Filmmaker Ivan Sen (Gamilaroi) drew on his own background as the child of an Aboriginal mother and an absent white father for the screenplay of his first feature-length work, Beneath Clouds, filmed on a $2.5 million budget. The film about a teenager's search for her father won Sen global acclaim, screening at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and winning the Premiere First Movie Award at the 2002 Berlin Film Festival and the 2002 Best Director Award from the Australian Film Institute. He studied filmmaking at the Australian Film Television and Radio School, where he produced his first short films, working with the crew he continues to work with today. Sen was raised in Inverell, New South Wales, Australia.