ASTRA: Women in TV breakfast 2015

Comedian Magda Szubanski and BBC World News Presenter Yalda Hakim will feature on the panel of ASTRA’s annual Women in Television breakfast, moderated by the iconic Margaret Pomeranz.

The Breakfast is to be held prior to the ASTRA Conference on September 9 at The Star Event Centre in Sydney.

ASTRA CEO Andrew Maiden said: “ASTRA’s annual Women in Television breakfast is a highlight of the calendar, providing us with an opportunity to advance the cause of women working in the television sector.

“Magda, Yalda and Margaret bring with them unique perspectives of the TV industry, from three very different fields, and will share their personal stories of how they have achieved success in the competitive world of television.”

Magda Szubanski is one of Australia’s best known comedians. She is internationally renowned for playing Sharon in Kath & Kimderella and Mrs Hoggett in the Academy Award winning Babe and its sequel. Locally she has been the winner of several Logie awards, three Australian Writers Guild Awards and two People’s Choice Awards. She also starred alongside the late Steve Irwin in the 2002 movie The Crocodile Hunter and was a voice alongside the late Robin Williams in Happy Feet and its sequel.

London-based Yalda Hakim is the presenter of flagship programme, Impact on BBC World News. She joined BBC World News in December 2012 as a presenter and correspondent. She also continues to deliver hard hitting journalism for Our World and BBC News. She was born in Afghanistan and moved to Australia in the late 1980s after her father fled Kabul with his family when the Soviet Union invaded. She began her career as a cadet journalist at SBS’s World News Australia.

Margaret Pomeranz signed to Foxtel this year to take up her role as co-host of Screen, a weekly program on Foxtel Arts joining Graeme Blundell as they discover, digest, review and guide viewers through the latest offerings on our screens. She also hosts Margaret Pomeranz Presents on Foxtel Movies Masterpiece, where she presents a weekly movie of her choice, bringing Foxtel viewers her un-rivalled expertise and insight of the silver screen.

With a career spanning almost three decades co-hosting The Movie Show on SBS and At The Movies on ABC with David Stratton and now with her role at Foxtel, Margaret Pomeranz is Australia’s most recognised, loved and highly respected movie critic.

This year’s ASTRA conference is themed Outside The Box, and will attract more than 500 delegates from the local and international industry to hear from more than twenty presenters discussing topics including programming, distribution, production, audience and measurement.

The conference will hear from keynote speakers including: Robert Bakish, President and Chief Executive Officer Viacom International Media Networks; Mike Gunton, Creative Director of Factual & The Natural History Unit, BBC & BBC Worldwide; Hernan Lopez, President and CEO at Fox International Channels; Christina Miller, President and General Manager for Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Boomerang; and Bill Morrow, CEO, NBN.

astra.org.au/conference/registration