Skip to main content

Site navigation

  • University of Technology Sydney home
  • Home

    Home
  • For students

  • For industry

  • Research

Explore

  • Courses
  • Events
  • News
  • Stories
  • People

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt
  • Study at UTS

    • arrow_right_alt Find a course
    • arrow_right_alt Course areas
    • arrow_right_alt Undergraduate students
    • arrow_right_alt Postgraduate students
    • arrow_right_alt Research Masters and PhD
    • arrow_right_alt Online study and short courses
  • Student information

    • arrow_right_alt Current students
    • arrow_right_alt New UTS students
    • arrow_right_alt Graduates (Alumni)
    • arrow_right_alt High school students
    • arrow_right_alt Indigenous students
    • arrow_right_alt International students
  • Admissions

    • arrow_right_alt How to apply
    • arrow_right_alt Entry pathways
    • arrow_right_alt Eligibility
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for students

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Apply for a coursearrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt
  • Scholarshipsarrow_right_alt
  • Featured industries

    • arrow_right_alt Agriculture and food
    • arrow_right_alt Defence and space
    • arrow_right_alt Energy and transport
    • arrow_right_alt Government and policy
    • arrow_right_alt Health and medical
    • arrow_right_alt Corporate training
  • Explore

    • arrow_right_alt Tech Central
    • arrow_right_alt Case studies
    • arrow_right_alt Research
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for industry

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Find a UTS expertarrow_right_alt
  • Partner with usarrow_right_alt
  • Explore

    • arrow_right_alt Explore our research
    • arrow_right_alt Research centres and institutes
    • arrow_right_alt Graduate research
    • arrow_right_alt Research partnerships
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for research

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Find a UTS expertarrow_right_alt
  • Research centres and institutesarrow_right_alt
  • University of Technology Sydney home
Explore the University of Technology Sydney
Category Filters:
University of Technology Sydney home University of Technology Sydney home
  1. home
  2. arrow_forward_ios ... For students
  3. arrow_forward_ios ... Graduates (Alumni)
  4. arrow_forward_ios ... Your alumni community
  5. arrow_forward_ios ... Game-changing alumni
  6. arrow_forward_ios Media & the arts
  7. arrow_forward_ios Maya Newell

Maya Newell

explore
  • Media & the arts
    • arrow_forward bec & bridge
    • arrow_forward Caroline Meldrum-Hanna
    • arrow_forward Jake Duczynski
    • arrow_forward Maya Newell
Maya Newell smiling at the camera with her arms folded across her chest

Bachelor of Arts in Communication (Media Arts and Production), 2010
Film Director and Producer
UTS Alumni Award for Excellence 2018 – Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

When the 2015 documentary Gayby Baby was banned from being shown in class time in NSW schools, it triggered a national conversation about LGBTI families. Directed by Maya Newell, the film records children’s experiences of those families – a subject close to Newell’s heart, having grown up with two mums. Her second feature, due for release next year, is about 10-year-old Arrernte boy Dujuan. They’re two very different documentaries but the goal is the same: Newell wants children to have their say.

“I'm very interested in the concept of children’s agency and what they have to teach us,” she says. “Growing up, politicians and public figures were constantly speaking about how children like me were being harmed by our parents, but not one of them sat down and asked me what I thought.”
Newell has been working in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, for eight years, creating films with Arrernte families and Elders. Not for public release, the films are an educational resource, used for passing on language and culture. “Through that work I have been privileged to witness the most incredible moments,” says Newell. “I saw children going to their Country for the first time and grandmothers teaching them songlines.”

I've always been driven by the desire for social change. I think to be a good filmmaker, it’s important to be acutely aware of the world around you and to be clear about what you want to say.

She also met Dujuan, star of the documentary she’s currently producing under the working title Kids. “Everyone has an opinion about how to ‘save’ Aboriginal kids, but this film is an opportunity to actually listen to those children,” she says. “Dujuan is an intelligent, outspoken young person who’s supported by a strong family. With the guidance of those on-screen and Arrernte advisers, it’s my intent to show the other side of the story: what it’s like to be a child who has Australia’s dark colonial history weighing on his shoulders and is navigating a complex bi-cultural world.”

Newell has just returned from the Sundance Institute Film Music and Sound Design Lab in the US, where Kids was selected for workshopping. She’s also been holding family-diversity workshops for teachers, designed to support the lesson plans the filmmakers developed to supplement Gayby Baby (the NSW government’s ban was lifted earlier this year).

“I've always been driven by the desire for social change,” says Newell, who completed a degree in Media Arts and Production at UTS to supplement the technical skills she’d learned at Sydney Film School. “At UTS, there was a focus on media, society and politics. I think to be a good filmmaker it’s important to be acutely aware of the world around you and to be clear about what you want to say.”

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation and the Boorooberongal People of the Dharug Nation upon whose ancestral lands our campuses now stand. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands. 

University of Technology Sydney

City Campus

15 Broadway, Ultimo, NSW 2007

Get in touch with UTS

Follow us

  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Facebook

A member of

  • Australian Technology Network
Use arrow keys to navigate within each column of links. Press Tab to move between columns.

Study

  • Find a course
  • Undergraduate
  • Postgraduate
  • How to apply
  • Scholarships and prizes
  • International students
  • Campus maps
  • Accommodation

Engage

  • Find an expert
  • Industry
  • News
  • Events
  • Experience UTS
  • Research
  • Stories
  • Alumni

About

  • Who we are
  • Faculties
  • Learning and teaching
  • Sustainability
  • Initiatives
  • Equity, diversity and inclusion
  • Campus and locations
  • Awards and rankings
  • UTS governance

Staff and students

  • Current students
  • Help and support
  • Library
  • Policies
  • StaffConnect
  • Working at UTS
  • UTS Handbook
  • Contact us
  • Copyright © 2025
  • ABN: 77 257 686 961
  • CRICOS provider number: 00099F
  • TEQSA provider number: PRV12060
  • TEQSA category: Australian University
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • Disclaimer
  • Accessibility