Bus Stop Films has brought together an intersectionally diverse group of industry representatives and advocates to help us shape a broad, dynamic and relevant program of speakers. Screen Australia and Screen NSW will have representatives in the group as well.
Emily Dash
Disability Advocate, Actor, Filmmaker and Bus Stop Films Board Member
Emily Dash is an Australian writer, actor, advocate and speaker, celebrated for her dynamic storytelling and sharp comedic voice. Her recent show, Em & Maddie Solve Your Problems, premiered at the Sydney Fringe Festival in 2024, winning the Adelaide Fringe Tour Ready Award and has since gone on to win the Adelaide Fringe Festival Weekly Emerging Artist Award in March 2025. Emily is also known for her acclaimed short film Groundhog Night, which premiered at the Sydney Film Festival and won Audience Choice at the London Australian Film Festival in 2022. Her earlier works, including I Am Not A Work of Art, The Cards I’m Dealt, and The Milky Pop Kid, continue to be recognised at Australian and international festivals, carrying an enduring message of inclusion.
Emily is a co-creator of Diversity Work, a podcast exploring authentic representation and equity in the creative industries and the barriers that diverse creatives face. Through screen, theatre, and comedy, she continues to challenge perceptions and champion diverse voices. Emily also shapes disability perception and representation through her role as Chair of Attitude Foundation, Director of Bus Stop Films, Director of Accessible Arts, and Director of Dirty Feet.
Paul Nunnari is a Paralympic medallist, performer and disability advocate. In 2022 Paul received the Public Service Medal for outstanding public service to New South Wales, particularly in the field of access and inclusion.Paul’s exploits as a performer came to prominence as “The Other Superman” on Australia's Got Talent in 2013. Since this time Paul has performed around the world, including setting a Guinness World Record on the Italian production of La Notte Dei record in Rome in 2019. This was followed by performances with The Wiggles in 2020, a performance at World Expo Dubai in 2021 and the principal act for Australia Day Live at Circular Quay in 2023.
Paul’s film credits include the infamous Wheelchair Zombie in Little Monsters by Australian director Abe Forsythe in 2019. He appeared in the ABC’s production of Fresh Blood Pilot Season (2015), Bus Stop Films Taking Back the Waves (2017) and in 2019 was key talent for the Blackmore’s Good Health Changes Everything campaign which included global distribution.
Paul’s live stage credits include Justene Williams' production of She Conjured the Clouds as part of the Sydney Festival, La Soiree at the Sydney Opera House and with The Wiggles in 2020.
Disability advocate, Filmmaker and Access Coordinator
Stephanie Dower is a screen producer, writer, consultant, and access coordinator based in Brisbane, Australia. In 2021, Stephanie produced and edited short film Sunshine, a project funded through Screen Queensland’s RIDE Shorts program in collaboration with Taste Creative and Bus Stop Films. The film premiered at the Brisbane International Film Festival and later went on to screen at the Cleveland International Film Festival in the USA. More recently, Stephanie was a producer on short film And The Ocean Agreed, a film written, directed and produced by AWGIE-winner Tanya Modini.
Stephanie’s advocacy efforts as a filmmaker living with disability has seen her become a member of Screen Queensland’s Equity and Diversity Taskforce and appointed as an advisor to the Screen Producers’ Australia Council. Stephanie is also a regular co-host of Attitude Foundation’s ReFramedPodcast and works as an associate at disability inclusion consultancy firm, Get Skilled Access.
Amelia Carew-Reid has worked across the creative industries for over 20 years with a focus on screen industry development. In her current role as Industry Development Manager at Screen Australia, she develops and implements national funding programs and designs skills development initiatives in partnership with screen industry stakeholders to build capacity across the Australian screen sector.
Prior to joining Screen Australia, Amelia was the Manager of Industry and Audience Development at Screen NSW, where she oversaw funding programs and designed initiatives to support the growth of the screen sector and film festivals. While at Screen NSW, she managed the Sydney UNESCO City of Film designation and coordinated the 21 global cities of film in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. Amelia has also previously held roles at Create NSW, Sydney Opera House, NSW Film and Television Office and Metro Screen.
Brandon is an actor, writer, singer and producer and a proud Indigenous Australian of the Yuin Nation living with an invisible disability. I have been involved with community theatre, film and screen for over 8 years participating in 20+ different theatre productions, including Bonnie & Clyde: The Musical as Buck Barrow, Cannibal The Musical: as James Humphrey, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest as Aide Warren and Angels In America Part 1 as Martin Heller and various other roles.
I have been involved in the critically acclaimed hit TV show Mr Inbetween and the reboot of the 90's Aussie show Heartbreak High. I have been a part of the Bus Stop Films Accessible Film Studies Program for 3 years now and I am absolutely loving it. I have recently been honoured to be a Bus Stop Films Ambassador for Wollongong and I am enjoying the work that is associated with this title. I hope to bring more awareness that is aligned with the core values of this amazing company.I am currently producing a short film with my friends for our film company that we created very recently, and are hoping to make a big impact in the movie scene!
Priya is the Shift 20 Initiative Lead at the Dylan Alcott Foundation. Prior to joining the DAF, she spent nearly a decade working at creative agencies including Special Group and Cummins&Partners, on some of Australia's biggest brands including ANZ, Netflix, Virgin Australia and Australian Red Cross Lifeblood. She is passionate about closing the representation gap for people with disability, to ensure that the nearly 20% of Australians with disability see themselves represented in advertising campaigns.
Soph is a creative extraordinaire — an emerging filmmaker, songwriter, and musician with a vibrant and distinctive voice. As an autistic, mostly non-speaking AAC user, she transforms her lived experience of disability into art that educates, uplifts and sparks understanding. Through a wide range of creative outlets, Soph offers bold, fresh, and deeply insightful glimpses into her world. Her work is more than expression — it is a form of illumination. Combining her musical talents, like drumming and writing evocative lyrics with powerful visual storytelling, she breaks barriers and shines a light on the beauty of her neurodivergence and disability identity. A passionate disability advocate, Soph believes in the power of representation and in creating space for every voice — spoken or unspoken — to be heard, seen and celebrated. She also aspires to develop her acting skills. Her art radiates her unique sparkle: authentic, imaginative, and unapologetically expressive.
Lisa Cox OAM is a TEDx speaker, author, university researcher and internationally awarded thought leader who combines her professional background in advertising and media with her lived experience of disability.
Norfolk Pictures – Company Director, Film Producer, Access Coordinator
Chanel is a proud member of the disability and hard-of-hearing communities and is a passionate advocate for disability stories on screen. Having acquired her disability as an established film practitioner and experiencing difficulty re-entering an industry she knew, Chanel felt deeply committed to ensuring that disabled practitioners were given seats at our creative table. Across her work in film, Chanel also worked as the Film Mangaer at CinefestOZ Film Festival from 2016- 2022 managing multiple stakeholders including film guests like Isla Fisher, Sacha Barren-Cohen, David Wenham and Mark Coles Smith. In this role Chanel managed the budgeting, negotiating with distributors nationally and internationally, recording attendee statistics and issuing box office reports for each screening. CinefestOZ screened traditional media, immersive technologies and complimentary art practices. Her capacity to manage event logistics, art installations and high-profile guests was commendable. Chanel was recognised by Screen Producers Australia as a ‘One to Watch’ and was mentored throughout 2023 by Goalpost Pictures founder, Rosemary Blight. Chanel is trained as an Access Coordinator with Bridge06 and Screen Australia. Chanel was awarded the Regional to Global Australians In Film and Screenworks Internship in LA for 2022 allowing her to expand her producing experience with Animal Logic Entertainment and Truant Pictures in the USA. Under her production company Norfolk Pictures Chanel is currently managing two individual 1million dollar film budgets in production for 2025, one of which is shooting in multiple countries. In addition to her advocacy for disabled practitioners and stories in screen, Chanel works in several public and private areas advocating for disability rights. Chanel has partnered with A2K Media on the Industry Advisory Committee for Disability Justice Lens and recently completed her three year term on the Minister’s Advisory Committee for Disability in Western Australia reporting to Honourable Don Punch, Minister for Disability (2022-2025). Chanel is a member of the Disability Action and Inclusion Plan Committee for City of Busselton and sits on the Disability Integration Network Opportunities and the Disability Health Network in WA. Chanel works directly with ShelterWA and their clients to support safe storytelling for people who experience homelessness and disability in our state. Becoming passionate about awareness of brain injuries, and how common and diverse they are – Chanel has worked with the Australian Society for Study of Brain Injury and studied Traumatic Brain Injury at the University of Tasmania. Chanel worked alongside Bus Stop Films founders Eleanor Winkler and Genevie Clay-Smith as Producers Attachment on the first inclusively made feature film in Australia, Boss Cat. In her spare time, Chanel likes to cook dumplings from scratch, surf or swim in the ocean and talk to her chickens about the meaning of life.
Breanna Swan is a passionate Bus Stop Films participant and Ambassador, promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities. A neurodiverse champion for change, she juggles her disabilities and studies as she makes her way towards success. Living with autism, ADHD, and audio processing disorder, the aspiring film professional credits Bus Stop Films for restoring her confidence in her abilities. With its safe, nurturing, and collaborative environment, Breanna appreciates the encouragement she receives through Bus Stop’s Accessible Filmmaking Program.
Tracey is a proud hard of hearing woman with a passion for film, advocacy and inclusion. As CEO of Bus Stop Films she is advocating for greater representation of people with disability in the screen industry, receiving an OAM in 2023 for service to the arts and to people with disability. Her 25-year career has crossed social housing, women’s domestic violence services, including 6 years as the State Manager of Women’s Domestic Violence Court Assistance Program and the film and television industry, working with a number of industry services including Screen NSW, Event Cinemas and Women in Film and TV (WIFT) NSW.
Her advocacy work in the screen industry has seen her lead on strategies including “Screenability” and “She Shoots” at Screen NSW and WIFT’s Raising Films Australia and growing the work of Bus Stop Films on a global scale.
Tracey is an Includeability Ambassador on disability employment to the Australian Human Rights Commission and a Director of Deaf Sports Australia and Northcott (Disability Services). She is also a member of the Screen Australia’s Gender Matter Taskforce, Screen Producer’s Australia Respectful Workplaces Reference Group and TAFE NSW Creative Industries Taskforce. Tracey was a member of the Australian delegation of disability advocates to the United Nation’s 15th Conference of State Parties to The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Tracey is Executive Producer of Bus Stop’s slate and co-produced films including Groundhog Night and Valiant.
With over 10+ years of experience in the education sector, an MBA graduate and a NIDA trained actress Dianna is our Chief Operating Officer and resident Producer. Her background in adult education underpins the delivery of our Accessible Film Studies Program.
As the COO it has given her great pleasure to watch the organisation pave ground-breaking pathways for the inclusion of people with disabilities in the film industry and watch the students blossom in these interactive and unique environments, seeing them develop real life skills and opportunities for their passion. Dianna has produced more than 25 film projects with Bus Stop Films including the multi award winning Groundhog Night and What Was it Like? and acclaimed films Filters, Visible and This Is News Radio.
Serena is from Ireland and has 10 years of experience in marketing working across various sectors from FMCG, hospitality and not for profit. Prior to working at Bus Stop Films Serena worked at hospitality chain Merivale managing top tier events. Serena loves everything about marketing including design, copywriting, project management but where she really excels is anything got to do with event management.
Patient and calm, her personable attitude to work means she can foster meaningful relationships with colleagues, stakeholders and just about anyone. Serena loves creating a distinct tone of voice, positioning and brand mission and vision.
Serena has an MSc in Advertising from Dublin Institute of Technology and a BA in New Media and English from the University of Limerick. Serena also works as an ESL teacher in Sydney which fuels her passion for language, other cultures and being of service to others. Serena enjoys reading, Crossfit, seeing her favourite bands and films. She is super stoked to be able to combine her passion for not-for-profitand not-for-profittop-tier and films together.
With a deep commitment to social change and a steadfast belief in the power of advocacy, Michelle is an engaging & caring professional with over 15 years of experience working across the public, private and NGO sectors within marketing & communications roles.
As Marketing & Distribution Coordinator at Bus Stop Films, Michelle is able to focus on her commitment to driving change and improving the lives of others. She believes strongly in social justice, ethical and sustainable living, and creativity. Michelle is passionate about kindness and this principle drives all aspects of her life.
Jessica has ten years experience working in the disability sector within Australia and the UK, for both government and non-government organizations. Driven by a passion for film and television as a platform for social change and advocacy, Jessica transitioned into the screen industry, and has directed a number of short films screened in festivals across Australia. She is passionate about the amplification of underrepresented voices and stories on Australian screens and a more inclusive screen industry. Jessica holds a Bachelor of Film from SAE Institute, and a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Queensland.
Elise is an accomplished professional with a commitment to empowering individuals in the disability and aged care sectors.
With over a decade of experience, Elise embarked on her journey in the industry as a compassionate support worker, dedicating herself to supporting adults living with autism. Elise’s passion for making a positive difference led her into a role as NDIS Coordinator, streamlining services and ensuring vital support reached those in need.
Balancing personal and professional aspirations, Elise took some time off to start a family before returning to work in the aged care sector. Implementing essential in-home aged supports in the Sutherland Shire area of Sydney, Elise’s unwavering dedication earned her recognition and trust within the community.
General Manager of Partnerships, Fundraising and Events
Lisa Shipman brings a strong commitment to equity and access in the arts, supporting the mission of Bus Stop Films. With expertise in strategic partnerships, events, and community engagement, she helps expand the reach of inclusive filmmaking. Lisa is committed to creating opportunities for people with a disability to participate in film education and employment. Her leadership supports the growth of Bus Stop’s programs and fundraising efforts, championing a more inclusive screen industry and empowering diverse voices.
With over a decade of experience in the not-for-profit sector, Lisa has led national campaigns, built enduring partnerships, and delivered impactful events. Before joining Bus Stop Films, she held senior roles focused on driving revenue and social impact. Known for her collaborative leadership, creative thinking, and strong stakeholder relationships, Lisa is deeply motivated by purpose-driven work and has a proven track record of achieving results that create lasting community benefit.
Stephen is an award winning marketing professional with roles at Grace Brothers, News Ltd (Entertainment), Warner Bros., Accor, MFAA and Ogilvy PR Australia where he was Managing Director of two agencies Ogilvy Impact and the groundbreaking ESG agency OgilvyEarth which he founded. Amongst other achievements he was acknowledged by the NBA for highest sales per capita for branded video products globally, and was a part of an industry wide team that delivered the highly effective ‘Don’t Kill Competition’ campaign that changed the proposed Government policy to protect the mortgage broker industry. He also launched diversity programs, financial literacy strategies and advisory panels with the mortgage industry.
