Jennifer Peedom is an Australian filmmaker, known for her 2015 feature-length documentary film Sherpa.

Jennifer Peedom
Jen Peedom
Born
Jennifer Peedom

Alma materRMIT, Melbourne
Occupation(s)Director, producer
Years active2000–present
SpouseMark Rogers

Early life and education edit

Jennifer Peedom was born in Canberra, Australia.[citation needed]

She graduated with a Bachelor of Business (Honours) from RMIT in Melbourne in 1997.[1]

Career edit

Her documentary Solo (co-directed with David Michôd) won the 2009 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Documentary in Under One Hour. It also won the Film Critics Circle of Australia Award and the Australian Directors' Guild award, as well as six major awards at international film festivals.[1]

In 2012, Peedom lectured on documentary film at AFTRS.[1]

Her film Sherpa, which was filmed during the 2014 Mount Everest avalanche,[2][3][4] won the 2015 Grierson Award for Best Documentary at the BFI London Film Festival.[5] It premiered internationally at the Telluride Film Festival[6] and also screened at Toronto Film Festival[7] and received a BAFTA nomination in 2016 for Best Documentary.[8][9]

In 2017 she directed Mountain, a collaboration the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) with script by Robert Macfarlane,[10] narrated by Willem Dafoe.[11] It screened theatrically in 27 countries and went on to become the highest grossing non-IMAX Australian documentary of all time[12] (as of 3 March 2022, third). [13] It won three AACTA Awards in 2018.[14]

In 2021 Peedom co-directed, with Joseph Nizeti, River, a documentary about rivers with a similar scope and format as Mountain. The film is also written by Macfarlane, narrated by Dafoe, and accompanied by a soundtrack by the ACO.[12]

Awards and recognition edit

In 2004, Peedom was named NSW Young Telstra Business Woman of the Year.[1]

She was the winner of the inaugural David and Joan Williams Documentary Fellowship in 2011.[1]

Stranger Than Fiction edit

Peedom is co-founder, with producer Jo-Anne McGowan, of film production company Stranger Than Fiction. Producer Blayke Hoffman is also with the company as of 2024, which is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The company has produced most of Peedom's films.[15]

Personal life edit

As of 2022 Peedom is married to stills photographer Mark Rogers, and they have two children.[16]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e "CV". Jennifer Peedom. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  2. ^ Kay, Jeremy (16 September 2015). "Sherpa director: how I tackled Everest". The Guardian.
  3. ^ Utichi, Joe (24 November 2015). "'Sherpa' doc director Jennifer Peedom on filming through Everest tragedy & giving the sherpas a voice". Deadline.com.
  4. ^ Brill, Karen (11 November 2015). "Watch: 'Sherpa' Director Jennifer Peedom on the Tragic Cost of Making a Movie on Mt. Everest (Exclusive)". Indiewire.com.
  5. ^ "59th BFI London Film Festival award winners". British Film Institute.
  6. ^ "'Sherpa' and 'Winter on Fire' Display Good Timing at Telluride Film Festival". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  7. ^ Kay, Jeremy (16 September 2015). "Sherpa director: how I tackled Everest". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  8. ^ "2016 Film Documentary | BAFTA Awards". BAFTA Awards. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  9. ^ Nicholson, Laura (14 September 2015). "TIFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Jennifer Peedom - 'Sherpa'". Women and Hollywood. Archived from the original on 9 December 2015. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  10. ^ Israel, Janine (13 June 2017). "Mountain review: a sublime rush of adrenaline and orchestral beauty from the director of Sherpa". The Guardian.
  11. ^ "Review: 'Mountain' Features Frightening Sights and Breathtaking Image". Nytimes.coms. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  12. ^ a b Jefferson, Dee (24 March 2022). "River: Australian documentary narrated by Willem Dafoe highlights the importance and precarity of rivers worldwide". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  13. ^ "All-time top 10 Australian documentaries at the box office, ranked by total reported gross Australian box office". Screen Australia. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  14. ^ "Winners & Nominees". AACTA. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  15. ^ "Home". Stranger Than Fiction. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  16. ^ Junker, Ute (25 March 2022). "'We were like magnets': The friends who bridged a 20-year age gap to fall in love". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 April 2022.