About

JOURNALIST - FILMMAKER

Yaara Bou Melhem is a journalist and and founder of Illuminate Films.

Yaara’s films include exclusive reports where she crawls through Syrian rebel-held tunnels, films in lawless Libyan jails after the fall of Gaddafi and follows cannabis farmers in Lebanon joining the fight against ISIS.

She has also gained rare access to places in Kazakhstan, filmed in remote Aboriginal communities on taboo subjects like youth suicide and reported more uplifting stories about doctors giving free health care in Nepal, a greening the desert program in Jordan and a mangrove restoration project in Indonesia.

In 2019, she was named the Australian Freelance Journalist of the Year for her observational documentary ‘War on Truth’ about Time Person of the Year, Maria Ressa and her global campaign against disinformation. It is now being developed into a longer documentary. Other films include ‘Creating a Nation’ about an Aboriginal man creating an independent Indigenous nation and ‘Saudi Design Queens’ about two young women in Saudi Arabia hosting a design event that is pushing boundaries of art and tradition.

Yaara is currently directing and co-producing a feature documentary, ‘Dark Arts’, a part human, part artificial intelligence driven journey into the visualizations of one of the world’s leading contemporary artists. The film has been supported through the inaugural Shark Island Institute Development Lab. Production partners include In Films in Australia and Participant Media, founded by Jeff Skoll in the US.

Yaara’s films have received a number of accolades including two UN Media Peace Awards, New York Film & Television Festival Awards, a Hong Kong Human Rights Press Award and Walkley Awards.

ACCOLADES

  • 2019 Walkley Freelance Journalist of the Year
  • 2019 Walkley Press Freedom Lecture, Guest Speaker
  • 2019 AIDC Raw Data, Real Stories – selected for ‘Mapping Disinformation Networks’.
  • 2019 Gold Medal Winner of the New York Festivals International Television & Film Awards in the Environment & Ecology category.
  • 2018 Shark Island Development Labs one-year mentorship program recipient for ‘Dark Arts’
  • 2016 Walkley Freelance Journalist of the Year.
  • 2014 1st Prize at the 13th Hong Kong Human Rights Press Award.
  • 2013 Finalist UNICEF Asia Pacific Child Rights Award.
  • 2013 Bronze Medal Winner of the New York Festivals International Television & Film Awards in the Cultural Issues category.
  • 2012 Finalist for the Walkley Award for International Journalism.
  • 2012 Winner of the United Nations Association of Australia Media Award for Best TV Current Affairs under 20 minutes.
  • 2011 Winner of the Walkley Award for International Journalism.
  • 2011 Winner of the United Nations Association of Australia Media Award for Best TV Current Affairs under 20 minutes.
  • 2011 Winner of the Walkley Foundation’s Young Australian Journalist of the Year.
  • 2010 Finalist for United Nations Association Australia Media Award for Best TV Current Affairs under 20 minutes.
  • 2010 Finalist for the Walkley Foundation’s Young Australian Journalist of the Year.
  • 2009 Winner of the Walkley Foundation’s Young Australian TV Journalist of the Year.
  • 2009 Highly commended in the Walkley Awards Social Justice category.
  • 2009 Commended for the United Nations Association Australia Media Award for Best TV Current Affairs under 20 minutes.
  • 2009 Finalist for the United Nations Association Australia Media Award