John Heyer was committed to the whole process of filmmaking from the initial research phase to distribution and exhibition.
16 Facts About John Heyer
1.
2.
John Heyer moved to England in 1956 where he continued to make films for Shell, and then through his own company.
3.
John Heyer was born in Devonport, Tasmania, the son of a doctor.
4.
Janet Heyer died in 1969, and John Heyer died in 2001 in London, England.
5.
John Heyer made commercials, training films and documentaries, his first documentary being New Pastures for the Milk Board.
6.
John Heyer strongly supported government involvement in film production and, when the Australian National Film Board was established in 1945, he was appointed its first senior producer.
7.
John Heyer worked with another young filmmaker of the period, Damien Parer and they became good friends, actively reading contemporary avant-garde cinema journals, which analysed the work and theories of European and Russian filmmakers, and watching such Soviet films as The Battleship Potemkin.
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Damien Parer 8.
John Heyer was president of the Australian Council of Film Societies and the Sydney Film Society, and was involved in the establishment of the Sydney and Melbourne Film Festivals.
9.
John Heyer left the government film unit to head the Shell Film Unit in 1948.
10.
John Heyer was asked to produce a documentary that would capture the essence of Australia and in so doing associate Shell with Australia.
11.
For John Heyer, production was only the beginning of the process.
12.
John Heyer saw distribution as being a critical issue for documentaries and was committed to developing good distribution networks.
13.
In 1977, John Heyer had done extensive research to establish the predicted area the Pandora wreck was in and launched a discovery expedition with the help of Steve Domm.
14.
John Heyer lived in England for the rest of his life, but maintained a base in Australia, and regularly travelled between the two countries.
15.
In other words, John Heyer believed that documentary had to tell the truth about its subject but that it could use any of the tools at its disposal: re-enactment, drama, history, science.
16.
John Heyer's films garnered over 20 awards at various international film festivals.