Justin Kurzel

Justin Kurzel was born in Gawler, Australia, in 1974. He made his directorial debut with the short film Blue Tongue (2005), then went on to win the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Award for Best Direction and the Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Director for his first feature-length film, Snowtown (2011), which also won the Jury Prize at the Marrakech International Film Festival. His second feature, an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth (2015), was selected for the Official Competition at the Festival de Cannes. His subsequent feature films include Assassin’s Creed (2016), based on the hugely popular video-game franchise, and True History of the Kelly Gang (2019), a new take on Australia’s notorious outlaw Ned Kelly that had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Nitram (2021) had its premiere in the Official Competition at Cannes, where the Best Actor prize went to Caleb Landry Jones; the film went on to win an array of AACTA Awards, including those for Best Film, Best Direction, Best Original Screenplay, and all four Best Performance awards. In 2024, he helmed his new mini-series, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, starring Jacob Elordi and Ciarán Hinds. The Order, Kurzel’s most recent film starring Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult, and Tye Sheridan, was selected for competition at the Venice International Film Festival and will open the 21st Marrakech International Film Festival.