Sydney Film School is fortunate to be infused with passionate, committed and experienced teaching staff who all have current experience within the film industry. The staff have, furthermore, worked together as a cohesive educational team over the last ten years.
Ben Ferris - Executive Director
Ben Ferris was born in 1975 in Sydney, Australia. He studied Latin and Classical Greek at the University of Sydney, winning both the Salting Exhibition and Coopers Scholarship. In 1998 he graduated with First Class Honours after reconstructing the surviving fragments of the “Alexandros”, a play by the Athenian tragedian, Euripides.
Ben was the Director of the UBS Film School at the University of Sydney from 2000 – 2004, and in 2004 he founded the Sydney Film School where he is currently Executive Director.
Ben is a film writer / director / producer with production company Artemis Projects. A pioneer of the global resurgence in “one take” cinema, Ben’s film “The Kitchen” screened alongside “Russian Ark” at the Inaugural One Take Film Festival held in Zagreb, Croatia in 2003. In 2004 he went on to win the Grand Prix at the same festival for his film “Ascension”. In 2006 he was invited back as an international jury member.
His film “The Kitchen”, which also screened at the prestigious L’Etrange Film Festival in Paris in 2004, attracted international critical acclaim by winning the Grand Prix at the Inaugural Akira Kurosawa Memorial Short Film Festival held in Tokyo in 2005. It was selected for the 20th Singapore International Film Festival in April 2007. “The Kitchen” has since had a theatrical release in Tokyo and worldwide DVD distribution.
Ben is currently in post-production for “Penelope”, his first feature film as writer / director. “Penelope” is a co-production between Artemis Projects in Australia and Focus Media in Croatia, and is the first co-production between the two countries.
Leslie Oliver - Head of Studies
Leslie Oliver attained a BA in Art from Alexander Mackie College of Fine Art, University of New South Wales and a BA in Film & Television Directing (with recognition in Editing) from the Australian Film Television and Radio School.
In 1986 Leslie was a student, Academy Award nominee as writer/director of the graduation film Tennis Court Opera. The film was also commended at the St Kilda Film Festival and played at Melbourne International Film Festival.
Leslie was writer/director on You Can’t Push The River and Australian Film Commission funded feature. The film was a finalist at Mannheim/Heidelberg International Film Festival – Germany, and screened at numerous other international film festivals to critical acclaim.
Leslie worked in the industry as a director, editor and consultant and went on to established film making at St Aloysius College where his students won national film awards. As a sculptor, Leslie has attracted numerous corporate and private commissions, had 16 solo exhibitions, been included in over 40 group shows in Australia and abroad and lectures at the Australian Catholic University. He also lectured in writing and directing for Screen in the Faculty of Architecture, University of Sydney. Leslie was part of the team that established the UBS Film School (1994-2004) at the University of Sydney.
John Buckmaster - International Relations Manager
John Buckmaster; BFA, Dip.Ed, MA, MA (res) John Buckmaster; BA in Fine Art (film), Dip. Ed and Masters in Education, and has completed a Doctorate in Film and Philosophy; writer/director.
The Kiss, Best Film, Atom Awards, The Heist, selected, Met Fest, Harvest, worked on feature film Sample People and many others. John is one of the founders of UBS Audio Visual later renamed UBS Film School. He was the course co-ordinator then director of UBS Film School, overseeing Certificate IV accreditation and RTO status; taught and devised curriculum in film studies for UBS Film School, the University of Sydney Centre for Continuing Education and the University of Sydney, Faculty of Architecture and Design Science (Post Graduate Stream).
John is one of the founders of the Sydney Film School, a Board member and works as the International Relations Manager. He has worked in training and education for over ten years devising vocational programmes, educational video productions and media packages.
Uracha Oliver - Operations Manager
Born Thailand; post Graduate Diploma in Communication / Film & Television, UTS; BA in Fine Art / Thai languages & literature, Sri Nakharinwirot University Bangkok; Associate Diploma in Television, KVB College of Visual Communication, Sydney, Certificate in Entertainment Management, Australian Institute of Music, Certificate in Directing / Acting for Screen UBS Film School; Travel Writer / photo journalist 2 yrs, Travelling Companion magazine, Thailand; television documentary writer / producer 2 yrs The State if Things Channel 3, Thailand; Writer / producer / Director, children’s TV Channel 9 Thailand; Freelance production roles Australia.
Katharine Thornton - Distribution Manager
Katharine Thornton Manages the distribution and sales arm of Sydney Film School. Katharine studied filmmaking at Sydney Film School and is currently completing a Masters of Film and Digital Image at Sydney University. Katharine has worked for both Anvil Films and Sherman Pictures during the release and distribution of Candy and Opal Dreams, the pre-production and production of $9.99 and J.M Coetzee’s Disgrace. Prior to that she worked as an editor at Film Edit Copy.
Katharine has personally produced seven short films and documentaries (16mm and 35mm) that have screened around the word, including Go Quickly which received a Highly Commended in the long form short category at the Dendy Awards in 2006, as part of the Sydney Film Festival.
