Groundwork (2018) is a feature doc, currently in post production, which follows at-risk youth from Detroit who trek to rural Malawi to build a school with non-profit organization Build On. Wayfarer Entertainment.
Director/DP: Christel Cornilsen
CHRISTEL
DIRECTOR + WRITER
CORNILSEN
ABOUT
Originally from Australia, Christel is an LA based director/DP, writer and producer. Armed with a pen and camera, she's captured compelling images and powerful stories, from the streets of Kolkata to villages
in Malawi, and the boardrooms of Capitol Hill.
Her film portfolio includes work for HBO, A&E, VICE, CNN, The White House, Participant Media, PBS, Revelations, The Academy of Motion Pictures, and more. She's worked on dozens of feature films, documentaries, unscripted TV, music videos, and national commercials.
Christel produced and shot for the Emmy-winning show INTERVENTION,
Season 23: Fentanyl Crisis and Season 22: Las Vegas. The show profiles people whose uncontrollable addiction to drugs or alcohol has brought them to the brink of destruction, devastating their family and friends.
She also wrote and directed An Idiot's Guide to Climate Change starring Rainn Wilson from The Office and Greta Thunberg - a six-part digital docu-series produced by SoulPancake and Oscar-winning Participant Media.
Other work includes public TV feature doc Speaking Grief
where she lensed dozens of grieving families and experts across the USA.
Christel began her career well over a decade ago by working as a camera
assist on Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman and Obama's
White House PSA: Joining Forces with Oprah, Spielberg & Hanks.
She holds a BA in Communications: Creative Writing from the University of Technology, Sydney, where she won the Human Rights Award for Women in 2008. She also studied International Journalism and Documentary Film at the University of Westminster in London, UK.
Christel is also a former professional dancer having danced in music videos for Kylie Minogue, Adam Lambert and Maroon 5. She still dances: tap, hip hop and angry ballet, much to the dismay of her neighbors.


NEWS
Christel was an Advance Global Australian Awards arts finalist in 2022.
Christel is represented by CAA - the Creative Artists Agency.
Christel is a member of the Australian Directors' Guild.
Inside Film Magazine Australia Interview
Aussie Activist Behind the Filmmaker's Lens