Sonya Pemberton – July 18 2021

Dry July – abstain from alcohol this month to raise funds to support people affected by cancer.

Sonya has written and directed over 50 hours of television, specialising in science documentary for an international market. Her films have won over 30 awards and she has been three times honoured with the prestigious Eureka Prize for Science Journalism. Sonya was Head of Specialist Factual at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), commissioned Independent productions, including How Kevin Bacon Cured Cancer and after leaving the ABC wrote, directed and jointly executive produced documentary projects such as Elders with Andrew Denton (ABC, series 2). Sonya established Pemberton Films in 2007 and in September 2011, joined forces with Cordell Jigsaw Productions to form Genepool Productions. Her other films include Alien Underworld, about strange creatures, ten times smaller than any known life form, with a bizarre appetite for plastic and relatives that may have come from Mars, and Genius of Junk about how a maverick Australian scientist had the curious foresight to patent 95% of the DNA of every species on earth, the so-called ‘junk’.

Catching Cancer
ABC & National Geographic, with December Films 2009
Writer/director/co-executive producer Sonya Pemberton
One in three of us will get cancer at some stage in our lives. From the moment of diagnosis the common cry is “why me?”. Now, across the planet, a select group of scientists is hunting cancer-causing infections. Startling new evidence is revealing that viruses and bacteria are triggering some of the biggest killers of our time. And, believe it or not, this is good news.

Angels and Demons
ABC & Zapruders’ Other Films, 2008
Writer/director/supervising producer Sonya Pemberton
What is it like to lose your mind? And can you get it back again? Remarkable stories from the ‘ghosts in our midst’ – the mentally ill. This documentary, presented by, Andrew Denton, won its time slot, gained a remarkable 29% audience share, and generated over 3000 responses from the public. Winning awards such as the 2008 SPA Life Award, 2008 Australia and New Zealand Mental Health Achievement Award, and 2008 Media Achievement Award, it gained significant critical acclaim.
“Programs such as this…redeem television. They take a medium that too often scrapes the bottom of the barrel and show what can be achieved in the right hands.” – The Age