# Jill Bilcock

Jill Elizabeth Bilcock AC (born 1948 as Jill Stevenson), is an Australian film editor. She was nominated for BAFTA Awards for Strictly Ballroom (1992), Romeo + Juliet (1996), and Moulin Rouge! (2002), and Elizabeth (1998). In 2007 she won the Australian Film Institute International Award for Excellence in Filmmaking.

## Early life and education

Jill Elizabeth Stevenson, later Bilcock, was born in 1948 in Horsham, Victoria, Australia. Her family, which included Jill and two brothers, moved to Melbourne when she was three, and her father left the family when she was four. Her mother worked full-time as a teacher at a technical school, and went to the University of Melbourne at night to complete a degree in commerce. Artists, poets, and authors visited their home regularly. She later said that she "didn't have a lot of parenting".
She is a graduate of the Swinburne Film and Television School (1968), entering its first film course at the age of 17, after leaving school and enrolling at Swinburne Technical College at the age of 15, encouraged by her mother. She went on a student trip to China, which at the time was in the throes of the Cultural Revolution, and generally closed to foreigners; she became an honorary Red Guard there. When Brian Robinson started the first film course at Swinburne, she jumped at it. There she met Fred Schepisi, who was one of the examiners.

## Career

Bilcock began her career doing commercials (there being no Australian film industry then), after being invited by Fred Schepisi to work at his company, The Film House. Schepisi "let [them] run wild", and allowed the students to experiment with all aspects of filmmaking. She started specialising in editing, assisted by Richard Lowenstein, who had also graduated from Swinburne.
In the mid-1970s, she was invited to a job in London, but, travelling via India, ended up staying in that country for a year, living a hippie-style existence in Goa and taking bit parts in local films.
Her first feature film was Richard Lowenstein's Strikebound (1984). During the 1980s and 1990s, she started working with filmmakers on well-known films such as Dogs in Space (directed by Lowenstein, 1987), Strictly Ballroom (Baz Luhrmann, 1992), Muriel's Wedding (P.J. Hogan, 1994), and Head On (Ana Kokkinos, 1998).
Bilcock later edited films such as Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996) and Moulin Rouge! (2001) and Sam Mendes' 2002 crime drama Road to Perdition.
Her editing style has been described as "boldly inventive", and her editing of the Luhrmann films known for their "strikingly fast cutting, whirl of noise and colour and unconventional jumps". She has said: "I want wild, I want innovative, unusual and visually extraordinary". However, she changed pace on films such as Road to Perdition and The Dish.

## Other activities

On 3 July 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia Bilcock gave an online masterclass as part of "WIFT Virtual" series, an initiative of WIFT Australia.
In November 2024 she was on the jury of the International Film Festival of India, alongside Singaporean director Anthony Chen, British producer Elizabeth Karlsen, Spanish producer Fran Borgia, and Indian producer and actor Ashutosh Gowariker, who acted as chair.

## Recognition, awards, and honours

Bilcock is a member of the Australian Screen Editors guild, as well as the American Cinema Editors society, which permits her to use the post-nominals ASE and ACE.
The documentaries Jill Billcock: The Art Of Film Editing for ABC TV and the cinema-released Jill Bilcock: Dancing the Invisible (78 mins), both in 2017, explore her life and work. Dancing the Invisible includes commentary from Cate Blanchett, Baz Luhrmann, Shekhar Kapur, Phil Noyce, Fred Schepisi, Richard Lowenstein, Jocelyn Moorhouse, Kriv Stenders, Ana Kokkinos, Sue Brooks, and Rachel Griffiths. The film was directed, written, co-produced, and edited by Axel Grigor, and executive produced by Sue Maslin. The film won the Audience Award at the Adelaide Film Festival.
Bilcock is highly respected in the industry, and has received several lifetime achievement awards, including the AFI Byron Kennedy Award, AFI International Award for Excellence in Filmmaking, and IF Awards Lifetime Achievement Award. In July 2018 Flicks film critic Glenn Dunks called Bilcock "one of Australia's greatest film practitioners. Probably the most successful film editor this country has ever produced". At that time, she had won five AFI Awards and been nominated for four more; been nominated for two AACTA Awards and four BAFTAs; and had received multiple career achievement awards.
She has been awarded two official Australian honours:
* 2001: Centenary Medal, "For service to Australian society and film production"
* 2018: Companion of the Order of Australia (the highest award), "For eminent service to the Australian motion picture industry as a film editor, to the promotion and development of the profession, as a role model, and through creative contributions to the nation's cultural identity", in the Queen's Birthday 2018 Honours List
Film awards and nominations include:
* 1992: Winner, Best Achievement in Editing in the 1992 Australian Film Institute Awards, for Strictly Ballroom
* 1992: Nominated, BAFTA Award for Best Editing in the 45th British Academy Film Awards, for Strictly Ballroom
* 1995: Byron Kennedy Award
* 1996: Winner, Best Editing, MovieMaker Readers Awards
* 1996: Nominated, BAFTA Award for Best Editing in the 50th British Academy Film Awards, for Romeo + Juliet
* 1998: Nominated, BAFTA Award for Best Editing in the 52nd British Academy Film Awards, for Elizabeth, directed by Shekhar Kapur
* 2001: AFI (American Film Institute Awards) Editor of the Year
* 2002: Winner Eddie Award from the American Cinema Editors (best edited comedy or musical feature film) for Moulin Rouge!
* 2001: Nominated, Academy Award for Best Film Editing (Oscar), for Moulin Rouge!
* 2002: Nominated, BAFTA Award for Best Editing in the 55th British Academy Film Awards, for Moulin Rouge!
* 2007: Winner, Australian Film Institute International Award for Excellence in Filmmaking, at the 2007 Australian Film Institute Awards
* 2012: Moulin Rouge! listed as the 32nd best-edited film of all time in a 2012 survey of members of the Motion Picture Editors Guild
* 2013: Jill Robb Award for Outstanding Leadership, Achievement and Service to the Victorian Screen Industry, one of two Victorian Screen Leader Awards established by Film Victoria the preceding year
* 2015: Nominated, AACTA Award for Best Editing, for The Dressmaker

## Filmography

| Year | Film | Director | Notes |
| 1984 | Strikebound | Richard Lowenstein | Nominated—AACTA Award for Best Editing |
| 1986 | The More Things Change... | Robyn Nevin | |
| 1986 | Dogs in Space | Richard Lowenstein | |
| 1987 | Australian Made: The Movie | Richard Lowenstein | |
| 1988 | Evil Angels | Fred Schepisi | Nominated—AACTA Award for Best Editing |
| 1990 | Till There Was You | John Seale | |
| 1992 | Strictly Ballroom | Baz Luhrmann | AACTA Award for Best Editing Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Editing |
| 1993 | Say a Little Prayer | Richard Lowenstein | |
| 1993 | Temptation of a Monk | Clara Law | |
| 1994 | Erotique | Clara Law | Segment: "Wonton Soup" |
| 1994 | Erotique | Lizzie Borden | Segment: "Let's Talk About Love" |
| 1994 | Erotique | Ana Maria Magalhães | Segment: "Final Call" |
| 1994 | Erotique | Monika Treut | Segment: "Taboo Parlor" |
| 1994 | Muriel's Wedding | P. J. Hogan | Nominated—AACTA Award for Best Editing |
| 1994 | I.Q. | Fred Schepisi | |
| 1995 | How to Make an American Quilt | Jocelyn Moorhouse | |
| 1996 | Romeo + Juliet | Baz Luhrmann | Nominated—AACTA Award for Best Editing Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Editing Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Editing |
| 1998 | Head On | Ana Kokkinos | AACTA Award for Best Editing |
| 1998 | Elizabeth | Shekhar Kapur | Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Editing |
| 1999 | Harry's War | Richard Frankland | |
| 2000 | The Dish | Rob Sitch | |
| 2001 | Moulin Rouge! | Baz Luhrmann | AACTA Award for Best Editing ACE Eddie for Best Edited Feature Film – Comedy or Musical Nominated—Academy Award for Best Film Editing Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Editing Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Editing |
| 2002 | Road to Perdition | Sam Mendes | |
| 2003 | Japanese Story | Sue Brooks | AACTA Award for Best Editing Nominated—FCCA Award for Best Editor Nominated—Inside Film Award for Best Editing |
| 2004 | The Libertine | Laurence Dunmore | Nominated—ASE Award for Best Editing in a Feature Film |
| 2006 | Catch a Fire | Phillip Noyce | |
| 2007 | Elizabeth: The Golden Age | Shekhar Kapur | |
| 2009 | The Young Victoria | Jean-Marc Vallée | |
| 2009 | Blessed | Ana Kokkinos | Nominated—AACTA Award for Best Editing |
| 2010 | Don't Be Afraid of the Dark | Troy Nixey | |
| 2011 | Red Dog | Kriv Stenders | Nominated—AACTA Award for Best Editing Nominated—Inside Film Award for Best Editing |
| 2012 | Mental | P. J. Hogan | Nominated—ASE Award for Best Editing in a Feature Film |
| 2014 | Arrows of the Thunder Dragon | Greg Sneddon | |
| 2014 | Kill Me Three Times | Kriv Stenders | |
| 2014 | My Mistress | Stephen Lance | |
| 2014 | Driving Miss Daisy | David Esbjornson | Theatrical release of Australian stage production |
| 2015 | The Dressmaker | Jocelyn Moorhouse | Nominated—AACTA Award for Best Editing Nominated—FCCA Award for Best Editor |
| 2016 | Red Dog: True Blue | Kriv Stenders | |
| 2019 | Ride Like a Girl | Rachel Griffiths | |