Simon Target (; born 22 January 1962) is a British-Australian filmmaker. He is best known for a series of

television documentaries Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. *Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

he made for the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

which include ''King's School'' (on

The King's School, Sydney , motto_translation = "Bravely and Faithfully" , streetaddress = 87–129 Pennant Hills Road , city = North Parramatta, Sydney , state = New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinat ...

), ''Flight for Life'' (about the

Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an air medical service in Australia. It is a non-profit organisation that provides emergency and primary health care services for those living in rural, remote an ...

), ''The Academy'' (on the

Australian Defence Force Academy The Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) is a tri-service military Academy that provides military and academic education for junior officers of the Australian Defence Force in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and Royal Aus ...

), and ''Rough Justice'' (about the legal profession). ''Uni'', his study of a group of dissolute arts students at

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's six ...

, featured Charles Firth,

Craig Reucassel Craig Bruce Reucassel is an Australian television and radio comedian. He is best known for being a member of satirical team The Chaser. He hosted the Australian version of ''Balls of Steel'', which premiered in April 2011. Since 2013, Reucassel ...

and

Andrew Hansen Andrew John Hansen (born 18 September 1974) is an Australian comedian, musician and author, best known for being a member of satirical team The Chaser. As a member of The Chaser, Hansen's television work includes co-writing and starring in A ...

, who formed the comedy group

The Chaser The Chaser are an Australian satirical comedy group, best known for their television programmes and satirical news masthead. The group take their name from their satirical newspaper, a publication known to challenge conventions of taste. Th ...

. Hansen later satirised Target in ''

CNNNN ''CNNNN'' (''Chaser NoN-stop News Network'') is a Logie Award winning Australian television program, satirising American news channels CNN and Fox News. It was produced and hosted by comedy team The Chaser. ''CNNNNs slogan was "We Report, You ...

'', where he played the network's British correspondent who was also called Simon Target.

Recent works

''Masha & Valentyna'', Target's 50 minute documentary about the war in Ukraine, was broadcast by SBStv on

World Refugee Day World Refugee Day is an international day organised every year on 20 June by the United Nations. It is designed to celebrate and honour refugees from around the world. The day was first established on 20 June 2001, in recognition of the 50th anni ...

, June 20 2023, and shown in Australia's Federal Parliament, July 31 2023, in a special screening sponsored by Senator Catryna Bilyk and Senator Linda Reynolds. ''Warrawong - the windy place on the hill'' made in remote NSW during Australia's Covid pandemic restrictions, was selected for competition at

Sydney Film Festival The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize. the festival's director is Nashen Moodley. Histo ...

and

Kraków Film Festival The Kraków Film Festival ( pl, Krakowski Festiwal Filmowy) is one of Europe's oldest events dedicated to documentary, animation and other short film forms. It has been organised every year since 1961. The Artistic President of the festival is ...

in 2022. It tells the story of an elderly couple reluctant to leave their farm, and launched the inaugura
Gilgandra Film Festival
April 22, 23.

Early life and education

Target was born in

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated population ...

in the United Kingdom. His mother was Australian water colouris
Patricia Prentice
He was educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

, London, where he featured in a 1979 BBC television documentary ''Public School'' directed by

Jonathan Gili Jonathan Gili (19 April 1943 – 1 October 2004) was a film-maker, editor and director, who produced numerous and wide-ranging television documentary and features programmes, mostly for the BBC. Education The son of Catalan publisher and translat ...

. He then read English and Music at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

from 1980 to 1983. He later obtained an MA in Film Production from Britain's

National Film and Television School The National Film and Television School (NFTS) is a film, television and games school established in 1971 and based at Beaconsfield Studios in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England. It is featured in the 2021 ranking by ''The Hollywood Repor ...

in 1986.

Career

Target wrote and directed the feature film ''Backsliding'', starring

Tim Roth Timothy Simon Roth (born 14 May 1961) is an English actor and producer. He began acting on films and television series in the 1980s. He was among a group of prominent British actors of the era, the "Brit Pack (actors), Brit Pack". He made hi ...

, with an original score by Australian composer

Nigel Westlake Nigel Westlake is an Australian composer, musician and conductor. As a composer for the screen, his film credits include the feature films ''Ali's Wedding'', '' Paper Planes'', ''Miss Potter'', ''Babe'', '' Babe: Pig in the City'', '' Children of ...

, and the TV series ''

Operatunity Oz ''Operatunity Oz'' was a 2006 talent search, and accompanying four-part television documentary by Simon Target, in which Opera Australia conducted a nationwide quest to find someone without professional opera experience, who could be coached to ...

'' - a nationwide talent search to find an ‘undiscovered’ opera singer. Target has also directed live opera for the stage in England and the United States, with artists such as

Simon Keenlyside Sir Simon Keenlyside (born 3 August 1959) is a British baritone who has performed in operas and concerts since the mid-1980s. Biography Early life and education Keenlyside was born in London, the son of Raymond and Ann Keenlyside. Raymond play ...

Simon Russell Beale Sir Simon Russell Beale (born 12 January 1961) is an English actor. He is known for his appearances in film, television and theatre, and work on radio, on audiobooks and as a narrator. For his services to drama, he was knighted by Queen Elizabe ...

and conductor

Andrew Parrott Andrew Parrott (born 10 March 1947) is a British conductor, perhaps best known for his pioneering "historically informed performances" of pre-classical music. He conducts a wide range of repertoire, including contemporary music. He conducted th ...

. Other work includes TV series with

Donna Hay Donna Hay (born 28 January 1971) is an Australian food stylist, author and magazine editor.

Cookbooks < ...

Curtis Stone Curtis Travis Stone (born 4 November 1975) is an Australian celebrity chef, author and television personality. Stone has been the fresh food and recipes ambassador for Coles Supermarkets in Australia since 2010. Early life Stone was born in ...

Ben O'Donoghue Benjamin O'Donoghue (born 22 May 1970) is an Australian chef. Early years O'Donoghue was five years old when his family moved from England to Port Hedland, Western Australia, Port Hedland. At the age of ten, his family moved to Perth, Western A ...

, Kylie Kwong,

Ainsley Harriott Ainsley Denzil Dubriel Harriott (born 28 February 1957) is an English chef and television presenter. He is known for his BBC cooking game shows '' Can't Cook, Won't Cook'' and '' Ready Steady Cook''. Early life Harriott was born in Paddin ...

and

Rick Stein Rick may refer to: People *Rick (given name), a list of people with the given name *Alan Rick (born 1976), Brazilian politician, journalist, pastor and television personality *Johannes Rick (1869–1946), Austrian-born Brazilian priest and mycol ...

. In 2010 he wrote and directed the natural history series '' Penguin Island'', with

Rolf Harris Rolf Harris (born 30 March 1930) is an Australian entertainer whose career has encompassed work as a musician, singer-songwriter, composer, comedian, actor, painter and television personality. He often used unusual instruments in his performan ...

for

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

. The series won Target prizes for best script and best direction at science/environmental film festivals in China and Germany, and a
Envirofilm
Target lives in Sydney, and is married to Polish docto
Beata Zatorska
with whom he co-wrote the book ''Rose Petal Jam - Recipes and Stories from a Summer in Poland'', published by Tabula Books, which won the 2012 Gourmand Award. Gerstenberg Verlag published a German language version 'Rosenmarmelade', which also won a Gourmand Award in 2014. Target and Zatorska produced 'Sugared Orange - Recipes and Stories from a Winter in Poland' published by Tabula in October 2013. Target has made recent film profiles of artist

Tim Storrier Tim Storrier AM (born 13 February 1949, Sydney) is an Australian artist who won the 2012 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize with ''The Lunar Savant'', a portrait of fellow artist McLean Edwards. Tim won the 2012 Archibald Prize for a 'facel ...

, iconic Australian actor/director John Bell, and theatre director

Simon Stone Simon Stone (born 19 August 1984) is an Australian film and theatre director, writer and actor. Early life Stone is Australian, but was born in Basel and grew up in Cambridge and Melbourne. His father, Stuart Stone, was a biochemist and his mot ...

br>(The Talented Mr Stone)
His feature-length documentary
A Town Called Brzostek
' won the Ewa Pięta Award for Best Film at th
Ann Arbor Polish Film Festival
and the 2015 Humanitarian Award
PFFA
Chicago. It also won first prize at the Warsaw and Bucharest Jewish Film Festivals, and was selected for the Berlin Jewish Film Festival 2015. Translated into French and Hebrew, the film has been shown in many countries, including in synagogues in Oswięcim (Auschwitz), Paris and London, and to Israeli students in Tel Aviv embarking on tours of Poland. In 2017 Target travelled to remote parts of

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

to make the self filmed feature 'The Polish Missionaries'. The story of Catholic priests and nuns building clinics and schools in an often hostile environment premiered in Sydney Nov 2018 and in May 2019 at the Kraków Film Festival. It was later shown at the Dwa Brzegi (Two Riverbanks) Festival in the medieval town of

Kazimierz Dolny Kazimierz Dolny () is a small historic town in eastern Poland, on the right (eastern) bank of the Vistula river in Puławy County, Lublin Voivodeship. Historically it belongs to Lesser Poland, and in the past it was one of the most important citie ...

. ABCtv screened a narrated and abridged version on its religious affairs program Compass in August 2019. In April 2016 Simon Target was decorated by the Polish Ministry of Culture.

References

External links

The Academy - official web site
* (incomplete)
Opera Australia

at Tabula Books {{DEFAULTSORT:Target, Simon Australian documentary filmmakers Australian film directors 1962 births Living people