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Vincent Ward is a Actor, Director, Scriptwriter and Producer Néo-Zélandais born on 16 february 1956 at Greytown, New Zealand (Nouvelle zelande)

Vincent Ward

Vincent Ward
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Nationality Nouvelle zelande
Birth 16 february 1956 (68 years) at Greytown, New Zealand (Nouvelle zelande)

Vincent Ward, ONZM (born 16 February 1956) is a film director, screenwriter and artist.

Biography

Vincent Ward was awarded an Order of New Zealand Merit in 2007 for his contribution to film making. He works as a film maker and artist and is best known for his strongly visual and performance driven feature films. Born in Greytown, New Zealand and educated at St Patrick's College, Silverstream he trained at Ilam School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury. While still at art school he began writing and directing films. In 1978-81, he made the documentary In Spring One Plants Alone, which won the 1982 Grand Prix at Cinema du Reel (Paris), and a Silver Hugo at the Chicago Film Festival. In Spring One Plants Alone provides the starting-point for his later feature Rain of the Children (2008). His debut feature was Vigil (1984).

Ward’s films have earned critical acclaim and festival attention whilst reaching an international audience. Vigil, The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988) and Map of the Human Heart (1993) were the first films by a New Zealander to be officially selected for the Cannes Film Festival. Between them they garnered close to 30 national and international awards (including the Grand Prix at festivals in Italy, Spain, Germany, France and the United States).

The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey won major awards at both the Australian and New Zealand film industry awards. What Dreams May Come, starring Robin Williams, was nominated for two Academy Awards (best production design and best visual effects) and won the Oscar for best visual effects in 1999. It grossed more than US 200 million (all territories).

While in the United States, Ward wrote the story for Alien 3. He also developed the material that was the basis of The Last Samurai, selecting its director, and acting as executive producer on that project before writing and directing River Queen starring Kiefer Sutherland and Samantha Morton.

Voted by the audience from 250 feature films Rain of the Children won the Grand Prix at Era New Horizons Film Festival. The film was nominated for best director and won best composer at the Qantas Film and TV Awards in New Zealand. Vincent Ward was also nominated for best director at the Australian Directors Guild Awards for Rain of the Children.

In 2010 he published Vincent Ward: The Past Awaits, part mid career chronicle and part large format film photo book.

Ward is actively developing new feature film projects whilst also focusing on public gallery art projects. In an 8 month period he had three solo exhibitions of large-scale painting, print, photographic and cinematic installation work. In 2011 he presented Breath an exhibition of paintings, photographs and cinematic installations at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth. This was followed by the 2012 Auckland twin solo exhibitions Inhale and Exhale at the Gus Fisher Gallery and TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre respectively.
He launched a third book, Inhale | Exhale, to coincide with his twin Auckland shows ( Ron Sang Publishing). His art work is featured throughout its 180 large format pages.
Ward has been invited to the 9th Shanghai Biennale 2012. He will be New Zealand’s first entrant to the Biennale with one of the very few solo pavilion shows, Auckland: destinies lost and found will be held in an historic former church on the Bund.

Best films

The Last Samurai (2003)
(Executive Producer)
Alien³ (1992)
(Story)
What Dreams May Come (1998)
(Director)

Usually with

Mike Figgis
Mike Figgis
(2 films)
Geoff Murphy
Geoff Murphy
(1 films)
Rena Owen
Rena Owen
(1 films)
Eduardo Serra
Eduardo Serra
(2 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Vincent Ward (13 films)

Display filmography as list

Actor

Confessions of a Thug, 1h45
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Musical
Themes Musical films
Actors Raymond Forchion, The Lady of Rage, Vinicius Machado, John Martino, Vincent Ward
Roles Mr. Redd Dog
Rating62% 3.1285353.1285353.1285353.1285353.128535
The film is the story of South Boy (Daron Fordham). He learns about the criminal underworld from his mentor a retired mob boss (John Martino), who is also the closest thing to a father figure he has known. Determined to find the family he never knew and become a feared and respected gang-lord, he must deal with snitches, government agents and scheming associates through his drug deals, relationships, and life in general. South Boy gets pulled in deep in this inner city exploitation on urban gangs and he is on a journey to reclaim what is rightfully his and to also set everything right.
Spooked
Spooked (2004)
, 1h34
Directed by Geoff Murphy
Genres Drama, Thriller
Actors Cliff Curtis, Ian Mune, Peter Elliott, Miriama Smith, John Leigh, Mark Ferguson
Rating51% 2.58352.58352.58352.58352.5835
Investigative journalist Mort Whitman (Cliff Curtis) is onto the story of his lifetime, the most important story in the nation. It was huge involving a big pay-off from a multinational bank to a second-hand computer dealer Kevin Jones (Christopher Hobbs). Tracing the days leading up to Kevin's suspicious death, Mort reveals Kevin's increasing paranoia and erratic behaviour through the eyes of his best mate Jimmy Blick (John Leigh) and girlfriend Ruby Elder (Miriama Smith). What dangerous secrets had he stumbled upon? Did the forces - private security, police, SIS or CIA - that increasingly menaced his life, kill him? Or did he simply drink too much and crash his car? Mort is determined to get to the bottom of it, if it kills him.
One Night Stand, 1h42
Directed by Mike Figgis
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Erotic, Romance
Themes Medical-themed films, Films about sexuality, HIV/AIDS in film
Actors Wesley Snipes, Nastassja Kinski, Kyle MacLachlan, Ming-Na Wen, Robert Downey Jr., Marcus T. Paulk
Roles Nathan
Rating58% 2.948382.948382.948382.948382.94838
The film is narrated by Max Carlyle (Wesley Snipes). Max lives in Los Angeles, where he has a successful career directing television commercials and is happily married to Mimi (Ming-Na), with whom he has two children. While visiting New York City, Max meets Karen (Nastassja Kinski) by chance after missing a flight; circumstances keep bringing them together over the course of the evening, and they end up spending the night together. When he returns home, Max seems distant and unhappy, though Mimi can't tell why and Max won't say. A year later, Max and Mimi fly to New York to visit his close friend Charlie (Robert Downey, Jr.), who is near death from AIDS. Max meets Charlie's brother Vernon (Kyle MacLachlan) and is introduced to his new wife—Karen. Facing Karen sends Max into an emotional tailspin, and he realizes that he must tell Mimi the truth about his indiscretion.
Leaving Las Vegas, 1h51
Directed by Mike Figgis
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Romance
Themes Films about alcoholism, Films about films, Medical-themed films, Films about drugs, Films about sexuality, Films about suicide, Erotic films, Films about prostitution, Mise en scène d'un scénariste, Erotic thriller films
Actors Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue, Julian Sands, Valeria Golino, Richard Lewis, Steven Weber
Roles Businessman 1
Rating74% 3.7489053.7489053.7489053.7489053.748905
Ben Sanderson (Cage) is a Hollywood screenwriter whose alcoholism costs him his job, family, and friends. With nothing left to live for, he moves to Las Vegas to drink himself to death. As he drives drunkenly down the Las Vegas Strip, he nearly hits a woman, Sera (Shue), on the crosswalk. Sera chastises him and walks away. Sera is a prostitute working for an abusive pimp, Yuri Butso (Julian Sands), a Latvian immigrant. Polish mobsters are after Yuri, so he breaks his relationship with Sera in fear that the Poles may hurt her. Yuri is murdered (off-screen) shortly afterwards.

Director

River Queen, 1h54
Directed by Vincent Ward
Genres Drama, War, Adventure
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films, Political films
Actors Samantha Morton, Kiefer Sutherland, Cliff Curtis, Temuera Morrison, Anton Lesser, Danielle Cormack
Rating59% 2.950572.950572.950572.950572.95057
The film takes place in New Zealand in 1868 during Titokowaru's War between the Māori and New Zealand colonial forces. Sarah O'Brien (Samantha Morton) has grown up among soldiers in a frontier garrison on Te Awa Nui, the Great River. Pregnant at 16 by a young Maori boy, she gives birth to a son. When, 7 years later, her son, Boy, is kidnapped by his Maori grandfather, Sarah is distraught.
What Dreams May Come, 1h53
Directed by Vincent Ward
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Fantastic, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Romance
Themes Films about religion, Films about suicide
Actors Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding Jr., Annabella Sciorra, Max von Sydow, Rosalind Chao, Lucinda Jenney
Rating70% 3.501753.501753.501753.501753.50175
While vacationing in Switzerland, pediatrician Chris Nielsen (Robin Williams) meets artist Annie Collins (Annabella Sciorra). They are attracted to each other, and bond as if they had known each other for a long time. They marry and have two children, Ian (Josh Paddock) and Marie (Jessica Brooks Grant). Their idyllic life ends when the children die in a car crash. Life becomes difficult: Annie suffers a mental breakdown and the couple contemplates divorce, but they manage through their losses.
Map of the Human Heart, 1h49
Directed by Vincent Ward
Origin Australie
Genres Drama, War, Adventure, Romance
Themes Transport films, Aviation films, Political films
Actors Jason Scott Lee, Anne Parillaud, Clotilde Courau, Patrick Bergin, John Cusack, Jeanne Moreau
Rating69% 3.495423.495423.495423.495423.49542
In the opening moments of the movie, set in 1931 in the Arctic-Canadian settlement Nunataaq, Avik (portrayed initially by Robert Joamie) lives under the watchful eye of his grandmother (Jayko Pitseolak). While tagging along after British cartographer Walter Russell (Patrick Bergin), Avik falls prey to the "white man's disease,"—tuberculosis; to assuage his own guilt, Russell takes the boy to a Montreal clinic to recover. There, Avik meets Albertine, a mixed-blood Indian girl, and the two fall in love, but their relationship is quickly broken up by the Mother Superior who is in charge of the clinic. Years later, Avik again meets Russell, who this time is on a mission to recover the German U-boat lying wrecked off the coast of Nunataaq. Avik asks for Russell's help in learning the whereabouts of Albertine, and he gives the cartographer a chest X-ray of the girl which he has carried with him since their separation. More time elapses, and Avik (now played by Jason Scott Lee) has become a British bombardier fighting in World War II. He is sought out by Albertine (Anne Parillaud), who has become Russell's mistress. Still, she begins an affair with Avik; Russell soon finds out, and as revenge sends Avik and his crew on a suicide mission of which Avik is the lone survivor. Despondent over his war experiences, Avik flees to Canada, where he becomes an alcoholic; decades later, he is sought out by Rainee (Clotilde Courau), the daughter born from his affair with Albertine. On his way to the girl's wedding, Avik is killed in an accident; his body washes up on the beach at Nunataaq, a wedding gift still clutched in his arms.
The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey, 1h32
Directed by Vincent Ward
Origin Australie
Genres Drama, Fantasy, Action, Adventure
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films, Time travel films
Actors Chris Haywood, Marshall Napier, Paul Livingston, Jay Laga'aia
Rating65% 3.294623.294623.294623.294623.29462
During the Black Death of 14th century England, people in a remote Cumbrian mountain village listen with fear to tales of the gruesome plague that has engulfed the world. In an attempt to stave off the infection, they rely upon the visions of a boy, named Griffin, who has a reputation for having a kind of "second sight". With the backing of the village's most famous adventurer, a man named Connor, whom Griffin idolizes, a group of the townsfolk travel to a nearby cavern. Bringing good copper ore to be melted and cast into shape, they dig down into the earth, all the while racing against time and the coming of the next full moon, in an effort to place a holy cross on the steeple of "the biggest Church in all of Christendom" as an offering for God's protection.
Vigil
Vigil (1984)
, 1h26
Directed by Vincent Ward
Genres Drama
Actors Frank Whitten, Bill Kerr
Rating67% 3.3924953.3924953.3924953.3924953.392495
11 year old Toss lives on a remote farm in a valley somewhere deep in rural New Zealand with her father, mother and grandfather Birdie. When she witnesses her father’s death while out herding sheep, she is shocked to see another man present, who then carries her father’s body out of the bush. When the new man, Ethan moves onto the farm and begins a relationship with her mother, Toss sees him as an invader into her isolated world.

Scriptwriter

River Queen, 1h54
Directed by Vincent Ward
Genres Drama, War, Adventure
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films, Political films
Actors Samantha Morton, Kiefer Sutherland, Cliff Curtis, Temuera Morrison, Anton Lesser, Danielle Cormack
Roles Writer
Rating59% 2.950572.950572.950572.950572.95057
The film takes place in New Zealand in 1868 during Titokowaru's War between the Māori and New Zealand colonial forces. Sarah O'Brien (Samantha Morton) has grown up among soldiers in a frontier garrison on Te Awa Nui, the Great River. Pregnant at 16 by a young Maori boy, she gives birth to a son. When, 7 years later, her son, Boy, is kidnapped by his Maori grandfather, Sarah is distraught.
Map of the Human Heart, 1h49
Directed by Vincent Ward
Origin Australie
Genres Drama, War, Adventure, Romance
Themes Transport films, Aviation films, Political films
Actors Jason Scott Lee, Anne Parillaud, Clotilde Courau, Patrick Bergin, John Cusack, Jeanne Moreau
Roles Story
Rating69% 3.495423.495423.495423.495423.49542
In the opening moments of the movie, set in 1931 in the Arctic-Canadian settlement Nunataaq, Avik (portrayed initially by Robert Joamie) lives under the watchful eye of his grandmother (Jayko Pitseolak). While tagging along after British cartographer Walter Russell (Patrick Bergin), Avik falls prey to the "white man's disease,"—tuberculosis; to assuage his own guilt, Russell takes the boy to a Montreal clinic to recover. There, Avik meets Albertine, a mixed-blood Indian girl, and the two fall in love, but their relationship is quickly broken up by the Mother Superior who is in charge of the clinic. Years later, Avik again meets Russell, who this time is on a mission to recover the German U-boat lying wrecked off the coast of Nunataaq. Avik asks for Russell's help in learning the whereabouts of Albertine, and he gives the cartographer a chest X-ray of the girl which he has carried with him since their separation. More time elapses, and Avik (now played by Jason Scott Lee) has become a British bombardier fighting in World War II. He is sought out by Albertine (Anne Parillaud), who has become Russell's mistress. Still, she begins an affair with Avik; Russell soon finds out, and as revenge sends Avik and his crew on a suicide mission of which Avik is the lone survivor. Despondent over his war experiences, Avik flees to Canada, where he becomes an alcoholic; decades later, he is sought out by Rainee (Clotilde Courau), the daughter born from his affair with Albertine. On his way to the girl's wedding, Avik is killed in an accident; his body washes up on the beach at Nunataaq, a wedding gift still clutched in his arms.