DrSheersha Perera

I am a filmmaker, researcher and lecturer in filmmaking and creative arts at Deakin University (Burwood Campus). My work as a practice-based and practice-led scholar sits at the intersection of feminist and postcolonial theory and hybrid documentary form, treating filmmaking itself as a site of cultural, ethical and feminist knowledge production. I hold a PhD in Subcontinental Film and Feminism from RMIT University (2019), completed on an Australian Postgraduate Award scholarship, and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Media Arts (Screen Studies) and Drama from Deakin University.

Over eighteen years, I have designed and taught curriculum in screen history, film analysis, contemporary Australian moving image, film festivals, science fiction film and Asian cinema across diverse institutional and cultural contexts, including Deakin University, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Swinburne University and Holmesglen. My teaching integrates theory–practice connections, practice-led learning and authentic assessment, fostering deep engagement with global film traditions, feminist and postcolonial perspectives, and emerging screen forms. I actively build industry partnerships to support mentorship, professional development, employability and work-integrated learning, and my teaching has been recognised for exceptional student satisfaction.

Much of my current research is anchored in a sustained, globally connected collaboration with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. I am in post-production on two funded research documentaries developed through this partnership: Anklets and Footsteps: The Sounds of Kali, a hybrid documentary produced with the Art History Department as part of the Informal Sacred Places and their Communities of Worship project (COHASS Arts and Humanities Grants Scheme); and a hybrid science documentary developed with the Asian School of the Environment, exploring the extremophiles of Sembawang Hot Spring Park (ACRF Tier 1 Grants Scheme). Together, these projects reflect my commitment to interdisciplinary, cross-cultural research that moves between the humanities and the sciences, and between scholarship and public outreach.

My practice-led filmmaking is accompanied by traditional scholarly output. My PhD film, Big Girl, a hybrid documentary on menstruation taboos in contemporary Sri Lankan cinema, is about to begin an international festival run, and I have theorised its making in the chapter 'Creating/Recreating Memory: Cultural Menstruation Rituals through the Making of the Hybrid Documentary Big Girl' in Constructions of the Real (Intellect, 2023). My related work on feminist activism and Sri Lankan puberty rituals in film has been presented internationally, including the visual essay Hybrid Woman at the International Association for Media and Communication Research conference in Nairobi (2021) and a paper at the College English Association in New Orleans (2019).

This participatory approach continues in Echoes of the Shore, a hybrid participatory and immersive transmedia project I am developing that explores women's diasporic relationships to land, ritual and belonging across Western Australia and Victoria. Foregrounding co-creation, multicultural representation, ethical engagement and XR-adjacent screen practices, it extends my long-standing interest in inclusive, socially engaged storytelling. I am also developing Home Song Stories: The Tony Ayres Retrospective, an industry-facing study of transnational screen cultures with filmmaker Tony Ayres, Associate Professor Victoria Duckett and international partners including the Asian Film Archive.