Vincent Ward | |
|---|---|
 Ward in 2018 | |
| Born | 16 February 1956 Greytown, New Zealand |
| Years active | 1978–present |
Vincent Ward ONZM [1] (born 16 February 1956) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and artist.
Vincent Ward | |
|---|---|
| Ward in 2018 | |
| Born | 16 February 1956 Greytown, New Zealand |
| Years active | 1978–present |
Vincent Ward ONZM [1] (born 16 February 1956) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and artist.
Vincent Ward was born on 16 February 1956 [2] near Greytown, New Zealand. He attended Ilam School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand where he received a Diploma in Fine Arts (with Honours) in 1981. In 2014 the University of Canterbury awarded him an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts [3] and an adjunct professorship. [4]
In 1978, at the age of 21, he shot A State of Siege, his debut short-feature film, which adapted a novel by Janet Frame. It was released theatrically and reviewed by The Los Angeles Times who described it as, ‘Rigorously constructed with one exquisitely composed image following another ... film becomes poetry’. [5] The film won a Special Jury Prize at the Miami Film Festival 1978 and a Golden Hugo Award at the Chicago Film Festival that same year. [6]
In 1978–81, Ward lived in remote Te Urewera with a Tūhoe woman named Puhi and her adult schizophrenic son Niki. He made a documentary about them called In Spring One Plants Alone, which won the 1982 Grand Prix at Cinéma du Réel [7] (Paris), and a Silver Hugo at the Chicago Film Festival. [8]
Ward's next three films, 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 ‘in competition’ at the Cannes Film Festival. [9] 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). [10] [11] [12]
Vigil (1984), follows an imaginative, solitary child living on a remote farm and is partly inspired by Ward's own rural upbringing in the Wairarapa. It was produced by John Maynard and shot in Taranaki. Child actor Fiona Kay played the central role.
Ward's second feature, a fantasy-adventure film, The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988), was inspired by an experience he had in Germany. He recounts attempting to cross the autobahn on foot and ending up dodging traffic. The experience made such an impression on him, it was the key image that sparked the idea for the film. The Navigator follows a group of 14th-century Cumbrian villagers who tunnel through the earth, and find themselves in modern-day Auckland. Ward says “what I wanted to do was look at the 20th Century through medieval eyes, its as if the demons of our contemporary world, our technological monsters of destruction, could be foreseen in the nightmares of medieval men”. [13] Rolling Stone's review hailed it as “A visionary film of rare courage and imperishable heart.” [14] The film won the Grand Prix at four film festivals including; Sitges Film Festival, Fanta Film Festival, and Oporto Film Festival 1998/89. And took home Best Film and Best Director at both the Australian and New Zealand film industry awards in 1989. [15]
In 1990, Ward wrote a treatment for Alien 3 , and was originally slated to direct it before being replaced by David Fincher, while part of his treatment was used in the film, thus receiving a "story by" credit in the end. [16] The heart of his original script, known as ‘the monks in space’ version, was however not captured in the final film and has since been recognised by the London Times Online, who in 2008 gave it the top spot on their list of 'greatest sci-fi movies never made’. [17]
Ward's next film Map of the Human Heart (1993) charts a relationship between an Inuk boy, a Métis girl and a visiting British cartographer. Ward and his co-writer Louis Nowra spent time travelling and researching the project together in Canada and Vincent went on to travel extensively in the Arctic before they began writing the script. Ward suffered minor frostbite whilst location scouting in the Arctic that was still visible throughout the shoot. [18] The film stars Jason Scott Lee, Anne Parillaud and Patrick Bergin, and features John Cusack in a minor role. It was produced by Tim Bevan and Ward, and it was screened as a work in progress at Cannes Film Festival in 1992, it was later nominated for best film at the Australian Film Institute Awards. American critic Roger Ebert praised its unpredictability and sense of adventure. [19]
In the 1990s Ward spent several years in and out of Hollywood, where he developed multiple projects before he signed on to direct What Dreams May Come (1998) a screenplay adapted by Ronald Bass from Richard Matheson's 1978 novel. What Dreams May Come was released in the United States on 2,600 screens and starred Robin Williams, Annabella Sciorra, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Max von Sydow. It reached US$71 million in theatrical sales and performed strongly in the video market. [20] The film was nominated for Best Production Design and Best Visual Effects at the 1999 Academy Awards and won an Oscar for visual effects. [21] It continues to be popular with audiences scoring 84% on Rotten Tomatoes. [22]
The 2003 epic, The Last Samurai was based on a project Ward spent four years developing with the film's producers. Eventually, after Ward approached several directors, including Francis Ford Coppola and Peter Weir, he got Edward Zwick to helm the film. Ward was an executive producer of the film. [23]
During his time in Hollywood, Ward became interested in acting and trained under acting coach Penny Allen. He had a small part in Mike Figgis’ film Leaving Las Vegas (1995), and a larger role in Figgis’ next film One Night Stand (1997). He was given one of the leading role in a US independent feature film The Shot (1996), and a role in Geoff Murphy's film Spooked (2004). [24]
In 2005, he returned to New Zealand and made River Queen . Starring Samantha Morton, Kiefer Sutherland, Stephen Rea, Temuera Morrison and Cliff Curtis.
Rain of the Children followed in 2008, wherein Ward retells the story of Puhi, the elderly Tuhoe woman who was the subject of his earlier documentary In Spring One Plants Alone. Rain of the Children won the Grand Prix at Era New Horizons Film Festival. The film was nominated for best director and won best composer at the Qantas Film and TV Awards in New Zealand. Vincent Ward was also nominated for best director at the Australian Directors Guild Awards. [25]
Ward has had 2 full retrospectives of his films. In 1984 at Germany's Hof International Film Festival and in 2008 at Poland's Era New Horizons Film Festival.
The Boston Globe has called Vincent Ward "one of film's great image makers", [26] while Roger Ebert, one of America's foremost film critics, hailed him as "a true visionary. [27] "
In October 2020, filming began in Ukraine on Ward's new feature Storm School with further shooting planned in China, UK and Australia. It is based on a script cowritten by Ward and long-term collaborator Louis Nowra. [28]
Since 2010 Ward has launched a second career as a painter and video artist. In 2012 he had his first major solo show, Breath, at New Zealand's cutting edge public gallery, the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/Len Lye Centre in New Plymouth. This was followed by two other public gallery showings in Auckland [29] and a solo pavilion at the 9th Shanghai Biennale 2012. [30]
Ward received an honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from the University of Canterbury (2014) and an adjunct professorship. [3] [4] In 2015 he had a guest professorship at the China Academy of Art, in Hanzhou, as well as a residency at the Shanghai University School of Fine Arts. [31]
Ward is represented in New Zealand by Trish Clark Gallery.
Art writer and reviewer Anthony Byrt (Art Forum) described the work as “intense... stunning... virtuosic” and said “Ward has never shied away from the truth: he digs and digs until he gets somewhere other filmmakers and artists don't often visit: a psychic space where violence, memory, myth, sex and religion mingle in a landscape scarred by history.”. [32]
Rhana Devenport, director Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, wrote in her catalog for the exhibition: Ward's ongoing concerns with metamorphosis, falling, light, fear, memory, darkness and the transformative moment have led him to create a series of vast, physically imposing works that delve into other-worldly landscapes and transcendent states, to evocations of loss, redemption and unconscious realms. [33]
Short film
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | A State of Siege | Yes | Yes | No |
| 1981 | In Spring One Plants Alone | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Feature film
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Vigil | Yes | Yes | No |
| 1988 | The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey | Yes | Yes | No |
| 1992 | Alien 3 | No | Story | No |
| 1993 | Map of the Human Heart | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 1998 | What Dreams May Come | Yes | No | No |
| 2005 | River Queen | Yes | Yes | No |
| 2008 | Rain of the Children | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| TBA | Storm School | Yes | Yes | No |
Executive producer
Australian Film Institute
| Year | Title | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey | Best Direction | Won |
| 1993 | Map of the Human Heart | Nominated |
Cannes Film Festival
| Year | Title | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Vigil | Palme d'Or | Nominated |
| 1988 | The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey | Nominated |
An Angel at My Table is a 1990 biographical drama film directed by Jane Campion. The film is based on Janet Frame's three autobiographies, To the Is-Land (1982), An Angel at My Table (1984), and The Envoy from Mirror City (1984). The film was very well received. It won awards at the New Zealand Film and Television awards, the Toronto International Film Festival, and second prize at the Venice Film Festival.
The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey is a 1988 feature film, an official Australian-New Zealand co-production, directed by Vincent Ward. It won numerous New Zealand and Australian awards, including the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film, and several awards at European fantasy film festivals.
Map of the Human Heart is a 1992 film by New Zealand director Vincent Ward. The script for Map of the Human Heart was written by Australian author Louis Nowra, using a 10-page treatment Ward had written a year earlier as his guide. Ward was originally intended at this time to be directing his script of the third film in the Alien series, but his dismissal from the sci fi project led to his directing this film instead.
Michael Eric Hurst ONZM is a British-born New Zealand actor, director and writer. He is known internationally for acting in the television programs Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and companion series Xena: Warrior Princess as Iolaus. Most recently, he is known for his role in directing the Starz series Spartacus: Blood and Sand and Ash vs Evil Dead.
Nikola Jean Caro is a New Zealand film, television, and music video director and screenwriter. Her 2002 film Whale Rider was critically praised and won a number of awards at international film festivals. She directed the 2020 live action version of Disney's Mulan, making her the second female and the second New Zealand director hired by Disney to direct a film budgeted at over $100 million. Caro's works ranged from music videos, commercials, television dramas, and films, etc.
Smash Palace is a 1981 New Zealand psychological crime thriller directed by Roger Donaldson. The film chronicles Al, a retired race car driver who runs "Smash Palace", a carwrecking yard in rural Manawatū-Whanganui, with his depressed French wife and their seven-year-old daughter Georgie. After their turbulent marriage breaks down and his wife obtains a restraining order against him, Al kidnaps Georgie and descends into the rain-forest.
Dwayne Cameron is a New Zealand actor, writer, director and producer. Cameron played the lead role of Bray on the teen drama series The Tribe and Tyzonn in Power Rangers Operation Overdrive.
Andrew Drummond is a New Zealand painter and sculptor. He attended University of Waterloo in Canada, graduating in 1976. He was a Frances Hodgkins Fellow in 1980.
Peter Northe Wells was a New Zealand writer, filmmaker, and historian. He was mainly known for his fiction, but also explored his interest in gay and historical themes in a number of expressive drama and documentary films from the 1980s onwards.
Bryan Bruce is a New Zealand documentary maker and author.
Vigil is a 1984 New Zealand drama film directed by Vincent Ward and starring Penelope Stewart, Frank Whitten, Bill Kerr, Fiona Kay, and Gordon Shields. It was the first New Zealand film invited to play in the competitive section of the Cannes Film Festival.
The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery is a contemporary art museum at New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand. The gallery receives core funding from the New Plymouth District Council. Govett-Brewster is recognised internationally for contemporary art.
Desperate Remedies is a 1993 New Zealand drama film directed by Stewart Main and Peter Wells. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.
Rudolf Gopas was a New Zealand artist and art teacher. He was born in Šilutė, Germany. Gopas' works are held in the collections of the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Christchurch Art Gallery and the Hocken Library.
Mark Albiston is a New Zealand film, television and advertising director. He graduated from University of Canterbury in Christchurch in 1992 with a degree in Fine Arts.
Louis Sutherland is a New Zealand film, television and advertising director and actor. He is of Samoan and Scottish descent, and based in Wellington.
Luise Fong is a Malaysian-born New Zealand artist.
Eric Vincent Burke was a New Zealand television and film producer. Burke was the founder of Top Shelf Productions which was established in 1988. With a career spanning thirty years, Burke was noted for his documentary work and television productions that addressed social issues and everyday life.
John Maynard is an Australian film producer and film distributor who also played an important role in the development of New Zealand art museums.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
