Timothy Despina Marshall is a renowned and proud queer filmmaker hailing from Meanjin, the traditional lands of the Turrbal and Jagera/Yuggera Peoples, which is now known as Brisbane, Queensland. With a deep passion for amplifying the voices and stories of the LGBTQIA+ community, Timothy is dedicated to sharing his expertise and supporting the next generation of creatives as they navigate the industry, with a particular focus on queer creatives.
In 2013, Timothy's short film Gorilla made history by winning the prestigious Iris Prize in the UK, the world's largest LGBTQIA+ short film prize, securing a £25,000 grant to produce his subsequent short film, Followers. The outcome of this project was a world premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, where it competed alongside other notable films, followed by a screening in competition at SXSW 2015 and as part of the Accelerator program at the 2015 Melbourne International Film Festival.
As a writer, director, and producer, Timothy's debut feature film, the queer horror In The Room Where He Waits, was released in 2024 to widespread critical acclaim, including a 5-star review in ScreenHub. The film also earned Timothy a nomination for Best Director (Film Budget under $1.5M) at the Australian Director's Guild Awards. The film boasts an impressive cast, including award-winning queer disabled actor Daniel Monks, and is produced by award-winning QLD producer Bec Dakin, with executive producers Dan Lake and Kurt Royan from Orange Entertainment Co, responsible for the production of ABC's White Fever and Retrograde.
In addition to his feature film projects, Timothy has an exciting slate of feature films and TV shows in development. In 2017, Timothy won the WeScreeplay TV Pilot Script contest, judged by Comedy Central, and placed as a semi-finalist in the Academy Nicholl Fellowship in 2014.
As a screenwriter, Timothy has had the privilege of working with some of the best in the industry, having developed his scripts with the guidance of renowned script consultants, including Andrew Ellard, writer of IT Crowd and Red Dwarf, Lynne Vincent McCarthy, script editor of The Babadook and The Nightingale, and Ruth Atkinson, a script consultant for the Sundance Screenwriting Lab.
In 2014, Timothy created the online series TORSO, a groundbreaking project aimed at breaking down stereotypes and celebrating diverse bodies within the online queer community. TORSO was featured in the Huffington Post and has been presented as an interactive installation with a custom-built app at both Outfest LGBTQIA+ Film Festival Los Angeles and the Reykjavik International Film Festival.
Timothy's remarkable career has been marked by numerous achievements, including being selected for Screen Australia's Talent USA program in 2017 and the 2018 Film Independent Directing Lab in Los Angeles, where he had the opportunity to learn from industry leaders Nicole Holofcener and Chloe Zhao.
