'Stateless' AACTA award confirms Adelaide's Mariot Kerr among Australia's top costume designers for film, TV
Mariot Kerr's award-winning work for the ABC /Netflix acclaimed mini-series Stateless, starring Cate Blanchett (right), was part of an extensive portfolio of costume design for film and televelsion streaming services. Her advertising work included the memorable South Australian tourism campaigns, notably Barossa: Be consumed.
Adelaide-based Mariot Kerr won the 2020 AACTA (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts) best costume design for her work on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) television/Netflix acclaimed mini-series Stateless.
Stateless, from Matchbox Pictures, NBCUniversal and Cate Blanchett's Dirty Pictures, and directed by Emma Freeman and Jocelyn Moorhouse, won AACTA best telefeature/mini series.
Kerr’s award from the series confirmed her as one of Australia's leading and most in-demand costume designers across film and television. Also working in advertising, Kerr collaborated with director Jeffrey Darling on the memorable South Australian tourism campaigns, including Barossa: Be consumed, that won the top Gold Camera Award at the United States of America international film and video festival.
As well as her 2020 AACTA win for Stateless, Kerr was nominated for the 2008 AACTA best costume design for Lucky Country and, in 2014, for her work on the feature film Tracks, from director John Curran and starring Mia Wasikowska and Adam Driver. Mariot followed Stateless with the Tony Ayres Production/Matchbox Pictures television series Clickbait, for Netflix. She also completed work on the feature film The Unknown Man, directed by Thomas M Wright.
Kerr’s other Netflix work included the sci-fi smash hit feature I Am Mother, when she was nominated for an Australian Production Design Guild award for best costume design.
Other credits were the feature film Escape From Pretoria, starring Daniel Radcliffe and directed by Francis Annan; Wake In Fright, directed by Kriv Stenders and reciving seven AACTA nominations, including best costume design for Mariot; HBO's critically-acclaimed series The Leftovers, starring Justin Theroux and Liv Tyler; the Matchbox Pictures/NBCUniversal political thriller Secret City, with Anna Torv and Jacki Weaver; Screentime's Anzac Girls; and Deadline Gallipoli, from Matchbox Pictures/ NBCUniversal. Red Dog, Chasing Wonders, December Boys and Drift were other films featuring Kerr's creations.
Kerr worked on on the See-Saw Films/Scarlett Films thriller feature The Royal Hotel, directed by Kitty Green. Her previous collaboration with See-Saw Films, The Stranger, directed by Thomas M. Wright and starring Joel Edgerton, screened at Cannes Film festival in 2022 to standing ovations and rave reviews.
Kerr’s work in anthology series ROAR premiered globally on Apple TV in 2022. From Made Up Stories, Blossom Films and Endeavour Content, and directed by Kim Gehrig, Mariot worked on the episode entitled “The woman who ate photographs”. Kerr also collaborated with Cannes Lion award-winning director Gehrig on a Apple iPhone advertising/marketing campaign, produced by Revolver and Somesuch.
Kerr’s other commercial work includes the United States of America campaign for Abbott Freestyle’s Now you know, from Anomaly and Exit Films and directed by Mark Malloy.