David Easteal (b. 1986) is an Australian filmmaker who lives and works in Naarm/Melbourne.
He produced, wrote and directed his debut feature film The Plains (2022), which premiered in the Tiger Competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and screened widely at international festivals including Edinburgh, Hong Kong, Singapore, Pingyao, Mar del Plata, São Paulo, Ghent and Torino. The film also screened at cultural institutions and cinematheques including Lincoln Center, New York (Art of the Real); the Barbican Centre, London; the Centre Pompidou, Paris (Cinéma du Réel); TIFF Cinematheque, Toronto; and QAGOMA, Brisbane (Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art).
Released globally on MUBI in 2023, The Plains received widespread critical acclaim. It was named the Best Undistributed Film of 2022 by Film Comment and appeared on several year-end lists in 2022 and 2023, including those published by Sight & Sound, Cinema Scope, Variety, Slant Magazine and The Film Stage, which also named the film among the Best Directorial Debuts of 2023. The Guardian named the film the Best Australian Film of 2023.
Easteal is a self-taught filmmaker whose work merges observational documentary and fiction, often exploring the passage of time, working life and the rhythms of everyday experience. Prior to The Plains, he made several short films, including Monaco (2015) and The Father (2011), which screened at festivals including New York, BFI London, Molodist Kyiv, Sofia and Belfort Entrevues. In 2015 he received the award for Emerging Australian Filmmaker at the Melbourne International Film Festival.
In 2024 he was awarded a fellowship at MacDowell (New Hampshire, USA), where he began development of his second feature-length film.
Easteal studied law and literature at the University of Melbourne. In addition to filmmaking, he practises as a barrister at the Victorian Bar.