# Tania Nehme

Tania Nehme (born September 1966) is an Australian film editor. She has edited a number of films directed by Rolf de Heer and won and been nominated for many awards for her editing work.

## Early life and education

Tania Nehme was born in September 1966 and is from South Australia.
She graduated from the Flinders Drama Centre at Flinders University in Adelaide in 1983, and in 1990 gained an AFTRS Certificate from the Australian Film Television and Radio School.

## Career

Nehme has worked as a film editor since 1986. She began her career by working on commercials, documentaries, and short drama films.
While studying at AFTRS in 1989, she edited a short film called Once In Time, directed by Isou Morimoto, which earned a nomination in the 1991 AFI Awards.
In 1995 she edited her first feature film, Rolf de Heer's Epsilon, and went on to several more of De Heer's films, including The Quiet Room (1996), Dance Me to My Song (1998),The Old Man Who Read Love Stories (2001; released 2004), The Tracker (2002) and Alexandra's Project (2003). After their collaboration on Ten Canoes (2006), she also edited a documentary about the making of the film, called The Balanda And The Bark Canoes. Both films won awards. In collaboration with de Heer, Molly Reynolds, and the Yolngu people of the Arafura Swamp, she worked on Twelve Canoes, a spin-off educational project made for television. Also for De Heer, along with directors Martin Butler and Bentley Dean, she edited the 2012 comedy drama The King is Dead.
She also edited Richard Flanagan's 1998 film adaptation of his novel, The Sound Of One Hand Clapping.
In 2007 Nehme edited a silent feature film Dr. Plonk.
In 2009, she edited the award-winning documentary feature Contact, directed by Martin Butler and Bentley Dean, which tells the story of 20 Martu people who in 1964 became the last people in the Great Sandy Desert to have come into contact with Europeans.
She edited Tanna (released 2015) which was Nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards in 2017, and the 2016 documentary about Liz Jackson, A Sense of Self.
In 2022 she edited Matt Vesely's debut feature, the sci-fi thriller Monolith, for which her work drew praise from reviewers.
She edited Sally Aitken's 2024 documentary feature Every Little Thing, which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
Apart from feature films, she worked on Barron Television children's series Chuck Finn, the SBS Australia documentary Kumarangk 5214, and a short feature funded by the Australian Film Commission called The 13th House. In 2013, she edited the four-episode documentary series First Footprints, directed by Martin Butler and Bentley Dean and narrated by Ernie Dingo, which premiered on 14 July 2013 on ABC Television. The series won the Walkley Documentary Award in 2013.

## Other activities

Nehme was on the jury at the 2018 Adelaide Film Festival, along with Madeleine Parry and Larissa Behrendt.
In 2020 she was a guest lecturer at a 5-day development workshop called the Aboriginal Short Film Initiative, run by filmmakers Beck Cole and Warwick Thornton at South Australian Film Corporation's Adelaide Studios.

## Recognition and awards

* 1991: Nominated, AFI Award for her work on the 1989 short drama film Once in a Time
* 2002: Nominated, Best Editor, AFI Awards, for The Tracker
* 2002: Nominated, Best Editing for Film, Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards, for The Tracker
* 2003: Nominated, Best Editing for Film, Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards, for Alexandra's Project
* 2003: Nominated, Best Editor, AFI Awards, for Alexandra's Project
* 2004: Winner, IF Award for Best Editing, for The Old Man Who Read Love Stories
* 2004: Nominated, Best Editor, AFI Award, for The Old Man Who Read Love Stories
* 2004: Nominated, Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards 2004, for The Old Man Who Read Love Stories
* 2006: Winner, AFI Award for Best Editing for Ten Canoes
* 2006: Winner, Best Editing, Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards for Ten Canoes
* 2006: Winner, Best Documentary at the Critics Circle Awards, shared with Rolf de Heer and Molly Reynolds, for The Balanda And The Bark Canoes
* 2017: Winner, Walkley Documentary Award in the Walkley Awards, for A Sense of Self; awarded to Liz Jackson, Martin Butler, Bentley Dean, and Tania Nehme
* 2021: Winner, AFTRS Award for Best Editing in a Short Drama at the Ellie Awards, Australian Screen Editors, for Ayaan
* 2021: Nominated, Dendy Award for Australian Short Film at the Sydney Film Festival, for Ayaan
* 2021: Winner, Best Editing in the AACTA Awards, for My Name Is Gulpilil.

## Selected filmography

| Year | Film | Director | Notes |
| 1989 | Once in a Time | Isao Morimoto | Short drama film |
| 1995 | Epsilon | Rolf de Heer | |
| 1996 | The Quiet Room | Rolf de Heer | |
| 1997 | Almost Alien | Rolf de Heer | |
| 1998 | The Sound of One Hand Clapping | Richard Flanagan | |
| 1998 | Dance Me to My Song | Rolf de Heer | |
| 2001 | Heather Rose Goes to Cannes | Chris Corin | Documentary |
| 2002 | The Tracker | Rolf de Heer | Best Editor nominations at 2002 AFI Awards and Film Critics Circle Awards; also nominated as part of the sound team |
| 2003 | Alexandra's Project | Rolf de Heer | Best Editor nominations at the 2003 AFI and Film Critics Circle Awards; also nominated as part of the sound team |
| 2003 | The 13th House | Shane McNeil | |
| 2004 | The Old Man Who Read Love Stories | Rolf de Heer | Winner, Best Editor at the IF Awards; nominations for Best Editing at the Film Critic's Circle and AFI Awards |
| 2006 | Ten Canoes | Rolf de Heer | 7th feature film with Rolf de Heer; AFI Award for Best Editing; Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards 2006, Best Editing |
| 2007 | Dr. Plonk | Rolf de Heer | Feature |
| 2007 | Done Dirt Cheap | Debbie Carmody | TV short |
| 2008 | Casualties of War | Jeni Lee | Documentary |
| 2009 | Jacob | Dena Curtis | Short Drama |
| 2009 | Twelve Canoes | Rolf de Heer | |
| 2009 | Contact | Martin Butler Bentley Dean | Documentary |
| 2011 | Top Dog | Fiona Percival | |
| 2012 | The King is Dead | Rolf de Heer Martin Butler Bentley Dean | Comedy drama |
| 2013 | First Footprints | Rolf de Heer Martin Butler Bentley Dean | TV series |
| 2013 | Charlie's Country | Rolf de Heer | Feature film |
| 2015 | Another Country | Molly Reynolds | Feature documentary |
| 2015 | Still Our Country | Molly Reynolds | Feature documentary |
| 2015 | Tanna | Bentley Dean Martin Butler | Nominated for Best Foreign Film, Academy Awards 2017 |
| 2016 | A Sense of Self | Liz Jackson Martin Butler Bentley Dean Tania Nehme | 2017 Walkley Award for best documentary |
| 2019/2020 | Ayaan | Alies Sluiter | Short film, starring Babetida Sadjo, Trevor Jamieson, and Gary Sweet |
| 2020 | Yer Old Faither | Heather Croall | Documentary |
| 2021 | My Name is Gulpilil | Molly Reynolds | Documentary about Yolngu actor David Gulpilil |
| 2021 | Facing Monsters | Bentley Dean | Documentary; with Meredith Watson Jeffrey |
| 2022 | Monolith | Matt Vesely | Sci-fi thriller |