Gold class

At one stage, Oscar-winning film producer Eva Orner (BA(Hons) 1993) seemed destined for a career in law, but she credits her friends and experiences at Monash University as key influences in setting her on the path to success as a film-maker.

Eva Orner has reached the pinnacle of her field, this year winning an Oscar for producing Taxi to the Dark Side, a documentary about the murder of an Afghani taxi driver.

"It felt great winning. When you start making films in Australia you dream of one day having success in the United States," Ms Orner said.

"Winning an Oscar was pretty incredible, now it's about maximising this great opportunity that I have."

Based in Los Angeles, Ms Orner is developing a number of projects ranging from narrative feature films to documentaries, and is currently financing a feature documentary on Theo Von Gogh, the Dutch film-maker assassinated in 2004.

Those who knew her at Monash University said she was always destined to succeed, but Ms Orner thinks her university experiences helped shape that success.

"When I look at my high school yearbook, it's a surprise to me that my ambition was to become a film-maker. I was able to pursue what I really wanted to do because of the people I associated with and the course I chose," she said.

"I thought I'd become a lawyer but I'm glad that didn't pan out," she said. "I think everyone should do an Arts degree. Everyone should know a language, everyone should know history, everyone should know some of our past culture."

At Monash, Ms Orner formed friendships and began making films with like-minded students. After graduating she produced a number of successful documentaries, with Untold Desires winning her an Australian Film Industry (AFI) award and a Logie in the mid-1990s.

The friends she made during her university days formed an important part of Ms Orner's Monash experience. "I met a whole lot of people who had really similar sensibilities and the friendships still endure after almost 20 years. There's a bunch of people who I'm still very close with," she said.

One of them is fellow Arts graduate Sarah Barton. Now an established film director, Ms Barton collaborated with Ms Orner on Untold Desires, a documentary about disability and sexuality.

"I knew Eva would make a fabulous producer. She just had what it took to be successful because she is a very upbeat, 'can-do' kind of person," Ms Barton said.

Ms Orner is grateful for the recognition that film-making's highest honour brings, but her focus is firmly on her next project.

"Winning an Oscar was definitely very exciting and has opened a whole lot of doors for me, but I'm a very practical girl and I want to continue to make socially-relevant films that will effect change," she said.

"I can only hope by making films with a social conscience that they can at least raise awareness, educate and start a dialogue.

"At the same time, I'm more than happy to win another Oscar.