Robert Sarkies

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| name = Robert Sarkies

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|Image = Member of the Jury Robert Sarkies of New Zealand addressing at the closing ceremony of IFFI 2007 on December 03, 2007 at Panaji, Goa.jpg

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| caption = Sarkies (left) at IFFI 2007

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| birth_place = Dunedin, New Zealand

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| occupation = Film director, screenwriter

| years_active = 1996–present

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Robert Sarkies is a New Zealand film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his 2006 drama film Out of the Blue and the 2014 TV movie Consent: The Louise Nicholas Story.

Early life and education

Robert Sarkies grew up in the South Island city of Dunedin. He attended Kaikorai Valley College,{{cite news |title=Former police boss keen to track down KVC alumni |url=http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/247521/former-police-boss-keen-track-down-kvc-alumni |accessdate=8 August 2015 |work=Otago Daily Times |date=28 February 2013}} and the University of Otago.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

Career

Sarkies began making short films as a teenager with fellow filmmaker Simon Perkins and Lindsay Chalmers. After winning an international award for his short Dream-makers, Sarkies began work on his most ambitious short to date: adventure comedy Signing Off (1996), which won four international awards and helped attract funding for Scarfies (1999), his feature debut. Signing Off was produced by film and television producer Lisa Chatfield.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

Sarkies co-wrote the Scarfies script with his younger brother, playwright and performer Duncan, and producer Lisa Chatfield. Winner of seven awards including Best Picture and Best Director at the NZ Film Awards,{{cn|date=January 2025}} and a local hit, the film is part comedy, part thriller, and partly a celebration of being a university student in Dunedin. Scarfies was later released on video in the United States under the title Crime 101.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

Sarkies followed Scarfies in 2006 with the drama film Out of the Blue, produced by New Zealand producer Tim White.{{cite web | title=Tim White | website=Big Screen Symposium | date=17 October 2018 | url=https://bigscreensymposium.com/teams/tim-white/ | access-date=9 January 2025}} The film was based on the 1990 Aramoana Massacre, in which a gunman killed thirteen people in a seaside town close to Dunedin. The film emphasizes realism over melodrama, partly through handheld camerawork and a naturalistic acting style. Some of those living in Aramoana expressed opposition to the film being made; others who lost people in the tragedy agreed to do interviews with scriptwriters Sarkies and Graeme Tetley.[http://nzfilm.co.nz/FilmCatalogue/Films/OUT-OF-THE-BLUE.aspx Out of the Blue Presskit NZ Film Commission website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071112120503/http://www.nzfilm.co.nz/FilmCatalogue/Films/OUT-OF-THE-BLUE.aspx |date=2007-11-12 }} Accessed February 6, 2008 In New Zealand, Out of the Blue became the tenth most successful local film yet released theatrically (not accounting for inflation). It also won six Qantas Film and Television Awards in September 2008, including "Best Picture - budget over $1 million".{{cite web|url=http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/22336/039out-blue039-scoops-nz-awards | title='Out of the Blue' scoops NZ awards | last= Benson | first=Nigel | date=15 September 2008 | work = Otago Daily Times | publisher = Allied Press| accessdate=2008-09-15}}{{cite web|url=http://www.qantasfilmandtvawards.co.nz/index.asp?PageID=2145866164|title=2008 Awards Winners|date=13 September 2008|publisher=Qantas Film and Television Awards|accessdate=2008-09-15|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081014025613/http://www.qantasfilmandtvawards.co.nz/index.asp?PageID=2145866164|archivedate=14 October 2008}}

Sarkies' third feature was 2012 black comedy Two Little Boys, starring Bret McKenzie and Australian actor and comedian Hamish Blake. The film is based on a book by Duncan Sarkies, about two sometime friends trying to hide the body of a tourist whom one of them has accidentally killed.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

In 2010, dystopian TV series This Is Not My Life debuted on New Zealand television.{{cn|date=January 2025}} The series centres around a man (played by Charles Mesure) who wakes up with no knowledge of the woman he appears to be married to, his children or job. Directed by Sarkies and Peter Salmon, it won a 2011 New Zealand television award for best drama series.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

Sarkies first telemovie, Consent: The Louise Nicholas Story, which he also co-wrote, was again produced by Tim White. The award-winning film, which went to air in 2014, is based on the true story of Louise Nicholas, who was raped by a group of police officers as a teenager and took them to court as an adult, securing convictions.{{cite web | title=The Louise Nicholas Story | website=NZ On Screen | date=10 August 2014 | url=https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/consent-the-louise-nicholas-story-2014 | access-date=9 January 2025}}

In 2016 Sarkies directed another TV movie, Jean, and {{as of|January 2025|lc=yes}} his film Pike River is in production.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

=Unproduced scripts=

Before making Out of the Blue, the Sarkies brothers collaborated on the script for a proposed fantasy film called The Magnificent Magic Fingers. The budget for Magic Fingers was estimated to be at least NZ$20 million.{{when|date=January 2025}}{{cn|date=January 2025}}