Top 100 Australian & New Zealand Directors
List activity
4.5K views
• 2 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
100 people
- Director
- Writer
Charles Tait was born on 15 November 1868 in Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia. He was a director and writer, known for The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906). He died on 27 June 1933 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.- Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
Charles Bennett was born on 13 April 1893 in Dunedin, New Zealand. He was an actor and director, known for Treasure Island (1934), America (1924) and The Little Slavey (1915). He was married to Dorothy Eileen Brown. He died on 15 February 1943 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Raymond Longford was born on 23 September 1878 in Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia. He was a director and writer, known for The Mutiny of the Bounty (1916), The Sentimental Bloke (1919) and The Dinkum Bloke (1923). He was married to Emilie Elizabeth Anschutz and Melena Louisa Keen. He died on 2 April 1959 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Coming to the US at the age of 34, New Zealand-born Rupert Julian started his career as a stage and screen actor touring Australia and New Zealand. Having made his name (and a cool million for Universal) as a dead ringer for Kaiser Wilhelm II in the 1918 film The Kaiser, the Beast of Berlin (1918), he turned director. His output was mostly routine until he was assigned to complete Merry-Go-Round (1923) when director Erich von Stroheim was fired from it. His best-known picture was Lon Chaney's The Phantom of the Opera (1925) (though he in turn was fired and replaced before filming was completed), but he soon fell into a professional decline, and after directing only two films after the advent of sound, his career fizzled out.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Ken G. Hall was born on 22 February 1901 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He was a director and producer, known for The Exploits of the Emden (1928), The Farmer Goes to Town (1938) and Vengeance of the Deep (1938). He was married to Irene Addison. He died on 8 February 1994 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Charles Chauvel was born in Queensland, Australia in 1897 to land owners in the south. After minding his family's farm while his father was at war with the Australian Light Horse in Sinai, he went to Sydney against his father's wishes to study drama. After some work in the movies looking after horses, he followed his idol, Rex "Snowy" Baker to America where he found odd jobs, eventually getting some minor parts in some movies. He returned to Australia and in 1926 made his first feature film, "The Moth of Moonbi". His following film, "Greenhide" starred Elsie Sylvaney, the woman who was to become Charles' wife in June 1927. After the birth of their daughter Suzanne, the Chauvels travelled across the Pacific to Pitcairn Island and later Tahiti in their quest to make the film In the Wake of the Bounty (1933), a film which launched the career of Errol Flynn. In 1934 Chauvel began work on the film "Heritage" in response to an offer from the Australian Government of a prize for the best Australian made film. It was an historical epic tracing 150 years of Australian history, and after it's release in 1935 went on to win the prize. After making "Uncivilized", a film which Chauvel was never happy with, Charles and Elsa went to Hollywood to brush up on film techniques, before returning to Australia to make the war film, 40,000 Horsemen (1940). This film was an account of the Australian Light Horse and was a fitting honour to "these dauntless riders and their gallant horses." It was a world-wide success. Charles and Elsa made several war documentaries, "Soldiers Without Uniforms", "The Power to Win", "While There is Still Time", "A Mountain Goes to Sea" and "Russia Aflame" (1942) before making another feature film. The Rats of Tobruk (1944) was a drama set in north-east Libya where the Australian soldiers were fighting Rommel's forces. Live ammunition was used during filming to achieve a realistic effect. When released, soldiers were most impressed with this film for its accuracy in portraying their experiences. The Rugged O'Riordans (1949) was a story based upon the lives of the O'Reilly family who had been pioneers in Australia. It follows three generations of the O'Riordan family from the 1890s. "Sons of Matthew" was filmed under difficult conditions which included almost constant rain. In spite of the large expenses for the production, this film made a healthy profit after a publicity campaign in Britain and USA. Charles decided to make a film in the Northern Territory, Australia, and after a reconnaissance trip which provided several fascinating stories, the story of an Aboriginal woman, Jedda, was formed. The first colour feature film made in Australia, Jedda the Uncivilized (1955) was the story of an Aboriginal woman, Jedda, who was fostered by white parents and promised in marriage to Joe, a part-Aboriginal who worked on their station. Marbuck, an Aboriginal from another tribe kidnaps Jedda and condemned by his own tribe eventually takes the two of them to their deaths. Over the next few years, Charles and Elsa travelled around Australia, making a series of documentaries for the BBC, before Charles died suddenly of a heart attack in 1959.- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Australian-born Alf Goulding was a former vaudevillian who became a director specializing in comedy shorts. He directed Harold Lloyd comedies for Hal Roach, and in the early 1920s joined Mack Sennett, then turned out two-reelers at RKO and Columbia, sometimes featuring Edgar Kennedy. In England after World War II, he directed a slew of "quota quickies", low-budget films made to fulfill a government requirement that a certain percentage of films shown in England be produced in England. He was a close friend of Stan Laurel, and directed one of Laurel and Oliver Hardy's best features, A Chump at Oxford (1940).- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Ralph Smart was born to Australian parents in the London suburb of Chingford, some ten miles northeast of Charing Cross. He began his professional career in films as an editor, writer and director of documentary shorts in 1927. Smart collaborated on the screenplays of some of Michael Balcon's early films at Gaumont-British, before moving 'down under' to make propaganda films and documentaries for the Australian government during the Second World War. After the war, he worked as producer or producer/director on two seminal films shot by Ealing in Australia: The Overlanders (1946) and Bush Christmas (1947). From the mid-1950's, he was active again in Britain, affiliated with ITC as writer/producer/director of several popular TV period adventures, notably The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955), The Buccaneers (1956) and William Tell (1958). His best known contribution came about in the 1960's, when he created the action series Danger Man (1960) and its incorruptible lone wolf protagonist John Drake, played brilliantly by Patrick McGoohan. After the show was cancelled in 1966, Smart returned to working as a freelance screenwriter on the short-lived Australian-based series Riptide (1969), starring American actor Ty Hardin. Smart settled down in Bowen, Queensland, where the show was filmed and died there in February 2001 at the venerable age of 92.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
John Farrow wrote short stories and plays during his four-year career in the navy. In the late 1920s he came to Hollywood as a technical advisor for a film about Marines and stayed as a screenwriter, from A Sailor's Sweetheart (1927) through Tarzan Escapes (1936). He married Tarzan's Jane, Maureen O'Sullivan, in 1936. He began directing in 1937 (Men in Exile (1937) and West of Shanghai (1937)). He was injured while serving as a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy in World War II. After that he converted to Catholicism and wrote a biography of Thomas More, a history of the Papacy, a Tahitian/English dictionary and several novels. He collaborated in the writing of several of his films and shared the Academy Award for Around the World in 80 Days (1956).- Director
- Animation Department
- Writer
Len Lye was born on 5 July 1901 in Christchurch, New Zealand. He was a director and writer, known for Crusade in Europe (1949), N or NW (1938) and He Loved an Actress (1938). He was married to Annette Zeiss and Jane Florence Winifred Thompson. He died on 15 May 1980 in Warwick, Rhode Island, USA.- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Don Sharp was born on the island of Tasmania off of Australia, and began his show-business career there as an actor. After World War II he traveled to England and continued his acting carer. He became a director in the mid-1950s and turned out some low- and medium-budget musicals, such as the Tommy Steele vehicle The Dream Maker (1963). In the mid-1960s he was hired by horror specialist Hammer Films and turned out some well-received thrillers, including The Kiss of the Vampire (1963), his first for Hammer. He worked on a few films as second-unit director, most notably Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes (1965), before returning to directing again, and turned out a string of thrillers, horror films and comedies. Towards the end of his career he worked in television on mini-series.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Tim Burstall was born on 20 April 1927 in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, England, UK. He was a director and writer, known for Stork (1971), End Play (1976) and Libido (1973). He was married to Neela Dey and Betty Rogers. He died on 19 April 2004 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Jim Sharman spent much of his young life at the circus, where his father and grandfather ran a travelling boxing sideshow. Taking an interest in theatre, he attended the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, graduating in 1966. Sharman became interested in directing experimental theatre. While directing the Sydney production of Hair in 1970, he met a young architectural student named Brian Thomson, who would become his longtime set designer. His local production of Jesus Christ Superstar caught the attention of lyricist Tim Rice, who brought him and Thomson to London in 1972 to stage the production, which included Richard O'Brien. Directing the stage production of "The Rocky Horror Show" gave Sharman the opportunity to direct its film version The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) and its sequel Shock Treatment (1981). Sharman went on to become one of Australia's most respected theatre directors.- Director
- Producer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ken Hannam was born on 12 July 1929 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He was a director and producer, known for Sunday Too Far Away (1975), Dawn! (1979) and Wandjina! (1966). He was married to Madlena Nedeva, Wendy Dickson and Lena Melocco. He died on 16 November 2004 in London, England, UK.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Henri Safran was born on 7 October 1932 in Paris, France. He is a director and writer, known for The Wild Duck (1983), Norman Loves Rose (1982) and Storm Boy (1976).French-Australian director- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Yoram Gross is Australia's leading animation Producer and Director. Internationally acclaimed for his films and television series, Yoram has established a world-wide reputation for the adaptation of children's characters from books and films to animation that win the hearts of children worldwide. Yoram is known as a storyteller whose distinctive, non-violent films and series possess a contemporary charm that crosses all international barriers. Yoram has a rich personal history and uses the mediums of film and television to share his life experiences. Born in Kraków to a Jewish family, Yoram endured World War II under the Nazi regime. His family was on Oskar Schindler's infamous list, but chose to make their own risky escape, moving hiding places 72 times. Yoram looks back on these times as a valuable catalyst. He has a lot to say to children and every one of his films contains a message, including loyalty, peaceful resolve and good winning over evil. Yoram first entered the film industry in 1947 in Kraków, commencing his career as an assistant to Polish directors Cenkalski and Buczowski, as well as the Dutch director Yoris Ivens. In 1950, Yoram moved from Europe to Israel, where he worked as a newsreel and documentary cameraman. He then became an independent film producer and director and began winning prizes at film festivals all over the world. Yoram now holds more than 80 international awards for his various films. In 1968 together with his wife Sandra and their young family Yoram moved to Australia. There, Yoram continued to make experimental films and produced film clips for the popular weekly television music program 'Bandstand'. That same year, Yoram and Sandra established Yoram Gross Film Studios - initially working from home and eventually expanding the company into Australia's most prolific and well-known animation production house. Yoram's films and series have been enjoyed all over the world and his audience continues to grow from day to day. In 1995 he was awarded the prestigious Order of Australia for his outstanding achievements and for his contribution to the Australian film industry.- Writer
- Director
- Script and Continuity Department
Colin Eggleston was born on 23 September 1941 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He was a writer and director, known for Long Weekend (1978), Cassandra (1987) and Division 4 (1969). He was married to Dimity Reed and Briony Behets. He died on 10 August 2002 in Geneva, Canton Geneva, Switzerland.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Gillian Armstrong was born on 18 December 1950 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. She is a director and producer, known for My Brilliant Career (1979), Not Fourteen Again (1996) and Little Women (1994). She is married to John Pleffer. They have two children.- Actress
- Director
- Producer
Essie Coffey was born near Goodooga in Northern NSW. She was a Muruwari woman and the co-founder of the Western Aboriginal Legal Service and served on a number of government bodies and Aboriginal community organisations.
Her family avoided forced relocation to a reserve by following seasonal rural work.
Coffey co-founded the Western Aboriginal Legal Service and the Aboriginal Heritage and Cultural Museum in Brewarrina, serving on several government bodies and Aboriginal community organisations including the Aboriginal Lands Trust and the Aboriginal Advisory Council. She was an inaugural member of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.
She was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) on 10 June 1985, for service to the Aboriginal community. She was nominated for an MBE but refused it, explaining that she knocked the MBE back because she is not a member of the British Empire.
Coffey was also an active filmmaker. In 1978 she made "My Survival as an Aboriginal", which she gave to Queen Elizabeth II as a gift at the opening of Australia's new Parliament House in 1988. The film won the Greater Union Award for documentary film and the Rouben Mamoulian Award at the Sydney Film Festival 1979. The sequel, "My Life As I Live It", was released in 1993. Coffey also appeared in the film Backroads.
Essie Coffey and her husband, Albert "Doc" Coffey, raised 8 children and adopted 10 more.- Director
- Editor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Graeme Clifford was born on 27 September 1942 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He is a director and editor, known for Don't Look Now (1973), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981).- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Writer, director and producer Richard Franklin was born on July 15, 1948 in Melbourne, Australia. Infatuated with cinema at an early age, Franklin first began making 8mm films at age 10. Franklin saw Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" two years later and was hooked on movies for life. Richard enrolled at Monash University in Melbourne and worked as an assistant cameraman at a television advertising company. Franklin eventually went to America and attended the University of Southern California in 1967. While studying at USC Franklin got Hitchcock to do a Q&A session for a screening of "Rope." Hitchcock in turn invited Franklin to watch him work on the set of "Topaz." Franklin returned to Australia following graduation in 1969 and got a job as an assistant director for the popular TV series "Homicide." Franklin went on to direct several episodes. He also made several short movies and documentaries around this time. Franklin made his feature film debut with the raunchy sex comedy "The True Story of Eskimo Nell." He followed this picture with the equally bawdy "Fantasm." His third movie "Patrick" was a nifty horror feature that proved to be a big international success; it won the Grand Prize at the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival, was nominated for an AFI Award for Best Film, and won the Best Director Award at the Sitges-Catalonian International Film Festival. "Roadgames" was a tense and witty "danger on the road" thriller knockout which was the most expensive Australian film made in the early 80s. Franklin then did the surprisingly solid and satisfying belated sequel "Psycho II." His other movies include the delightful "Cloak and Dagger," the silly "Link," and the hugely enjoyable "F/X 2." However, Franklin became weary of Hollywood studio politics and returned to his native Australia. He made the acclaimed play adaptations "Hotel Sorrento" and "Brilliant Lies." "Hotel Sorrento" won an AFI Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and was nominated for both Best Film and Best Director. Franklin also did a made-for-TV adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic fantasy adventure novel "The Lost World." His final feature was the horror thriller "Visitors." In addition to his film work, Franklin also directed episodes of the TV shows "Flatland," "A Fine Romance," and "Beauty and the Beast." He was a drummer in the Melbourne band The Pink Finks and was a lecturer at the Swinburne School of Film and Television in Australia. Richard Franklin died from prostate cancer at age 58 on July 11, 2007.- Director
- Producer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
George Miller was born on 28 November 1943 in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. He was a director and producer, known for The Man from Snowy River (1982), Matlock Police (1971) and The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter (1990). He died on 17 February 2023 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.British-Australian director, not to be confused with George Miller- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Geoff Murphy was born on 12 October 1938 in Wellington, New Zealand. He was a director and actor, known for The Quiet Earth (1985), Dante's Peak (1997) and Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995). He was married to Merata Mita, Pat Robins and Diane Kearns. He died on 3 December 2018 in Wellington, New Zealand.- Producer
- Director
- Actress
Merata Mita was born on 19 June 1942 in Maketu, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. She was a producer and director, known for Boy (2010), Patu! (1983) and Mauri (1988). She was married to Geoff Murphy. She died on 31 May 2010 in Auckland, New Zealand.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Carl Schultz was born on 19 September 1939 in Budapest, Hungary. He is a director and writer, known for Careful, He Might Hear You (1983), The Seventh Sign (1988) and Goodbye Paradise (1982).- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Fred began in advertising in Melbourne, Australia, working in an ad agency before joining the film production house, Cinesound. Two years later he founded the Film House directing both TV commercials and PR documentaries. His first foray into feature film making was The Priest, one chapter of the portmanteau film, Libido (1974). His first feature- length film was The Devil's Playground (1975), which won 6 AFI awards and established Fred's reputation as a talented producer, director, writer. The success of his second film The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1977) with Tommy Lewis, Freddie Reynolds. This took Fred to the U.S. where he directed Barbarosa (1981),with Willie Nelson, Gary Busey, Iceman with Timothy Hutton, John Lone (1983), Plenty (1985) starring Meryl Streep, Charles Dance, Sir John Gielgud and Sam Neil, Roxanne (1987) starring Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah. Fred returned to Australia to co-write and direct Evil Angels (aka A Cry in the Dark, 1988) from the novel by John Bryson, starring Meryl Streep and Sam Neil. Other films Fred directed and produced are The Russia House (1990) Sean Connery and Michele Pfeiffer, Mr. Baseball (1992) Ken Takakura, Tom Selleck, and Aya Takanashi. Six Degrees of Separation (1993) Stockard Channing, Donald Sutherland and Will Smith, then directed and co-produced IQ (1994) with Walter Matthau, Meg Ryan and Tim Robbins. Fred directed a re-shoot and restructure of Fierce Creatures (1996) John Cleese, Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis. Then he wrote the screenplay, produced and directed Last Orders (2000) Ray Winston, Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins. Soon after he directed and co-produced It Runs in the Family (2002) with Kirk, Michael and Cameron Douglas, Bernadette Peters and Michele Monaghan. Fred directed and co-produced Richard Russo's Empire Falls (2004) featuring Paul Newman, Ed Harris, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joanne Woodward, Robin Wright Penn and Helen Hunt for HBO. It was nominated for a number of awards and won the Golden Globe for Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for Television. In 2009 he directed and co-produced The Eye of the Storm, based on the novel by acclaimed author Patrick White starring Charlotte Rampling, Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis. The film won the Special Jury Prize at Rome International Film Festival in November 2011. Fred's most recent project was 2013's Words & Pictures, with Clive Owen and Juliette Binoche. Since then he has been busy writing and developing a five part mini series, two original feature films, one a light comedy of a wedding on a train that goes crazily wrong, the other a satire of Bond 007 involving much mayhem and mistaken identities. He co-wrote, with Judy Morris, a romancedy set in China and Australia. Then co-wrote, with Morrie Rosmarin, a whistle blower thriller/romance. Fred is also mid development of The Olive Sisters, a romance across two time periods and Hitches, his original screenplay of a coming of age adventure. Fred Schepisi was awarded the Order of Australia for his service to the Australian film industry as a director, producer and screenwriter and a mentor to up and coming filmmakers.- Director
- Actor
- Writer
George Ogilvie was born on 5 March 1931 in Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia. He was a director and actor, known for Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), Short Changed (1986) and Blue Heelers (1994). He died on 5 April 2020 in New South Wales, Australia.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Dynamic film/video director Russell Mulcahy was born June 23, 1953, in Melbourne, Australia. He first gained fame directing visually striking music video clips for such artists as Elton John, Duran Duran, The Buggles and Bonnie Tyler. He is also well known for feature films, starting off with the comedy Derek and Clive Get the Horn (1979), the horror film Razorback (1984), the spectacular sword and sorcery of Highlander (1986), followed by the sequel Highlander II: The Quickening (1991).
He directed Denzel Washington and John Lithgow in the violent Ricochet (1991), made The Shadow (1994) with Alec Baldwin (a film version of the comic book) and took the helm for Swimming Upstream (2003).
In recent years Mulcahy has been involved in directing several telemovies and episodes of TV shows, including Queer as Folk (2000), 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story (2004), Mysterious Island (2005) and The Curse of King Tut's Tomb (2006) starring Casper Van Dien.- Producer
- Director
- Additional Crew
Peter Faiman was born in 1944 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He is a producer and director, known for Crocodile Dundee (1986), FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992) and The Don Lane Show (1975).- Director
- Producer
- Actress
Awarded the Screen Leader Award for Outstanding Leadership to the Screen Industry, Nadia is one of Australia's most respected and unique filmmakers.
Known for directing Australian classic films "Malcolm" and "The Big Steal", Tass's other feature works include "Rikky and Pete", "Mr Reliable", "Amy", and "Matching Jack". Her first feature in the US was "Pure Luck" starring Danny Glover and Martin Short. She also directs films and high-end television movies in the US for Universal Studios, Disney, Warner Bros, ABC, CBS and the UK's BBC.
Her film work has garnered over 70 international awards including Best Director AFI ("Malcolm"); Best Director, Milan International Film Festival and Best Film Cannes Cinephile Prix du Jury ("Matching Jack"); Le Grande Prix due Cinecole and Les Mureaux Grand Prix (Cannes Junior) at Cannes Film Festival ("Amy").
The American Cinematheque in Los Angeles honored Ms. Tass with a Retrospective of her work in 2012, which traveled through different venues across America. She has had retrospectives of her body of work in Moscow, Cape Town & Johannesburg, Hawaii and New Delhi. In addition, Ms. Tass has sat on film festival juries for the Hawaii Film Festival, St. Tropez (as the head of the jury,) Asian Festival Of First Films, Pune International Film Festival (as the chair of the jury), and more recently served as Head of Jury for Cinefest Oz. She also serves as a juror for the International Chapter of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA), and in 2021 and 2022 served as a juror for the DGA documentary award.
Tass has worked with actors of note on stage and screen including: Shailene Woodley, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Harvey Keitel, Mia Farrow, Marcia Gay Harden, Rachel Griffiths, Ben Mendelsohn, Storm Reid, Danny Glover, Martin Short, Connie Britton, Yvonne Strahovski, Damon Herriman, Brian Cox, David Strathairn, AnnaSophia Robb.
A consummate professional, Ms. Tass has given back to the industry by presenting Masterclasses around the world from New York to London to Singapore to nearby New Zealand (Auckland & Wellington) and, of course, in Australia's major film cities of Sydney and Melbourne on many occasions. She regularly lectures at the Victorian College of the Arts (Melbourne University) and Deakin University (where she is an Adjunct Professor), and has guest lectured at Beijing Normal University, Yunnan University, Wuhan, Chongqing University and Beijing Film Academy in China.
Her latest film is "Oleg" (2021), a documentary about the life of Russian film star Oleg Vidov, his pursuit of freedom, and his escape from the USSR in 1985.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Richard Lowenstein was born on 1 March 1959 in Melbourne, Australia. He is a director and producer, known for He Died with a Felafel in His Hand (2001), Strikebound (1984) and Mystify: Michael Hutchence (2019).- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Bill Bennett's career in film spans four decades. As a producer, director and writer he's made sixteen feature films and several documentaries. His work as a feature producer and director has been recognized with two Australian Film Institute Awards for Best Film and Best Director. Bill has been nominated for AFIs a further twelve times. He's also won two Logies for his journalistic and documentary work.
Bill's film career began in 1972 when he dropped out of medical school at Queensland University to pursue a career at the Australian Broadcasting Commission. He spent ten years working as a journalist, then as a producer/director on such programs as Four Corners, This Day Tonight, and the acclaimed documentary series A Big Country.
In 1982 he made his first independent dramatized documentary, screened on the ABC and the BBC. The film won the Sydney Film Festival Award for Best Documentary.
A few years later he made his first feature length film, A Street To Die. Bill received AFI nominations for Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. The film won Best Picture at the prestigious Karlovy Vary Film Festival.
Bill has had two films in Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival, (Backlash and Malpractice) and his films have been distributed by most Hollywood studios. He's had three major international retrospectives of his work: in the US, Germany and India. The New York Museum of Modern Art has also screened his movies. He's won numerous Best Film awards at various international film festivals.
As an author, Penguin Random House recently completed publication of Bill's YA trilogy, Palace of Fires - one of their biggest selling titles in years.
Recently Bill wrote and directed and produced a feature length theatrical documentary on intuition, called PGS - Intuition is your Personal Guidance System. PGS screened to acclaim in cinemas across Australia and the US.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Paul Cox was born on 16 April 1940 in Venlo, Limburg, Netherlands. He was a director and writer, known for Innocence (2000), My First Wife (1984) and Man of Flowers (1983). He was married to Juliet Bacskai. He died on 18 June 2016 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.- Director
- Writer
Barry Barclay was born on 12 May 1944 in Masterton, New Zealand. He was a director and writer, known for Ngati (1987), The Feathers of Peace (2000) and Autumn Fires (1977). He died on 17 February 2008 in Omapere, New Zealand.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Bruce Beresford was born in Australia and graduated from Sydney University in 1962. He served as Film Officer for the British Film Institute Production Board from 1966-1971 and as a Film Advisor to the Arts Council of Great Britain. Beresford has also directed several operas including Girl Of The Golden West (Puccini), staged for the Spoleto Festival in Charleston and Spoleto (Italy) and Elektra (Strauss), which was staged for the State Opera Company of South Australia and performed in Adelaide and Melbourne. It won the Award for Best Opera Production of 1991. Immediately prior to starting production on PARADISE ROAD, Beresford directed SWEENEY TODD for the Portland Opera in Oregon.- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Ann Turner was born in 1960 in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. She is a writer and producer, known for Celia (1989), Irresistible (2006) and Dallas Doll (1994).- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Philippe Mora is a highly talented artist and film-maker with an impressive resume to boast of. He was born in Paris in 1949 to Georges and Mirka Mora, who moved to Melbourne, Australia in 1951. There the elder Moras became very important local artistic and cultural figures. Georges was an art dealer who in 1967 had founded the commercial art gallery Tolarno Galleries.
In 1967, the young Philippe moved to London to make his mark in both the art and filmmaking industries. He made the acquaintance of an artist from Sydney named Martin Sharp, who encouraged Philippe to move into The Pheasantry, an artists colony located in Kings Road, Chelsea. One of his flatmates during this time was none other than music legend Eric Clapton.
He became quite successful as an artist, with his work displayed in showings; among his work is providing art for "The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics".
He began to move into film work in 1973, having met film producers David Puttnam and Sandy Lieberson. His earliest efforts were the documentaries "Swastika" about the rise of Hitler and "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" about the Depression. In the mid-70's, he moved back to Australia, where with a friend he would start "Cinema Papers", a leading film magazine Down Under.
His collaboration with American actor Dennis Hopper was what really got him noticed. "Mad Dog Morgan" is a very effective based-on-fact story about the outlaw Daniel "Mad Dog" Morgan, who became what he was through circumstance. It was the first Australian made film to get a wide American release. Producers at United Artists were impressed at the amount of bloodletting in the film, and several years later, Mora was directing for them the enjoyably gruesome and silly monster movie "The Beast Within".
Some of Mora's subsequent pictures were also genre pictures, including both the 2nd and 3rd entries in the "Howling" series, and he would also be responsible for the offbeat and interesting alien encounter film "Communion", starring Christopher Walken, and based upon the supposed real life experiences of author Whitley Strieber. Some years after that, he would return to the same sort of material with the documentary "According to Occam's Razor".
Having done an impressive job of balancing more personal and artistic endeavors with more commercial ones, Philippe Mora has definitely left his mark in both art and film. He has continued to work, writing for "Art Monthly Australia" and contributing a wonderful interview to the "Not Quite Hollywood" documentary on the birth and evolution of exploitation cinema in Australia.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Jocelyn Moorhouse was born on 4 September 1960 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. She is a director and writer, known for The Dressmaker (2015), Proof (1991) and Muriel's Wedding (1994). She is married to P.J. Hogan.- Producer
- Writer
- Director
George Miller is an Australian film director, screenwriter, producer, and former medical doctor. He is best known for his Mad Max franchise, with Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) being hailed as amongst the greatest action films of all time. Aside from the Mad Max films, Miller has been involved in a wide range of projects. These include the Academy Award-winning Babe (1995) and Happy Feet (2006) film series.
Miller is co-founder of the production houses Kennedy Miller Mitchell, formerly known as Kennedy Miller, and Dr. D Studios. His younger brother Bill Miller and Doug Mitchell have been producers on almost all the films in Miller's later career, since the death of his original producing partner Byron Kennedy.
In 2006, Miller won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for Happy Feet (2006). He has been nominated for five other Academy Awards: Best Original Screenplay in 1992 for Lorenzo's Oil (1992), Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay in 1995 for Babe (1995), and Best Picture and Best Director for Mad Max: Fury Road (2015).- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Vincent Ward has produced, executive produced and/or written and directed feature films including What Dreams May Come (Which won an Oscar and was nominated for 2 Academy Awards), The River Queen (Won best film in Shanghai) and The Last Samurai (4 Academy Award nominations and winner of Best Foreign Film in Japan) developing the underlying material he chose the director, before acting as an executive producer on this film. Ward's films have earned critical acclaim and festival attention whilst achieving a wide, eclectic audience. Vigil (1984), The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988) and Map of the Human Heart (1993) were the first films by a New Zealander to be officially selected for the Cannes Film Festival. Between them they garnered close to 30 national and international awards (including the Grand Prix at festivals in Italy, Spain, Germany, France and the United States). His latest feature film Rain of the Children (2008) was voted by the audience, from 250 feature films, to win the Grand Prix at Poland's largest film festival. The film was also nominated for best director in New Zealand and Australia. Ward was awarded an Order of New Zealand Merit in 2007 and is in the process of actively searching for material for new projects.- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Producer
Mark Joffe was born in 1956 in Polotsk, Byelorussian SSR, USSR [now Belarus]. He is a director and assistant director, known for The Great Bookie Robbery (1986), Lindy Chamberlain: The True Story (2020) and Working Class Boy (2018).- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Writer/director Geoffrey Wright specializes in making tough, gritty features with a hard and unflinching edge to them. He was born in 1959 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Geoffrey graduated from the Swinburne Film and Television School with a Diploma of Arts in Film and Television. Wright worked as a movie critic for both the "Melbourne Age" and Radio 3AW prior to making his feature debut with the poignant short drama "Lover Boy." "Lover Boy" won awards for Best Australian Short Film at both the Sydney and Melbourne Film Festivals. Geoffrey caused quite a stir with the powerful and controversial "Romper Stomper," which received mixed reviews, but was a substantial box office hit. "Romper Stomper" won a handful of awards and Wright was even nominated for an AFI Award for Best Director. He followed "Romper Stomper" with the equally strong and startling "Metal Skin." Geoffrey Wright has subsequently directed an episode of the TV series "Naked: Stories of Men," the inspired tongue-in-cheek teen horror slasher romp "Cherry Falls" (Geoffrey won the Best Director Award at the Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival for this particular picture), and the contemporary Shakespeare revamp "Macbeth."- Director
- Writer
- Art Director
Peter Wells was born in 1950 in Auckland, New Zealand. He was a director and writer, known for Desperate Remedies (1992), Georgie Girl (2001) and A Death in the Family (1987). He was married to Douglas Lloyd-Jenkins. He died on 18 February 2019 in Auckland, New Zealand.- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Jane Campion was born in Wellington, New Zealand, and now lives in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Having graduated with a BA in Anthropology from Victoria University of Wellington in 1975, and a BA, with a painting major, at Sydney College of the Arts in 1979, she began filmmaking in the early 1980s, attending the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). Her first short film, Peel (1982) won the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1986. Her other short films include A Girl's Own Story (1984), Passionless Moments (1983), After Hours (1985) and the tele-feature 2 Friends (1986), all of which won Australian and international awards. She co-wrote and directed her first feature film, Sweetie (1989), which won the Georges Sadoul prize in 1989 for Best Foreign Film, as well as the LA Film Critics' New Generation Award in 1990, the American Independant Spirit Award for Best Foreign Feature, and the Australian Critics' Award for Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress. She followed this with An Angel at My Table (1990), a dramatization based on the autobiographies of Janet Frame which won some seven prizes, including the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1990. It was also awarded prizes at the Toronto and Berlin Film Festivals, again winning the American Independent Spirit Award, and was voted the most popular film at the 1990 Sydney Film Festival. The Piano (1993) won the Palme D'Or at Cannes, making her the first woman ever to win the prestigious award. She also captured an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay at the 1993 Oscars, while also being nominated for Best Director.- Director
- Writer
- Actress
Tracey Moffatt was born on 12 November 1960 in Brisbane, Australia. She is a director and writer, known for Bedevil (1993), Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy (1990) and Nice Coloured Girls (1987).- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Sound Department
Beginning as a commercial artist and photographer, he joined the New Zealand film industry in the late 1970s as a boom operator. He became an assistant director a decade later. Making international award-winning commercials for 10 years, he has also directed several TV series. His first feature film, Once Were Warriors (1994), won the PEN First Book Award.- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Chris Noonan was born on 14 November 1952 in Sydney, Australia. He is a writer and director, known for Babe (1995), Stepping Out (1980) and Miss Potter (2006).- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Stephan Elliott was born on 27 August 1964 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He is a director and writer, known for The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), Easy Virtue (2008) and Eye of the Beholder (1999).- Director
- Producer
- Editor
Costa Botes is known for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), Stalin's Sickle (1987) and Saving Grace (1998).- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Hicks was born in Uganda and lived in Kenya, just outside Nairobi, until the age of ten. His family then moved, first to England and, when he was 14, on to Adelaide, Australia. Hicks graduated from Flinders University of South Australia (BA Honors) in 1975 and was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1997. Hicks is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He lives with his wife and collaborator/producer Kerry Heysen in Adelaide, South Australia where they maintain their own Yacca Paddock Vineyard on the Fleurieu Peninsula. They have two sons, Scott Heysen and Jethro Heysen-Hicks. Also an accomplished photographer, Hicks has had three exhibitions of his work.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Clara Law was born on 29 May 1957 in Macao, China. She is a director and writer, known for Fu sheng (1996), The Goddess of 1967 (2000) and Drifting Petals (2021). She is married to Eddie Ling-Ching Fong.A Chinese immigrant- Writer
- Director
- Producer
New Zealand-born screenwriter-director Andrew Niccol began his career in London, successfully directing TV commercials before moving to Los Angeles in order to make films "longer than 60 seconds." He interested high-powered producer Scott Rudin in his The Truman Show (1998) script, but Rudin was not willing to gamble on a rookie director, particularly when Jim Carrey came aboard, swelling the budget to about $60 million. Peter Weir helmed instead, bringing a complementary vision which lightened the material somewhat, and the clever satire, which followed a cheerful insurance man (Carrey) as he slowly realizes that all the people in his life are just actors in a TV show, opened to critical raves. Since the deal for "Truman" came together slowly, Niccol actually made his screenwriting and directing debut with Gattaca (1997) (1997), a superb, well-acted sci-fi movie that raised issues of genetic engineering in a totalitarian environment.- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Duigan emigrated to Australia in 1961, having been born to an Australian father. He is related to many Australian performers, being the husband of Nammi Le, brother of novelist Virginia Duigan (wife of director Bruce Beresford) and uncle of Trilby Beresford.
Duigan studied at Melbourne University, graduating in 1973 with a Masters degree in Philosophy. While at university, he worked extensively as an actor and director in theatre, and acted in a number of short films.
He began directing films in 1974, with early successes including Mouth to Mouth, winner of the Jury Prize at the Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards, Winter of our Dreams, for which he won an Australian Writers' Guild award for Best Screenplay, and the multi-award winning mini-series Vietnam. His 1981 film Winter of Our Dreams was entered into the 13th Moscow International Film Festival.
Subsequent films included The Year My Voice Broke, for which he won AFIs for Best Director and Best Screenplay, and Flirting, both of which won Best Picture at the AFI Awards. Subsequently, Duigan worked in the United States and Europe, returning to Australia to make Sirens (1993), winner of Best Film at the St. Petersburg Film Festival.
In the United States he directed Romero, starring Raul Julia, which won the Humanitas Award, and Lawn Dogs, winner of numerous prizes in European festivals. In England he directed The Leading Man, from a screenplay by his sister Virginia, The Parole Officer with Steve Coogan, and in Canada/France/UK Head in the Clouds with Charlize Theron and Penélope Cruz, winner in Canada of four Genie Awards and Best Film at the Milan International Film Festival.
Between 2005 and 2010 he took time off from the film industry to work on a book on secular ethics, returning to Australia to direct Careless Love in 2011/12.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Peter Weir was born on 21 August 1944 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He is a director and writer, known for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), The Way Back (2010) and Witness (1985). He has been married to Wendy Stites since 1966. They have two children.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Alex Proyas has moved effortlessly between helming TV commercials and music videos to feature films. Born to Greek parents in Egypt, Proyas relocated to Australia with his family when he was three years old. He began making films at age ten and went on to attend the Australian Film Television and Radio School along with Jane Campion and Jocelyn Moorhouse. Proyas collaborated with Campion on two of her shorts, A Girl's Own Story (1984), for which he wrote and performed a song, and Passionless Moments (1983), which he photographed. Proyas' own short, Groping (1980), had earned him some attention at festival screenings in Sydney and London. Also while still a student, the enterprising novice formed Meaningful Eye Contact, a production company. Spirits of the Air: Gremlins of the Clouds (1987) marked Proyas' feature debut as director and screenwriter. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, the film, with its stylized production design and aural texture, was atypical of standard Australian fare, more closely resembling a longform music video. Critics admired the director's vision, but felt the overall result was lacking. Proyas continued to hone his craft helming TV advertisements for products like Nike, Nissan and Swatch (earning kudos from advertising associations in both Australia and England) and directing videos for such artists as Sting, INXS and Crowded House. In 1993 Proyas was tapped to helm the screen adaptation of James O'Barr's comic strip The Crow (1994). During production, star Brandon Lee died of an accidental gunshot wound (ironically, the film's story revolves around his character's resurrection). His death cast a pall over the remainder of the filming and its subsequent theatrical release, although reviews were generally favorably, most singling out the production values which created a colorless rain-soaked wasteland that invoked comparisons with Ridley Scott's seminal Blade Runner (1982) and Tim Burton's Batman (1989). Made for about $14 million, it grossed close to $50 million domestically. Proyas seemed set to move on to other projects and was announced as the director of Casper (1995), but left the project and was replaced by Brad Silberling. After a four-year absence he returned with another thriller, Dark City (1998), about an amnesiac who may or may not have been a serial killer. Garage Days (2002) marked Proyas' return to his homeland, Australia: the movie tells the story of a young Sydney garage band desperately trying to make it big in the competitive world of rock 'n' roll. In 2004 Proyas returned to Hollywood: he directed I, Robot (2004), a science-fiction film suggested by the 'Isaac Asimov' short story compilation of the same name that starred Will Smith. It was a box office success, but met with mixed reactions by readers and fans of the Asimov stories.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Sir Peter Jackson made history with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, becoming the first person to direct three major feature films simultaneously. The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King were nominated for and collected a slew of awards from around the globe, with The Return of the King receiving his most impressive collection of awards. This included three Academy Awards® (Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture), two Golden Globes (Best Director and Best Motion Picture-Drama), three BAFTAs (Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film and Viewers' Choice), a Directors Guild Award, a Producers Guild Award and a New York Film Critics Circle Award.
As a follow up to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, in 2005, Jackson directed, wrote, and produced King Kong, for Universal Pictures. The film grossed over $500 million and won three Oscars®.
Jackson previously received widespread acclaim for his 1994 feature Heavenly Creatures, which received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Screenplay. Other film credits include The Frighteners, starring Michael J. Fox; the adult puppet feature Meet the Feebles; and Braindead, which won 16 international science fiction awards, including the Saturn. Jackson also co-directed the television documentary Forgotten Silver, which also hit the film festival circuit.
Jackson directed the Academy Award®-nominated The Lovely Bones, an adaptation of the acclaimed best-selling novel by Alice Sebold and produced the worldwide sci-fi hit District 9. He was a producer on Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn in 2011, with two more films set to come out in the future.
His most recent films include producer of 2018's action film Mortal Engines, based on a post-apocalyptic world where cities ride on wheels and consume each other to survive. Following Mortal Engines, he produced They Shall Not Grow Old, a documentary on World War I with never-before-seen footage. BAFTA nominated the film for Best Documentary, and it won the award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing from the Motion Picture Sound Editors.
Jackson's next project is the music documentary The Beatles: Get Back, which he directed and produced, due to be released August, 2021.
Jackson works closely with partner Dame Fran Walsh, with whom he shares his writing and producing credits, as well as a family. Jackson has a special interest in WWI memorabilia and is the proud owner of several aircraft from that era.- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Baz Luhrmann is an Australian writer, director and producer with projects spanning film, television, opera, theater, music and recording industries. He is regarded by many as a contemporary example of an auteur for his distinctly recognizable style and deep involvement in the writing, directing, design and musical components of all his work. As a storyteller, he 's known as a pioneer of pop culture, fusing high and low culture with a unique sonic and cinematic language. He is the most commercially successful Australian director, with his films making up four of the top ten highest worldwide grossing Australian films ever.
During his studies at Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art, Luhrmann collaborated with other students to create ''Strictly ballroom'', a stage production drawn from his childhood experiences in the world of ballroom dancing. Luhrmann later adapted the show into his 1992 film debut, Strictly Ballroom (1992), which premiered at Cannes to a fifteen-minute standing ovation. Thus began the ''Red Curtain Trilogy'', which would include the film Romeo + Juliet (1996) as well as the Oscar-winning Moulin Rouge! (2001). The latter also took home Golden Globes for Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Original Score. This first body of work was capped by Luhrmann's 2002 Broadway adaptation of the opera ''La Bohème'', recognized by two Tony Awards.
In 2004, Luhrmann collaborated once more with actress Nicole Kidman to create No. 5 The Film, a short film featuring the iconic Chanel perfume, as well as costumes designed by Karl Lagerfeld. With its success, the piece ushered in a new era of fashion advertising and became a landmark in the evolution of branded content. In 2008, Luhrmann worked with Kidman for a third time on the ambitious epic Australia (2008), the titular country's second-highest grossing film of all time. He later adapted F. Scott Fitzgerald's ''The Great Gatsby'' into a 2013 film, The Great Gatsby (2013), which went on to become the director's highest-grossing movie at over $353 million worldwide. The film was awarded with two Oscars and earned praise from Fitzgerald's granddaughter, who noted that "Scott would have been proud". The film's soundtrack pulled the Roaring 20s into the 2000s, blending early 20th century jazz with contemporary hip-hop. The album, produced by Luhrmann, Anton Monsted, and Jay-Z, hit number one on the Billboard charts and garnered several Grammy nominations.
Most recently, Luhrmann created The Get Down (2016), a 2016 Netflix series and 1970s-set mythic saga of how the South Bronx, at the brink of bankruptcy, gave birth to hip-hop, punk and disco. In the interest of cultural authenticity and historical accuracy Luhrmann collaborated with some of the era's most legendary artists, including [linl=nm0334739], Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Nas, Kurtis Blow, and Hector Xtravaganza. The show was a critical success, certified fresh by Rotten Tomatoes, and described by Variety as "a reclamation of, and a love letter to, a marginalized community of a certain era, told through the unreliable tools of romance, intuition and lived experiences."
Add further information about Elvis film release here. Needs to be in his bio.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Andrew Adamson was born on 1 December 1966 in Auckland, New Zealand. He is a producer and director, known for Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek (2001) and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005). He has been married to Michelle Jonas since 2018. He was previously married to Gyulnara Karaeva and Nikki Donald.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Niki Caro is a New Zealand film director and screenwriter, born in 1967. Caro was born in Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. She was educated first at the Kadimah College in Auckland, and then the Diocesan School for Girls in Auckland. The School is a private girls' school, and ranks among the top-achieving schools in New Zealand.
In the late 1980s, Caro enrolled in the Elam School of Fine Arts to pursue training as a sculptor. However her interest shifted to film studies. She graduated from Elam in 1988, at the age of 21. For post-graduate studies, Caro enrolled at the Swinburne University of Technology, located at Melbourne, Victoria.
Following the completion of her studies, Caro initially directed television commercials. In 1992, she directed and wrote an episode for the anthology television series "Another Country" (1992). In 1998, Caro directed her first feature film "Memory and Desire". It was an adaptation of a short story by Peter Wells (1950-2019), concerning the depression and apparent suicide of a Japanese married man. The film was critically well-received and won a New Zealand film award.
Caro next directed the feature film "Whale Rider" (2002).. It depicts a young Maori girl, Paikea "Pai" Apirana (played by Keisha Castle-Hughes) , who stands as a candidate for the position of tribal chief. The film earned over 41 million dollars at the worldwide box office, becoming one of New Zealand's most commercially successful films. The film also won an award at the Sundance Film Festival.
In 2005, Caro directed her first American film, "North Country". The film was loosely based on the legal case "Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co.", a class-action sexual harassment lawsuit concerning the treatment of female miners in a Minnesota-based mine. The film earned about 25 million dollars at the worldwide box office, failing to recover its budget expenses. Two of the films actresses (Charlize Theron and Frances McDormand) were nominated for Academy Awards for their performances, but neither of them won.
In 2009, Caro directed the romantic drama "A Heavenly Vintage", an adaptation on the fantasy novel "The Vintner's Luck" (1998) by Elizabeth Knox. The film won three awards at the Sedona Film Festival, but was criticized for toning down the homosexual relationship depicted in the novel.
In 2015, Caro directed the sports drama "McFarland, USA". The film is based on the life of track and field coach James White (1941-), and the first victory of the McFarland High School at a cross-country running championship in 1987. The film won about 46 million dollars at the worldwide box office, the commercially most successful film in Caro's career to that point.
In 2017, Caro directed the World War II-themed war film "The Zookeeper's Wife". The film was based on the lives of a married couple, the zoologist Jan Zabinski (1897-1974) and the children's writer Antonina Erdman ( 1908-1971). During the foreign occupation of Poland in World War II, the Zabinskis used the abandoned buildings of the Warsaw Zoo and their privately-owned villa to shelter hundreds of displaced Jews. They managed to rescue about 300 people. Caro won an award at the Heartland Film Festival for her direction in this film.
In 2017, Caro was hired by the Walt Disney Company to direct a live-action remake of "Mulan" (1998). Caro was reportedly the second female film director entrusted by Disney to direct a big-budget film, following Ava DuVernay (1972-). Caro's remake is scheduled for release in 2020.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Born in the Australian rural town of Griffith, New South Wales, Phillip Noyce moved to Sydney with his family at the age of 12. As a teenager, he was introduced to underground films produced on shoestring budgets as well as mainstream American movies. He was 18 when he made his first film, the 15-minute Better to Reign in Hell (1969) utilizing a unique financing scheme selling roles in the movie to his friends.
In 1973 he was selected to attend the Australian National Film School in its inaugural year. Here, he made Castor and Pollux (1973) a 50 minute documentary which won the award for best Australian short film of 1974.
Noyce's first professional film was the 50-minute docudrama God Knows Why, But It Works (1976) in 1975. This helped pave the way for his first feature, the road movie Backroads (1977) which starred Australian Aboriginal activist Gary Foley and iconic Australian actor Bill Hunter who would go on to appear in 2 other Noyce films. In 1978, he directed and co-wrote Newsfront (1978), which won Best Film, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay at the Australian Film Awards, as well as proving a huge commercial hit in Australia. In addition to opening the London Film Festival, Newsfront was the first Australian film to screen at the New York Film Festival.
In 1982, Heatwave (1982), co-written and directed by Noyce and starring Judy Davis, was chosen to screen at the Director's Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.
The success of the Australian produced Dead Calm (1989), starring Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill and Billy Zane brought Noyce to Hollywood, where he directed 6 films over the next decade, including Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994) starring Harrison Ford, and The Bone Collector (1999), starring Oscar© winners Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie.
In 2002 Noyce returned to his native Australia, where released two films worldwide at almost the same time. The Quiet American (2002) starred Michael Caine in an Academy nominated Best Actor performance and appeared on over 20 top ten lists for 2002, including the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute. Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) was based on the true story of three Aboriginal girls abducted from their families by Australian authorities in 1931 as part of an official government policy. The film won Best Picture at the Australian Film Awards, and together with The Quiet American garnered Noyce numerous best director awards including National Board of Review in the US and UK's London Film Critics Circle.
In 2006 Noyce directed Tim Robbins and Derek Luke in the South African set political thriller Catch a Fire (2006).
2010 Saw Noyce re-teaming with Angelina Jolie for his biggest box-office hit, the spy thriller Salt (2010), which grossed $295 million worldwide.
In Spring 2011, Noyce directed and executive produced the pilot for the ABC series Revenge (2011), which ended a four-season run on May 10, 2015.
In 2013 Noyce directed and executive produced the NBC pilot Crisis (2014), which went to series. Later that year, he returned to South Africa to film The Giver (2014), starring Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, and Brenton Thwaites, which opened in the US on August 15, 2014 from The Weinstein Company.
In 2016 Noyce directed the first night of the Emmy nominated miniseries Roots (2016).
In 2017 Noyce directed the pilot and first episode of Fox Network's medical show The Resident (2018) reuniting him with Emily VanCamp, who starred in Revenge.
In 2018 Noyce directed the feature Above Suspicion (2019), starring Emilia Clarke and Jack Huston. In 2018 he also directed the pilot and first episode of the 10-part series What/If (2019), starring Renée Zellweger and created by Revenge creator Mike Kelley, to be released in June 2019 by Netflix.- Writer
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Hogan was born in Brisbane, Queensland. As a teenager, he lived on the North Coast of New South Wales and attended Mt St Patrick's College. He was said to have had a difficult time in high school as he was a victim of bullying. His film Mental is based upon his difficult adolescent years.- Producer
- Writer
- Director
James Wan (born 26 February 1977) is an Australian film producer, screenwriter and film director of Malaysian Chinese descent. He is widely known for directing the horror film Saw (2004) and creating Billy the puppet. Wan has also directed Dead Silence (2007), Death Sentence (2007), Insidious (2010), The Conjuring (2013) and Furious 7 (2015).
Before his success in the mainstream film industry, he made his first feature-length film, Stygian, with Shannon Young, which won "Best Guerrilla Film" at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF) in 2000.
Prior to 2003, Wan and Leigh Whannell had begun writing a script based for a horror film, citing inspiration from their dreams and fears. Upon completing the script, Leigh and James had wanted to select an excerpt from their script, later to be known as Saw (2004), and film it to pitch their film to studios. With the help of Charlie Clouser, who had composed the score for the film, and a few stand-in actors, Leigh and James shot the film with relatively no budget. Leigh had decided to star in the film as well.
After the release of the full-length Saw (2004), the film was met with overwhelming success in the box office both domestically and internationally. The film ended up grossing 55 million dollars in America, and 48 million dollars in other countries, totaling over $103 million worldwide. This was over 100 million dollars profit, over 80 times the production budget. This green-lit the sequel Saw II (2005), and later the rest of the Saw franchise based on the yearly success of the previous installment. Since its inception, Saw (2004) has become the highest grossing horror franchise of all time worldwide in unadjusted dollars. In the United States only, Saw (2004) is the second highest grossing horror franchise, behind only the Friday the 13th (1980) films by a margin of $10 million.- Director
- Producer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Producer
- Director
- Actress
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson was born January 3, 1956 in Peekskill, New York, USA, as the sixth of eleven children of Hutton Gibson, a railroad brakeman, and Anne Patricia (Reilly) Gibson (who died in December of 1990). His mother was Irish, from County Longford, while his American-born father is of mostly Irish descent.
Mel and his family moved to Australia in the late 1960s, settling in New South Wales, where Mel's paternal grandmother, contralto opera singer Eva Mylott, was born. After high school, Mel studied at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, performing at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts alongside future film thespians Judy Davis and Geoffrey Rush.
After college, Mel had a few stints on stage and starred in a few TV shows. Eventually, he was chosen to star in the films Mad Max (1979) and Tim (1979), co-starring Piper Laurie. The small budgeted Mad Max made him known worldwide, while Tim garnered him an award for Best Actor from the Australian Film Institute (equivalent to the Oscar).
Later, he went on to star in Gallipoli (1981), which earned him a second award for Best Actor from the AFI. In 1980, he married Robyn Moore and had seven children. In 1984, Mel made his American debut in The Bounty (1984), which co-starred Anthony Hopkins.
Then in 1987, Mel starred in what would become his signature series, Lethal Weapon (1987), in which he played "Martin Riggs". In 1990, he took on the interesting starring role in Hamlet (1990), which garnered him some critical praise. He also made the more endearing Forever Young (1992) and the somewhat disturbing The Man Without a Face (1993). 1995 brought his most famous role as "Sir William Wallace" in Braveheart (1995), for which he won two Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director.
From there, he made such box office hits as The Patriot (2000), Ransom (1996), and Payback (1999). Today, Mel remains an international superstar mogul, continuously topping the Hollywood power lists as well as the Most Beautiful and Sexiest lists.- Director
- Producer
- Actor
Martin Campbell knows how to entertain an audience when he steps behind the camera. When he directed The Mask of Zorro (1998), the movie earned Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations and launched the international careers of Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Next, when he helmed Vertical Limit (2000), the film was well received by the critics and earned over $200 million in worldwide box-office sales. In addition, Campbell is credited with rejuvenating the James Bond franchise when he directed GoldenEye (1995), Pierce Brosnan's first outing as the famed British spy, which went on to gross more than $350 million. He also directed Daniel Craig's debut Bond feature as well, Casino Royale (2006).
Born in New Zealand, Campbell moved to London where he began his career as a cameraman. He went on to produce the controversial British feature Scum (1979), as well as Black Joy (1977), which was selected for competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Campbell made his directorial debut on the British police action series The Professionals (1977) and continued with the popular BBC series Shoestring (1979) and Thames TV's Minder (1979)
Considered one of the U.K.'s top directors by the mid-'80s, he directed the highly praised British telefilm, Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983). For his work on Edge of Darkness (1985), a five-hour BBC miniseries about nuclear contamination in England that depicted murder and high-ranking corruption, he won six BAFTA awards.
Campbell's first Hollywood movie was Criminal Law (1998) and he went on to direct Defenseless (1991) and No Escape (1994). Some of his American credits include directing HBO's Cast a Deadly Spell (1991) and two episodes of NBC's Homicide: Life on the Street (1993), among others. He also directed the epic romance Beyond Borders (2003) starring Angelina Jolie and Clive Owen.- Director
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Neil Armfield was born on 22 April 1955 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He is a director and writer, known for Candy (2006), Holding the Man (2015) and Edens Lost (1988).- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Rolf de Heer was born on 4 May 1951 in Heemskerk, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. He is a producer and director, known for Bad Boy Bubby (1993), Ten Canoes (2006) and Charlie's Country (2013).- Producer
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Director
- Writer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Andrew Dominik was born on 7 October 1967 in Wellington, New Zealand. He is a director and writer, known for Chopper (2000), Blonde (2022) and Killing Them Softly (2012).- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Roger Donaldson was born on 15 November 1945 in Ballarat, Australia. He is a director and producer, known for The World's Fastest Indian (2005), No Way Out (1987) and Species (1995). He is married to Marliese Schneider. He was previously married to Susan Hockley.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
John Hillcoat was born on 14 August 1961 in Queensland, Australia. He is a director and producer, known for The Proposition (2005), The Road (2009) and Lawless (2012).- Director
- Writer
- Animation Department
Grew up on a shrimp farm in southern Australia together with two brothers, one sister and two parrots. He discerned his artistic abilities at an early age and spent five years studying photography, painting, pottery etc. In 1996 he began his studies at the Victorian College of the Arts where Uncle (1996), the first part of his trilogy, was made. After he graduated in 1997, the trilogy was completed with Cousin (1999) and Brother (2000).- Writer
- Producer
- Actor
David Michôd is known for The King (2019), Animal Kingdom (2010) and The Rover (2014). He is married to Mirrah Foulkes.- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Grierson graduated from the Australian National University in Economics (BEc) and Arts (BA) in 1995, then continued his Japanese language study in Tokyo but his real passion was film-making.
After making a variety of self-funded shorts, he was accepted into the Masters course of the directing stream of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS) in 2002 where he made six films in a range of genres. His short, 'BOMB', won the three major awards at 'Tropfest', the world's biggest short film festival in 2005 and later, in 2012, it was chosen from twenty years of Tropfest finalists to screen in the 'Best of the Best' competition in Las Vegas.
He co-wrote and directed the gritty and experiential feature film 'Kokoda' (2006), Colin Fraser from Filmink praising it, 'Kokoda draws comparisons with Gallipoli if for no other reason than it will come to be similarly regarded as a landmark in Australian cinema'.
His next film, 3D thriller 'Sanctum' (2011) produced by James Cameron secured a rare and highly successful release in China, and was the eighth highest grossing Australian film of all time with a world-wide box office gross of over 108 million US dollars.
Grierson has directed television for the multi-award winning Nowhere Boys (Matchbox Productions) and Australia's most popular TV series, the Dr Blake Mysteries (December Media) and the powerful TV movie, Parer's War, for the ABC based on the real story of the life of combat cameraman Damien Parer.
In 2018 his movie, Tiger, a boxing film inspired by the true story of the persecution of a Sikh man was released theatrically in the U.S. Starring Mickey Rourke and Janelle Parish, it won Best Feature Film at the San Diego International Film Festival.
His latest feature film, Bloody Hell, was released theatrically and on digital platforms in January, 2021. It is a comedic thriller in a horror space and is still 91% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. MorbidlyBeautiful.'s 5 star review describing it as 'A pitch perfect, wonderfully weird, adrenaline-fueled thrill ride; an uproariously good time'. It won best film at both the Gdansk Film Festival and the Brussels International Fantasy Film Festival.
Most recently he was asked to come aboard Disney+'s big budget television series, Nautilus as the 2nd Unit director which completed principle photography in Queensland, Australia in Dec 2022.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Tom Hooper was educated at one of England's most prestigious schools, Westminster. His first film, Runaway Dog, was made when he was 13 years old and shot on a Clockwork 16mm Bolex camera, using 100 feet of film. At age 18, he wrote, directed and produced the short film Painted Faces (1992), which premiered at the London Film Festival; it was released theatrically and later shown on Channel 4. He studied English at England's top university, Oxford. At Oxford University, he directed theatre productions starring his contemporaries Kate Beckinsale and Emily Mortimer, and directed his first television commercials. His father was a non-executive director at United News and Media, which owned an ITV franchise.
Hooper's father introduced him to one of British television's top directors and producers, Matthew Robinson, who gave him breaks by employing him to direct episodes of Byker Grove (1989) and EastEnders (1985), both series produced by Robinson. Further success came when he was approved by Helen Mirren to direct her in Prime Suspect: The Last Witness (2003). He then worked with her again on Elizabeth I (2005). Hooper made the difficult transition from television to film with apparent ease, directing Michael Sheen in the Brian Clough biopic The Damned United (2009) and Colin Firth in The King's Speech (2010). Both films were critical and commercial successes, quickly establishing Hooper as one of the most in demand directors of his generation.
Hooper has garnered numerous awards in his career. He won an Academy Award for directing The King's Speech. The 2010 film was nominated for 12 Oscars, more than any other film of that year, and also won the Best Picture, Best Actor (Colin Firth), and Best Original Screenplay Oscars. The King's Speech received seven BAFTA Awards, including Best Film and Outstanding British Film. Hooper also won a Directors Guild of America Award for his direction. Among other accolades worldwide, The King's Speech additionally was honored with the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival; the Best British Film prize at the British Independent Film Awards; the Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film; the Producers Guild of America Awards' top prize; and the European Film Award for Best Film. The King's Speech earned $414 million at the worldwide box office.
Hooper was recently again a Directors Guild of America Award nominee for directing Working Title Films' Les Misérables. The 2012 film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won the Best Supporting Actress (Anne Hathaway), Best Sound, and Best Make-up and Hair Styling Academy Awards. Les Misérables received those same accolades at the BAFTA Awards, as well as the BAFTA for Best Production Design. Among other accolades worldwide, Les Misérables was named one of the year's 10 Best Films by the American Film Institute with an AFI Award; won three Golden Globe Awards including Best Picture [Musical/Comedy]; was voted the Best Acting by an Ensemble award by the National Board of Review; and was nominated for four Screen Actors Guild Awards. Les Misérables earned $442 million at the worldwide box office.
The Damned United received a South Bank Show Award nomination for Best British Film; and he gained acclaim for the BAFTA Award-nominated Red Dust, starring Hilary Swank and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Hooper had an unprecedented run of success at the Golden Globe Awards with his works for HBO, which won the Golden Globe for Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television three years in a row. The actors and actresses starring in these productions - respectively, Elizabeth I, Longford, and John Adams - also won Golden Globes for their performances three years running.
Hooper won an Emmy Award for directing Elizabeth I. The HBO Films/Channel 4 miniseries won three Golden Globes and nine Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Miniseries.
Longford, written by Peter Morgan, starred Jim Broadbent and Samantha Morton. The HBO Films/Channel 4 Telefilm won three Golden Globe Awards and was nominated for five Emmy Awards.
John Adams (2008), starring Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney, won four Golden Globes and 13 Emmy Awards - the most Emmys ever awarded to a program in one year. Hooper, receiving his first Directors Guild of America Award nomination, directed all nine hours of the HBO Films miniseries.
Hooper was nominated for an Emmy Award for helming ITV's miniseries Prime Suspect 6. His television work also includes Daniel Deronda (2002), which won the award for Best Miniseries at the 2003 Banff Television Festival; the miniseries Love in a Cold Climate (2001), for which star Alan Bates received a BAFTA Award nomination; episodes of the multi-award-winning ITV comedy/drama Cold Feet (1997); and EastEnders (1985) one-hour specials that garnered BAFTA Awards two years in a row.A British-Australian director- Director
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Catherine Shortland is an Australian filmmaker from Temora, New South Wales who is known for directing the Marvel film "Black Widow." She also directed the feature-length films "Somersault", "Lore", and "Berlin Syndrome." She directed the short films "Pentuphouse", "Flowergirl", and "Joy." She is married to Tony Krawitz and they have two children.- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Ben Lewin's career as a writer and director is spread across three continents and includes award-winning documentaries, feature films, TV movies, mini-series and episodic programs. Born in Poland in 1946, he migrated to Australia with his family in 1949. As a young man, Lewin showed great passion for photography and creative writing, and also studied and practiced law. He left his work as a criminal barrister when he was offered a scholarship to the National Film School in England. After graduating, he joined BBC Television as a director on the Nationwide program, followed by other documentary and current affairs programs for Thames, Granada and Channel Four Television. His breakthrough project as a writer/director was The Case of Cruelty to Prawns, a comedy-drama that won the Best Television Film Award at the prestigious Melbourne Film Festival.
Some of Ben's notable credits include the murder mystery feature Georgia, starring Judy Davis, which won eight Australian Film Institute nominations; the much-honored and multi-award winning The Dunera Boys starring Bob Hoskins - the true story of 2,000 English Jews who were mistakenly suspected as Nazi spies and transported to Australia in 1940; the award-winning Matter of Convenience, a tele-movie about marriages of convenience with Jean-Pierre Cassel; and Plead Guilty, Get a Bond, about a tribal aboriginal woman and her conflict with the Australian legal system.
Ben Lewin is best known in the US as the writer and director of comedy features; Paperback Romance, a love story about slightly damaged people starring Anthony LaPaglia and Gia Carides, and the messianic farce The Favor, the Watch and the Very Big Fish, starring Bob Hoskins, Jeff Goldblum and Natasha Richardson. More recently, Ben Lewin brought his distinctive mix of the preposterous and the perceptive to Hollywood Gold, a personal documentary of his misadventures in the Beverly Hills jewelry trade at Oscar time. His episodic television work includes the season's highest-rated episode of Ally McBeal ("Let's Dance") and Touched By An Angel, as well as a number of episodes of the most popular drama series in Australia, Sea Change.
Lewin's most recent accomplishment is the award-winning feature film The Sessions, a moving true-life story based on the sexual awakening of Berkeley-based poet and journalist Mark O'Brien who spent most of his life in an iron lung. Starring Oscar nominees John Hawkes and William H. Macy, and Oscar winner Helen Hunt, the film won numerous international awards including Audience Awards at the 2012 Sundance, San Sebastian and Mill Valley Film Festivals, as well as a 2012 Sundance Special Jury Prize for Ensemble Cast. In 2013, the lead cast of The Sessions garnered two Independent Spirit Awards for Best Male Lead and Best Supporting Actress, as well as two Golden Globe nominations in the same categories and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
An Australian at heart, Ben has been living and working in California since 1994 and is in development on a number of feature film and television projects. His portfolio and interests are diverse, and include one wife (producer Judi Levine) and three children.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Wayne Blair was born on 28 November 1971 in Taree, New South Wales, Australia. He is an actor and director, known for The Sapphires (2012), Mystery Road (2018) and Redfern Now (2012).- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Trent O'Donnell is known for Review with Myles Barlow (2008), The Moodys (2012) and No Activity (2015).- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Garth Davis's work has been recognized in every major award show around the world. His rigorous commitment to detail, cinematic sensibilities and deep appreciation of the actor-director relationship are his trademark. Garth most recently directed Foe for Amazon, based on the novel of the same name and starring Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal. It premiered at the 2023 New York Film Festival. He is best known for his directorial feature debut Lion, which was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture, and for which Garth won a DGA Award. Garth's second feature film Mary Magdalene starred Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix, and on the television side he directed Top of the Lake alongside director Jane Campion, for which he received Emmy and BAFTA nominations.- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Ariel Kleiman was born on 22 April 1985 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He is a director and writer, known for Deeper Than Yesterday (2010), Partisan (2015) and Young Love (2009).- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Jennifer Kent was born on 5 March 1969 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. She is an actress and director, known for The Nightingale (2018), The Babadook (2014) and Monster (2005).- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Jemaine Clement was born and raised in Masterton, New Zealand, the oldest of three brothers. His mother is Maori. Clement was educated at Makoura College in Masterton, NZ. He went on to study drama and film at Victoria University of Wellington. Whilst there he met Taika Waititi, and they formed comedy troupes So You're a Man and The Humourbeasts. The Humourbeasts proved popular in New Zealand, touring extensively.
Clement also met Bret McKenzie at Victoria University, and they formed musical-comedy duo Flight of the Conchords. Flight of the Conchords went on to have considerable international success including tours, radio shows and TV spots, culminating in the well-received series Flight of the Conchords (2007). Clement was nominated for an Emmy for his performance in the show.
Film roles followed, including playing Jarrod in Taika Waititi's Eagle vs Shark (2007), Chevalier in Gentlemen Broncos (2009), Kieran in Dinner for Schmucks (2010) and Boris The Animal in the hit sequel Men in Black³ (2012).- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Producer
Jessica Hobbs has been working as a drama director for 30 years. Her work has taken her from New Zealand, where she grew up, to Australia, the US and now Europe. She moved with her family to London in 2014 and she has loved getting to know the vast talent that exists in the UK film and TV community.
Jessica's background is in television drama and her credits include The Crown, The Split, Apple Tree Yard, River, Broadchurch and The Slap. She has experience as an executive producer and as a commissioning editor for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and she served on the board of the Australian Directors' Guild. In 2021, Jessica was awarded the Emmy for Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series.- Cinematographer
- Director
- Writer
Warwick Thornton was born on 23 July 1970 in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia. He is a cinematographer and director, known for Samson & Delilah (2009), Sweet Country (2017) and Green Bush (2005).- Visual Effects
- Director
- Producer
With an exceptional background in VFX and a fluency in music production, Gracey has consistently brought a fresh - often viral - approach to his projects that seizes the audience's imagination. He credits this specific combination to an early exposure to musical theatre at home and a gap year spent working at Animal Logic. As the youngest animator and visual effects compositors at the company, Michael has always been on the pulse of emerging technology and their potential influence on the creative industry.
His first decade in the industry demonstrated an incredible pivot from VFX to the director for many music videos and commercials. He has received almost every major commercial award for his vision behind spots like Evian "Roller Babies", Cillit Bang's "The Mechanic" and the flashmob phenomenon "Dance" for T-Mobile.
Most notably, Michael Gracey made his feature film debut in 2017 with worldwide success, The Greatest Showman starring, Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron and Zendaya. He followed this great achievement as executive producer on Elton John's biopic Rocketman and is due to release his sophomore film, Better Man - the musical biopic on Robbie Williams.- Director
- Actress
- Writer
Katie Wolfe is an award winning Director and Actor from New Zealand. Best known for her films Waru, This Is Her and Redemption. Katie directs across film and television in both drama and documentary. Recent television work includes Artefact and The Brokenwood Mysteries. Recent acting work includes Daffodils and The Ring Inz.- Director
- Script and Continuity Department
- Actress
Awanui Simich-Pene is a New Zealand-based Writer, Director and Script Supervisor of Maori and Croatian Descent. A working Director since 2006, Awanui has directed scripted drama and factual content for broadcasters in New Zealand and Australia, while her films have traveled internationally. She is a member of 787 Media, a collective of filmmakers championing indigenous stories.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Known for his bold career growth, Australian director Justin Kurzel, who, after the striking debut feature The Snowtown Murders (2011), which conquered hearts of people on many festivals, has chosen a Shakespearean adaptation (Macbeth (2015)) starring famous international film actors Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard in the main roles as his second film, then was taking even more bold choice to take on blockbuster project, a screen adaptation of Assassin's Creed (2016) videogame, as only third of his features.
Kurzel was born on August 3, 1974 in the South Australian Gawler. His brother is the musician and composer Jed Kurzel, who is often working with him on various projects. Both grew up in Gawler.
Kurzel began studying at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney at the early 1990s.
At first he was making a music videos for the rock band The Messhall, founded by his brother. In 2005 future filmmaker made his first short film Blue Tongue (2005). Then, after six years, he released The Snowtown Murders (2011), a film about the mass murderer case starring Daniel Henshall which was praised and acclaimed both by the critics and by the audience for the striking experience of which is a truly cold and terrifying film it gives to the viewer. Kurzel had also written the script for the film, for which he was awarded the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award as Best Director in 2011, Gold Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival, won Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Directing and was nominated for Australian Directors Guild Award, British Film Institute Awards,
Then he wrote and direct one segment of The Turning (2013), the Boner McPharlin's Moll, for which, alongside all the other directors attached to the making, he was nominated for Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award for Best Directing.
In 2015, a turning point for Kurzel's career, he directed a successful adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy Macbeth (2015), in which Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard took the main parts. The film was screened at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2015, when it received a Special Mention in FIPRESCI Prize, Special Mention on Critics Wee, and compete for the Palme d'Or, Golden Camera, Queer Palm and Critics Week Grand Prize. The film was very well received amongst the viewers and critics, was nominated for variety of awards across the globe and was presented with a special premiere showing at Edinburgh, Scotland, where all the main filming took place. For directing this film he was nominated for British Independent Film Awards as the Best Director.
During the shooting, the strong working relationship between Kurzel and actors Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard has been established, which resulted in announcing on December 2016 that he will helm the film adaptation of the popular computer game Assassin's Creed (2016) starring both of the actors alongside Jeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson, Charlotte Rampling and Kurzel's wife Essie Davis. Making of such a high-profile studio picture established Kurzel in the world of high-budget filmmaking, giving him many doors open for his future possible projects.
Kurzel currently resides in London, UK with his wife, actress Essie Davis, and their children.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Shannon Murphy is a theatre and film/TV director, known for Babyteeth (2019), On the Ropes (2018) and Killing Eve (2019). Her episode of Killing Eve Are You From Pinner? was nominated for 3 Emmy Awards. She was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Director in 2021 for her work on Babyteeth. Murphy went on to win the AACTA Award for Best Director on Babyteeth, with the film taking home a total of 9 AACTA awards, including all the film acting categories, Best Screenplay and Best Film.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Leigh Whannell grew up in Melbourne, Australia, where, at the age of four, he developed an obsession with telling stories. Whether it be through acting, writing or filmmaking, his primary love was getting a reaction from an audience. In 1995, at the age of 18, he was accepted into the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology's prestigious Media Arts course, where he met fellow filmmaker James Wan. In his second year of college, he landed the role of "film guy" on a Saturday morning TV show aimed at teens called Recovery (1996). Filmed totally live in the studio and hosted by actual teenagers, the ground-breaking show was hugely popular down under and was the first to bring "alternative culture" to Australia's TV screens, featuring live performances from bands like Sonic Youth, Weezer, Public Enemy, Ben Harper, Pulp and hundreds more. Hosting the film component of the show, Leigh was lucky enough to interview people like Tim Burton, Peter Jackson, Russell Crowe, George Clooney, and eventually went on the host the show in 1999. After graduating from college, Leigh found himself working more and more as a "host" or "presenter" on Australian TV - all the while hatching a plan with James Wan to finally fulfill his dream of making a film. Small acting roles cropped up from time to time (including one in The Matrix Reloaded (2003), which Leigh has said was "the most fun I've ever had in my life") and, along with those, some frustrating near-misses (and not so near-misses: like his cringe-inducing audition for "Lord Of The Rings", in which he paid $90 to have "hobbit ears" grafted onto his head, turning up at the casting office dressed as a hobbit - needless to say he didn't get the role). However, it was missing out on a role in Alex Proyas Australian film Garage Days (2002) that finally broke the camel's back. He called Wan and told him that if they wanted to get a film made, they would have to pay for it themselves. Saw (2004) was born. After nine months of writing, Leigh had written the screenplay for what he thought would be a self-financed, "Blair Witch"-style feature, with him starring and James directing. The script gained so much attention that soon enough, they were shopping it around Hollywood....and the rest is history.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Robert is one of Australia's most acclaimed and best-known filmmakers with an international career spanning 30 years. His films include the box office hit Paper Planes with Sam Worthington, Balibo starring Oscar Isaac and Anthony Lapaglia and the compendium feature film The Turning with Cate Blanchett and Rose Byrne. Most recently Robert wrote and directed The Dry based on Jane Harper's best-seller and starring Eric Bana. In television, he directed the International Emmy-nominated The Slap and Barracuda for NBC Universal and recently completed Deep State for Fox Network Group, starring Mark Strong. As a producer and executive producer Robert's credits include The Boys, Romulus My Father, The Warriors, Gallipoli and Chasing Asylum.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Craig Gillespie is an Australian film director, best known for his films Lars and the Real Girl (2007), I, Tonya (2017) and Cruella (2021). Born and raised in Sydney, Gillespie moved to New York City at the age of nineteen to study illustration, graphic design and advertising at Manhattan's School of Visual Arts. Gillespie worked for fifteen years as a commercial director, commonly working with cinematographers Adam Kimmel and Rodrigo Prieto. His debut feature film was 2007's Mr. Woodcock but he left the project after several negative test screenings, and many scenes were re-written and re-shot.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
- Writer
- Director
- Script and Continuity Department
- Producer
- Writer
- Actor
Taika Waititi, also known as Taika Cohen, hails from the Raukokore region of the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand, and is the son of Robin (Cohen), a teacher, and Taika Waititi, an artist and farmer. His father is Maori (Te-Whanau-a-Apanui), and his mother is of Ashkenazi Jewish, Irish, Scottish, and English descent. Taika has been involved in the film industry for several years, initially as an actor, and now focusing on writing and directing.
Two Cars, One Night is Taika's first professional film-making effort and since its completion in 2003 he has finished another short "Tama Tu" about a group of Maori Soldiers in Italy during World War 2. As a performer and comedian, Taika has been involved in some of the most innovative and successful original productions seen in New Zealand. He regularly does stand-up gigs in and around the country and in 2004 launched his solo production, "Taika's Incredible Show". In 2005 he staged the sequel, "Taika's Incrediblerer Show". As an actor, Taika has been critically acclaimed for both his Comedic and Dramatic abilities. In 2000 he was nominated for Best Actor at the Nokia Film Awards for his role in the Sarkies Brother's film "Scarfies".
Taika is also an experienced painter and photographer, having exhibited both mediums in Wellington and Berlin, and a fashion designer. He attended the Sundance Writers Lab with "Choice", a feature loosely based on "Two Cars, One Night".
Taika became a blockbuster director with his film Thor: Ragnarok (2017), and received critical acclaim, and a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, for his film Jojo Rabbit (2019).- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Thomas M. Wright was born on 22 June 1983 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He is an actor and director, known for The Stranger (2022), Acute Misfortune (2018) and Everest (2015).- Director
- Actor
- Editor
Danny Philippou was born on 13 November 1992 in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. He is a director and actor, known for Talk to Me (2022), RackaRacka (2013) and The Babadook (2014).- Actor
- Director
- Stunts
Michael Philippou was born on 13 November 1992 in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. He is an actor and director, known for Talk to Me (2022), RackaRacka (2013) and The Babadook (2014).