David Elfick

Last updated

David Elfick
Born (1944-12-20) 20 December 1944 (age 78)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Occupations
  • Television and film screenwriter
  • director
  • producer
  • actor
Years active1969–present

David Elfick (born 20 December 1944) [1] is an Australian film and television writer, director, producer and occasional actor. He is known for his association with writer-director Phillip Noyce, with whom he has collaborated on films including Newsfront (1978) and Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002). [2]

Contents

Career

Elfick began his film career as the producer of the 1971 surf movie Morning of the Earth , directed by Alby Falzon. In 1973 Elfick collaborated with surfer, writer and cinematographer George Greenough as producer-director of Crystal Voyager . This became one of the most successful Australian surf movies ever made, grossing over A$100,000 on its first release, followed by six-month run in London, where it ran on a double bill with René Laloux's Fantastic Planet and grossed over UK£100,000.[ citation needed ]

Elfick was co-writer (with Philippe Mora) of the original story for the acclaimed docu-drama Newsfront , in which he also had a small role, and he also had a minor role (as a projectionist) in Albie Thoms' Palm Beach (1979). In addition to writing, Elfick has also worked as a director, making his directorial debut in 1969. Directing credits include Crystal Voyager (1973), Love in Limbo (1993), and No Worries (1994). [3]

Elfick's credits as a producer include the pop film Starstruck (1982), Undercover (1983), the comedy Emoh Ruo (1985), the drama Blackrock (1997) and the multi-award-winning Rabbit Proof Fence (2002).[ citation needed ] He also produced Around the World in 80 Ways (released in 1988), which was directed by his friend Stephen MacLean. [4]

Filmography

Directing

YearTitleNotes
1969Magnificent Males
1973 Crystal Voyager
1975Surfabout 75
1976The Levi Strauss Story
1988Fields of Fire II Miniseries
1990 Harbour Beat
1993 Love in Limbo
1994 No Worries
1998 Never Tell Me Never Television film
2002Gliding with George
2003Combat WomenDocumentary

Acting credits

YearTitleRoleNotes
1975 The Golden Cage Man at Party
1978 Newsfront Rocker
1980 Palm Beach Projectionist
1985 Emoh Ruo Suitor

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinema of Australia</span> Film and television industry in Australia

The cinema of Australia had its beginnings with the 1906 production of The Story of the Kelly Gang, arguably the world's first feature film. Since then, Australian crews have produced many films, a number of which have received international recognition. Many actors and filmmakers with international reputations started their careers in Australian films, and many of these have established lucrative careers in larger film-producing centres such as the United States.

<i>Rabbit-Proof Fence</i> 2002 Australian drama film

Rabbit-Proof Fence is a 2002 Australian drama film directed and produced by Phillip Noyce based on the 1996 book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington Garimara. It is loosely based on a true story concerning the author's mother Molly Craig, as well as two other Aboriginal girls, Daisy Kadibil and Gracie, who escape from the Moore River Native Settlement, north of Perth, Western Australia, to return to their Aboriginal families, after being placed there in 1931. The film follows the Aboriginal girls as they walk for nine weeks along 1,500 miles (2,400 km) of the Australian rabbit-proof fence to return to their community at Jigalong, while being pursued by white law enforcement authorities and an Aboriginal tracker. The film illustrates the official child removal policy that existed in Australia between approximately 1905 and 1967. Its victims now are called the "Stolen Generations".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barry Levinson</span> American filmmaker

Barry Lee Levinson is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. His best-known works are mid-budget comedy drama and drama films such as Diner (1982), The Natural (1984), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Bugsy (1991), and Wag the Dog (1997). Levinson won the Academy Award for Best Director for Rain Man (1988). In 2021, he co-executive produced the Hulu miniseries Dopesick and directed the first two episodes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brannon Braga</span> American television producer, director, and screenwriter

Brannon Braga is an American television producer, director and screenwriter. Best known for his work in the Star Trek franchise, Braga was a key creative force behind three of the franchise's live action series. He later became an executive producer and writer on several Fox shows including 24, Terra Nova, and The Orville. His film credits include Mission: Impossible 2, Star Trek Generations, and Star Trek: First Contact.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phillip Noyce</span> Australian filmmaker (born 1950)

Phillip Noyce is an Australian film and television director. Since 1977, he has directed over 19 feature films in various genres, including historical drama ; thrillers ; and action films. He has also directed the Jack Ryan adaptations Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994) and the 2014 adaptation of Lois Lowry's The Giver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Dunne (writer)</span> American screenwriter, film producer & director (1908–1992)

Philip Ives Dunne was an American screenwriter, film director and producer, who worked prolifically from 1932 until 1965. He spent the majority of his career at 20th Century Fox. He crafted well regarded romantic and historical dramas, usually adapted from another medium. Dunne was a leading Screen Writers Guild organizer and was politically active during the "Hollywood Blacklist" episode of the 1940s–1950s. He is best known for the films How Green Was My Valley (1941), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), The Robe (1953) and The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965).

Albert "Alby" Falzon is an Australian filmmaker, photographer and publisher in the surfing sub-culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Haywood</span> Australian actor

Chris Haywood is an English-born Australian actor, writer and producer, with close to 500 screen performances to his name. Haywood has also worked as a casting director, art director, sound recordist, camera operator, gaffer, grip, location and unit manager.

<i>Starstruck</i> (1982 film) 1982 Australian film

Starstruck is a 1982 Australian comedy-drama musical film directed by Gillian Armstrong and starring Jo Kennedy, Ross O'Donovan and Margo Lee. The plot concerns two teenagers trying to break into the music industry. The film was shot on location in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was marketed with the tagline "A Comedy Musical." The hotel shots were filmed at the Harbour View Hotel in The Rocks, near the south pylon of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Rubbo</span>

Michael Dattilo Rubbo is an Australian documentarian/filmmaker.

<i>Newsfront</i> 1978 Australian film

Newsfront is a 1978 Australian drama film starring Bill Hunter, Wendy Hughes, Chris Haywood and Bryan Brown, directed by Phillip Noyce. The screenplay is written by David Elfick, Bob Ellis, Philippe Mora, and Phillip Noyce. The original music score is composed by William Motzing. This film was shot on location in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Incorporating much actual newsreel footage, the film is shot in both black and white and colour.

Michael Carson was an Australian television director who was responsible for some of Australia's most significant series in the last decades of the twentieth century. His work as a director, producer and script editor was recognised with AFI Awards, Logie Awards, Penguin Awards and AWGIE Awards.

<i>Crystal Voyager</i> 1973 Australian film

Crystal Voyager is a 1973 Australian surf film directed by David Elfick. It was filmed by Albert Falzon, written and narrated by surfer, photographer and filmmaker George Greenough, who had previously made the 1970 surfing film The Innermost Limits of Pure Fun. The soundtrack was written and produced and performed by G. Wayne Thomas and the "Crystal Voyager Band".

Libido is a 1973 Australian drama film comprising 4 segments written and directed as independent stories, but screened together as one piece, exploring a common theme of instinctive desire and contemporary sexuality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Nankin</span> American screenwriter

Michael Nankin is an American film and television writer, director and producer. He has been nominated for the Humanitas Prize for his writing.

<i>The Chain Reaction</i> 1980 Australian film

The Chain Reaction is a 1980 Australian science fiction thriller film directed and written by Ian Barry. The film stars Steve Bisley and Arna-Maria Winchester. The film's plot is about an engineer badly injured in an accident caused by an earthquake. He knows that the nuclear waste will poison the groundwater and wants to warn the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Winter (filmmaker)</span> Australian filmmaker

John Winter is an Australian film and television writer, director and producer. He is best known for producing Rabbit-Proof Fence, Doing Time for Patsy Cline and Paperback Hero. His directorial debut Black & White & Sex premiered at the 2011 Sydney Film Festival with its international premiere at the 41st International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film won the 'Best Experimental' at the 2012 ATOM Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emile Sherman</span> Australian film producer

Emile Sherman is an Australian film and television producer best known for producing the film The King's Speech (2010), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Picture and the BAFTA award for Best Film and Best British Film, and for executive producing television series Top of the Lake, which was nominated for an Emmy, BAFTA and Golden Globe award. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and won one; nominated for five BAFTAs and won three, and nominated for two Emmy Awards and won one.

Natasha Wanganeen is an Aboriginal Australian actress. She is known for her starring role in the 2002 feature film Rabbit-Proof Fence, aged 15, and numerous television roles. Her debut film as co-writer and co-producer is the 2022 short film, an Indigenous sci-fi drama entitled Bunker: The Last Fleet, about an alien invasion of Australia, in which she also takes the lead role.

References

Notes

  1. "David Elfick". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  2. "David Elfick". Australian Screen. ASO. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  3. Murray, Caputo & Tanskaya 1996, p. 366.
  4. "David Elfick". Australian Screen . NFSA . Retrieved 20 January 2022.

Sources