Mario Andreacchio

There have only ever been five Australian productions that have won an International Emmy Award - one was Captain Johnno (1988), directed by Mario Andreacchio. Mario graduated from Flinders University (South Australia) with a degree in Psychology (after originally going to University to study Experimental Physics), and then was selected to study at the prestigious Australian Film & Television School to train as a Film Director. He has received script commissions to write feature length screenplays, has directed seven cinema feature films, has made a series of television specials, two telemovies, three children's mini-series and has an impressive list of award winning documentaries and dramatised documentaries to his credit. His feature film, Napoleon (1995), was inspired by his children while watching another animal film. Napoleon pulls together Mario's diverse skills and experiences to produce "a visual feast of images, cleverly crafted together into an ingenious piece of storytelling" (Bill Conti, 1995). Napoleon is a joint venture with Japanese company, Herald Ace, and was released worldwide throughout 1996 and 1997. The Real Macaw (1998), a family adventure story of a talking parrot, was released to strong reviews in 1998 and moderate box-office. It is due for US release through Paramount. Sally Marshall Is Not an Alien (1999), a Canadian-Australian co-production, has successfully premiered in Australia to strong reviews and excellent box-office, making it the second highest grossing Australian film of the year. Young Blades (2001), a US-French production is about the the Three Musketeers when they were teenagers and still at Musketeer school. The success of the movie has created the first French series to be sold to an American network. Paradise Found (2003), an Australian-French-UK-German co-production, is a story based on the life of French painter Paul Gauguin. Starring Kiefer Sutherland as Paul Gauguin with Nastassja Kinski as his wife, the movie was released during the centenary of Paul Gauguin, 2003. Mario was a ministerial appointment to the board of the Australian Film Finance Corporation and to the board of the South Australian Film Corporation. Mario is also a member of the Australian Screen Directors' Association (ASDA), the Australian Writers' Guild (AWG).