Tomas Donela

Tomas Donela was born in Panevezhys, Lithuania in 1960. He graduated with an MBA from Vilnius University before immigrating to Sydney, Australia, where he was accepted by the Australian Film, Television & Radio School, enabling an attachment for him with celebrated Russian film-maker Nikita Mihalkov. While still a student, Donela Wrote, directed and produced The Harrowed Coast which, despite being severely truncated after much of the film was destroyed by the laboratory during processing, was well received at international festivals and broadcast on Lithuanian state television. Since graduating from AFTRS, Donela has written, directed, produced, and collaborated on a broad variety of film projects, most notably his award-winning short The Boy and the Sea and his feature film Farewell, which were selected for festivals worldwide. He is the founder the production company, Donelos Studija, a member of the Filmmaker's Union of Lithuania, and a voting member of the European Film Academy. Donela currently (2013) lives in Sydney with his wife and two children and divides his time between film projects and teaching at International Film School Sydney.