Warwick Thornton (b. 1970) is a Kaytetye man, writer, director and cinematographer. Born and raised in Mpwarnte (Alice Springs), he studied cinematography at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, graduating in 1997. His subsequent short films screened at prestigious film festivals and won awards internationally. His first feature film, Samson and Delilah (2009), won many accolades including the Caméra d'Or at Cannes and six Australian Film Institute awards including Best Director and Best Screenplay. As cinematographer, Thornton's credits include the television documentaries First Australians (2008) and Art and Soul (2010), and the feature films Radiance (1998) and The Sapphires (2012). As a director his credits include Sweet Country (2017) and the second series of Mystery Road (2020).
Susan Stitt ACS was the stills photographer and art director for The Beach (2020), a six-part slow TV series in which Thornton documented the months he spent living in a shack at Jilirr on the Dampier Peninsula in far north Western Australia. 'This photograph was taken inside a scene for the project,' Stitt says, 'when he arrives at the beach, walks into ancestral waters, weary and "city screwed-up", and finds his balance.'
Gift of the artist 2022
© Susan Stitt ACS
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