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Alister Grierson

  • Director
  • Writer
  • Editor
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Alister Grierson in Sanctum (2011)
Grierson graduated from the Australian National University in Economics (BEc) and Arts (BA) in 1995, then continued his Japanese language study in Tokyo but his real passion was film-making.

After making a variety of self-funded shorts, he was accepted into the Masters course of the directing stream of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS) in 2002 where he made six films in a range of genres. His short, 'BOMB', won the three major awards at 'Tropfest', the world's biggest short film festival in 2005 and later, in 2012, it was chosen from twenty years of Tropfest finalists to screen in the 'Best of the Best' competition in Las Vegas.

He co-wrote and directed the gritty and experiential feature film 'Kokoda' (2006), Colin Fraser from Filmink praising it, 'Kokoda draws comparisons with Gallipoli if for no other reason than it will come to be similarly regarded as a landmark in Australian cinema'.

His next film, 3D thriller 'Sanctum' (2011) produced by James Cameron secured a rare and highly successful release in China, and was the eighth highest grossing Australian film of all time with a world-wide box office gross of over 108 million US dollars.

Grierson has directed television for the multi-award winning Nowhere Boys (Matchbox Productions) and Australia's most popular TV series, the Dr Blake Mysteries (December Media) and the powerful TV movie, Parer's War, for the ABC based on the real story of the life of combat cameraman Damien Parer.

In 2018 his movie, Tiger, a boxing film inspired by the true story of the persecution of a Sikh man was released theatrically in the U.S. Starring Mickey Rourke and Janelle Parish, it won Best Feature Film at the San Diego International Film Festival.

His latest feature film, Bloody Hell, was released theatrically and on digital platforms in January, 2021. It is a comedic thriller in a horror space and is still 91% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. MorbidlyBeautiful.'s 5 star review describing it as 'A pitch perfect, wonderfully weird, adrenaline-fueled thrill ride; an uproariously good time'. It won best film at both the Gdansk Film Festival and the Brussels International Fantasy Film Festival.

Most recently he was asked to come aboard Disney+'s big budget television series, Nautilus as the 2nd Unit director which completed principle photography in Queensland, Australia in Dec 2022.
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    • Awards
      • 5 wins total

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    Known for

    Bloody Hell (2020)
    Bloody Hell
    6.6
    • Director
    • 2020
    Sanctum (2011)
    Sanctum
    5.9
    • Director
    • 2011
    Kokoda: 39th Battalion (2006)
    Kokoda: 39th Battalion
    6.1
    • Director
    • 2006
    Parer's War (2014)
    Parer's War
    6.7
    TV Movie
    • Director
    • 2014

    Credits

    Edit
    IMDbPro

    Director



    • Bloody Hell (2020)
      Bloody Hell
      6.6
      • Director
      • 2020
    • Mickey Rourke, Janel Parrish, Prem Singh, and Michael Pugliese in Tiger (2018)
      Tiger
      4.9
      • Director
      • 2018
    • The Doctor Blake Mysteries (2013)
      The Doctor Blake Mysteries
      8.0
      TV Series
      • Director
      • 2017
    • Imagination Game (2015)
      Imagination Game
      Short
      • Director
      • 2015
    • Joel Lok, Dougie Baldwin, Rahart Adams, and Matt Testro in Nowhere Boys (2013)
      Nowhere Boys
      7.0
      TV Series
      • Director
      • 2014–2015
    • Parer's War (2014)
      Parer's War
      6.7
      TV Movie
      • Director
      • 2014
    • Sanctum (2011)
      Sanctum
      5.9
      • Director
      • 2011
    • Sanctum: The Real Story (2011)
      Sanctum: The Real Story
      6.8
      Video
      • Director
      • 2011
    • Kokoda: 39th Battalion (2006)
      Kokoda: 39th Battalion
      6.1
      • Director
      • 2006
    • Behind the Plastic Bubble
      Short
      • Director
      • 2005
    • Bomb (2005)
      Bomb
      7.8
      Short
      • Director
      • 2005
    • Burning Ambition
      Short
      • Director
      • 2004
    • Flight (2004)
      Flight
      7.7
      Short
      • Director
      • 2004

    Writer



    • Imagination Game (2015)
      Imagination Game
      Short
      • written by
      • 2015
    • Kokoda: 39th Battalion (2006)
      Kokoda: 39th Battalion
      6.1
      • written by
      • 2006
    • Bomb (2005)
      Bomb
      7.8
      Short
      • written by
      • 2005
    • Burning Ambition
      Short
      • written by
      • 2004
    • Flight (2004)
      Flight
      7.7
      Short
      • written by
      • 2004

    Editor



    • Bloody Hell (2020)
      Bloody Hell
      6.6
      • Editor
      • 2020
    • Mickey Rourke, Janel Parrish, Prem Singh, and Michael Pugliese in Tiger (2018)
      Tiger
      4.9
      • co-editor
      • 2018
    • Bomb (2005)
      Bomb
      7.8
      Short
      • Editor
      • 2005

    Personal details

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    • Official site
      • Official Site

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