RICHARD TURNER

Director, Writer, Producer

Richard Turner became involved with the avante-garde theatre group Living Theatre while at University. After spending a number of years in London, Richard returned to New Zealand to stage N.Z. Ballet & Opera Trust tours including La Traviata.  He was early involved with the highly acclaimed Red Mole and gained one of the sought after traineeships at the New Zealand National Film Unit.

Richard first film, SOUVENIRS OF EGYPT, 1942 screened at 4 international festivals and won two awards. Other ground breaking, award winning films followed such as TWO RIVERS MEET, DEATH OF THE LAND, and the low-budget feature film SQUEEZE which played at a dozen international film festivals including Berlin, Chicago, London and Toronto. SQUEEZE sold well through America and Europe.

In Sydney he has directed a wide range of film, television and theatrical productions. In 1991 he completed his best known Australian documentary IN THE SHADOW OF A GAOL. This documentary was nominated in the 1991 AFI Awards, won the Silver Apple at the American Educational International Film and Video Festival and received a special jury mention at Cinema Du Reel.

In 1996 to 1998 he directed two very low budget features in quick succession. The first, VIOLET'S VISIT, has been a critical and commercial success in American. The second, DROP DEAD GORGEOUS has received considerable critical acclaim internationally. In 2002 he produced first-time director, Ray Castle’s documentary TOKYO TECHNO TRIBES with the financial assistance of the Japan Foundation. He was Producer and Director on the 2007 French documentary LUNCH WITH MADAME MURAT and Executive Producer on the 2008 feature TEN DEAD MEN.

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