Scott Hicks – Jury Chair

Internationally acclaimed, Hicks has been nominated for and won many prestigious awards for his work. His film Shine was an international box office sensation and was nominated for seven Academy® Awards, including two for Hicks for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, with Geoffrey Rush winning Best Actor.

Hicks’ first Hollywood studio film, Snow Falling on Cedars starring Ethan Hawke, also received an Academy Award nomination and was followed closely by Hearts in Atlantis, an adaptation of the Stephen King novel, starring Anthony Hopkins.

Other directorial credits include No Reservations starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, The Boys are Back, starring Clive Owen and The Lucky One starring Zac Efron which debuted at no.2 on the U.S. box office charts. Such credits have further cemented his position as a celebrated international filmmaker.

Based in Adelaide, Hicks is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, the Australian Academy, the Directors’ Guild of America and the Australian Directors’ Guild. A stalwart of the Australian film industry he is also a passionate documentary filmmaker, work for which he has been awarded both an Emmy and a Peabody.