Lights, camera, cards! Film Producer’s journey from the silver screen to spiritual healing

Film producer Polly Staniford says she was an intuitive child with a spiritual sense, so becoming a tarot reader and helping others realise their true purpose in life was always on the cards.

Film and television producer turned tarot reader Polly Staniford at Uluru where she runs retreats. Picture: Supplied

If you were an actor or a crew member on the set of a film or television show produced by Polly Staniford, it wouldn’t be uncommon for her to do a tarot reading for you.

Nor would it be out of the ordinary for Staniford’s colleagues to see her consult the cards or oracle deck when she needed guidance on a project or to reassure her when making decisions.

And Staniford’s husband saw her consult her cards the night before a house auction. She kept pulling out the number of their house, as well as the card for new beginnings. They were telling her she was going to be successful the next day. And they were.

Tarot cards are a part of Staniford’s life. However, for much of it, they weren’t at the forefront.

As one part of Aquarius Films, Staniford describes spending most of her life “climbing the career ladder” in the cutthroat and competitive world of entertainment.

“Everything in my life has started with a story and I always knew I wanted to get into film,” she says, explaining she originally planned to be a director, before discovering through film school in Melbourne there was more work as a producer and writer.

Film and television producer Polly Staniford on set for Mix Tape

Staniford at SXSW. Pictures: Supplied. SXSW film festival

Together with her producing partner Angie Fielder, their company has been responsible for the films Lion, with Nicole Kidman and Dev Patel, as well as Berlin Syndrome with Teresa Palmer. For the small screen, they’ve produced Love Me for Binge, starring Hugo Weaving and Bojana Novakovic, and ABC’s Savage River with Katherine Langford and Mark Coles Smith.

Most recently, Staniford was in Austin, Texas, to attend acclaimed festival South by Southwest, where the four-part miniseries series she co-produced, Mix Tape, won the Spotlight Audience Award. Mix Tape stars Teresa Palmer and Jim Sturgess as well as Bridgerton actress

Three years ago, Staniford began running spiritual retreats.

Florence Hunt and is due to premiere on Binge in the middle of the year.

However when Staniford, a mum of two, attended the funeral of a friend she lost “way too young”, she realised her film and television career was only one part of her story.

“I’d always been an intuitive child. As a kid, I was drawn to nature. But I felt I’d lost part of myself climbing the career ladder,” she says, speaking from her home on a leafy, tree-lined street in Sydney’s inner west.

“The loss cracked me open. It made me ask, Why am I here? And it made me realise the spiritual side of me is all about stories too. I thought not only could I bring it into my film work, but I could help people too.”

Not ever intending it to be a business, three years ago Staniford started running spiritual retreats. And it was at one of these retreats, urged on by a guest, she decided it was time to step fully into the new part of her story and start Star of The Sea.

Staniford at her home in Ashfield.

Blending tarot, reiki, shamanic healing and bespoke teas, Staniford does readings for people and helps them realise their true purpose.

She has fans in Home and Away actor Emily Weir and former Popstar’s singer turned writer Belinda Chapple. It comes at a time when belief in traditional religions has been on the decline and spirituality on the rise. In particular, people are seeking out cards to find the answers. Especially through social media and during covid, where searches for tarot cards increased by 30 per cent.

TikTok has been called TarotTok because of the prevalence of tarot accounts and readings.

Even high end fashion houses are getting in on the act, with Dior and Hermes releasing a limited edition tarot scarf collection.

Staniford believes the pull to spirituality is to help people make sense of the modern world.

“No one knows us better than ourselves but I’ve found these ancient rituals help us face the modern world,” she says.

“People are constantly looking outside themselves for answers. I know, I did it for years. But we’ve already got the wisdom within us, we just need to unlock it.”

While Staniford is still producing, she’s being more selective with her projects so she can do more readings.

“Like so many of us, I had put myself in a box. Filmmaker. But we are all multifaceted. It’s been so beautiful to share this side of myself.” ■

Find Polly Staniford at @starofthesea.polly