Don Featherstone (filmmaker)
Don Featherstone is an Australian filmmaker. His work includes documentaries about significant figures in Australian arts and culture, including authors David Malouf and Tim Winton, artist Brett Whiteley and dancer Robert Helpmann. Featherstone's works address social and historical issues such as beach culture, The Beach, gangs, The One Percenters about the Milperra Massacre,[1] and war, Kokoda.[2]
Featherstones's satirical mockumentary for televison, BabaKiueria, has been the subject of academic camparative analysis of imperial historicity and postcolonial social progress.[3] It has also been included in cultural exchanges, for exmaple in "Southern Exposure" between the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney and the Museum Of Contemporary Art, San Diego.[4]
In 1985 Featherstone cofounded Featherstone Productions with Judy Featherstone.[1]
Featherstone's works have been screened and broadast internationally, in many contries.[1]
Filmography
Selected works include:[5][1][6]
- Food for Thought (1977); writer, director; UK
- The London Programme (1979-1982); director; UK
- Erte (1980); director; UK;
- The South Bank Show (1982-1985); director; UK
- The Science of Winning (1985); director; AU
- Arthur Boyd: Figures in the Landscape (1985); writer, director, producer; AU
- Babakiuerea (1986); producer, director; AU
- Heal or Hoax (1986); director; AU
- Aussies (1987); director; AU
- Beautiful Lies: A Film About Peter Carey (1986); producer, cowriter, director; Featherstone Productions; Sydney, AU
- Dreamtime, Machinetime 1987; director, producer, writer; AU
- Slow Boat from Surabaya (1988); director; AU
- Difficult Pleasure: A Portrait of Brett Whiteley (1989)' producer, director; AU
- Astonish Me, Graeme Murphy (1989); producer; AU
- Creative Spirits (1989)[a]; director; AU
- Tales of Helpmann (1990); director; AU
- Billy Tea and Goulash (1991); director; AU
- The Daylight Moon: A Portrait of the Poet Les Murray (1991); producer, writer, director; AU
- Fast Forward Exposed (1992); director; AU
- Oondamooroo: Ernie DIngo (1992); director, producer; AU
- Eric Rolls: Celebration of the Senses (1992); director, producer; AU
- Masterpiece (1992); director; Featherstone Productions; Sydney AU
- Make It New: Robert Klippel (1992); director, producer; AU
- Right Said Fred: Fred Schepisi - Film Director (1993); director; Featherstone Productions; South Melbourne, AU
- Creative Spirits II (1993)[b]; director; AU
- Tim Storrier, 'Lighting Fires' 1993; producer; AU
- Creative Spirits III (1995); producer[c], director[d]; AU
- Lowering the Tone: 45 Years of Robyn Archer (1994); director, interviewer; Featherstone Productions; Sydney, AU
- Tall Tales but True: David Williamson (1994); director, producer; AU
- Smart's Labyrinth (1994); producer; AU
- Wrestling an Angel (1995); director; AU
- Life Force (1995); writer, director; AU
- Wrestling The Angel: Blanche D'Alpuget (1995); director, writer, producer; AU
- Dance of Nature: The Music of Ross Edwards (1995); producer, director, writer
- The Black Swan: Meryl Tankard Choreographer (1995); producer; AU
- Young Australian of the Year (1996); writer, director
- An Imaginary Life: David Malouf: The Inner World of an Extraordinary Writer (1997); writer, director; Linfield, Sydney, AU; Film Australia RM Associates, ABC Television
- Art Zone (1998); writer, director; AU
- I Witness (1998); writer, director; AU
- The Maitland Wonder: Les Darcy (1998); director; AU
- American Journeys (1999); writer, director; AU
- I Witness: The Art of George Gittoes (1999); director, writer, producer; AU
- It Happened on Holiday (2000); writer, director; AU
- The Beach (2000); coproducer, cowriter, director; AU
- Sydney Revealed (2001); writer, director; AU
- Australia Revealed (2002); writer, director; AU
- The One Percenters (2005); writer, director; AU
Awards and recognition
Awards and recognition include:
- United Nations Media Peace Award, 1987, for Babakiuerea[7]
- Gold Plaque, Chicago International Film Festival, 1991, for The Daylight moon: a film about the poet Les Murray [8]
- Gold Hugo award, Chicago Film Festival for Difficult Pleasure: a portrait of Brett Whiteley[9]
- Best Arts Documentary, Banff Television Festival for Difficult Pleasure: a portrait of Brett Whiteley[9]
Notes
References
- ^ a b c d "Don Featherstone". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. University of Queensland. 17 June 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
- ^ Smyth, Terry (21 April 2010). "Kokoda film a trail of bad memories". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
- ^ Weaver-Hightower, Rebecca (2006). "Revisiting the Vanquished: Indigenous Perspectives on Colonial Encounters". Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies. 6 (2): 84–102. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
- ^ McDonald, John (10 May 2008). "All their eggs in the one basket". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
- ^ "Don Featherstone". Australian Screen. National Film and Sound Archive. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
- ^ "Featherstone Productions Pty Ltd". The Screen Guide. Screen Australia. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
- ^ Matthews, Kate. "Babakiueria". Australian Screen - Short Films. National Film and SoundArchive. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
- ^ Australian Centre for the Moving Image. "The Daylight moon: a film about the poet Les Murray". Australian Centre for the Moving Image. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
- ^ a b "Difficult Pleasure: a portrait of Brett Whiteley". WorldCat. Retrieved 22 December 2021.