Gavin Hood

Gavin Hood studied cinema at the University of California in Los Angeles, where he won a “Diane Thomas” screenwriting award. He began his film career with the acclaimed short film THE STOREKEEPER, which won thirteen international film festival awards and qualified for the Academy Awards in 1998. It was followed by Gavin’s debut feature film, A REASONABLE MAN, which he wrote, produced, directed and starred in opposite Academy Award nominee, Sir Nigel Hawthorne. At the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, Gavin Hood was named by "Variety" as one of the “Ten Directors to Watch”. IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS is his first feature film made for producers outside South Africa. With TSOTSI he won an Oscar as Best Foreign Film.

Director’s statement

“In bringing this compelling story to the screen, my intention is to make a taught, well-paced, psychological thriller that transports its audience into a world of radical contrasts. Skyscrapers and shacks, wealth and poverty, vibrant colour and darkness, love and hate, revenge and forgiveness, violent anger and gentle compassion: all collide in a film that is, ultimately, a classic story of redemption”.