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Member LoginMore Honours for ACS members - Michael Dillon AM
14 June 2004
Michael Dillion AM, was honoured For service to the Australian Film Industry as a pioneer in adventure and mountain film cinematography, and to the community through support for international humanitarian work.
He was made a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia
about
Michael Dillon is one of Australia’s leading Cameraman/Director of Adventure and Expedition Documentaries.
On an International level he has won more awards in this field than any other individual worldwide.
His Documentary “Everest Sea to Summit” which he conceived, Produced, Directed and filmed is the most internationally awarded Adventure documentary of all time winning nine Grand Prizes at International Mountain and Exploration Film Festivals worldwide. Filming this documentary, during a 4 month period in 1990 involved walking for 700 kilometers carrying a heavy camera the entire time.
He has made 5 Adventure Documentaries with Sir Edmund Hillary including the Grand Prize Winning “From the Ocean to the Sky” about a 4 month jetboat journey along India’s River Ganges, and the National Geographic Special “Return to Everest”. His latest film “Beyond Everest”, about Sir Edmund Hillary’s ongoing work with the Sherpa people of Everest, has won 5 International Awards.
Other expeditions and adventures he has filmed include the first Australian Ascent of Everest in 1984, two Everest Ballooning Expeditions, a base jumping expedition in the Karakoram, four Antarctic Expeditions, two English Channel Swims , other expeditions in Siberia, Irian Jaya, Africa and the Andes, and a journey by London Taxi from London to Sydney.
He has received two US Primetime Emmy nominations for cinematography, for his camerawork on “Survivor- the Australian Outback” and the National Geographic Television Special “Those Wonderful Dogs”
His Natural History Documentary Credits include “The Big Wet”, “ Living Edens- Tasmania” and “State of the Planet with David Attenborough”
He is possibly unique in Australia for having received international awards in the diverse fields of Natural History, Adventure and General Documentary cinematography as well as for Direction, Production and Scriptwriting.
He won Australia’s top award for Documentary Cinematography, the ACS Golden Tripod Award two years in succession, in 1985 and 1986, for a film about the Bicentennial camel race and an expedition with Sir Edmund Hillary in India.
Now in his fifties he his still actively involved in the industry and is currently filming a documentary about the cataclysmic eruption of Papua New Guinea’s Mount Lamington in 1951.
He is also a founding Director of the Australian Himalayan Foundation which is dedicated to giving something back to the people of the Himalayas in the form of Education, health and other developmental projects.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society and was awarded the inaugural Australian Geographic Silver Medallion for Excellence in 1986. He was the first Australian to win the Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Award.