Martin Butler (born 1952) is an Australian film and television producer, director, and screenwriter. He is best known the 2015 award-winning film '' Tanna'', and usually collaborates with filmmaker Bentley Dean and editor Tania Nehme.

Early life and education

Martin Butler was born in England in 1952. He studied politics and economics at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, and afterwards worked for the manager of

The Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

. He migrated to Australia in 1981.

Career

Butler has spent much of his career as a long-form current affairs television producer. He spent six years working on

ABC Television ABC Television most commonly refers to: *ABC Television Network of the American Broadcasting Company, United States, or *ABC Television (Australian TV network), a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia ABC Television or ABC ...

's ''

Four Corners Four Corners is a region of the Southwestern United States consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona, and northwestern corner of New Mexico. Most of the Four Corners regio ...

'', where he directed and produced several episodes, and served for 10 years as supervising or associate producer on ''

Foreign Correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

''. Moving to

SBS Television The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from tax revenue. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS World Movies, SBS ...

, he became supervising producer for Dateline. ''First Footprints'' is a four-part television series directed by Butler and Bentley Dean and narrated by

Ernie Dingo Ernest Ashley Dingo Member of the Order of Australia, AM (born 31 July 1956) is an Indigenous Australians, Indigenous Australian actor, television presenter and comedian, originating from the Yamatji people of the Murchison (Western Australia), ...

, which premiered on 14 July 2013 on

. The series won the

Walkley Documentary Award The Walkley Documentary Award is an Australian award presented annually since 2011 as part of the Walkley Awards The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media includ ...

in 2013. In 2009, he co-directed '' Contact'' with Bentley Dean. The film tells the story of 20

Martu people The ''Martu'' (Mardu) are a grouping of several Aboriginal Australian peoples in the Western Desert cultural bloc. Name The Martu people were originally speakers of various Wati languages in the Western Desert dialect continuum whose identit ...

who in 1964 became the last people in the

Great Sandy Desert The Great Sandy Desert is an interim Australian bioregion,IBRA Version 6.1
data

to have come into contact with Europeans. The film won many awards. Other films, made in collaboration with Bentley Dean, include '' Tanna'' (director, producer, and writer) (2015), and ''A Sense of Self'' (director, producer) (2016). For ''Tanna'', he received a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at

89th Academy Awards The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best 2016 in film, films of 2016, and took place on February 26, 2017, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Californ ...

Accolades

*2013: Winner,

in the

Walkley Award The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...

s, for ''First Footprints'' *2017: Winner, Walkley Documentary Award, for ''A Sense of Self''; awarded to Liz Jackson, Martin Butler, Bentley Dean, and editor Tania Nehme

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Martin Australian film producers Australian film directors Australian screenwriters Living people 1952 births Walkley Award winners