“I am sad to report the death of the director.” Rachel Ward, June 8, 2019, Sydney Morning Herald
Rachel Ward is a highly celebrated actor (35 credits and 3 nominations), writer (4 credits), and director (4 credits). Her directorial feature debut, Beautiful Kate, premiered at the 56th Sydney Film Festival and was nominated for 10 AFI awards, including Best Director. Ten years on, her second feature Palm Beach opened the 66th Sydney Film Festival on the weekend to rave reviews.
Interviewed by veteran film aficionado David Stratton yesterday at the Ian McPherson Memorial Lecture, she expanded on her SMH Op-Ed where she bemoaned the increasing obsolescence of the once iconic director, and the corresponding loss of authorship and creativity: “Disappearing with the diminishing voice and vision of a director is the variety of signature. ….We’ve lost the brilliant and terrible in equal measure.”
Hear Rachel talk about the challenges of film making in “the golden age of television” and her