Phillip Noyce receives Longford Lyell Award

Congratulations are in order for acclaimed Australian director and Cameron’s client, Phillip Noyce, who last night was honoured with the Longford Lyell Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2017 AACTA Awards Ceremony.

Considered the highest accolade The Australian Academy can bestow, the award has been presented annually since 1968 and is named for celebrated Australian film pioneer Raymond Longford and his partner Lottie Lyell. The award “recognises an individual who has made a truly outstanding contribution to the enrichment of Australia’s screen environment and culture.” Previous recipients include Andrew Knight, Cate Blanchett, George Miller,  Jan Chapman and David Stratton.

Phillip Noyce began his career in the 1960s making self-funded shorts and has gone on to produce a veritable opus of works including Newsfont (1978), Patriot Games (1992), The Bone Collector (1999), the award-wining Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002), Salt (2010) and Above Suspicion (2017).

Of the award Phillip said “It's a great honour. It really makes you look back and think about all those that have helped you along the way – not what you've achieved but how lucky you were. I'm just finding – mainly through working in television – that things are just beginning for me as a filmmaker in terms of technique, approach to storytelling and connection to the audience. So, I'm sorry, it's not the celebration of a life that's over. It's a celebration of the future as much as the past."

Read the AACTA  announcement Here. 

You can learn more about what Phillip has planned next - including a bold film based on his father’s experience as one of the Rat’s of Tobruk - in this interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.