Katherine Chediak Putnam is a Brazilian-American director and one half of a wife-and-husband writing team with Australian screenwriter Dean W. Law. The couples' films attempt to bring to life genre stories with personal relevance enriched by their multicultural experience. Their 2018 short 'Stray' was nominated for an Australian Writers' Guild Award before playing some of the world's most celebrated genre festivals, including the Sitges Film Festival, Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, Monster Fest and San Sebastian Horror and Fantasy Film Festival, where it was awarded Best Short Film.
Following this success, the pair's 2020 film Inferno was selected for Screen Queensland's Proof of Concept Initiative, providing the team with support as they transition to long-form projects. 'Inferno' has been selected to play at major film festivals such as Dances with Films, Seattle International Film Festival, Bucheon International Fantastic Film and Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival.
Katherine is also a lecturer at Griffith Film School in Australia and in 2021 finished her doctoral degree in genre and women's studies in the practice of screenwriting.