A photography graduate of the Queensland College of Art, David’s final year folio, MY GOLIATH, was fortunate enough to win the QCA Art Photography Prize, which included a short film shot on b&w super 8. The angsty experimental film was also selected to be part of the Sydney and London Film Festival, and went onto win the Qld New Filmmakers Short Film Award in the “Other” category.
Following, David co-founded Taxi Films, which became one of the premier film production companies in Queensland. In the early 2000’s, David relocated to Sydney where he co-wrote and directed his debut feature film, PIMPED, starring Ella Scott Lynch and Benedict Samuel. Produced by his newly founded production company, Playground, the film premiered at Frightfest in London, subsequently licensed around the world, and screened in selected cinemas around Australia. PIMPED can also be found on Stan, Foxtel On Demand, Apple TV & Channel 7.
“Photography enabled the idea of construction, building stories around people, props and propositions. All of my work is caught either in the real, or the fabricated, between the wonder and passion for the human condition and the sublime make believe of drama and comedy. These narrative constructions are sometimes humorous, sometimes dark, hopefully unexpected, cinematic, peculiar, human and familiar.”
Following, David co-founded Taxi Films, which became one of the premier film production companies in Queensland. In the early 2000’s, David relocated to Sydney where he co-wrote and directed his debut feature film, PIMPED, starring Ella Scott Lynch and Benedict Samuel. Produced by his newly founded production company, Playground, the film premiered at Frightfest in London, subsequently licensed around the world, and screened in selected cinemas around Australia. PIMPED can also be found on Stan, Foxtel On Demand, Apple TV & Channel 7.
“Photography enabled the idea of construction, building stories around people, props and propositions. All of my work is caught either in the real, or the fabricated, between the wonder and passion for the human condition and the sublime make believe of drama and comedy. These narrative constructions are sometimes humorous, sometimes dark, hopefully unexpected, cinematic, peculiar, human and familiar.”
David has won three Australian Directors Guild Awards over the past ten years, and many gongs in local and international advertising award shows. When not developing longform projects at Playground, or snapping photogrpahs in his garage, you’ll find him collaborating with agencies and clients, helping them connect their stories to a wider world.
REVIEWS
“A dark, acid, little psycho-fable."
Kim Newman
“The beast in the jungle is never very far, and the people we take for granted are mere caretakers for thoughts and impulses they may not always be able to control. PIMPED is alive and dangerous, itself a beautiful confection on its surface that has just beneath claws and razor edges. It’s got something to say and trusts its audience to listen. 2018 has been a year of great directorial debuts and this is one of them.”
Film Freak Central, Walter Chaw
"...this is a film whose visual and auditory landscapes come with a peculiar, dreamlike intensity that displaces all the narrative twists and turns to the realm of the psychological, and makes a nightmare of its noir tropes. Yet ultimately, the question of what is real and what is fiction is less important than the duplicity that the film explores and exposes - a division of personality between compromises settled and desires sublimated which perhaps characterises all of us."
SciFi Now, Anton Bitel
"PIMPED is a deceptively complex film about gender, power and perception. A puzzle film so tricky that it does not at first even present as a puzzle film. PIMPED underscores that ethics are always tainted by the subjectivity of those involved, and that the game itself and the rules that govern it are as turbulent and as volatile as those who choose to play it."
AACTA, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas