“Gullifer is clearly a talent to watch.”
Sunday Emerson Gullifer is an Australian writer-director based in Melbourne, drawn to ambitious, complicated characters and the social worlds that shape them. Her work combines psychological drama with dark humour, exploring power, status and belonging, and the tension between what people want, what they will tolerate and what those choices cost them.
She is currently developing the satirical drama THE PERFORMERS, which expands on themes first explored in TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, with support from Screen NSW and a three-month writing residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. She is also developing a broader slate of film and television projects.
Her short film TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW premiered internationally at Telluride Film Festival and was Highly Commended in the Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films at Sydney Film Festival. It won the Luggi Waldleitner Award for Best Screenplay at the Munich International Festival of Film Schools, Best Performance in an Australian Short Film at Flickerfest and Best Masters Narrative Production at the Victorian College of the Arts, and received an Australian Directors’ Guild Award nomination. The film later premiered online as a Vimeo Staff Pick and was selected by Short of the Week.
Her subsequent short BROKEN LINE NORTH was produced through the $50,000 Lexus Australia Short Film Fellowship, presented by Sydney Film Festival, where it had its world premiere. Her earlier short MEAT, supported by Metro Screen and Screen NSW, also received an Australian Directors’ Guild Award nomination and screened at festivals across Australia and internationally.
Alongside her writing and directing practice, Sunday has worked across film distribution, arts organisations and cultural institutions, giving her a close understanding of the creative and professional worlds she is drawn to on screen.
Sunday holds a Master of Film and Television (Narrative) from the Victorian College of the Arts, a Master of Media Arts and Production from the University of Technology Sydney, and a Bachelor of Arts in Performance Studies and American Studies from the University of Sydney. She has also taught screenwriting and story at the Australian Film Television and Radio School.