Colleen Strangways is a South Australian Arabana and Northern Territory Mudbura Warlpiri woman, award winning photographer, and emerging filmmaker.
Already recognised at both international and national levels for her photography work under Nharla Photography, Colleen has recently made the transition into filmmaking, attending the CAAMA Web Series Workshop as part of joint initiative CENTRALISED which she found incredibly valuable in her growth as a filmmaker In 2023 was part of the Screen Australia digital originals and in 2024 is a writer-director in the SAFC shorts.
She is committed to showcasing her culture by telling stories through an Aboriginal lens Colleen has been awarded the 2018 NAIDOC business of the year and was a winner of the Gladis Eplick award in 2019.
Colleen has produced and filmed short documentaries for her Arabana families in regards to language , a Welcome to Country video to be shown at Aboriginal athletics SA and a documentary for South Australian health organization Nunkuwarrin Yunti, and in recent months an documentary about the stolen generation.
In addition to writing and directing, Colleen is passionate about emerging technologies in storytelling. She was selected for the inaugural Centralised VR Lab at Adelaide Studios, where she began exploring immersive formats to expand the ways Indigenous stories can be shared with the world. Colleen has a keen interest in emerging storytelling technologies, particularly virtual reality (VR). She directed and produced Arabana Songlines, a groundbreaking 360-degree VR film that immerses viewers in the heart of Arabana country, Kati Thanda (Lake Eyre). This collaborative project, presented during Tarnanthi 2021, allows audiences to sit with Elders as they share knowledge of kutha (water), the giver of life, and hear the endangered Arabana language spoken.
In May 2025, Colleen was selected for the Seeding Storytellers program through Screenworks and the Australian Writers’ Guild. The program provided intensive training in note-taking, script coordinating and the basics of a writers’ room, conducted over three day-long online workshops led by industry experts Catherine Kelleher and Terence McCarthy.
