Acting/Directing
"To successfully direct actors we first need an intuitive and intellectual awareness of our own emotions and what triggers them. Then we have to explore what we want to say through the story and communicate that clearly to the actors, who have to translate this into the performance, which reveals what we want to say to the audience. It’s all about communicating effectively." Says Werner Meyer - Director
Leslie Oliver
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.
Ben Ferris
Ben Ferris, Director was a founding member of the UBS Film School and remained Director until 2004. In 2004 he became a founding member of the Sydney Film School where he is currently the Director.
Described by one film critic as a “great film stylist like David Cronenberg, Michael Mann and Stanley Kubrick” Ben is a film writer / director 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.
In his capacity as Executive Director of Sydney Film School he has also Executive Produced a host of award-winning student short films and documentaries, and most recently the Australian feature film “Three Blind Mice” directed by Matthew Newton.
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.
