Julie Rigg

Julie Rigg is Radio National's specialist movie critic. She began her career as a print journalist with the Sydney Daily Telegraph, joined The Australian at its inception in l964, and was a columnist for the newspaper from l967 to 71. In l972 she gained a BA from the University of NSW. She joined the ABC Radio Science Unit in 1971, producing and presenting some of its early programs on the human sciences including New Society and Science Bookshop. In l975 she was one of a group of women broadcasters who founded the Australian Women's Broadcasting Co-operative and its weekly radio program The Coming Out Show. Julie served as coordinator for The Coming Out Show in l975 and again in l980. She helped lobby for a landmark study of sex discrimination in the ABC, and presented the case for the ABC to implement an equal opportunity policy to the Dix Inquiry into the ABC in l981. The Women's Broadcasting Co-operative and The Coming Out Show, and the internal reforms it prompted, helped change the voices of ABC Radio and opened doors for many women broadcasters and journalists. Julie has edited two books: In her Own Right: Women in Australia (Thomas Nelson, 1968) and, with fellow broadcaster Julie Copeland, Coming Out: Women's Voices, Women's Lives (Thomas Nelson, 1985). Since l988 Julie has worked as a critic and arts broadcaster for ABC Radio National, specialising in film. In l990 she won the BP Arts Media Award. She served on the executive of the Film Critics Circle of Australia for four years, and was president for two. Julie has also served on FIPRESCI (International Critics Federation) juries at the San Sebastian Film Festival (l990) and the Toronto International Film festival (2002). In December 2003, Julie was awarded the prestigious Geraldine Pascall prize for critical writing. Julie's skills as a movie reviewer, her interviews, and her passionate advocacy of film criticism were cited as the reasons for her being an obvious choice.