Pointe: Dancing on a Knife’s Edge has received two honours at the 2026 WA Screen Culture Awards, adding a pair of industry accolades to the documentary’s successful Australian run.
Presented at Luna Cinemas Leederville on July 16, the awards recognised Pointe for Innovation in Documentary/Non-Fiction, shared with My Soul Is in a Hurry, and Outstanding Achievement in Editing, awarded to Nicholas Dunlop. The film had also been nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography or Visualisation.
Directed and produced by Dawn Jackson, Pointe follows acclaimed dancer and choreographer Floeur Alder, daughter of Australian ballet luminaries Lucette Aldous AC and Alan Alder. At 22, as she prepared to pursue a European dance career, Alder survived a random knife attack outside her Perth home.
The film moves beyond the immediate crime and its physical aftermath, tracing Alder’s longer reckoning with trauma, family history and the expectations attached to her celebrated ballet lineage. Dance becomes both subject and storytelling language as she works towards a return to performance and a more independent artistic identity.
The editing award recognises one of the documentary’s defining strengths. Dunlop draws together intimate observational footage, interviews, choreography, news reports, family photographs and rare archival material featuring Aldous and Alder.
Jackson previously told Dance Australia that Dunlop’s perspective helped challenge her assumptions as a dancer and sharpen the film’s storytelling.
“Nick is not a dancer. He broke my assumptions,” she said. “He pushed for clarity because he wanted the audience to truly grasp what was at stake.”
The film also features contributions from Chrissie Parrott AM, David McAllister, Dame Monica Mason, Dame Gillian Lynne, Mark Annear and Robert Bestonso, alongside footage connecting the Alder family to figures including Dame Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev.
Following its 2025 premiere at CinefestOZ, Pointe travelled to cinemas around Australia through a series of screenings and audience conversations. It has since continued to find new audiences, including a 2026 presentation at the National Film and Sound Archive during Australian Dance Week.
The WA Screen Culture Awards are presented by Revelation Perth International Film Festival and recognise achievement and innovation across Western Australia’s film, television, documentary, animation, games and digital sectors.