bio
Robert Nugent
Robert grew up on the banks of the Murray River in Albury NSW. He is the son of a printer and a home-maker.
He currently lives in Canberra from where he is making a film on Antipodean space imaginaries as part of his PhD project at the University of Western Sydney; “Space and a cinema of planetary regard”.
He has an MA in Documentary from the Australian Film Television and Radio School and a Bachelor of Natural Resource Management from the University of New England. He has made three feature length documentaries, as well as commission films for NGOs and TV. His film End of the Rainbow (a co-production between France and Australia) won the first appearance award at IDFA in 2007 and went on to screen at major festivals around the world. He has worked as a war artist for the Australian War Memorial in Iraq and East Timor. He made No Dramas; recordings from Iraq in 2008. His film Memoirs of a Plague (2012) screened at IDFA and HotDocs, Margaret Mead FF in New York, and iDocs in Beijing. He has screen credits with the ABC, ARTE, PBS, SBS and National Geographic. His latest feature length film, Night Parrot Stories, premiered in Alice Springs on May 5th 2016. You can find out more about Night Parrot Stories here.
Robert has a wealth of experience working cross-culturally, both within Australia and internationally. Prior to filmmaking Rob worked for the United Nations in Afghanistan and Cambodia for 10 years (1991 - 2000). He has also worked for the Central Land Council in Alice Springs as an Environmental Officer (1987 - 1990).
He has long-standing interest in poetry, creative ethnographies and observational filmmaking, which draws together and then confounds the perspectives provided by science. Under the spell of Tarkovsky’s Sculpting in time, and Thomas Brown’s Urn Burial, he is currently writing an account of his field work for his space imaginaries film: ‘if they don’t see happiness in the picture, at least they will see the black’ !
He is compelled to go into book shops simply to smell freshly printed paper. His great unmade film is of the first woman who operated the iconic printing machine... the Linotype.
RECOGNITION
End of the Rainbow (Feature length version)
First Appearance Award - International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (2007);
The One World Media Prize London (June 2008);
Maysles Brothers Award, Belfast International Film Festival (2008);
Special Mention Torino International Environmental Film Festival (October 2008);
Best Film (Taipei, Taiwan International Documentary Festival - Nov 2008);
Best Film (DocsLisboa/ Portugal - Nov 2008);
Best Documentary (Amazonas Film Festival, Brazil - Nov 2008)
Memoirs of a Plague- Critics circle award - Arts Council ACT (2011)
ARTISTIC COMMISSIONS
Australian War Memorial
Iraq / War Artist (Videographic) 2006
East Timor / War Artist (Videographic) 2008
Video portraiture - National Portrait Gallery / ABC / Stasia Dabrowsky / PJ Williams
ON-LINE (click on headings)
Child Fund Australia (2012)
AusAID / Baptist World Aid Australia (2013)
AusAID / Baptist World Aid Australia (2013)
AusAID / Baptist World Aid Australia (2013)
Australian Wildlife Conservancy (2010)
Belgium Technical Cooperation (2004)
CONSULTANCY
Film trainer for the People’s NGO Forum, Laos People Republic, European Union consultancy - July 2012
Trainer - "Thinking with a video camera" - course developed by Prof. David MacDougall and Judith MacDougall, for Masters and PhD Anthropology students / ANU / 2013 / 2104
Visiting Fellow, Australian National University, Digital Humanities Hub, Research School of Humanities, Canberra, Australia 2009 - 2011
Documenting locust surveys in Eastern Egypt / Red Sea areas Egypt, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, January - February 2010
Documenting locust outbreak in western Tanzania, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. June - July2009
Documenting locust outbreak in southern Ethiopia, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. January - February 2008
Three months training in community based film making. Quy Chau Vietnam. Belgium Technical Cooperation - 2004 - 2007(three visits)
Documenting community development projects and tsunami relief in Sumatra and Java. USAID - Development Alternatives International (several visits) 2006 - 2007
Filming the social impacts of mine closures with Dyak communities, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, Riotinto - several visits 2004 - 2006
Community based film making with ethnic minority groups in North East Cambodia, Health International 2004
Interviewer - Australians at War Film Archive - two tours of duty. 2003
WRITINGS
'Beyond All Utterance' (2012) Humanities Research, Research School of Humanities, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
SCHOOL
2002 - Master of Arts, Documentary. Australian Film Television and Radio School, Sydney.
1983 - Bachelor of Natural Resources. University of New England.
OTHER WORK
Country Officer / Technical Advisor
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
(four years in Afghanistan, six years in Cambodia. 1990 - 2001)
Environmental Officer / Central Land Council / Alice Springs 1987 - 1989
Field Officer, Australian Plague Locust Commission / Broken Hill 1983 - 1986
PROFESSIONAL REFEREES
Please contact me and I will pass on the details of these folk:
Dr Mitzi Goldman, Looking Glass Pictures, Director of the Australian Documentary Foundation
David Ross, Director of the Central Land Council / Alice Springs
Associate Professor David MacDougall, Research School of Humanities ANU
PERSONAL REFEREES
Pat Fiske - esteemed Sydney based documentary maker.
John Hughes - esteemed Melbourne based filmmaker.
Dr Tony Fleming (ex-Director of the NSW National Parks Service, ex-Director of the Australian Antarctic Division)