OUR STORY
Aracourt Studio - Ara Nuri Steel and Courtney Westbrook - is a female run, award-winning creative studio based between Sydney and Adelaide, Australia. Working across screen, design and visual storytelling, we create distinctive, craft-driven work.
Ara and Courtney are passionate storytellers with a wide variety of acquired skills. They utilise diverse, versatile and adaptive filmmaking approaches. Seeking unique projects to push the boundaries of their existing skill set and develop the partnership capabilities.
As a creative studio primarily working in film, they pride themselves on their hard working yet playful work environments that foster connections amongst cast and crew, giving each creation a sense of warmth from script to screen. They make a conscious choice to hire diverse crew to create equality and trust across age, gender, race, ability, culture, ethnicity, sexual orientation and education.
With emphasis on developing their unique style and handmade content, they are adept at combining stop-motion animation with live action. Thinking unconventionally, they dare to use mixed media to create rich and compelling experiences for their audience. They strive to produce works that elicit discussion about social issues amongst their viewers.
Their established background in production design, with the added strength of their partnership as producers, makes Aracourt uniquely qualified to lead projects from concept to screen.
Aracourt's skills include; campaign strategy, direction, ideation, concept illustration, documentation, pitching , production design, set construction, scenic art and finishing, production, post-production and release. Ara and Courtney collaborate with a team of trusted professionals when particular skills are required for a project.
Aracourt look forward to producing new content and are enthusiastic to collaborate with production companies and clients on their next projects.
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MEET THE CREATORS
ARA
Ara Nuri Steel is an award-winning designer living and working on Gadigal land (Sydney, Australia).
Ara is ever curious about the world, and the fantastical stories that real life provides. She places a great amount of emphasis on telling stories from diverse backgrounds, with interesting protagonists, and supporting emerging creatives with their work and aspirations. Her dream is to establish a space for creatives to collaborate, come together to create works of meaning and substance that ignite further conversation and debate.
Having graduated from National Institute for Dramatic Arts (NIDA) with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Design), Ara has certificates in stage design from Canberra Youth Theatre, and years of hands-on experience working with timber fabrication, sculpture, drawing, painting, model making, writing, budgeting, planning and 3D drafting.
Her passions include; the environment, making, learning, gin, grazing platters, movie nights, equal rights, nature walks and swimming.
COURT
Courtney Westbrook is an award-winning Australian filmmaker, production designer and multidisciplinary creative exploring story, character, and form. Her work spans cinematic storytelling and sculptural objects, working in South Australia and nationally.
Courtney values lifelong learning, authenticity and curiosity through storytelling and experimentation.
As co-founder of Aracourt Studio, Courtney collaborates across directing, creative development, production design and art direction, with a passion for crafting thoughtful, story-led worlds that balance emotion with meticulous detail.
Her latest short film, If/When, saw Courtney take on the roles of Director, Executive Producer, Producer, Script Editor and Co-Production Designer. The stop-motion film has received national and international recognition, winning Best Australian Film at Melbourne International Animation Festival (MIAF) 2026, Best Production Design for a Short Film at the Australian Production Design Guild (APDG) Awards 2026, and Best Animation Film at Canberra Short Film Festival 2025.
If/When has also screened at festivals including St Kilda Film Festival, Austin Film Festival, Queer Screens Mardi Gras Film Festival, Melbourne Queer Film Festival, Revelation Perth International Film Festival and Out On Film in Atlanta.
Alongside her industry work, Courtney holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Design) from the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA), and has pursued further study across business, interior architecture, graphic design, illustration, directing, screenwriting and animation. Her practice is shaped by an enduring curiosity for how design influences behaviour, and a belief that every creative decision should deepen character.
Whether designing miniature worlds, developing original projects or collaborating with fellow creatives, Courtney is driven by curiosity, craftsmanship and the power of connection.
Alongside her collaborative work, Courtney is developing a slate of original film and design projects that continue to explore memory, identity, place and the ways environments shape human behaviour.
Outside the studio you'll usually find Courtney making lists, listening to music prior to the 90s, hosting games nights, stargazing, building objects, exploring history, reading, or getting her hands dirty on a new creative project.