Cairns Crocodiles, Presented by Pinterest, has announced a new ‘Film & Screen’ track, powered by cultural tastemaker Irresistible Magazine. The new track expands the festival, IN MAY 2026, to better reflect storytelling, content and culture.
Taking place on day two of the three-day festival, the Film & Screen track offers new screen funding opportunities, ways to showcase your business, high-level philosophical conversations about the future of entertainment, and smart ways to meet the people you want in your world.
“We are beyond excited to be launching Film & Screen as part of Cairns Crocodiles,” said David Hovenden, co-founder of The Misfits Media Company and B&T editor-in-chief.
“It’s home-grown and international in outlook, and will capture the fascinating ways the worlds of brands, creativity and screen are spectacularly colliding. We all want great content, and this new track will be a building block for everyone.”
The Film & Screen track will serve up new screen funding opportunities and spaces to market, alongside high-level philosophical discussions about the future of entertainment and engagement, with innovative ways to meet people and organisations on everyone’s wish list.
“Going to Cairns Crocodiles last year gave me some amazing new connections, job opportunities and ideas, and pushed my own boundaries,” said Josie Baynes, producer, EP and partner at Wildebeest Films.
“And that was before the dedicated screen track! I thought that was life- changing, but I can only imagine what is going to happen this year- strap in!”
In 2025, Cairns Crocodiles attracted more than 2,700 attendees.
Past speakers at the landmark industry event include actress Miranda Otto, actor Richard Roxburgh, award-winning director and cinematographer Ray Edwards, filmmaker Annelise Hickey—whose short film ‘Stranger, Brother’ premiered at Sundance 2025, film director Gabriel Gasparinatos, whose debut feature documentary ONEFOUR: Against All Odds was a Netflix hit. It has also provided a platform for award-winning documentary filmmaker Katrina McGowan, who directed the Stan Originals documentary Revealed: How To Poison A Planet.
Other top speakers at the event in 2025 include Australian Olympian Ariarne Titmus, United Nations chief marketing officer David Ohana, and global luxury expert and chief marketing officer Ana Andjelic.
The Film & Screen track is curated in partnership with Irresistible Magazine and guided by a heavyweight advisory board (see full board below) spanning film, television, production, media, marketing and the people behind the scenes that make it all happen.
While only year one, Cairns Crocodiles expects the track to get bigger, better and bolder.
Nancy Hromin, co-founder of Irresistible Magazine and a director of The Misfits Media Company, said the Film & Screen track will bring together the screen family — directors, producers, cinematographers, editors, musicians, location managers and post-production professionals — alongside a few celebrities, all united by storytelling.
“The Asia Pacific is a global centre for screen and we’ll be providing unrivalled networking and funding opportunities across the region,” Hromin said.
“Alongside the filmmakers, the streamers and broadcasters and commissioners will come together with the decision-makers in advertising, brand integration and audience engagement, mirroring the market out there in the real world.”
Programming for 2026 will explore the data-driven shifts reshaping screen culture and consumption, the business of film and TV, location offsets and co-production, vertical content and microdramas, and the future of the movie theatre. It will also examine the evolving relationship between screen, marketing and technology, and the return of ‘poptimism’, proving that high intention and mass appeal do not have to be mutually exclusive.
“There’s an age-old tension between art and money,” said Catherine de Clare, editorial director of Irresistible Magazine and co-curator of the Film & Screen track.
“As marketplaces shift and there’s a blurring of the borders between disciplines, there’s a golden opportunity to place the privilege of production in the hands of those who can do something incredible. More importantly, the Film & Screen track is going to be very cool and a very good time.”
The new track will sit alongside the Cairns Crocodiles ‘Building Brands’ track and the ‘Rewilding Creativity’ track.
“There’s no event quite like Cairns Crocodiles, and now with Film & Screen it adds an incredible third dimension,” said content director Pippa Chambers. “It explores storytelling through film, television, streaming and screen-based content, and it’s already shaping up to be a standout lineup.”
Cairns Crocodiles Presented by Pinterest takes place from Tuesday 12 May to Thursday 14 May 2026 at the Cairns Convention Centre and also the nearby Hemingway’s Brewery, where afternoon sessions kick off by the wharf.
The Film & Screen track takes place on the Wednesday, and the Cairns Masterclass, presented by News Australia, runs on the Thursday.
The Cairns Crocodiles Awards and Cairns Hatchlings, presented by Yahoo, take place on Thursday at 4pm.
“With multiple tracks now running, Cairns Crocodiles, Presented by Pinterest, is becoming the industry’s most distinctive celebration of creativity, culture and storytelling,” Chambers added.
“It gives delegates more choice, more depth and more powerful ways to connect with the ideas shaping the future.”
Check out the Film & Screen track Advisory Board here:
- Nancy Hromin — Co-Founder and Editor at Large, Irresistible Magazine /Director The Misfits Media
- Catherine de Clare — Co-Founder & Editorial Director, Irresistible Magazine
- Damian Keogh AM B Com — President & Chief Executive Officer, The Hoyts Group
- Hunter Page-Lochard — Actor/Writer
- Jennie Hughes — Senior Director, Screen Territory
- Josie Baynes — Executive Producer, Wildebeest
- Daniel Joyce — Producer
- Richard Finlayson — Director & Joint CEO, Wooden Horse
- Cody Greenwood — Producer, RUSH Films
- Dr. Amin Palangi — Director, Palangi Productions
- Meredith Emmanuel — Producer and Founder, EBComs PR
- Jacqui Feeney — CEO, Screen Queensland
- Natasha Cormier — National Head of Client Marketing, Growth & Experience, News Corp Australia
- Erin Moy — Founder, Entropico
- Jacob Nash — Founder, Hunt Quietly
- Jaimes Leggett — Founding Partner, Today The Brave
- Yana Shvarts — Acting Country Manager, South African Tourism
Watch: Check out highlights from the 2025 Cairns Crocodiles sessions and speakers.
