David Ward(XXXIV)
- Director
- Writer
- Editor
One of Australia's most mercurial and unique creative voices, David (John Scott) Ward is a writer, director, editor and visual artist. He has been working as a film and theatre maker for over a decade, and in this time, he has worked extensively as not only a writer and director, but also a performer, dancer, set/graphic/sound designer, choreographer, visual artist and photographer, to name a few. It is this versatility that has allowed him to translate his talents across numerous film and theatrical ventures.
Ward began his career as an actor, spending a good ten years on-stage before beginning his career in theatre-making as an Artist in Residence for Courthouse Arts from 2008 - 2010. Here, Ward wrote, directed, designed and performed in several full-scale works, before going on to study Film & Television at Swinburne University. In three years, Ward created numerous highly-acclaimed short films, documentaries and music videos. He won his first ATOM Award for 'Best Experimental Film' in 2013 for his body-horror short Womb (2013), and would later win the same award in 2014 for his next film, Dorothy (2014); the latter of which also won him awards for 'Best Director' at the Oregon International Film Festival, and the Accolade Award for 'Best Experimental Film', as well as a nomination for 'Best Screenplay' at the Maverick Movie Awards.
Soon after graduating from film school, Ward returned to the theatre - directing, designing and choreographing numerous plays and musicals, including The Shape of Things (2014, Not The Worst Productions), the Australian premiere of High Fidelity (2014, Pursued by Bear), The Birds (2015, Spark Production Company) and Gruesome Playground Injuries (2015, NewCharacter). Of course, he continued to work in film during this time, conceiving and directing acclaimed music videos for Hoodlem (2015), Esther Holt (2015) and Ben Folds (2016), to name a few.
Ward has enjoyed stints as 'Resident Filmmaker' for The Australian Ballet (2015 - 2019) and Content Director for AKA Australia (2019 - 2020). He is now in development for his debut feature film, 'Lenore'. With a passion for experimentation and a deeply macabre sensibility in his work, Ward strives to make works that are wholly singular, tells significant, shocking and dangerous stories, and challenge audiences through radical examples of content and form.
Ward began his career as an actor, spending a good ten years on-stage before beginning his career in theatre-making as an Artist in Residence for Courthouse Arts from 2008 - 2010. Here, Ward wrote, directed, designed and performed in several full-scale works, before going on to study Film & Television at Swinburne University. In three years, Ward created numerous highly-acclaimed short films, documentaries and music videos. He won his first ATOM Award for 'Best Experimental Film' in 2013 for his body-horror short Womb (2013), and would later win the same award in 2014 for his next film, Dorothy (2014); the latter of which also won him awards for 'Best Director' at the Oregon International Film Festival, and the Accolade Award for 'Best Experimental Film', as well as a nomination for 'Best Screenplay' at the Maverick Movie Awards.
Soon after graduating from film school, Ward returned to the theatre - directing, designing and choreographing numerous plays and musicals, including The Shape of Things (2014, Not The Worst Productions), the Australian premiere of High Fidelity (2014, Pursued by Bear), The Birds (2015, Spark Production Company) and Gruesome Playground Injuries (2015, NewCharacter). Of course, he continued to work in film during this time, conceiving and directing acclaimed music videos for Hoodlem (2015), Esther Holt (2015) and Ben Folds (2016), to name a few.
Ward has enjoyed stints as 'Resident Filmmaker' for The Australian Ballet (2015 - 2019) and Content Director for AKA Australia (2019 - 2020). He is now in development for his debut feature film, 'Lenore'. With a passion for experimentation and a deeply macabre sensibility in his work, Ward strives to make works that are wholly singular, tells significant, shocking and dangerous stories, and challenge audiences through radical examples of content and form.
