Rosie Lourde, Katharine McPhee, Lisa Scott and Rae Choi will take three feature projects to Yogyakarta as part of an initiative strengthening ties between the Australian and Indonesian screen industries.

Adelaide Film Festival (AFF) has announced four Australian filmmakers selected to participate in the 2026 Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (JAFF) Market in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, with three feature projects set to be presented to international industry partners.

Director-producer Rosie Lourde and writer-producer Katharine McPhee have been selected for the JAFF Future Project with their supernatural thriller Wreck and Ruin, while producers Lisa Scott and Rae Choi will participate in the newly established JAFF Producers Exchange.

The market runs from November 28–30 and marks the third year AFF has facilitated Australian participation in the JAFF Future Project, an initiative designed to connect emerging film projects with producers, financiers and industry partners across the Asia-Pacific region.

Currently in development, Wreck and Ruin follows a studious young woman who survives a shipwreck that claims her sister’s life. Stranded on a remote tropical island, she falls for a mysterious stranger whose tragic secret threatens to turn their romance into an eternal prison.

Josh Trevorrow, whose credits include Kumarangk: Sacred Women’s Business, is attached as executive producer.

Lourde’s credits include the romantic comedy Romance on the Menu, which she directed and executive produced, and which became a streaming success on Netflix in Australia and New Zealand. Her other work includes the horror short Dashcam, comedy series White Fever and digital series Starting From Now.

McPhee has worked alongside Ngarrindjeri filmmaker Trevorrow at Untold Productions since 2019. Her credits include the documentary Keep Yarning Strong, while her project Blak Coffee was selected for Screen Australia and SBS’s Digital Originals development initiative in 2023.

Meanwhile, Scott and Choi are among 12 international producers selected for the inaugural JAFF Producers Exchange, which aims to provide international filmmakers with greater access to Indonesia’s expanding film industry and the wider Asian screen market.

Scott, whose extensive producing credits include The Tourist, Pine Gap, Wolf Creek, ANZAC Girls and RFDS, will present Under the Banyan Moon.

The romantic drama follows an Adelaide schoolteacher who escapes a broken engagement by travelling to Yogyakarta, where an old flame and an intriguing stranger reignite her creative ambitions and force her to reconsider the future she has imagined for herself.

Choi will present Days Under the Sun, a coming-of-age drama incorporating elements of magical realism.

The film centres on Kitty, an independent teenager who reluctantly accompanies her mother, Lydia, on a reunion trip to Malaysia. Their strained relationship takes an unexpected turn when Kitty follows a mysterious butterfly into a forest and encounters a woman who bears a striking resemblance to her mother.

Choi’s producing credits include the Canneseries-selected series Ina and the feature Paris Funeral, 1972. Her writing and directing work includes the AWGIE-nominated When the Sky Was Blue and Some Kind of Blue, which premiered at Adelaide Film Festival.

She has also completed international producing placements with Heretic in Greece and Paloma Productions in Denmark through Screen Producers Australia’s Ones to Watch program.

The Australian delegation forms part of the AFF x JAFF Market initiative, which seeks to strengthen creative and commercial relationships between the Australian and Indonesian screen industries.

Funded by the Australian Government’s Office for the Arts, the initiative sits within AFF’s broader Festival Bridges program, which also includes a partnership with the Marché du Film at Cannes.

AFF CEO and Creative Director Mat Kesting said the partnership provides an opportunity for filmmakers from neighbouring countries to develop new creative relationships and projects.

“Film is such a powerful way to bring together people from all backgrounds and cultures in a shared emotional experience, and this is true for both audiences and the creative teams who bring films to the screens,” Kesting said.

“AFF’s partnership with JAFF Market and JAFF Festival connects Australian filmmakers with their colleagues from our largest neighbour, Indonesia, to share creative visions and to collaborate in bold, new and exciting ways. We are immensely proud of this cultural exchange program.”

The JAFF Market has become an important meeting point for filmmakers and industry professionals seeking opportunities for international co-production, financing and distribution across the Asia-Pacific region.

For the four Australian filmmakers, the November event offers an opportunity to introduce their projects to potential collaborators and explore new pathways for bringing their stories to international audiences.