Board
Dr John Saunders - Chairman of Sydney Film School
Dr John Saunders, Chairman FTSE, BB.Sc.(Hons) Sussex, Ph.D. UNSW is based in Sydney as Chairman of The Linden Group Pty Ltd which has advised on a number of major projects in Australia, China, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. He is Chairman of Mosaic Sourcing Pty Ltd and Chairman or Sydney Film School Pty Ltd. He was, in 1994-1995, Chairman of an Asian Infrastructure of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Dr Saunders was the Chief Executive of the Office of Economic Development for the New South Wales Government until 1994. From 1990 to 1994, he was Co-ordinator General for the Government.
Dr Saunders was in 1987-1989, the Deputy Managing Director of the Australian Trade Commission, and he has wide experience in the private and public sectors covering high level corporate advice and strategic planning, new business development and project structuring, and international negotiations in the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia.
Dr Saunders is a Chevalier of the l’Ordre National du Merite, France, and an Australian Centenary Medallist.
He is Chairman of the Asia Pacific Council of Macquarie University and President of the Australia Vietnam Business Council.
Ben Ferris - Director of Sydney Film School
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 Director.
Ben is a film writer / director / producer with Australian 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. In 2007 “The Kitchen” had a theatrical release in Tokyo and worldwide DVD distribution.
In his capacity as Director of Sydney Film School he has also Executive Produced a host of award-winning student short films and documentaries, and most recently the multi-award winning Australian feature film “Three Blind Mice” directed by Matthew Newton.
Ben’s latest project is “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. It will be released in Australia in late 2010.
He is currently studying a PhD by Research in Classics at the University of Sydney.
Emile Sherman - Board Member
Emile Sherman has established himself as one of Australia’s leading feature film producers with credits including the Toronto Film Festival FIPRESCI awarded film Disgrace starring John Malkovich and based on Nobel Prize winning author J.M.Coetzee's novel, the Annie Award Best Film nominated stop motion animation feature $9.99 and award-winning films Candy starring Heath Ledger and Geoffrey Rush and Phillip Noyce's Rabbit Proof Fence. Other films include Australian box office hit Oyster Farmer and Peter Cattaneo's (The Full Monty) Opal Dream which sold to Universal's Focus Features.
Emile recently launched a new film production company, See-Saw Films, in partnership with UK producer Iain Canning, who executive produced Cannes Camera d’Or winning film Hunger, and Camera d’Or Special Mention Control. See-Saw is producing projects with directors including Ray Lawrence (Lantana, Jindabyne), Shirley Barrett (Camera d’Or winner for Love Serenade), John Curran (The Painted Veil), John Polson (Hide and Seek),Tom Hooper (Emmy Award winner for John Adams) as well as continuing to work with Steve McQueen (Hunger) and Anton Corbijn (Control).
See-Saw Film's launched a finance arm to its company, Fulcrum Media Finance, which is now the leading provider of cash flow loans in Australia and New Zealand to finance the Producer Offset. Fulcrum is run by experienced film financier Sharon Menzies.
Emile is also a director and shareholder in Transmission Films, an Australasian distribution company run by ex Dendy Film heads Richard Payten and Andrew Mackie. Transmission Films has a joint venture agreement with Paramount Pictures.
In additional to his film activities, Emile is on the board of a number companies including Voiceless, the Fund for Animals, The Sydney Film School, Australia’s leading non-government film school, The Sherman Group, an investment company managing a substantial portfolio and The Sherman Foundation, a Prescribed Private Fund (PPF).
Joseph Skrzynski - Board Member
Joseph Skrzynski has been the Chairman of the Australian Film, Television & Radio School (1985 to 1991), during which time the new Film School at Ryde was developed. That followed his term as Chief Executive of the Australian Film Commission (1980 to 1984), during which period the industry saw an enormous expansion in production domestically, and in international recognition of the quality of Australian films. The AFC’s policies and support for indigenous film making, experimental film making and women in films were all boosted during his tenure. Apart from these statutory appointments, Joseph has had Executive Producer level involvement with the funding of My Brilliant Career and Edens Lost for Gillian Armstrong and Neil Armfield, Higtide for Sandra Levy and Gillian Armstrong, amongst other films.
His Arts involvements have also included chairmanship of the Sydney Opera House trust, and directorships of the Sydney Dance Company, Belvoir Street Theatre and the Aboriginal Art & Craft Company. His day job is Managing Director of CHAMP Private Equity Limited.
On 27 March 2009 Mr Skrzynski started his five-year term as a non-executive director of the SBS Board.
F. Philip Handy - Board Member
F. Philip Handy served for eight years as Chairman of the Florida Board of Education, which has constitutional responsibility for Florida’s educational system (over 3 million students and a $17.9 billion budget). Mr. Handy was recently appointed to the National Board of Education Sciences for a three year term (confirmed by the U.S. Senate). He us a member of the Board of Overseers of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and an advisor to the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
In August 2000, Mr Handy was appointed to the Education Governance Reorganization Task Force, and elected chairman. The Task Force was charged to recommend a plan for a smooth and timely transition of Florida’s current educational governance system to the new seamless, student-centered kindergarden through graduate school system. He was a member of the Board of Overseers of Rollins College Crummer Graduate School of Business. For ten years he was a member, and president for three years, of the Board of Trustees of the Orlando Museum of Art. Mr Handy was a long distance runner who has successfully completed the New york, London and Sydney marathons. He is a passionate bicyclist – both mountain and road.
Prof. Elizabeth More - Board Member
Professor More is Macquarie University's Academic Director of Macquarie City and Professor of Management, Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM) following a three year period as Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University, preceded by her term as Deputy Vice-Chancellor to the University of Canberra. Prior to these positions she was Director of the Graduate School of Management, Chair of Academic Senate at Macquarie University, and Managing Director of MGSM Pty Ltd.
Professor More is a past President of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management, and of the Australian Communication Association. She also has extensive experience in consulting to both private and public sector organizations and, over the past decade, has been called upon regularly for expert media comment on issues related to management practice and education. Before becoming a University academic, she worked as a classical ballet dancer in theatre and television, and in the advertising industry.
Professor Elizabeth More is also one of 8 members of the Sydney Dance Company Board of Directors.
John Buckmaster - Board Member
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.
Leslie Oliver - Board Member
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.
