Cairns Crocodiles Presented by Pinterest has announced the launch of a brand-new Film & Screen track, powered by us here at Irresistible Magazine, and expanding the May 2026 festival’s program to better reflect the worlds of storytelling, content and culture.
“Going to Cairns Crocodiles last year gave me some amazing new connections, job opportunities and ideas, and pushed my own boundaries,” said Josie Baynes, producer, EP and partner at Wildebeest Films. “And that was before the dedicated screen track! I thought that was life- changing, but I can only imagine what is going to happen this year- strap in!”
The Film & Screen track will serve up new screen funding opportunities and spaces to market, alongside high-level philosophical discussions about the future of entertainment and engagement, with innovative ways to meet people and organisations on everyone’s wish list.
“We are beyond excited to be launching Film & Screen as part of Cairns Crocodiles,” said David Hovenden, co-founder of The Misfits Media Company and B&T editor-in-chief. “It’s home-grown and international in outlook, and will capture the fascinating ways the worlds of brands, creativity and screen are spectacularly colliding. We all want great content, and this new track will be a building block for everyone.”
In 2025, Cairns Crocodiles attracted more than 2700 attendees. Past speakers at the landmark industry event include actress Miranda Otto, actor Richard Roxburgh, award-winning director and cinematographer Ray Edwards, filmmaker Annelise Hickey—whose short film ‘Stranger, Brother’ premiered at Sundance 2025, film director Gabriel Gasparinatos, whose debut feature documentary ONEFOUR: Against All Odds was a Netflix hit.
It has also provided a platform for award-winning documentary filmmaker Katrina McGowan, who directed the Stan Originals documentary Revealed: How To Poison A Planet.
“The Film & Screen track will be a gathering of the screen family – directors, producers, cinematographers, editors, musicians, location managers and post-production professionals. Even a couple of celebrities, and all of them storytellers,” said Nancy Hromin, Co- Founder of Irresistible Magazine and a Director of The Misfits Media Company. “Alongside the filmmakers, the streamers and broadcasters and commissioners will come together with the decision-makers in advertising, brand integration and audience engagement, mirroring the market out there in the real world.”
Irresistible Magazine is partnering with Cairns Crocodiles to curate the Film & Screen track, guided by a heavyweight advisory team spanning film, television, production, media, marketing, and the people behind the scenes that make it all happen. This is only year one, and we expect this track to get bigger, better, and bolder year on year.
“If the Irresistible team can curate events like they write film reviews,” said Louise Schultze, Founder and CEO of Australian Production House, “then not only will the track be world-class, it’ll be absolutely fabulous.”
Programming for 2026 will explore the data- defined shifts reshaping screen culture and consumption, the business of film and TV, location offsets and co-production, vertical content and microdramas, and the future of the movie theatre, as well as the maturing relationship between screen, marketing and technology, and the lost art of poptimism- high intentions and mass appeal don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
“I can’t wait,” said documentary producer and cultural connoisseur Daniel Joyce.
“There’s an age-old tension between art and money,” said Catherine de Clare, Editorial Director of Irresistible Magazine and co-curator of the Film & Screen track. “As marketplaces shift and there’s a blurring of the borders between disciplines, there’s a golden opportunity to place the privilege of production in the hands of those who can do something incredible. More importantly, the Film & Screen track is going to be very cool and a very good time.”
The new track will sit alongside the Cairns Crocodiles Building Brands track and the Rewilding Creativity track, and Cairns Crocodiles will take place from Tuesday May 12 to Thursday May 14.
Film & Screen track Advisory Team:
- Nancy Hromin — Co-Founder and Editor at Large, Irresistible Magazine /Director The Misfits Media
- Catherine de Clare — Co-Founder & Editorial Director, Irresistible Magazine
- Damian Keogh AM B Com — President & Chief Executive Officer, The Hoyts Group
- Hunter Page-Lochard — Actor/Writer
- Jennie Hughes — Senior Director, Screen Territory
- Josie Baynes — Executive Producer, Wildebeest
- Daniel Joyce — Producer
- Richard Finlayson — Director & Joint CEO, Wooden Horse
- Cody Greenwood — Producer, RUSH Films
- Dr. Amin Palangi — Director, Palangi Productions
- Meredith Emmanuel — Founder, EBComs PR
- Natasha Cormier — National Head of Client Marketing, Growth & Experience, News Corp Australia
- Erin Moy — Founder, Entropico
- Anonymous – Too Famous to Talk About
- Jacob Nash — Founder, Hunt Quietly
- Jaimes Leggett — Founding Partner, Today The Brave
- Yana Shvarts — Acting Country Manager, South African Tourism
- Louise Schultze – Founder and CEO, Australian Production House
“I don’t understand what brands have to do with screen,’ Partnerships and Industry Lead, Government Screen Funding Body.
Cairns Crocodiles
Cairns Convention Centre
Sheridan St &, Wharf St, Cairns City QLD 4870
12-14 May 2026
