Paul Swadel

Paul Regan Swadel[1] (23 October 1968 – 18 March 2016)[2] was a New Zealand film director and producer.

Swadel (right) on the set of documentary Colin McCahon: I Am, with director of photography Leon Narbey

Life and career

Swadel graduated from the University of Canterbury with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film, also graduated from the Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland, with a Master of Fine Arts attaining First Class Honours in Intermedia.

He directed and produced many successful short films which screened in competition at the Cannes, Venice, New York City and Sundance film festivals. Saatchi & Saatchi spotted his talent early in the commercials world for their New Directors Showcase at Cannes in 2000. As a television commercial director, he produced award-winning work for Sony and Nike, and had his PlayStation work picked up globally.

Swadel nurtured a filmmaking partnership with James Cunningham that spanned fifteen years and four globally successful short films. Their film Infection competed at Cannes International Film Festival 2000, Sundance Film Festival 2001 and twenty other international film festivals. Paul and James developed an indie performance capture driven CGI film Marshal with Mark Ordesky, executive producer of The Lord of the Rings. Their proof of concept short film Poppy, was shot on the Weta Digital motion capture soundstage. Poppy features Matthew Sunderland, winner of Best Actor Award at the 2008 NZ Screen Awards.[3] Poppy was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at SIGGRAPH in Los Angeles 2010, and Best in Show at SIGGRAPH Asia in Seoul 2010.

He also developed and co-directed projects with his brother Marc Swadel, whose reel includes work with The Strokes, Sonic Youth and Iggy Pop, and his TVC work was featured in the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase at Cannes.

Swadel was a co-executive producer of Headstrong with Ant Timpson and Leanne Saunders.[4] Their feature film The Devil Dared Me To had its world premiere at SXSW and screened at over twenty International Film Festivals. It has been sold to Wild Bunch for the United Kingdom, Vivendi for the United States and Boll AG for rest of the world. Their second feature film A Song of Good began its festival run with a World Premiere at Rotterdam Film Festival where it sold out all of its screenings.[5] It garnered 5 nominations at the 2008 New Zealand Screen Awards, and won a Best Picture Award.[6]

He also directed a significant number of award-winning art documentaries around the world. These range in subject from Plácido Domingo at the New York Metropolitan Opera, The Understudy, to an award-winning six-hour series on the history of New Zealand Art, The Big Picture presented by Hamish Keith, which garnered three nominations at the 2008 New Zealand Screen Awards, and won Best Series and Best Music awards.[7]

Swadel later filled the role of Development Executive at the New Zealand Film Commission in Wellington.

He executive produced a documentary on the earthquakes that affected Christchurch in 2010 and 2011 entitled When A City Falls, which had its international premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2012.

Swadel developed and executive produced a series of films and shorts as Blue Harvest with the New Zealand Film Commission. He also worked at Media Design School as a Senior Lecturer for the Bachelor of Arts and Design where he taught filmmaking process.

Swadel died on 18 March 2016, after suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's disease.[1] He was survived by his son Felix, as well as his parents, siblings and other family members.[1]

  • Poster of Colin McCahon: I Am (2004)
  • Still from Poppy (2009)
  • Still from Infection (2000)
  • Still from Blinder (1998)

Filmography
Year Film Credited as Notes
Director Producer Exec. producer Writer
1987 The Erotric Frigidaire Yes No No No Short film
1992 Zerographic No Yes No No
1994 A Little Death Yes No No Yes Short film
Co-directed with Simon Perkins
1996 Supercollider Yes Yes No No Short film
1997 Delf No Yes No No
1998 Blinder No Yes No No
1999 Like An Angel Yes Yes No Yes
2000 Accidents Yes No No No
Infection No Yes No No
2001 Junk No No Yes No
2002 Beautiful No No Yes No
The French Doors No No Yes No
2004 Colin McCahon: I Am Yes No No No Documentary
Ride No No Yes No Short film
Water No No Yes No
No Ordinary Sun No No Yes No
2005 The Understudy Yes No No No Television film
2007 The Big Picture Yes No No No Television series; 1 episode
The Devil Dared Me To No No Yes No Film
2008 A Song of Good No No Yes No
2009 Poppy No Yes No No Short film
2010 Where Dad Walked No No No Yes
2011 When A City Falls No No Yes No Film
2015 Feeder No No Yes No Short film

References
  1. "Paul Swadel death notice". NZ Herald.
  2. Fletcher, Jack (31 March 2016). "Life story: Paul Swadel". Stuff.
  3. Matthew Sunderland – 2008 Awards Archived 14 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Headstrong Ltd.". Archived from the original on 30 July 2008. Retrieved 22 July 2008.
  5. A SONG OF GOOD – Feature Film Archived 20 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  6. A SONG OF GOOD – 2008 Awards Archived 14 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  7. THE BIG PICTURE – 2008 Awards Archived 14 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
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