Gracie Otto

Gracie Otto is an accomplished Australian filmmaker and a graduate of Sydney Film School. Filmmaking is in her DNA - as a member of the Otto family of actors she has spent her life around creatives from all walks of life, which explains her varied credits as a director, writer, editor and actress. Her acclaimed debut feature documentary on British producer Michael White, The Last Impresario, premiered at the 2013 London Film Festival, featuring interviews with everyone from Kate Moss to John Cleese and Yoko Ono. Under the Volcano, her second feature documentary, produced by Cody Greenwood, will be screened at SXSW Festival and released by Universal Pictures UK. It celebrates the work of legendary Beatles music producer Sir George Martin, and Air Studios, the recording studio he built in the 1980s in the shadow of a volcano in the Caribbean, where the world's biggest recording artists, including Sting, Dire Straits, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Stevie Wonder and the Rolling Stones created the music and myths that defined the era. In 2020 Gracie made a very successful foray into television, directing multiple episodes of Stan's hit series Bump, with Claudia Karvan and a cast of young actors for producer John Edwards and Rough Diamond. Bump's critical and audience acclaim saw it immediately renewed for a second season. Gracie also directed the entire Season 2 of comedy series The Other Guy, starring Matt Okine and Harriet Dyer, which captivated audiences on Stan and Hulu. She is in post-production on her first feature, Seriously Red, a music-based Dolly Parton inspired dramedy, with Dollhouse Pictures, formed by Gracie with producer Jessica Carrera, with Rose Byrne and Krew Boylan who head an all-star cast that includes Bobby Cannavale, Daniel Webber, Celeste Barber and Jack Thompson. It will be distributed by Roadshow Pictures and Arclight in the US. Gracie is also in the process of filming a long-term personal documentary, Otto On Otto, based on her relationship with her 80-year-old father, legendary Australian actor Barry Otto. In 2019, after winning the North American Script Competition through Soho House in the US, Gracie directed, starred in and edited the bold short film, Desert Dash, filmed on location in Lightning Ridge NSW, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Gracie has always maintained an international presence with her work and abode. During her recent time in LA she made a short film with Sean Penn to promote his novel Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff, and was Associate Producer on Nick Broomfield's documentary Whitney Can I Be Me. She also fulfilled an ambition by completing four courses in Stand-Up Comedy and Improvisation at UCB, followed by a few exhilarating performances on the stand-up circuit that gave her an insight into comedic agility which she has applied to her directing work. Gracie is an in-demand director of TVCs. Working locally and internationally she has built an auteur driven brand with style and substance. In Australia, she works on many top advertising and commercials campaigns including a recent series of ads for iconic Australian underwear brand Bonds. Her fashion films are always visually and narratively inspiring, featuring the most famous international names in modelling and film including Gigi Hadid for Maybelline NYC, Selena Gomez, Elle Fanning, Amanda Seyfried, Elizabeth Debicki, Emilia Clarke, and supermodels Miranda Kerr, Abbey Lee and Barbara Palvin. Gracie has two feature films in development - Maybe the Moon, based on Armistead Maupin's audacious novel, that tells the story of Cady, a female heterosexual Jewish dwarf trying to carve out an acting career in Hollywood; and Girls In Hotels, a drama set in luxury hotels around the world, which is in development with Screen Australia's Gender Matters initiative.