Sophie Hyde

Sophie Hyde is an Australian film director, writer and producer based in Adelaide, South Australia. She is co-founder of Closer Productions at Glenside and best known for her award-winning debut fiction film, 52 Tuesdays.

Sophie Hyde
Alma materFlinders University
La Trobe University
OccupationFilm director/writer/producer
Notable work
52 Tuesdays
Spouse(s)Bryan Mason
ChildrenAudrey Mason-Hyde
Websitehttp://closerproductions.com.au/

Biography

Early life and career

As a teenager in Adelaide, Hyde learnt acting skills at the Unley Youth Theatre (later Urban Myth and now SAYarts), where she met some of her future colleagues. She later studied film theatre at Flinders University in Adelaide and followed up at La Trobe University in Melbourne, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1988.[1][2][3]

Returning to Adelaide based on funding supplied to make a film about women's toilets, in 2005 she re-met her now partner Bryan Mason, editor and cinematographer. Since then they have shared both a personal and professional relationship, both working out of their company Closer Productions in suburban Adelaide and parenting their child Audrey Mason-Hyde.[1][2]

Work

Hyde and Mason started making videos for nightclubs and dance shows, then moved to documentary films. After becoming friends with choreographer and dancer Tanja Liedtke, they started making a documentary about her. After the dancer's untimely death in a traffic accident in Sydney in 2007, they completed the film and named it Life in Movement, which was named best work at the 2011 Ruby Awards for the arts, won the 2011 Foxtel Australian Documentary Prize[4] and won AACTA nominations for direction and for best feature documentary.[5][1]

Hyde completed her first feature film as director, co-writer and co-producer, 52 Tuesdays, filmed in Adelaide in 2013, then spent a year promoting it.[1] This film earned many accolades, including World Cinema Dramatic Directing Award for Hyde at Sundance in 2014[2] and a Crystal Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.[4]

Hyde's next project was a six-part TV series called Fucking Adelaide (aka F*!#ing Adelaide), commissioned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Screen Australia, aired on national TV from 15 July 2018 and ABC iview[6] after debuting at the Adelaide Film Festival in 2017. A dark comedy about "home, family, identity and the 'small town-ness' of Adelaide", each episode was a part of a story told from a different character’s perspective, including a character played by Hyde's child Audrey and also starring Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Brendan Maclean and Kate Box as three siblings who respond to their mother's (played by Pamela Rabe) request to return to the family home in Adelaide.[7][1] Hyde has said that "It’s about the beautiful side of family, but also the negative side of being around people who feel like they know you, but perhaps don't allow you to change."; also that it reflects her love of Adelaide, which is greater once one has been away. The title started out as a joke, reflecting how Hyde felt about returning to Adelaide after being away — "both comforting and claustrophobic".[3] Co-written by Matthew Cormack and Matt Vesely and produced by Rebecca Summerton,[7] it was in competition at the Séries Mania International Festival in France2018,[4] and screened in Berlin.[3]

In 2018 Hyde made Animals, based on the novel of the same name by Emma Jane Unsworth, in Dublin. This was her first feature film shot abroad, and was screened in the Premieres category at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and as an Adelaide Film Festival "pop-up" event in April 2019.[4][8]

In January 2019 it was announced that a drama mini-series called The Hunting would be screened later in the year on SBS TV, produced and directed by Hyde and starring Richard Roxburgh, Asher Keddie, Pamela Rabe, Sam Reid, Jessica De Gouw, Elena Carapetis and Sachin Joab.[9]

In My Blood It Runs, directed by Gayby Baby director Maya Newell, produced by Hyde, Rachel Nanninaaq Edwardson, Larissa Behrendt and Maya Newell and made in collaboration with Arrernte and Garrwa people in the Northern Territory, had its world premiere at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto in April/May 2019. It follows the story of 10-year-old Dujuan Hoosan a healer and hunter, as his family try to give him an Arrernte education alongside the western education system.[10]

Closer Productions

Hyde is co-founder, along with Mason, of the film production company Closer Productions. This is based in the Adelaide suburb of Glenside, sharing the historic former administration building of Glenside Hospital with the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC).

Other members of the Closer team are Mason (editor, DOP, producer, director);[11] Matthew Bate (writer, director);[12] Rebecca Summerton (producer);[13] Matthew Cormack (writer, sales/delivery);[14] Raynor Pettge (visual effects, editor);[15] and Matt Vesely (development manager, writer, director).[16][17]

Filmography

Film
  • Ok, Let's Talk About Me (2005) - short documentary. Producer, director.[18]
  • The Road to Wallaroo (2006) - short documentary biography. Producer, director.[19]
  • My Last Ten Hours with you (2007) - short drama/ romance LGBT-themed film, included in the Boys on Film DVD series (6: Pacific Rim). Director.[20]
  • Necessary Games (2009) - short drama/fantasy. Producer, co-director (with Kat Worth).[21]
  • Elephantiasis (2010) - short film. Producer, director. Winner, Best Director, World of Women Film Festival.[22][23]
  • Life in Movement (2011) - documentary about dancer and choreographer Tanja Liedtke. Producer/director/writer.[24]
  • Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure (2011) - documentary/comedy/drama (written and directed by Matthew Bate). Producer.[25]
  • 52 Tuesdays (2014) - drama. Producer, director, co-writer with Matthew Cormack.[26][27]
  • Sam Klemke's Time Machine (2015) - feature length documentary (written and directed by Matthew Bate). Producer.[28]
  • My Best Friend is Stuck on the Ceiling (2015) - short comic film (written and directed by Matt Vesely). Co-producer.[29][30]
  • Animals (2019) - comedy/drama. Producer/director.[31]
  • In My Blood It Runs (formerly Kids) (2019) - documentary (directed by Maya Newell and others). Producer.[32]

Television

Video
  • Beyond Beliefs: Muslims & Non-Muslims in Australia (2007) - documentary. Producer, writer.[36]

Awards
Further information: 52 Tuesdays — Accolades
  • Numerous nominations and awards for 52 Tuesdays.[37]
  • Melbourne International Film Festival 2009 — Best Experimental Short Film — Winner (with Kat Worth) — Necessary Games
  • AACTA Awards 2012 — Best Feature Length Documentary — Nominee (shared with Bryan Mason) — Life in Movement (2011)
  • AACTA Awards 2012 — Best Feature Length Documentary — Nominee (shared with Matthew Bate) — Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure (2011)
  • AACTA Awards 2012 — Best Direction in a Documentary — Nominee (shared with Bryan Mason) — Life in Movement (2011)
  • Screen Producers Australia (SPA) Awards 2018 - Online Series Production of the Year – Winner (Closer Productions) – Fucking Adelaide (2017)[38]

Other awards for Closer Productions
  • APDG Award for Costume Design for a Web Series 2018 — Nominee (Renate Henschke) — Fucking Adelaide (2017)[39]
  • Adobe Award for Production Design for a Web Series 2018 — Nominee (Amy Baker) — Fucking Adelaide (2017)[39]

See also

References
  1. Debelle, Penelope (6 July 2018). "Sophie's independent streak". SA Weekend. The Advertiser. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  2. Frangos, Daniela (10 July 2018). "Creative Couples: Sophie Hyde and Bryan Mason". The Broadsheet. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  3. "Adelaide on-screen: alumna Sophie Hyde directs a short series". LaTrobe University. 11 September 2017. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  4. "Animals". Sundance Institute. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  5. "Choreographer's tale tops awards". AdelaideNow. 10 September 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  6. F*!#ing Adelaide on iview
  7. Frangos, Daniela (2 October 2018). "Fucking Adelaide Goes National". The Broadsheet. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  8. "Animals". Adelaide Film Festival. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  9. "Asher Keddie and Richard Roxburgh to star in new SBS drama The Hunting: Media release". SBS Television. 17 January 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  10. Keast, Jackie (20 March 2019). "'In My Blood It Runs' to make world premiere at Hot Docs". if.com.au. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  11. Bryan Mason on IMDb
  12. Matthew Bate on IMDb
  13. Rebecca Summerton on IMDb
  14. Matthew Cormack on IMDb
  15. Raynor Pettge on IMDb
  16. Matthew Vesely on IMDb.
  17. "Info". Closer Productions. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  18. Ok, Let's Talk About Me on IMDb
  19. The Road to Wallaroo on IMDb
  20. "My Last Ten Hours with You". Closer Productions. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  21. Necessary Games on IMDb
  22. Elephantiasis on IMDb
  23. {Elephantiasis (Closer Productions)
  24. Life in Movement on IMDb
  25. Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure on IMDb
  26. 52 Tuesdays on IMDb
  27. "52 Tuesdays". Closer Productions. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  28. Sam Klemke's Time Machine on IMDb
  29. My Best Friend Is Stuck on the Ceiling on IMDb
  30. "My Best Friend Is Stuck on the Ceiling". Closer Productions. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  31. Animals on IMDb
  32. "In My Blood It Runs". Closer Productions. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  33. "Fucking Adelaide". Closer Productions. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  34. Fucking Adelaide on IMDb
  35. "F*!#ing Adelaide". ABC iview. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  36. Beyond Beliefs: Muslims & Non-Muslims in Australia on IMDb
  37. "Sophie Hyde: Awards". IMDB. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  38. Keast, Jackie (23 November 2018). "Guesswork Television, Bunya Productions top SPA Awards". if.com.au. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  39. "2018 APDG Awards Winners". ADPG. Retrieved 9 April 2019.

Further reading
Video
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