Death Defying Acts

Gillian May Armstrong is an award-winning Australian director of feature films and documentaries. Born in Melbourne, Victoria, Gillian Armstrong grew up in the eastern suburb of Mitcham. She attended Swinburne Technical College with the intention of becoming a theatre costume designer, but it was... here she became increasingly interested in film. During this time, she was exposed to a range of artistic films that differentiated from the commercial cinema and Television she was used to . After graduating from her four years at art school in 1968, Armstrong was set on pursuing a career in film. She began making short films of 2-10 minutes, and started work as an assistant editor in a commercial film house, which lasted a year. In 1972 she entered, and later graduated from, the Australian Film Television and Radio School. She paid her tuition during this time through waitressing Following a string of small jobs within the Australian film industry, she achieved her first real directorial recognition through her short film The Singer and the Dancer which won an award at the Sydney Film Festival.
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