Aliyah is a Black, queer storyteller and performer working on unceded Gadigal & Bidjigal land. She is passionate about exploring messy, uncomfortable and uncharted experiences where the personal meet political through horror and humour.

 

Most recently, Aliyah was awarded the inaugural Queer Screen x Screen Australia Gender Matters Taskforce Professional Development Prize. This was a result of Aliyah being named a finalist in the Queer Screen Pitch Off with their folk horror short film in development, The Swell.

 

Prior to this, Aliyah was one of fourteen filmmakers nationwide selected to participate in For Film’s Sake x Sydney Film Festival’s Platform: Lab incubator, during which they developed a queer horror feature discussing body autonomy and climate change.

 

Earlier in the year, Aliyah was awarded runner-up in the Australian Theatre Festival NYC’s New Play Award with her debut play Snakeface, a modern Medusa adaptation. Snakeface is currently in development with the support of Randwick Council. Aliyah was also the recipient of Performance Space’s prestigious Stephen Cummins Residency, during which she developed a new hybrid cine-theatre work THE DOG HOUSE.

 

Aliyah is a member of ATYP’s Fresh Ink cohort for 2024 and has had their short play Four Legs Good commissioned by ATYP for their Intersection Festival, and published by Currency Press.

 

In September, Aliyah’s first video instalment piece, doomscrollin, will open at The Bearded Tit as part of the FIRE, ASH, STARS, I Attend To Survive exhibition curated by Kelly Dezart Smith. The piece will run until December.

 

Aliyah graduated from AFTRS with a Bachelor of Arts in Screen Production. Also an experienced note-taker, Aliyah has worked with Roadshow Rough Diamond, Fremantle Australia, Mad Ones Films & independent producers across several rooms. They are currently developing Blood Rush, a supernatural comedy pilot about a vampire girlband.