Peter Weir

Peter Lindsay Weir ( WEER; born 21 August 1944) is an Australian retired film director, screenwriter, and producer. He directed films crossing various genres over forty years, such as Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Gallipoli (1981), The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), Witness (1985), Dead Poets Society (1989), Fearless (1993), The Truman Show (1998), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), and The Way Back (2010).

He has received six Academy Award nominations and he has won two AACTA Award for Best Direction and two BAFTA Award for Best Direction. In 2022, he was awarded the Academy Honorary Award for his lifetime career achievement. In 2024, he received an honorary life-time achievement award at the Venice Film Festival (Golden Lion). Early in his career as a director, Weir was a leading figure in the Australian New Wave cinema movement (1970–1990).