RISING TALENT 2024: PRODUCTION DESIGNERS

RISING TALENT 2024

The IF Rising Talent list for 2024 is made up of people we think will shift and lead our industry into the future. Some are newer faces, others have recently stepped into senior roles where they’re now making waves. We think you’ll want to work with all of them. We put this list together through a public call out and extensive insdustry outreach. This year, we had a staggering 692 names put forward. As always, this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of talent that’s out there in Australia.

PRODUCTION DESIGNERS

RUTH LEVI

Ruth Levi is a WAAPA graduate whose design work spans film, TV, advertising, stills photography, theatre and events.

As a production designer, her credits include Stan’s Dom and Adrian 2020, Bunya Entertainment’s Nice Shorts, short films The Hitchhiker and Let’s See How Fast This Baby Will Go, and ABC comedy series DAFUQ? and The Legend of Gavin Tanner, for which she was nominated for Best Production Design at the WA Screen Awards.

Her first feature film credit as a production designer was for Pinch, an independent production that won Best Film over commercial favourites at the 2015 WA Screen Awards.

As an art director, her credits include Nine’s After the Verdict, the second season of the ABC’s The Letdown, web series Patricia Moore and 10’s For Real.

Levi has worked with leading designers such as Roger Ford and Annie Beauchamp, and was recognised as a key contributor for her work on Three Thousand Years of Longing under set decorator Lisa Thompson at the 2023 Australian Production Design Guild Awards.

Most recently, Levi has focused on designing in the commercial space with production companies such as Photoplay, Powered Studios, Revolver, Brightworks, Rabbit, Elastic Studios, Infinity2, Chisel, Jungle Entertainment, Foxtel, The Creative Foundry, Heckler, Engineroom and Clemenger BBDO.

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ESTHER ROSENBERG

Esther Rosenberg is a Sydney-based production designer who has spent the past three years working between Sydney, Melbourne and Byron Bay.

Coming from a fine art background, Rosenberg honed her craft at the Julian Ashton Art School, where she was awarded the John Olsen Scholarship in 2014. She completed her studies at the Production Art Department under Wayne Haag and Tony Lovett.

Rosenberg’s credits as production designer include Wyrmwood: Apocalypse, for which she was nominated for the Australian Production Design Guild (APDG) Award for Best Design for a Feature Film, and Take My Hand and Fear Below, both in post-production. She also was nominated for an APDG Award for Best Design for a Commercial (2019) for her work on the Sydney Film Festival launch program and Emerging Designer for Screen for her set design on horror short Pseudomonas.

Rosenberg’s practice as a designer is informed by her art department experience, including work as props master Netflix’s Heartbreak High and as a storyboard artist on Sony’s Peter Rabbit 2. More recently, Rosenberg joined the creative team of SBS’s Safe Home as props master, and documentary The Australian Wars as set decorator.

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PERNELL MARSDEN

Pernell Marsden is a production designer who has worked in the film industry in Australia and the UK since 2012. She began her career assistant directing and in production departments, where she worked on productions for Disney and the BBC.

In 2019, she graduated with a Master of Production Design for Screen from VCA and in 2021 participated in the VicScreen professional attachment program, shadowing production designer Chris Kennedy on Paramount+ series Shantaram

In 2023, Marsden earned her first production design credit for a feature film on the upcoming Strange Creatures and later that year received the Australian Production Design Guild Award for Emerging Designer for a Screen Production for her work on the film Small.

Pernell was also production designer of the ABC short Namaste Yoga and art director on ABC’s The Search for the Palace Letters.

As a designer, Pernell most enjoys the unique collaboration between the director, cinematographer, production designer and costume designer in creating a film’s visual language. She is also passionate about designing with environmental impact and waste reduction in mind.

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EMILY JANSZ

Emily Jansz is a Sydney-based production designer working across film, television and TVCs.

Her AFTRS graduate short Mumlife premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022 as part of the La Cinef section. She was also production designer for TikTok series The Formal, as well as several short films.

Jansz has been working consistently in the art department since 2017, with credits including buyer/ dresser on The Artful Dodger, props buyer on Totally Completely Fine, as well as design assistant on Wellmania, The Office Australia and Critical Incident.

She is currently serving as an emerging designer representative on the Australian Production Design Guild’s National Executive, and is dedicated to positively contributing to the next generation of production designers whilst growing her skillset.

Jansz holds a Bachelor of Art (2017) and a Masters of Arts in Production Design (2021) from AFTRS.

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OCEA SELLAR

Ocea Sellar has worked freelance in art departments across film, commercials and television since 2012.

Her art department credits include Dirt Music, Breath, The Furnace and Stan’s Bump and The Other Guy, and she was the set decorator on feature film Long Story Short.

Sellar has served as a production designer on projects such as ABC web series comedy KGB, as well as several short films. She is currently in production on her debut feature as production designer, Zoe Pepper’s Birthright.