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Robert Connolly is a Director, Scriptwriter, Producer, Second Unit Director and Creator Australien born on 27 november 1967 at Sydney (Australie)

Robert Connolly

Robert Connolly
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Nationality Australie
Birth 27 november 1967 (56 years) at Sydney (Australie)

Robert Connolly (born 1967) is a politically conscious film director, producer and screenwriter based in Melbourne, Australia.

Connolly is best known as the director and writer of the feature films Balibo, Three Dollars and The Bank, and the producer of the high-profile Australian films Romulus My Father and The Boys.

Connolly's first feature film as producer, The Boys, had its world premiere In Competition at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1998. It was nominated for 13 AFI Awards including Best Film, and won awards for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress. In 1998, Connolly was named by Variety as one of the 10 best emerging producers in the world.

Three Dollars, The Bank and The Boys have a strong political agenda and have been released in Australia as a DVD box set along with the documentary The Political Arena exploring the social and political strands of the films.

In 2007 Connolly and Arenafilm's John Maynard together produced period immigration drama Romulus My Father, directed by Richard Roxburgh (also an Australian actor), starring Eric Bana and Franka Potente. The film won four Australian Film Institute Awards (AFI) including Best Film, and Connolly has also garnered AFI Awards for writing The Bank and Three Dollars.

In 2008, Connolly published a white paper outlining all that could be improved about the Australian film industry.

In 2009, Connolly directed Balibo, which examines the politically fraught deaths of Australian based journalists the Balibo Five and Roger East during the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975, which he co-wrote with David Williamson. John 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 apologize 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. "It's quite clear the journalists were murdered," Connolly said. "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."

Connolly is Melbourne based, having relocated to set up the Arenafilm Melbourne office in late 2006. He 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."

Connolly has screened his films at over 30 international film festivals including the Toronto International Film Festival and San Sebastian Film Festival. He received a Centenary Medal for services to the Australian Film Industry in 2001.

Connolly has been appointed to the new board of Screen Australia.

Usually with

Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Robert Connolly (13 films)

Display filmography as list

Director

Paper Planes, 1h36
Directed by Robert Connolly
Origin Australie
Genres Drama, Comedy
Themes Children's films
Actors Sam Worthington, Anthony LaPaglia, Deborah Mailman, Ed Oxenbould, Terry Norris, Peter Rowsthorn
Rating61% 3.098353.098353.098353.098353.09835
A young boy from Australia named Dylan (Ed Oxenbould) has a passion for flight and ends up competing in the World Paper Plane Championships in Japan. He faces distraction and hostility from a school bully, as well as his father (Sam Worthington), still grieving over the death of his mother in an automobile accident, and his chief rival, the spoiled win-at-all-cost (Terry Norris), a kite-hawk he feeds on his way to school and later a Japanese paper plane champion Kimi (Ena Imai).
Underground: The Julian Assange Story, 1h29
Directed by Robert Connolly
Origin Australie
Genres Drama, Biography
Actors Rachel Griffiths, Callan McAuliffe, Anthony LaPaglia, Alex Williams, Benedict Samuel, Jordan Raskopoulos
Rating65% 3.2953353.2953353.2953353.2953353.295335
In 1989, known as ‘Mendax’, Assange and two friends formed a group called the ‘International Subversives’. Using early home computers and defining themselves as ‘white hat hackers’ - those who look but don’t steal – they broke into some of the world’s most powerful and secretive organisations. They were young, brilliant, and in the eyes of the US Government, a major threat to national security.
Balibo
Balibo (2009)
, 1h51
Directed by Robert Connolly
Genres Drama, Thriller
Themes Films about writers, Films about journalists, Seafaring films, Transport films
Actors Anthony LaPaglia, Oscar Isaac, Gyton Grantley, Nathan Phillips, Tom Wright
Rating69% 3.495053.495053.495053.495053.49505
The story is seen through the eyes of veteran journalist Roger East. Introduced as a once-fearless foreign correspondent now working in PR in Darwin, East is drawn to East Timor by José Ramos-Horta, of the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor; then the fledgling republic's charismatic young secretary of foreign affairs. Initially refusing to become involved, East changes his tune after Ramos-Horta shows him photos of five Australian TV reporters missing in the border town of Balibo.
Three Dollars, 1h58
Directed by Robert Connolly
Genres Drama
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films
Actors David Wenham, Sarah Winter, Frances O'Connor, Julia Blake, John Flaus, Elspeth Ballantyne
Rating61% 3.050143.050143.050143.050143.05014
The film and book tell the story of Eddie (David Wenham), a principled man with a seemingly stable and happy life. He has a wife, the academic Tanya (Frances O'Connor), a daughter, Abby (Joanna Hunt-Prokhovnik), is paying off a house and has a job as a government land assessor. Yet when the forces of economic and social change threaten this, he realises just how fragile his reality and security is. After losing his job, he checks his bank balance and realises he has only the 'three dollars' of the title to his name.
The Bank
The Bank (2001)
, 1h46
Directed by Robert Connolly
Genres Drama, Thriller
Actors David Wenham, Anthony LaPaglia, Mitchell Butel, Mandy McElhinney, Greg Stone
Rating64% 3.2452553.2452553.2452553.2452553.245255
Jim Doyle (David Wenham) is a maverick mathematician who has devised a formula to predict the fluctuations of the stock market. When he joins O'Reilly's fold, he must first prove his loyalty to the "greed is good" ethos.

Scriptwriter

Paper Planes, 1h36
Directed by Robert Connolly
Origin Australie
Genres Drama, Comedy
Themes Children's films
Actors Sam Worthington, Anthony LaPaglia, Deborah Mailman, Ed Oxenbould, Terry Norris, Peter Rowsthorn
Rating61% 3.098353.098353.098353.098353.09835
A young boy from Australia named Dylan (Ed Oxenbould) has a passion for flight and ends up competing in the World Paper Plane Championships in Japan. He faces distraction and hostility from a school bully, as well as his father (Sam Worthington), still grieving over the death of his mother in an automobile accident, and his chief rival, the spoiled win-at-all-cost (Terry Norris), a kite-hawk he feeds on his way to school and later a Japanese paper plane champion Kimi (Ena Imai).
Underground: The Julian Assange Story, 1h29
Directed by Robert Connolly
Origin Australie
Genres Drama, Biography
Actors Rachel Griffiths, Callan McAuliffe, Anthony LaPaglia, Alex Williams, Benedict Samuel, Jordan Raskopoulos
Roles Writer
Rating65% 3.2953353.2953353.2953353.2953353.295335
In 1989, known as ‘Mendax’, Assange and two friends formed a group called the ‘International Subversives’. Using early home computers and defining themselves as ‘white hat hackers’ - those who look but don’t steal – they broke into some of the world’s most powerful and secretive organisations. They were young, brilliant, and in the eyes of the US Government, a major threat to national security.
Balibo
Balibo (2009)
, 1h51
Directed by Robert Connolly
Genres Drama, Thriller
Themes Films about writers, Films about journalists, Seafaring films, Transport films
Actors Anthony LaPaglia, Oscar Isaac, Gyton Grantley, Nathan Phillips, Tom Wright
Roles Writer
Rating69% 3.495053.495053.495053.495053.49505
The story is seen through the eyes of veteran journalist Roger East. Introduced as a once-fearless foreign correspondent now working in PR in Darwin, East is drawn to East Timor by José Ramos-Horta, of the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor; then the fledgling republic's charismatic young secretary of foreign affairs. Initially refusing to become involved, East changes his tune after Ramos-Horta shows him photos of five Australian TV reporters missing in the border town of Balibo.
Three Dollars, 1h58
Directed by Robert Connolly
Genres Drama
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films
Actors David Wenham, Sarah Winter, Frances O'Connor, Julia Blake, John Flaus, Elspeth Ballantyne
Rating61% 3.050143.050143.050143.050143.05014
The film and book tell the story of Eddie (David Wenham), a principled man with a seemingly stable and happy life. He has a wife, the academic Tanya (Frances O'Connor), a daughter, Abby (Joanna Hunt-Prokhovnik), is paying off a house and has a job as a government land assessor. Yet when the forces of economic and social change threaten this, he realises just how fragile his reality and security is. After losing his job, he checks his bank balance and realises he has only the 'three dollars' of the title to his name.
The Bank
The Bank (2001)
, 1h46
Directed by Robert Connolly
Genres Drama, Thriller
Actors David Wenham, Anthony LaPaglia, Mitchell Butel, Mandy McElhinney, Greg Stone
Roles Writer
Rating64% 3.2452553.2452553.2452553.2452553.245255
Jim Doyle (David Wenham) is a maverick mathematician who has devised a formula to predict the fluctuations of the stock market. When he joins O'Reilly's fold, he must first prove his loyalty to the "greed is good" ethos.

Producer

Paper Planes, 1h36
Directed by Robert Connolly
Origin Australie
Genres Drama, Comedy
Themes Children's films
Actors Sam Worthington, Anthony LaPaglia, Deborah Mailman, Ed Oxenbould, Terry Norris, Peter Rowsthorn
Roles Producer
Rating61% 3.098353.098353.098353.098353.09835
A young boy from Australia named Dylan (Ed Oxenbould) has a passion for flight and ends up competing in the World Paper Plane Championships in Japan. He faces distraction and hostility from a school bully, as well as his father (Sam Worthington), still grieving over the death of his mother in an automobile accident, and his chief rival, the spoiled win-at-all-cost (Terry Norris), a kite-hawk he feeds on his way to school and later a Japanese paper plane champion Kimi (Ena Imai).
These Final Hours, 1h27
Directed by Zak Hilditch
Origin Australie
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Thriller, Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction
Themes La fin du monde, Seafaring films, Transport films, Films set in the future, Impact events in fiction, Disaster films
Actors Jessica De Gouw, Nathan Phillips, Angourie Rice, Sarah Snook, Daniel Henshall, David Field
Roles Executive Producer
Rating65% 3.2981253.2981253.2981253.2981253.298125
The film takes place in Perth, and begins ten minutes after a meteor has collided with earth in the North Atlantic, leaving approximately twelve hours until the subsequent global firestorm reaches Western Australia. James and his lover, Zoe, are having sex for the last time at her beach house, where she reveals that she's pregnant with James' child. Not wanting to feel his inevitable death, James disregards Zoe's news and leaves for "the party to end all parties". After having his car stolen, he comes across two men who have kidnapped a young girl and are planning to rape her. James kills them, and rescues the girl. The girl, named Rose, explains that she was separated from her father in Malaga en route to her aunt's house in Roleystone. Not wanting to waste petrol, James instead plans to leave her with his sister and her children. But upon arriving, he finds his sister and her husband dead in the shower, and three crosses marking what appears to be his nieces' graves, in what is an apparent murder suicide.
Romulus, My Father, 1h44
Directed by Richard Roxburgh
Genres Drama, Biography
Themes Medical-themed films, Seafaring films, Films about suicide, Transport films, Films about psychiatry
Actors Eric Bana, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Franka Potente, Marton Csokas, Jacek Koman, Russell Dykstra
Roles Producer
Rating65% 3.296743.296743.296743.296743.29674
It tells the story of Romulus Gaiţă, a Romanian immigrant to Australia after World War II and his struggle in the face of great adversity to bring up his son, Raimond. As close family members die around him Raimond has to deal with the deterioration of his father's mental health. It is a story of impossible love that ultimately celebrates the unbreakable bond between father and son.