In this vibrant portrayal of Australian adolescence, Greta Driscoll's bubble of obscure loserdom is burst when her parents throw her a surprise 15th birthday party and invite the whole school! Perfectly content being a wallflower, suddenly Greta's flung far from her comfort zone into a distant, parallel place -- a strange world that’s a little frightening and a lot weird, but only there can she find herself. Equal measures Wes Anderson and Lewis Carroll, GIRL ASLEEP is an enchanting journey into the absurd -- and sometimes scary -- depths of the teenage mind.
Bethany Whitmore - Greta
After wrapping GIRL ASLEEP, Bethany commenced filming on THE FAMILY LAW for SBS Television, penned by author Benjamin Law and produced by NBC’s Matchbox Pictures.
Bethany’s feature film debut came with PJ Hogan’s MENTAL, opposite Toni Collette, Anthony LaPaglia and Rebecca Gibney. At only six years old, she scored the role of Jaden in the US miniseries THE STARTER WIFE playing Debra Messing’s daughter. She also voiced the eight- year old Mary Daisy Dinkle in MARY AND MAX, the animated feature film from Oscar-winning director Adam Elliott, which debuted at Sundance Film Festival.
Bethany has studied drama at NIDA, St Martins Youth Theatre and TAFTA. She has appeared in several short films and theatre productions, most notably CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF for Melbourne Theatre Company.
Harrison Feldman - Elliott
Harrison is best known to television audiences as the slack-jawed Oscar Bright on ABC’s UPPER MIDDLE BOGAN, for which he received a 2014 Logie nomination in the category of Most Popular New Talent. He received his first taste of performance for TV by accident when he was ‘pranked’ by his best friend on the popular children’s comedy PRANK PATROL and from there has thrown himself into the world of comedy and acting with passion and enthusiasm, recently attracting the interest of major US-based management.
Matthew Whittet - Conrad, Abject Man
Matthew has worked as an actor for the past 17 years, where he has performed extensively across Australia for companies such as Windmill Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company, Malthouse, Belvoir, Bell Shakespeare Company and State Theatre Company of South Australia, with directors such as Rosemary Myers, Neil Armfield, Barrie Kosky, Benedict Andrews and Michael Kantor. His film credits include: THE GREAT GATSBY, SLEEPING BEAUTY, AUSTRALIA, YOU CAN’T STOP THE MURDERS and MOULIN ROUGE. His television credits include: RETURN TO DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND, MABO, BANANAS IN PAJAMAS, SPIRITED, MY PLACE, SEA PRINCESS, SEA PATROL and ALL SAINTS.
Amber McMahon - Janet, Frozen Woman
Amber McMahon is an award-winning actor who has worked extensively in theatre for the past 12 years. She graduated from Flinders University Drama Centre in 2002 and has since worked across the country and abroad with a host of leading companies including Melbourne Theatre Company, Malthouse Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir Theatre, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Queensland Theatre Company and Windmill Theatre.
Amber’s most recent theatre credits include Melbourne Theatre Company’s NORTH BY NORTHWEST, Windmill Theatre’s GIRL ASLEEP, and SCHOOL DANCE, for which she won the 2013 Helpmann Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Play. She was also a founding member of Sydney Theatre Company’s Actors Ensemble, appearing in several productions including THE WAR OF THE ROSES, GALLIPOLI, THE LOST ECHO and THE SEASON AT SARSAPARILLA.
Amber has written stand up for corporate, political and creative events as her character Audrey.
Eamon Farren - Adam, Benoit Tremet
Eamon Farren graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 2007 and has worked extensively in film, television and theatre.
In film, Eamon has played the role of Jimmy in LUCKY COUNTRY, directed by Kriv Stenders; the role of Roo in BLESSED, directed by Ana Kokkinos; the role of Dave in RED DOG; the role of Harry in the Australian film “X”, directed by Jon Hewitt; the lead role of Rabbit in the US feature film CHAINED, also starring Vincent D’Onofrio and Julia Ormond, and directed by Jennifer Lynch; the role of Patrick in the John Duigan film CARELESS LOVE; the lead role of DEAN in LOVE IS NOW, written and directed by Jim Lounsbury and also starring Claire van der Boom and Anna Torv; the role of Luke in LION, directed by Garth Davies and also starring Rooney Mara, Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman; and the role of Adam in GIRL ASLEEP, the feature film debut of renowned theatre director Rosemary Myers.
In television, Eamon has worked on numerous productions including Steven Spielberg’s THE PACIFIC; THE KILLING FIELD; and most recently the role of Ava in CARLOTTA, directed by Samantha Lang. Eamon’s performance saw him win the 2015 AACTA Award as Best Supporting Actor in a Television Drama.
Eamon has worked for the leading Australian theatre companies, appearing in productions for Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir Theatre Company, Windmill Theatre Company and Griffin Theatre Company.
Eamon appeared on stage in Sydney Theatre Company’s THE PRESENT, directed by John Crowley and also starring Cate Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh, in August 2015.
Tilda Cobham-Hervey - The Huldra
Tilda’s portrayal of “Billie” in the feature film 52 TUESDAYS is widely considered one of the breakout performances from the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Variety called her “a thoroughly beguiling newcomer blessed with offbeat beauty and natural charm,” and the film went on to win the award for Best Director in the World Dramatic Competition. Tilda’s second feature, ONE EYED GIRL, sees her playing the title character in this cinematic thriller, also released in 2015. In October, Tilda plays the role of The Huldra in director Rosemary Myers’ GIRL ASLEEP, which premieres at the 2015 Adelaide Film Festival. Later this year, Tilda will make her television debut in the much-anticipated mini-series THE KETTERING INCIDENT, alongside Elizabeth Debicki and Matthew Le Nevez.
Imogen Archer - Genevieve
Imogen studied jazz and classical ballet for 12 years and her education as a music/drama student supports her career as an actor.
Recent success includes playing Jasmine in the acclaimed feature film, 52 TUESDAYS, directed by Sophie Hyde. Filming took place over the course of a year and Imogen’s role, while confronting, utilised the range of her acting abilities.
Maiah Stewardson - Jade
Maiah’s major theatre performances include THE READING (2009) and THE VISITORS (2012) for Urban Myth Theatre as well as FAME (2012) and BYE BYE BIRDIE (2014) for her school. Maiah is also a passionate musician and has been involved in productions including the International Police Tattoo, as well as Stari Most, Bernstein’s MASS and THE LORD OF THE RINGS with Young Adelaide Voices and the ASO.
Jan Bijvoet - Theo
Jan Bijvoet was born in Antwerp in 1966. He has been one of the artistic directors and actors of the Antarctica Theater since 2005. He has also performed in film and television, guest-starring in a number of series. He has starred in the films AD FUNDUM, THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN (Academy® Award nominee), and BORGMAN (Official Selection – Competition, Cannes 2013). In 2007, he was nominated for the Flemish Culture Award of Scenic Arts. Referring to the German explorer who was the inspiration for his character, he reflects that even though Grünberg tried to integrate with the native people, he could not let go of his white spirit. “He had the western way of thinking, and he wanted to carry hundreds of things to study. Love is possession, too. He is also afraid of death. He doesn’t understand why, but it’s because deep down, he is a materialist since his formation, even though he tries to drift away from it.”
Brionne Davis - Evan
Brionne Davis was born in Texas and started acting at a very early age, playing Tom Sawyer. He has starred and taken leading roles in more than 30 independent feature length and short films and television series, including REST STOP: DON’T LOOK BACK (2008), DOROTHY AND THE WITCHES OF OZ (2012), Pandemic (2007), NARCISSIST (2014), SAVAGED (2013), and HOLIDAYS WITH HEATHER (2006). In New York, Brionne starred in the Theatre Row adaptation of Sam Shepard’s “True West.” He has appeared in many theater productions all across the country, including “Wallenburg” at the Soho Playhouse, “A Noble Exile” in Los Angeles and “Nueva York,” a one-man show that he wrote  and produced, inspired by the writings of Tennessee Williams. Davis’ character “Evan” in EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT was inspired by the great botanist and explorer Richard Evans Schultes, and he feels close to him in his love of and search for plants and nature.
Antonio Bolívar Savador - Old Karamakate
Antonio Bolívar Salvador is one of the last survivors of the Ocaina people. He resides near Leticia and has had some previous experiences in filmmaking, but he prefers not to speak about them because he feels that they were disrespectful to his culture. Besides playing one of the main characters, he also served as interpreter for the Tikuna, Cubeo, Huitoto languages and even English, as he became the teacher of the international actors. He represents the best of the Amazonian people: willing to trust foreigners, to transmit their knowledge and thankful to be treated respectfully. That’s the most important aspect of the film to him: “It is a film that shows the Amazon, the lungs of the world, the greater purifying filter and the most valuable of indigenous cultures. That is its greatest achievement.”
Nilbio Torres - Young Karamakate
Nilbio Torres has never set foot in a gym; his amazing physique has been sculpted by the hardships of the jungle and the hard work he’s done since he was little. The 30- year-old has only worked in agriculture and this is his first experience with the cinema. He has a hard time expressing himself in Spanish, as he speaks mostly Cubeo. But he manages to find words to tell what this experience has meant to him. He feels the film is faithful to the story of his ancestors. “What Ciro is doing with this film is an homage to the memory of our elders, in the time before: the way the white men treated the natives, the rubber exploitation. I’ve asked the elders how it was and it is as seen in the film, that’s why we decided to support it. For the elders and myself it is a memory of the ancestors and their knowledge.”
Yauenkü Miguee - Manduca
Yauenkü Miguee was born and raised in Nazareth, a Tikuna community of the Amazon, 26 years ago. He is now a student of physical education in Bogotá and is about to achieve his greatest goal: to become a professional. He defines his participation in the film as a new experience in his life, this time from the field of art and corporal expression, which reinforced his thinking and showed him how to see life from different perspectives. He believes this film should be shared not only with the people of the locations, but all across the country, with all the indigenous peoples in Leticia and the Amazon, with the leaders, in schools and universities. He is the voice of many Manducas, a voice that, far away from the so-called civilization, cries out for a more civilized attitude towards Colombia’s indigenous communities.
Rosemary Myers - Director
Rosemary Myers is the Artistic Director of Windmill Theatre, an award-winning national performing arts company based in Adelaide, South Australia.
Her directing credits for Windmill include the multi-award winning PINOCCHIO, THE WIZARD OF OZ, FUGITIVE, SCHOOL DANCE, BIG BAD WOLF and GIRL ASLEEP. A multi-Helpmann Award nominated director, her productions regularly visit leading stages and festivals around Australia and the world, including the Sydney Opera House, Melbourne’s International Comedy Festival and New York City’s New Victory Theatre.
Prior to Windmill, Rosemary was the Artistic Director of Arena Theatre Company and also the Artistic Director of Queensland Performing Arts Centre’s Out of the Box Festival in 2010. Rosemary has worked independently for ABC Television, Back to Back Theatre Company, Victorian College of the Arts, Queensland Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company. In 2006, she was a Creative Director for the Melbourne Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony.
GIRL ASLEEP is Rosemary’s feature film debut.
Matthew Whittet - Writer
Matthew is an actor and writer who has worked extensively in theatre, film and television for the past 17 years. Matt’s first play TWELVE was workshopped at the National Playwrights Conference in Perth, 2006. His second was SILVER, directed by Ben Winspear for Belvoir downstairs in which he also performed solo. In 2010 two further plays premiered in Adelaide; FUGITIVE (Windmill) and HARBINGER (Brink Productions) beginning what has become an ongoing creative bond with the city and its audiences. In the same year, Matt was the Philip Parsons Young Playwright Award recipient sparking the development of the play OLD MAN which premiered downstairs in Belvoir’s 2012 season. Matt’s collaboration with Windmill has resulted in four plays with GIRL ASLEEP being the most recent. Its predecessors are the Helpmann and Sydney Theatre Awards-winning SCHOOL DANCE and BIG BAD WOLF. The trilogy of SCHOOL DANCE, FUGITIVE and GIRL ASLEEP ran concurrently at the 2014 Adelaide Festival. Matt’s two hander CINDERELLA garnered outstanding reviews at the close of 2014 in the Belvoir downstairs space and his most recent play SEVENTEEN premieres in the upstairs theatre in 2015 . Matt was among the seven Sidney Myer Creative Fellows chosen in 2012.
GIRL ASLEEP is Matt’s first screenplay for a feature film.
Jo Dyer - Producer
Jo’s debut film, Michael James Rowland’s LUCKY MILES was released in 2007 and won awards including the Audience Award for Best Film at Sydney Film Festival and the Special Jury Prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. LUCKY MILES was also nominated for Best Film and Best Screenplay at the 2007 AFI and IF Awards and alongside co-producer Lesley Dyer, Jo was honoured with the Best Producer award at the Asian First Awards. Her follow up film, Michael Kantor’s THE BOY CASTAWAYS premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival in 2014 and on ABC television after a national release, before premiering internationally in 2015. Jo also contributed a chapter to the acclaimed feature anthology Tim Winton’s THE TURNING, which premiered nationally at the 2013 Melbourne Film Festival and internationally at the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival.
Andrew Commis, ACS - Director of Photography
Andrew’s previous film THE ROCKET, won the Crystal Bear at the 2013 Berlin Film Festival, and Best Feature Film at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival. THE ROCKET also won Best Feature Film at the 2014 Film Critics Circle of Australia (FCCA) Awards and was nominated for 12 Australian Academy of Cinema & Television Arts (AACTA) Awards including Best Film and Best Cinematography.
Andrew’s debut feature BEAUTIFUL KATE premiered at Toronto in 2010 and received the prestigious Milli Award from the Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) as the 2010 Cinematographer of the Year. The film received 10 Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards nominations including Best Film and Best Cinematography and also won the 2009 IF Award for Best Cinematography.
Andrew also shot the Emmy and BAFTA-nominated and AACTA award-winning television series THE SLAP, and received the ACS Award of Distinction for his work on the 2015 AACTA-winning television series DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND. His numerous documentary credits include A NORTHERN TOWN, winner of the 2008 AFI Award for Best Cinematography in a Documentary.
Andrew’s most recent feature film THE DAUGHTER, selected for the 2015 Venice and 2015 Toronto Film Festivals and starring Geoffrey Rush, will be released theatrically in 2016.
Jonathon Oxlade - Production & Costume Designer
Jonathon studied illustration and sculpture at Queensland College of Art, and since leaving he has trained with Kid Praha in the Czech Republic focussing on puppetry. As a theatre designer Jonathon has designed set and costumes for Queensland Theatre Company, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Circa, Kooemba Jdarra, Zen Zen Zo, Arena Theatre Company, Polyglot, Bell Shakespeare, Polytoxic, Men of Steel, Real TV Project, The Escapists, The Border Project and LaBoite Theatre. Venues and festivals include Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Festival, Brisbane Festival, Adelaide Fringe, Sydney Theatre Company, The Malthouse and Queensland Art Gallery. As an illustrator he illustrated the picture book The Empty City for Hachette Livre/Lothian, the Edie Amelia series by Sophie Lee and was the Festival Designer for the 2010 Out of the Box Festival. For Windmill Theatre, Jonathon has designed BOOM BAH!, GRUG, THE WIZARD OF OZ, FUGITIVE, ESCAPE FROM PELIGRO ISLAND, SCHOOL DANCE, GIRL ASLEEP, BIG BAD WOLF, GRUG AND THE RAINBOW and PINOCCHIO.
GIRL ASLEEP is Jonathon’s first production design for film.
Karryn De Cinque - Editor
In 1993 Karryn De Cinque realised the fastest way to get her break as an editor was to apply for funding to direct a short film... and then hire herself to cut it! MICHELLE’S THIRD NOVEL was selected to open the 32nd New York Film Festival, screening before the US premiere of Quentin Tarantino’s PULP FICTION.
Since graduating in 1999 from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, Karryn has worked primarily in documentary, winning numerous awards and receiving multiple nominations from the Australian Screen Editors Association, as well as a 2015 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television (AACTA) nomination for best editing in a Feature Documentary for her work on TENDER, directed by Lynette Wallworth.
Karryn has also cut more than 20 short films, and her latest work NULLA NULLA was recently nominated for a Crystal Bear at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival, and an AACTA Award for best short film.
GIRL ASLEEP is Karryn’s first feature drama.
