AustLit logo
image of person or book cover 7504410022025846491.jpg
This image has been sourced from http://samsonanddelilah.com.au/. Photographer: Mark Rogers
Warwick Thornton Warwick Thornton i(A94854 works by)
Born: Established: 1970 Alice Springs, Southern Northern Territory, Northern Territory, ;
Gender: Male
Heritage: Aboriginal ; Aboriginal Katej
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

BiographyHistory

Warwick Thornton is from the Katej people of Central Australia and grew up in Alice Springs. He began his career as a cinematographer in 1988 where he trained at the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association in Alice Springs. In 1994 Warwick moved to Sydney where he undertook a Bachelor of Arts specialising in Cinematography at the Australian Film Television and Radio School.

Other Works:

2014 Words with Gods, (segment True Gods) first released at the 2014 Venice Film Festival.

2017 documentary We Don't Need a Map opened the 2017 Sydney Film Festival 7 June 2017

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • Warwick Thornton won the 2009 AFI Award for Best Direction for Samson and Delilah.

Awards for Works

form y separately published work icon The New Boy ( dir. Warwick Thornton ) Australia : Dirty Films Scarlett Pictures De Maio Entertainment , 2023 25529502 2023 single work film/TV

'In an exhilarating start to the film, a brave Aboriginal boy (Reid) is engaged in a battle with police, fighting with all his might. Eventually subdued, he is sent off to a remote monastery – and home to orphaned boys – run by Sister Eileen (Blanchett). The kindly nun has a calming effect on the new boy, and he also forms connections with Sister Mum (Mailman) and George (Blair) who manages the farmlands. An attempt at bullying the new boy falls flat, and he soon becomes an established, unique presence at the monastery. But he possesses unusual powers, and as Sister Eileen’s religious zeal intensifies, things begin to unravel. '

Source: Sydney Film Festival. 

2023 nominated Film Critics Circle of Australia Best Director
2023 nominated Film Critics Circle of Australia Best Screenplay - Original or Adapted
2023 nominated Film Critics Circle of Australia Best Film
2024 shortlisted AWGIE Awards Film Award Feature Film (Original)
2023 nominated Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards Best Screenplay
2024 nominated Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards Best Direction in Film
2024 nominated Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards Best Film
form y separately published work icon We Don't Need a Map ( dir. Warwick Thornton ) Australia : Barefoot Communications , 2017 11387281 2017 single work film/TV

'We Don’t Need a Map is a feature length documentary about Australia’s complex relationship to the Southern Cross. It is the most famous constellation in the southern hemisphere and ever since colonisation it’s been claimed, appropriated and hotly-contested for ownership by a radical range of Australian groups. But for Aboriginal people the meaning of this heavenly body is deeply spiritual, and just about completely unknown. Warwick Thornton, one of Australia’s leading film-makers, tackles this fiery subject head on in a bold, provocative and poetic essay-film. Produced by Barefoot Films.' (Production summary)

2017 nominated Film Critics Circle of Australia Best Feature Documentary
2018 winner New South Wales Premier's History Prize New South Wales History Prize Digital History Prize
form y separately published work icon Samson and Delilah ( dir. Warwick Thornton ) Scarlett Pictures CAAMA Productions , 2009 Z1561915 2009 single work film/TV (taught in 9 units)

'Samson and Delilah tells the story of two Aboriginal teenagers in a remote community. They live in a sparse environment but one that absorbs all manner of cultural influences, where dot painting and country music exist side by side. Samson gets through his days by sniffing, while Delilah is the caregiver for her nana before taking a moment for herself to listen to Latino music. Their journey ranges across many of the most urgent issues concerning Indigenous people in Australia, homelessness, poverty, domestic violence and substance abuse, but it does so with tenderness, dignity, and even humour.'

Source: Adelaide Film Festival website, www.adelaidefilmfestival.org/ Sighted: 23/02/2009

2009 winner AWGIE Awards CAL Peer Recognition Prize
2009 winner Asia Pacific Screen Awards Best Feature Film
2010 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting
2009 commended AFCA Film Awards Best Film
2009 winner Australian Film Institute Awards Best Original Screenplay
2009 winner Australian Film Institute Awards Best Film
2009 winner Deadly Sounds Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music, Sport, Entertainment and Community Awards Excellence in Film & Theatrical Score
2009 nomination Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film Australia's official entry.
2009 winner Inside Film Awards Best Script
2009 winner Inside Film Awards Best Feature Film
2009 winner AWGIE Awards Major Award
2009 winner Australian Centre Literary Awards The Kate Challis RAKA Award
2009 winner AWGIE Awards Film Award Feature Film Original
2009 winner Festival de Cannes Camera d'or
Last amended 12 Feb 2020 11:34:04
Other mentions of "" in AustLit:
    X