Bill Bennett is an Australian filmmaker and author of young adult fiction. He was formerly a journalist. His 2024 Australian drama film, The Way, My Way, based on his memoir, was a surprise hit at the Australian box office.
Early life and education Bill Bennett was born in London to Australian parents and brought up in Brisbane. He studied medicine for some years at the University of Queensland, but left before completing his studies.
Career Journalism Bennett got a cadetship with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in 1972, where he was given the nickname "milkfingers" as a result of an on-air mishap.
He spent two years working in Adelaide on This Day Tonight, then went to work for Mike Willesee in Sydney. He then worked on The Big Country and The Australians before moving into feature filmmaking in the early 1980s.David Stratton, The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry, Pan MacMillan, 1990 p54
During a ten-year career as a journalist he won Australia's top TV award, the Logie Awards for Television Reporter of the Year, and then later for Most Outstanding Documentary. This led him to feature films.
Filmmaking Bennett's first film, A Street to Die (1985) won the Crystal Globe for Best Film at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. His second film Backlash was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival. Three years later his film Malpractice would be screened in the same section at the 1989 festival. His Outback film noir Kiss or Kill won 5 Australian Film Institute Awards, including two for Bill - Best Picture and Best Director.}
His two theatrical feature documentaries, Intuition is your Personal Guidance System and Facing Fear were the first two films in a proposed series called the My Journey series.
Bennett's 2024 Australian drama film, The Way, My Way, based on his memoir, was a surprise hit at the Australian box office.
Publications Bennett is also an author, having published a YA supernatural thriller trilogy Palace of Fires.
Selected filmography Documentary film Year Title Director Writer Producer 1983 The Cattle King 1984 Shipwrecked 1991 The Banjo & The Bard 1992 Last Man Hanged 2018 Intuition is your Personal Guidance System 2022 Facing Fear
Feature film Year Title Director Writer Producer 1985 A Street to Die 1986 Backlash 1987 Dear Cardholder 1988 Jilted 1989 Malpractice 1990 Mortgage 1994 Spider and Rose 1995 Two if by Sea 1996 Kiss or Kill 1999 In a Savage Land 2000 Tempted Cut 2002 The Nugget 2005 Deck Dogz 2010 Uninhabited 2024 The Way, My Way
References
External links