SBS and National Indigenous Television (NITV) have announced the appointment of two commissioning editors, with Bernadine Lim joining SBS as Commissioning Editor, Documentaries, and Marissa McDowell joining NITV as Commissioning Editor.
As a member of SBS's Unscripted team, Lim will work across SBS's slate of distinctive commissioned documentaries, championing diverse stories and exploring issues impacting contemporary Australia.
McDowell will join NITV's commissioning team, working on the development and delivery of a diverse slate of commissioned programming for the channel, including documentaries, entertainment and children's programs reflecting, exploring and celebrating First Nations stories.
Lim is an award-winning director and producer with more than 20 years' experience, and joins SBS from Screen Australia where she has been Head of Documentary since 2018. Born in Malaysia, she began her career as a TV journalist in New Zealand and has worked across a range of factual formats, from current affairs, entertainment, arts, science and documentary, in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Australia. Her appointment sees her return to SBS having previously been the Executive Producer of Dateline, SBS's long-running international current affairs program.
Joseph Maxwell, Head of Documentaries, SBS, said: We're thrilled to be welcoming Bernadine back to SBS, and bringing her extensive industry knowledge, working across a range of formats, to the documentaries team. Her experience reflects her talent and passion for storytelling, and we're looking forward to having her join us as SBS continues to deliver a strong and diverse slate of commissioned documentaries in 2021, and has an exciting mix of projects in development.
On her appointment, Lim said: It's been an amazing time at Screen Australia with a talented team of dedicated people. I'm very excited to make my next move into the creative heart of SBS's strong factual content team. As a passionate storyteller, it's a privilege to have this type of role across such compelling content and help celebrate multicultural Australia.
McDowell, from the Wiradjuri Nation and currently living in Canberra, has worked with Indigenous communities to tell their stories through documentary film making, photography and writing, throughout her career.
On McDowell's appointment as Commissioning Editor for NITV, Kyas Hepworth, Head of Commissioning and Programming, NITV, said: Marissa's passion and craft for storytelling is matched by her dedication and commitment to supporting the ongoing development of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander talent in the screen sector. Her creativity, expertise and strong industry networks will be a great asset to the NITV team, and we can't wait to have her on board at a busy time with a number of exciting projects in the pipeline for the channel.
McDowell added: Our people have so many stories which are universal that need to be told. I am excited to be joining NITV, a channel dedicated to telling the stories of the world's oldest continuing culture, and be able to play a part in bringing these stories to the world.
A multimedia producer and filmmaker with her production company, Black & White Films, McDowell has produced content for various platforms including NITV, and also facilitates filmmaking workshops for youth and community. In 2016, she was selected as part of Screen Forever's Ones to Watch development and mentoring program, is a member of First Nations Writer group, Us Mob Writers, and is also a published poet and exhibited photographer.
Bernadine Lim will commence in the role in the SBS documentaries team on 3 May, and Marissa McDowell will join NITV from 24 March.
For a PDF version of this media release, click here.
More information:
Bernadine Lim
Commissioning Editor, Documentaries, SBS (from 3 May, 2021)
Bernadine Lim is currently the Head of Documentary at Screen Australia the country's federal funding body. The unit provides support through development and production funding, targeted initiatives and the Producer Equity Program across formats including features, television, online and XR.
As a director and producer with over 20 years' experience, she has several awards including two Gold Medals at the New York Festivals Film and TV Awards and was nominated for an Australian Academy Cinema Television Arts Award for Best Direction in a Documentary. She spent five years as Executive Producer of the international documentary current affairs SBS series, Dateline, commissioning close to 100 films which received multiple awards, including a BAFTA.
Living across New Zealand, UK and Australia, shes developed and produced content for both public, commercial and subscription networks including SBS, National Geographic, BSkyB, Discovery International, BBC World, TVNZ, TV3, Network 10 and NBC Universal.
Marissa McDowell
Commissioning Editor, National Indigenous Television (NITV) (from 24 March, 2021)
McDowell is a Wiradjuri woman from Cowra NSW. She started her career as an Audio-Visual Assistant and Vision Switcher in live production for the Canberra Raiders and Brumbies at GIO Stadium Canberra. During this time, she also worked as a News and Radio Operating Assistant in live news production for ABC Canberra.
She launched her independent production business Black & White Films and has worked with Indigenous communities telling their stories through multi-media platforms for over nine years. Her documentaries have been commisioned and screened with SBS/NITV.
Marissa is a member and chairperson for Us Mob Writing and had her poetry published in the literary journal Ora Nui, featured work by Aboriginal and Maori writers and as part of Overland's Emerging Poet Series. She featured as a contributor in A Poc
Asia, Australia & Oceanic Stories
24/04/2024
SBS marks Earth Day as The Cook Up with Adam Liaw becomes first Australian show ...
24/04/2024
Save money every day with SBS's Ricardo Gon alves and Peggy Giakoumelos on n...
24/04/2024
24 04 2024 - Media release Screen Australia celebrates Australian projects bound...
23/04/2024
Social entrepreneur Hedayat Osyan wins Les Murray Award for Refugee Recognition
23 April, 2024
Media releases
The prestigious award is now in its third yea...
22/04/2024
SBS marks Earth Day with Australian TV milestone as The Cook Up with Adam Liaw b...
18/04/2024
Alone Australia goes from strength to strength
18 April, 2024
Media releases
The program again delivers for SBS with significant uplifts in digital BVOD vi...
18/04/2024
18 04 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and Dynamic Television announce new Scripted Initiative
Savage River
Screen Australia and Los Angeles-based telev...
16/04/2024
ABS Agility Beyond Space announces Appointment of Mark Rigolle as its Chief Ex...
11/04/2024
Alone Australia Ep 2 reaches over 1m Australians
11 April, 2024
Media releases
The program continues to consistently grow week-on-week in linear audience w...
11/04/2024
11 04 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and Meta launch fourth year of First...
10/04/2024
10 04 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces over $2.3 million for nine documentaries
Guardians of the River
Screen Australia has announced nine doc...
09/04/2024
Groundbreaking NITV documentary series Our Law expands across Australia from Thu...
09/04/2024
Techtel, the creators of inflo, today announced that a new speech to text transcription engine from openai called Whisper, is available to inflo customers who a...
04/04/2024
Manu Feildel, Miranda Otto and Pat Rafter join life-changing new season of Who D...
04/04/2024
Alone Australia season 2 continues to redefine Australian TV viewing through on-...
27/03/2024
Living Black, the longest-running Indigenous current affairs television program ...
26/03/2024
Crime is relative in SBS's new Canneseries nominated crime-family drama with...
25/03/2024
SBS gears up for Season 2 of Alone Australia with the creation of Alone Cologne...
22/03/2024
SBS Learn partners with the Islamic Museum of Australia to support classrooms in...
21/03/2024
21 03 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces over $1.6 million in support of the games industry
Which Way Up: Galaxy Games
Screen Australia has anno...
18/03/2024
18 03 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and VicScreen launch new Screen Careers initiative
LTR Denise Eriksen, Esther Coleman Hawkins, Caroline Pitcher, K...
15/03/2024
15 03 2024 - Media release The Creators 2024 Participants Announced
The Creators program recipients. L-R Thomas Duncan-Watt, Vanessa Gazy, Sarah Lambert, Lea...
14/03/2024
SBS to mark Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr with all Australians
14 March, 2024
Media releases
Content in 22 languages*, a collection of movies to stream free on d...
14/03/2024
March 14,2024
-- KDDI Corporation
KDDI Corporation resolved at a meeting of the Board of Directors held today to change (newly appointed, retire) a director ...
13/03/2024
13 03 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces dramas Critical Incident and Sunny Nights for Stan
Critical Incident: Akshay Khanna and Zoe Boe. Photo c...
07/03/2024
Explore the afterlife with SBS podcast Grave Matters'
6 March, 2024
Media releases
Most of us are woefully unprepared for one of life's few certai...
06/03/2024
Multi-award winning electronic music duo to represent Australia at this year'...
06/03/2024
Developing Lunar 3GPP Mobile Network Technologies for Moon Exploration
GITA...
04/03/2024
SBS announces new development fund to discover Australia's biggest and riski...
28/02/2024
Yumi Stynes returns for season two of SBS podcast SEEN'
26 February, 2024
Media releases
Eight new trailblazers join feminist Australian icon Yumi Sty...
28/02/2024
28 02 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces over $810,000 in development funding for 29 projects
Willy
Screen Australia has announced 23 feature fi...
27/02/2024
27 02 2024 - Media release Michael Ebeid AM appointed as new Screen Australia Chair
Michael Ebeid AM and Megan Brownlow
The Hon. Minister for the Arts, Tony...
26/02/2024
Supporting AFEELAs entertainment experience and global launch with a communicati...
21/02/2024
21 02 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and Australians in Film Announce App...
21/02/2024
Aiming to deliver new video-related solutions utilizing 5G SA this year
Son...
21/02/2024
Support the team with gifts while enjoying AR games in the stadium
KDDI COR...
21/02/2024
KDDI CORPORATION
February 21,2024
-- Tokyo, February 21, 2024 From February 2...
20/02/2024
KDDI CORPORATION
February 20,2024
-- KDDI announces that its consolidated subsidiary, SORACOM, INC. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, CEO: Ken Tamagawa, herei...
15/02/2024
Alone Australia Season 2 Returns 27 March | Meet the Cast
15 February, 2024
Media releases
Smash hit series Alone Australia returns Wednesday 27 March on S...
15/02/2024
NITV's flagship footy show Over the Black Dot returns Tuesday 5 March, live ...
15/02/2024
15 02 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces over $560,000 for crew and gamemaker skills programs
Liz Keogh Palmer (Australian Production Design Guil...
13/02/2024
2024 is a landmark year for SBS's award-winning current affairs line-up, cov...
13/02/2024
22 01 2024 - Media release Six Australian projects bound for South by Southwest Festival in the US
Audrey, Birdeater, The Moogai
Six Australian screen projec...
12/02/2024
12 02 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and YouTube Australia Launch Skip Ahead 9
Uncovering Street Dance: Australia from Skip Ahead 8. Photographed by Ry...
08/02/2024
08 02 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and ABC announce Bay of Fires is back for season two
Marta Dusseldorp as Stella in Bay of Fires
ABC, Screen Austr...
07/02/2024
4 in 10 Australians battling sleep issues as nation's sleep crisis grows
7 February, 2024
Media releases
Dr Michael Mosley and the sleep scientists fro...
06/02/2024
Six screen creatives selected for the 2024 SBS Emerging Writers' Incubator i...
02/02/2024
SBS Scripted TV Lunch sessions return for another year of connecting with creati...
02/02/2024
February 2,2024
-- KDDI Corporation
KDDI announced the financial results for the third quarter of the fiscal year ending March 2024.
Summary In the third q...
SBS and National Indigenous Television (NITV) have announced the appointment of two commissioning editors, with Bernadine Lim joining SBS as Commissioning Editor, Documentaries, and Marissa McDowell joining NITV as Commissioning Editor.
