Overview

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Nathan Evans is a three-time award-winning emerging Australian production designer for film and television, drawing on more than 20 years of multidisciplinary practice across advertising, architecture and interiors, exhibition and event design.

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Awards

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His most recent recognition from the Australian Production Design Guild (APDG) is APDG Awards 2026: WYSIWYG 3D Design for a Short Form Screen Production Award for the short film Collect Call. Nathan’s first APDG win was the 2025 AFTRS Emerging Designer for a Screen Production Award for Interview with a Hero. At the 2026 ReelGood Film Festival, Interview with a Hero won Best Film and Nathan received Best Off‑Screen Talent for Production Design for the same work. At the 2026 St Kilda Film Festival, Interview with a Hero was recognised through director Celeste Diep’s Best Director award, while its production design was nominated, but did not win, for Best Achievement in Production Design.

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Festivals – Interview with a Hero

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Interview with a Hero has had a substantial international festival run. To date it has screened at eleven major events and curated programs:

• Sydney Film Festival – Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films.

• Melbourne International Film Festival – Accelerator Lab.

• CinefestOZ.

• Adelaide Film Festival.

• Cambodia International Film Festival (CIFF), Phnom Penh.

• SXSW London.

• Atlanta Film Festival – official shorts selection.

• Heart of Gold International Short Film Festival.

• ReelGood Film Festival – where it won Best Film and Best Off‑Screen Talent for Production Design.

• St Kilda Film Festival – Australia’s Top Short Film Competition.

• Harbour City Cinema at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

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Collect Call premiered at Flickerfest at Bondi Pavilion in Sydney in 2026, then screened at the Forbidden Worlds Film Festival in Bristol where it won a Best Sci‑Fi/Fantasy short award, and at the Melbourne International CINEVERSE Film Festival at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI).

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Features

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Since graduating from AFTRS, Nathan has moved into feature‑length work. He is currently in pre‑production as production designer on HOUSE, his second feature. His first feature, HOOK, saw him serve as co‑art director, co‑costume designer and graphic designer; both projects are progressing through production and release scheduling.

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Television

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Nathan is known for art directing the SBS TV series Meet the Changs (2022) and the follow-up TV series for SBS as a production designer for Meet Leila and Ziad (2023).

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Testimonial:

“Cultural awareness and sensitivity, aesthetic finesse, and a can-do attitude are some of the many attributes Nathan displayed when he was commissioned by SBS Learn English on two series as Art director and Production Designer. He meticulously created homes for both a Chinese and Lebanese family, that were on point!”

Janine Googan
Program Manager, SBS Learn English

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In 2022, he also worked as a Producer on a philanthropic film commissioned by UTS: University of Technology Sydney for the National First Nations College.

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Testimonial:

“As a proud First Nations Writer, Director and co-founder of Studio Gilay, I was delighted to find an ally in Nathan who diligently produced with passion and tenacity a philanthropic film to raise awareness and funding for the world’s first National First Nations College at UTS. His professionalism in coordinating the talent and organising multiple locations in pre-production combined with running the shoot on the day adhering to a strict timetable was impeccable. As a result of his contribution to this important cultural project, it is moving forward with gusto!”

Jake Duczynski
Writer, Director and Co-Founder of Studio Gilay

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AFTRS Training and Design Showcase West

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From 2023 – 2024, he refined his producing skills in the pre-development of a historical drama television series, www.sevenvalleys.tv, (a compelling portrayal of a community's journey through industrialisation capturing the essence of the human spirit amidst the evolving socio-economic landscape), whilst concurrently undertaking a Master of Arts Screen in Production Design at AFTRS: Australian Film, Television and Radio School.

During this time, he was a Production Designer on eight short films: Kowloon Nights (2023) drama, Action not Hope! (2023) documentary, Escape! (2023) drama, Darwin (2023) proof of concept for a historical drama TV series www.sevenvalleys.tv, Framing Resistance (2023) documentary, Collect Call (2024), Chahārshanbe Suri (2024), and Interview with a Hero (2024), which was selected to represent AFTRS for the prestigious CILECT prize run by The International Association of Cinema, Audiovisual and Media Schools.

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As part of his exegesis research, while studying at AFTRS, Nathan explored how Production Designers can use Agile Innovation Theory to enhance and expedite the World Building process in screen production design. Key findings suggested that agile practices, such as iterative development, continuous feedback, and cross-functional collaboration, can significantly enhance World Building, highlighting the potential of integrating advanced technologies like AI, VR, and AR to create more dynamic and engaging environments. ​

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Click here to read the Exegesis.

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His graduate work was invited to exhibit at Design Showcase West at UCLA, an initiative of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television that serves as a national entertainment design showcase for graduate student work from leading university programs and is attended by producers, directors and senior designers scouting new talent in May 2025.

In October 2025 he presented an academic poster at the inaugural Production Design Research and Education Network (PD‑REN) conference Scene & Unseen: The Invisible Art of Production Design, hosted at the University of Westminster’s Regent Street Campus in London, titled “Expediting World Building Through Agile Innovation: A Production Design Case Study of Collect Call.”

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Academic Profile and PhD

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Alongside industry work, Nathan maintains a strong academic profile. He holds a Master of Arts Screen in Production Design from AFTRS, a Master of Film and Digital Image from Sydney College of the Arts at the University of Sydney, a Bachelor of Design in Architecture from the University of Sydney, a Graduate Certificate in Design Science (Building), and a Bachelor of Design and Technology from Western Sydney University. He has recently commenced PhD research at Western Sydney University titled “The Digital Production Designer: Generative AI and the Future of World Building in Screen Media.”

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Teaching and Other Projects

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Nathan has taught as a Graphic Design and Exhibition Design lecturer at institutions including ACU, Qantm College and Raffles College. He has completed his first television commercial for the charity Hope in a Suitcase and recently production designed LEAN, a Bus Stop Films short that places its core concept — a world in which people and their surroundings exist on a 45‑degree lean — squarely on the shoulders of the production design. Working to a two‑week turnaround on a modest budget, he transformed a suburban living room into a detailed, slightly kitsch Italian restaurant, with every prop, lighting fixture and piece of dressing reinforcing the film’s visual logic. Director Tony Radevski has described Nathan as “incredibly resourceful, with strong conceptual and graphic skills that allowed him to communicate ideas clearly before then working out how to make them achievable in the real space,” noting that cast and crew were “genuinely amazed by what he had managed to create” and that he would “recommend him wholeheartedly.”

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Additional Roles

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In addition to his production design practice, Nathan works as a graphic designer at Mint Pictures, developing innovative and interactive pitch decks for factual television.

Testimonial:

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“I have had the pleasure of working with Nathan since June, harnessing his creativity and passion for film and TV to produce amazing pitch decks for our upcoming factual entertainment projects in our pipeline. A stickler for detail, flexible and always happy to do the hard yards to get the job done! Our team loves working with him to bring our concepts to fruition. I highly recommend him.”

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Dan Goldberg
Creative Director, Mint Pictures

He also volunteers his time to the Australian Production Design Guild as its Social Media Representative.

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Testimonial:

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“APDG is a national organisation that represents designers and their associates in screen, live performance, events and digital production across Australia. Nathan Evans has been an active member volunteering in the role of Social Media Representative since December 2024.

Nathan's strategic thinking, stylish design sensibility and care for his profession have helped transform APDG's social media presence over the past 18 months to be distinctive and consistent. Since commencing in the role Nathan has helped guide a rebrand including categories and associated colours for types of posts, provided comprehensive reports on the guild's social media reach and analytics in accessible formats for the National Executive, and regularly designs and schedules posts in collaboration with the APDG staff.

We very much value him as a volunteer member of the guild, and appreciate that he brings  his professionalism, respect and warmth to the role, which he successfully balances with his professional commitments.”

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Rebecca Whittington
Business Manager, Australian Production Design Guild (APDG)

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