John Duigan | |
---|---|
Born | Hartley Wintney, Hampshire, England | 19 June 1949
Alma mater | University of Melbourne (1973) |
Occupation(s) | Film director, screenwriter |
Years active | 1975–present |
Spouse | Nammi Le |
John Duigan (born 19 June 1949) is an Australian film director and screenwriter. He is mostly known for his two autobiographical films The Year My Voice Broke and Flirting , and the 1994 film Sirens , which stars Hugh Grant.
Duigan was born in Hartley Wintney, Hampshire, England to an Australian father, and emigrated to Australia in 1961. He is related to many Australian performers, being the brother of novelist Virginia Duigan (wife of director Bruce Beresford) and uncle of Trilby Beresford. [ citation needed ]
Duigan studied at the University of Melbourne, where he resided at Ormond College and graduated in 1973 with a master's degree in Philosophy. While at university, he worked extensively as an actor and director in theatre, and acted in a number of films (including Brake Fluid, Bonjour Balwyn and Dalmas). [1]
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 and Winter of our Dreams , for which he won an Australian Writers' Guild award for Best Screenplay. His 1981 film Winter of Our Dreams was entered into the 13th Moscow International Film Festival. [2]
The multi-award-winning mini-series Vietnam followed in 1987; it was one of Nicole Kidman's first major roles. Subsequently, Duigan worked in the United States and Europe, returning to Australia to make Sirens , winner of Best Film at the St. Petersburg Film Festival. [3]
In the United States, he directed Romero , starring Raul Julia, which won the Humanitas Award, [4] and Lawn Dogs , winner of numerous prizes in European festivals. [5] In England he directed The Leading Man , from a screenplay by his sister Virginia, The Parole Officer with Steve Coogan, [6] 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 Film Festival. [7] [8]
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. [7]
Actor
Director
Bruce Beresford is an Australian film director, opera director, screenwriter, and producer. He began his career during the Australian New Wave, and has made more than 30 feature films over a 50-year career, both locally and internationally in the United States. He is a two-time Academy Award nominee, and a four-time AACTA/AFI Awards winner out of 10 total nominations
Noah–George Taylor is an Australian actor. He is best known for his roles as teenage David Helfgott in Shine, Locke in the HBO series Game of Thrones, Darby Sabini in the BBC One series Peaky Blinders, Mr. Bucket in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Danny in the Australian cult film He Died with a Felafel in His Hand. Taylor also starred as Adolf Hitler in both the American television series Preacher and the 2002 film Max. In 2023 he starred as Dr. Friedrich "Fritz" Pfeffer in A Small Light.
Flirting is a 1991 Australian coming-of-age comedy drama film written and directed by John Duigan. The story revolves around a romance between two teenagers, and it stars Noah Taylor, who appears again as Danny Embling, the protagonist of Duigan's 1987 film The Year My Voice Broke. It also stars Thandiwe Newton and Nicole Kidman.
Sirens is a 1994 film, based on the life of artist and author Norman Lindsay, written and directed by John Duigan and set in Australia during the interwar period. Sirens was mostly filmed at the Norman Lindsay Gallery and Museum, Lindsay's home and studio in Faulconbridge, New South Wales and the town of Sofala near Bathurst.
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The Year My Voice Broke is a 1987 Australian coming of age drama film written and directed by John Duigan and starring Noah Taylor, Loene Carmen and Ben Mendelsohn. Set in 1962 in the rural Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, it was the first in a projected trilogy of films centred on the experiences of an awkward Australian boy, based on the childhood of writer/director John Duigan. The film itself is a series of interconnected segments narrated by Danny who recollects how he and his best friend Freya grew apart over the course of one year. Although the trilogy never came to fruition, it was followed by a 1991 sequel, Flirting. The film was the recipient of the 1987 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film, a prize which Flirting also won in 1990.
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The International Cycling Film Festival is an independent, not-for-profit film festival held annually in Germany, in Poland, in Kosovo and in the Netherlands. Its mission is to strengthen international cooperation in the areas of art film and bicycle culture. The festival promotes interaction between movie makers and cyclists from all over the world. It has screened more than 350 short movies from more than 30 countries since its debut in 2006. Each year around 20 films compete for the award Goldene Kurbel and the awards of the audience. The Neistat Brothers, Michaël Dudok de Wit, Andrea Dorfman, Tomer Shushan, Lucas Brunelle, Steven Subotnick, Nash Edgerton, M. A. Numminen and other filmmakers and artists contributed to the ICFF.
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The Provincetown International Film Festival (PIFF) is an annual film festival founded in 1999 and held on Cape Cod in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The festival presents American and international narrative features, documentaries and short films for five days in June of each year.
Bonjour Balwyn is a 1971 Australian independent film directed by Nigel Buesst and starring John Duigan, Peter Cummins, and John Romeril. It was one of the most notable films of the "Carlton Wave" of filmmaking.
Tom Cowan is an Australian filmmaker.
Careless Love is a 2012 Australian drama film written and directed by John Duigan. The story centers on a university student who secretly works as an escort.
Ladies in Black is a 2018 Australian comedy-drama film directed by Bruce Beresford. Starring Angourie Rice, Rachael Taylor, Julia Ormond, Ryan Corr and Shane Jacobson, the film is based on the 1993 novel The Women in Black by Madeleine St John, and tells the story of a group of department store employees in 1959 Sydney. The film was released on 20 September 2018.