internationally, including her feature Here I Am, short film Plains Empty & Flat, documentary Making Samson & Delilah, First Australians and The Lord of Love and Wiriya; small boy. In addition, Ms Cole has directed a collective of TV series including the award-winning sketch show Black Comedy and TV Drama Wentworth.