David Stratton
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David Stratton (born 1939 in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England ) is an Australian film critic and television personality.
He attributes his passion for movies to World War II. He was sent to Hampshire to see out the war years with his grandmother, an avid filmgoer, where he was taken to the local cinemas regularly. In a short time, he saw a diverse range of movies. He saw his first foreign film at Bath in 1955 - the Italian Bread, Love and Dreams. That was soon followed by Akira Kurosawa's Japanese classic Seven Samurai tracked down in Birmingham. David arrived in Australia in 1962, and soon became involved with the local film society movement . He became associated with the Sydney Film Festival in 1963.
A highly regarded expert on international cinema, particularly French cinema, he is a recipient of the Australian Film Institute's Raymond Longford Award. He has acted as a judge at the Cannes and Venice Film Festivals, and directed the Sydney Film Festival from 1966 until 1983. He was a member of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1982
Stratton worked for SBS from 1980, acting as their film consultant and introducing the SBS Cinema Classic and Movie of the Week for 24 weeks a year. From 1986 onwards Stratton co-hosted the long-running SBS TV program The Movie Show with Margaret Pomeranz. Stratton left SBS in 2004. From 2005 Stratton and Pomeranz have co-hosted the ABC film show, At the Movies.
On Friday 9 June 2006 David Stratton, was conferred with an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from The University of Sydney in recognition of his career, and his contribution to intellectual life at the university.
He currently writes reviews for The Australian newspaper and formerly did so for the US film industry magazine Variety. He lectures in film history at the University of Sydney.
[edit] Bibliography
- The last new wave : the Australian film revival (1980) ISBN 0-207-14146-0
- The avocado plantation : boom and bust in the Australian film industry (1990) ISBN 0-732-90250-9
