Martin Butler (director)
{{Short description|Australian film director & producer}}
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Martin Butler (born 1952) is an Australian film and television producer, director, and screenwriter. He is best known the 2015 award-winning film Tanna, and usually collaborates with filmmaker Bentley Dean and editor Tania Nehme.
Early life and education
Martin Butler was born in England in 1952.{{cite web | title=Butler, Martin, 1952- - Full record view | website=Libraries Australia Search | url=https://librariesaustralia.nla.gov.au/search/display?dbid=auth&id=36405840 | access-date=25 August 2024}}
He studied politics and economics at Oxford University, and afterwards worked for the manager of The Who. He migrated to Australia in 1981.
Career
Butler has spent much of his career as a long-form current affairs television producer. He spent six years working on ABC Television's Four Corners, where he directed and produced several episodes, and served for 10 years as supervising or associate producer on Foreign Correspondent. Moving to SBS Television, he became supervising producer for Dateline.
First Footprints is a four-part television series directed by Butler and Bentley Dean and narrated by Ernie Dingo, which premiered on 14 July 2013 on ABC Television. The series won the Walkley Documentary Award in 2013.{{cite web | title=First Footprints | website=AustLit | url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/7352266 | access-date=25 August 2024}}{{cite web | title=Walkley Winners Archive | website=The Walkley Foundation | date=8 December 2023 | url=https://www.walkleys.com/awards/walkley-winners-archive/ | access-date=25 August 2024}}
In 2009, he co-directed Contact with Bentley Dean. The film tells the story of 20 Martu people who in 1964 became the last people in the Great Sandy Desert to have come into contact with Europeans.{{cite web | last=Maddox | first=Garry | title=Contact | website=The Sydney Morning Herald | date=10 September 2009 | url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/contact-20090910-gdtpva.html | access-date=25 August 2024}} The film won many awards.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215133846/https://shop.abc.net.au/products/contact| url=https://shop.abc.net.au/products/contact|title=Contact|website=ABC Shop|archive-date=15 Dec 2014 }}
Other films, made in collaboration with Bentley Dean, include Tanna (director, producer, and writer) (2015), and A Sense of Self (director, producer) (2016).
For Tanna, he received a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at 89th Academy Awards.{{cite magazine|last1=Samuelson|first1=Kate|title=Here Are the 2017 Oscar Nominations|url=https://time.com/4635815/2017-oscars-nominations-list/|access-date=24 January 2017|magazine=Time|date=24 January 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2016/film/asia/australia-tanna-foreign-language-oscar-1201842356/ |title=Australia Selects 'Tanna' as Foreign-Language Oscar Contender |first=Patrick |last=Frater |work=Variety |date=23 August 2016 |accessdate=23 August 2016}}
Accolades
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- 2013: Winner, Walkley Documentary Award in the Walkley Awards, for First Footprints
- 2017: Winner, Walkley Documentary Award, for A Sense of Self; awarded to Liz Jackson, Martin Butler, Bentley Dean, and editor Tania Nehme{{Cite web|url=https://www.walkleys.com/award-winners/martin-butler-liz-jackson-bentley-dean-and-tania-nehme-a-sense-of-self/|title = Martin Butler, Liz Jackson, Bentley Dean and Tania Nehme}}
References
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External links
- {{IMDb name|6041597}}
{{Byron Kennedy Award}}
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Category:Australian film producers
Category:Australian film directors