Is French Cinema Influencing Australian Directors?

Kevin Spink
Kevin Spink is an Australian actor, writer and director. He made his screen debut on the long running British series Heartbeat and his stage debut in Macbeth for the Queensland Theatre Company, directed by Michael Attenborough. His notable stage work includes the bushranger Dan Kelly in Matthew Ryan’s Kelly and Bramwell in Polly Teales Bronte.

Kevin has lent his voice to documentaries for BBC Earth, the History Channel, Discovery, and books for Audible.

His latest film, Un Homme et un Chat (a story of a broken-hearted French man in Brisbane) will be released at festivals later this year.

Ben Hackworth
Ben was born in Brisbane, Queensland. He studied at Amherst College in the United States before returning to Australia to complete a Masters of Film at the Victorian College of the Arts.

In 2005, he completed a Masters of Film with his script for a feature film called The Serpent. In 2006, he was accepted into the prestigious Cannes Film Festival residence in Paris to develop this project.

He has created several award-winning short films, including: Martin Four (2001) – official selection Cannes Film Festival, 2001; Violet Lives Upstairs (2003) – winner of Film Critics Circle of Australia, 2003, award for Best Short Film.

In 2007, he released his debut feature-length film, Corroboree, which has been selected for the Berlin, Toronto, Sydney, Melbourne , Brisbane, and Perth International Film Festivals.

His latest film Celeste, starring Radha Mitchell, Thomas Cocquerel, Nadine Garner and Odessa Young which had its world premiere at Melbourne International Film Festival, international premiere at BFI London Film Festival and was selected for competition at Santa Barbara International Film Festival.