Robert Connolly

Robert Connolly (born 1967) is an Australian film director, producer, and screenwriter based in Melbourne, Victoria. He is best known as the director and writer of the feature films Balibo, Three Dollars, The Bank and The Dry and its sequel, as well as the producer of Romulus, My Father and The Boys. He is head of the film distribution company, Footprint Films, owned by Arenafilms.

Early life and education Connolly was born in 1967. His first film as director, The Bank, was produced by his former mentor and later business partner at Arenafilm John Maynard. and has been nominated for or won numerous Australian and international awards (see lists below). Balibo In 2009, Connolly directed Balibo, which he co-wrote with David Williamson. The film examines the politically fraught deaths of Australian-based journalists the Balibo Five and Roger East during the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975. Maynard produced the film, which starred Anthony LaPaglia in the lead role of East. Balibo was the first feature to be shot in East Timor.

Indonesia continues to maintain that the Balibo Five died accidentally in crossfire as its troops battled East Timorese Fretilin rebels, a version of events accepted by successive Australian governments. But the film depicts the young journalists, who were working for Australian TV networks and presumed their nationality afforded them protection, being slaughtered on the orders of Indonesian military chiefs to prevent news of the invasion reaching the world.

Connolly refuses to apologise for his film's hardline stance, stating that an Australian coroner found in 2007 that the journalists were executed as they tried to surrender to Indonesian forces. He said: "It's quite clear the journalists were murdered... The current Indonesian and Australian (Government) point of view that they were killed in crossfire is quite frankly absurd. I'd imagine the film will be confronting because it represents something contrary to the official view." He points out that the East Timorese Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that up to 183,000 East Timorese people died as a result of the conflict, when the total population was only around 600,000, while both the Australian Government under the Liberals and the opposition Labor Party were focused on oil and gas resources and regional influence.

Themes and views Connolly has been definitive about his political approach to filmmaking, saying "Without a doubt, in recent times, the political agenda of the work is what drives us. We feel a responsibility to use cinema to put a blow torch to contemporary Australia and contribute to some discussion or debate about where we're headed. That's what I find most rewarding about it."

In 2008, Connolly published a white paper outlining his views on all that could be improved about the Australian film industry, which includes a ten-step plan for reducing production costs.

Arenafilm and Footprint Films

Arenafilm was first incorporated in 1987 by film producer John Maynard and produced The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988) and Jane Campion's film s Sweetie (1989) and An Angel at My Table (1990) (with Maynard's partner Bridget Ikin). The company went on to produce The Boys (1998) and several other of Connolly's films, including Balibo. Its history is not clear, but Connolly and Maynard Maynard had earlier had a production company called Footstep Films.

In 2009, Footprint Films was the Australasian distributor for Balibo and Sarah Watt's My Year Without Sex (both made by Arenafilm), and in the same year, it expanded its operations to acquire and release third-party films. Its first two distribution-only films were Warwick Thornton's Samson and Delilah, and Kriv Stenders' Lucky Country (film). The physical work of distributing is handled by Transmission Films, headed by Richard Payten and Andrew Mackie and backed by Paramount Pictures Australia. Connolly believes that it is healthy for filmmakers to become involved in distribution.

Romulus, My Father won four Australian Film Institute Awards (AFI) including Best Film, and Connolly has also garnered AFI Awards for writing The Bank and Three Dollars.

Matthew Campora, head of screen studies at AFTRS, wrote in 2013 that Connolly was "a director who could be considered amongst the most successful contemporary filmmakers working in Australia today", and "Connolly’s films combine characteristics of the Hollywood thriller with archetypal Australian character types and narrative arcs to create a body of films that continue a particular style of filmmaking identified by [Graeme] Turner in the 1990s".

Other roles In 2008 Connolly was appointed to the inaugural board of Screen Australia. His term ended on 30 June 2011.

He also served on the boards of the New South Wales Film and Television Office (FTO, predecessor to Screen NSW) and the Australian Directors Guild, as well as the University of New South Wales Dean's Council.

Filmography Feature films

Executive producer only

Lucky Country (2008) These Final Hours (2013) The Boy Castaways (2013) Spear (2015) Chasing Asylum (2016, documentary) Guilty (2017, documentary)

Associate producer only

All Men Are Liars (1995)

Consulting producer only

New Skin (2002) West (2007)

Consultant only

Better Than Sex (2000)

Short films

Television

Awards and nominations

Footnotes