Bill Bennett
Bill Bennett is an Australian filmmaker and author of young adult fiction. He was formerly a journalist. His 2024 Australian drama film, The Way, My Way, based on his memoir, was a surprise hit at the Australian box office.
Bill Bennett
- Name
- Bill Bennett
- Birthplace
- London, England
- Occupation
- Film director Film producer Screenwriter
- Born
- 1953 · London.
- Nationality
- Australia
- Languages
- English
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q4908103
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The documentary record
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Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
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Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Bill Bennett • Birthplace — London, England • Occupation — Film director Film producer Screenwriter • Years Active — 1983–present • Website — https: www.billbennett.com.au/
Documentary record
Bill Bennett, a director, screenwriter and film producer, was born in 1953. The birth is recorded by the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Early life and education
Early life and education
Bill Bennett was born in London to Australian parents and brought up in Brisbane. He studied medicine for some years at the University of Queensland, but left before completing his studies.
Journalism
Journalism
Bennett got a cadetship with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in 1972, where he was given the nickname "milkfingers" as a result of an on-air mishap. He spent two years working in Adelaide on This Day Tonight, then went to work for Mike Willesee in Sydney. He then worked on The Big Country and The Australians before moving into feature filmmaking in the early 1980s. During a ten-year career as a journalist he won Australia's top TV award, the Logie Awards for Television Reporter of the Year, and then later for Most Outstanding Documentary. This led him to feature films.
Selected filmography
Selected filmography
Documentary film • Year — Title — Director — Writer — Producer • 1983 — The Cattle King • 1984 — Shipwrecked • 1991 — The Banjo & The Bard • 1992 — Last Man Hanged • 2018 — Intuition is your Personal Guidance System • 2022 — Facing Fear Feature film • Year — Title — Director — Writer — Producer • 1985 — A Street to Die • 1986 — Backlash • 1987 — Dear Cardholder • 1988 — Jilted • 1989 — Malpractice • 1990 — Mortgage • 1994 — Spider and Rose • 1995 — Two if by Sea • 1996 — Kiss or Kill • 1999 — In a Savage Land • 2000 — Tempted • Cut — Uncredited • 2002 — The Nugget • 2005 — Deck Dogz • 2010 — Uninhabited • 2024 — The Way, My Way
Filmmaking
Bennett's first film, A Street to Die (1985) won the Crystal Globe for Best Film at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. His second film Backlash was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival. Three years later his film Malpractice would be screened in the same section at the 1989 festival. His Outback film noir Kiss or Kill won 5 Australian Film Institute Awards, including two for Bill - Best Picture and Best Director.} His two theatrical feature documentaries, Intuition is your Personal Guidance System and Facing Fear were the first two films in a proposed series called the My Journey series. Bennett's 2024 Australian drama film, The Way, My Way, based on his memoir, was a surprise hit at the Australian box office.
Publications
Bennett is also an author, having published a YA supernatural thriller trilogy Palace of Fires.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Bill Bennett (director), revision 1366422312 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.People struggle to open milk cartons in 1976 | RetroFocus. YouTube. 8 August 2019.
- 2.David Stratton, The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry, Pan MacMillan, 1990 p54
- 3.Festival de Cannes: Backlash. festival-cannes.com.
- 4.Festival de Cannes: Malpractice. festival-cannes.com.
- 5.Swift, Brendan. Aus box office: Big-budget 'Furiosa' underperforms; 'The Way, My Way' to become third local film to pass $1m. If Magazine. June 3, 2024.
- 6.Siemienowicz, Rochelle. The Way, My Way: film hits $2m at Australian and NZ box office. Screen Hub. July 2, 2024.
- 7.Palace of Fires. Penguin Books Australia.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
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