RENOWNED MOTION PICTURE EDITOR JARRAH GURRIE HAS AN IMPRESSIVE ROLL CALL OF DIVERSE PROJECTS FROM FILM TO CONCERT VISUALS ACROSS THE WORLD. HE TELLS TESSA HAYWARD WHY HE RETURNED TO GEELONG AND WHAT’S NEXT ON THE AGENDA.
As appeared in the GT Magazine, Saturday 10th May 2025.
When Jarrah Gurrie starts listing some of the projects he has worked on as a motion picture editor, it’s hard not to be impressed.
From projects that have premiered at global festivals including Sundance,
Tribeca and Cannes; to multi-screen visuals at concerts for Madonna, Nicki Minaj and Ricky Martin; to commercial and branded edits for Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty and Grown Alchemist; Jarrah has a diverse portfolio.
When gt speaks with Jarrah, he is thrilled to be living back in Geelong, his hometown after two decades in America.
“The main reason we came home was for my daughter and where we wanted to bring her up,” he says from the Belmont home he shares with his husband and eight-year-old daughter.
The family returned to Melbourne in early 2020, at the start of Covid and quickly realised Geelong was a better destination when lockdowns were enforced.
“It was very different coming back after spending so much time away and I appreciate the things about Geelong that I didn’t appreciate when I grew up here,” Jarrah says, adding his parents are still here.
“I had an amazing childhood and went to a great school and had great friends but I always wanted to leave. It was less to do with Geelong but more with me wanting to explore the world. “
Jarrah fondly remembers telling his drama teacher at The Geelong College that he wanted to be an actor when he finished high school.
She told him ‘You’re not an actor, you’re a director’ and he thinks perhaps she saw the control freak in him. From that moment on, Jarrah immersed himself in the film world and studied an arts program at the University of Melbourne.
“I was making films with my friends on weekends, we would shoot mini documentaries and we really cut our teeth that way,” he recalls.
“I also learned how to use all the computer programs I still use to this day. “
It was during this time a film shootout was run in Geelong and Jarrah and his mates made a film and entered and won. This is what made Jarrah think that this could potentially be a job.
He used the film to apply for a film school in Australia and a film school in
New York. He was accepted into the highly prestigious Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. And ironically, the film was about a kid who went to New York.
“I think even if I hadn’t got in, I still would have gone and figured it out,” Jarrah says, his love of New York obvious.
After always being drawn to the city that never sleeps, Jarrah got to live his dream and become who he was really meant to be.
“I miss my community and my network. I spent 20 years building relationships with people, creative and social relationships, I miss that support network there,” he says.
But he is hoping to build a similar community now that he is settled in Geelong.
“One of the most important things about filmmaking that I’ve learnt is that close community is going to allow you to make the things you want to make and they are the ones that are going to give you your next job,” he explains.
“Probably 99-9 per cent of my jobs were from someone I knew at film school or at a film festival or someone I’d done a freebie for. I can trace back all of my jobs to maybe two to three people some way, shape or form. “
And Jarrah’s work is extremely diverse. He admits to enjoying dipping his toes into different sorts of things to keep it fresh.
“They each fulfil a different kind of desire in me,” he smiles.
When he does a concert visual, like he has for Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Ricky Martin and Cirque de Soleil’s MJ One residency in Vegas, he says it is like throwing paint at the wall and it is time to have fun. It has to look cool but it doesn’t have to make sense.
Whereas when he does a documentary or film that is serious. His credits include Cowboys, The Chair and Hotseat, all of which premiered at the earlier mentioned festivals.
It also depends on the job as to whether he is on location or not. The majority of the time it is remote and he works from the comfort of his Belmont home, but sometimes if it is a long job he will be on location.
“With the Cirque de Soleil job I started that job in the spare bedroom here and then went to Vegas for six weeks to finish the job and install it,” he says.
Branded content, like he has done for Selena Gomez’s brand Rare Beauty, is all done remotely.
Jarrah’s favourite part of the job is the collaboration. He loves sitting in a room with other creatives and working things out. He also loves seeing people’s reaction to his work.
His least favourite part is getting all the footage sent to him and he says that “starting is the hardest part”.
On his computer at the moment is work for a documentary with a Melbourne filmmaker and more work for Selena Gomez.
“I’m trying to take some time off this month to refocus on my own projects. I’ve been so busy the past few years, it’s been too long since I’ve done my own stuff,” he admits.
“I feel like the ideas are exploding out of my head. I really want to make something here in Geelong. I need to be disciplined about setting some time aside to make something on my own. “
Jarrah will also be speaking at a Geelong Waterfront Film Foundation event later this month. He says a foundation like that is essential.
“With film you can only do so much on your own, collaboration and associating yourself with people who are like-minded will always make your work better,” he says.
And he is still planning on achieving so much more in his career.
“Hopefully I’ll be working on something in Italy next year. But the funny thing is even if I’m in Italy or Vegas, I’m still in a dark room with monitors. It brings me back to earth,” he laughs.
Tickets to hear Jarrah speak at the Geelong Waterfront Film Foundation ‘s event on May 28 are available now.
Event Details:
When: Wednesday 28th May | 6pm – 8pm
Where: Barwon Club, Moorabool Street Geelong
Tickets: Available at Eventbrite
Friends of Geelong Waterfront Film (paid-up): $15
General Admission: $25
Enjoy finger foods thanks to our generous sponsor Bayview Tech
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