Celebrated Australian filmmaker Peter Weir has received the imaugural Lifetime Achievement Award from the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS), earning recognition for a career that helped shape Australian cinema and left a lasting imprint on the global film industry.
The award was presented on Wednesday night during an event hosted as part of the Sydney Film Festival, where tributes were paid to the director behind acclaimed films including Dead Poets Society, The Truman Show, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Gallipoli and The Last Wave.
AFTRS Council Chair Rachel Perkins described the retired filmmaker and screenwriter as “the greatest film-maker this country has produced”, praising both the cultural significance of his work and its enduring international influence.
Perkins, who founded and co-directed the production company Blackfella Films between 1992 and 2022, said Weir’s films resonated deeply with Indigenous Australians.
“As Aboriginal people, we felt seen in your films,” she said.
She also credited the filmmaker with helping to define key aspects of Australian identity through his storytelling, particularly in Gallipoli, which explored themes of mateship and scepticism towards authority that have become closely associated with Australian culture.
According to AFTRS, the decision to confer its first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award on Weir was unanimous, with the institution citing his “global influence on craft, form and storytelling” as a defining factor.
Over the course of a 43-year career, Weir directed 13 feature films and became one of the leading figures of the Australian New Wave cinema movement. His body of work includes The Last Wave, the 1977 thriller starring David Gulpilil, before he went on to establish a successful Hollywood career with films such as Dead Poets Society and The Truman Show.
Accepting the honour, the 81-year-old filmmaker reflected on his career and the significance of receiving recognition in the city where much of his journey began.
“As film-makers, you move from picture to picture and you don’t look back much,” Weir said. “Now is the time of my life where I do look back, so something like this is a very lovely thank you of a kind. I appreciate it very much.”
Weir retired from filmmaking in 2024 and has continued to receive accolades for his contributions to cinema. That same year, he was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Venice Film Festival, while he became the first Australian filmmaker to receive an honorary Oscar in 2022.
Speaking at the Sydney event, he admitted that the praise directed towards him was “quite overwhelming”, particularly because it was being bestowed in his home city.
Following the presentation, Weir joined actor Rob Carlton for the annual Ian McPherson Lecture, where he shared stories from his filmmaking career and reflected on some of the pivotal decisions that shaped his most celebrated works.
Among the revelations was his admission that he initially declined the opportunity to direct The Truman Show, the acclaimed satirical drama starring Jim Carrey.
Weir explained that after reading the screenplay, written by New Zealand-born writer Andrew Niccol, he could not stop thinking about the project. He subsequently contacted his agent to reverse his decision and pursue the film.
According to the director, his agent anticipated the change of heart.
“I know how you work,” the agent reportedly told him.
The filmmaker also recounted an encounter with the late Robin Williams on a beach in Sydney’s northern suburbs a year before the pair collaborated on Dead Poets Society. Weir said he invited Williams to his lawn for coffee while both were still dressed in their swimming gear and suggested they work together in the future.
Reflecting on other milestones from his career, Weir spoke about his decision to cast Linda Hunt as a male character in The Year of Living Dangerously, his lifelong passion for music, and the inspiration he drew from Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers.
He also reflected on the unpredictable nature of filmmaking, describing the creative process as “mercurial, uncontrollable, unknowable”.
The newly established AFTRS Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented annually to individuals whose career-long achievements have made a significant and lasting contribution to the screen and audio industries.
The Sydney Film Festival, where the award was presented, continues until June 14.