International storyteller

Carving a reputation as one of Australia’s most awarded short film directors, Anthony Maras has been recognised with a Flinders University Distinguished Alumni Award for 2016.

With family roots to the island of Ikaria in Greece, Anthony Maras (LLB/LP ’03) grew up in Adelaide with his Greek family - a complete cast of larger than life characters – whose stories over Sunday lunch captivated him from an early age. In particular, his grandfather was a lover of the arts, cinema and theatre who often spoke of an exotic life abroad.

It was these early tales that first inspired Anthony’s imagination to run free and sparked his interest in storytelling. Anthony made a number of no-budget short films throughout high school and worked whenever he could as a production assistant on local features, music videos and short films.

After completing a degree in law at Flinders University in 2003 Anthony travelled to the US to study film as part of an Education Abroad Scholarship at the University of California. At UC he won two President’s Undergraduate Fellowship Awards and received two Dean’s Honours. During his overseas stay he was fortunate enough to study under some of America’s leading film practitioners and theorists.

Anthony has now emerged as one of South Australia’s leading young directors and has made a significant contribution to the Australian film industry. As a director, writer and producer he has gained international recognition for his work on movies, The Palace (2011), Spike Up (2007) and Azadi (2005).

Depicting the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, The Palace had its international premiere at the 2011 Telluride Film Festival in California. It won Best Short Fiction Film and Best Screenplay in a Short Film at the 2012 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (AACTA Awards).

This was Anthony’s third AACTA Award, having won Best Short Fiction Film for his film Spike Up, a drama about a family in the drug trade. He was also nominated for the same award for his first film Azadi, a refugee story. The Palace has gone on to win a numerous international film awards including Best Short Film and Best Director at the 2012 Beverly Hills Film Festival.

Anthony’s first feature film, Hotel Mumbai was released in February this year at the Berlin Film Festival. The film, featuring Dev Patel and Armie Hammer, was internationally financed through an association with Hollywood’s famed Weinstein Company. Directed by Anthony from a screenplay co-written with John Collee, the film was inspired by the documentary Surviving Mumbai.

Hotel Mumbai depicts the true story of victims and survivors during terrorist attacks in Mumbai. In November 2008 following a wave of devastating terrorist attacks throughout the city, a team of Jihadists infiltrated the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel where desperate survivors were seeking a safe haven, with devastating results.

The film tackles some of the defining global issues of our time; people of all races, colours and creeds coming together in a fight for survival. It also celebrates humanity’s highest ideals – compassion, courage, resilience and an unwavering desire to live, in the face of the darkest inhumanity.

Despite international acclaim, Anthony’s connection to his home town remains strong with Hotel Mumbai filmed in both India and South Australia. Hotel Mumbai will be released in Australian cinemas later this year.

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