BIOGRAPHY

Combining visceral imagery with highly personal stories, Amiel Courtin-Wilson's unique directorial style has evolved from working in documentary and drama over the last thirteen years.

After making his first film at age 9, Amiel's short film "Charlie's Toy Meets Madeline Moritz" won the Longford Nova Award at the 1996 St Kilda Film Festival when he was 17 years old.

In 1998, Amiel directed and produced the feature documentary "Chasing Buddha" which premiered at Sundance in 2000 and was nominated for an AFI for best direction. "Chasing Buddha" also had a successful theatrical season in both Sydney and Melbourne and went on to win a string of awards including Best Documentary at both the 2000 Dendy Awards and the 2000 IF Awards.

In 2000, Amiel co-directed the docu-drama "Islands" which won the Documentary Excellence Award at the "Real Life on Film" Festival (2001), Best Short form Documentary at the 2001 ATOM Awards and went on to tour the U.S. for a year in 2002 as part of the Margaret Mead International Documentary festival.

After collaborating with Opera Australia and the "Chunky Move" contemporary dance company, producing a series of music clips for SBS and Film Victoria and directing several successful music clips of his own, in 2003 Amiel directed the short film "Adolescent" which premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival. As a result of this screening Amiel went on to participate in the inaugural Accelerator program as part of the Melbourne Film Festival in 2004.

Amiel is currently directing the feature length AFC/ABC funded documentary "Bastardy", the feature length theatrical documentary "Catch My Disease" about renowned Australian pop singer Ben Lee and the documentary "Til Hell Freezes".

Amiel's most recent short film "On the Other Ocean" had its world premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2006 and his upcoming feature projects include the AFC "Indivision" developed drama "Warm Blood" and the black comedy "High School".

Amiel has also worked as a freelance journalist for Inside Film and Metro Magazine, exhibited his video installation work internationally and lectured at institutions, conferences and festivals including VCA, RMIT, Australian Film Television & Radio School, Melbourne International Film Festival, the Australian International Documentary Conference and the University of California Los Angeles.