The NAFA Team
TONY CHU
[Head of Productions, Festival Director]
tony@nafa.net.au
0412 230 415
Tony founded NAFA and convenes our monthly Choc Tops meetings. He is also the Director of our short film festival Show-Fest.
As an actor, he has appeared on stage, TV, and film with notable credits on “All Saints” and “White Collar Blue”, where in the latter he was also Medical Adviser.
A prolific filmmaker, Tony has co-produced one feature and made over 30 shorts to date. In preparation for his debut feature film, he is interested in good writing, directing with vision, and working with different genres. 
SIDAT de SILVA
[Festival Director, Graphic Designer & Copywriter]
Sid could never have been very far from NAFA. Ever since sharing the stage with Tony in a 2001 production of Peter Weiss’s Marat/Sade, he has been watching NAFA grow.
Sid is a freelance cinematographer and you’ve probably seen something he’s shot, somewhere. NAFA is an outlet for his designs on all things graphic, as well as an opportunity to contribute to the local community.
AMANDA KUHN
[Festival Marketing & Publicity Manager]
Amanda is currently freelancing with independent entertainment companies to provide publicity and marketing guidance for building talent profiles. For the two years ending May 2010, she was National Marketing and Communications Manager at World Wrestling Entertainment.
ALESSIA MURER
[Festival Public Relations Coordinator]
As a 2007 high school graduate, Alessia’s passion for both stage performance and backstage production kicked off during her schooling years. Since then, she has collaborated with other actors, directors, and production teams to help support and nurture the growing industry.
Her most recent involvement was with Actors College of Theatre & Television (ACTT) where she graduated from the CorePlus programme and is now looking to further develop her ties with both the people of the arts and the Arts itself.
JOHN HALY
[Secretary]
Having danced and performed on stages around Sydney, John finally limped off the stage to start a film and post production business called Halyucinations Studios, to promote Visual Artists with Visual Media. He then began creating films and showreels for artists and performers.
John joined NAFA in 2003 and found himself managing NAFA’s original Web site until 2005 when he began studying for a Multimedia Diploma from Computer Graphics College (CGC). After attaining this Diploma in 2007, Tony Chu asked him to join the CPT as Secretary.
TOM LANNI
[Business Development Coordinator]
Tom spent his earlier years as a variety club act, working in US military bases, local nightclubs, and TV in Okinawa, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Guam during the early 1970s. He then spent 17 years on the Australian club circuit. He recently came to the acting world after classes at Ensemble Studios and Lynette Sheldon Intensive Workshops. In 2003 he had a key role in the feature film The Edge of The World and in 2004 he has had parts in the US feature Dynasty, as well as TVC work and a series of short films.
JEANNIE NEILL
[Script Consultant]
Raised in England, Jeannie has lived and worked in Italy, the Netherlands and Lebanon but currently spends her time between Sydney and Santa Monica, California. In 1990 she joined The Playwrights Group in LA as a Board Member/Director/Producer at the Lee Strasberg Institute. A long-time collaboration with Dutch director George Sluizer led to work on The Vanishing, followed by Crimetime and Dark Blood. Jeannie co-wrote and produced The Innocent Bystander, garnering several awards at international festivals. In 1999 Jeannie partnered with MGS Films B.V. to package and co-produce films out of the Netherlands using European tax incentive funds. Her most recent feature was The Pet, released in 2006.