Photo by Julia Firak

Julian Neuhaus is an award-winning Australian filmmaker, most passionate about projects that tell stories with purpose. After graduating from the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) in 2017, and spending two years freelancing, Julian established Ironbark Films after seeing a demand for production of authentically-made screen content. Julian has worked on a range of award-winning projects and is known as a jack-of-all-trades, due to his exploration in a range of disciplines, and works regularly as a producer, director, editor, cinematographer, composer, and writer, on a broad range of projects, including documentaries, short films, advertising content and broadcast projects. While Julian is best known for his short films Judgement (2018), Job Security (2021), Mise en Place (2023), and documentary project Hear Me (2022), he also works as a commercial filmmaker, having worked on projects for companies such as P&O Cruises, Google, Unilever, Cushman & Wakefield, and PwC.

Julian regularly delivers workshops and programs for Bus Stop Films, a film school for people with intellectual disability and people who are neurodiverse, as part of the award-winning Accessible Film Studies program at AFTRS. Inspired by the benefits of collaboration with people from diverse backgrounds, from 2019, Julian began offering paid attachment placements on numerous Ironbark Films projects to Bus Stop Films students, most notably, in 2022, when he produced Fearless Films Season 4 a documentary web series for Feros Care, which involved transporting attachments interstate for the production. The project received national media attention, culminating in a mention during a question time address by Andrew Wilcox MP in Australian federal parliament.

Also in 2022, Julian directed Misé en Place, which received funding support from Optus, with additional support provided by Panavision & AFTRS, which stars Ashley Khule, and celebrity chef Miguel Maestre in his acting debut. On IDPwD 2022, Julian spoke at the NSW Guardianship Division on the benefits of inclusive employment and the value that diversity brings to screen storytelling.

To date, Julian has directly facilitated over 40 paid placements in the film industry for people living with intellectual disabilities.

In 2023, Julian established Ironbark Digital, which offers digital mastering services & post-production consultation, closed & open captions, and, most notably, Digital Cinema Package (DCP) creation and delivery, giving emerging and independent filmmakers and agencies greater access to high quality digital cinema exhibition. To date, Ironbark Digital has facilitated delivery of content to over 300 venues across 10 different countries.

In August 2023, he wrote and directed The Bystander Effect, a period piece set on a Sydney tram in the 1950s which explores interactions on public transport, starring Connor Tattersall, Kat Hoyos & Harrison Keen.

In October 2023, Julian collaborated with renowned artist and 2013 Archibald Prize finalist, Guy Morgan, to create Written with a Finger on a Steamed-Up Window, an experimental film that explores frustrations with the art world through the medium of condensation and water vapour, which was funded by ArtScreen. The film premiered at The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in December 2023.

In January 2024, Julian introduced Mise en Place alongside actor Ashley Khule to an audience of 1800 as it screened alongside Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins at Westpac OpenAir cinema on Sydney Harbour.

“When you have people from diverse backgrounds working both in front and behind the camera, it brings fresh perspectives and insights to the project, but it also means you become embroiled in a shared creative process[…] There are many reasons I love making films, but fundamentally, it is the shared experience of making something; telling a story that hasn’t been told before and finding creative ways to do it together, that drives me.”

Mise en Place has also screened at OSKA Bright London, New Filmmakers Los Angeles, ReelAbilities Pittsburg, and CinefestOz in Western Australia, where it was named a finalist for best screenwriting.

Julian is currently in various stages of production on multiple creative & commercial projects, and is also developing a feature film. Driven by an aim to eradicate traditional paradigms of the ‘auteur’, collaboration, authenticity and inclusion are at the heart of every project Julian produces.