FILMMAKER✦DIRECTOR✦PRODUCER✦WRITER✦SPEAKER✦MENTOR✦FOUNDER✦FILMMAKER✦DIRECTOR✦PRODUCER✦WRITER✦SPEAKER✦MENTOR✦FOUNDER✦
Award-winning storyteller
Nancy Paton portrait
Nancy Paton
Filmmaker
About Nancy

Stories
without
borders.

Nancy Paton is a Polish-Australian filmmaker, screenwriter, producer and writer based in Abu Dhabi. Across nearly three decades in film, television and writing, she has built a body of work shaped by character, culture and underrepresented perspective, moving between the Middle East and an international creative life.
66+awards earned across Nancy’s films internationally
5creative disciplines spanning film, writing, producing, speaking and mentorship
MENAa creative home for locally rooted stories with international resonance
Nearly 3 decadesFilm, television and writing experience.
Over 66 awardsRecognition earned across Nancy’s films.
2015Desert Rose Films founded in Abu Dhabi.
Global / MENAA career shaped across East and West.
Selected work

Cinema
with purpose.

Selected work across drama, documentary, family storytelling and socially conscious cinema, created in the region and shaped for audiences everywhere.

Creative practice

One voice.
Many forms.

Nancy’s filmmaking, producing, writing, speaking and mentorship are not separate identities. They are different expressions of the same creative point of view, built around story, culture, character and meaningful human connection.

Nancy’s Walkabout

Stories beyond
the set.

A podcast and media platform built around curiosity.

A podcast and media platform built around curiosity.

Nancy’s Walkabout brings together conversations, people, places and ideas that sit around the wider creative life. The dedicated hub is designed to house episodes, guest conversations, video, editorial extensions and commercial partnerships as the platform grows.

Explore Nancy’s Walkabout →
A global creative journey

Lived
experience.
On screen.

Sydney

Foundations

Early foundations in performance, study and a growing fascination with character, cinema and story.

New York

Craft

Acting study and hands-on experience that deepened Nancy’s understanding of performance and independent production.

London

Breakthrough

A real-life encounter that inspired Daisy and helped define a more personal creative direction.

Saudi Arabia

Voice

Teaching and filmmaking experiences that opened new perspectives on women, creativity and cultural change.

Abu Dhabi

Impact

A base for regional storytelling, creative collaboration and the next chapter of Nancy’s work.

“The stories we choose to tell can change who gets seen, and how we see one another.”
Start a conversation

Let’s make
meaning.

Films. Talks.
Collaborations.

Film project, speaking invitation, mentorship conversation or creative collaboration. Share a little about what you are building and where you would like the conversation to go.