Warwick Thornton is an internationally renowned director, screenwriter and cinematographer. Born and raised in remote Alice Springs, Warwick perfected his trade at Australia’s prestigious film school AFTRS. Both of his short films Nana and Greenbush premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival – Nana winning the Crystal Bear for Best Short Film. Following the success of these films, Warwick began work on his first feature Samson and Delilah – a confronting look at the relationship between two young Aboriginal teenagers in Alice Springs. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009, winning the Caméra d’Or. Samson and Delilah collected many other awards including Best Feature Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, the AFI awards, and the Film Critics Circle awards. Next, Warwick completed his feature The Darkside, a film which presents well know Australian actors retelling Indigenous ghost stories. This became Warwick’s third film invited to premiere at the Berlin
International Film Festival. Following this, he directed the opening segment of Tim Winton’s The Turning and the opening segment of Guillermo Arriaga’s Words With Gods, which was invited to premiere at Venice in 2014. Warwick is also widely regarded for his work as a cinematographer. His work as DOP on the 2012 hit musical The Sapphires once again highlighted Warwick’s ability to present diverse and exciting Indigenous stories. He worked again with director Wayne Blair on Septembers of Shiraz starring Adrian Brody and Salma Hayek. Warwick was named Northern Territory Australian of the Year in 2010, and was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at Imaginative, Canada in 2015. In 2017, he premiered his documentary We Don’t Need a Map about Australia’s connection to the Southern Cross, and Sweet Country, which won awards at Venice and Toronto film festivals.

Accolades

David Jowsey and Greer Simpkin and David Tranter and Warwick Thornton
Best Feature Film, 2017

Sweet Country

Best Feature Film, 2017

Sweet Country

Winner, Best Feature Film, 2017 Inspired by real events, Sweet Country is a period western set in the uncompromising outback of the Northern Territory, Australia…

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Warwick Thornton and Dylan River
Achievement in Cinematography, 2017

Warwick Thornton and Dylan River

Achievement in Cinematography, 2017

Warwick Thornton and Dylan River

Sweet Country

Warwick Thornton gained international recognition when his feature film debut Samson and Delilah (2009), which he wrote, directed and shot, won the Cannes Film Festival’s…

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Kath Shelper and Warwick Thornton
Best Feature Film, 2009

Samson & Delilah

Best Feature Film, 2009

Samson & Delilah

Winner, Best Feature Film, 2009 Samson and Delilah live in an isolated world – a remote Aboriginal community in the Australian desert. In amongst a…

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Films

Sweet Country
2017

Sweet Country

Australia
2017

Sweet Country

Winner, Best Feature Film, 2017 Inspired by real events, Sweet Country is a period western set in the uncompromising outback of the Northern Territory, Australia…

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Samson & Delilah
2009

Samson & Delilah

Australia
2009

Samson & Delilah

Winner, Best Feature Film, 2009 Samson and Delilah live in an isolated world – a remote Aboriginal community in the Australian desert. In amongst a…

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The Turning
2013

The Turning

Australia
2013

The Turning

Seventeen Australian directors from diverse artistic disciplines each create a chapter of the hauntingly beautiful novel by multi award-winning author Tim Winton. The linking and…

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The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and emerging. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.

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