Heather Kirkpatrick
Heather Kirkpatrick has been a documentary filmmaker since 2011. She spent many years working as a professional outdoor instructor leading expeditions on every continent. This saw her climbing high mountains, raft guiding and leading month long leadership courses in the world’s most remote wilderness regions. Heather spent seven seasons teaching field survival skills in Antarctica.
She has also worked as an emergency logistician coordinating helicopter logistics as food was delivered to flood victims in Pakistan in 2010. Heather’s worldwide travels inspired her to study postgraduate journalism in 2004 after earlier degrees in Science and Outdoor Education.
Heather has independently produced and directed her debut feature length documentary Mary Meets Mohammad where she intimately followed Mary and Mohammad for 16 months in Tasmania. Mary Meets Mohammad received many film and media awards including:
- Walkley Award Finalist Documentary 2013 for excellence in journalism
- Winner United Nations Media Peace Prize – Special Award for Promotion of Multicultural Issues 2014
- Winner 2014 Migration Institute of Australia – Outstanding Coverage of Migration in the Media
- F4 Outstanding Documentary Talent Award finalist – Australian International Documentary Conference 2013
- Tasmanian Media Awards Winner – Best Feature, Documentary or Current Affairs 2014
- Winner Australia Day Council Award 2013 for Promotion of Muslim and Non-Muslim Understanding
- Finalist Australian Migration Council Media Award 2014 – Television
- Nomination Best Documentary Director – Australian Directors Guild 2014
- Winner Tasmanian Community Awards – Heather & Christopher Chong Outstanding Achiever Award 2013
