Peter Weir Receives First AFTRS Lifetime Achievement Award

Peter Weir has received the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award from the Australian Film Television and Radio School.

The retired 81-year-old Australian director and screenwriter was presented with the honour at an event hosted by the Sydney Film Festival. His films include Dead Poets Society, The Truman Show, Picnic at Hanging Rock and Gallipoli.

The award was presented by AFTRS council chair Rachel Perkins. During the event Perkins described Weir as “the greatest film-maker this country has produced”.

Perkins, who founded and co-directed Blackfella Films from 1992 until 2022, also spoke about the impact of Weir’s work on Aboriginal audiences.

“As Aboriginal people, we felt seen in your films.”

She said Weir was able to “define what we call Australian culture” through the themes of mateship and anti-authoritarianism in Gallipoli.

AFTRS said the decision to give Weir its first lifetime achievement award was unanimous. The award recognises his “global influence on craft, form and storytelling”.

Weir made 13 films across a 43-year career. His work includes important Australian New Wave films such as the 1977 thriller The Last Wave, starring David Gulpilil. He later worked in Hollywood on films including Dead Poets Society and The Truman Show.

In his acceptance speech Weir reflected on the unusual experience of looking back at his career.

“As film-makers, you move from picture to picture and you don’t look back much,” Weir said in his acceptance speech. “Now is the time of my life where I do look back, so something like this is a very lovely thank you of a kind. I appreciate it very much.”

Weir retired in 2024. The same year he received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival. In 2022 he received an honorary Oscar from the Academy. Speaking in Sydney he said it was “quite overwhelming” to receive such praise in his home city.

After the presentation Weir joined actor Rob Carlton for the annual Ian McPherson Lecture. During the conversation he said he had initially turned down the opportunity to direct The Truman Show.

The dystopian comedy was written by New Zealand-born Andrew Niccol. Weir said he could not stop thinking about the script after turning it down and later called his agent to reverse the decision. His agent had been waiting for him to change his mind and told him: “I know how you work.”

Weir also spoke about Robin Williams. He said he met Williams by chance on a beach in Sydney’s northern beaches a year before they made Dead Poets Society together. Weir recalled inviting Williams back to his lawn for coffee while they were still in their swimmers and saying to the actor: “Wouldn’t it be great to do something together?”

The conversation also covered Weir’s decision to cast Linda Hunt in the male role of Billy Kwan in The Year of Living Dangerously. He also spoke about his passion for music, the effect of Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers and the “mercurial, uncontrollable, unknowable” process of filmmaking.

The AFTRS Lifetime Achievement Award will now be presented each year to individuals whose career-long achievements have made a lasting contribution to the screen or audio industries.