PASCALL PRIZE FOR CRITICAL WRITING

2007 Winner

Paul Byrnes

Paul Byrnes is a film critic, journalist and consultant film programmer.

He has been a film critic for The Sydney Morning Herald for fifteen years. He joined the newspaper in 1976 and spent a decade in general reporting, before specialising in film. Postings included two years as the Herald's correspondent in Papua New Guinea, one year covering NSW state politics and four years as a senior feature writer, for The Good Weekend. Positions held at the paper include: arts editor, features editor, foreign editor, and chief of staff for the 1984 election campaign. He has covered assignments in India, Laos, the South Pacific, Germany, USA and the UK. He began reviewing films full-time for The Sydney Morning Herald in 1985.

In 1989, he left the paper to become director of the Sydney Film Festival. He occupied this post for 10 years, during which the festival doubled in size, both in program and audience numbers. For his efforts to promote documentary in the festival, he was given honorary membership of the Australian Screen Directors Association in 1998. He is also an Honorary Life Member of the Sydney Film Festival.

He returned to film criticism at the Herald in 1997, initially on a part-time basis while still director of the festival, then full-time from 1998. His reviews have appeared weekly in the SMH for the past ten years.  His articles on film have appeared in various Australian and international publications. He also writes for the Australian edition of Travel and Leisure.

Since 1999, he has have also programmed the screenings for the 1999 Australian Documentary Conference in Adelaide, taught short courses in film in the adult education program at Sydney University and programmed successful seasons of Australian film in New York and Berlin for the Australian Film Commission. In 2001/02, he was a specialist consultant to the National Museum of Australia on their audio visual displays in the year before the Museum opened.

In 2002/03, he produced, wrote and directed (with producer/director Penny McDonald) Film Australia’s Immigration,  a survey of the politics and propaganda of more than 100 immigration films made in Australia since 1945. This DVD won a Focal International award in May, 2005, for best use of archive footage in a digital medium, and a 2005 ATOM (Australian Teachers of Media) award for best multi-media production.

Since 2005, Paul has been Curator of feature films for Australian screenonline, a website launched in July 2007. It showcases downloadable clips from hundreds of Australian films, for education and public use. The website is funded by the Australian Film Commission.

On winning the Pascall Prize, Paul said:

'I am absolutely thrilled to be chosen for this year's Geraldine Pascall Prize. It has been won by some people I respect very much, so it's an honour to be in their company. I've always told myself awards don't mean much, but that's only true when you're not winning them. Knowing that some of your colleagues value your work is a good feeling.'