Guest Speakers

Craig Fison

Craig Fison was a very popular speaker at our first Geekfest and we're excited that he'll be back for the second!
Craig has worked in Art Direction, Production Design, Construction, as a Props Model maker, a sculpting and miniatures maker and finisher, in Set Decorating, and as a Scenic painter in Australia and worldwide.
His film projects include working in the art department on commercial films like Moulin Rouge, Mission Impossible II, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, The ...Matrix Revolutions, Ghost Ship, Superman Returns, and more independent productions like Peter Pan and Where the Wild Things Are.
He worked as a sculptor and prop maker on Guillermo del Toro’s and Troy Nixey’s film, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, and also worked on the yet-to-be released The Moon and the Sun, starring Pierce Brosnan.
Craig moved into art direction as the Art Director on Adam Elliot’s awarding winning animated feature film, Mary and Max.

Shaun Freeman

Shaun Freeman, one of our Geekfest speakers, is an Australian animator who lives on a small farm in Korumburra. He has worked in the industry since 2003 on commercials, games and feature films (both vfx/creature anim and character animation). His movies include 'The Book of Life', 'I, Frankenstein', 'The Nut Job', 'Free Birds', 'After Earth', 'Ted', 'Happy Feet' & 'Happy Feet 2', 'Open Season' (2 & 3), 'Princess' and 'Everyone's Hero'. Short films include: 'Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem', Daffy's Rhapsody', 'Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas', 'Rabid Rider' and 'Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five'. Much of his work has been done here as a remote animator, although sometimes he is required onsite

Alison Goodman

Alison Goodman, author and steampunk aficionado, will be coming to Geekfest to do a reading from her latest novel and to teach us a Regency/Victorian 'finishing dance' - a fun dance to end a ball when everyone's had a bit too much to drink!
Alison is the author of EON and EONA, a New York Times Bestselling fantasy duology. Her latest novel --Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club-- is Book 1 in a new trilogy; it was published in Australia this month and will be published in the USA and UK in January. It has been reviewed by Publishers Weekly as "a delicious collision of Regency romance and dark fantasy". Alison calls it "Pride and Prejudice meets Buffy in English high society".
EON, which has recently been optioned to be made into a movie, was short-listed for Victorian, NSW, and WA Premier’s Literary awards, and won the 2008 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel. It was also listed as an American Library Association Best Young Adult Book (2010), a James Tiptree Jr. Honour book, and a CBCA Notable Book.
Alison’s first novel, Singing the Dogstar Blues, won the 1998 Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Novel, and was also listed as an American Library Association Best Book (2004) and CBCA Notable Book. Her second novel, a crime thriller titled Killing the Rabbit, was shortlisted for the 2007 Davitt Award.
Alison lives in Melbourne with her husband and their Machiavellian Jack Russell Terrier, and is currently working on Book 2 and 3 of The Lady Helen series.

James Graewolf

An introduction to Steampunk’, the pros of steampunk, the aesthetics and inspirations for steampunk, some ‘show and tell’ of some costumes and props, a couple of brief ‘do it yourself’ sections and finishing with a Q&A

Star Queens present the

Drag Queen makeup workshop

Want to experience the glitz and glamour of being a Drag Queen?
If so Come along and learn the secret tips and tricks to create your own drag persona!

Introduction to Cosplay

Cosplay is a hobby where fans dress up as their favorite character from a fandom (anime, manga, tv series, movie, etc) for fun. There are many competitions all around the world for cosplay and it is growing in popularity.