Pernell Marsden
Designers, Directors, Writers
Pernell Marsden is a writer, director and production designer who has worked in the film industry in Australia and the UK since 2011. She began her career assistant directing and in production departments, where she worked on productions for Disney and the BBC.
In 2019, she graduated with a Master of Production Design for Screen from VCA and in 2021 participated in the VicScreen professional attachment program, shadowing production designer Chris Kennedy on Paramount+ series SHANTARAM.
In 2023, Pernell earned her first production design credit for a feature film on the upcoming STRANGE CREATURES, which featured at the 2024 Cannes International Film Festival as part of the Marché du Film’s Go to Cannes initiative and later that year she received the Australian Production Design Guild (APDG) Award for Emerging Designer for a Screen Production for her work on the film SMALL.
Pernell was also production designer of the ABC short NAMASTE YOGA and art director on the ABC documentary, THE SEARCH FOR THE PALACE LETTERS. Recently she was named in IF Magazine’s Rising Talent List for 2024 as a Production Designer to watch.
Pernell’s short film, THE MEANINGLESS DAYDREAMS OF AUGIE & CELESTE had its World Premiere at the 2024 Sydney Film Festival where she won the Rouben Mamoulian Award for Best Director.
The film was accepted for screening both locally and internationally at over 24 film festivals (8 of them Oscar® qualifying festivals) including Slamdance, Fantastic Fest where it took home the prize for Best Fantastic Short, and the Melbourne International Film Festival where the film won the VicScreen Erwin Rado Award for Best Australian Short Film. Pernell also participated in the MIFF Accelerator Lab as part of the festival.
The short was also nominated for Best Short Film at the 2025 AWGIE Awards.
As a designer, Pernell most enjoys the unique collaboration between the director, cinematographer, production designer and costume designer in creating a film’s visual language. She is also passionate about designing with environmental impact and waste reduction in mind.
She is currently working between commercials, music videos and long-form narrative and is currently developing her first feature film, WELCOME TO TWILIGHT GARDENS.