Stanley Hawes
Encyclopedia
Stanley Gilbert Hawes was a British-born documentary film
producer and director who spent most of his career in Australia, though he commenced his career in England and Canada. He was born in London, England and died in Sydney, Australia. He is best known as the Producer-in-Chief (1946-1969) of the Australian Government's filmmaking body, which was named, in 1945, the Australian National Film Board, and then, in 1956, the Commonwealth Film Unit. In 1973, after he retired, it became Film Australia
.
, to take up a position as Producer-in-Chief with the Australian National Film Board, initially as a temporary assignment but made permanent within a couple of years of his arrival. Hawes is regarded as working primarily in the classical style of documentary he learnt with John Grierson
in the 1930s. As Moran writes, 'Films such as School in the Mailbox, Flight Plan and The Queen In Australia make clear his aesthetic preference for the classic documentary rather than for drama or the more evocative, poetic forms of documentary'.
He was elected a member of the board in 1952 and became a member of the British Film Academy the following year. He joined UNESCO in 1958 and chaired the National Film Theatre of Australia between 1970 and 1974. In 1971 he was appointed to chair the Film Board of Review.
and the Raymond Longford Award from the Australian Film Institute
.
Awardees:
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
producer and director who spent most of his career in Australia, though he commenced his career in England and Canada. He was born in London, England and died in Sydney, Australia. He is best known as the Producer-in-Chief (1946-1969) of the Australian Government's filmmaking body, which was named, in 1945, the Australian National Film Board, and then, in 1956, the Commonwealth Film Unit. In 1973, after he retired, it became Film Australia
Film Australia
Film Australia was a company established by the Government of Australia to produce films about Australia. Its mission was to create an audio-visual record of Australian culture, through the commissioning, distribution and management of programs that deal with matters of national interest or...
.
Career
He started work in 1922 as a committee clerk with the City of Birmingham Corporation, but started his film career in 1931, when he co-founded the Birmingham Film Society. He arrived in Australia in 1946, from the National Film Board of CanadaNational Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
, to take up a position as Producer-in-Chief with the Australian National Film Board, initially as a temporary assignment but made permanent within a couple of years of his arrival. Hawes is regarded as working primarily in the classical style of documentary he learnt with John Grierson
John Grierson
John Grierson was a pioneering Scottish documentary maker, often considered the father of British and Canadian documentary film. According to popular myth, in 1926, Grierson coined the term "documentary" to describe a non-fiction film.-Early life:Grierson was born in Deanston, near Doune, Scotland...
in the 1930s. As Moran writes, 'Films such as School in the Mailbox, Flight Plan and The Queen In Australia make clear his aesthetic preference for the classic documentary rather than for drama or the more evocative, poetic forms of documentary'.
He was elected a member of the board in 1952 and became a member of the British Film Academy the following year. He joined UNESCO in 1958 and chaired the National Film Theatre of Australia between 1970 and 1974. In 1971 he was appointed to chair the Film Board of Review.
Awards
In 1970 he was awarded an MBEMBE
MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...
and the Raymond Longford Award from the Australian Film Institute
Australian Film Institute
The Australian Film Institute was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry...
The Stanley Hawes Award
The $5,000 Film Australia Stanley Hawes Award was established in 1997 to honour Stanley Hawes as first Producer-in-Chief of the Australian National Film Board and Commonwealth Film Unit. The award recognises the significant support he gave independent filmmakers in the documentary sector and is thus awarded to a person or organisation that makes an outstanding contribution to the documentary sector in Australia. The award is announced annually at the Australian International Documentary ConferenceAustralian International Documentary Conference
The Australian International Documentary Conference was established in Adelaide in 1987, with the first conference being held in the Clare Valley, north of Adelaide. It was held biennially from 1987 , but became an annual event in 2003. It is described as being 'run by the industry for the industry'...
.
Awardees:
- 1999 John HeyerJohn HeyerJohn Whitefoord Heyer was an Australian documentary filmmaker, who is often described as the father of Australian documentary film....
- 2001 Pat Fiske
- 2003 Stewart Young
- 2004 Robin Hughes
- 2005 CAAMA (Central Australian Aboriginal Media AssociationCentral Australian Aboriginal Media AssociationThe Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association is an organisation founded in 1980 by Freda Glynn, Phillip Batty and John Macumba in order to expose Aboriginal music and culture to the rest of Australia from its Alice Springs media centre through the film-making industry, commencing broadcast...
) Productions - 2006 John Hughes
- 2007 Michael Gissing
- 2008 David BradburyDavid Bradbury (film maker)David Bradbury is an Australian film maker who began his career in 1972 as an ABC radio journalist, and has since produced 21 documentary films, including many that tackle difficult political issues and highlight the plight of the disadvantaged. Bradbury has won many international film festival...
Producer
- Today We Live: A Film of Life in Britain (1937, Associate producer)
- Here is the Land (1937)
- Timber Front (1940)
- Heroes of the Atlantic (1941)
- Women are Warriors (1942)
- Crocodile Hunters (1949)
- Darwin-Doorway to Australia (1949)
- Australia's Greatest River (1950)
- Know Your Children (1950)
- The Shearers (1950)
- Bush Policemen (1952)
- Snowy Waters (1952)
- Outback Patrol (1952)
- Across the Frontiers (1953)
- Bush Policeman (1953)
- The Queen in Australia (1954)
- Melbourne Olympic City (1956)
- Bring out a Briton (1958)
- Welcome Your Majesty (1958)
- The Queen Returns (1963)
- The Presidential Tour (1966)
- Expo 70 series (1970)
Director
- The G.B.I. Geography of Scotland: Water Power (1937)
- Here is the Land (1937)
- Man into Monkey (1938)
- Speed the Plough (1939)
- The Home Front (1940) http://www.nfb.ca/objectifdocumentaire/index.php?mode=view&filmId=18&language=english&sort=title
- Maple Sugar Time (1941)
- The World in Action: The Invasion of North Africa (1942)
- School in the MailboxSchool in the MailboxSchool in the Mailbox is a 1947 Australian short documentary film directed by Stanley Hawes. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short....
(1946) - Building for Tomorrow (1947)
- Flight Plan (1950)
- The Queen In Australia (1954)
- Children's Theatre (1961)