Backbone Productions are filmmakers Craig Bender and Vera Hong based in the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, west of Sydney, Australia on Gundungurra and Dharug lands. They create insightful, compelling storytelling for Australian short and long-form films, documentaries, museum and gallery installations, oral history, education, community engagement and not-for-profit. They specialise in filming intrepid, remote locations on projects that require cultural fluency and creative sensitivity. Their work has been screened on Australian television, major video streaming sites and in many of Australia’s most prominent museums and galleries.

Film still, Let Me Pass Onto You (2021), Backbone Productions

Vera Hong [she/her]
Vera is dedicated to using visual storytelling to connect people and ideas across cultures, environments, and artistic disciplines. She aims to bring a unique creative vision, authentic voice and depth of storytelling expertise to fresh and innovative projects. As a filmmaker, Vera's skills include production, direction, cinematography, commercial drone operating, and editing. She is a member of the Australian Cinematographers Society, and an associate member of the Australian Directors Guild and Screen Producers Australia.

Craig Bender [he/him]
Craig is a cinematographer, CASA certified commercial drone operator and ReOC holder, photographer, lighting and rigging technician, and assistant editor. Craig brings an artistic eye and technical adeptness to productions. His extensive experience as a photographic technical assistant at the University of NSW College of Fine Arts and his practical expertise in remote situations are specialist crafts.

Often working as co-cinematographers on projects, their camera work has been featured by BBC Natural History Unit, UK; PBS News Hour, USA; Swiss National TV; ABC Arts, Australia and Hunting Aotearoa, New Zealand. 

Film still,  Ngaran Ngaran (2019), Backbone Productions

Expertise

Established in 2008, Vera Hong Productions - now Backbone Productions, in collaboration with Craig Bender, specialises in creating world-class screen projects that engage with culture, environment and the arts to raise awareness, capture humanity, celebrate diversity, encourage empathy and inspire change. 

Projects produced frequently explore themes of place making, complex identities, intercultural relationships, sustainable living, conservation, land management, community and intergenerational knowledge transfer. 

Craig Bender and Vera Hong create stories that have a long lasting impact and legacy. This extends into storytelling with businesses, artists or communities around innovative, unusual or sensitive topics. This can take the form of screen projects for community engagement, education, oral history and advocacy. 

Film production services are provided scaled to a wide scope of briefs and requirements - from concept development, writing, filming, directing, editing and post production; or building collaborations with clients and creative teams in a capacity that suits their project’s needs.

They are experienced (and thrive) in filming in intrepid locations, to capture compelling uniquely Australian visuals and stories with an international reach.

Film still, Alpine River Adventures (2019), Backbone Productions

Documentary Storytelling

Vera Hong has produced, directed, filmed and edited a multitude of short and long form films on culture, nature and conservation, a vast majority of which have been broadcast on Australian television.

Bender and Hong's documentary work has been shortlisted in the National Trust Heritage Awards, the Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM) Awards and featured on Australian Geographic. Their films have been selected and showcased at Academy Award qualifying international and national film festivals, commissioned and curated by major museums, environmental and cultural conferences, and for tourism and education.

Installation view No Distance Between Us  (2017) , Backbone Productions, Bayala Nura (Yarning Country) First Australians Gallery, Australian Museum

Artists’ Moving Image

With over a decade of experience working with artists on moving image commissions for museums and galleries, Bender and Hong have practical knowledge in working with a myriad of creative talent in different contexts and formats to produce large-scale multi-channel installations. Their cinematography and editing work for artists has been exhibited at the Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania; Artspace, Australian Centre for Photography, Carriageworks and Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney; National Museum of Australia, Canberra; and online for Fondation Cartier, Paris.

Installation Images left to right
1. Liam Benson, hello, good to meet you (2019), Bella Room Commission, Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney
2. Nat Thomas, Postcards from the Edge (2019), The National 2019, New Australian Art at Carriageworks