Private Project

Calm The F**k Down

A group of female theatre makers explore what goes on in the minds of men who hurt those they purport to love.

  • Helen Gaynor
    Director
    The Candidate, The First Fagin
  • Helen Gaynor
    Producer
  • Fiona Cochrane
    Producer
  • Penelope Bartlau
    Key Cast
    "Workshop Director"
  • Nicole Goode
    Key Cast
  • Helen Hopkins
    Key Cast
  • Sancia Robinson
    Key Cast
  • Veronica Pena Negrette
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    40 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    February 28, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    25,000 AUD
  • Country of Origin:
    Australia
  • Country of Filming:
    Australia
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Helen Gaynor

Helen Gaynor enjoys an award winning a career as a freelance documentary/factual and drama director and producer. Helen has combined free-lance drama, documentary and factual/ corporate/ writing/ direction and production, with teaching at the tertiary level for many years. Institutions include the VCA School of Film & TV, Faculty of Fine Arts & Music, University of Melbourne, The SAE Creative Media Institute, The Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS), School of Media & Communications, RMIT University, and The International School of Cinema and TV (EICTV) - Cuba.
She completed a Practice based PhD at RMIT University in 2019 and a Masters by Research in documentary at the VCA School of Film & TV, University of Melbourne in 2012.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Calm The F**k Down evolved from a research project with two other feminist filmmakers in 2020. That year in Australia, saw some particularly horrendous deaths of female intimate partners and children at the hands of the husbands and fathers who purported to love them. It is an exploration of what goes on in the heads of the men who hurt and kill their female partners and sometimes children. As a women who has experienced male perpetrated family violence, and who has two female children of her own, I want some answers. The documentary is dedicated to the 101 women and 16 children who died in Australia in 2024 as a result of murder, manslaughter or neglect at the hands of violent men.