THE POLICEWOMAN is a gripping Australian true-crime feature documentary that takes audiences inside the extraordinary life and career of former police detective Narelle Fraser.

THE FILM

This feature documentary tells the story of charismatic Narelle Fraser, a former Victoria Police Detective, who investigated some of Australia’s most heinous crimes. We journey with Narelle as she pieces together the patchwork quilt of her trauma and she recollects the innocent young woman that she once was. One who simply wanted to help. In order to make sense of what became her fractured mind, she delves into the crimes that haunted her most. This immersive documentary is told through recreations using miniature dioramas, which Narelle herself manipulates like a puppet master. After 27 years, she was unable to function in the job she loved so much and was dismissed from the police force. This film is a journey into the darker side of policing, but it is an emotional and gripping tale of how Narelle eventually triumphed over great mental suffering.

Narelle Fraser: The Policewoman

Australian podcast star Narelle Fraser is THE POLICEWOMAN. Narelle served with Victoria Police for 27 years, including 15 as a detective across the Rape Squad, Homicide Squads and the Missing Persons Unit. Throughout a distinguished career, she earned a reputation as a meticulous, deeply committed and compassionate investigator. Her cases brought her face to face with death, trauma and the darkest edges of human behaviour. Narelle worked on some of Australia's most high-profile investigations, including the murders of Anna and Gracie Sharpe by John Sharpe, the Society Murders of Margaret Wales-King and Paul King, the death of Maria Korp, the 2002 Bali bombings and the Ascot Vale Rapist investigation. In 2012, an unexpected diagnosis changed the course of her life and challenged the world she had known and loved. Meeting that upheaval with courage and determination, Narelle found a new direction. Her journey is an unflinching and generous reflection on vulnerability, resilience and the strengths we discover when life changes without warning. With candour, warmth and a sharp sense of humour, Narelle offers a rare female perspective on the everyday reality of policing. Her stories reveal a world that can be confronting, absurd, heartbreaking and extraordinary - often all at once. Narelle is a familiar voice across television, radio, print and social media. She has appeared on Crime Scene Investigation (CH9), The Project and Insight, and is widely known for her appearances on the Australian True Crime podcast with Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb. She is a member of the Australian Institute of Professional Investigators, the National Speakers Association of Australia and Toastmasters. She has lectured in investigation techniques and human rights, trains investigators through Investigator Upgrade, and speaks regularly at events, community groups and clubs.

Dr Claire Pasvolsky: Director 

Claire is an award-winning filmmaker, educator, researcher and learning designer whose work spans screen production, performance, higher education and creative practice research. With more than 15 years' experience across the creative industries and tertiary education, Claire has built a distinctive career creating work that explores identity, memory, human behaviour and the stories that shape how we understand ourselves and each other. She is equally at home developing feature films, designing transformative learning experiences, leading actor training initiatives, and creating innovative projects that bridge artistic practice and social impact. Claire’s debut documentary BIG SKY GIRLS (2022) premiered at Academy Award Qualifying US Festival Cinequest, in San Jose. This film had its Australian premiere at Brisbane International Film Festival in 2022 and has screened on SBS and NITV. In 2023, Claire’s debut feature drama THREE CHORDS AND THE TRUTH (which she wrote and directed) premiered at The Sydney Film Festival. Claire was awarded The Australian Director’s Guild Award in 2023 for Best Director of a Feature Film for that film, which was distributed nationally by Bonsai Films and has screened on Binge, Foxtel and Channel 9. Alongside her screen practice, Claire is a Learning Design Specialist with NIDA Corporate, where she designs and facilitates professional learning experiences for organisations navigating leadership, communication, innovation and change. Claire holds a PhD in Media and Communication (Screenwriting), and her research focuses on narrative, representation, trauma and creative practice. Her doctoral work, There's Something About Stalking, examined the representation of stalking victims in screen narratives and informed her ongoing interest in the intersection of storytelling, psychology and lived experience. Claire is currently developing two major screen projects. INGENUE is a music-driven psychological thriller that unfolds over a single night inside an intimate theatre, blending performance, memory, synchronicity and shifting realities in a haunting exploration of artistic obsession and creative partnership. She is also developing THOSE DASHING MCDONAGH SISTERS, a feature film inspired by the pioneering Australian filmmakers Paulette, Phyllis and Isabel McDonagh, whose groundbreaking contributions helped shape the nation's screen industry but have largely been forgotten by history. Across all her work, Claire is driven by a fascination with the stories people tell themselves, the performances we construct for the world, and the transformative possibilities of cinema, theatre and learning.

Steve Pasvolsky: Editor & Producer

Steve’s short drama INJA, which he wrote and directed whilst a student at AFTRS, was nominated for an Academy Award™ in 2003. Since graduating, he's written, directed and produced a broad range of documentaries for National Geographic, Discovery, ABC and SBS, as well as narrative features. In 2006 he wrote and directed DECK DOGZ for UNIVERSAL PICTURES. In 2018, Steve wrote and directed JOHN EALES REVELS: THE HAKA, a feature documentary for Discovery Channel, which won a journalism medal at the Olympic Committee’s Sports Press Association Awards 2019. Later that year Steve wrote and directed CHRISTMAS SOUNDS BETTER THIS YEAR, a one-hour documentary for the ABC. He followed that film with CALIBRATE, a feature documentary which won the Audience Award at the Awareness Film Festival (USA) and THE POWER OF ACTIVISM for SBS which won Best Australian Documentary at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival 2022. Steve Edited and produced the feature drama THREE CHORDS AND THE TRUTH, which premiered at the Sydney Film Festival 2023 and won the Australian Director’s Guild Award for best direction. Steve is currently producing the Screen Australia funded feature documentary THE GIRL WHO FELL FROM THE SKY.