VCA filmmakers win award for Left Write Hook documentary

Dr Shannon Owen and Associate Professor Donna Lyon from the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) have been awarded the Distinguished Innovation in Creative Arts Award at the 2025 Deans and Directors of Creative Arts (DDCA) Awards for their documentary Left Write Hook.

Directed by Dr Owen and co-produced by Dr Owen and Associate Professor Lyon, the film follows eight female and gender diverse participants of Left Write Hook, a unique initiative founded by Associate Professor Lyon that equips adult victim-survivors of sexual violence to actively take back power in group settings through a survivor-led, research-informed program blending creative writing and boxing.

Funded by Screen Australia and other screen industry partners in 2022 and produced in 2022-2023, Left Write Hook premiered in August 2024 as the Melbourne International Film Festival’s (MIFF) inaugural ‘Premiere with Purpose’.

The film has since won multiple awards, including the 2024 MIFF Intrepid Audience Award and the Best Feature Documentary award at the 2025 Australian International Documentary Awards. Left Write Hook was released in cinemas nationally in October 2024, and is currently streaming on Netflix Australia.

The DDCA judges said: “We applaud Left Write Hook as innovative creative research that applies screen practice with applied medical research to deliver socially focused public engagement and scholarly impact in generating national dialogue concerning gendered violence.”

The judges also commended the project’s ability to build partnerships across academia, philanthropy, the screen industry, and sector leaders working in Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA) and domestic violence.