The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce - Film Makers

MICHAEL JAMES ROWLAND

Director/Writer

In 1987 Michael took up the position of Art Director with Australia’s most prolific producer of theatre at the time, the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust. Three Festivals and 750 productions later, Michael departed the AFCT with the “91 Adelaide Art Directors’ Masters Chair” (an award for best-and-fairest in the advertising industry) and a freelance client list that included WOMAD (UK & Europe), Peter Gabriel and Sony Music (North America).

In 1994 Michael set a course to film and began a BA at Australia’s national Film Television and Radio School, AFTRS. He graduated in 1997 with two AFI nominations for the ambitious films The Existentialist Cowboy’s Last Stand (writer/designer - nominated in Open Craft) and Flying Over Mother (writer/director - nominated for Best Short Film).

The Existentialist Cowboy’s Last Stand won the Dendy Award for Best Short Film and is a straight adaptation of Michael’s book of the same name. Flying Over Mother tells the story of a cosmonaut reflecting on the set of choices that led him to his career while his capsule is breaking up (Russian language). Both films found large festival audiences around the world with FOM chalking up several commercial sales.

Upon graduation Michael was approached by prescient talent spotter, Hillary Linstead, for representation as a writer/director. Around this time he establish the TVC production company, Blink, with producer Michael Bourchier.

His first years as a graduate were spent being farmed out to work broadly in the film and television industry. Through TVC production companies Blink, and later, 8 Commercials, Michael directed some memorable TVCs (notably the successful campaigns for the Australian Republican Movement and Leo & Jenny). Through “8” he also did several ground-breaking documentaries for the Royal Australian Navy and later, the Australian Defence Forces.

In 1998 Michael shifted focus to longer form screen stories, creating the production company Puncture for this purpose. Puncture’s first production was BloodSports, a 30 minute drama/comedy commissioned by SBS Independent. BloodSports sees a family Christmas dinner covered like a live-to-air sporting event and was the highest rating of the eight half-hours commissioned by SBS in the series.

Following on from BloodSports, Michael used Puncture to develop the feature Lucky Miles, which went into production in late 2006 with a budget of AUS$3.18 million. Lucky Miles tells the unlikely story of three men lost in Australia’s desert and premiered in Australia, opening the 2007 Adelaide Film Festival. Lucky Miles has since opened nationally and internationally winning: Best Film (Audience Award) at the Sydney Film Festival, Special Jury Prize at Karlovy Vary, Grand Prix at Saint Tropez, Best New Director at Abu Dharbi and Best Screenplay in Vladivostok.

Lucky Miles was nominated for Best Film in both the IF and AFI awards (Australia) and Best Screenplay in the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

NIAL FULTON

Producer/Writer

Nial Fulton is an accomplished producer, with over 15 years film and television experience in over 10 countries.

He has worked alongside some of the world’s most respected producers, directors and actors on a diverse range of productions, including six times Academy award winner Saving Private Ryan and six times Emmy award winning mini series Band of Brothers.

Other selected credits include the BAFTA award-winning UK television series Cold Feet, critically acclaimed drama Blind Flight and the Academy nominated short film Everything In This Country Must.

In 2005 Nial production managed Channel Four’s most ambitious documentary to date, the acclaimed Jump Britain that had an audience of over seven million viewers. Nial also featured extensively in the documentary Making Jump Britain that also screened on Channel Four.

In addition to freelance work, Nial worked extensively with the Irish Film Board (Bord Scannán na hEireánn) and the Northern Ireland Film and Television Commission on a diverse range of co-productions, features and television drama.

Nial line-produced two major television series for Australian broadcasters in 2005, Two Of Us (SBS) and Bondi Rescue (Ten), the feature documentary Naked On The Inside (SBS) and dramatic documentaries The Bridge (ABC) and The Catalpa Rescue (ABC).

In 2006 Nial produced a four-part series Policing The Pacific (SBS) following the Australian Federal Police on deployment in the Solomon Islands and East Timor.

In 2007 Nial produced Ten Pound Poms (BBC/ABC) an award winning documentary that was critically acclaimed in both the United Kingdom and Australia. In addition to record viewing figures in Britain, Ten Pound Poms was voted Australian Documentary of the Year in 2008 by the Sydney Morning Herald.

This year Nial produced and co-wrote the Irish/Australian factual drama The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce (ABC/BBC/RTE). The film was shot entirely on location around the Franklin and Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, North West Tasmania and had an ensemble Irish and Australian cast including Adrian Dunbar, Ciaran McMenamin, Chris Haywood, Dan Wyllie and Don Hany.

Nial is passionate about history and literature and takes particular joy in all things post apocalyptic. He also enjoys bluegrass and folk music from obscure backwaters and suffers annually from the failings of the Irish rugby team. He has a Masters degree in Architecture.