Lian Lunson
Lian Lunson (Victoria, February 3, 1959)[1] is an Australian actress who became an award-winning documentary filmmaker. She has also written a novel.
Biography
She was born in rural Victoria, outside the Australian metropolis Melbourne. After attending The Ensemble drama school in Sydney and working as an actor, she moved to Los Angeles in 1987 to join the film industry. Lunson produced commercials and music videos, and in 1997 opened her own production company based in LA, Horse Pictures.[1] Once a record company asked for a low-budget documentaryabout Willie Nelson, Lunson jumped at the opportunity, and the resulting film, Willie Nelson: Down Home, aired in 1997 on TV channel PBS.[2]
She also produced The Passion of the Christ: Songs Inspired By, an alternate soundtrack to the Mel Gibson film. Gibson would go on to produce Lunson's documentary about the poet and singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen, called Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man and released in 2005.[3] During production, she met Kate & Anna McGarrigle, subject of Lunson's next documentary, Sing Me the Songs That Say I Love You: A Concert for Kate McGarrigle. Released in 2012, the film chronicles a tribute concert that happened in New York following Kate's 2010 death, and was produced by Kate's musician son Rufus Wainwright.[4][5]
In 2006, she was awarded the Women in Film Dorothy Arzner Directors Award for her work on this film.[6] Lunson will make her feature film debut with Waiting for the Miracle to Come, filmed at Willie Nelson's hometown of Spicewood, Texas, and featuring Nelson, Charlotte Rampling and Sophie Lowe. Wim Wenders and Bono are executive producers, with the U2 frontman also contributing a song performed by Nelson.[7]
She has a screenplay named The Boom Boom Room, which he hopes to turn into either a novel or film.[8]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| 1985 | A Street To Die | Actress. Played Receptionist |
| 1985 | The Big Hurt | Actress. Played Lisa |
| 1986 | Dogs in Space | Actress. Played Grant's Girl |
| 1986 | Army Wives | Actress. Played Wendy |
| 1997 | Willie Nelson: Down Home (TV documentary) | Writer / Producer |
| 2004 | I'm Only Looking: The Best of INXS (video documentary) | Producer - segment "Time" |
| 2005 | Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man | Writer / Producer |
| 2007 | Across the Universe (film) | Special Thanks |
| 2012 | Sing Me the Songs That Say I Love You: A Concert for Kate McGarrigle | Director, Writer |
| 2016 | Waiting for the Miracle to Come | Producer, Director, Writer |
References
- 1 2 Berlinale 2006: Leonard Cohen
- ↑ Interview with Lian Lunson – SFIFF56
- ↑ PROFILE: LIAN LUNSON
- ↑
- ↑ Kustanczy, Cate (June 25, 2013). "McGarrigle documentary captures songs of faith, family, and love". Digital Journal. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on August 20, 2011. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
- ↑
- ↑
External links
- Lian Lunson's IMDB database entry
- Interview with Lunson
- Article about the documentary Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man.
- The Guardian Newspaper's profile on Lian Lunson
- Past winners of the Women in Film awards