Background
He was born in London, England and died in Sydney, Australia.
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Stanley Hawes
Edit ProfileCareer
He is best known as the -in-Chief (1946–1969) of the Australian Government"s filmmaking body, which was named, in 1945, the Australian National Film Board, and then, in 1956, the Commonwealth Film Unit. In 1973, after he retired, it became Film Australia. He started work in 1922 as a committee clerk with the City of Birmingham Corporation, but started his film career in 1931, when he co-founded the Birmingham Film Society.
He arrived in Australia in 1946, from the National Film Board of Canada, to take up a position as -in-Chief with the Australian National Film Board, initially as a temporary assignment but made permanent within a couple of years of his arrival.
Hawes is regarded as working primarily in the classical style of documentary he learnt with John Grierson in the 1930s. As Moran writes, "Films such as School in the Mailbox, Flight Plan and The Queen in Australia make clear his aesthetic preference for the classic documentary rather than for drama or the more evocative, poetic forms of documentary".
He joined United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 1958 and chaired the National Film Theatre of Australia between 1970 and 1974. In 1971 he was appointed to chair the Film Board of Review.
The $5,000 Film Australia Stanley Hawes Award was established in 1997 to honour Stanley Hawes as first -in-Chief of the Australian National Film Board and Commonwealth Film Unit.
The award recognises the significant support he gave independent filmmakers in the documentary sector and is thus awarded to a person or organisation that makes an outstanding contribution to the documentary sector in Australia. The award is announced annually at the Australian International Documentary Conference. Awardees: 1999 John Heyer 2001 Pat Fiske 2003 Stewart Young 2004 Robin Hughes 2005 CAAMA (Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association) Productions 2006 John Hughes 2007 Michael Gissing 2008 David Bradbury.
Achievements
Membership
He was elected a member of the board in 1952 and became a member of the British Film Academy the following year.
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Born
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Died
April 19, 1991 (aged 86) -
Nationality
British