Jennifer Peedom
{{Short description|Australian director}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}}
{{Use Australian English|date=December 2015}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jennifer Peedom
| image = Jen Headshot.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Jen Peedom
| birthname = Jennifer Peedom
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Canberra
| death_date =
| nationality =
| education =
| alma mater = RMIT, Melbourne
| othername =
| occupation = Director, producer
| yearsactive = 2000–present
| spouse = Mark Rogers
| website = https://www.jenpeedom.com.au/
}}
Jennifer Peedom is an Australian filmmaker, known for her 2015 feature-length documentary film Sherpa. She is a BAFTA and EMMY nominated writer, director and producer.
Early life and education
Jennifer Peedom was born in Canberra, Australia.{{cn|date=May 2024}}
She graduated with a Bachelor of Business (Honours) from RMIT in Melbourne in 1997.{{cite web | title=CV | website=Jennifer Peedom | url=http://www.jenpeedom.com.au/page-cv | access-date=6 May 2024}}
Career
Her documentary Solo (co-directed with David Michôd) won the 2009 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Documentary in Under One Hour. It also won the Film Critics Circle of Australia Award and the Australian Directors' Guild award, as well as six major awards at international film festivals.
In 2012, Peedom lectured on documentary film at AFTRS.
Her film Sherpa, which was filmed during the 2014 Mount Everest avalanche,{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/16/toronto-film-festival-sherpa-director-everest-documentary-jennifer-peedom|title=Sherpa director: how I tackled Everest|first=Jeremy|last=Kay|date=16 September 2015|website=The Guardian }}{{Cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2015/11/sherpa-documentary-director-jennifer-peedom-everest-1201637412/|title=‘Sherpa’ doc director Jennifer Peedom on filming through Everest tragedy & giving the sherpas a voice |first1=Joe|last1=Utichi|website=Deadline Hollywood|date=24 November 2015}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2015/11/watch-sherpa-director-jennifer-peedom-on-the-tragic-cost-of-making-a-movie-on-mt-everest-exclusive-54407/|title=Watch: ‘Sherpa’ Director Jennifer Peedom on the Tragic Cost of Making a Movie on Mt. Everest (Exclusive)|first1=Karen|last1=Brill|website=Indiewire.com|date=11 November 2015}} won the 2015 Grierson Award for Best Documentary at the BFI London Film Festival.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/news/59th-bfi-london-film-festival-award-winners|title=59th BFI London Film Festival award winners|website=British Film Institute}} It premiered internationally at the Telluride Film Festival{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/07/movies/sherpa-and-winter-on-fire-display-good-timing-at-telluride-film-festival.html|title=‘Sherpa’ and ‘Winter on Fire’ Display Good Timing at Telluride Film Festival|website=Nytimes.com|access-date=2018-11-15|language=en}} and also screened at Toronto Film Festival{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/16/toronto-film-festival-sherpa-director-everest-documentary-jennifer-peedom|title=Sherpa director: how I tackled Everest|last=Kay|first=Jeremy|date=2015-09-16|newspaper=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-11-15}} and received a BAFTA nomination in 2016 for Best Documentary.{{Cite web|url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/2016/film/documentary|title=2016 Film Documentary | BAFTA Awards|website=BAFTA Awards |accessdate=2019-07-24}}{{Cite web |url=http://blogs.indiewire.com/womenandhollywood/tiff-2015-women-directors-meet-jennifer-peedom-sherpa-20150914 |title=TIFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Jennifer Peedom - 'Sherpa'| first =Laura |last =Nicholson |series =Women and Hollywood |date=14 September 2015 |access-date=7 December 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151209111931/http://blogs.indiewire.com/womenandhollywood/tiff-2015-women-directors-meet-jennifer-peedom-sherpa-20150914 |archive-date=9 December 2015 |url-status=dead }}
In 2017 she directed Mountain, a collaboration the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) with script by Robert Macfarlane,{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jun/13/mountain-a-sublime-rush-of-adrenaline-and-orchestral-beauty-from-the-director-of-sherpa|title=Mountain review: a sublime rush of adrenaline and orchestral beauty from the director of Sherpa|first=Janine|last=Israel|date=13 June 2017|website= The Guardian }} narrated by Willem Dafoe.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/10/movies/mountain-review.html?referrer=google_kp|title=Review: ‘Mountain’ Features Frightening Sights and Breathtaking Image|website=Nytimes.coms|access-date=2018-11-15|language=en}} It screened theatrically in 27 countries and went on to become the highest grossing non-IMAX Australian documentary of all time{{cite web | last=Jefferson | first=Dee | title=River: Australian documentary narrated by Willem Dafoe highlights the importance and precarity of rivers worldwide | website=ABC News |publisher =Australian Broadcasting Corporation | date=24 March 2022 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-24/river-documentary-willem-dafoe-jennifer-peedom/100932194 | access-date=23 March 2022}}
({{as of |lc= yes|2022|3|3}}, third). {{Cite web|url=https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/fact-finders/cinema/australian-films/theatrical-documentaries/top-documentaries|title=All-time top 10 Australian documentaries at the box office, ranked by total reported gross Australian box office |website=Screen Australia |access-date=24 March 2022 }} It won three AACTA Awards in 2018.{{Cite web|url=https://www.aacta.org/aacta-awards/winners-and-nominees/|title=Winners & Nominees|website=AACTA |language=en-AU|access-date=2019-07-24}}
In 2021 Peedom co-directed, with Joseph Nizeti, River, a documentary about rivers with a similar scope and format as Mountain. The film is also written by Macfarlane, narrated by Dafoe, and accompanied by a soundtrack by the ACO.
She’s currently in development on a dramatic feature about Tenzing Norgay (Everest first ascent) with Academy Award nominated screenwriter Luke Davies (Lion, Beautiful Boy).
Awards and recognition
In 2004, Peedom was named NSW Young Telstra Business Woman of the Year.
She was the winner of the inaugural David and Joan Williams Documentary Fellowship in 2011.
Stranger Than Fiction
Peedom is co-founder, with producer Jo-Anne McGowan, of film production company Stranger Than Fiction. Producer Blayke Hoffman is also with the company {{as of|lc=yes|2024}}, which is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The company has produced most of Peedom's films.{{cite web | title=Home | website=Stranger Than Fiction | url=https://www.strangerthanfictionfilms.com.au/ | access-date=6 May 2024}}
Personal life
{{as of|2022}} Peedom is married to stills photographer Mark Rogers, and they have two children.{{Cite web |last=Junker |first=Ute |date=2022-03-25 |title='We were like magnets': The friends who bridged a 20-year age gap to fall in love |url=https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/we-were-like-magnets-the-two-friends-who-bridged-a-20-year-age-gap-to-fall-in-love-20220218-p59xm9.html |access-date=2022-04-30 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Jennifer Peedom}}
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Category:21st-century Australian screenwriters
Category:21st-century Australian women writers
Category:Australian documentary film directors
Category:Australian documentary film producers
Category:Australian women documentary filmmakers
Category:Australian women film directors
Category:Australian women film producers
Category:Australian women screenwriters
Category:People educated at Trinity College (University of Melbourne)
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Writers from Canberra
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