Swinburne lecturer wins Screen Producers Australia lifetime award
In Summary
- Swinburne’s Michael McMahon honoured with a Screen Producers Australia Lifetime Achievement Award
- Mr McMahon is Matchbox Pictures Executive Chairman and a Swinburne Film and Television Lecturer
- Matchbox Pictures series Nowhere Boys has also won a BAFTA award
A Swinburne Film and Television lecturer has been honoured with a Screen Producers Australia Lifetime Achievement Award.
Swinburne’s Michael McMahon was presented with the award at Melbourne’s Forum Theatre last week, in recognition of his illustrious film and television production career spanning more than 30 years.
“I have had the good fortune to reach a certain age - and now have the incredible honour of being recognised by my peers with this award,” Mr McMahon says.
“This moment has provided me with a moment to reflect on the years that have passed since 1988 when I co-produced a short film titled Cruel Youth with the support of Film Victoria.”
Since Mr McMahon produced Cruel Youth he has been the force behind many acclaimed Australian features, documentaries and television dramas, including Ali’s Wedding (2017), The Slap (2011) and Nowhere Boys (2013).
He is currently Matchbox Pictures Executive Chairman and a lecturer at Swinburne.
“The processes of creation, production and distribution of screen content involves a hell of a lot of collaboration. And ultimately the outcome only works for the audience if that collaboration has been a successful one,” says Mr McMahon.
“I want to recognise that this award is also for the achievements of those collaborators over my years in the screen industry and to thank them.”
Screen Producers Australia, CEO, Matthew Deaner said of Mr McMahon’s win:
"The Lifetime Achievement Award acknowledges an individual's lifetime contribution to enriching Australian culture through their work in the screen industry. Michael has a passion for social justice and a reputation for championing stories that highlight the diversity of human experience, and I congratulate him on this latest accolade."
Nowhere Boys wins BAFTA
The recognition coincides with Matchbox Pictures children’s television series Nowhere Boys winning a 2018 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award.
Series three of Nowhere Boys was awarded the BAFTA Award for International Live Action Children’s series.
“It’s the little show that just keeps going and giving to young audiences around the world, ” says Mr McMahon of the recognition which follows previous successes including series two winning an International Emmy for Children’s Live Drama in 2016, and series one winning the coveted UNESCO sponsored Prix Jeunesse in 2014.
The series was created by Swinburne Film and Television alumni Tony Ayres and has been sold to more than 170 territories worldwide.
The fourth series of Nowhere Boys will premiere on ABC from the week of 26 November.