Tom Zubrycki

Tom Zubrycki has been making documentaries for over 45 years. He has won many awards for his work and his mentorship on behalf of the industry. In early 1970's Tom was a leading participant in the video access movement before starting on his first film WATERLOO (1981), an historical account of a battle by residents against redevelopment of their inner Sydney suburb. This was soon followed by KEMIRA - DIARY OF A STRIKE, which won an ACTAA in 1984, and FRIENDS AND ENEMIES (1986). In the 1990's he turned his attention to migrant and refugee stories. BILLAL (1995) traced the impact on the life of Lebanese family disrupted by a racially motivated attack. HOMELANDS (1992) told the story of a refugee family torn apart by their conflicting desire to return to their homeland. Both films were nominated for AACTA's. In the course of making these films Tom evolved a distinctive engaged observational story-telling style marked by an ability to get close to his subjects. After a stint as commissioning editor at SBS in 1996, Tom returned to filmmaking. His directed the highly praised THE DIPLOMAT (2000) about East Timorese independence leader Jose Ramos Horta, which won AACTA's for Best Film and Best Direction, and MOLLY & MOBARAK (2003) a story exploring the friendship between an Afghan asylum-seeker and a young woman in a country town. Recent films included THE HUNGRY TIDE (2011) about climate change in the Pacific nation of Kiribati, and HOPE ROAD (2017). As well as making his own films Tom has produced another 20 - with early career writer/directors, These include EXILE IN SARAJEVO (1996) which won an International Emmy, STOLEN GENERATIONS (2000), THE SUNNYBOY (2015), THE WEATHER DIARIES (2020) and ABLAZE (2021). In 2009 Tom was presented with The Cecil Holmes Award for his ongoing career support for directors. A year later he received the Stanley Hawes Award in recognition of outstanding contribution to documentary filmmaking in Australia. Tom taught documentary for 8 years at UTS, and for 12 years ran regular master-classes in documentary at AFTRS. In 2018 his platform paper The Changing Landscape of Australian Documentary called for increased government funding for documentary and strict quotas for Australian content on streaming platforms.