5 minutes with Josh Koske

You could be forgiven for not immediately recognising the name, but Josh Koske is one of Canberra’s most exciting film creatives. U.S. expat Joshua Koske, touched down 10 years ago and immediately set about making waves in the tight-knit Screen Canberra community.

Josh spoke to us about his recent successes and what’s in store for the new year. With a background in psychology and social work (care for the homeless, foster care) it is easy to see why Josh has evolved into a voracious story-teller and all around creative. As Josh speaks about his upcoming plans and recent successes, his underlying passion for communicating peoples’ stories from their own perspective, becomes abundantly clear.

One such recent example, BECOMING EMMA BRAINTREE, written and directed by Josh, (original story by Aaron Dries) brings together Josh’s fascination with what results when people strive to take care of the needs of others before their own. If you haven’t already, we strongly urge you take a look at this short-film marvel. BECOMING EMMA BRAINTREE has already received several accolades for short/concept film, notably including the Chicago Indie Film awards Best Thriller award (2021) and the CANB SHRT FILM FEST Best Film award (2021). 

Stills from BECOMING EMMA BRAINTREE

But Josh is not one to rest on his laurels. For him, 2021 was a productive and a successful year, but it was still a year where outreach happened from home, instead of through personal contact. This year, he hopes, will be a year of open travel and networking, both domestically and abroad, as the hunt for new collaborators and inspirational stories continues.

We asked whether or not 2022 held a lot in store in terms of new projects and the answer was an emphatic “So many!”. And aren’t we pleased to hear it! With so much in the works in all three of his capacities as Writer, Director and Producer, Josh zeroed in on what really set his engines ablaze; his upcoming anthology, which forms the scaffolding under which many of his projects find their place.

 “The anthology combines stories from lots of different perspectives, with numerous voices involved – both international and Australian”.

Delving into this with Josh, it was easy to see that this series of hour-long stories may become the screen-practitioner’s magnum opus.

Josh working with his cast and crew on the set of BECOMING EMMA BRAINTREE

Credit: Greg Gould.

Asked about what he would do with unlimited resources and time, Koske provided a humble and refreshing response; pour more energy into his anthology project. For him, dreams look like unbridled access to people and locations to help fulfil his creative vision and he hopes that 2022 will yield more networking opportunities to that end. But he takes it all with a grain of salt, stating that Canberra is really a dream location in itself.

“You have access to some of the most amazing cast and crew here in Canberra. The support you get from Screen Canberra and local producers. Everyone knows each other and everyone comes together. And the location itself, I cannot think of another place where you’re within arm’s reach of just about any sort of location that you want.”

Koske was hard-pressed to provide an answer for who his hero in the industry might be but screenwriting and directing legends William Goldman, Jon Favreau and Martin Scorsese were three that came up as inspirational forces in his career. And judging by his recent titles, we’d say he’s doing an excellent job of following their lead.

We can’t wait to see what’s next!