Alister Grierson
2021Alister Grierson is an Australian film director and scriptwriter. Born in Canberra in 1969, he completed his secondary schooling at Canberra Grammar, graduated in Economics and Arts from the Australian National University and studied Japanese in Tokyo. As an under 18 Australian Rules player, he represented the ACT in the Teal Cup but later switched codes to Rugby, playing 1st grade both for his school and the ANU. Whilst at university, his interest in film-making developed, and he later gained a Master of Arts in Directing at AFTRS. He has shot 15 short films winning three Tropfest awards and is the director of the feature film, Kokoda, which he co-wrote.
In 2009 Grierson was invited on to the Avatar set during shooting by James Cameron, and was selected to direct a 3D cave-diving drama Sanctum, using the Cameron-developed Fusion Camera System. The script is inspired by the near-death experience of one of the writers, Andrew Wight, who was trapped in a cave collapse under the Nullarbor Plain. It was shot at Warner Roadshow Studios on the Queensland Gold Coast, and the film opened February 4th 2011. By mid-March the film had joined the top ten Worldwide Box Office Results (Australian Films): All Time, and is now in ninth position with a reported gross of $71,209,310.
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Nullarbor Dreaming
Alister Grierson
A record cave dive in Pannikin Plains Cave on the Nullarbor Plain, where flash floods turned the expedition into a life-or-death adventure. This was captured on film by his support team, and eventually published as Nullarbor Dreaming. This short film launched his career as an international film-maker and culminated in him becoming James Cameron's right-hand man on many 3D and other film projects. Sanctum was inspired by his Nullarbor experience
Nullarbor Dreaming
Parer's War
Alister Grierson
Matthew Le Nevez, Adelaide Clemens
Parer's War is the true story of World War II frontline cameraman, Damien Parer, whose work won Australia’s first Oscar. His desperate efforts to return to the battlefield to capture what he believed was the ‘truth’ of war were thwarted by his own government. Caught between two worlds, his own personal demons almost cost him the woman he loved.
Parer's War
Sanctum
Alister Grierson
Richard Roxburgh, Ioan Gruffudd
Master diver Frank McGuire has explored the South Pacific's Esa-ala Caves for months. But when his exit is cut off in a flash flood, Frank's team—including 17-year-old son Josh and financier Carl Hurley are forced to radically alter plans. With dwindling supplies, the crew must navigate an underwater labyrinth to make it out.
Sanctum