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The Filmmakers
SCOTT HICKS
Scott Hicks earned international acclaim for the 1996 box office sensation Shine, which grossed well over $100 million worldwide following its triumphant premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. The film received seven Academy Award® nominations in all major categories (including Best Film), with Hicks nominated for Best Director and Best Screenplay. It also received eight BAFTA nominations, won nine Australian Film Institute Awards (including Best Film and Best Director), was named Best Film by the U.S. National Board of Review, earned five Golden Globe nominations as well as nominations from both the Directors Guild and Writers Guild of America.
Prior to Shine, Hicks had made his mark in documentaries. In 1994, he received an Emmy® Award for a four-hour documentary series which he also co-wrote, Submarine: Sharks Of Steel. It broke the ratings record for The Discovery Channel set by his earlier work, The Great Wall of Iron that in 1989 won the prestigious Peabody Award for Best Documentary Series Broadcast in the U.S. Following these successes, Hicks was commissioned for two additional two-hour specials by The Discovery Channel: The Space Shuttle in 1994 and The Ultimate Athlete, which he also produced, in 1996.
Hicks’ feature film Sebastian and the Sparrow, which he also wrote and produced, was a winner in three international film festivals for children, including the 1990 LUCAS Award in Frankfurt, Germany. Following a successful cinema and television release in Australia, the film was invited to numerous other international festivals.
His first Hollywood film, Snow Falling on Cedars, was produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, with an ensemble cast including Oscar® nominees Ethan Hawke, Max von Sydow, Sam Shepard and James Cromwell. Adapted from the best-selling novel by David Guterson, Hicks co-wrote the screenplay with Ron Bass. Hicks also directed Hearts In Atlantis, produced by Kerry Heysen and starring Anthony Hopkins, Anton Yelchin, David Morse, Hope Davis and Mika Boorem, based on novellas by Stephen King, with a the screenplay by Oscar® winner William Goldman. Hicks’ latest feature No Reservations, produced by Kerry Heysen and starring Oscar® winner Catherine Zeta-Jones, Aaron Eckhart and Oscar® nominee Abigail Breslin, is already been had its theatrical release.
Born in Uganda and raised in Kenya until age 10, Hicks and his family moved to England, then Australia. Poised to pursue a Law/Arts degree, a chance encounter with an inspirational Philosophy professor turned him instead toward English, Drama and Cinema at Flinders University of South Australia, from which he graduated with honors in 1975 (receiving 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 Vineyards. Also an accomplished photographer, Hicks has had three exhibitions of his work, which can be viewed at scotthickspix.com.
STEPHEN JESS
(Editor)
Stephen Jess is a senior editor at the Whitehouse Post in New York. His clients include Nike, MasterCard, Coca-Cola, United Airlines, Visa and AT&T. Having worked with Scott Hicks on advertising projects over the last several years, they partnered again to collaborate on GLASS: a portrait of Philip in twelve parts. Stephen currently lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter.
SUSANNE PREISSLER
(Producer)
Susanne Preissler is the president of Independent Media, Inc., the premiere commercial production company for crossover talent worldwide. Independent Media is renowned for introducing feature film talent to the advertising market place, and exclusively represents such directors as Scott Hicks, Anthony Minghella, Alfonso Cuaron, Sydney Pollack, Doug Liman, Elias Merhige, Francois Girard, Mike Figgis, Michael Apted, Tony Goldwyn, Jane Campion, Kathryn Bigelow, Peter Chelsom, Richard Kelly, Roger Donaldson, Danny Leiner, Nicole Holofcener, Bronwen Hughes, and Mark Forster, among others. The company is also consistently called upon to produce projects that involve directors who originate in the long form medium.
Work produced by Independent Media includes traditional broadcast commercials, long-format content for the World Wide Web, music videos, shorts for film festivals, as well as feature-length documentaries for theatrical release.
Independent Media has garnered some of the most coveted awards in the advertising industry including multiple Gold Lions at the Cannes International Advertising Festival, a Primetime Emmy Award, numerous AICP awards, as well as winning entries at the British D&AD Awards. Independent Media productions have been included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Committed to important environmental and social causes, Independent Media also produces numerous public service announcements, and most recently worked with Al Gore’s Live Earth to produce a series of PSAs’. The 40-spot package features music by Madonna and such on-camera talent as Will Ferrell, Cameron Diaz, Ben Affleck, Chris Rock, Emily Blunt, Jessica Biel, Penelope Cruz, Tobey Maguire, Jennifer Garner, Holly Hunter, Naomi Campbell, Pierce Brosnan, Jason Biggs, Josh Lucas and Ken Watanabe, among others.
Independent Media has been involved in the production of two feature film documentaries: Home Movie (sold at Sundance Film Festival prior to being released theatrically, on networks and home video) and GLASS: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts (with its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival).
KINO FILMS
The group of companies under the Kino Films banner have been involved in the production of a number of AFI, BAFTA, Peabody, Emmy® and Academy Award® winning feature-length films, documentaries and other productions. Projects range from the development of the outstanding international success Shine to production of the first music videos to break the rock band INXS into the United States. Its latest production GLASS: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts reflects an ongoing passion and commitment to distinctive film and music.
KOJO PICTURES
Specializing in art-house and genre cinema, KOJO PICTURES was formed in 2004 to develop and produce feature length film by new and renowned contemporary Australian and International artists.
In 2006 KOJO PICTURES produced the polarising 2:37, which was selected for the prestigious Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival. Other production and post-production projects include involvement on Greg McLean’s horror classic Wolf Creek (2005) and monster epic Rogue (2007).
KOJO PICTURES is currently co-producing Elise, with RB Films, based on Georgia Blain’s acclaimed novel and starring Natalie Imbruglia. Additionally, production is set to commence on Beautiful, a provocative and haunting tale of the secrets and lies that hide in the underbelly of suburbia, starring Peta Wilson and Deborra-Lee Furness.