From Melbourne’s grungy film warehouses in the early 2000s to New York and the glittering stages of Las Vegas, Geelong-based filmmaker Jarrah Gurrie has carved a truly unique path through the world of screen storytelling.
Now living back in Geelong Jarrah is a motion picture editor and director whose career spans continents, formats, and genres.
He has worked on projects that have premiered at global festivals including Sundance, Tribeca, Cannes, Outfest, and Palm Springs.
Jarrah’s early years were spent deeply immersed in Melbourne’s experimental film scene, a creative playground that shaped his cinematic instincts and storytelling style. From there, he launched himself into the US industry, where his editing and directing talents were quickly recognised.
His credits include Cowboys (Tribeca FF, Outfest), The Chair (Best Short at SXSW and in competition at Cannes), Hotseat (Sundance), and The Impossibilities — a Gotham Awards nominee for Best Shortform Series. Add to that his work on Five Dances (Palm Springs) and Pete Smalls is Dead (Slamdance), and you start to see the breadth of his experience.
Jarrah’s bold visual style has also lit up some of the world’s biggest concert stages – creating multiscreen visuals for the likes of Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Ricky Martin, and Cirque du Soleil’s MJ One residency in Vegas. His commercial and branded portfolio includes edits for Rare Beauty, Grown Alchemist, and Visit Victoria.
A dual Iris Prize nominee for his short films These Empty Streets (shot on the Surf Coast) and Center of the Universe, Jarrah is drawn to stories that explore LGBTQI and culturally diverse voices – stories he believes deserve greater representation on
screen.
A pivotal moment in Jarrah’s early career came right here in Geelong. The City of Greater Geelong ran a number of 24-hour film shootouts in the early 2000s. He won the competition twice, in collaboration with art school cohorts Genevieve Bailey (now an award-winning documentarian) and Gavin Youngs (a commercial director based in Europe.) Reflecting on the 2007 Geelong Shootout, Jarrah says: “The Geelong film shootout was pivotal for me. Our success there allowed me to think of filmmaking as not just a side hustle, but a serious career. It was the short we made at the Shootout, that got me into the prestigious New York Tisch School of Film & TV. And from there… I’ve been busy ever since.”
Now back on home turf, Jarrah is developing his own feature projects in both Australia and the U.S.
