Michael Noonan, Ph.D.
Michael Noonan is an award-winning Australian filmmaker and author who specializes in high concept comedies and thrillers.
He is an Academy Nicholl Fellowship finalist and a Silver Page Award Winner, and his comedy Anomaly is currently in production with Searchlight Pictures. He is repped by CAA, Anonymous Content and DeFiore and Company.
Noonan was named one of Moviemaker's Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch in 2017 and featured on the inaugural Aussie List in 2015.
He is a seven-time Tropfest finalist, most recently with Notes To Salma (2019), Accomplice (2017), Evil Mexican Child (2014), Remote (2013) and Photo Booth (2012). He won the IF Award for Best Australian Documentary for his film Unlikely Travellers (2007) and he has twice been nominated for AWGIE Awards for his scripts.
His debut novel Childproof was released in 2022. Independent Book Review called it "a surprisingly warmhearted dark comedy that makes you want to shield your children." His second novel, Hand On The Run, is due for release in November 2026 and his third, Kat Came Back, in 2027.
His PhD in film and television production, titled Laughing & Disability: Comedy, Collaborative Authorship and ‘Down Under Mystery Tour’, explored the complex line between ‘laughing at’ and ‘with’ and was the subject of significant international controversy.
Since 1998, his short films and documentaries have screened at numerous international festivals and on broadcast television in Australia, France, Italy, Japan, Africa, Germany, Africa, Jordan, Russia and the US.
His festival successes include: AFI Fest (Recall), Palm Springs International Shortfest (Evil Mexican Child, Captive, Cecil), Flickerfest (Captive, Recall) Hof International Film Festival (Recall), Cinequest (Baggage), Tropfest (Accomplice, Evil Mexican Child, Remote, Photo Booth, Applause, Counter) and St Kilda Film Festival (The People, Photo Booth, Captive).
Unlikely Travellers (2007), his documentary about six intellectually-disabled people who travel to Egypt, premiered at the Brisbane International Film Festival in 2007 and was broadcast on ABC-TV (Australia) to a primetime audience of more than 1.8 million people.