Witchenini Entertainment

My name is Justin Rhys Grant, I am an Aboriginal man from the NT, my tribes are Warlpiri, Gurindji and Jawoyn. I started my career as an actor in 2008 and have been in the Industry for 11 years; now with a master’s degree in writing directing for film and TV. I plan on taking more Indigenous stories into the public eye. I first heard my Ancestor’s stories when I was five years old. I was gifted with the art of storytelling at the age of ten by the Elders of my Tribe. I moved on to acting at the age of seventeen and directed my first theatre production at Victoria University. I had a voice that no one could turn a deaf ear to. I then completed my Diploma in Theatre Arts and started my career as a storyteller all around Melbourne and then on to Newcastle-W.A. and all-over South Australia. This is where I heard of more stories from Tribes and communities and learnt how one story could impact one person and then a tribe as well. In WA we taught the Aboriginal kids to get their stories from their Elders, and then got them to play the stories back to the Elders as if they wore the stories themselves. This moved their Elders to the point of tears. The Elders wanted more of this to happen but, unfortunately, we didn’t have enough funding to continue. After this experience I was inspired to write my grandparents story and wanted to turn it into a short film. Through this I realized their story is a lot bigger than a short film. So, I got to work and wrote my first feature film in three days, with edits. At that point I decided to study more about film-making and enrolled into my Masters of Writing and Directing in Film and TV at Victorian College of the Arts. My graduating film became critically acclaimed by the teachers at the Victorian College of the Arts. After graduating I found out there is a lack of Aboriginal People’s in the Film Industry which led me to start my own company and now I am the Founder, Owner and Director of Witchenini Entertainment Pty Ltd.