Jill Bilcock
Jill Bilcock | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jill Elizabeth Stevenson 1948 (age 75–76) |
| Occupation | Film editor |
Jill Elizabeth Bilcock AC (born 1948 as Jill Stevenson), is an Australian film editor. She was nominated for BAFTA Awards for Strictly Ballroom (1992), Romeo + Juliet (1996), and Moulin Rouge! (2002), and Elizabeth (1998). In 2007 she won the Australian Film Institute International Award for Excellence in Filmmaking.
Early life and education
[edit]Jill Elizabeth[1] Stevenson, later Bilcock,[2] was born in 1948[3] in Horsham, Victoria, Australia. Her family, which included Jill and two brothers, moved to Melbourne when she was three, and her father left the family when she was four. Her mother worked full-time as a teacher at a technical school, and went to the University of Melbourne at night to complete a degree in commerce.[4] Artists, poets, and authors visited their home regularly.[5] She later said that she "didn't have a lot of parenting".[4]
She is a graduate of the Swinburne Film and Television School[6][7] (1968[5]), entering its first film course at the age of 17,[8] after leaving school and enrolling at Swinburne Technical College at the age of 15, encouraged by her mother.[5][4] She went on a student trip to China, which at the time was in the throes of the Cultural Revolution,[4] and generally closed to foreigners; she became an honorary Red Guard there.[5] When Brian Robinson started the first film course at Swinburne, she jumped at it. There she met Fred Schepisi, who was one of the examiners.[4]
Career
[edit]Bilcock began her career doing commercials (there being no Australian film industry then),[4] after being invited by Fred Schepisi to work at his company, The Film House.[8] Schepisi "let [them] run wild", and allowed the students to experiment with all aspects of filmmaking.[4] She started specialising in editing, assisted by Richard Lowenstein, who had also graduated from Swinburne.[4]
In the mid-1970s, she was invited to a job in London, but, travelling via India, ended up staying in that country for a year, living a hippie-style existence in Goa and taking bit parts in local films.[5]
Her first feature film was Richard Lowenstein's Strikebound (1984).[4] During the 1980s and 1990s, she started working with filmmakers on well-known films such as Dogs in Space (directed by Lowenstein, 1987), Strictly Ballroom (Baz Luhrmann, 1992), Muriel's Wedding (P.J. Hogan, 1994), and Head On (Ana Kokkinos, 1998).[8]
Bilcock later edited films such as Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996) and Moulin Rouge! (2001) and Sam Mendes' 2002 crime drama Road to Perdition.[8]
Her editing style has been described as "boldly inventive",[8] and her editing of the Luhrmann films known for their "strikingly fast cutting, whirl of noise and colour and unconventional jumps".[4] She has said: "I want wild, I want innovative, unusual and visually extraordinary".[5] However, she changed pace on films such as Road to Perdition and The Dish.[4]
Other activities
[edit]On 3 July 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia Bilcock gave an online masterclass as part of "WIFT Virtual" series, an initiative of WIFT Australia.[9]
In November 2024 she was on the jury of the International Film Festival of India, alongside Singaporean director Anthony Chen, British producer Elizabeth Karlsen, Spanish producer Fran Borgia, and Indian producer and actor Ashutosh Gowariker, who acted as chair.[10][11]
Recognition, awards, and honours
[edit]Bilcock is a member of the Australian Screen Editors guild,[8] as well as the American Cinema Editors society,[12] which permits her to use the post-nominals ASE and ACE.[9]
The documentaries Jill Billcock: The Art Of Film Editing for ABC TV[13][14] and the cinema-released Jill Bilcock: Dancing the Invisible[15][16] (78 mins),[5] both in 2017, explore her life and work.[9] Dancing the Invisible includes commentary from Cate Blanchett, Baz Luhrmann, Shekhar Kapur, Phil Noyce, Fred Schepisi, Richard Lowenstein, Jocelyn Moorhouse, Kriv Stenders, Ana Kokkinos, Sue Brooks, and Rachel Griffiths. The film was directed, written, co-produced, and edited by Axel Grigor, and executive produced by Sue Maslin.[5] The film won the Audience Award at the Adelaide Film Festival.[17]
Bilcock is highly respected in the industry, and has received several lifetime achievement awards, including the AFI Byron Kennedy Award, AFI International Award for Excellence in Filmmaking, and IF Awards Lifetime Achievement Award.[5] In July 2018 Flicks film critic Glenn Dunks called Bilcock "one of Australia's greatest film practitioners. Probably the most successful film editor this country has ever produced". At that time, she had won five AFI Awards and been nominated for four more; been nominated for two AACTA Awards and four BAFTAs; and had received multiple career achievement awards.[18]
She has been awarded two official Australian honours:
- 2001: Centenary Medal, "For service to Australian society and film production"[19]
- 2018: Companion of the Order of Australia (the highest award), "For eminent service to the Australian motion picture industry as a film editor, to the promotion and development of the profession, as a role model, and through creative contributions to the nation's cultural identity", in the Queen's Birthday 2018 Honours List[1]
Film awards and nominations include:
- 1992: Winner, Best Achievement in Editing in the 1992 Australian Film Institute Awards, for Strictly Ballroom[20]
- 1992: Nominated, BAFTA Award for Best Editing in the 45th British Academy Film Awards, for Strictly Ballroom[21]
- 1995: Byron Kennedy Award[22]
- 1996: Winner, Best Editing, MovieMaker Readers Awards[23]
- 1996: Nominated, BAFTA Award for Best Editing in the 50th British Academy Film Awards, for Romeo + Juliet[21]
- 1998: Nominated, BAFTA Award for Best Editing in the 52nd British Academy Film Awards, for Elizabeth, directed by Shekhar Kapur[21]
- 2001: AFI (American Film Institute Awards) Editor of the Year[24]
- 2002: Winner Eddie Award from the American Cinema Editors (best edited comedy or musical feature film) for Moulin Rouge![25]
- 2001: Nominated, Academy Award for Best Film Editing (Oscar), for Moulin Rouge![26][27]
- 2002: Nominated, BAFTA Award for Best Editing in the 55th British Academy Film Awards, for Moulin Rouge![21]
- 2007: Winner, Australian Film Institute International Award for Excellence in Filmmaking, at the 2007 Australian Film Institute Awards[28][29]
- 2012: Moulin Rouge! listed as the 32nd best-edited film of all time in a 2012 survey of members of the Motion Picture Editors Guild[30]
- 2013: Jill Robb Award for Outstanding Leadership, Achievement and Service to the Victorian Screen Industry, one of two Victorian Screen Leader Awards established by Film Victoria the preceding year[31]
- 2015: Nominated, AACTA Award for Best Editing, for The Dressmaker[32]
Filmography
[edit]See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b "Name: Ms Jill Elizabeth Bilcock; Award: Companion of the Order of Australia (AC)". Australian Honours Search Facility. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (Australia). Retrieved 12 December 2024.
- ^ Kennedy, Peter (11 September 2017). "Peter Kennedy: Interview by Stephen Jones, 2012". Peter Kennedy (Interview). Interviewed by Jones, Stephen. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
- ^ "JILL BILCOCK". Her Place Women's Museum. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Bunbury, Stephanie (28 June 2018). "'You're terrible Muriel': How Jill Bilcock saved Muriel's iconic film quote". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Dancing the Invisible (Press kit)" (PDF). Retrieved 12 December 2024.
- ^ McGrath, Declan (2001). Editing and Post-production (Focal Press), p. 45. Swinburne is apparently misspelled as "Swinbourne" in this reference.
- ^ "VCA Film and Television Archive". Museums and Collections. 11 September 2024. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f "Spotlights: Jill Bilcock". ACMI. August 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
- ^ a b c "WIFT Virtual with editor Jill Bilcock AC, ASE, ACE". Screen Queensland. 3 July 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
- ^ The Hindu Bureau (28 November 2024). "IFFI 2024: Lithuanian drama 'Toxic' wins Golden Peacock; Vikrant Massey adjudged Indian film personality of the year". The Hindu. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
- ^ Patrick Frater, Naman Ramachandran (29 November 2024). "Lithuanian Drama 'Toxic' Wins Top Prize at 55th International Film Festival of India". Variety. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
- ^ "Members". American Cinema Editors. Archived from the original on 18 February 2008.
- ^ Jill Billcock: The Art Of Film Editing, ABC TV
- ^ "Jill Bilcock: The Art of Film Editing (2017)". Screen Australia. Retrieved 14 December 2024.
- ^ Jill Bilcock: Dancing the Invisible, Screen Australia
- ^ Jill Bilcock: Dancing the Invisible at IMDb
- ^ "Australian festival and award winners". Screen Australia. 23 April 2019. Archived from the original on 6 December 2024. Retrieved 14 December 2024.
- ^ Dunks, Glenn (5 July 2018). "10 films that define the legendary Australian editor Jill Bilcock". Flicks.com.au. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
- ^ "Name: Ms Jill Elizabeth Bilcock; Award: Centenary Medal". Australian Honours Search Facility. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (Australia). Retrieved 12 December 2024.
- ^ "Winners & Nominees: 1992". AACTA. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
- ^ a b c d "Awards Search". Bafta. 8 October 2024. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
- ^ "Byron Kennedy Awards (List of winners from 1984 to 2016)" (PDF). Retrieved 13 December 2024.
- ^ McEnerney, Charles (28 February 1997). "The 1996 MovieMaker Readers Awards". MovieMaker. Archived from the original on 9 July 2008. Retrieved 24 November 2009.
- ^ "AFI Awards 2001". American Film Institute. 20 June 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
- ^ Horn, John (17 February 2003). "The Week Ahead; Keep your eye on the little races". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
- ^ "Jill Bilcock [search result]". Academy Awards database.
- ^ "Cate Blanchett chases Oscar history". The Sunday Times. 21 January 2008. Archived from the original on 25 January 2008. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
- ^ "The week in film: AFI Awards". ABC Radio National. 6 December 2007. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
- ^ George, Sandy (14 December 2024). "Australian Film Institute achievement award goes to editor Bilcock". Screen. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2024.
- ^ "The 75 Best Edited Films". Editors Guild Magazine. 1 (3). May 2012. Archived from the original on 17 March 2015.
- ^ "Screen Leader Awards for Jill Bilcock and Roger Savage". IF Magazine. 1 November 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
- ^ Groves, Don (30 October 2015). "The Dressmaker seizes top spot". IF Magazine. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
Further reading
[edit]- Cawthorne, Russell (1 April 2004). "Bilcock, Jill – The Bogus Detector". Urban Cinefile. Archived from the original on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2015. Reporting based on an interview with Bilcock.
External links
[edit]- Jill Bilcock at IMDb
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