Clara Chong
writer/director
On set directing Westpac Rescue Helicopter TVC
Clara was born in Tokyo, raised in Sydney and trained in New York. Cold calling production companies led to work in documentaries as a bilingual Production Coordinator before quickly rising through the ranks to become Producer at virgin earth, inc. where she worked on a variety of high profile international projects.
Her producing history includes Elastica’s “Car Song” with maverick American director Spike Jonze and the “Foreigners in Tokyo” TV series with legendary Japanese film actor Nezu Jinpachi.
After studying at New York University and Film Video Arts, Clara established herself back in Australia as a Director with the magically passionate short film “Sugar Inc.” that launched her TV Commercials career. “Sugar Inc.” won the Best Visualization Award at UK’s Filmstock Film Festival, and screened at festivals around the world including Sante Fe, Denver, Tiburon, Raindance and Sydney’s Asia Pacific Film Festival.
Clara was named one of Campaign Screen’s New Directors to watch and as Director, Clara’s fluid visuals, quirky narrative and unique musicality has led to an extensive slate of international and local work including projects for Nestle, McDonalds, Coca-Cola Japan, Findus and Cisco Systems.
Clara’s documentaries include the National Geographic Channel’s jet-skiing adventure “Oz trek” narrated by iconic Australian actor Jack Thompson, A Gourmet Deep & Meaningful, From The Outback To The World: RM Williams and “From The Outback To The World: Qantas”, a historical look back at Qantas’ first 90 years.
In 2007, Clara established The Film Bakery with her husband and long-term collaborator Cinematographer/Producer Ben Allan ACS to be able to create short & long-form projects from concept through to delivery completely in-house. The Film Bakery’s projects include work for Westpac Rescue Helicopter, Tarvydas, Simon & Schuster & Millennium Pictures, Audi Australia, Apple USA and the Australian Government (DEEWR).
Clara holds an Honours Degree in International Relations from Macquarie University and has contributed regularly as a writer to several publications including Tokyo Time Out, Inside Film (IF) Magazine and as a Food Reviewer for Café Society magazine.
education
Macquarie University (1987-1992)
BA Honours
International Relations, Economics
Honours Thesis “Self Determination in Tibet”
New York University (1997-1998)
Filmmaking
New York Film Video Arts (1988)
Film editing
experience
The Film Bakery (2007 – present)
Writer/Director, Company Director
Long-form project slate includes the Qantas historical documentary “From The Outback To The World” which aired on The History Channel Australia in July 2011, TV food series in development “A Gourmet Deep & Meaningful” and feature film “Rivals”. Short-form projects for clients including Westpac Rescue Helicopters, Audi Australia, Simon & Schuster & Millennium Pictures, the Australian Government, Cisco, Apple (US), Mitsubishi and UWS.
Tribal (2003-2005)
Director
Highlights include TVC’s for Findus, Jenny Craig Australia (featuring Hayley Lewis & Ian “Huey” Hewitson), Mt. Eliza Business School, Feltex Classic Carpets and McDonalds Australia.
Shadow Dream (short film) (2005)
Writer/Director
La Palabra (short film) (2002-2003)
Writer/Director
Sugar Inc. (short film) (2000-2002)
Writer/Director
National Geographic Channel (1999-2002)
Writer/Director, Promo Producer
Created/wrote/directed/edited “Framed” series 1 & 2, writer/director “NatGeo Presents” Series 1.
Prodigy Films (1999-2002)
Director
Highlights include TVC’s for MG and McDonalds Australia
MediaSense KK (Tokyo, Japan) (1996-1997)
Producer/Director
Highlights include work for Coca-Cola Japan, the Atlanta & Nagano Olympics, and Walt Disney Japan.
virgin earth inc. (Tokyo, Japan) (1993-1996)
Producer
Highlights include PA (Japan) on environmental feature film “Baraka”, PC on “Yo-Yo Ma inspired by Bach”, producing Elastica’s ‘Car Song’ music video for MTV (director: Spike Jonze) and producing the Paramount Pictures series “Sightings”.