About
Austin Andrews is a Vancouver-based film director, editor, motion designer and photojournalist. His favourite fruit is the avocado.
As Director
At 16 Austin directed his first feature film, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts-backed thriller Oblivion. After languishing for two years in post-production, Oblivion was eventually released in 2004 to general indifference. He wasn't too torn up about that though. Its moment -- if there ever was one -- had passed.
His follow-up film, the acclaimed Australian family film How My Next Door Neighbour Discovered Life On Mars, was rather more successful. Released in September 2005, "Mars" went on to screen to festival audiences of two million on every continent and won over fifteen awards, including the prestigious Warner Roadshow Studios Queensland New Filmmaker of the Year award for Austin in 2006.
Also in 2006, his candy-coloured short Kite Circuit premiered at the 5th Tribeca Film Festival to strong notice from Variety and Film Threat. The ten minute film follows a cast of 27 through nine crisscrossing stories across one city block in the same one minute of time.
Austin's newest film Frog is now on the festival circuit. Premiering at the 29th Vancouver International Film Festival, Frog brings a relationship into focus and back out again in one continuous six-block, two-neighbourhood take. The film stars Smallville's Allison Mack, Chad Krowchuk (Mentors) and Tom Braidwood (The X-Files).
On the television side, he has directed commercials for clients including Samsung, Globalstar Australia, Rand Merchant Bank, New Zealand Career College and Think Mobile, and episodes of Hollywood's 10 Best This Week.
As Photojournalist
Austin’s acclaimed photojournalism work includes spot news and feature reportage on five continents.
Based for a year in Johannesburg, Austin documented ethnic clashes, World Cup preparations and the lead up to South Africa's fourth democratic elections for The Times newspaper. He also undertook long-term projects for the governments of South Africa and the European Union, and NGOs including Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and the International Organization for Migration.
Covering the war in Afghanistan in 2011, Austin profiled Canada's role in the NATO-led ISAF military campaign in Kabul and Kandahar. While in Kabul, he also provided additional on-the-ground reporting and correspondence for BBC World News during the September terror attacks, and covered Afghanistan's first-ever rock music festival for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
His photo essay A Black Hole in the Rainbow Nation documented the plight of Zimbabwean refugees fleeing political and economic turmoil at home. Other recent stories include the rebuilding of Burma after Cyclone Nargis and a book project looking at Mexico in its bicentenary of independence.
His photography has appeared in magazines including Foreign Policy, Maclean's and Intersection, and in the online editions of National Geographic and TIME.
As Editor
A three time Telly Award-winning editor, Austin has cut over thirty hours of broadcast television, including episodes of A&E's Emmy Award-winning Biography and the internationally syndicated Inside Entertainment.
In April 2011 he wrapped work on the feature film Replicas, starring Selma Blair (Hellboy) and James D'Arcy (Master and Commander). The film is slated for an early 2012 theatrical release through Kinosmith and Freestyle Releasing. He is currently editing the feature documentary Hue for Vancouver's Sepia Films in association with CBC and the National Film Board.
He has also designed motion graphics for clients including Sony, Disney, LG, Flight Centre, Globalstar Australia and Rand Merchant Bank.
Education
Austin graduated in 2005 with a Bachelor in Film and Television from Bond University in Queensland, Australia. He has completed short courses in directing from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS), and in 2010 was selected for the prestigious Barnstorm XXIII Eddie Adams photojournalism workshop in New York.
