23 Facts About Cathy Henkel

Cathy Henkel is a South African documentary filmmaker who lives and works in Australia.

Cathy Henkel's works have typically focused on subjects of environmental activism, and to a lesser extent, the performing arts.

Cathy Henkel had previously worked as an artistic director for an Australian amateur theatre company, the Shopfront Theater for Young People, for which she wrote and directed performances.

In 1992, Henkel met Jeff Canin on a sea turtle nesting beach in Queensland and they became partners in life and in work.

In 1999, Cathy Henkel wrote and directed Walking Through a Minefield which documented the blockade of the proposed Jabiluka uranium mine in Australia's Northern Territory.

In 2003, Cathy Henkel wrote and directed her first TV documentary for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation entitled The man who stole my mother's face.

Cathy Henkel has twice explored the intersecting topics of deforestation and climate change with The Burning Season and Rise of the Eco-Warriors.

Cathy Henkel was the writer and director of both projects, which involved extensive travel and documentation of the expanding palm oil plantations of Indonesia and their social and environmental impacts.

Cathy Henkel completed a Masters and PhD at the Queensland University of Technology.

Cathy Henkel had previously lived and worked in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia where she managed the production company, Virgo Productions.

Cathy Henkel was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and moved to Australia when she was 18.

Cathy Henkel moved to Sydney in 1982 after taking a job as a director at Shopfront.

Cathy Henkel first met entertainer Rolf Harris and his wife Alwen Hughes at a South African hotel where Cathy Henkel was a waitress in the early 1970s.

Cathy Henkel encouraged her to go to Australia and their friendship spanned over forty years.

Cathy Henkel had unintentionally introduced Harris to one of his victims, 13-year-old Tonya Lee in 1986 when Henkel was artistic director of an Australian theatre group, Shopfront Theater for Young People, on tour in the United Kingdom.

Cathy Henkel felt pressured verbally by Harris' brother to deny assault allegations, but she resisted, testifying that while she did not see the abuse occur herself, the circumstances made the abuse possible.

Cathy Henkel described her intention to make a 3D version of Rise of the Eco-Warriors as being like "the Avatar story, but real", though a 3D version of the film was never released.

In total the project received 215 applications from 26 countries, something Cathy Henkel later attributed to "the power of Facebook".

Cathy Henkel won the award of Honorary Mention at the 2010 Byron Bay International Film Festival.

Cathy Henkel left South Africa at the age of 20, shifting his focus from political to environmental issues.

Cathy Henkel followed his passion for sea turtles to a job with Greenpeace as the International Sea Turtle Campaigner.

Cathy Henkel launched a new production company entitled Green Turtle Films and embarked on his first project without Henkel, the feature-length documentary Two Degrees.

Cathy Henkel has collaborated with producer Trish Lake of Freshwater Pictures on several of her productions, including The Burning Season, Show Me the Magic and Dance for Me.