Sarah-Jane Woulahan is an award-winning video artist and film director recognised for her bold visual style, innovative use of technology, and distinctive storytelling across diverse moving image genres, including drama, dance film, documentaries, and immersive video. Her work often delves into speculative futures, socio-political themes, and the exploration of truth through the lens of autofiction.
Her short narrative films, such as Object of My Disaffection, A Terrible Beauty, Acts of God, I Love Like Blood, and Ward of State, have screened at festivals including South by Southwest, Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), Adelaide Film Festival, Rhode Island Film Festival, Warsaw Film Festival, Milan International Film Festival, Flickerfest, Sedona International Film Festival, and many more. Acts of God was selected for the MIFF Accelerator program for emerging feature filmmakers in 2014, while Ward of State won Best Film at the 2015 Australian Dance Awards. Both A Terrible Beauty and Object of My Disaffection premiered at MIFF and screened at numerous international festivals. The feature-length adaptation of A Terrible Beauty was developed with funding from Screen Australia’s Gender Matters Brilliant Stories initiative.
Her latest work, The Human Algorithm, is a half-hour experimental documentary that delves into the impact of AI on human behaviour told through generative AI technologies. Funded by the Community Broadcasting Foundation, it was showcased at the ACMI Audience Lab in August 2024. The project is currently being expanded into a multi-channel, generative video installation.
Sarah-Jane is a cross-media auteur and pioneer known for creating multi-platform projects that blend video, live performance, and online interaction across narrative, documentary, political, and comedic genres. Notable projects include her role as video director for Seven Stories, a 75-minute art video collaboration with seven female composers and Ensemble Offspring for Vivid Sydney. She also created a short-form video work for the Interspecies and Other Others exhibition at Abbotsford Convent, which combined surreal performance with political themes. Additionally, she co-created the satirical short-form series Forlorn Gaze, featured on ABC TV and nominated for an AACTA in Screen Content Innovation for its groundbreaking use of multi-platform media to weave fictional narratives into real-world events. From 2009 to 2011, she served as the creative director for Falls TV, overseeing over 60 creatives in producing live recordings, VJ performances, on-ground video production, and live interviews at the Falls Festival.
Sarah-Jane has also directed ARIA-winning and MTV-nominated music videos for some of Australia’s most recognised musicians, including Silverchair, Missy Higgins, Clare Bowditch, and The Living End.
She is nearing the completion of a PhD at RMIT, where her research focuses on adapting film language from 2D to narrative live-action virtual reality. She currently combines her art practice with teaching studios in immersive video at RMIT Digital Media.
hello@sarahjanewoulahan.com / instagram @sabotage.distance
