After completing her Bachelor of Media Arts with Honours, her student film Betty Banned Sweets, was accepted into several high profile, international film festivals including Melbourne International Film Festival 2008 where she was invited to participate in the Melbourne International Film Festival ‘Accelerator’ Programme. The film went on to screen at Gijon International Film Festival 2008, Aspen Short Film Festival 2009, International Festival of Rotterdam 2009, Edinburgh International Film Festival 2009 and was in competition at the Clermont-Ferrand International Festival 2009.
Her second film Elaine Rides Again premiered at the New Zealand International Film Festival 2011, Show Me Shorts Festival 2011 and was in competition at the 58th Cork Film Festival 2011.
In 2011, Michelle spent three months in New York working as an intern in the script development department of Killer Films, a company at the forefront of independent American cinema headed by producers Christine Vachon and Pam Koffler.
Her short Ellen Is Leaving was a finalist in the ‘New Zealand’s Best’ Short Film Programme at the 2012 New Zealand International Film Festival.
When Michelle is not working on a film she is probably singing and playing the omnichord in Wellington band The Sing Songs.
