A movie producer and director who’s built 15 features. An ethical hacker who loves RF puzzles. A poet and resin artist whose tables glow in the dark. Meet Sara Elizabeth Joyce, whose life makes a single argument: when in doubt, make art and keep moving forward.
We start with purpose—why Sara creates across film, poetry, and visual art—and how coming out in 2014 turned down the noise and turned up the signal. She takes us through learning every crew job before producing, the high-wire work of development, and a new true-story prison escape project brewing with Screen NSW. Then we zoom out to storytelling as a cultural engine: a Tokyo distribution triumph that imploded in the GFC, paying back debts the hard way, and the quiet power of Indigenous perspectives that shape how she names places, chooses stories, and shows respect on Country.
The tech turn is pure cyberpunk. Sara contrasts the joy of hacking’s deep puzzles with the burnout churn of corporate cybersecurity, then opens her RF lab: software-defined radio, careful air-gap discipline, and that infamous pub Rickroll—done with consent and a wink. We talk media narratives, Gaza and Ukraine, and practical activism you can do today. We also rewrite toughness: procrastination can be intuition; sensitivity can be a superpower. Her mantras—keep moving forward; an honorable life before death—anchor candid talk about asthma-triggering vapes, growing up with abuse, and finding steadiness in small, right actions.
If you’re curious about AI, Sara’s stance is clear: use it as a tool to learn and extend, not to replace artists. And if you need a material metaphor for all of this, you’ll find it in her resin art—technique born on an alien set, refined through teaching, now living on cocktail tables at PS40 and in homes around the country. The joy is in making art and letting go.

https://saraelizabethjoyce.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/saradarkmedia/

Machete Girl - https://machetegirlmagazine.com/

Dark & Dangerous Poetry: https://saraelizabethjoyce.com/poetry-short-stories/

The Stainless Steel Rat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat