Eva Justine Torkkola is a writer, director and producer based in Melbourne, Australia.
Of Ukrainian-Finnish heritage, her work often explores the point where private lives collide with larger historical forces - women whose interior lives exist at the edges of belonging. Through psychologically driven, character-centred storytelling, she examines themes of memory, power, displacement and identity.
Working across fiction film and television, Eva is currently developing two feature films and a television series. She holds a Master of Screenwriting (2024) and a Master of Film and Television in Directing - Narrative (2019) from the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne.
Her drama short film Something Has Died in the Forest (ЩОСЬ В ЛІСІ ЗДОХЛО) received nominations from both the Australian Directors’ Guild and the Australian Writers’ Guild for direction and screenplay. Her dark comedy short script, Viktor, was shortlisted for the Australian Writers’ Guild Monte Miller Awards.
Her directing work includes Dead Lesbians, which premiered at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival and screened internationally, including at the Cineffable Paris International Lesbian & Feminist Film Festival, and Lady Priest, which won Best Pilot at both Melbourne WebFest and Bilbao Seriesland. She was part of the winning team as Director for the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Pitch: Focus national short film competition.
In 2020, Eva was a Leading Lights recipient at the Australian International Documentary Conference, recognising her as one of forty emerging Australian documentary filmmakers. In 2025, she was selected as one of 17 producers for the inaugural Social Enterprise for Screen, a national program supporting underrepresented creatives, funded by the Screenrights Cultural Fund. In 2026, Eva was selected for Hidden Nerve with MARION, a cross-disciplinary creative development.
Selected labs and programs include:
NOSTOS Screenwriting Residency, Tuscany (2025)
Stowe Story Labs, Galway (2025)
‘Under The Volcano’ Filmmaking Accelerator with Werner Herzog, Canary Islands (2024)
Melbourne International Film Festival Accelerator Lab (2022)
International Filmmaking Academy with Jane Campion and featuring Francis Ford Coppola, Bologna (2019)
Looking China Documentary Program, Xi’an (2019)
Alongside her film work, Eva has lectured in directing and acting at the University of Melbourne, Deakin University and the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA Open) and holds a Bachelor of Arts (Theatre Acting). She is also writing her debut novel.
“In a bold attempt to blend present and past, memory and imagination, the filmmaker’s thoughtful use of imagery and experimental treatment of time and space represent an ambitious directorial approach that dares to push the boundaries in this complex narrative about the perils of living in regional areas.”
— Jury citation of winning film 'tether' by eva justine torkkola, WIFT V-FEST BEST REGIONAL FILM award, sponsored by Screenworks
