Shine

Shine is an emotionally transcendent drama about one man's extraordinary victory over adversity. It introduces international audiences to Australian filmmaker Scott Hicks and to his star, Geoffrey Rush, one of his country's leading stage actors in his first major screen role.

Inspired by the troubled but ultimately triumphant life of classical pianist David Helfgott, Shine focuses on Helfgott's painful retreat into a private world while still in his early 20's and on the brink of a glittering international career. Spanning the 1950's to the 1980's, Shine dramatizes the deeply moving way in which Helfgott, after a decade of obscurity, achieves both personal and professional fulfillment through the love and support of a remarkable woman. Avoiding the straightforward, linear approach of conventional biography, Shine employs an impressionistic musical structure that intricately counterpoints past and present, to tell a story that has all the power of actuality and the poetry of art.

Joining Rush in Shine is an ensemble cast that includes Armin Mueller-Stahl (Avalon, The Music Box), Noah Taylor (Flirting, The Year My Voice Broke), Oscar-nominee Lynn Redgrave, and Academy Award winner Sir John Gielgud. The film was produced by Jane Scott from a screenplay by Jan Sardi. Geoffrey Simpson (Little Women, Green Card) was director of photography, and Pip Karmel the editor. Shine is a Fine Line Features release.

"This is a story that has fascinated me for years," says Scott Hicks, who first read about Helfgott more than ten years ago in a small newspaper story announcing a concert appearance. Though it was his wife's birthday, Hicks cancelled the celebration and went to see Helfgott perform. "I felt it was something really important and that I had to go and see him," explains Hicks. "I wasn't quite sure what to expect but when David sat down and started to play, he quite simply transported the room. I was utterly captivated."

Instantly struck by the little he'd read and what he had seen on stage, Hicks knew there was a film in Helfgott's story. "This was a story about a winner," Hicks states, "an unlikely hero who achieves the one thing we all desire: he finds his own place in the world, and someone with whom to share life, love, and music. His story is very uplifting and compelling." After the concert Hicks went to see Helfgott and his wife, and told them he was a filmmaker and that he would love to make a film based on David's life. "They, of course, said 'who the hell are you?'" he recalls. It took Hicks a full year to elicit enough goodwill and trust from the Helfgotts to get them to agree.

Hicks goes on to explain his intense attraction to David's story, and his intense need to film it. "I thought there was an apparent contradiction between this eccentric, slightly confused individual and the enormous precision of delivering some of the most complex music ever written. And, in that contradiction, I felt lay a wonderful story. Then, of course, there's the music! David's fantastic repertoire embraces all the massively popular and familiar romantic classics — Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Liszt — all accessible to a vast audience, not merely classical concert goers."

But, as Hicks stresses, "David's music is one thing. David's story is another. It touches people because they recognize that clearly it is about redemption. It's about being able to survive experiences that none of us would want and to come out on the other side — in love, loved, and playing music to audiences." Convinced he had a subject for a film that could move people as much as Helfgott's own performances moved him, Hicks developed the story and struggled to pull the project forward, even as he took time off to write and direct another feature film and to travel to a host of remote locations, from China to Africa, to film a series of award-winning documentaries.

Between these other commitments, Hicks pursued the Helfgott story and by 1990, Jan Sardi was involved as screenwriter, ("Jan became captivated by David in much the way that anyone does," says Hicks.) "Scott had such passion for this story," says Sardi, "that I very much wanted to be involved but, undoubtedly, it's the hardest thing I've done. When you're dealing with someone's life, you tread a fine line between events that are known to have happened and your own creative license. Also, the film must be entertaining, it must begin and end within 110 minutes, and it must take the audience on what is a rollercoaster ride of emotion." Hicks adds, "I'm very aware that in making this film, one is dealing with material that has its origins in someone's life story and it requires great care. It's too easy to be judgmental and it's too easy to draw pop-psychology conclusions."

Hicks and Sardi agreed that Shine would be inspired by Helfgott's life, not a biographical reproduction of that life, nor any sort of documentary. "There is an emotional truth in the story -- and everything has its point of reference in David's experience," stresses Hicks, "but, if we were to try and make David's life, it would be a 20-hour mini-series of extraordinary experiences." Intent upon avoiding "docudrama," Hicks and Sardi wanted to make a film that had the feeling of a work of fiction and that would also have the amount of style one might expect in a story about genius, creativity, and madness. In light of this, they gave Shine a distinctive musical structure, assembling it much like a concerto, David's greatest triumphs having been in the performance of concertos. The screenplay is divided into movements, alternating in rhythm from fast to slow to fast, and uses the standard elements of exposition, development and recapitulation classically associated with the form. With David at the center of every scene, there is no question that the film is conceived as a piece for a soloist playing in conjunction with an orchestra.

In addition, Hicks has given the film certain visual refrains that appear throughout, serving to underscore emotions and to connect the different time frames. David's eyeglasses are one such leitmotif and highlight the character's impaired ability to "see" objective reality clearly at several points in the film. The use of David's hands, whether controlling the keys of the piano, or flailing about in moments of panic is another such device. Finally, the use of aquatic imagery, drawn from David's extremely close relationship to water and swimming, helps tie together every part of the film, beginning with the opening images set in a rainstorm.

During the course of development, Hicks had approached noted producer Jane Scott, who had vast experience with projects both personal (Gillian Armstrong's My Brilliant Career) and popular (Crocodile Dundee I and II and Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom) to produce the film. It took more than two years before she was able to patch together various contributions from France's Pandora Cinema, the BBC and a number of Australian government financing organizations. "I little dreamt it would be so difficult to finance," Jane Scott recalls, "but the script by Jan Sardi kept us inspired."

Noted Australian stage actor Geoffrey Rush was chosen by Hicks to play the adult David Helfgott. "I took the conviction that the character had to be played by an Australian," says Hicks, "and by someone who could appealingly create a very eccentric and idiosyncratic character. Geoffrey, who seems to have specialized in playing difficult characters whose minds wander along the fine edges of sanity, is an actor of status who has no peer in Australia. I was convinced that he was the right choice for the role." Though Rush had had little experience in film, he was more than ready for the challenge. Attracted to what he calls "the big, classical dimensions of the role," the Shakespearian actor recalls that "this was the first screenplay I'd read where I thought 'yes, that's the role for me.'"

Rush's theatrical training came in particularly handy in the staging of the performing scenes. "I did my own stunts at the keyboard," states the actor, who was accustomed to the challenge of learning a new set of skills to enhance a performance.

"I already knew my way around a piano, and I can read music, although very slowly. "I had a fantastic piano tutor to assist me and I worked very hard. If you are going to play Hamlet, you know you've got a big sword fight at the end, so you work on it. I was playing a concert pianist so I needed to pull off those moments and went into training!" Because Rush was up to the task, Hicks had much greater latitude visually and was able to cover the performance scenes from an unlimited number of angles.

Given Helfgott's notoriously difficult repertoire, hand doubling was especially demanding. The musician's favorite work, Rachmaninoff's "Piano Concerto No. 3," is performed by the young David, and duplicating the hand movements, as Rush did, was not possible for the younger actors. Even so, it is crucial that the "Rach 3," as it is called in the film, was not replaced by a simpler, more manageable piece. There are significant links between the Russian composer and the Australian pianist: both were child prodigies, both were internationally known in their teens, both went into extended periods of depression and unproductivity, and both were subjected to exotic treatments and therapies before being restored to active creative life.

With such technical and logistical matters to sort out, "the next difficulty of course," observes Jane Scott, "was finding the two other Davids - the adolescent and the very young child." Noah Taylor, best known for his work in The Year My Voice Broke and Flirting, was the first person the filmmakers saw for the adolescent David. Comments Hicks: "I knew that Noah was an actor who works very differently from most, but who has tremendous instincts. He gave a brilliant audition and I knew I wouldn't have to see anyone else." Says Taylor: "David Helfgott is an incredible man - he really is a very interesting and inspiring character, which was one of the reasons why I was so attracted to the project." About the character whom he shares with Taylor, Rush says "Noah and I had worked together in On Our Selection as brothers and then here we were as the same person! We looked at tiny behavioral details that we thought would be useful echoes from one to the other - how David holds a cigarette, how he adjusts his glasses. By the time we see the adult David he's spent more than a decade in psychiatric institutions and has changed quite considerably, which is a valid justification to have two actors play the one character."

Young Alex Rafalowicz was selected to play David as a child. Says Jane Scott: "It's quite amazing but Alex had something of both Geoffrey and Noah in his look. He gave a very tender portrayal and he was only 7! Young children usually have a problem in focusing and don't always listen to what's being told to them, but Alex was very serious and took everything in."

Oscar-nominee Lynn Redgrave, who was cast to play Gillian, David's wife, convinced Hicks when he saw her one-woman show in Houston. "I immediately thought that she was the actress who could play Gillian," he recalls, "a character who needs to be both tough and energetic, but with a certain vulnerability and softness." For her part, Redgrave was more than happy to return to Australia for work. "My grandfather went to Australia in 1907," she notes, "and stayed there until his death in 1974. He starred in all the early silent movies made there, so I feel some kind of connection to the country. The film also gave me a chance to spend some more time with Sir John, whom I've known since I was a child. He's one of the last of the great actors, like my father, and it was wonderful to share the screen with him." Many of Redgrave's scenes were shared with Geoffrey Rush, of whom she says: "Geoffrey's a great actor, I think because both of us have a background in theater we spoke the same language and we talked through the permutations and possibilities of every little tiny moment!"

The acclaimed German actor Armin Mueller-Stahl who plays David's father, Peter, was suggested by the film's Los Angeles casting director. Says Hicks: "I had seen Armin in The Music Box and could see that he had immense power as an actor, but the attraction for me was that he doesn't exhibit that all the time: he lets it seethe under the surface. He has the ability to be utterly charming as a character but you know underneath there's a time-bomb waiting to explode." Of his character, Mueller-Stahl says, "We see in Peter how too much love can destroy. As a child Peter had wanted to play the violin but his father wouldn't allow it. So he is trying to be the opposite of his father by pushing his son to be a great pianist. But he's a very strong person and he pushes too hard."

It was the script that had first attracted Mueller-Stahl: ("I had a few scripts on my table, but this was by far the best," he notes) and indeed Sardi's screenplay was the reason why Hicks was able to attract such a high caliber cast, including the legendary Sir John Gielgud. "The script is always the calling card," Hicks says. "So much effort had gone into developing this one that it was very rewarding when it all fell into place. Early on in the life of this project I had fantasized about how marvelous it would be if we could actually shoot those scenes between Parkes and David in London, at the Royal College of Music, and how fantastic it would be if someone like Sir John Gielgud would play Parkes. Years went by and it was tremendously exciting when Sir John did finally accept the role. He was full of ideas about how his character would be, what he would wear and he even brought certain items of his own wardrobe with him! He had amazing vitality and energy and a depth of complexity in his performance that few actors ever achieve."

Comments Jane Scott: "It's to Scott's great credit that he was able to work with this extraordinary cast with such confidence. Not everyone would be able to step up in front of Sir John and not feel a little nervous, but Scott was always very much at ease."

Production on Shine began in London in April of 1995, and the two week shoot there proved to be very demanding as pre-planning from Australia was difficult. Comments Jane Scott: "It was extremely hard work moving across the world to start filming in London, but we wanted to give it that flavor of reality. There's great value in that we really do see the Albert Hall, the Royal College of Music and Trafalgar Square. We know we're there, there's no doubt about it and that's very important. At the time though it was very challenging."

In this regard, cinematographer Geoffrey Simpson, who has worked in every imaginable type of location for such renowned directors as Gillian Armstrong, Peter Weir, and Vincent Ward, as well as Hicks, helped immeasurably: "Geoffrey and I have worked together several times in the past and have a very strong relationship. He is an absolute perfectionist and a very skilled artist. I have a strong visual sense of how I want things to look for dramatic purposes. Geoffrey is able to turn that into fantastic pictures with either the moodiest of lighting, or a softer, gentler look for a more romantic situation."

With the London shoot complete, Hicks and Simpson then undertook seven weeks of principal photography at over 40 locations in and around Adelaide: "There were a number of scenes that were very much like David's mind - very fragmented," says Simpson. "Much of the camera work was quite extreme. For instance, in one of the scenes we are looking over a shoulder and purposefully block a bit of the other faces. We get tighter and tighter and end with a frame composed of just one of David's eyes."

It was this ability of the entire creative team to get inside the head and heart of David Helfgott that defines Shine. "The film is," says Hicks, "a story about the power of love, both to destroy and to redeem: It is this emotional current which underscores the drama and explores areas of human experience that we are all touched by. I believe that an audience wants to be taken on an emotional journey and that's what I attempted to do."

Opening in the early 1980's, Shine begins as David (Geoffrey Rush), a man in his forties, stumbles into a wine bar after getting lost one night in driving rain. Although he is wildly eccentric, David charms the bar's owner, Sylvia (Sonia Todd). When Sylvia takes David home, it appears that he is living in some sort of halfway house, under someone's care. Despite his unorthodox lifestyle and personality, Sylvia is impressed with David's brilliant skills as a pianist and gives him a regular job playing at her bar.

David's impromptu performance for Sylvia is, in fact, the first time he has been at a piano in more than a decade. Inspired by this, he is transported back to his childhood in which everything seemed to revolve around the piano. Though just a little boy, David (Alex Rafalowicz) is pushed by his father, Peter (Armin Mueller-Stahl) to excel as a pianist. A Polish-Jewish refugee who emigrated before World War II, Peter is enamored of music, though he himself was denied the opportunity to pursue it. Having lost most of his family in the Holocaust, all Peter has left are his four children, and the only thing of value he has to give them is his beloved music.

Of the four, it is David who possesses an exceptional talent and, under the tutelage of his domineering father, he begins to Shine on the local competition circuit. Then, when Peter is persuaded to get David a proper instructor, the boy's genius wins him accolades on a national level. By the time the child prodigy is a young "star" in his teens (played by Noah Taylor), no less a luminary than Issac Stern offers him a scholarship to study in America, but Peter can't bear the thought of losing David and forbids it.

Bitterly disappointed, David finds himself both flattered and frustrated by his father's love. On the one hand, Peter wants his boy to have everything that he himself was denied as a child. On the other hand, Peter is resentful, even envious, of the opportunities that David enjoys that he could not. For years, Peter has struggled to open doors for his son and now, ironically, he closes them.

Over the next few years David forms a strong and touching relationship with a famous elderly writer, Katharine Susannah Prichard (Googie Withers) and, when another opportunity to study abroad — this time in London — presents itself, she urges David, now in his late teens, to accept. This time David defies Peter's authority and when he sets off for London he is banished from home. At what should be a moment of great pride, Peter feels nothing but betrayal and burns his precious scrapbook filled with clippings of David's prodigious achievements.

At the Royal College of Music in London, David studies under a legendary professor Cecil Parkes (John Gielgud), who is himself something of an eccentric. Parkes recognizes in David the spark of genius and is somewhat oblivious to the fact that David's near-obsessive commitment to the piano leaves him adrift from everyday reality. Separated from family and friends, David's life becomes fragmented — all concertos, cigarettes, and occasional letters from Katharine. It is upon learning of Katharine's death that David loses his last bit of inner strength. Playing the blisteringly difficult Rachmaninoff "Piano Concerto No.3" to an admiring college audience, David's performance is a triumph. But, when it is over, he collapses on stage, the victim of a complete breakdown.

David returns to Australia, where he receives various forms of treatment at various institutions. Though his sister visits him, his father behaves as if his son is dead. What is worse, David is forbidden to play the piano for fear that it might excite him too much. Then, after wandering into Sylvia's bar and re-establishing himself as a performer, life for David begins to change.

A chance meeting with Gillian (Lynn Redgrave), a Sydney astrologer who is visiting Sylvia, develops into friendship, then unlikely romance. And, because Gillian's love is unconditional, free of expectations, envy, or competition, David's chaotic inner life and his undisciplined outer life gain stability for the first time.

David will only see his father once more before the elder Helfgott dies. But with Gillian by his side, David gradually comes to accept his father's death and learns to deal with the traumas of his past. Returning to the concert stage in triumph, with Gillian and the rest of his family in the audience, David the pianist is finally reconciled with David the man, and now both of them are able to Shine.

GEOFFREY RUSH - David, as an adult

One of his country's most acclaimed and distinguished stage actors, Geoffrey Rush's career has spanned more than two decades and over 70 theatrical productions. In 1975 Rush studied for two years at the Jacques Lecoq School of Mime, Movement and Theater in Paris. On his return to Australia he played the Fool opposite Warren Mitchell's "King Lear" and co-starred with Mel Gibson in "Waiting for Godot." He was a principal member of Jim Sharman's "Lighthouse" ensemble in the early 80's, where he played leading roles in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "Twelfth Night," and "The Marriage of Figaro." As a director, he has staged productions for the Queensland Theater Company, the Adelaide Festival, Belvoir Street, and Magpie Theater for Young People, for which he served as director for two years. Rush has also staged his own co-adaptation (with satirist John Clarke) of Aristophanes' "Frogs" at the Belvoir.

In 1989, Rush's lead performance in Neil Armfield's production of "The Diary of A Madman" earned him the Sydney Critics' Circle Award for Most Outstanding Performance, the Variety Club Award for Best Actor and a year later, the Victorian Green Room Award for Best Actor. This highly acclaimed production toured Moscow and St. Petersburg before a triumphant return season at the Adelaide Festival. For the next three years, Rush received Best Actor nominations in the Sydney Critics' Awards for his starring roles in such diverse plays as Gogol's "The Government Inspector," the Sydney Theater Company's production of Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya," and Mamet's "Oleanna." In 1994 he was nominated as Best Supporting Actor as Horatio in the Belvoir production of "Hamlet."

Previous film credits include Gillian Armstrong's Starstruck, Neil Armfield's Twelfth Night, and, most recently, in starring roles opposite Leo McKern and Dame Joan Sutherland in George Whaley's On Our Selection (which also featured his Shine co-star Noah Taylor) and in the forthcoming Children of the Revolution with Judy Davis and Sam Neill. In 1994 Rush received the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award for his work in theater, one of Australia's most prestigious prizes, awarded annually to an individual who has shown himself to be an original artist, capable of initiative and daring in his work.

NOAH TAYLOR - David, as a young man

Noah Taylor, one of Australia's most talented and prolific young actors, is best known for his acclaimed performance as Danny Embling in The Year My Voice Broke and its sequel, Flirting, both directed by John Duigan. He began his career at the St. Martin's Youth Theatre in Melbourne. His stage credits include leading roles in such productions as "Pierrot Lunaire," "Bloody Mama," "Alien in the Park," "The Grim Reaper," "Baron in the Trees" and "Eric and Verna." Taylor's television credits include "A Long Way From Home," "Bangkok Hilton" (produced by Kennedy Miller and starring Nicole Kidman), "The Last Crop," "Inspector Morse - The Promised Land" (starring John Thor), "The Boys from the Bush" and "Jon's Jury."

On screen, Taylor has also starred in Lover Boy (directed by Geoffrey Wright - Romper Stomper), Prisoner of St. Petersburg, Dead to the World, Secrets (screenplay by Jan Sardi), The Nostradamus Kid and since Shine, he has also starred in the feature film True Love and Chaos.

Taylor was nominated for Best Actor by the AFI for his performance in The Year My Voice Broke and Best Supporting Actor for On Our Selection. He has won the Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor three times: in 1988 for The Year My Voice Broke, in 1991 for Flirting and in 1993 for The Nostradamus Kid.

ARMIN MUELLER-STAHL - Peter

German actor Armin Mueller-Stahl is known to international audiences for his performances in such films as Costa-Gavras' highly acclaimed The Music Box (co-starring Jessica Lange), Barry Levinson's Avalon, George Sluizer's Utz, Jim Jarmusch's Night On Earth, John Avildsen's The Power of One and Steven Soderbergh's Kafka.

A native of former East Germany, Mueller-Stahl appeared in 75 feature films and in an even greater number of plays prior to a blacklisting imposed by the government in retaliation for his endorsement of a manifesto critical of the regime. A renaissance man who is also an accomplished violinist, pianist, and painter, he used this "exile" to write the critically-acclaimed ìOrdered Sunday,î a book which chronicles this difficult period in his life.

After emigrating to West Germany in 1980, Mueller-Stahl resumed his acting career under the aegis of the late Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who asked him to star in Lola. This was followed by Veronika Voss (also by Fassbinder), Patrice Chereau's L'Homme Blesse, Andrzej Wajda's A Love in Germany, Istvan Szabo's Academy Award-winning Colonel Redl and Agnieszka Holland's Angry Harvest, for which he won the Best Actor prize at the Montreal Film Festival.

Currently a resident of Los Angeles, Mueller-Stahl's most recent film was Bob Balaban's award-winning drama The Last Good Time, co-starring Olivia D'Abo, Maureen Stapleton, and Lionel Stander. Mueller-Stahl has recently finished working on In the Presence of Mine Enemy and Ogre, directed by Volker Schloendorff. He is currently working on post production of Good Morning Mr. Webster, a film he wrote and directed.

LYNN REDGRAVE - Gillian

The youngest child of Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson is a member of the British acting family that spans five generations and which includes her sister Vanessa, brother Corin, and nieces Natasha and Joely Richardson and Jemma Redgrave. Ms. Redgrave made her professional debut in 1962 in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Royal Court Theatre. She then successfully auditioned for Laurence Olivier and thus became one of the founding members of Britain's National Theatre, which lead to her future career on the London and Broadway stages and in movies and television.

Her first major film brought her the title role in the 1966 Georgy Girl, earning her a Golden Globe and New York Film Critics Award, followed by an Academy Award nomination. Other film credits include Tom Jones, Girl With Green Eyes, The Deadly Affair, Smashing Time, The Virgin Soldiers, The Last Of The Mobile Hotshots, Don't Turn The Other Cheek, The National Health, Every Little Crook And Nanny, Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex, The Happy Hooker, The Big Bus, Sunday Lovers, Morgan Stewart's Coming Home, and Getting It Right.

On Broadway, Redgrave starred in "Black Comedy," "Mrs. Warren's Profession," "Saint Joan," "Aren't We All," "Sweet Sue," and recently "Moon Over Buffalo." On television, Redgrave starred in the series "House Calls," "Centennial" and "Chicken Soup," and in the films "Whatever Happened To Baby Jane," "Death Of A Son," and "Calling The Shots."

Now settled in California with husband John Clark, a theatre producer/director, and their three children, she recently wrote and performed in a play about family relationships, based upon her upbringing as a Redgrave. Called "Shakespeare For My Father," it ran for over nine months on Broadway, earning her a Tony nomination. She was invited to perform it at the Melbourne Festival, and is currently touring the show in America.

JOHN GIELGUD - Cecil Parkes

The remarkable Sir John Gielgud is a highly distinguished and prolific performer who is considered, with Sir Laurence Olivier, as one of the finest actors of his generation. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, Gielgud played his first Hamlet in 1930 and quickly established himself as one of the most eminent Shakespearean interpreters of his time, as well as a respected director. He made his screen debut in 1924 in Who Is The Man? and other starring roles include Hitchcock's Secret Agent in 1936, Mankiewicz's Julius Caesar in 1953, and Olivier's Richard III in 1955. Since the late 1960's he has increasingly appeared in character roles.

Other film credits include: St Joan, The Barretts of Wimpole Street, Becket (for which he was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of King Louis VII of France), Chimes At Midnight, The Loved One, Sebastian, The Charge of the Light Brigade, The Shoes of The Fisherman, Lost Horizon, Galileo, 11 Harrowhouse, Murder on the Orient Express, Providence, Joseph Andrews, Orchestra Conductor, Oh What A Lovely War, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, The Elephant Man, Chariots of Fire, Gandhi, Scandalous, The Shooting Party, Plenty, The Whistle Blower, Bluebeard, Arthur, Arthur 2: On The Rocks, Prospero's Books, Shining Through, The Best of Friends, The Power of One and most recently, First Knight with Sean Connery and Richard Gere.

The more recent of his numerous television credits include the acclaimed series "Brideshead Revisited," "Wagner," "The Far Pavilions," "The Master of Ballantrae," "Oedipus," "War and Remembrance," "Quartermain's Terms," "A Man For All Seasons," "Dante and Virgil," "Scarlett" and "Inspector Alleyn."

Winner of the Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor for his role as Dudley Moore's impeccable butler in Arthur, Gielgud has also written the theatre books - ìEarly Stagesì(1939), ìStage Directionsî (1963) and ìDistinguished Companyî (1972) and ìAn Actor and His Time ìwhich is being republished this year.

GOOGIE WITHERS - Katharine Susannah Prichard

A veteran of numerous British films, since starting her screen career in the mid-1930's, Googie Withers returns to the screen with Shine. Born in India and educated in England, Withers made her stage debut in the West End in 1929 and subsequently played a number of lead roles before premiering on screen in 1934 in The Love Test. Other films include Accused, Crime Over London, Paradise For Two, Haunted Honeymoon, Bulldog Sees It Through, Jeannie, The Silver Fleet, On Approval, Pink String And Sealing Wax, It Always Rains On Sunday, Miranda, Once Upon A Dream, Derby Day and Devil On Horseback. Among the now-classic films she has appeared in are Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes, One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing, Dead Of Night and Night And The City. Since the late fifties, Withers has lived in Australia with her husband, actor/producer John McCallum and has worked principally in the theatre, starring in 35 plays in London, New York and throughout Europe and Australia. She starred in the films Nickel Queen in 1970, Time After Time in 1985 (for which she won an ACE Award for Best Actress). Following that with Hotel Du Lac, Northanger Abbey and Ending Up. Last year, the Australian film, Country Life (an adaptation of "Uncle Vanya") was released worldwide.

SCOTT HICKS - Director

Scott Hicks is an Emmy Award-winning director whose work encompasses films, television drama, and documentaries, as well as commercials and music videos.

Hicks' film, Sebastian and The Sparrow, which he also wrote and produced, was the story of a rich boy and a street kid who team-up to find the latter's mother. The film was a winner in three international film festival competitions, including Frankfurt, where it was awarded the Lucas Prize as Best Film (1990). Following a successful cinema season and television release in Australia, the film was invited to participate in numerous other international festivals.

Hicks also directed and co-wrote the acclaimed documentary series "The Great Wall of Iron," an in-depth portrait of the People's Liberation Army of China in the months prior to Tianenmen Square. The film won the prestigious Peabody Award as Best Documentary Series broadcast in the U.S. in 1989 and became the highest-rated program to air on America's The Discovery Channel until that time.

The four-hour series "Submarines: Sharks of Steel," which he directed and co-wrote, once again broke the ratings record set for The Discovery Channel by his previous work. In 1994 Hicks was awarded the Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement for directing this series. As writer and director Hicks completed "The Space Shuttle," another two hour special commissioned by The Discovery Channel in 1994. His most recent documentary project, "The Ultimate Athlete," is a 90-minute project filmed on a $1.5 budget in Kenya. Hicks began "The Ultimate Athlete" right after presenting Shine in its world premiere at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival.

Hicks, who also directed the Australian miniseries "Finders Keepers" and telefilm "Call Me Mr. Brown," lives in Adelaide, Australia with his wife Kerry Heysen, who served as creative consultant on Shine, and their two sons.

JANE SCOTT - Producer

Jane Scott, since entering the film industry in the UK in the late sixties, has established a prolific production reputation for herself, both at domestic and international levels. The lure of film wrested her from a promising career in magazine journalism. Scott's initial film experience was provided by the British Film Institute, first in distribution and then in production, where she "worked her film apprenticeship." After three years with the BFI it was time to venture out into the world of independent production.

Her first association with the Australian film industry was through Bruce Beresford and The Adventures Of Barry McKenzie in the early seventies, followed a year later by Barry McKenzie Holds His Own. Production roles on various projects saw Scott make many trips to Australia over the next few years.

A permanent resident in Australia from 1979, Scott's producer credits include John Cornell's Crocodile Dundee II, Geoff Bennett's The Boys In The Island, Carl Schultz's Top Kid, Geoff Bennett's On Loan, Philip Noyce's Echoes of Paradise, and Carl Schultz's Goodbye Paradise. International television credits as producer include the award winning BBC series "The Boys from the Bush," directed by Rob Marchand and Shirley Barrett and ABC's "Stephen King's The Tommyknockers," directed by John Power. She also line produced Gillian Armstrong's My Brilliant Career, Henri Safran's Stormboy, David Hemmings' The Survivor, Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom and the international smash hit Crocodile Dundee.

Scott served as a Director on the Board of the South Australian Film Corporation from 1989-1995. Shine represents the culmination of an impressive twenty-five years in the film industry. Scott is currently developing several other film and television projects.

JAN SARDI - Screenwriter

One of Australia's most active screenwriters in film and television, Sardi's feature film credits include Moving Out and Street Hero, both of which were nominated for Best Original Screenplay by the Australian Film Institute and the Australian Writers' Guild, Ground Zero, which received nine AFI nominations, including Best Screenplay and Best Picture and which was a finalist at the 1988 Berlin Film Festival, Secrets and "Just Friends," a telemovie which received the Best Film Award at the Chicago International Festival of Children's Films.

Sardi's television series credits include "Embassy," "Phoenix," "The New Mission: Impossible" and "The Man From Snowy River." His telemovie credits include "The Feds" and "Halifax f.p." In addition, Sardi has written two books - ìA Cast of Thousandsî and the novelization of ìJust Friends,î published by Penguin. Currently, Sardi is adapting ìThe Notebook,î a novel by Nicholas Sparks for New Line Cinema. In July 1996, Sardi won two Australian Writer's Guild Awards (Augies): Best Screenplay for Telemovie "Halifax f.p." and Best Original Screenplay for Shine.

GEOFFREY SIMPSON - Director of Photography

Geoffrey Simpson, one of Australia's most successful directors of photography, is also known for the significant work he has done all around the world. He recently filmed Somebody's Son in Ireland, for director Terry George, which premiered at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Other film credits include Little Women for director Gillian Armstrong, Peter Weir's Green Card shot on location in New York, Jon Avnet's Fried Green Tomatoes, Anthony Minghella's Mr. Wonderful, starring Matt Dillon, Gillian Armstrong's The Last Days of Chez Nous, John Seale's 'Til There Was You and Avnet's The War, which featured Kevin Costner.

Simpson began his career working on documentaries such as The Migrant Experience, Nicaragua No Pasaran and Where Death Wears A Smile. In 1981 he won the Golden Tripod A.C.S. Award for the dramatized television documentary "Breaking Point," which he followed in 1982 with a corporate documentary "Electricity" and the feature film Centrespread, both of which won Golden Tripod A.C.S. Awards that year.

A recipient of numerous accolades, he won the 1985 Golden Tripod A.C.S. Award and Milli Award as Cinematographer of the Year for the feature film Playing Beattie Bow and won an A.C.S. Merit Award in the same year for Scott Hicks' "Call Me Mr. Brown." "The Shiralee," an Australian television mini-series, won him the Silver Tripod A.C.S. Award in 1987, and in 1988, he won the Golden Tripod A.C.S. Award for Kennedy Miller's tele-feature "Riddle of the Stinson." Simpson then completed the acclaimed feature film The Navigator, directed by Vincent Ward, which won both the 1988 Australian Film Industry Award and 1989 New Zealand Film & Television Award for Cinematography.

PIP KARMEL - Editor

Australian editor Pip Karmel is also an award-winning writer/director. In 1993 she directed "The Long Ride," and won Best Tele-feature at the 1994 Australian Film Institute Awards. In 1991 her short drama Fantastic Futures won several awards including the ITVA Grand Mobie and was presented at the New York Film Festival. A graduate of the Australian Film Television and Radio School, Karmel's graduate film, Sex Rules received wide acclaim at international festivals and won the Jury Prize at the 1990 ATOM Awards.

Karmel first worked with director Scott Hicks as first assistant editor on his 1985 tele-feature "Call Me Mr. Brown" and went on to edit his feature film, Sebastian and The Sparrow.

VICKI NIEHUS - Production Designer

Vicki Niehus has credits on ten features and numerous highly rated large budget television movies and commercials. Her first project as a production designer was in 1987 on South Australian made Captain Johnno in 1987, which received an Emmy Award for Best Foreign Children's Film. The main body of Niehus' work has been on period pieces from Victorian and Edwardian to contemporary. These have included the Australian and foreign productions Australie, starring Jeremy Irons, The Time Guardian with Carrie Fisher, and Robbery Under Arms, starring Sam Neill.

LOUISE WAKEFIELD - Costume Designer

Since 1981, Louise Wakefield has been working professionally in the field of costume design for film, TV, theatre and commercials. Early on, she was involved as a costume assistant in Gillian Armstrong's acclaimed film, High Tide. From there, she worked full time as costume designer in films such as Beyond El Rocco, Daydream Believer, The Last Days of Chez Nous, TV shows such as "The Ferals," "Escape from Jupiter," "Mission Top Secret 2," "The Whipping Boy," and stage productions of "Raindancers," "The Homecoming," and "Uncle Vanya." She also worked as assistant costume designer on the Oscar-nominated film Babe. Her most recent film assignments are Fistful of Flies and Doing Time for Patsy Cline.

DAVID HIRSCHFELDER - Music Director and Composer

David Hirschfelder is the musical genius behind Baz Luhrmann's internationally acclaimed feature film Strictly Ballroom. In Australia the film was nominated for a staggering 13 AFI Awards and after being nominated in three categories at the British Film and Television Academy Awards (BAFTA), Hirschfelder took the sole prize for Best Original Score. The soundtrack debuted in the Australian music charts at No.6 and remained in the Top 10 for six weeks.

Hirschfelder has long been regarded as one of the key figures on the Australian music scene. He first sprang to prominence in 1980, performing and composing for his contemporary jazz ensemble Pyramid. In 1983 Pyramid was invited to share top billing at the prestigious Montrieux Jazz Festival.

He has composed numerous scores for film and television and won a Penguin Award for Best Musical Score in 1987 for the multi-award-winning documentary "Suzy's Story." In 1990, Hirschfelder composed the music for the mini-series "Shadows of the Heart," which was nominated as Best TV Theme at the APRA Awards.

Hirschfelder has worked as keyboardist, songwriter, and arranger for Australia's number one artist John Farnham, on his albums "Whispering Jack," "Age of Reason," "Chain Reaction" and "Full House," as well as serving as Farnham's musical director on his numerous record-breaking tours in Australia.

He re-orchestrated, produced and performed on 1992's biggest Australian album, the cast recording of the record-breaking show "Jesus Christ Superstar" which entered the Australian music charts at No.1, went platinum on the first day and double platinum within eight weeks.

As a performer, producer and composer, Hirschfelder has also been featured on albums by Little River Band, Southern Sons, Skyhooks, Dragon, guitar virtuoso Tommy Emmanuel and classical flautist Jane Rutter.

At the 1993 ARIA Awards Hirschfelder was nominated as Producer of the Year for his production of the No.1 song, "Everything's All Right," sung by John Farnham and Kate Ceberano, adding this prestigious accolade to his already impressive list of achievements. From 1994 to 1996 he has composed scores for the following films: Dallas Doll, Life of Harry Dare, Tunnel Vision, Shine and the yet to be released Dating the Enemy.

Fine Line Features' 1996 releases include: Robert Altman's Kansas City, starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Miranda Richardson and Harry Belafonte; Steven Baigelman's Feeling Minnesota, starring Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz; Trevor Nunn's Twelfth Night, starring Helena Bonham Carter, Richard E. Grant, Nigel Hawthorne, Ben Kingsley, and Imogen Stubbs; Charles Matthau's The Grass Harp, starring Piper Laurie, Sissy Spacek, Walter Matthau, Edward Furlong, Jack Lemmon and Nell Carter and Keith Gordon's Mother Night starring Nick Nolte.

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August 12, 1996