LUMILA FILMS

Lumila Films is an Australian production company founded by award-winning filmmaker Allanah Zitserman, creating distinctive film and television with bold visual worlds, compelling characters and a particular focus on female-led stories.

Lumila produced Bruce Beresford’s Ladies in Black, released globally by Sony Pictures in 2018. Set in 1959 Sydney and told through the lives of women across generations, the film was the highest-grossing Australian film at the domestic box office that year and one of the most celebrated Australian releases of all time. Its success led Allanah Zitserman to conceive and executive produce the television adaptation Ladies in Black for the ABC.

Lumila is currently developing a slate of original film and television projects centred predominantly on complex female protagonists, from intimate contemporary stories to ambitious historical worlds. Across its work, Lumila is interested in emotionally resonant storytelling, distinctive cinematic language and finding unexpected ways for audiences to experience a story.

ALLANAH ZITSERMAN
Creative Director, Lumila Films

Allanah Zitserman is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, director and producer, and the founder of Lumila Films. Across more than two decades, her career has moved between filmmaking, creative entrepreneurship and championing original Australian stories.

Her screen career began straight out of university with a production role on Strange Planet (1999), starring Naomi Watts. A year later, she wrote and produced her debut feature, Russian Doll (2000), starring Hugo Weaving and David Wenham, winning the AFI Award for Best Original Screenplay. She went on to write and produce the black comedy Horseplay (2003), featuring Abbie Cornish.

In 2007, Allanah founded the Dungog Film Festival, which became one of Australia’s most prominent celebrations of Australian cinema and was dubbed “Australia’s Sundance.” The festival won the 2012 Inside Film Award for Best Film Festival.

Alongside Dungog, Allanah created and led the development initiative In The Raw, supporting filmmakers and projects at a formative stage. Works developed through the program went on to become acclaimed Australian features including Last Cab to Darwin, Sleeping Beauty, Strangerland, starring Nicole Kidman, and The Little Death. She also founded a boutique distribution company dedicated to Australian independent cinema, securing theatrical releases for local films in multiplexes around the country.

Allanah returned to feature production with Ladies in Black (2018), directed by Bruce Beresford and released globally by Sony Pictures. The film became a major Australian box-office success and an enduring audience favourite. Allanah subsequently conceived and executive produced its television adaptation for the ABC.

Through Lumila Films, Allanah is now developing an ambitious slate of film and television projects driven by distinctive characters, bold visual worlds and predominantly female protagonists. Her work increasingly explores the space between narrative cinema and other art forms, while retaining the emotional storytelling that has defined her career from the beginning.